Owner: nicholasfiedler.com/blog URL:http://nicholasfiedler.com/blog Join Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:40:58 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: I am a twenty-something married man living in the heartland of the American South. My blog walks through my spiritual journey and my married life and acts as a compliment to my music and my podcast. The Nick and Josh Podcast on iTunes. Site statistics:Click here
Election Day "06 2006-10-22 17:38:00 Election
day is just around the corner and once again the American People have the awesome ability to decide who they want to represent them (unless you are a minority, then your ability could be slightly hindered).
The big question this year is, “Will the self-proclaimed Party of Inclusion continue to hold both the Senate and House?”
See here is the thing about the party of inclusion, apparently they ‘include’ young men, and then cover up said ‘inclusion’. Granted, it was only textual correspondence and not a physical ‘Clintonian’ error, but it was of the homosexual nature, so by the Right’s judgement that should be worse. If there had been a marriage proposal from the congressman, Democrats would have taken over both the House and Senate.
So I will end the rant with this. We live in the best country in the world. (’Best’ as defined, by the American definition of ‘best’). Our country is so awesome we can Read more:Election Day
The Blogosphere collides with the Realworldosphere! 2006-10-20 18:24:03
This weekend Leslie and I will meet a couple we have never met before, not in real life. Tank and Jessica are friends from Tulsa. They are blog friends. We have talked on the phone, on video chats, and on blogs, but we have never met.
They are driving to Birmingham today and we are driving them to Atlanta to meet Josh and Anna.
We will show them ATL and they may move there.
Saturday night I will get together with The Jonathan Band and play/speak at The Warehouse. If you’re in ATL come eat with me at The Warehouse at 6.00pm.
Read more:Blogosphere
Lost Discussion 2006-10-19 21:22:56
Josh is talking about Lost. You can weigh in over on his blog for discussion. (Spoiler warning)
Read more:Discussion
Post-Modern Sensitivity 2006-10-19 16:27:00 Josh mentioned some writing in the Times on Barak Obama in his recent post here. There were a couple paragraphs from his book that I loved. I pasted them below.
[And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I’ve ever known. She had an unswerving instinct for kindness, charity, and love, and spent much of her life acting on that instinct, sometimes to her detriment. Without the help of religious texts or outside authorities, she worked mightily to instill in me the values that many Americans learn in Sunday school: honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work. She raged at poverty and injustice.
Most of all, she possessed an abiding sense of wonder, a reverence for life and its precious, transitory nature that could properly be described as devotional. Sometimes, as I was growing up, she would wake me up in the middle of the night to have me gaze at a particularly spectacular moon, or she would Read more:Modern
, Sensitivity
Red Hits 2006-10-18 18:23:18
The new AID’s iPod is out. (Is it just me or does it look like an ad for Target?) 50 percent of the net profit goes to a campaign to fight AIDS in Africa. Of course the only way we can get people to give money to Africa is if it benefits them, but you know what, that’s okay, we are consumeristic people and why not make products that benefit others. Shouldn’t our products do that instead of put work on little children and pay them nothing. Maybe our consumerism can be redeemed if it supports fair trade. Ehh???
Want to buy things that help people?
Here are some ideas. JoinRed.com, Ten Thousand Villages, Pura Vida Coffee, Buy Blue.
Any others that you would recommend?
Christianity for the Rest of Us: A Review 2006-10-17 23:21:48
Diana Butler Bass has just released a helpful book for those of us who think Christianity
may be doomed because of the picture that has been painted for it by the conservative religious right. Her latest book is a case study of mainline congregations all across the United States that are growing, working, accepting, and progressing. Over the course of several years she travels from congregation to congregation to learn and write about the emerging mainline church.
She reports that these growing communities aren’t supported by newer music types, candle light, or better marketing teqniques, but rather a communal feel that focuses on tradition, openess, acceptance, justice, contemplation, and questions.
What I love about the book is that it is not meant for you to read, consume, and model your church after - the type of consumeristic books that the programatic church has been eating up for way too long. It sees no need to present a “How-to” diagram for your particular c
The Warehouse 2006-10-17 15:50:46
Dresdow came up with a poster for this Saturday at The Warehouse
. You’re all invited, and we will probably grab some dinner before hand, if you are interested. The trip to Georgia will be quick and full, we are taking some Tulsa-ians over there and Leslie has engagement pictures to take, and we are practicing all day Saturday - so dinner time on Saturday is the only time I have to hang out. Come eat with us if you are in Georgia. We will leave to get dinner at about 6.00 or 6.15 from The Warehouse.
Let me know if you want to eat with us.
Kenya: At the Movies 2006-10-16 19:34:41 My sister started a post-buyout YouTube account and uploaded some Kenya
n Videos. Enjoy.
Stepping out of retirement! 2006-10-15 00:03:50 This morning at 10.00AM this group of guys got together to play music.
