Happy Sunday... i've been doing a little bit of work and such here as i try not to melt away in the heat, but i thought i'd take a quick time out to chat up the two books i finished reading yesterday... hopefully, i'll have a chance to talk about a few other things tomorrow or the next day - we saw Wall-E and there's plenty to talk about - but today it's all about the books... off we go...

CHARACTER
to the tune of Instead of a Show - Jon Foreman

Character Makes a Difference, by Mike Huckabee

I had been looking forward to reading this book for a while now and once i started, it was hard to put it down... a large part of the book talks about how Gov. Huckabee became the governor of Arkansas and it appropriately begins in the midst of the action which is where character is revealed... it also talks a lot about the factors that effect and tend to squash the development of character in the world today, as well as Huckabee's thoughts and policies regarding them...

I'd say that the book is a cross betwen a biography and a societal self-help book and it proved to be enjoyable and easy to read... reminded me several times of why i supported the Governor's bid as a presidential candidate...

SPREADING THE WORD
to the tune of Word of Mouth - John Reuben The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II, by Dave Balter

This one is more of a nerdy book, but since it was a free PDF download and since i seem to have marketing and advertising in my blood somewhere, it piqued my curiosity and i feel somewhat rewarded for having read it... It did seem at times as though the author was simply trying to prove that Word of Mouth Marketing really is a viable form of marketing, and that he was trying a little too hard to establish himself as a pioneer in the field, but there were plenty of gems tucked away in the pages including a nice explanation of the shared community experience, the history of the Top 40 Charts, post purchase effects and the challenges of reaching a global audience...

I can't say that i know exactly when or how this information will come in handy, but it was really presented effectively and in such a way that it didn't feel like a textbook or an encyclopedia...

THE READING ROOM
to the tune of The Boys Are Back in Town - Thin Lizzie

Updated list for Mark Lee's Summer Reading Club... four down so far... on to my Father's Day present this year.. Boys Should Be Boys...

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon) [about 70 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker) [about 220 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus)
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE...

peace... love... bdg....

I'm happy to report that i'm feeling better... the last two and a half days actually, have shown steady improvement in my congestion and other ailments... i'm entirely done with coughing up phlegm (yes, that IS how you spell it) and blowing my nose until all the skin comes off... to balance things out, however, my email has been pretty screwy as of late... long story short, the client that i normally use has been compromised and as such, disabled for use, leaving me with a back-up program that is really lacking in a lot of ways... so if you've sent me an email since, say Friday and i've ignored it... i might not have gotten it... or i might have ignored it...

normally, i'd have a write up about last night's American Idol performance, but in fact, i didn't watch it last night... i'll be watching it tonight and i'm sure that i'll briefly comment on it, but maybe no one will care since it's a day late... and by no one, i mean moreso than normal... so that's that on that... i need a haircut, so i'm going to try to get through this in time to go get one before the day ends... so let's move on, shall we?

THROUGH THE WORMHOLE

This weekend included Daylight Spending Day and we were supposed to lose an hour, but i'm gonna tell you a secret... i think i managed to come off of the island in tact and in fact, i may have gained an hour's sleep... see, i woke up late, thinking that i had slept in until eight... however, i quickly learned that i had actually slept in until nine... by my math, i've beaten the system and gained an hour, but i still feel a little tired which doesn't make sense...

THE EIGHT DEPRESSION???

so, our economy is really in some rough shape right now... and there are a lot of folks saying that we may be in a recession or that we may be headed towards recession, but not too many people have mentioned the "d-word"... well, i'm going to... i mean, we've recently gone through a pretty booming, one might say "roaring" time period where all of our industries and businesses were booming... it wasn't that long ago that i was hearing reports of the stock market reaching record, previously unfathomable highs... yeah, it was just about a year ago...

and now... well, now the housing market stinks... gas prices are outrageous... inflation is out of control... and it simply doesn't look good... this nation of credit is, as far as i can tell, on the verge of going bust... i realize that the Fed just pulled the stock market up yesterday and i'm certainly not a financial guru, but it seems to me that all they've done is throw a bucket of water at the gaping hole in the side of the ship... i could be wrong, and i hope that i am, but i think we're in for some tough times...

