Monday, June 22, 2009

Me Fail Blogging?

That's unpossible!

Nancy Cartwright
as Ralph Wiggum
"Lisa on Ice"
The Simpsons (2004)

I didn't think it'd been that long No big deal, though, because it gives me plenty to yap about here. Let's dive right in!

HealingPointe had our first service in our new church building last night! This is huge for us. It's the first time we've been in a building that's been ours rather than some place that we rented. We're looking forward to getting everything spruced up; Holli went over to help out today, and I'm going over to shovel dirt tonight. We're also really excited about getting oursevles involved with the community that we've moved into. It'll be nice to actually have neighbors instead of being in a strip all.

Father's Day was yesterday, too, and as usual, my family did not disappoint. I got breakfast in the bedroom (my back hurt too bad for me to still be in bed), awesome hand-made cards from the kids, and a cool new shirt. Then before church I had steak for dinner. That's about all I could ever ask for for my holiday.

Going back to Friday, I started playing guitar at WVIHOP during one of their Harp and Bowl services. I'll be playing with Marvin's team every Friday at 10 AM. Marvin told me that he was pleased and "heard no major train wrecks," so I guess I did alright. I've been practicing the songs that we did on Friday and learning some of the chords that gave me fits (I'm looking at you, C sharp minor!). I'm doing very good with my B chord, except I'm kind of flipping off anyone looking at me when I play it. I've got to try to fix that. Frank gave me a couple of tips on it last night, though, so that should help.

That's enough for now. There's still a ton to get done today. That's a decent recap, though. I'll see if I can't be back tomorrow to talk about my love-hate relationship with pickles or something.

Friday, June 12, 2009

The Rich Jerk

What do you think about The Rich Jerk program?

www.truthininternetmarketing.com

Well, I'll tell you if you go to my site. I do like the product, I'll say that much here. If you want more, though, go read the review.

I really like writing these posts. Well, I take that back. Writing these posts is really easy. I always feel a little slimy after I write them, like I need a shower or two, but I get over it. It's easy, though, beacuse they're easier than any other post I write to come up with the quote for. I'd abandon that convention if it wasn't absolutely ingrained in my writing style at this point. To not do it, though, would just feel wrong.

I Have Returned

Go back to then.
When?
Now.
Now?
Now.
I can't.
Why?
We missed it.
When?
Just now.

Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet
and George Wynur as Colonel Sandurz
Spaceballs (1987)

I'm back in the office this morning after a brief, unexpected absence of two days. I had the opportunity to spend a little more time with God and my family than normal, and that has been a very good thing. I'm back to things today a little bit behind, but a whole lot more focused, so we'll see how everything works out.

We're still trying to figure out how to make life work here. We've got a lot going on for the Swanks between homeschooling and having me work at home. That's to say nothing of actual family time. Or church. Or parent time. Or time for housework. Or time for recreation. I'm still struggling with there not being enough time for everything I want and need to get done in my average day, but that will get easier as I continue to get this whole time management thing down.

Part of the trick is making sure that there's time in the day for me to do whatever I want. We do the same thing with money already; I get a small allowance every month which is basically for me to blow on whatever, and having that allowance keeps me from blowing money out of the general fund. If I want something I can't afford, I have to wait until I've saved enough for it. It works for me. I'm going to try doing that with time, too, and make sure I have a designated time during the day that's just for me and my hobbies, which should make it easier to keep that time from creeping into everything else.

Yeah, that's enough rambling for today. See y'all later today when I shill my sites again. Yeah, I'm shameless.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

More

If I can be serious for a moment ...

Lance Storm

I love my job. I honestly do. I'm pretty sure that I have, as far as secular jobs go, the best job in the world. I work whenever I want, pretty much wherever I want, and my boss is nonexistent. The job could not be more perfect for the kind of person that God created when he formed me.

The last few weeks, though, something has been lacking. I've sat down to work, at whatever time work happened to roll around for the day, and I've felt ... off. The cynic in me would suggest that it's because I've been working the same job for three years, therefore making it time for me to find a new job to maintain the natural order of things, and I thought for a while that maybe that was it. It's not like I've never gotten bored with a job before. It just didn't fit, though; I wasn't bored, I was depressed when I sat down in front of the keyboard.

Fast forward with me from where we were a little to the weekend that just passed, and I'll run things down for you. Friday night, Holli and I went to the WVIHOP. We sat next to our good friend Marvin for about an hour, and the three of us lifted up our voices to the Lord. It was marvelous.

Saturday I got to have my first real Sabbath in ages, since there was no work required of me to help get ready for church (or church for that matter, because we're moving to Sundays), so I spent the day honoring the Lord's day and spending time with the Lord. The only time I left the house was to go back to WVIHOP for Harp and Bowl training, which basically consisted of me learning a little about the structure and then playing some worship music with Marvin. The rest of the day I laid around the house, listened to worship music, and enjoyed my family. It, too, was marvelous.

Sunday, the congregation from HealingPointe - since we're without a building for another couple of weeks - went down south to Pimento to have service with the folks from Father's Glory. It was a great visit, filled with wonderful people and a really awesome spirit to worship. After the service, we all went back to Eric and Amy's place. We hung out for a few hours, ate some great grilled food, and watched the kids play around in the sprinkler in the back while we all talked. It might have been the best day I've had in a long time.