We worked on music that will one day compose the greatest Post-Christian Concept Album ever recorded. It will be post-christian, primarily because the story is a retelling of an old Jewish story - Hosea and Gomer. Though it comes out of a Biblical Narrative, the story will take on new flesh and a new cultural background. It will be post-christian in the musical sense. I believe Christian Music as a genre, has sort of left many wanting, this will be something that may have roots in a Christian Music scene, but is something that has moved beyond that.
Next Saturday night I will play at The Warehouse in Atlanta, GA with this group. (7.30 PM, directions here)
Come here me tell you all my thoughts of God, and play with some talented musicians. I think from 6.30-7.30 me and the band are getting some food somewhere around this church, if you want to meet up get in touch.
Read more:Stepping
, retirement
Gen. Wesley Clark, Leslie, and Me 2006-10-13 15:06:26 Leslie called me yesterday as I was on my way to an official Wells Fargo Financial night of food and bowling, and told me that Four Star General WesleyClark
was coming to her work place today and speaking.
It was worth waking up at an ungodly hour to shake hands with a past and future Presidential Canidate. I had the laptop ready for a podcast then and there, but when you are with someone like that, I can’t just pull out a laptop and ask for an interview.
We also met the Commisioner for the State of Alabama, oh and Brian T. Murphy was there.
Post Script - That tie is Italian Silk, purchased by my inlaws on a recent trip to Italy.
Read more:Leslie
, Wesley Clark
Carman 2006-10-24 18:46:13 When we had a small blog party tlast weekend in Atlanta.(Leslie, Tank, Jessica, Josh, and Anna)
Some of us recalled growing up with the christian music sensation - Carman. (Ht. Wiki). I had all of Carman’s records, and most of his VHS music video’s. He is awesome.
Here is a particular favorite.
Updating Daily 2006-10-24 17:53:14 In a constant effort to make my blog link to more outside information I have updated the “About Nick” page. Now all of my favorite books are linked to a corresponding Amazon page so you can read about what the book is about.
In the next few days I may be able to link bands and movies, but one at a time.
I also added a small ‘Book Pile’ on the side bar so you could see what I was reading. No pictures, I don’t want my sidebar to get too busy.
Read more:Daily
I Kicked the Myspace Addiction. 2006-10-28 23:08:43 Myspace was a great idea. It combined the love of the internet, the want for community, and the stalkers spirit into one large playground where people could find other people, blog, and put a ton of crap on a noisey advertisement driven page.
I had one of these accounts for a year or two and I have officially kicked the addiction. There are a few reason I have kicked it. 1)It is advertisement driven in a really ugly, pop-up, sexy-ad way. 2)The only reason I had it in the first place was to get my music online for free. 3)I spend too much time checking my mail, my myspace, my blog, my facebook, and all that jazz, I am cutting back. 4) Lastly Rubert Murdoch owns it now and he is evil.
So thank you for being my friend online, but now I will try to bring all the sites you have to visit to experience nicholasfiedler.com to the blog and the main page.
The sealing of the deal was this little WordPress Plugin that lets my let you listen to my music. It is in the top right on the sidebar. I o
I am a card carrying Green Peace member. (greenapple) 2006-10-27 16:30:41
I am a card carryingGreenPeace
member and I also love Apple and I support environmental responsiblility. Look to see if you should send Steve Jobs a message.
There are some things about the arguments Green Peace
uses that is typical Green Peace bad reasoning. Such as:
Product take back
A basic environmental principle is that if you make and sell a product you should be responsible for that product when it is no longer wanted. This is also a basic rule for children: you clean up your own mess.
Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) both support this principle, which goes by the very grown-up name of Individual Producer Responsibility.
I don’t know if that is an environmental principle, but I think when a consumer buys a product he or she is responsible for getting rid of that product and they should do that in a way that won’t affect our children and grandchildren in a negative way. Apple is not responsible for me cleanly trashing my iPod’s. However maybe the arguement could
How (Not) To Speak of God 2006-10-26 16:42:11 Ken Haynes, of Birmingham Cohort fame, gave me this link with discussion about the Pete Rollins book that is taking the world by storm.
Financial Panther 2006-10-25 16:42:54
I work in the Financial
Sector these days. I am enjoying learning about finances. My wife and I have been saving like crazy since we got married and financial stability is something that I have come to love.
Working in finances, I pay attention to financial news more than I used to. I always used to listed to Market Place on NPR, but now I listen when they do the numbers, I watch what prime on housing is and I notice when it moves up. So listening to finance news I heard about the Nobel Peace Prize winner. I heard he was an economist, and a banker at that.
Apparently something called a micro-loan is the rave over in places like India now. These are small loans sometimes less than a dollar, to help struggling buisnesses get started. This man found a way to accomplish what the christian church should have figured out a long time ago.
Here is the story.
Kiva is a christian organization that is working to better the world through no interest loans.
Amen.
Read more:Panther
Driscoll 2006-10-30 15:30:18
It’s a good thing we have Mark Driscoll to explain everything for us in interviews with no undershirt and a trendy californian neckless ehh?
