Today is Marty's birthday. He generally likes to keep that sort of thing on the down-low...
So, being his friend and all, I just wanted to let everyone know.
Happy Birthday Marty! Thanks for letting us take you to lunch!
Ole!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
NYWC St. Louis - Last Post Part 2
I just had to tack a post on here to say that the Late Night with Lost & Found, Skit Guys and Bob Stromberg was the funniest thing I have ever seen.
I laughed so hard I might be injured. Lost and Found are awesome... Bob Stromberg is a great storyteller, and the Skit Guys are two amazing and talented folks.
I stayed to talk to Tommy & Eddie briefly after the show just to tell them how much I appreciate their stuff, and say Thanks for their kind emails and comments back to me and Jenn after I blogged about the Skits that Teach thing this past year.
I know that all of these artists are bombarded with people wanting to be their friends, and share with them, and make connections with them and ( even as badly as I want to sit down with Marko and Tommy & Eddie even for a half an hour just to drink coffee and talk ) I always feel terribly guilty about being one of "those people"... because really, in the grand scheme of things, there is no reason that any of them should remember who I am, and it would be silly to expect them to take time out of their ( already ) crazy schedules just to make a connection with every Youth Worker who wanted their time/advice/etc.
Wow... This post is turning out way longer than I intended...
Anyhoo... I guess my point is that I don't want to be one of "those people" who are constantly hovering around the famous people and trying to pretend like we are friends, and that for me, it is really really cool when ( even after a year ) there is a hint of recognition when we make even a momentary connection...
I really need to shake this "marko stalker" label that the kids have on me too... haha
Wow again... I have no idea what any of this has to do with anything...
Just part of "My Story" I guess.
I laughed so hard I might be injured. Lost and Found are awesome... Bob Stromberg is a great storyteller, and the Skit Guys are two amazing and talented folks.
I stayed to talk to Tommy & Eddie briefly after the show just to tell them how much I appreciate their stuff, and say Thanks for their kind emails and comments back to me and Jenn after I blogged about the Skits that Teach thing this past year.
I know that all of these artists are bombarded with people wanting to be their friends, and share with them, and make connections with them and ( even as badly as I want to sit down with Marko and Tommy & Eddie even for a half an hour just to drink coffee and talk ) I always feel terribly guilty about being one of "those people"... because really, in the grand scheme of things, there is no reason that any of them should remember who I am, and it would be silly to expect them to take time out of their ( already ) crazy schedules just to make a connection with every Youth Worker who wanted their time/advice/etc.
Wow... This post is turning out way longer than I intended...
Anyhoo... I guess my point is that I don't want to be one of "those people" who are constantly hovering around the famous people and trying to pretend like we are friends, and that for me, it is really really cool when ( even after a year ) there is a hint of recognition when we make even a momentary connection...
I really need to shake this "marko stalker" label that the kids have on me too... haha
Wow again... I have no idea what any of this has to do with anything...
Just part of "My Story" I guess.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
NYWC St. Louis - Last Post
This will probably be my last post from the NYWC here in St. Louis. We had a good afternoon on the show floor today. Lots of people came by the booth, and were excited about LiveWorship.
The last 45 minutes or so seemed to take a long long time, as the crowd had pretty much thinned out and we were basically just sitting and waiting for the official pack up time to arrive
Tear down was very quick and efficient for us. We had the whole booth torn down, packed up and back in the van in just over an hour.
With the van packed, we said good bye to the guys who had been stuck next to us all weekend and drove down to Lacede's Landing to look up some dinner. We found a little bar on the landing called the Feisty Bulldog which had good sandwiches and a great appetizer of home made chips with bleu cheese and tabasco on them.
Not much else to tell since then... With the van packed up we returned to the hotel to chill for a while before we head back to the show for the evening. General session starts at 8, followed by the Late Night with Bob Stromberg, Skit Guys, and Lost & Found.
That should put us back here in the room around midnight (or later).
Tomorrow morning we are hoping to check out by 8, and head down to the St. Louis arch for a tour and ride up to the observation deck. Then we're planning to hit Marko's session at 11, and be on the road back to Ohio by 1:30.