I spent the weekend dwelling in my Father's love. I felt it when I worshipped, I felt it when I played for him, and I felt it in the love of those around me. I was almost overwhelmed by it. Then came yesterday. I sat down at my keyboard, started to work, and my heart just sank. That's when I figured out what's been wrong.

I want that feeling that I had this weekend all the time. I want to be filled with the Spirit constantly. I want to abide in my Father's presence and love throughout this life. I just don't know how to do it yet. I want to spend my days singing to the Lord, praying, loving on my friends, my family, and anyone I can find on the street. I want more.

The rub, though, is that I can't have more; not yet, at least. I have tasks in front of me that I must take care of. Knowing what the alternatives could be, though, makes things somewhat difficult at times.

I oftentimes liken us to children and God to our parent when talking about stuff with Holli, which I think frustrates her, but the analogy is so perfect here. I can picture Holli baking some cookies and the kids come running in because they smell the awesome cookies, and they know how good cookies taste, and it's so cool that there are cookies right there for them to eat soon. Then daddy comes along and tells them that they don't get cookies until they clean their rooms. Their little hearts sink, they stomp back to their rooms, and rather than just buckling down, cleaning it real quick, and then eating cookies, they pout, get nothing done, and end up going to bed without any cookies.

That's me right now. I'm throwing a temper tantrum becuase I can't have my cookies just this minute. I just need to shut up, clean my room, and get ready to enjoy the cookies when I'm done.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Cartoon Feline Wisdom

I hate Mondays.

Garfield

Another Monday, and another mountain of e-mail awaits me from the weekend. But do not fear, for the sites are still getting updated. There's a new post up on Truth In Internet Marketing about how to get started making money online for those who are interested. Well, I suppose it's more about how not to get started, but it's still good.

There's a lot of other stuff on my mind today, but I've got no idea how to express it. I don't think I've even been able to adequately process it on the inside yet, so I certainly don't have any idea about how to get it out. I've found some things to be inadequate today, or perhaps I've just found them to be inadequate when compared to the alternatives. See? I've got no idea how to express any of this. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Talkin' Money

Money
Get away
Get a good job
With good pay
And you're okay

Pink Floyd
"Money"
Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Today at TruthInInternetMarketing.com, I talk about the actual income potential of Internet marketing. It is, in a word, staggering. I make mention of some of the guys that I've worked with, for, around, whatever in the past, and these guys are rolling in it. They're also some of the hardest working guys I've ever known, though.

I don't want to be rich. I don't want the temptation of having a bunch of money, first off, as I know I'm not ready to handle something like that yet. I also don't want my life to be about the acquisition of wealth, and unfortunately, that's what most people who are rolling in cash have to do to come about it. Yeah, there are plenty of people out there because dead Grampa Robert made his whole life about the acquisition of wealth and they're now reaping the benefits. For the most part, though, people who are wealthy are the people who have actually worked to make themselves wealthy.

I want to take care of my family. I want to make them comfortable. It's just that for my life, I'd rather take the time I could spend working non-stop to try to grab more cash and invest it in my God, my family, and my friends. What good's all the money in the world if you can never really enjoy it? I'm venturing towards preachy territory, though, so I digress.

We did do some work with money around here today. We organized all of our bills up and established a strategy for tackling them and working them down, which is a very good thing. It's going to be a tough road, and one that will require discipline - there's that dirty word again - but it's one that will be worth the walking.

Monday, June 1, 2009

And Now For Something Completely Different!

...

That's my written interpretation of all you sitting there, reading, mouth agape, because I'm actually blogging and not shilling my stuff.

It's been a hectic past six weeks or so. I went on the Walk to Emmaus, which is a radical, life altering thing. I'd love to actually talk about it, but I honestly can't do it any justice with my meager command of the English language. So, rather than trying and failing to tell you how tremendous it is, I'll just exhort you to go as soon as you get the opportunity. If you know me, come talk to me, as I'd be happy to sponsor you.

I still have iPhone. I've been planning on talking about it for weeks, but it's not really something new anymore, so a little of the luster is off of the subject. I'm now an accomplished iPhone user, though, so I suppose I'm a little more of an authority on it now. Whatever. Here's what you need to know: it's freaking awesome. iPhone (it insists in its instruction manual on being called by its name, iPhone, rather than generically as an iPhone or the iPhone) has helped me in the following small sampling of ways:

  • It's helped me lose weight.
  • It's helped me manage the family's money and actually know how much money we have, thanks to a handy little checkbook app.
  • I've got a bookshelf's worth of books in it to read at my leisure.
  • We don't ever get lost. Yeah, I said it, Eric. It took us right to that Krispy Kreme ... warehouse. Maybe I still need to learn how to use the GPS.
  • It got me into geocaching, the world's greatest hobby.
  • I can listen to about a bazillion different live music streams, in addition to what I have loaded in on the internal iPod.
  • It helped tune Frank's guitar at church on Saturday.
In short, it is mankind's greatest technological achievement.

What is internet marketing?

What is internet marketing?

www.truthininternetmarketing.com

I can't believe I tried to answer this question on the site. It's much too vague to actually get answered. At the same time, though, it's one of those foundational, building-block kind of questions that has to be answered before going forward. So, I answered it in a fairly simplistic kind of fashion. I didn't want to add to the confusion around the subject, because there's a lot of it there, but rather define a baseline that we could move forward from. With that as the goal, I think I did a good enough job.