I need to buy a CD...

In a few weeks, I'm making an international trip, and I need your help. One of my personal traditions is to buy a CD before a trip overseas and listen to it a LOT during that experience. Then, once I'm home, I've made an emotional/memory attachment between that CD and that trip.

The first attachment was accidental, during my first trip with the fam to Europe back in high school. I only had 2 tapes with me (CDs recorded onto tapes, old-school style), so I listened to those 2 tapes for the entire trip. It's been 20 years since that trip, but anytime I hear either CD, I'm reminded of the experience.

So, I'd like your suggestions on a recent/new CD that I should consider buying for my trip in mid-March. No boundaries, no rules on the suggestions. Maybe I'll pick a suggestion that falls way outside my usually tastes. We'll see!

Blogging from the NYMC.

Apparently I'm part of the "official" group of bloggers from this weekend's National Youth Ministry Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Josh Griffin has the whole list on his blog, where I previously made this short, simple statement:

Rob C
i’ll be there but no guarantees on how much blogging or twittering i’ll be doing…

In any case, I'll try to post a few things during the weekend. I'm going to be doing some behind-the-scenes type work, so I don't know how many sessions or workshops I'll be attending. In any case, I'm looking forward to the weekend, seeing a bunch of youth ministry friends, making some new connections, and seeing God do some cool stuff in people's lives.

A cartoon for addicts.

ht to my dad for this cartoon...

Snowy Yosemite.

Yep. A storm came through. That means I must post new pics from the webcams up in Yosemite. Enjoy.

If you Twitter...

Interesting stuff on CNN.com about some awards given out to top Twitter users. If you're like certain people I know, you'll love this info. And if you're like other people I know, you'll run to the hills to avoid it.

LPP: Language Pet Peeves

OK, this won't be a daily item (I hope), but every now and then I run into personal pet peeves in people's language. I'm pickier about written language than spoken language, and a news article is the source of today's LPP:

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints deliberately covered up its financial role in backing Proposition 8 by failing to file timely campaign finance reports as required by California law. Karger said it's possible the church spent millions more than it actually reported.

"I'm calling this Mormongate," Karger said. "I think there's been a massive cover-up."

My comment has nothing to do with Mormonism or Prop 8 or anything along those lines.

I get annoyed by the use of "-gate" for political scandals. It's one of the most cliched phrases out there. Yes, Watergate was a significant event in American history. But come on. Do we have to slap the "-gate" suffix onto every big scandal? Want to see how bad it's become? Check out this link on wikipedia with a whole long list of the "gate" scandals. Absurd, people. Stop it. Now.

Home values stink.

Found an interesting article online this morning. If you don't like reading about bad economic news, don't read this or follow the link to SFGate.com... just a warning.

More than half (57 percent) of 1,573 homeowners surveyed now believe that their home lost value in 2008. That still lags the reality that 76 percent of all U.S. homes declined in value in 2008, according to Zillow's figures.

A full quarter of homeowners had the sunny view that their home's value had increased; in reality, 20 percent of homes did increase in value during the year, according to Zillow's reckoning. Another 18 percent insisted their homes' value was the same, while only 4 percent of homes actually kept their value, Zillow said.

Previous surveys showed homeowners mired deeper in denial, convinced that their own homes were immune to the nationwide plunge in real estate values that started about 2 1/2 years ago. Just six months ago, only 38 percent of people surveyed believed that their homes were declining in value.

AP Stylebook

I bought a new Associated Press Stylebook online today. For those of you who know what the stylebook is, my purchase probably seems odd because I no longer work in the newspaper business. But I need an updated copy because I do freelance for a company that uses AP as the go-to style (not Chicago Manual of Style), so I need a new one readily available.

And for those of you who care, yes, I bought the spiral-bound version.

Is my Starbucks closing?

I've heard a lot of people asking this since the January 29 announcement that Starbucks would be closing 200 stores here in the United States. I found this info today on the company's website.

Thursday, January 29, 2009
Statement regarding recent additional store closures announcement

As part of an ongoing, rigorous evaluation of our global store portfolio, Starbucks announced plans to close approximately 300 additional under-performing company-operated stores in the U.S. and international markets. Approximately 200 of those stores are in the U.S. with the remainder in international markets. We do not at this time have specific details about locations of stores that may be impacted by these announcements. A list will be available once it has been finalized and once all impacted partners have been notified.

This is where I'd like to be today...