See my twitter for minute by minute details if you're curious as to more specific where-abouts until we get home.
If you've been reading the blogs while I'm down here, hope you've enjoyed them.
See you back in Ohio late tomorrow night.
The last 45 minutes or so seemed to take a long long time, as the crowd had pretty much thinned out and we were basically just sitting and waiting for the official pack up time to arrive
Tear down was very quick and efficient for us. We had the whole booth torn down, packed up and back in the van in just over an hour.
With the van packed, we said good bye to the guys who had been stuck next to us all weekend and drove down to Lacede's Landing to look up some dinner. We found a little bar on the landing called the Feisty Bulldog which had good sandwiches and a great appetizer of home made chips with bleu cheese and tabasco on them.
Not much else to tell since then... With the van packed up we returned to the hotel to chill for a while before we head back to the show for the evening. General session starts at 8, followed by the Late Night with Bob Stromberg, Skit Guys, and Lost & Found.
That should put us back here in the room around midnight (or later).
Tomorrow morning we are hoping to check out by 8, and head down to the St. Louis arch for a tour and ride up to the observation deck. Then we're planning to hit Marko's session at 11, and be on the road back to Ohio by 1:30.
See my twitter for minute by minute details if you're curious as to more specific where-abouts until we get home.
If you've been reading the blogs while I'm down here, hope you've enjoyed them.
See you back in Ohio late tomorrow night.
NYWC St. Louis - Sunday Morning Update
The comedy show last night was just plain fantastic! All four of the comedy acts were hilarious, but Bill Arnold was my favorite by far. His humor is a little dry, but he is one funny dude.
Before the comedy show Alan and I had dinner at an little Italian place down around the corner on Broadway. J.F. Sanfillipo's I think was the name. It was awesome! The hot fresh sesame rolls rocked, and there was no way I could finish the huge plate of fettucini alfredo they set in front of me.
I was up really late again last night, even after we got back to the room from the comedy show. I ended up talking on IM and doing email until almost 2 in the morning. Thankfully the time change gave us an extra hour of sleep to go on, so I don't feel all that bad this morning.
We opened the booth for a quick morning session from 8:45 till 11 AM. Had a couple of great conversations, but especially one with a guy who was a very happy MS3 user and not about to give us the time of day when I talked him into looking a demo... I think he was genuinely impressed by our ease of use.
The morning General Session this morning was started by Jeff Johnson who I really really needed at Cinci last year. The slowing down and resting and breathing in God is a pretty powerful experience. This morning I just couldn't get into it though, and ended up sitting in the lobby with Alan researching options for visiting the arch while we are here in town.
We caught the skit guys bit after Jeff and loved it. I stopped and talked to Eddie briefly before the session started ( just to see if he would remember who I was, and to say Hi ).
Now the speaker is on stage, but I've slipped out again. I'm munching on some nachos and getting in a blog update before the booth opens again from noon till 3:30.
Oh... The cheerleaders are back in force this morning. Seemed to be mostly older girls this morning and less 3-8 year olds... Makes the fact they they aren't wearing hardly anything and are made-up like hookers even worse. I told Alan on the way in that there are only a few groups I can think of who could have been more awkward sharing the convention center with 3500 youth pastors... A stripper convention maybe, or the adult film industry...
Ok Ok maybe it isn't really all that bad. BUT... cheerleading is quickly being ruled out of Ellie's future. No way I am letting her get into anything like this. She'll be a band geek, and she'll like it.
Band kids are more spiritual anyway ( see previous post ).
Ah well... back to work.
Edit - Nov 06 - A response
Wanted to take a few minutes to respond to this comment by Daisy, and was afraid my response might go longer than a comment permitted, so I decided to do an addendum instead.
daisy said on November 5, 2007 11:07 AM...
"I have read a bunch of blogs from the people in attendance of the NYWC in STL. Let me ask you this; if so many Christians are "disgusted" by the cheerleaders and find it sad and like you stated, won't let your kids take part in it, then where are all the cheerleaders going to find Christian influence? By just letting them be segregated from the Christians, are you showing Christ's love here?"
First... I have no idea who Daisy is or how to respond to her other than by posting again here... I hope that she comes back to see my response, and that if more dialogue is needed she will continue to comment.
I guess I want to start my response by saying that my feelings toward the cheerleading competition in St. Louis has NOTHING to with the girls here at the convention being cheerleaders... There are a several cheerleaders who attend my own church and youth group and at least one of them is a "core kid" in our youth ministry.
What saddened me about the cheerleading convention ( which I saw very very little of, by the way ) is that these girls are being put on display in a way that is totally inappropriate for girls of any age group no matter how old they are. If our high school cheerleaders dressed in some of the outfits I saw walking through the lobby, they wouldn't even be permitted on the school grounds, let alone into a football or basketball game.
I guess I have no idea what is actually taking place on the stage in the competition either, so I can only assume that the "dancing" that was taking place all over the lobby were girls practicing for their routines and not just imitating the latest Brittany Spears music video...
On the way out of the convention center on Saturday afternoon, I actually walked by a group of six to ten girls ( who I would guess to have been age five or six ) all clustered around a mother who was kneeling in their midst... The girls were all wearing disturbingly short tops and short skirts with far more skin exposed than not. They all had heavy eye-makeup and bright red lipstick on. The mother (parent/coach) was saying as I walked by... "Now girls... the team from [some name I didn't catch] really put you guys to shame earlier so I want you to get back in there and kick their little asses this time!"
I'll paraphrase Marko and say, I wanted to smack the lady.
Let me try to wrap this up by saying that I totally agree with you, Daisy, that segregation from cheerleaders in general ( or any group for that matter ) is the wrong approach. And I agree that someone really needs to be "in there" sharing the love of Christ with the girls, their parents, their coaches, etc... I just have a sneaky suspicion that getting that sort of attention from me, or any one else wearing a "Youth Pastor Badge" wouldn't have gone over so well this weekend... I'm afraid it would have come across a lot like the bullhorn Jesus guy.
Also, I don't think I would honestly prevent my three year old daughter from being a high school cheerleader if she really wants to... I just hope she doesn't feel the kind of pressure to be put on display by anyone as she grows up and decides what she wants to be in life.
My biggest problem here is that I can't imagine that these (little) girls would really be doing this to themselves ( the skimpy dress, the "dancing", the kick-their-little-asses competitiveness ) unless they were pushed into it by parents, coaches, society, etc... and that they have that pressure put on them by anyone really does make me sad.
Thank you for making me clarify. I'm open to more comments and/or discussion.
-Eli
Before the comedy show Alan and I had dinner at an little Italian place down around the corner on Broadway. J.F. Sanfillipo's I think was the name. It was awesome! The hot fresh sesame rolls rocked, and there was no way I could finish the huge plate of fettucini alfredo they set in front of me.
I was up really late again last night, even after we got back to the room from the comedy show. I ended up talking on IM and doing email until almost 2 in the morning. Thankfully the time change gave us an extra hour of sleep to go on, so I don't feel all that bad this morning.
We opened the booth for a quick morning session from 8:45 till 11 AM. Had a couple of great conversations, but especially one with a guy who was a very happy MS3 user and not about to give us the time of day when I talked him into looking a demo... I think he was genuinely impressed by our ease of use.
The morning General Session this morning was started by Jeff Johnson who I really really needed at Cinci last year. The slowing down and resting and breathing in God is a pretty powerful experience. This morning I just couldn't get into it though, and ended up sitting in the lobby with Alan researching options for visiting the arch while we are here in town.
We caught the skit guys bit after Jeff and loved it. I stopped and talked to Eddie briefly before the session started ( just to see if he would remember who I was, and to say Hi ).
Now the speaker is on stage, but I've slipped out again. I'm munching on some nachos and getting in a blog update before the booth opens again from noon till 3:30.
Oh... The cheerleaders are back in force this morning. Seemed to be mostly older girls this morning and less 3-8 year olds... Makes the fact they they aren't wearing hardly anything and are made-up like hookers even worse. I told Alan on the way in that there are only a few groups I can think of who could have been more awkward sharing the convention center with 3500 youth pastors... A stripper convention maybe, or the adult film industry...