CHARACTER FLAWS

speaking of tough times... and ironically enough, Van Morrison's "Your Cheatin' Heart" just came on in my iTunes... Governor Spitzer of New York, well, former Governor, is in the midst of a pretty rough scandal right now... apparently, he's spent something close to a hundred thousand dollars on prostitutes over the last couple years... this, from a guy who's made a living chasing down the bad guys and breaking up prostitution rings... they say that most of the time, you suffer from the same character traits that bother you most in other people... they also say that whoever exalts himself will be humbled...

this is obviously a sad story to watch play out as this man has all but ruined his life... (and for what?)... but interestingly enough, three books that i've recently begun reading or/listening to in audiobook format deal directly with character... they are:
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite
- Character Makes a Difference by Mike Huckabee
- Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy

It's always so interesting to note the timing of things...

AND THEN....

okay, i'm cutting this short... i've got more to talk about, including the Ortberg book, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and probably American Idol, but i really need a haircut... i'm going to see TobyMac, Jeremy Camp and Matthew Wests tomorrow and i simply can't have them laughing at my hair... back later...

peace... love... bdg...

So there are reviews i could be writing... there is a Left to Write i could be working on... there's a few features that i could be putting together... there's a lot that i could be doing right now... but, since i'm currently caught up in listening to Tesla's Great Radio Controversy which is one of my all time favorite rock albums... and since i've promised to write more here this week... i'm here, right now, working on that... i've got a lot to cover in between my coughing fits (what's up with that?)... so i suppose we should get to it... off we go...

GOOD LUCK, HUCK

So it is official, my boy Mike has left the building... the campaign run has ended... the GOP is flooding my inbox with requests for donations to the McCain campaign... All that's fine and well... i will support McCain over either of the Democratic nominees... but since this is the first time that i really got behind a candidate, much less followed the election progress this early in the process, it's pretty sad to see this result...

Don't get me wrong, i'm not one of those one-issue, my President must be a devout Christian who can recite the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer forwards and backwards or else our country is doomed forever... i like Mike's stance on family values, i like Mike's stand against abortion, i like that Mike isn't afraid to talk about Creation vs. Evolution even though it has nothing to do with the office of the President... i like all these things and more, but that's not entirely why i supported him and would've really liked to see him become President...

I was more impressed by his attitude of humility, his commitment to character, his persistence, his practicality and his ability to balance hope and reality... Look at the remaining candidates: Obama is running on the platform of hope... audacious hope to be exact... and that's great, but the problem is that he's so far skewed towards that sense of hope (at least the character he plays on TV is) that he and the media are completely ignoring the reality that surrounds him... this makes him naive and vulnerable... on the other side of things you have Hillary and McCain, both seasoned veterans in politics and life (i think that's a nice way to say "old" actually, but it's more than that)... they're both running on a platform of experience and realism... which is important, but somewhere along the line, they lost their sense of hope... the sense of wonder that draws people by the millions to this nation... they're so skewed in the direction of realism that they struggle to inspire others around them... if it comes down to the two of them, it'll be like a civil cold war (Hillary of course would represent communism in that analogy)... Mike exhibits both a sense of hope as well as a recognition of reality... that allows him to both inspire others as well as effectively handle the problems facing the day...

As far as policies, i agree with the idea of a fair tax... i agree with his desire to restore the US military and make certain that it is always seen as an honorable force to be reckoned with... i agree with his commitment to education and more specifically encouraging that the arts aren't pushed out of the educational experience... i love how, despite constantly getting skewered as a anti-science kook for believing in Creation, his policies on energy independence call for loads of scientific research and implementation in order to relieve the strain of rising oil prices... i mean, man, there's a lot that i agree with... reflecting on all this just makes me sadder, but even more than policies, i appreciated that Mike presents them all not as a politician, per se, but more as a fellow citizen, because truly, our president is first and foremost a citizen just like you and me...

So, rather than being depressed about this, and at the risk of being called one of those Bible-thumpers, i'm just going to drop in a bit of Scripture here, which came to mind on the day i voted in my state and has run through my head during the better part of this entire process...

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."
- Romans 13:1-2 (NIV, emphasis mine)

BARGAIN OF THE DAY

here's a TRu-light special for all you iTunes shoppers... Fresh Tunes - Winter 2008... seven songs from Sparrow Records including new songs from Shawn McDonald, Delirious and Starfield as well as current singles from Brit Nicole, Daniel Doss Band, Robbie Seay Band and Josh Wilson all for less than a buck... okay, so it's one penny less, but still, 99 cents for 7 songs isn't bad... better than a kick in the teeth...

WHAT'S (HHH) BEEF?

So, my attention was drawn to this article by Wut Metaphysical about the rift within Christian hip-hop (a.k.a. Holy Hip Hop or HHH) circles... basically, there are two "sects" of HHH - those who preach to the choir in a sense and those who reach through the fire, maybe... i might've stretched that a bit to make it rhyme, but you have groups like Cross Movement, Timothy Brindle, and a host of others with the primary intention of edifying believers through their music... the other side of this "civil war" consists of groups like Deepspace5 and LA Symphony among others that focus more on creating the best art possible with lyrics that speak more about life experiences than Biblical teaching... i think that's a decent way of putting it...

While taken at face value, it doesn't seem like this should be an issue, since we are all gifted in different ways and that's Biblical...

"For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body."
- 1 Corinthians 12:14-20 (ESV)

However, it is an issue since insults and accusations have been lobbed back and forth between camps and it seems like it won't ever be resolved... this article is a good background on the subject, pointing out some of the hypocrisies from both sides and offering a nice plea for reconciliation...

i would add, however, that it's not an issue that's exclusive to hip-hop... it exists within the Christian rock community, within all of CCM, and within the whole of the collective Church... it just seems like hip-hop is easier to focus on because it's already got a bad reputation and these types of disputes or "beef" sell well in mainstream hip-hop... (mainstream hip-hop., by the way, faces this same rift, in a sense as there's quite a difference between the likes of Mos Def, Common, etc and the likes of 50 Cent, Young Jeezy and others... )

as Talib Kweli says in a recent single "Hip-hop's the new WWF, what do you rap or do you wrestle?"... i suppose HHH would add the line, "and against whom are you wrestling?"

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 12-14

Days 2-6

As if the first day of craziness wasn't enough for the members of Joshua's army... you have to wonder what was going on in the camp during these 5 days... it's a very short little section of Scripture with a lot of room to speculate... very similar to the account of the tower of Babel in my mind... but, the pattern is established... Joshua leads his troops in submission and obedience to God's commands... still, i wonder why sone repetitive passages are drawn out in the Bible and others, like this one, are quickly brushed over... anyway...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

It seems like this book is taking a long time to get through... i'm further along than i'll be writing about today, but i'm still short of halfway through... i think i'll change this section up a bit and it'll be less details in the future... hopefully it'll help me get through more books...

Chapter seven is about taking your turn... it's not so much about sharing and waiting in line, but it's about making sure that when you get the call, you're rolling the die and not phoning it in as they say... Ortberg holds up Daniel as an example of someone who took as much control of his life as was possible while remaining in submission to God...

Chapter eight reminds us that all this stuff is just stuff... it can't make us happy, we can't take it with us when we die, it's not going to pet our cat... and there's a really interesting section contrasting the richness of having and the richness of being... i liked that a lot...

DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU...

okay, so i'm moving on for today... i've got some more things to talk about including some more about politics (but not too much on that subject)... probably some more TV talk... some music talk because last week was pretty big as far as album releases go... and a bunch of things i'm working on for theTRu...

