Category: blogging

I know I promised last week that there would be a song (this past Friday) and that did not happen. I apologize. We are currently involved in a pretty substantial project at work – changing over the internal structure and routing of our sound system. It is taking more of my time than I anticipated. Unfortunately songwriting and blogging do not currently pay my bills so I have to defer to work at this point.

• I knew you’d understand, but wanted you to know that I’m…

• Sometime I would love to spend a lazy day reading a Kindle in one of these futuristic looking loungers (Nestrest). Unfortunately I have neither the Kindle nor the Nestrest, so here’s to dreaming –

• What if logos really told the truth? This photo set by Viktor Hertz illustrates his point perfectly –

• Remember “UP” the movie? Thanks to National Geographic it has become a reality. Amazing how a story inspired others to try the impossible. Click on the picture (below) to read more about this amazing feat.

• Parents, this is what happens when you don’t watch Star Wars with your kids. Funny stuff here.

• Amazing artistry with books. And to think that this accountant never thought of himself as “creative” or “artistic” – makes me wonder what YOU could do?

• 5-in-5 (5 songs written in 5 days) begins next week and so far we have 5 people signed up for the challenge! If you’re interested just send me an email or leave a comment below. I’ll provide you with all the details this Friday.

• Do you have any great Easter plans yet? I believe our family will be celebrating this year at Felicity’s grandparents’ house. There will be a wonderful dinner, sometimes a hymn sing-along, and always a big Easter Egg Hunt for young and old. If you are looking for a way to change up your egg hunt this year, you might consider this advice –

• Good post about what every Creative needs. Do you have something like this? If not, who around you should be helping you with this? (hint: you’ve got to read to figure this out)

• Crazy creative playing of a Bach Contata on a “Forest Xylophone”. ‘What’s that’ you might be asking? Take 3 minutes to watch this – you will be glad you did. Have a great week & see you Friday!

DJ

• Came across this video (from 1999) starring the creative team from IDEO.  Intriguing to watch these creatives at work and see what dynamics make their team successful. This is a 3 part video, but well worth the 20 minutes when you have a chance.

• Thinking about doing a 7-in-7 challenge soon.  Basically you commit to writing (and roughly recording) 7 songs in 7 days. Anyone interested in doing this? Or we could do a 5-in-5?

• We are starting our meetings for our 4th of July Open House this week. Already have ideas brewing and thanks to this app I have been able to capture my production ideas even more effectively; however, I have heard you can do this same thing with a pencil and paper.

• This one’s pretty important – Avacado season has arrived – but I know you’re not excited yet.  So to help you, here’s a simple recipe to make a version just like Chipotle’s. We had this Sunday night and it was fantastic! Now feel the excitement.

• Watched “The Pixar Story” this weekend on Netflix.  Another amazing team of individuals and their dedication to perseverance, creativity and story-telling. If you need a little inspiration then definitely check this out.

• Our next door neighbors moved in last week and are settling in well. They don’t seem to mind that we all continually visit them and stare….

 

• On a layover in Germany (on the way home from India) I saw two cute little kids being pulled through the airport riding this über cool luggage. Fun.

• Made an awesome connection last week thanks to my wife, prayer, putting myself out there and taking a chance “asking”.  I told you last week I was going to and I’m so glad I did.  Also, I do promise to tell you the whole story at another time once I know a few more “confirmed” details.

• See you on Friday for some new music!  Nope, not joking.

• And seriously, does anyone want to do 7-in-7? or 5-in-5? Let me know!

DJ

• Amazing weekend with the boys of findingBethel at Silver Dollar City – thanks for all your kind words!

• Felicity and I started weight watchers 3 weeks ago and are starting to find fun ways for our family to eat lighter. This newsletter supplied us with this great tasting pizza  

(which we ate last night) and has become one of the new ways we’re simplifying our lifestyle change. So many great ideas from Hungry Girl.

• The future is here, but I wonder if we will have to invest in Windex-by-the-gallon.