Ok Ok maybe it isn't really all that bad. BUT... cheerleading is quickly being ruled out of Ellie's future. No way I am letting her get into anything like this. She'll be a band geek, and she'll like it.
Band kids are more spiritual anyway ( see previous post ).
Ah well... back to work.
Edit - Nov 06 - A response
Wanted to take a few minutes to respond to this comment by Daisy, and was afraid my response might go longer than a comment permitted, so I decided to do an addendum instead.
daisy said on November 5, 2007 11:07 AM...
"I have read a bunch of blogs from the people in attendance of the NYWC in STL. Let me ask you this; if so many Christians are "disgusted" by the cheerleaders and find it sad and like you stated, won't let your kids take part in it, then where are all the cheerleaders going to find Christian influence? By just letting them be segregated from the Christians, are you showing Christ's love here?"
First... I have no idea who Daisy is or how to respond to her other than by posting again here... I hope that she comes back to see my response, and that if more dialogue is needed she will continue to comment.
I guess I want to start my response by saying that my feelings toward the cheerleading competition in St. Louis has NOTHING to with the girls here at the convention being cheerleaders... There are a several cheerleaders who attend my own church and youth group and at least one of them is a "core kid" in our youth ministry.
What saddened me about the cheerleading convention ( which I saw very very little of, by the way ) is that these girls are being put on display in a way that is totally inappropriate for girls of any age group no matter how old they are. If our high school cheerleaders dressed in some of the outfits I saw walking through the lobby, they wouldn't even be permitted on the school grounds, let alone into a football or basketball game.
I guess I have no idea what is actually taking place on the stage in the competition either, so I can only assume that the "dancing" that was taking place all over the lobby were girls practicing for their routines and not just imitating the latest Brittany Spears music video...
On the way out of the convention center on Saturday afternoon, I actually walked by a group of six to ten girls ( who I would guess to have been age five or six ) all clustered around a mother who was kneeling in their midst... The girls were all wearing disturbingly short tops and short skirts with far more skin exposed than not. They all had heavy eye-makeup and bright red lipstick on. The mother (parent/coach) was saying as I walked by... "Now girls... the team from [some name I didn't catch] really put you guys to shame earlier so I want you to get back in there and kick their little asses this time!"
I'll paraphrase Marko and say, I wanted to smack the lady.
Let me try to wrap this up by saying that I totally agree with you, Daisy, that segregation from cheerleaders in general ( or any group for that matter ) is the wrong approach. And I agree that someone really needs to be "in there" sharing the love of Christ with the girls, their parents, their coaches, etc... I just have a sneaky suspicion that getting that sort of attention from me, or any one else wearing a "Youth Pastor Badge" wouldn't have gone over so well this weekend... I'm afraid it would have come across a lot like the bullhorn Jesus guy.
Also, I don't think I would honestly prevent my three year old daughter from being a high school cheerleader if she really wants to... I just hope she doesn't feel the kind of pressure to be put on display by anyone as she grows up and decides what she wants to be in life.
My biggest problem here is that I can't imagine that these (little) girls would really be doing this to themselves ( the skimpy dress, the "dancing", the kick-their-little-asses competitiveness ) unless they were pushed into it by parents, coaches, society, etc... and that they have that pressure put on them by anyone really does make me sad.
Thank you for making me clarify. I'm open to more comments and/or discussion.
-Eli
Saturday, November 3, 2007
NYWC St. Louis - Day 2 in full swing.
First of all let me say that I am really bummed because I waited in the second floor guys bathroom this morning for an hour waiting to catch the seminar "Teaching Teenage boys how to kick the crap out of Non-Christians" by Winfield H. Tutte.
Must have been the wrong bathroom.
Secondly, how is this for irony... The America Center which is housing the NYWC this weekend is also playing host to some sort of crazy cheerleading competition out on the other end of the building... What this comes down to is that in order to get to and from the General Sessions and the exhibit hall all of these youth workers and staff have to walk through a mob of little girls ( some as young as three or four ) dancing provocatively (practicing, I guess??) and wearing things that little girls should never ever wear.
