In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells, From the bells, bells, bells. --Edgar Allan Poe

Friday, March 02, 2007

Winter in Austin

Jeana's sister, Danielle, sent over some pictures of a recent winter storm in Omaha. I have to admit that I don't miss shoveling snow, or driving in the extreme conditions. In fact, I quite enjoy the winter we've had to endure in Austin. Here are some pictures from one evening last week.





Kate can finally wear pig-tails in her hair. As soon as Jeana put them in it seems like Kate got a lot older. She looks a lot like Audrey when Audrey was that age.



Okay, I concede that brown grass is in nowhere near as breathtaking as fresh snow. It's a definite trade-off. I'd rather wear shorts than have the inside of my nose frozen from the cold winter.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Fire in the Sky

A couple of blokes wrote a pretty cool tune about 7 years ago, called Fire in the Sky. Here are the lyrics:

So you tell me that there's nothing to do.
I'll show you. Wait a moment or two.
We've got the sweetest combination
And we've got some smashing rhythm.

The people all around
See a fire in the sky.
I set myself on fire
And the people see me burn.

Split apart and out in the cold.
Indiana, Brandon, and the Queen.
We're still the sweetest combination
Back again and we're doing fine.

The people all around see a fire in the sky.
The people all around see a fire in the sky.
I look to the sun and see a fire in the sky.

The people all around
See a fire in the sky.
I set myself on fire
And the people see me burn.

I thought I would add some background into the meaning of some of these lines.

Andrew Black and I were sitting on the sidewalk leaning against a brick column at the Rexburg, Idaho Hollywood Video store one evening. We were just jamming on an E and A chord.

Drew and T (Travis) had established a bench (on the corner by the Austin buildling) on the campus of Ricks College prior to my returning from my mission. The bench was a place where friends gathered while they played their guitars. As were jamming the E/A chords, I thought of a line from a book on my mission. The line was talking about how John Wesley attracted such a following. He said something to the effect of "I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn." That became the theme of our new ditty.

When I got back from England, people complained that there was nothing happening in little Rexburg, Idaho. We disagreed, people could come listen to us! Okay, it's a bit arrogant, but that's what we thought.

Drew, T, and I served our LDS missions about the same time. T went to Winnipeg, Canada. Drew went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. I went to Bristol, England. We wanted to include in our song a piece of our missions. In the second verse, we make a reference to each place. Indiana is a place where Drew served in Pennsylvania. Brandon was a place T served in. I couldn't thing of a good place that fit in the "smashing" rhythm of our song and decided to settle with the Queen.

We always used this tune as an opener for people because it's a fun up-tempo song. It's one of my favorites because the middle section featured all three of us singing a cool round of "The people all around".

Monday, February 26, 2007

Worshipping the Stars

No, I'm not talking about astrology. I'm annoyed by how much we as a society worship celebrities. For the last couple weeks, one could scarcely avoid seeing extended news segments about Anna Nicole Smith. This last weekend was the Oscar awards night. I heard on the Today Show this morning that someone was wearing a pair of shoes valued at $1MM. Another person was wearing a dress with a brooch on the back which cost $4MM. $4MM is more than the GDP of some nations of the world! While there are countries starving and struggling with poverty, fashion designers are balking about who's wearing this or that. This world is in desperate need of balancing.

I tire of hearing about celebrities and their fine-twined linens and costly apparel.