• Do you like free books?  If so, Steven Pressfield is offering the Kindle version of his upcoming book “Do The Work” for free. Once it releases it will be downloaded to your device/app. The WHY of why this book is free is even more interesting and could be a game changer.  It is well explained here.

• Fun site of the day: if your bladder is full and you happen to be at the movie theatre but don’t want to miss the show then pull up this site on your mobile browser.  It will tell you which spot in the movie would be a good time for a break & how much time your break lasts.  It also gives you a brief synopsis of what you are missing. I used this with my kids when we took them to “Toy Story 3” and they thought it was very cool – so did I.

• Today is TOMS One Day Without Shoes Event. You can learn more about the cause and what they are trying to do here.

• If you didn’t see my friend Jason Soderlund’s Custom Wood Work from the comment section of last Monday’s post, then you need to check it out. Very cool work Jason!

• “How much money does David Barrett make when CBS plays “One Shining Moment” every year?” – what I wondered at the end of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship last night, so I looked up his story. Interestingly, the song became famous because of the action he took next. After writing it he passed it off to a friend (who worked at CBS) who then passed it off to the CBS Sports Creative Director. The rest is history. The moral: sometimes you  have to make the “ask” because a friend/relative/acquaintance is the gateway to help you get where you cannot go on your own.

• Last thought for today – after this past weekend  I realized I have some “asks” to make.  What asks do you need to make that you keep putting off? What’s the worst answer someone can give you – “no”? And yes, I’m mostly encouraging myself here, but hopefully it helps you as well!

DJ

• Thankfully I didn’t personally have to pick winners from all the entrants of the Gungor CD Giveaway because random.org did it for me.  Thank you to everyone who entered  and congratulations to Lori Forbis, Jeremy Oehring, & Carol York on winning the free CDs!!

• Saw Gungor in concert on Saturday night for my wife’s birthday – AMAZING! If you have the chance to attend one of their Beautiful Things events, do it – you won’t regret it!

• Started reading “Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln” this past week. It is written by James C. Humes, the former Presidential speech writer for Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, & Bush, Sr.  So many thought provoking and behind-the-scenes stories of histories greatest speakers/leaders.

• Has anyone tried THESE Starbuck’s Petites yet? Looking forward to the next time I have to go to the Quincy Starbucks.

• I have recently been picking up a few freelance jobs designing/setting up blogs for friends. Plus, I just found a great freelance designer who is going to start helping me with the design elements I cannot do. Anyone want a blog built? I’ll take your order (or answer questions for you) HERE.

• Because of these freelance jobs, I have been enjoying learning some new design, css, & html tricks from the guys over at Think Vitamin. Great site.

• I have been cooking like crazy lately, though I recently (accidentally) tried to poison us all with green potatoes.  Do not feed these to your family, I repeat, do not feed these to your family!  However, thanks to E-Mealz, our food budget and meal prep has become so ridiculously easy that I’m doing it.

• Someday I would love to have my own studio – I keep finding the artwork I will put in it.  This is what I’ve found so far – Matte Stephen’s Art, Society6, & anything by my favorite artist – Makoto Fujimura.  I already have a few cool art pieces from friends, but I’m always on the lookout.

• Our band, findingBethel, will be playing for Young Christians Weekend this upcoming weekend at Silver Dollar City on the Gazebo Stage. Hoping for great weather & divine connections.

• One more idea for you today – if you don’t read Michael Hyatt’s blog (he’s the Chairman & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers) then you should sign up for his Daily or Weekly email HERE.  He has great tips for being more productive and right now he’s giving away a FREE E-book called “Creating Your Personal Life Plan”.  It’s a short read on living intentionally and living with purpose.

I realize that Friday’s Post was a little intense but I wanted to truthfully share where I was living and hopefully challenge you too.  Today, as a follow-up to that post,  I wanted to share a few ways that I’ve come across that will allow you to help donate to people affected by the recent natural disasters around the world.

