Celtic Odyssey

Well, what can I say. I have been telling people about this band for a while now and they were in town last night. This was their second time in Norman. They were at Summer Breeze last year too. This year, like last year, was an amazing show. The energy of this band is outta this world. They were charged up and ready to go. It was about a 1.5 to 2 hour set and they played a lot of different stuff from their latest album as well as stuff from their previous ones. I also heard some new stuff. Mingo Fishtrap is a mixture of Funk/R&B/Soul and a little New Orleans Jazz. They hail from Austin, Texas and are one of my favorite bands. If you ever have a chance to see them (and for those of you whom I told about this gig for a long, long time -- shame on you for missing out!!), do it! You will not be disappointed. In fact, if you are not doing anything next weekend, they will playing at the Granada Theatre in Dallas on Saturday, July 29th. They will be doing some filming for a...

It has been a very productive week. First off, there is a service that our organization has been trying to implement for a over a year now and it has never gotten off the ground. This service is video conferencing for people with a hearing disability. Basically, there is just a video camera, a TV, and an Internet connection. The IT person before me had attempted to set this up but was unsuccessful. When I started working there, I was told of this service but the equipment was put away in a closet somewhere and we didn't know if it would work or not. Well, I received a phone call from the person in charge of the national project asking for me to make it a priority. She stated that she would like to have it set up by the end of the week. So I started working on it the following day. I knew were to begin -- the firewall. Firewalls can be tricky if you don't know what you are looking for. And, as I looked through the open ports, I saw where my predecessor had attempted t...

Before going through the Morning Service this morning, I read a small sermon based on Matthew 5.43-48. A coworker asked the priest what it meant to be an American. After much thought and detail the priest made this statement, Justice in never motivated by hatred or fear, but hope...To be an American is not to be motivated by fear, but hope; to be an American is to be hopeful. This statement started me thinking about the 'justice' system here in the States. It seems to me that American justice is not based on hope. Our justice is based on revenge. Our justice is based on punishment. We are quick to point to what is known as the Law of Hammurabi, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth', and we base our 'justice' system on that. But Jesus calls us -- his followers; family members in good standing -- to follow a different Law. What Jesus said in Matthew 5.43-48 sets the Law of Hammurabi on its head. He said: You have heard that the law of Moses says, '...

What a great day! Around 3:00 we went to the Zoo amphitheater to see Bob Weir & RatDog. It was a whole day full of music including the Ills, Green Lime, Taj Mahal Trio, Keller Williams, and Michael Kang of String Cheese Incident. It was awesome! The cool part was the rain. Right after GL's set, it started raining. No big. It was nice. Then, it became a monsoon! It was crazy. That lasted for a good half hour at least. Then, we all made out of hiding and the bands started up again. It was one of those events that make you glad to be alive. We were there with a lot of our friends and, by the 3 person rule, we probably knew 99% of the people there! It was a great night. However, after we got there we found out that you couldn't bring in coolers or food or drink. You had to buy your food there and water was $3 a bottle! Crazy. I guess I'm used to Norman where at Summer Breeze you are encouraged to bring your stuff with you. If there is a next time, we will ...