My friend, Buck, is starting a workout Bootcamp.  If you’re here in Charlotte, and you want to firm up before Thanksgiving, it’s going to be MWF for the next four weeks…you NEED to do this. I’ll be there…getting owned. So if for no other reason, join so you can laugh at me.

Spent the weekend with my sis and her family. They came up to visit. Which means we ate good all weekend…(depending on who you ask), laughed a lot, and Beth and I babysat our niece, Joy, while Heather and Jamie went shopping on Saturday. I had no idea what to do with a two year old for a Saturday excursion. I’m not exactly trained in this area. Yet. But much to my surprise it was easier than expected. Thanks to the kid-friendly South Charlotte region, we stumbled across an Octoberfest bash for ages 2-10 at the “we’ve got everything you need so you never have to leave” Blakeney Center. It was perfect.

After a brief hiatus from blogging, I’ve returned. And I’m back just in time to ring in the start of my favorite month – October. The season’s changing along with colors and flavors of lattes. Leaves are falling. New wardrobes are coming out. And it’s the start of a 90 day period to follow that’s full of seasonal made-for-tv-movies that bring out the kid in me every year.

How could you not love October? It’s the most pivotal month of the year, laced with candy corn + jack-o’-lanterns + wax vampire teeth + timeless Frankenstein costumes, all culminating in $5.1 billion in retail spending (ok, there may be a slight problem there).

Nonetheless, here’s a few extra goodies you should be aware of this October….

-10th Anniversary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (aka the fall of Napster).
-2008 Nobel Prize Announcements. A few really important people whom we’ve probably never heard of but whose work is changing our lives will be honored.
-Flash of Genius hits theaters on the 17th. Greg Kinnear stars in the most boring movie of the year. (But far be it from me to deter you from spending $10 to watch the story of the guy who created intermittent windshield wipers).
-Daniel Radcliffe on the cover of Details mag. Harry, my how you’ve grown.

So I posted earlier about the sick loop Aaron created for one of the songs we did this past week…now Wes, one of our producers, has posted a video of it–(rather terrible quality…we didn’t capture it with our main cameras)–but at least you get to hear Aaron’s solo. Enjoy.

[Wanted to post as part of the ongoing chaos happening at RagamuffinSoul.com]

So this past Sunday we had a different element in our worship experience. Aaron Robertson, one of our keys players, and loop-making-extrordanair, created a sample of Hillsong’s tune “To Know Your Name.” He then layered parts live as the song progressed and had a smokin’ keys solo. yes. smokin’. He played, I sang, and the we had names of God scrolling behind us on the screens the whole time. It was a cool way to illustrate the theme our of series Small Is the New Big. Always a great idea to try new ways of creating unique experiences with God. Check out part of Aaron’s loop (minus vocals and his live elements).

Beth and I watched I Am Legend again over the weekend. We saw it with some friends when it first came out, and I loved the closing monologue.

–On speaking of Robert Neville (the scientist who dedicated his life to finding the cure to the virus that left only 1% of the world’s population unaffected)

“He…discovered the cure for the restoration of humanity…and gave his life to defend it. We are his legacy. This is his legend. Light up the darkness.”

Still a little over 6 weeks away until Coldplay’s new record is out, they’re appeasing the masses with a free downloadable single from the new “Spanish-influenced” album for one week only starting tomorrow, April 29. Grab it from their site.

…and to add to the goodness, tomorrow is free cone day from Ben and Jerry’s.

Enjoy these words to you on our ride home on the Lynx, not the “Cat Bus”…don’t reallly know what I was talking about.

*i actually do like mack brock and his blog as my very first post should tell you.

Some duets were never meant to be sung: