Groovin' with the sharks

I just discovered grooveshark.com, a site which I will be using quite often in the future, I'm sure. It allowed me to quickly and easily create the widget you see in the right-hand column of my blog (if you're reading this in a reader you'll have to come to my blog to check it out) that will play whatever songs I want it to. Right now the three options I've got for you are a few of my current favorites: "Proud of Your Boy" by Clay Aiken (this was originally going to be a song on Disney's animated classic Aladdin but it got dropped when they made Aladdin an orphan, I guess... it can be found on the extra features of the DVD, which I'm not embarrassed to say I own and watch from time to time), "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, and "Rushing Wind" by Keith Green. I would most strongly encourage you to listen to Keith Green. Whenever you can. The guy's amazing.

The more fun part about Grooveshark.com for you would be that you can play any song you want on demand there. So when you're on iTunes and you only get to listen to a 30-second clip of the song and you wish they'd play the whole thing, just go to Grooveshark.com and you can! Cool, huh?

I Don't Like Mondays

The link to Justin Taylor's blog under "Blogs I Read" to the left has changed because his blog is now being hosted at the Gospel Coalition. I'm sure none of you care, but if you read and/or subscribe to Justin's blog (it's fantastic, by the way) then I wanted to make sure you're aware of the switch.

Mondays are kind of tough. I have class from 8-11. During my 15-minute break in the middle of class I go to the "bread shed" on campus where day-old breads and other grocery items are delivered so that seminary students can benefit. I have to put in 2 hours of work at church in order to get the facility set up for a huge Monday night Bible study that uses just about every square inch of the building. Today I was scheduled to work at the bookstore from 1-5:15. When I got off I had about an hour to eat supper, change clothes, speak with my wife for a few minutes for the first time all day, and then get to my other class which meets from 6:30-9:15 pm. One of my favorite things to do on Mondays is read Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback" column at SportsIllustrated.com. It's 10:52 p.m. as I write this, and I'm about a third of the way through the column, which I've had pulled up on my computer all day.

It's been a long day.

iTunes stuf

First of all, I can't believe my wife was the only one who commented on my "I have Cowboys-Broncos tickets!" post below. Isn't anyone happy for me?

Second, here's the 10-Question iTunes post. You should all copy the questions to your own blogs. I'm curious. (These questions assume you have an iTunes library... or at least some kind of music library on your computer/mp3 player.)

1. What's your favorite non-musical item in your iTunes library (audiobook, podcast, video, photo, application, etc.)?: I think I've got to say it's my "Marley and Me" audiobook. It provided a lot of entertainment for Elizabeth and I when we drove through Nebraska.

2. Name all the movies/shows for which you have the soundtrack in your iTunes library: A Goofy Movie (a few songs), Mad About You, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Phantom of the Opera, Animaniacs (a few songs), End of the Spear, Moulin Rouge, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Music Man, Titanic, Chicago, Newsies, Gummi Bears, High School Musical 3 (which I've never seen), Across the Universe (which I've never seen), The Lion King, Juno (a few songs), Tarzan (which I've never seen), Cars (a few songs), South Pacific, Grease, Jonah (Veggie Tales), Summer of '66 (high school choir tour stage show in Myrtle Beach), The Preacher's Wife, Sister Act II, Rent, The West Wing. Wow, that's way more than I thought!

3. What's your favorite album in your iTunes library?: Nouveaux, "And This is How I Feel"

4. Artist/band in your iTunes library who you wish would get a new career: Prince

5. Artist/band in your iTunes library who you wish would make a lot more music: Keith Green (but he can't, unfortunately)

6. 21st song (alphabetically) under letter "I" iTunes library: "I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" by Keith Green

7. 4th artist/band under the letter "C" in your iTunes library: Carman

8. One artist from your iTunes library you'd like to have dinner with: Keith Green (sorry, he's showing up a lot)

9. Five artists/bands you proudly name when people ask what's on your iPod: Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Michael Buble, Garth Brooks, The Proclaimers

10. Five artists/bands you don't tell anyone about, but secretly LOVE to listen to on your iPod: Disney stuff (all of it), Ray Stevens, Mark Knopfler, Carman, B*Witched

There you have it. G'bye!

Something exciting

For a life-long die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan who lives in Denver, there is one particular item that is worth slightly more than gold. A ticket to Invesco Field @ Mile High on October 4th, 2009 when the Broncos host the Cowboys in a week 4 matchup. Guess who's got four of them.

