Those 2

Creative! Hat Tip: Sacred Sandwich

Seeker Sensitive Churches Become "Bathroom Friendly"

This cannot be real... but it took a Real Man of Genius to come up with this!

Hat Tip: Todd Rhoades

The rush to be seeker-sensitive has made it's way to the nation's megachurch bathrooms. Many top churches are now installing Atech's "iLounge hybrid toilet paper dispenser/iPod dock". The iLounge supports all iPod models that have a dock connector and has an integrated USB slot for the Shuffle. Speakers are hidden in the dispensers arms with navigation buttons located conveniently on top for easy access.

"People are used to taking their iPods with them everywhere... what a great opportunity to reach out to them by offering full stereo iPod capability in our restrooms" said Bill Morgan, Executive Pastor of Rolling Stone Community Church near Houston. "People can even listen to "Takin' Care of Business" while they're taking care of business."

Special pricing on the units are available from the Willow Creek Association.

Now the link to the commercial: Bud Light Real Men of Genius Mr Restroom Toilet Paper Refiller

Thanks to Lynette @ the Fun Times Guide!

I've Got Men of Genius of My Mind

Everywhere I turn, I see Real Men of Genius images...

Apparently the BudLight commercials are breathing inspiration into my winter dull brain infected thought patterns.

See the next post....

Looking for Real Men (of Promise Keepers)

Attention Nashville area promise keepers. Integrity Music is gathering a community wide men's choir for the PK7 "Unleashed" CD, and the recording is in Nashville, TN on Saturday, March 4th at 10:00 a.m. at Christ Church, located at 15354 Old Hickory Boulevard in South Nashville, between Nolensville Road and Edmondson Pike.

Bring ear buds or headphones like the ones you'd use with iPods, walkmans or stereos. They will have some available if you forget.

Friday Flashback "Time After Time"

Thanks to YouTUBE, I'm going to post a music video every Friday... just for kicks.

Here's Eva Cassidy "Time After Time"

"Although possessing a soulful voice, an extraordinary range, and a diverse repertoire of jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop, she still remained virtually unknown outside of her native Washington, DC, when she died of melanoma in 1996. However, her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of four million copies"

Source: Wikipedia: Eva Cassidy



(Note: since the video takes a while to load based on your bandwidth, just hit play, then pause... while the video buffer gets full.)

Passion 07 registration opens...

Passion 07 registration opens... with a mighty click.

"The Passion07 registration page didn't go live until 12 noon EST and the first 500 spots for next year's gathering (discounted at $99) were gone in 6 minutes! Six minutes. Crazy! By then, people were in the system and the second 500 (at $109) vanished in 2.5 minutes. That's 1000 people coming to Passion07 in 8.5 minutes!"

Indescribable.

go there

After two years in Nashville at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, Passion07 moves to their home base in Atlanta at the Phillips Arena / Georgia World Congress Center for bigger digs to accomodate their logistical / footprint needs.

Parking Tickets - A life or death issue?

DES MOINES, Iowa -- An investigation concluded that a Des Moines woman faked her own death to avoid paying traffic tickets.

Polk County investigators said Kimberly Du, 36, faked her own obituary and forged a letter telling a Polk County, Iowa, judge she was dead. Du is spending time in the Polk County Jail in connection with a forgery charge.

read the rest

Observing Lent

Rob has a challenge regarding Lent.

"Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for Him a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. By observing Lent, most Christians join Jesus on His retreat."

My Challenge

This year I want to challenge myself to read the 4 stories of Jesus as told by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament during the 40 days. I have a simple plan to follow that includes daily reading (sans Sundays). It's a simple plan and not difficult. Most days I'll read 2 or 3 chapters.

Your Challenge

I want to challenge everyone to join me in this reading. It'll help keep me accountable to it also. Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, or Martian, why not take up this challenge also?

--

My Response
I'm in - I do need to push away from the Mac and blogline feeds, data lookup and tech gadgets -- things that feed busyness - - to reflect on the goodness of my faith in Christ. As I'm preparing go outside to read today's readings, I immediately reach for the closest PDA to read the passages! Nope, I'm going traditional with the print version.

Resources:
Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism. In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we've done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need. more here

take the challenge regarding Lent.

Say It Ain't So - NFL Salary Cap

"People are going to be stunned -- not just by the quantity of players who are cut by Thursday, but by the quality, too. It's going to be ugly. There's going to be blood in the streets and, compared to past years, it's going to be from some bluebloods, guys who can still play."
-- An AFC team executive

"Most fans couldn't care less about the collective bargaining agreement and, justifiable or not, view any discussions of negotiations aimed at extending labor peace through the 2013 season as just another example of the avaricious nature of already overpaid players."

By Thursday, however, when the real-world ramifications of the failed labor talks become more apparent, fans in a lot of NFL precincts will take notice. With negotiations toward an extension having broken off Tuesday afternoon -- despite earlier optimistic reports that the sides were poised to strike an agreement -- salary cap managers from several franchises are readying themselves for what one general manager suggested late Tuesday will come to be known as "Bloody Thursday."

Len Pasquarell from ESPN.com details out the implications of the failure of the National Football League and The Players Association to resolve the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Translation: Because so many teams are up against the projected cap limit of $95 million to $96 million for 2006, and the lack of a CBA extension means there are few options for relief, some big-name players will be jettisoned by Thursday, when teams must be in compliance with the spending limit.

How is the Salary Cap determined? Ask the Commish

pro football salaries

Picture source

iTunes - sponsored by Bud Light

I downloaded several clips of Bud Light's popular radio spots "Real Men of Genius" into my iTunes list. To my surprise, when I'm playing my collection in random mode, a commercial will pop up - which makes it fun (and no longer commercial free!)

From Answers.com:

Real Men of Genius is a popular long-running humorous series of American radio advertisements for Bud Light beer created by copywriter Bob Winter. Each ad is sixty seconds in length. The series began in 1999 and was originally called "Real American Heroes". The name was changed after the 9/11 attacks, as the Budweiser corporation felt that they could not continue to use the term "hero" in that context after so many people had performed genuine acts of heroism. As of 2005, over 100 installments in the series have been produced. Winter's campaign has since become the most award-winning radio campaign in the history of advertising.

The ads feature a somber-but-sarcastic announcer (Pete Stacker) and an unctuous rock singer who echoes the announcer's sentiments over schmaltzy "dramatic" piano music. The rock singer's vocals are by one-time Survivor singer David Bickler, not the band's founder and frontman Jim Peterik as is often reported. Bickler was a personal friend of the musician who wrote the "cheesy '80s music" used in the commercials. A female chorus also appears on many of the ads.

Each commercial pays tribute to an "unsung hero" (all of whom are male) such as:

Mr. Chinese Food Delivery Guy
Mr. Pro Wrestling Wardrobe Designer
Mr. Supermarket Free Sample Guy
Mr. Really-Bad Toupee Wearer
Mr. Silent Killer Gas Passer
Mr. Bass Plaque Maker
Mr. Really Really Really Bad Dancer
Mr. Supermarket Deli Meat Slicer
Mr. Foot Long Hot Dog Inventor
Mr. In The Car Nose Picker
Mr. Push Up Bra Inventor
Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer
Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor
Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock wearer
...and others

MP3s available here

Lazy way: Download the entire zip file Courtesy of Ryan Hall at theravyn.org

Aspiring cover band? Get yer lyrics here

One of my favorites? Mr. All You Can Eat Buffet Inventor

Like fine wine, don't try to gulp the entire collection in one listen!