You Still Linger

It’s been over a year since we broke up and I continue to find your hair on everything. How this happens is beyond me. In my car which I’ve vacuumed several times. On clothes which have been washed multiple times. In my suitcase which I’ve used countless times. You still linger like a ghost I can’t get rid of..

Vote Christina Maria – Peak Performance Project

You may recognize Christina Maria from a few weeks back when I wrote about her for the Song of the Day. Now I write about her again, well, because her music is worth another listen for one…AND for two she is currently in a competition in Vancouver put on by a local radio station called The Peak 100.5.

The Peak sends 20 local artists through a boot camp called the Peak Performance Project. At the end of boot camp the 20 artist can be voted on and the winner gets $100,500!!! 2nd is $75,000, 3rd is $50,000, 4th is $10,000, 5th is $5,000. Since this is a Vancouver based radio station I imagine that’s Canadian Dollars, but still…we are talking a significant amount of money to help launch this young ladies musical career.

You can skip the rest of this if you’d rather just watch me explain it in this YouTube video…or you can do both, but you’ll probably find the information in both places. There will be plenty of links in this post and in the description box of my video.

Voting is easy! Just go to THIS site and find Christina Maria. (Order of Artists will vary)
Click on her face
Scroll to the bottom and Click “Next”

The next page will ask for:
Your Name
Your Email Address
Your City
And to verify you have blood running through your veins and aren’t a robot voting machine a Captcha will ask you to type the words you see in the image.
Click Submit and you are done!

Thanks so much for helping. Christina will personally thank everyone with cupcakes in a door to door tour across the word if she wins. Ok, I made that last part up, but if you truly love the music you hear from her and want to hear more then this money would really help! Feel free to share this contest with others. Link my blog, or her Facebook Event, or my Video…or anything that could possibly bring some more votes her way.

VOTE HERE

Links!!!
Christina Maria’s Homepage
Myspace
Twitter

FREE DOWNLOAD OF CAROLINA

Facebook Event

She is…

She is full.
Full of love.
Full of beauty.
Full of a great sense of duty.

Full of life.
Full of passion.
Full of art in every fashion.
But there is no room for me.

She could tease.
She could please.
She could bring me to my knees.
But she keeps me standing here.

She is free.
Free to live.
Free to sing.
Free to kill with every sting.

She could kiss.
She could hiss.
She could give me so much bliss.
But our love she just lets go.

Week #8,9 & 10 Photo A Day Challenge

HOLY WOW!!! I got really behind here! Time to catch up. Enjoy 3 weeks of photos! Some are good…some are not so good, but I’ve managed to stick to it…so far.

August 8th: #50

Took some photos for church today. Went around to some of the classes and the childcare. It’s easier to take pictures of kids. They love cameras. Adults on the other hand get all weirded out.

August 9th: #51

The Bowe’s dog again. This time we’re inside and she’s posing for me with the sweet curtain backdrop! I really do like this shot though!

August 10th: Photo #52

We are having an Open House for our Distance Profs on campus tomorrow so we were setting stuff up for it today. This was our little display table with business cards, programs, and some frames of relevant stuff. The Open House flyer you see framed in the background I designed as well.

August 11th: Photo #53

This is literally the only photo I took today. Stopped at a light…that was actually green (I was in the turning line and no one was behind me.) I snapped this shot out my window.

August 12th: Photo #54

Make a wish! This was the only photo I took all day. As you can see. I barely even got it in before the day was up! If only I had taken this yesterday…on the 11th!

August 13th: Photo #55

My friend Chris bought a hookah and we were trying it out for the first time. As I waited over a week to post this I don’t recall what flavor it was.

August 14th: Photo #56

Dave and Jessy’s cat soaking up some rays with his head propped up on a CD case.

August 15th: Photo #57

Probably not the best photo I took all day, but how could I pass up on the opportunity to embarrass some friends?

August 16th: Photo #58

Sunset I drove way way way out of the way to try and find a good spot to take a picture of it…this about sums up how successful I was! Not to mention gravel roads for a few miles that have left me car looking pretty dirty!

August 17th: Photo #59

I LOVE LAMP!

August 18th: Photo #60

Trying out a technique I had read about online. All you do it take off your basic crappy kit lens…turn it around and hold to the front of your camera and you get a basic crappy Macro Lens!

August 19th: Photo #61

Stuck on a Macro kick I took this of the wood grain on my dresser.

August 20th: Photo #62

I loved how the sunset was kind of reflecting off the siding of my neighbors. I’ve really enjoyed the sunsets this summer. I feel like I’ve taken a ton of sky shots!

August 21th: Photo #63

Shady part of Rolla? Maybe! Josh was getting some money at the ATM across from this tattoo place. This one didn’t turn out so well, but I only took a few pics tonight and I didn’t like any of them.

