Fatherhood

Fatherhood is like an extreme sport. There are perils to avoid, fears to overcome, challenges to meet, sacrifices to be made, and disciplines to learn, but the rewards do equal the challenges: tickle fights, playtime with lincoln logs, plenty of hugs and kisses, giggles, being a human jungle gym, and squeals of delight when I get home from work.

Music Geek: My Listening Habits

I've been a music geek for a long time, and with the addition of an iPod and iTunes in 2005, I've gone overboard. One of my favorite features in iTunes is the play count. So here is an analysis of my Top 100 Most Played Songs from the past 18 months (current iTunes count: 1714 songs).

Top 10 Most Played Songs (play count)
1. God Be Merciful To Me - Jars of Clay (41)
2. Runnin' Down a Dream - Tom Petty (38)
3. Desire - U2 (35)
4. Pride - U2
5. Get Me Ready - Lost Dogs (33)
6. Invitacion Fountain - The Violet Burning
7. Our Love Is Loud - David Crowder (32)
8. It's Love - King's X
9. Oh Lord My God - Neal Morse
10. Vertigo - U2

Top Ten Artists/Bands* (songs /total play count)
1. U2 (10/295)
2. Lost Dogs (7/168)
3. Daniel Amos (7/163)
4. The Violet Burning (5/138)
5. The Seventy Sevens (5/135)
6. The Choir (5/123)
7. Jars of Clay (4/120)
8. David Crowder (4/115)
9. Switchfoot (3/84)
10. Chris Tomlin (3/79)
*Top 10 artists/bands represent 53% of Top 100

Top Ten Albums (songs/total play count)
1. Redemption Songs - Jars of Clay (4/120)
2. MTV New Wave Hits (4/102)
3. The Lost Cabin and the Mystery Trees - Lost Dogs (4/100)
4. Passion: Our Love Is Loud (3/89)
5. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2 (3/84)
6. A Collision - David Crowder Band (3/83)
7. This Is The Moment - The Violet Burning (3/75)
8. Napoleon Dynamite Soundtrack (3/73)
9. Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen - The Choir (3/69)
10. Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart - The Violet Burning (2/63)
**Top 10 albums represent 32% of Top 100

By Decade (songs)
1950s (1)***
1960s (1)***
1970s (2)
1980s (27)
1990s (28)
2000s (41)
***Johnny Cash

Top Five Years (songs/total play count)
1. 2005 (11/299)
2. 1992 (7/168)
3. 2003 (6/164)
4. 1990 (6/164)
5. 2002 (6/160)

and finally here's my
Top Ten Most Played Songs of 2006 (play count)
1. Get Me Ready - Lost Dogs (33)
2. Lutheran Hymn - Greg Adkins (23)
3. That's Where Jesus Is - Lost Dogs
4. Control - Mute Math
5. Devil's Elbow - Lost Dogs (22)
6. The Lost Cabin & The Mystery Trees - Lost Dogs
7. Pray Where You Are - Greg Adkins (21)
8. Typical - Mute Math
9. Broken Like Brooklyn - Lost Dogs (20)
10. Only One Bum In Corona Del Mar - Lost Dogs

Christmas Kids

I thought Christmas Day would never come

But it's here at last, so mom and dad, the waiting's finally done

And you gotta get up, you gotta get up, you gotta get up

It's Christmas morning....

Did my sister get a baby doll? Did my brother get his bike?

Did I get that red wagon, the kind that makes you fly?

Oh, I hope there'll be peace on earth

I know there's good will toward men

On account of that Baby born in Bethlehem

(Copyright 1993 Rich Mullins)


The presents are under the tree, the cinnamon rolls are in the oven, grandma is making final preparations and my girls are not so patiently waiting for everyone else to wake up, arrive or get off the computer. The house is alive with anticipation. It's Christmas morning and I hope you this post finds you in similar circumstances. May you have a blessed and joyful day.