2.8 Podcast is up 2006-10-31 02:13:46
Rumors are flowing like wine around the water coolers about The Nick and Josh Podcast
. Come hear the truth for yourself.
Pictures From the Workplace/Green Peace Correction 2006-10-31 23:21:30
Do you get things like this from your clients? Well we don’t either, this is another store, but still.
On an unrelated note:
Mud Puppy gave me this link Apple Recycling. It beat’s just taking care of the environment, it talks about discounts.
Read more:Green
, Pictures
, Workplace
, Peace
, Green Peace
I hope this was drug induced and not Spirit induced 2006-11-02 00:25:14 Bible-toting teen dies after cops stun-gun him
This is scary if he was juiced up ‘in the spirit’ because of all the implications that could be talked out regarding the will of god and the dispersion of his spirit, but it is just plain sad if it is drug related. Well, it is sad either way.
And here is a link for 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists.
Brian T Murphy = Theology of Hope 2006-11-02 18:42:31 Brian T. Murphy
, of Briarwood Christian High School fame, writes a post that is suprisingly deep, though he tries his best to act like he isn’t. He talks about the community that is established on Satan’s Birthday. Amen?
Read more:Brian
Dangerous Beauty: A Movie Review 2006-11-03 16:52:05
When I studied English at the University of Alabama we read some Venetian poetry during a few of my poetry classes one of the poets we read was Veronica Franco. She was a cortigiana onesta or intellectual courtesan.
This movie is a pretty awesome look at what women in 16th century Venice had to do to get access to freedom that men enjoyed. The shots of Venice are nice, the dialogues are good, the love story is Shakespearian, and there are a lot of breasts in the film (if that sways you either way). One of the best scenes in the movie is probably when she is on trial for witchcraft and the way the trial plays out in relation to the role of a particular community and the role of the absolute church.
On the Netflix rating I gave it a 3 out of 5, but I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 if it were possible.
“When we too are armed and trained, we can convince men that we have hands, feet, and a heart like yours; and although we may be delicate and soft, some men who are delicate are also s Read more:Beauty
, Movie Review
I'm on YouTube 2006-11-06 15:31:04 This is a video Mike and I did for YoungLife back in the day. Somehow someone got it and put it on YouTube
. It was also on Attack of The Show, on the Tech Channel. It’s amazing how things just surface these days.
So-damn Insane 2006-11-07 00:23:55 Killing terrorists only makes more terrorists. The United States Government is praising the decicion to hang Sadam. The one thing that was suppose to make the world safer may actually tear Iraq apart even more. Iraqi’s are already up in arms about the decision, some pro-noose, some anti-noose.
Surf my blogroll to the right and I am sure most of my friends are talking about it. Josh and Jamie have already put some thoughts down.
To me it comes down to the fact that nothing you can do to Sadam can bring anyone back. It may also be impossible for humans to create/give something called Justice from a space where their decision is completely blind like the lady on the steps on our Supreme Court.
We are all flawed and our opinions and decisions are blurred by so many things including our own wrong. Killing one terrorist doesn’t make the world a better place, it helps fuel the world as a bitter place. It teaches wives, children, and victims at large to find solace in death.
Love
So-damn Insane (Part II) 2006-11-07 19:46:34 Okay, so if we dropped the idea that execution is not the best way to deal with Saddam and we give those with that type of Judicial Ideology space to hang. Should we hang some other people on that same gallow?
Read moore here.
WordPress Question, One Campaign 2006-11-08 17:21:08 So I was skeptical about the One Campaign
at first, then I heard Bread for the World talk for about an hour on the subject on the Emergent Podcast and I am sold. Even if it is trendy.
But for the love of god can someone tell me how to get rid of the border around my website band image in the top right? I use wordpress and I host the site myself. Any ideas?
Read more:Question
Thanks America! I love you again. 2006-11-08 18:18:31 We are taking back the country and telling Bush we don’t approve of him. Our job isn’t over. We complete it by holding the Democrat’s responsible and telling our Senators why we voted this way. Amen?
ALSO: Sources tell CNN Defense Sec Rummy is stepping down. The vote has already started changing the face of this administration. Rummy don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
Here is a tidbit from Mike:
November 8th, 2006
Friends,
You did it! We did it! The impossible has happened: A majority of America
ns have soundly and forcefully removed Bush’s party from control of the House of Representatives. And, sometime today perhaps, we may learn that the same miracle has happened in the Senate. Whatever the outcome, the American people have made two things crystal clear: End this war, and stop Mr. Bush from doing any more damage to this country we love. That is what this election was about. Nothing else. Just that. And it’s a message that has sent shock waves Read more:Thanks
Podcast 2.9 is up with Heretic Spencer Burke 2006-11-10 16:04:06
Josh and I are back up and running. We hit the ground with a great podcast interview with heretic SpencerBurke
author of A Heretic
’s Guide to Eternity and creator of The Ooze. The interview is filled with energy and chatter we think you’ll enjoy. We also have some breaking news about Solarize ‘07. Check it out.
Read more:Podcast
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