Right, so I'm getting old

You know those jokes that make the rounds about old people who get up to do something, get distracted, move on to something else and then can't remember what they were doing to start with?

Welcome to my day.

I was involved in a fairly serious spiritual discussion with a friend on Instant Messenger. There were some short breaks while we both did other things, but we were at a point where we were talking continuously.

The phone rang, so stopped typing, picked up the phone and talked to my daughter for a minute. She mentioned she was coming over, and I realized that I hadn't showered yet today.

I hung up and went right upstairs to take a shower, during which time I remembered that I needed to go to Wegmans to get rolls for dinner and some flowers for my mom, which Cassie was going to take with her.

I got dressed, and went to Wegmans. While I was there I ran into my friend Jan and we spent about 15 minutes talking. All at once, I remembered that I'd left my friend on IM in midsentence.

Almost an hour later, I come back to the conversation.

And I didn't even get everything I went to Wegmans to get.

Yeesh.

Great quote

The AP Today in History included this quote in today's news:

"Verily, when the day of judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done."
— Thomas a Kempis, German theologian (1380-1471).

Something to think about, eh?

Predicting the past is easier, eh?

While watching The News Hour with Jim Lehrer yesterday, I heard one of the dumbest comments ever from a talk show guest.

Francis Creighton of the Mortgage Bankers Association, was talking about the housing market and forclosures, and when asked his thoughts on what we could expect, he said, and I quote:

"Predictions are always difficult, especially when you're talking about the future."

Uh ... duh? ...

I have entered the 21 century

First a cell phone with a camera, then a laptop, and now ... a camcorder! Watch out, or I may end on the cover of Wired Magazine.


I had this idea to follow a band around at Kingdom Bound and do a "day in the life" blog post with some video clips for my Beliefnet.com blog, except that I don't have a video camera. My digital camera has video with sound, but only 20 second clips, which isn't good for much.


There have been times when I've wished I had a camcorder, especially at GMA. But I am such a doofus about this kind of stuff, and I haven't had the money, that I've put it off for years.


But thank God - literally - for my gig at http://www.newchristianvoices.com/, which has given me a little pocket money to upgrade some things.


So today, I went to Target and bought a little camcorder. I know, I should have shopped around, but I'm such an idiot I wouldn't know what I was shopping for anyway. I spent $150 on a little Sony net-sharing camera, and I'm having a blast with it already, so I know I'll get my money's worth. Hey, I'm not Spielberg.


Here's a little clip of Scout in the backyard. Ga ga goo goo, OK, so I talk baby talk to the dog. Even when he ignores my commands or gets into the newly planted grass ... or maybe that's why he ignores my commands ...

Rottenneighbor.com

While I was doing some research this afternoon for a column I have due in the morning (which is really just a euphamism for "I don't have a clue what to write and the deadline is less than 24 hours way so instead of writing I'll surf the internet") I came across an interesting site called Rottenneighbor.com.

I'm not an advocate for ratting out bad neighbors, but one feature of the site that I really liked is that it shows you where all the sex offenders live. And you can also post notes about good neighbors, which I doubt many people do but it's nice to have the option.

Anyway, I found that we have some registered sex offenders living within a few blocks of our house, which is creepy. Not walking down those streets with Scout any more.

The Church of Oprah

Most of you probably know that I have long had ties to Christian newspapers, and in particular the Christian Examiner. In May, a group of 23 Christian newspapers pooled their resources to do a story on Oprah and her brand of Christianity. The story has been picked up by major news outlets, and this weekend Lamar Keener, owner of the Christian Examiner, appeared on Fox News. Here's the video:

Katy Perry update

Good grief, I can't believe the response that that stupid post about Katy Perry has generated. I was concerned that the Christian community would rush to judge and lambaste her - instead, the vast majority of Christians are praying for her while her fans are roasting me over an open flame for, as they say, judging her.

Let me be very clear: I am not judging her. I don't know her, have never spoken with her, don't know anything about her life. My only reason for covering it to begin with was because I found it very interesting that she got a Christian deal to begin with.

When I agreed to do this Christian music blog, I had no idea that it would become so emotionally charged. I'm left scratching my head and wondering what in the world God was thinking when he gave me this job.

Believe it or not, I got a call from Inside Edition last week, wanting to talk to me about the Katy Perry story. Are you kidding? Is the fact that Katy Perry released a Christian album back in 2001 really that big of a story?

The world has gone truly mad.