The Movie List

Since I saw so few of this year's films (six!), I'll start by posting the top ten movies I'm glad I missed in 2006:
1. An Inconvenient Truth
(the prequel to The Day After Tomorrow or "the day before the day after tomorrow")
2. The Da Vinci Code
(too much hype and one really bad hair cut)
3. Snakes on a Plane
(ophidiophobia)
4. Little Man
(someone actually thought this would be a good idea?)
5. All the King's Men /Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector
(southerners behaving badly+bad accents + sean penn)
6. Facing the Giants
(poor writing, poor production, altar call ending - yep its a "christian film")
7. RV
(robin williams is no longer funny)
8. The Shaggy Dog / Zoom / Santa Claus III
(tim allen needs a new agent)
9. Hostel
(sadistic torture as entertainment - not for me)
10. The Ringer / Jackass 2
(johnny knoxville takes lowbrow to new depths)

honorable mention:
Deck the Halls, Basic Instinct 2, The Benchwarmers, Stick It, Poseidon


Now here's my ranking of films I did see this year:
1. Hoodwinked
(first rate animation, hilarious off-kilter humor, and a cool soundtrack!)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
(a fun popcorn flick with a cliffhanger ending)
3. End of the Spear
(a well produced film with a fresh perspective on a story that I've grown up with)
4. Curious George
(fun family fare and gorgeous "old school" animation)
5. Eight Below
(average disney feel good film)
6. Mission: Impossible III
(a better drama than the previous two, but the stunts felt old and tom cruise feels old)


Finally, based on trailers & reviews these are the top ten movies of 2006 that I haven't seen yet:
1. Letters from Iwo Jima / Flags of Our Fathers
(as a world war II junkie, i am ashamed to even admit that i haven't seen these yet)
2. United 93 / World Trade Center
(there's really no good excuse why i haven't seen these either)
3. Cars
(pixar = quality)
4. Sophie Scholl
(a film about the anti-Nazi resistance movement The White Rose)
5. Casino Royale
(i do enjoy a good Bond flick and this one has gotten mostly raves)
6. Over the Hedge
(looks like the best non pixar animated film of the year **UPDATE** we watched this on Christmas Day and really enjoyed it)
7. Wordplay
(this documentary got rave reviews and looks fun + my wife is a bit of a word geek)
8. Lady in the Water
(this film got mixed reviews, but i've liked Shyamalan's other films and my father raved about this one)
9. Marie Antoinette
(historical bio-pic with rock music soundtrack and the French lose in the end - what's not to like about that)
10. X-Men: The Last Stand / Superman Returns
(i loved the first two X-men flicks and have watched a lot of Smallville this year)

Honorable mention: The Pursuit of Happyness, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Inside Man, Thank You for Smoking, A Prairie Home Companion, Nacho Libre, Barnyard, Jesus Camp, The Last King of Scotland, Stranger Than Fiction, Fast Food Nation

Bowl Underdogs

Here are my silly bowl picks to cap off the NCAA football season and the Silly Underdog Contest.

Central Michigan 10.5 Middle Tennessee State
Oklahoma 8 Boise State
Louisville 10 Wake Forest

All is once again right in the world, now that my Volunteers will be playing on January 1 vs. Penn State. It should be a good game.

As for the championship game, I am glad that Florida made the title game over Michigan, but I believe that OSU will cruise to a perfect season.

And once football ends with the SuperBowl, I'll go into sports hibernation until August.

Nord's Top Twenty Songs of 2006

This list is not intended to be comprehensive nor limited to songs released in 2006. It summarizes my favorite new music acquired this past year. Feel free to make your own recommendations in the comments. Honorable mention to The Violet Burning's Drop Dead cd which for some reason I have yet to pick up. Shame on me. I'm also interested in Andrew Osenga's The Morning and Robert Randolph's Colorblind.

20. Suspension – Mae
Released in 2005, CT Music included the album The Everglow in their best of 2005.

19. Boy in the Bubble – Greg Adkins
Greg Adkins was one of the biggest surprises of 2006. I've never been a huge fan of modern folk, yet Greg offers great lyrical insight into Christian sprirituality that reminds me of Terry Taylor or Mark Heard. And Greg also hails from my hometown of Knoxville.

18. Roll Away the Stone – Ashley Cleveland
A cover of of the 1970 Leon Russell song. Ashley Rocks!

17. The Coldest Heart – The Classic Crime
One of the surprises from the Tooth n Nail compilation One Dark Summer.

16. Only One Bum in Corona Del Mar – The Lost Dogs
A Terry Taylor rock opera in one act that is simultaneously laugh out loud funny and thought provoking.