BUT BEFORE I GO...

it's almost time for Gospel Music Week down in Nashville where i head down and watch a lot of shows and conduct a lot of interviews... here's my question for you, the people who read things that i write... who do you want to me to interview? what do you want me to write about? let me know please...

peace... love... bdg...

Well, it doesn't look too good for a national Mike Huckabee campaign... i think i'll sort that out in the morning, but from what i can tell, he's pulled the plug... i didn't really watch the results coming in tonight, but what i did watch is American Idol, and i decided to blog the show...

EIGHT MEN OUT...

(JOHN)-LUKE MENARD: i don't like this guy's voice at all... it just doesn't even sound real... and not in a good way... it just sounds so plastic and fake and like a little girl is up there singing it... and i think he's in danger of a-go-go-ing home... Randy says his timing was off and it was a little corny, but a-ight... Paula was so surprised that she can't put her words together... she actually sounds like that political commentary guy on SNL last week... Simon didn't like it either and thought it was "girlie"...

DAVID ARCHELETTA: thirsty AND he has to go potty... i hate when that happens... aw, now he has a new most embarrassing moment... it should disappear quickly, 'cause this kid's the BOMB, right?... i know this song... i like that he's playing the piano... Phil Collins?... yeah... that's it... much slower arrangement... it works pretty nicely... now he's standing and finishing up nicely... his voice is a little girlie, too, but he's so young it's alright... Randy thinks it was like a concert... Paula wants to shrink his head again?... perfectly imperfectly perfect for this competition?... Simon says it wasn't as good as last week and it was a little gloomy...

DAN-UEL NOREAGA: TMTH? please... i can't stand it when people actually talk like that... Tainted Love?... UGH... tainted love... well, the judges may like it because it's up beat, but his vocal is very shaky... i'm not quite impressed... more showmanship than substance for me, dawg... Randy says, there's good and bad - pitchy and shy? Rhianna did this song?... Paula says the he's a bright light, sensitive and spicy... and he looks fabulous... SImon says what the heck?... it was horrible and "absolutely useless"... HATED IT... yeah, dawg...

DAVID (no comment) HERNANDEZ: i'm going to try to ignore the news stories that were flooding the web today... he sang really well last week... and his voice has a nice tone to it today... so these are 80s songs... isn't this a girl song?... yeah... Celine, right?... what the... i mean, he did alright, but, jeesh, sing something manly, dawg... Randy says he overshot some of the notes... Paula says he has the best vocal of the group... Simon says that he should've had more soul, but he's safe...

MICHAEL JOHNS (JACOBJINGLEHIMERSCHMIT):everyone knows that the kangaroo is supposed to win the fight... i feel like running down a school hallway... could you describe the ruckus?... okay... so he's singing Don't You Forget About Me, the theme song to The Breakfast Club... and HEY HEY HEY HEY... oooooooh... he's alright... he's not as good as he's been... and now he's pretty much just yelling... at least it's pretty close to singing, but it's still yelling... he should be self, but i don't know that it was my favorite... Randy said he loved it dude, Paula said that she's glad he's defining who he is... Simon liked it, didn't love it, thought it needed more soul...

DAVID COOK: hello? wow... it's so far removed from Lionel... this is such a creepy song... well, the video was creepy and it has tainted the song for live... i get that he wants to be the "real" rockstar, but i really don't get this arrangement... and i don't think that his vocal is all that good to be honest... and if he talks trash to Simon again, he should be gone... Randy thought it was brilliant, Paula thinks that he's a shining star and Simon thinks he's brave and he loved it... oh well... maybe i missed something...

JASON (FIDEL) CASTRO: okay, his voice is weird when he talks... oh no... not Hallelujah... isn't there a rule against that?... well... you know, i love this song and i've only really heard it sung well by three people... Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and Kevin Max... but i have to say that, despite the breathiness, this is really, really good... very safe though, he didn't go for any big notes on it... maybe he would've fallen apart... Randy says that it's a high level of difficulty, but he worked it out... Paula says... i don't know what she's saying... something about being unique... Simon says that it was absolutely brilliant...