Have a nice day. I know I will.

A phone call

I work at Centennial Covenant Church.

A phone conversation I just had...

Me: Centennial Covenant, this is Jake, how may I help you?
Man on phone: David! Jack Green, how are you?
Me: No, I'm sorry, this is JAKE, did you need to talk to David?
Man: No, I need to talk with Steve.
Me: He's not in yet this morning [sidenote: the office doesn't open until 9am, and rarely is there anyone other than me in the office before that time... and this call was at 8:20], would you like his voicemail?
Man: (pause) Well, um, is David there?
Me: No, he's not in yet either.
Man: (longer pause) Um, I'm sorry, I didn't catch who I'm speaking with.
Me: This is Jake Rohde.
Man: Oh, you're the guy who just started a little while ago.
Me: Yep [sidenote: it was in mid-March).
Man: With the little baby.
Me: Oh, no, you're thinking of Chris Durkin. [another seminary student, friend of mine, has an almost one-year old, and another due in December, started working as an intern here a couple of weeks ago]
Man: Oh, okay. Well, I'm supposed to have a meeting with Steve tonight and I want to make sure he's coming.
Me: Here, let me give you his cell phone number.

Labor Day Rockies game: always a good choice

Rockies 3rd baseman, Ian Stewart, came to bat in the bottom of the 8th inning with the score tied at 3. Elizabeth and I noticed that over the course of the day Stewart had struck out swinging in the 2nd, struck out looking in the 4th, and struck out swinging in the 6th. I said, sarcastically, "Wow, he's having a great day." Elizabeth said, "It looks like he could use a meeting with the hitting coach."

As she was finishing the word "coach," Stewart drove a rocket over the right field fence. A 396-foot homerun that proved to be the winning run.

Guess we were wrong.

GO ROCKIES!

Cartoon Theme Songs

First of all, if you don't follow Kevin DeYoung's blog, you should.

Second of all, today Kevin began a "Battle of Cartoon Theme Songs." He's got a tournament going on between 16 cartoon theme songs, mostly from shows he watched as a kid (which, coincidentally, are shows I watched as a kid). He's got a poll where you vote for the best one and that winner moves on. Check it out here.

This week's four songs are Duck Tales, Chip N Dale, Tailspin, and Gummi Bears. My vote was for Gummi Bears which, until I'm convinced otherwise, is the greatest cartoon theme song EVER. Unfortunately, it looks like Duck Tales is currently in the lead. Go read his blog. If nothing else you can watch some classic cartoon theme songs. Then vote. For Gummi Bears.

Two stories

At church I'm in charge of entering the week's contributions into our computer system. Any checks that are not for the general fund have something written in the memo line that tell me where that money goes. This week at church a brief presentation was given by a pastor from a Kenyan church with whom our church has been partnering for years. The church in Kenya runs an orphanage called the Shangalia Orphanage, but the church has a different name that I can't remember. They meet in a shack on land that they do not own, and they're trying to raise support so that they can purchase the land and the building where they meet. So this week I got a lot of checks labeled "Kenya church project," "Kenya land project," or just "Kenya Church." My favorite was from someone, apparently a bit confused, who wrote, "Shangalia Land." I laughed because it sounds like a fictional fantasy world you'd find in a video game, or near HonnaLee.
(That's the end of this story)

The other night Elizabeth and I went to a Rockies-Giants game at Coors Field. We had free tickets, and we debated skipping out on the game because it was supposed to rain all night long. We decided to go anyway, and fortunately for us the rain stopped right as the game started, and not another drop fell all night long.

The game lasted 5 hours and went 14 innings. The Giants had scored a run in the first inning. The Rockies tied it in the 5th. Then no one scored... for a long time. It was still 1-1 heading into the 14th inning, and by now most of the fans had disappeared from the stadium. After the Giants scored 3 runs in the top half of the inning, another mass exodus of fans left the place pretty sparsely populated. With a 4-1 deficit to overcome, the Rockies loaded the bases. Their pitcher (the 5th or 6th of the night) came to the plate. This guy hadn't had an at-bat all year (and for all I know, never in his professional career). The Giants pitcher walked him on 5 pitches. A run scored. Now the Rockies are down 4-2. Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs was up. He hit a grand slam.

We made fun of all the people that had left the game early.
(That's the end of that story)