My sister-in-law Cathlyn posted this on Facebook today, and I just had to put it up here. If somebody in Hollywood doesn't make a movie about this, they're idiots. Check it out:
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Best sports "Cinderella Story" EVER.
Monday, September 28, 2009
10 Things I Learned While On My Disney Cruise
10: Not all cruises are created alike. Disney Cruise ships are clean, bright, and fun. From the looks on the faces of people I saw coming off of those massive Carnival cruise ships (and from others on the Disney cruise with me who had done Carnival cruises before), those Carnival ships are like "Motel 6 on the ocean". Guess we picked well!
9: The waiters at dinner on our ship apparently had some sort of eerie "spidey sense". For instance, one night one of our dessert selections was a very tasty warm chocolate "lava" cake. "You had me at 'lava cake'" was the immediate response by everyone at the table but one after seeing it on the dessert menu. I remarked that what it needed to top it off was a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. This was while not one Disney server, assistant server, or maitre'd was anywhere near us. When the lava cake appeared at our table, our server followed immediately behind it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for each. It's magic, I tell you! And it was good.
8: While visiting the ruins of an ancient Mayan settlement on the island of Cozumel, Mexico, our tour guide told us about the Mayan calendar - a complicated series of symbols on two interlocking wheels. The next time the calendar will run its course so that the last symbol of each wheel meets, and the cycle restarts, is December 21, 2012 - A date predicted by many cultures to be of Armageddon-like proportions. There's a new movie in the works that ties to this legend, and more about the idea can be found here.
7: Car dealership finance managers are not all evil. Jamie and I met Todd, who had been a finance manager at auto dealerships for quite some time, and his lovely wife Jenn at our dinner table on the first night, and hung out with them quite a bit over the course of the cruise. They were both warm, friendly, and just a wee bit crazy, so I liked them both a great deal.
6: I discovered I like French onion soup -- and I'm not such a huge fan of Tiramisu or Panna Cotta - but I tried them all.
5: The best Spaghetti Bolognese I ever had was at an Italian restaurant overlooking the sea in, of all places, Grand Cayman Island. Who knew?
4: Did you know that there is a form of tequila called "Patron XO Cafe" that when mixed with an equal amount of cream, makes what I would best describe as an "adult coffee smoothie"? It's quite nice. Thanks to Todd for that bit of info, and the shots!
3: Being a Disney employee is NOT all sunshine and butterflies. These people work HARD, work long hours, get fairly low pay, in an extremely high-pressure, highly political working environment. If you want to get ahead working for The Mouse, be prepared to do NOTHING else. (Thanks to our new friend Jenn for some "inside" information on life in the house of the Mouse).
2: Loafers, white socks pulled up to the shins, ragged polo shirt, and the SAME GREY SWEAT SHORTS EVERY DAY (that look like underwear, by the way) is apparently acceptable cruise wear for every occasion for some cruise passengers. This particular one was middle aged, 6' 5" or so, and British. For "Pirate Night" - where some folks went all-out in full pirate regalia, what did this fellow show up in? The same thing...with the addition of a leather belt with a small plastic sword shoved into it. Argh!
1: Disney puts on the most technically proficient, talent-filled, bombastic, cheesy, romantic, silly Disney-themed stage shows on their ships. Absolutely top notch performance and execution. And cheesy. And silly. ...and I am an absolute sucker for them. I swear every time I heard "Tale as old as time...song as old as rhyme....Beauty and The Beast..." I almost got misty. But you didn't hear that from me.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Gospel SPAM
Today I received a SPAM message to my inbox. I normally would just delete it, but I was curious when I saw its subject line: "Heaven Or Hell". The contents of the SPAM email gave several Bible verses, along with a brief description of the gospel. It also contained prominent links to this web site, which contained a more detailed Gospel presentation. I went to the web site, and found the "email" link at the bottom, and sent the following to the email address shown:
Dear Sir,
I am a Christian, and a computer user (and software developer)...
I have recently received an unsolicited email from someone leading me to your web site. Though I appreciate the thought behind it, if you ARE the person sending out random spams to lead people to your web site, you should remember:
Paul admonished us to "become all things to all people, that [we] may win some." Most people do not appreciate unsolicited email, and will at best ignore it, and at worst, will be motivated to dislike the person (and the message) being sent -- which will be counter to your specified purpose of winning people to Christ.
May I suggest that if you ARE the person sending out "gospel SPAM", that you cease that practice and perhaps follow the advice of Martin Luther: "Preach the gospel always, and, if necessary, use words.". Let your actions speak for Christ...not by shoving it down people's inboxes, but by leading them by example and showing Christ's love to them in a personal way -- by letting them know what he has done in YOUR life.
In His Love,
Rich Stephens
What do you think? I don't know how many people will read this, but if you do, point some others here and encourage them to post their opinion. I'm curious as to how people feel about this, and about my response.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Indie Gollum
"The trail was long cold when I took it up again, after Bilbo left here. And my search would have been in vain, but for the help that I had from a friend: Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. But at last, when I had given up the chase and turned to other parts, Gollum was found. My friend returned out of the great perils bringing the miserable creature with him." - The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring
There's not much more than that to go on concerning Gandalf's search for Gollum in Fellowship, but it seems a group of apparently VERY talented fans wanted to see more of the story. As told on NPR here, director Chris Bouchard and 150 volunteers have completed the 40-minute film, which will be available for viewing on the web at www.thehuntforgollum.com on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009. It was intended to be an homage to the look and feel of Peter Jackson's epic LOTR films, and from the look of the trailer (below), they've succeeded. I for one can't wait to watch it!
THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1 from Independent Online Cinema on Vimeo.
Monday, April 13, 2009
From The Attic To The Stage - The Tale of the Rhodes, Part III
On Easter, we celebrated the resurrection of our Saviour and Lord. The week before, I was able to celebrate an admittedly MUCH more minor resurrection, but pretty cool nonetheless. The "patient" in question sat in my sister-in-law's attic for years, in my garage for months, went to my brother's studio, to a storage room at Buckhead Church, to the apparently genius Rhodes repair guy, and finally here:
This is the stage at Connection Church, a new church starting up in Suwanee, GA that my brother Danny is putting together the music for nowadays. What you see him playing is that creaky old Fender Rhodes electric piano, repaired and sounding amazing, in all its retro-vibe-y glory. Danny tells me that among other things, the repair man had to unstick several keys, replace quite a few pickups, and generally bring it back from the dead. For your further enjoyment and education, here are a couple more pics of the Rhodes in action:
Saturday, February 28, 2009
...Weirdness.
I've driven by this house near my in-laws in Jackson County 100 times, and I've always wondered...
Why do they keep a COFFIN on their porch? Things that make you go, "hmm..."
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