andrew dodson

C.C. DeVille of the band Poison has become a Christian. As any young Christian should do (and all Christians, for that matter), he’s seeking out wisdom, guidance, accountability and prayer from other Christians. Check out the story (and video) here.

(HT: Challies.com)

I’m looking for a PC - as in, a Windows computer. It doesn’t have to be fancy AT ALL. Basically, I only need it so that I can view my websites through Internet Explorer and other Windows internet browsers. This would be very helpful when designing my websites.

I’m not going to be picky, but if it were a laptop, that would be great. Only reason is, I really don’t have room in my apartment for a desktop, monitor, keyboard, mouse…. all that. A laptop doesn’t take up much space.

Ideally, I’m looking for someone that wants to give away an old laptop or PC. As mentioned, it doesn’t have to be anything terribly nice. If anyone out there has one they’d like to get rid of (even if you’d rather sell it), let me know. You can email me.

As I’ve started to do more work through BADmedia, I’ve started eating through my cell phone’s monthly anytime minutes. I’m a Verizon carrier (one of the few and proud in Frankfort), and I love them. I don’t quite understand most of Frankfort’s love for Sprint. For iPhone carriers, I can understand the need for AT&T (plus, my dad works for them, so I don’t guess I can bash them too much).

I carried Sprint for a while and hated it. Dropped calls all the time. Bad service in some areas of Kentucky. I’ve never used AT&T/Cingular/whatever-they’re-calling-themselves-these-days, so I can’t speak for them. Anyway, I digress…

I just changed plans in a matter of five minutes. I doubled my anytime minutes, now have unlimited text messaging and it’s not going to cost one red penny more. In fact, because of the texting plan, it will likely be cheaper each month.

(By the way… and for the record…. in the span of about five years of carrying a Verizon phone, I can only recall a dropped call being my phone’s fault a couple of times. Their service is rock solid.)

Just wanted to check in and say hello. Haven’t been blogging much lately, I know. So, we’ll go with some rambling, random thoughts.

Did anyone catch Josh Hamilton in the Home Run Derby? Wow! What a story. I haven’t had a “favorite player” in baseball since Eric Davis & Nolan Ryan, but this guy would come close. If you haven’t caught up on this guy, please, please, please Google him and read up. I don’t know if his Home Run Derby highlights have made it onto YouTube yet, but you could check there too.

John Piper is doing a sermon series right now on the importance of church membership - specifically how it relates to baptism. It’s an interesting subject. It’s hard to disagree with Piper on much because we all know he’s searched the Scriptures on pretty much every topic far more than any of us. But, I will say, even after reading his first sermon, I haven’t landed on how I feel about the matter.

I’m spending this week recording the band Altered Worship at Georgetown College. They are the worship band for the Centri-Kid camp hosted by Georgetown this summer. It’s all very similar to my experience recording the Crossings bands last summer. The band is great, and I’m praising God for yet another opportunity to record something like this. So far, so good.

BADmedia has been busy in the past couple of weeks. I’m praying that work will continue to come in and the business will grow. I’ve had a good time getting it off the ground over the past few weeks. It’s the first time I’ve really pushed the business and advertised for it, and I’ve been encouraged by the response.

Here’s to hoping there are more frequent posts coming soon!

At last!

After months of kicking around design ideas and finding time design a site for BADmedia, the task is finally complete.  If anyone out there needs design work, recording, or the like, please head over to the site and contact me!

> Visit the BADmedia site

One thing about my Scripture reading that has been seriously lacking is memorization. Yesterday, I made it a goal to memorize a passage. I was somewhat impressed how quickly it stuck with me. So… here it is, typed out from memory:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
Great is Your faithfulness
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

From my current favorite book of the Bible, Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV).

Well, well, well. So far, it seems my platform is working! I can tell you that I’ve practiced each of the last six days with no complaints. I’ve tried to play in the early afternoons or evenings, so I’m not pushing my luck by playing at all hours of the night. But, I’m also not playing timid - practicing along to the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins doesn’t lend itself to playing timid. Even by laying into the pads pretty good, no one has knocked on my door, called the police, left nasty notes on my door or called my landlord. So far so good!

It’s given me a renewed appreciation for having my electronic drums. The tones still annoy me, but they’re a great practice tool.

Today, Amos Lee releases his third studio album, Last Days At the Lodge. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this album. He’s become one of my favorite artists over the last year. I’ve described him before as the male version of Norah Jones - a little jazz, folk & blues all mixed together. I highly recommend checking him out, if you haven’t already.

So… my Yamaha electronic drumset has been collecting dust at The Point.  I switched to using a real kit there, so I haven’t needed the Yamaha kit.  All the while, I’ve been unable to practice drums very much lately.  That gets under my skin, so I decided to do something about it.

I brought my electronic drums home, determined to make them work in my apartment.  My walls are pretty thick, so I wasn’t worried about my neighbors on the sides of me (one wall is a stairwell on the other side, any way).  I was more worried about shaking the floor and making my neighbors below me not-so-happy.

I did some research on the web to see what other drummers do for this issue.  Most seem to like the idea of making a platform out of tennis balls and plywood.  I decided to go a different route.  I kept thinking about the mats you see in gyms in the free weight area.  They’re big, thick rubber, meant to absorb the impact of weights being dropped on them.

I went to Wal-Mart and found some “extreme impact” flooring. I bought two sets of the stuff - enough to give me three layers in a 4′ x 4′ area.  A pretty good deal at $40.  I also bought a mat that’s meant to be put under a treadmill for another $20.  I got it home last night and gave it a try.  It worked!  But, it wasn’t very sturdy.  Basically, three layers of hard rubber.  I decided I needed some wood in the mix.  My boss is in the middle of building a house, so he offered a piece of his flooring - thanks Dwayne!

Here’s the first idea:

This worked pretty well, but with the drums sitting on a hard surface, it made my kick pedal louder (at least it seemed to me).  Here’s what the layers looked like on this idea:

I decided to try a layer of the impact flooring on top.  It looked like this:

This made the layers look like this:

I practiced tonight for about thirty minutes.  So far, no complaints!  The platform has cut down on floor vibrations considerably.  Now, the sound of me hitting the pads would be the only issue, with the kick pedal being the loudest.  But, I think by putting something between the kick pedal and the floor, I should be okay.

(by the way… the space where I wanted to put the drums was the exact right size, as you can see by the pictures.  I didn’t have to move the bookshelf or anything.  Perhaps it was meant to be.)

I got a kick out of reading this blurb today from this article.

He won despite doctors telling him to rest.

Haney was with him in Florida when doctors told Woods the preferred
treatment for the stress fractures was three weeks on crutches and three weeks
of inactivity.

“Tiger looked at the doctor and said, ‘I’m playing in the U.S. Open, and
I’m going to win.’ And then he started putting on his shoes,” Haney said. “He
looked at me and said, ‘Come on, Hank. We’ll just putt today.”’

Get well soon, Tiger.