August 22th: Photo #64

I told you I love lamp….where you not listening?

August 23th: Photo #65

MORE LIGHTS!!! Sorry, I’m mostly just getting lazy and taking some pics of stuff around the house before I got to bed! haha.

August 24th: Photo #66

I’ve noticed it’s hard to get a good pic of the moon at night, but if you can get it while it’s still kind of light out it helps…still would have been better had I had my telephoto with me. Next time perhaps.

August 25th: Photo #67

I hate going to work early…and by early I mean when most people probably go to work 🙂 Twice a week I go in at 11:30am…the other days are 8am and 7:15am. There is one good thing about the morning though. Morning light is fantastic. Great for photos.

August 26th: Photo #68

I convinced Josh to go on a Donut King run late tonight and had to get a pic of our spoils!

August 27th: Photo #69

Oh hi Dave!

August 28th: Photo #70

Addie is sleepy!! This is Dave and Jessy’s dog Addie. Apparently she thinks she can just take a nap anywhere!

Water: We Take it for Granted

It’s amazing how much we take water for granted here in the United States. I have 3 toilets in my house. 3 Showers. 4 sinks. 1 Dish Washer. 1 Washing Machine. And at least 2 outdoor water spickets. I work at a campus with 100s of bathrooms, water fountains for drinking water, and a sprinkler system.

So it’s hard to believe that there are “884 million people that lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people.” and “3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.” People are dying from water and the lack of a place to take care of human waste properly. All while we can simply turn a faucet in our home to get a glass of water and turn to the fridge to drop in some fresh ice cubes. “An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.”

Quotes taken from here: Water.org

Now why am I talking about this? Well, I’ve got a friend that has been involved with these water issues for a few years now. She’s traveled to many of these areas with poor water quality to bring them filters and teach them about proper sanitation. You can check her blog out here! Erin Swanson I’m writing in particular to plug a contest she is currently entered. The winner of the contest will get $15,000 donated to their charity of choice. Erin’s would be Water.org. You can read some of her blog and check out Water.org’s mission statement etc. to see more about what they do. The cool thing about this contest is that every vote for her blog P&G (The sponsors of this contest) will be donating a days worth of drinking water (2L) to someone in a developing country. So even if she doesn’t win your vote is still helping!

To vote just visit her site. HERE! At the top of this blog post you’ll see a little widget that says, “VOTE FOR THIS BLOGGER” Just enter your email address and click that button. You’ll receive an email and all you have to do is confirm your vote and you’re done. You can do this once a day and the contest ends on the 27th.

She’s currently in 4th place and needs something like 2,000 votes to surpass the leader…who will also continue to be getting votes. So if you like what you see spread the word and lets help her win this thing. If not we helped get some drinking water to a few hundred people. She’s currently got 595 votes!

Again here are the links.
Erin’s Blog
Water.org
Water Facts

*Pictures taken by Erin Swanson in her travels to Bangladesh

Week #7 Photo A Day Challenge

Behind again! I suck! Missed Song of the Day as well. I’ll have a couple songs this Wednesday and also Week #8 Photos before the weekend.

August 1st: Photo #43

Grass! Freshly cut…do I really need to explain this. It’s green! There are lines. My favorite part about mowing is the design in the grass that is left.

August 2nd: Photo #44

I went to my local music store today where I purchased a harmonica. Something I hope to start playing. I couldn’t leave without snapping some shots of the store.

August 3rd: Photo #45

Treating myself to some ice cream with brownie cookie. In celebration of Joining the gym today!

August 4th: Photo #46

Every Wednesday we’ve been going to Applebee’s for Trivia Night. Three 3rd place finishes in a row! Dang it. Still good times. Matt is vigoriously writing down our answer on the “marker board”. Oh…and hellow mister Brewtus Glass.

August 5th: Photo #47

Croquet in the dark calls for Tiki Torches!!!

August 6th: Photo #48

Cool antique Organ that has been passed down from my mom’s side of the family. It’s a little out of tune…and as you can see some of the keys are falling apart, but it does still work!

August 7th: Photo #49

Went on a float trip today so I definitely did not take my DSLR. This was just a quick shot I took from my cheaper Pocket Videocamera. This shot explains most of the day. It was a perfect day to be on the river!

Week #6 Photo A Day Challenge

I am a lazy bum! Here’s last weeks photos!

July 25th: Photo #36

Sorry if you are getting sick of seeing me! There was a full moon tonight so it was really light out. I tried to take some pics of the moon, but it just becomes a huge halo of light!…it would be better to take a pic of the moon of a really big telescopic lens…which I don’t have…and can’t afford.

July 26th: Photo #37

Saw this building awhile back. Thought it would make a good shot with all the ivy and stuff on it. I was just having some fun with some weird colors and this is what I ended up doing. I liked the purpley sky!