If it didn't make me sad, I would laugh.
We had a great crowd in our booth this morning for the show floor hours, and had some great conversations with folks about using our software in their ministries... Can't imagine what would have been drawing them our way...
Had lunch during our break at The Soup Man a couple blocks away. Great bowl of crab chowder and a grilled cheese sandwich.
The show floor opens back up in about five minutes, so I'd better get back over there...
Must have been the wrong bathroom.
Secondly, how is this for irony... The America Center which is housing the NYWC this weekend is also playing host to some sort of crazy cheerleading competition out on the other end of the building... What this comes down to is that in order to get to and from the General Sessions and the exhibit hall all of these youth workers and staff have to walk through a mob of little girls ( some as young as three or four ) dancing provocatively (practicing, I guess??) and wearing things that little girls should never ever wear.
If it didn't make me sad, I would laugh.
We had a great crowd in our booth this morning for the show floor hours, and had some great conversations with folks about using our software in their ministries... Can't imagine what would have been drawing them our way...
Had lunch during our break at The Soup Man a couple blocks away. Great bowl of crab chowder and a grilled cheese sandwich.
The show floor opens back up in about five minutes, so I'd better get back over there...
Friday, November 2, 2007
NYWC St. Louis - The Day in Review
Well, it's almost midnight again in St. Louis and we are just getting settled in after a very busy day at the National Youth Worker's convention.
This hotel is really really nice, much nicer than anything I could afford to stay in if I weren't here on "business" and I'm sure waaaaayyyy nicer than the room Jenn and I will be sharing in Atlanta. That is just to say that I slept great last night after finally turning in at 1:30 AM. The alarm went off too soon this morning, so we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading back to the show floor to start this marathon Friday.
At no point today would I call the show floor crowded. We were busy in the booth several times, but nothing compared to what I've experienced working the booth at Macworld. We had a lot of MediaShout "haters" come through today, as well as some Mac fanatics who were excited to see LiveWorship running great on my MBP. Sometime around noon Garfield called in with a Leopard update, so I was able to demo LW on 10.5 for most of the afternoon, which went great!
What makes Friday at YW so busy is that if you are working the show, and plan to attend the general sessions there is simply no time at all to stop and smell the roses. We ran the booth from 9 till 12:30, caught the first Gen Session from 1-3:30, reopened the booth from 3-7, and then hit the final general session from 7:30-10, by which point we were both hungry so grabbed some quick dinner at a restaurant down the block.
Gen Session number 1 was really really good. FlatFoot 56 (an "old school punk band with celtic overtones" ) did nothing for me, but Duffy Robbins and David Crowder Band were simply amazing. Duffy was funny, and powerful and really drove home a great message about letting God be God and not trying to screw it up for Him. I heard DCB do Remedy for the first time live and it left me in awe... What a great song, what a great band.
Gen Session number 2 featured DCB again, which was fantastic. There was also this guy at both general sessions who did performance art by moving sand around on a table. It's hard to explain, but it was really really cool. The speaker at Gen Session # 2 was a guy named Chris Hill. We probably missed a great talk, but he didn't catch my attention right off the bat so we split to come in search of dinner about 10 minutes into his lesson.
Marko's pre session pep talk was very good and I hope that in Atlanta I can take his advice to heart and use my time at YW to "get away" with God and with Jenn for some much needed rejuvenation.
The only other huge highlight of the day that I can think of off-hand is that I had a great conversation with a few of the ladies from YouthWorks over by their booth on the show floor today. What a great group of folks! I'm so excited for our HS mission trip next summer! Can't wait to be able to tell the kids where we are headed and get the ball rolling on plans.
Well, it's been a good day. Busy, but good. I'm tired, and tomorrow is bound to be long again.
More later, Roogles out.
This hotel is really really nice, much nicer than anything I could afford to stay in if I weren't here on "business" and I'm sure waaaaayyyy nicer than the room Jenn and I will be sharing in Atlanta. That is just to say that I slept great last night after finally turning in at 1:30 AM. The alarm went off too soon this morning, so we grabbed a quick breakfast before heading back to the show floor to start this marathon Friday.
