Headin' to Branson...

Sabrina and I are heading to Branson a little later this morning. I suppose that we should get some sleep. Sabrina is still up. We went to dinner with Carlos this evening after we helped a single mom in our church move. (That's a whole blog entry on its own.) Carlos is still at our house... we're watching some movie on TNT. I'm not sure what to expect from Branson. I've heard that there isn't much there unless your into shopping. It's about a 2 hour drive up there. I think we're planning on leaving around 9:00AM. We'll hang out with Dad & Rita most of the day and go to the Dixie Stampede around 7:00PM... afterward, we'll head back home. I'll blog about my Branson experience later.

Wi-Fi

So, Sabrina decided that she wanted to finally allow us to get a wireless router for the house. It's nice to be able to be able to capture video on my iMac and blog using my iBook. Like I'm doing now. We went to Bentonville's town square and shot some footage for a promo video for this weekend. I have to get all my stuff done tonight and tomorrow; because Sabrina and I are headed to Branson on Saturday to meet Dad and Rita for the day. We have plans to go the Dixie Stampede... should be interesting.

Happy Birthday to Me...

So, tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be 27. I honestly forgot how old I was going to be. After you hit 25, there's really no point in keeping track. My lovely wife was cool and got me a gift certificate to "Game Crazy". I love my wife. Casey, MattRat, and I are going to eat lunch after we shoot some footage for a promo video. Happy Birthday to me!

For the pleasure of your desktop...

So, I'm trying to branch out a little in my design style. I think these came out pretty well. They are also shameless advertising for our business.

Who wouldn't fall for such a clever trick?

PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian couple stole 50,000 euros from a woman in the Sicilian city of Palermo after convincing her they were vampires who would impregnate her with the son of the Anti-Christ if she did not pay them.

My disease.

Here I am. Another session of my Saturday night insomnia. I don't know what it is about Saturday nights. Maybe it's the fact that I slept in today until 11:00am, or maybe I'm just always nervous about Sunday morning services. All I know is that everytime that I know I have to get up early in the morning... I can't sleep the night before. Oh well, I suppose that's what coffee is for... and the occasional energy drink. (Red Bull is now my favorite, but you can't beat the 16oz. cans of Rockstar.) Today. I bought Full Spectrum Warrior for PS2 at the low cost of $19.99 and I also reserved my copy of SOCOM III. The release date for SOCOM is September 13th. It's gonna be sweet. Yes, I'm a video game nerd. But my eye-hand coordination is ruthless. Just ask those who know me by "Papageorgio". It also rained like a "mutha" here today. When I returned home from my game-purchasing expedition... I was soaked. I had to change my clothes. MattRatt returned home from Florida today. Good to have him back. Alright, I think that's enough ranting for today.

Not quite the OK Corral...

In an early-morning shootout on June 4 in the Homewood housing complex in Pittsburgh, two undercover officers and suspect Keith Carter, 19, exchanged a total of at least 103 gunshots and missed every single time. (On the other hand, in March, Regina Jones-Peoples, 30, of Warren, Ohio, survived 18 gunshots, from her neck to her legs, allegedly by her estranged husband, Marcus Jones, 29, on whom police issued an arrest warrant.) [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 6-5-05] [Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio), 3-26-05]

They raise'em to be tough up there in Warren, OH.

ANC video.

So, I got an email yesterday (Thursday) that I needed to have four video announcements done for this coming Sunday. Well, since I was in a pinch... THIS is what I came with. It's not exactly Speilberg material... but tell me what you think.

Digital Creatives.

I created a group on Flickr called Digital Creatives.. I don't know if it will take off or not. But I wanted to make a place that us church nerds could come together and share ideas and artwork. I suppose that our blogs serve this purpose for a few... but hopefully, we'll get a larger group using flickr.

"Peace out." - Kip

Mystery of the Missing Gnomes.