July 27th: Photo #38

Hanging out with Augie and Nathan the other night and snapped a quick shot for the photo of the day.

July 28th: Photo #39

Been raining a lot lately. The storm was coming in over my office. Took this picture as I was coming back from dinner.

July 29th: Photo #40

Went to my mom’s work to take some photos of students doing a “Water Walk” for some physics class or something…I was a bit late and they were all just swimming by the time I got there. So on my way out I took a picture of some of the mats that cover the basketball court when there are events going on.

July 30th: Photo #41

Yep…another stormy sky pano! This time, after realizing it is kind of hard to match up a 6 photo panorama I got the brilliant idea to just take the photos vertically! So that’s exactly what I did. This is a 4 photo pano with all the shots taken vertically. I think it turned out pretty good!

July 31st: Photo #42

Today I watched my BFF from high school get married. She looked gorgeous…so much so that her husband teared up when she was walking down the aisle. For his sake I posted a photo were he’s not crying :). Congratulations to you both. I’ll post a full album soon. My pictures aren’t great cause I was using a zoom lens and I hate taking flash at weddings.

Song of the Day 8/04/10 – The Future Freaks Me Out by Motion City Soundtrack

 

It’s here it’s here! Humpday Humming…ok this isn’t much of a song to hum to, but I felt like busting a move instead! I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last post. Whoops sorry. My last post was last weeks song of the day. Anyway, upward and onward!

Love me some Motion City Soundtrack! I’ve been picking a lot of slower acousticy type stuff that is probably boring you to sleep at your office computer! So here’s a little pick me up for your Wednesday…let’s get you over that hump and ready for the weekend! This band is a much more energetic band than the last few I’ve posted and if you are familiar with more popular music you’ve probably heard of them. If you haven’t then I’m ashamded to be your friend…JOKES! All is well though, cause now you are going to get a chance to check them out.

Also from now on when I post my song of the day I’ll be posting the current position that band is in on my Top Artist on Last.fm as well as the number of plays by that band. Stats will look like this.

#37 Motion City Soundtrack – 130 plays

Enough chit chat! Here’s a video to their song The Future Freaks Me Out by Motion City Soundtrack

Lyrics:

I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
Go!

Betty won’t stop listening to modern rock
How she hates to be alone
I try to compensate her lack of love with coffee cake
Ice cream and a bottle of ten dollar wine she says hey
I rock the Haro sport
I rock the cow girl blues
I rock too fast for love I’m footloose in my Velcro shoes
What’s up with Will and Grace?
I don’t get drum and bass
The future freaks me out

I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste our time together
Yeah, ‘cause we can get down

Betty can’t quit carving question marks in my wrist
How come we’re so alone
We waste away the days with nicotine and television samples
From an era we hate to admit we embrace
We fail to represent
We fail to be content
We fail at everything we ever even try to attempt
And so the story goes
As only Betty knows
It’s time to take control
(Get Down)

I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste my time with her

Betty, I need you
I miss you
I’m so alone without you
To call up on the weekends with my cellular phone

Betty it’s so hard to relate
To the whole human race
I don’t know where to begin
I don’t know where to begin
If we can both find a way
To do the things that we say
We might not sit in our rooms
And drink our daydreams away
Betty, I’m a dreamer
I’m not a vicious schemer
Oh Betty won’t you.. ah fuck it

I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste our time together
Yeah, ‘cause we can get down.

Links:
Motion City Soundtrack Webpage
YouTube
Myspace
Facebook
Last.fm
Twitter
Wiki

Song of the Day 7/28/10 – Strong Enough by Kina Grannis

Yay! Humpday! Here’s your music for the day. I’ve been posting up these co-write things I’ve been doing for the Kina Grannis co-write contest and have failed to introduce you guys to her lovely music. I also realized I’ve yet to share with you all a female artist…and I’m a sucker for a girl that can play the guitar and sing like this!

I found Kina on YouTube and she’s got quite a following online because of her connection with her subscribers. She’ll make shoutouts on almost all her videos..birthday wishes, etc etc. After checking out her Wiki I found out she also won the Doritos Crash the Superbowl. Her first video one YouTube was for her entry for the DCtS in Nov. 2007.

You really just can’t help but fall in love with how sweet this girl is. You can tell from her videos that she’s just an amazing women and her music too is just candy to the ears!