CICKA-CHICKA-CHIKEZIE: i've pretty much wanted this dude to go home since week one... since then, he's done pretty well though... and this is starting out pretty well for him... it's a pretty boring song for me though... oh dear... when he starts going off, he's like way off... right?... ouch... i didn't like it... Randy said it was a tough song choice... Paula said he switched it up and that his vocals were really good... Simon says why the heck are you singing a Whitney Houston song?... not a smart move...

tough call to see who goes home this week... i'm gonna go with Jacuzzi and Luke...

MORE IN THE MORNING

I'm about done for now... i'll be back with more tomorrow... if you want you can check out my latest interview posted over at theTRu... this time with Othello...

peace... love... bdg...

... ouch!... yeah, that was the joke of the weekend because i actually did walk into a bar or, more accurately a pole... hard.... which is what happens when you go to bed too late on Friday, get up too early on Saturday and care more about keeping your little boy out of the road than where you are walking... and, of course if you don't look where you're going... so i plowed face first into a signpost that was very well cemented into the ground and very solid... my head's still pretty sore and i have bruises on my elbow and knee both of which also managed to hit the post directly, but i'm recovering pretty well... laughter is the best medicine and trust me, i've laughed at myself a lot over the past few days...

DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN?

so things look kind of dark for my boy Mike and his chances after the Wisconsin primary the other night... but that's nothing... all you need is a candle, right?... that candle, that spark may be Texas... i just finished watching a video of Mike addressing a crowd in Plano Texas and he was very serious about continuing in the race, knowing that Texas is a big big deal and reminding everyone that they shouldn't let the media or the other states tell them how it's going to be, for example, who's going to be their Republican candidate for president...

It does seem pretty silly the way these nominations are set up... and it's clear to me that i've never paid much attention to the process in the past because it's just complete nonsense... primaries, caucuses (caucii?), different ways of dividing them up based on state, county, party, etc... i mean, who thought of this anyway?... and it's true, some states who haven't held a vote yet really end up disenfranchised because their choices are pretty much taken away from them before they get to cast their ballots... there's gotta be a better way...

Anyway, i think i'm talking too much politics these days... this is probably why i have kept a tradition of not getting into it in the past... time for a break...

E AMPERSAND P

apparently, belated congratulations are in order for Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken... the husband/wife duo delivered a healthy baby boy into this world back on July 4th - not sure how i missed that... but that is not all... oh, no... that is not all... Derek and Sandra have also put together a nice little six-song EP called the Ampersand EP... i think later on, i'll put together a nice little write up about it, but right now, you can and should go buy your own copy...

THE NEW 24

season seven of American Idol is well underway and they're down to the top 24 singers... you'll notice i didn't do any blogging from this week's episodes like i've done in the past... maybe in time i'll do that again, but man, i'm just so not into the show this year... i'm not sure why, but i don't think it matters who wins this year's contest... it seems to me that we're all losers for keeping the show going... maybe it's because everyone keeps saying that it's the most talented group ever, but i think that that's just another example of the media forcing its opinion on the general public... i'm tired of that and maybe that's why i'm tired of the show already... that new Paula Abdul song is HOT though, right?

PRISON BREAK

season three just ended this week and i'm pretty sure it was cut short by about 9 episodes unless they plan on bringing those out in some random off-season run... (get it, run?)... anyway, the finale was pretty good... the show was starting to get pretty tiring actually, i mean how many times can a dude break out of prison, right? but at least it turned into a slightly different plot angle which was nice... and some of the characters (hello Bellick) got pretty irritating even until the very end... the way they've lined things up for next season hopefully opens the door for an interesting year... one big difference and potential problem is that Michael is no longer a sympathetic character since he's now out to chase revenge rather than justice... not sure how that will play out, but it may make things a little crazy with no one to really root for...