(Greeley, Colo. -WABC, July 19, 2005) — The mystery of the missing garden gnomes could be harder to solve than police thought. They found about 80 of the pint-sized figurines in plastic bags on Saturday, surrounded by youngsters. But investigators don't think the children stole them. In fact the children most likely found them, said so it's back to square one, said Sgt. Dave Adams. Police are going to call people who reported their gnomes stolen to come identify the decorative yard items. Elsie Schnorr had 30 gnomes stolen from her front lawn more than a month ago, and she'll be among the first to retrieve her property. "I could identify every one of them. My name isn't on them, but I know which ones are mine. Most of mine are one-of-kind," she said.

Why the crap would anyone have 30 gnomes in their front yard?! Maybe she's the supplier for those stupid **edit** Travelocity commercials. Without incriminating myself, I could definitely see the fun in stealing garden gnomes. But I'd probably take them all and put them in a neighbor's yard or something.

WWJD?

The Jordan River, considered by believers to have been the gateway to the Garden of Eden (and by Christians to have been where Jesus was baptized), is now more than 50 percent raw sewage and agricultural runoff, according to a Middle East conservation group spokesman interviewed by Reuters in June. Together, Israel, Jordan and Syria have diverted away from the river (and then treated) about 90 percent of the water flow over the years for their own uses, though part of Jordan's diversion was to create a clean-water baptismal site for pilgrims (some of whom, nonetheless, still bathe in the greenish, polluted part). [Reuters, 6-24-05]

New look.

It's taken me a little while... but I've finally been able to work a little of my own design into my blog. The basic blog framework is from a template, but I have replaced all of the images and colors with my own. I'm pretty happy with this design... for now. Look for another change at the end of summer.

For your desktop...

As requested --- Lakeside 1600x1200

"L A K E S I D E" - 2

lakeside2
Originally uploaded by Josh R..

Here's a desktop wallpaper using a series of pictures that Sabrina took at camp. I used Photoshop "photomerge" to make the panoramic picture. Add a little gradient and some texture... and "voila"!

Back from vacation.

Just because my buddy Ken Wilson asked where I've been. I thought I'd give him and everyone else an update. We went home to Ohio and to Michigan for summer camp for about a week and a half. I couldn't post during that time because we didn't have internet access at camp; and my parents are still using dial-up; which is next to useless for someone like me. I think they are looking into switching to high-speed though... good for them. I made a new header for my blog. I'd really like to redesign my blog; but I do not possess the knowledge of how to make my designs work with Blogger. If only I were smarter... or had a friend **nudge** that might help me out. Aside from that, I've been working hard here in Arkansas. Keypoint is doing well, considering its the summer slump. Our attendance has actually increased the last couple of weeks. Which, I guess, means we're growing. Our Young Married Couples Life Group is going camping tomorrow night. That should be a good time. Some acoustic worship with Tim playing guitar and me on the Djembe drum. The guys are going to officially kick off our "Poker Night" this weekend. I can't wait to play some Texas Hold'em. I'm trying to learn Flash. We'll see how that works out.

Get Into The Game

gitgmailer
Originally uploaded by Josh R..

We're launching a new series at the end of the summer called "Get Into The Game". We're sending mailers out to all of Bentonville... and here's one of the designs for them.

Ask 1

ask1logo
Originally uploaded by Josh R..

This is the logo for a campaign that our church is about to launch. Quite simply, it's just about inviting one family to attend Keypoint on a specific Sunday.

I wanted to post the logo, just because it's out of my normal confines for design.

"Maria?"...

After 30 hours in the drivers seat and 2100 miles, we're finally back home in Arkansas. It all feels like a blur. Impact was a great time. The services were incredible. I had entirely way too much fun with our media team this year. The Jesus clips from Vintage 21 were a good time... although, without knowing the background of the clips, one might take offense. It was nice to see my family again and everyone at WFFC. My wife enjoyed going to Los Mariachis; since there aren't any good Mexican places down here. Being back at WFFC was a bit different. The services are so different from what I'm used to at Keypoint. My most memorable Impact moment: The Media team getting in the ring at 2:30am.

Fear the raptor.