The song of the day is Strong Enough by Kina Grannis. It’s off her newest album, Stairwells. I chose to use a video someone posted on YouTube of the actual album version as I like it better than the acoustic cover she does on her channel (the audio quality just isn’t up to my standards 🙂 ). The album songs great though. So here it is, and if you like, definitely go check out more of her videos…she does some creative things. I suggest watching the video to “Valentine”

Lyrics:
Welcome to the days of wariness
Where I’m feeling an echo inside my chest,
I’ve a heart beating impatiently long,
Waiting for the other half of it’s song
It’s song

[Chorus:]
No, it’s not enough
Don’t touch my hand and call it love
If you can’t hold it tight, tonight
If you’re not strong enough

And times have told the ways things come to light
Realizing a lack in your will to fight
Despite words crying at inconsistencies,
As you fall uneasily to your knees, your knees

[Chorus]

And I’m not blind to what you’re doing here
Make me feel like I’m special,
But my dear, I have seen through a weakness in your eyes
You don’t know it, but you’re telling me lies,
Me lies

And you will soon awake to see
There is no heart in anything you say to me
We thought we’d found a harmony, a perfect match of melodies
No, But if you listen closely now, I’ve been singing all alone

No, OooOoo…

[Chorus]

Strong enough, OooOoo…
Strong enough,
Strong enough,

[Chorus]

Strong enough, OooOoo…
Strong enough,
Strong enough…

Kina’s Links:
Kina’s Website
YouTube
Myspace
Facebook
Last.fm
Twitter
Wiki

Week #4 & #5 Photo a Day Challenge

Whoops! Sorry guys…I missed last weeks photo set. Well, I was gonna do it Wednesday night, but didn’t have time and by the time Thursday came around I just decided I’d do two weeks at once come the next week. So here are two weeks of photos. Enjoy.

July 11th: Photo #22

Sorry, another sunset/panorama. Couldn’t pass it up. Finally was able to get a 6 photo pano done successfully. It was another strange day in MO. Tornado sirens around 7 and torrential down pours. Then the sky cleared up some and you could see blue skies and the sun setting. Then it poured again.

July 12th: Photo #23

Had to run an errand for my step mom today and ended up her dad’s house with my camera. He’s a big hunter and actually just recently went on a Safari. He’s got 3 mounted bears in the basement and I really like this one. The other’s weren’t as threatening. One was a rug and the other didn’t have the arms and claws!

July 13th: Photo #24

I only took like 10 photos as I walked from one building to another on campus today. This is a little fountain area that has some really tall grass by it.

July 14th: Photo #25

I drove out to the old farm house today. Heard the people that bought it from us moved out and it’s for sale so I figured no one would be there and I was right. Took pictures around the house and then trekked it through the woods to my favorite cedar tree. About half way up I found this little clump of moss/fungi. I thought it looked really cool. Especially the way the light was shinning on it. I wish the focus was a little better but what can you do when it’s 95+ degrees and like 110% Humidity! I was trying not to sweat all over my camera! I like it nonetheless though!

July 15th: Photo #26

Libby is such a happy dog. Was taking some pictures around the house when one of neighbors was walking her dog up the road. It’s rare that she’s being still. I have like 10 shots before this one that are all blurry cause she was jumping and wagging her tail! 🙂

July 16th: Photo # 27

Jakob and Nathan at Ted Drewes! I had a couple other pics from today, but this one was just too adorable not to post! 🙂

July 17th: Photo #28

The crew visited my buddy Travis at the Farmers Market located in some park in St. Louis. Afterwards we hung around and played some Bocce Ball with this strange bean bag set. Jakob here is displaying their stacking capabilities!

July 18th: Photo #29

I didn’t get out of STL till 10pm tonight and on the way home realized I hadn’t taken a single picture all day. There was some crazy clouds going on and they seemed to vertically split the sky in half. The moon just happened to be right on the dividing line. There was also a ton of heat lightning going on in the storm. It lit up the clouds my whole ride home. Was quite beautiful actually.

 

 

July 19th: Photo #30

I saw a friend post a picture of a light bulb during his 365 challenge and so I thought I’d give it a go. Now I’m starting to wonder if it was actually one in his picture…as this really hurt. I was seeing spots for awhile afterwards! I would suggest not taking pics of light bulbs that are turned on!

 

 

July 20th: Photo #31

I’m running out of ideas folks…especially when I don’t take my camera to work and I get off at 10pm! Tonight I took some pictures of kitchen appliances!

July 21st: Photo #32

Been storming a lot lately. Makes for some nice night shots though. Everything is shiny!

July 22nd: Photo #33

You know I’m getting desperate and have neglected my Photo a Day when you see pictures of myself. It was like 11:45pm and I realized I hadn’t taken a single picture yet…so this is what you get!

July 23rd: Photo #34

Another late night attempt at getting in a photo for the day. I was on the floor taking pictures of my guitar and they weren’t turning out very good. I need some nice lights! I was getting frustrated and decided to take pictures of myself again.

July 24th: Photo #35

Today was Life in a Day, put on by YouTube. People all over the world were supposed to film what they were doing today and send the footage in for the largest user-based feature film. So needless to say, I was filming with my little Kodak Zi8 camera and didn’t have my DSLR all day. So I took this shot with my phone when I was hanging out at the recently opened Benton Square.