WHEN DOVES CRY

since i'm clearly already behind schedule... i mean, it's already almost Friday... so here's the haps... got a few Dove features up, my predictions and commentary and a special iTRu-nes playlist... also, i've got some reviews, yes reviews up as well... Mainstay and Ronnie Freeman... more coming tomorrow...

peace... love... bdg...

i can't believe it's Wednesday or that it's so late on Wednesday... i'm going to cover a bit and cover it quickly so let's get getting...

THE ICE STORM COMETH...

well, last night it took me over two hours to get home and i passed by an accident count in the double digits... these silly people driving too fast in icy rain... what are you thinking? so many cars on the side of the road... i sincerely hope they're alright and that they remember not to do that again... this morning everything seemed pretty much resolved even though it was still below freezing outside and icicles adorned pretty much everything in sight...

OVER AND OVER AND OVER

at least that was pretty... the results from last night's voting also hung like the icicles as the pundits described the life of my boy Mike's chances dripping away... in fact... McCain's camp actually send a memo over to Huckabee's camp asking them to give it up, citing mathematical impossibilities... i heard people in the media call Huckabee "a professional irritant", "an annoyance" and many other non-flattering terms, but, as silly and unprofessional as that all is, at least they're talking about him somewhat...

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!

Bill O'Reilly, someone i can handle in small doses (usually the 3 minute Talking Points podcast), was pleading the case of Hillary Clinton the other day... yes, that Hillary... addressing the Senator's complaints that the media has turned against her and has been unfairly representing her and her family... she was also concerned that the media outlets had already handed over the Democratic nomination to Obama despite it continuing to be a tight race... sounds to me like the monster Dr. Frankenstein built in years past has come to life and turned on its master... and, might i add, how hypocritical of O'Reilly, not only to chime in on Hillary's side, but also to complain about "secular" media doing to Hillary exactly what he and Fox News have done to my boy Mike for the ENTIRE CONTEST...

CHEESEHEADS, ROLL OUT

Next up for my boy Mike is Wisconsin... i think he can take the state and gain some momentum going into the big block of contests on March 4th... as far as whether or not he should give up and leave the election, i say, in the words of General Anthony McAuliffe, "Nuts!"... later this week, i'll talk more about why i like Mike...

NUTS!

speaking of which... Jericho is back on the air and i missed the premiere yesterday... i'll watch it online or on demand later this week... pretty bummed about missing it though...

CLEMENS.... SEE?

The Rocket testified in congress today and it's really not looking too good for Clemens... i said before that i lean towards the side of believing him over McNamee, but there is this nagging notion of motive... and then Pettite reportedly said that Clemens had admitted it to him... i just don't know... i did work out a scenario where McNamee has motive though... it involves years of blackmail, a bluff, and a battle of wills... regardless, now that they've both testified to opposing accounts under oath, one of them is pretty much screwed... and Clemens never had a very good screwball...

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 6-11

Day One

I'm not sure how the conversation entirely went, or if Joshua really explained the full battle plan to his people, but he managed to convince them all to follow him... and they set out on day one of the week-long plan of attack... i'm sure that everyone was pretty antsy and i imagine that there was a lot of whispers after they got back to camp that night as they all tried to figure out what happened... and why they didn't yell at all, why they didn't attack at all, why they were sitting back at camp again...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

Chapter 6: Master of the Board... again

the next section of this chapter hits you like a cold wet sock across the face... or, like the reality it's asking you to face... the reality that you're not actually the master of the board... we're not in control of our lives and by pretending that we are, it's more than a lie, it's more than disillusionment, it's even more than sad... it's dangerous, it's destructive, it's really, really depressing... this chapter is something of a downer so far... ha!

AND IT JUST DON'T STOP

Okay, here's the links from last time... the Mr. J Interview and a walk TRu of How Great Thou Art... looking at the old calendar, i see that i have some more interviews coming up with Kevin Max, Poems, and more including some year in re:TRu stuff too... also tomorrow is Valentine's Day and they're announcing the Dove Nominees, so i might talk about that, too...

peace... love... bdg...