Ever since the earthquake in Japan occurred, I have been receiving daily emails from various friends and groups with possible ways to donate.  I thought I would share a few of them here.  Some involve purchasing a product (whose proceeds go to the Red Cross) while others are purely donation-based.  Please click the pictures below to see more of the details and to visit these various sites.

 

• from Mighty Wallet –

 

 

• from The Salvation Army –

 

 

• from Hillsong (for victims of the flooding) –

 

 

 

• from Puremagnetik (check this one out if you’re a musician) –

 

 

• from Amazon.com –

 

 

 

• from ShelterBox USA –

 

 

• from the American Red Cross –

 

 

• or you can Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10

 

I’m sure you know plenty of other ways to donate (and please feel free to list them below in the comments), these are just what I’ve come across so far.  I wanted to make sure and post these for those who are wanting to do something for those who have lost so much. Thank you for looking through these options and stopping by the blog.

DJ

thoughts from the weekend:

• Enjoyed my time in Fort Wayne last night at Imago Dei. Great to be with everyone on the trip & got to play with my drummer, Jayrod, which is always a great time.

• The Rutherford’s, who were our pilots last night, are amazing. And THIS was the size of the hail when we landed last night. Golf ball sized.

• Wrote a cool birthday-ish song 2 weeks ago for my sister Steph ON her birthday.  I wanted to post it for her (and you) Friday but our kids have been fighting the flu and that took precedence. Hoping to have it out by Wednesday.

• Over Christmas Felic & I saw some great Omaha photography at a local Stabucks.  Went to the photographer’s site this past week & fell in love with his work.

• Curious to see how this new church presentation software – Proclaim – works.  I could see multiple ways to use this software besides a service setting.

• Got my newest Toms (Christmas gift) this past week! I need it to warm up because wearing them with socks doesn’t feel right.

• Received some demo songs from worship leader friends Ruth & Jason this weekend.  Excited to sit down and listen to/work on the songs this week. I am a fan of collaboration and can’t wait to see how they turn out.

• If you are a creative, you should seriously look into Behance’s ACTION METHOD software (FREE).  It is helping me conquer my less-administrative side and getting my to-do’s checked off daily.

• Our band, findingBethel, will be playing at Silver Dollar City for Young Christians weekend in April. Looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones as well.

• This photo rocks me everytime I see it.  Powerful image & grateful for those who protect & serve our country!

• My friend (and brother-in-law) Ryan Long has two short films that were accepted into the Omaha Film Festival and will be showing this weekend! They are called “Sidewalk Chalk” & “Potluck”.  Both amazing & well produced.  Congratulations and good luck Ry!!

• Be on the lookout for a music giveaway later in March.  More details as we get closer to the date!

 

 

Just a few quick thoughts today:

• Getting ready (setlists, scheduling, rehearsals, etc.) for our upcoming Missions Conference 2011.  The next 2 weeks will be busy but great.

• Enjoyed this funny story from my father-in-law the other day.

• Have a Kindle or one of their apps? You may want to check out this book/deal Poke The Box from Seth Godin.  I did yesterday.

• Would you like to hear a new song I wrote?  I’m thinking of making a quick video of it over the next couple of nights. I’m self-imposing a deadline by this Friday so feel free to ask me about it – it helps!

• Speaking of videos, I started a series on creativity last year, but got sidetracked.  Restarting that series after the conference.

• Thanks to taxes, Felicity & I are out of credit card debt! Already feeling the freedom of not carrying that around anymore!

• Looking forward to Story ’11 conference in Chicago later this fall.  Currently working on a very cool place for friends/family to stay while we attend.

• Taking Felicity and friends/family to a Gungor concert for her birthday.  Making memories!

• My Mom visited us last week.  Completely enjoyed spending time with her and realized (after she left) how our time together had re-energized me.  Amazing – do you have people who do this for you?  Are you someone who does this for others? This is one of my new goals for 2011.