15. Uncle Joe’s Bunions – Greg Adkins
This is the only original song on Greg's Bluegrass Service cd and it beautifully captures the oldtime religion prayer meetings that drive me absolutely nuts.

14. Good Monsters – Jars of Clay
The title track from this band's newest cd. I've become a big fan of this group that refuses to stay the same.

13. Paperthin Hymn – Anberlin
Another great rockin' track from One Dark Summer. I intend to check out more from this band.

12. All My Tears – Jars of Clay
Americana meets pop rock.

11. Here It Goes Again – O.K. Go
The treadmill video song. Infectious pop rock at its best. Great for working out.

10. Studying Politics – Emery
I first heard this song on Zionred's myspace page. I love the intro.

09. Lutheran Hymn – Greg Adkins
Michael Roe is one of my favorite songwriters and performers, yet Greg's version of Lutheran Hymn is better than the original. Some killer mandolin playing may have something to do with it.

08. Work – Jars of Clay
CT Music declares the new Jars cd Good Monsters their best album of 2006 and I'm inclined to agree.

07. Talk – Coldplay
This song would have probably been my favorite of 2005 had I taken the time to check out X&Y earlier than I did.

06. Ready or Not – Ashley Cleveland
Ashley sings the blues better than any female vocalist I'm aware of and Kenny Greenberg plays some great licks on Ashley's newest album.

05. Get Me Ready – The Lost Dogs
The Lost Dogs released their first new material in three years and this song just rocks. I think it features some of Terry Taylor's best vocal work ever.

04. Typical – Mute Math
I love the guitar hook to this song as well as the live video clip from Cornerstone.

03. Dead Man (Carry Me) – Jars of Clay
Quirky alt-pop that captures the struggles of living out Christian spirituality while living in a corruptable vessel.

02. That’s Where Jesus Is – The Lost Dogs
The Lost Dogs write a fantastic call to arms Christ followers to care about social justice issues. This song dovetailed nicely with Rob Bell's New Exodus series and the Starving Jesus tour.

01. Control – Mute Math
Typical may be the most popular song off of Mute Math's premiere album, but I love this one both musically and lyrically. "Take control of the atmosphere...Such a beautiful surrender" Great stuff.

Board Game Geek

Yes I'm a geek, and I've beefed up my credentials by officially joining boardgamegeek.com. Check out my profile.


Here are my top 10 games:
1. The Settlers of Catan
2. Princes of Florence
3. San Juan
4. TransEuropa
5. Blokus
6. Memoir '44
7. Whist
8. Poker
9. Wyatt Earp
10. Liar's Dice

Underdog recap

The regular season of the Silly Underdog Contest is over. Here's a recap of my victories:

1 Army 5.5 ARKANSAS STATE
2 Stanford 10.5 SAN JOSE ST
2 TEXAS 2.5 Ohio State
3 CONNECTICUT 6 Wake Forest
3 STANFORD 3 Navy
4 Boston College 7 N.C. STATE
4 UAB 10 Mississippi State
5 CONNECTICUT 3 Navy
5 UTAH 3.5 Boise State
5 FLORIDA INTL. 8 Arkansas St
6 COLORADO 5 Baylor
6 TEXAS TECH 4 Missouri
7 N.C. STATE 4 Wake Forest
8 PITTSBURGH 6.5 Rutgers
8 FLORIDA ST 4.5 Boston Col.
10 Boston Col. 3.5 WAKE FOREST
10 Georgia 6.5 KENTUCKY
11 FLORIDA ST 7.5 Wake Forest
12 TROY ST 7.5 Arkansas State
13 UTEP 10.5 Memphis
14 GA Tech 2.5 Wake Forest

Total score: 121

Geek Analysis:
I was 21 of 42 (50%) in my predictions overall.
Best points in single game: 10.5 (twice)
Least points in a single game: 2.5 (twice)
Avg. score: 5.75 pts. per game
Week 5 was my best week (3 for 3) and week 9 my worst.
With the exception of week 9, I had at least one victory every week.
Wake Forest was my best underdog with five victories.
I successfully picked against FSU, BC, Stanford and UConn twice each.
I placed #70 in the top 100 (a personal best - compare with last year's 75 pts).
"Baylor Bear" Scott passed me up in the final week (#34 overall) after trailing most of the season (thanks a lot UCLA).