At no point today would I call the show floor crowded. We were busy in the booth several times, but nothing compared to what I've experienced working the booth at Macworld. We had a lot of MediaShout "haters" come through today, as well as some Mac fanatics who were excited to see LiveWorship running great on my MBP. Sometime around noon Garfield called in with a Leopard update, so I was able to demo LW on 10.5 for most of the afternoon, which went great!
What makes Friday at YW so busy is that if you are working the show, and plan to attend the general sessions there is simply no time at all to stop and smell the roses. We ran the booth from 9 till 12:30, caught the first Gen Session from 1-3:30, reopened the booth from 3-7, and then hit the final general session from 7:30-10, by which point we were both hungry so grabbed some quick dinner at a restaurant down the block.
Gen Session number 1 was really really good. FlatFoot 56 (an "old school punk band with celtic overtones" ) did nothing for me, but Duffy Robbins and David Crowder Band were simply amazing. Duffy was funny, and powerful and really drove home a great message about letting God be God and not trying to screw it up for Him. I heard DCB do Remedy for the first time live and it left me in awe... What a great song, what a great band.
Gen Session number 2 featured DCB again, which was fantastic. There was also this guy at both general sessions who did performance art by moving sand around on a table. It's hard to explain, but it was really really cool. The speaker at Gen Session # 2 was a guy named Chris Hill. We probably missed a great talk, but he didn't catch my attention right off the bat so we split to come in search of dinner about 10 minutes into his lesson.
Marko's pre session pep talk was very good and I hope that in Atlanta I can take his advice to heart and use my time at YW to "get away" with God and with Jenn for some much needed rejuvenation.
The only other huge highlight of the day that I can think of off-hand is that I had a great conversation with a few of the ladies from YouthWorks over by their booth on the show floor today. What a great group of folks! I'm so excited for our HS mission trip next summer! Can't wait to be able to tell the kids where we are headed and get the ball rolling on plans.
Well, it's been a good day. Busy, but good. I'm tired, and tomorrow is bound to be long again.
More later, Roogles out.
Live from St. Louis
This is post number one, live from National Youth Workers Convention in St. Loius.
We made good time on the drive, got a killer deal on fabric at a going out of business fabric store to use for table cloths, and got our booth setup without any real snafu's.
Yesterday made for a long day with the travel, booth setup, and the mixer in the evening. Made longer by grabbing a really late dinner (which I will blog about later).
Highlight of the day yesterday was definitly dinner, but highlight number two was running into Marko on the show floor and getting to chat with him for a minute. Poor guy... someone had thrown up on his shirt.
It is almost 11:00 AM now in St. Louis, and we've had a steady stream of people coming into the booth.
Here are two photos of our booth. Huge thanks to the girl in the Compassion booth (on the corner from us ) for letting me stand in her booth to get this first one.
And here are the guys from the Noah's Ark booth across the aisle from us. I had to give them a shout out because they are stuck looking at Alan and I all weekend long.
That's all I have time for now. It is sure to be a long day.
Roogles out.
We made good time on the drive, got a killer deal on fabric at a going out of business fabric store to use for table cloths, and got our booth setup without any real snafu's.
Yesterday made for a long day with the travel, booth setup, and the mixer in the evening. Made longer by grabbing a really late dinner (which I will blog about later).
Highlight of the day yesterday was definitly dinner, but highlight number two was running into Marko on the show floor and getting to chat with him for a minute. Poor guy... someone had thrown up on his shirt.
It is almost 11:00 AM now in St. Louis, and we've had a steady stream of people coming into the booth.
Here are two photos of our booth. Huge thanks to the girl in the Compassion booth (on the corner from us ) for letting me stand in her booth to get this first one.
And here are the guys from the Noah's Ark booth across the aisle from us. I had to give them a shout out because they are stuck looking at Alan and I all weekend long.
That's all I have time for now. It is sure to be a long day.
Roogles out.
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