Free Is Good

Hey Folks,

As I have been keeping up with my post I have noticed something. It is all about me. Me, Me, Me, Me, Me. Well, enough about me. I want to give back (and isn't that what I am all about, me, me...wait. No, you, you, you, etc). Today I going to offer you a little tip on a couple of places you can get FREE LEGAL GOOD MUSIC (those aren't always the same thing). I am not sure about you, but I have given up my life of crime of robbing innocent artist and record execs from their hard earned stratch. So below are some legal and safe sites you can get some great music on the cheap (free that is).

Pure Volume
This is the mecca. Not only does it have close to a thousand songs you can download, you can also sign up (for free) and you can create your own favorite artist section and create playlist from the songs on the site...super rad. Mostly indie rock, but their is some other music in there too.
Highlights: Mae (just amazing music), Underoath (what all the kids are listening to these days), Emery, Anberlin, Jason Harwell, Jon Black (my peps) and a great Sampler from Tooth & Nail with over 30 songs.

Amazon
I just discovered this site yesterday. They don't have quite as good a selection of good music but they have over 200 songs available. Granted, only 10-ish interested me, they have a bunch of free Christmas music and some other hidden gems.
Highlights: Alison Krauss & Union Station (if you don't know her you should be ashamed of yourself) , Sufjan Stevens (weird fun music), the Hives (not my taste, but they are ok), Matisyahu (just another Jewish reggae rapper...seriously, this guy is great)

Grassroots Music
Some of you might be fimilar with this site. It is a great place to get good music at a good price, but you might not know about the download page. Artist like: Derek Webb, Don Chaffer (of Waterdeep), Jason Harwell, Shane & Shane, and about another 50 or so.

Free Derek Webb
This is another new find. As of Sept 1st Derek Webb is going to be opening a site with mp3's of his most recent CD, Mockingbird. If you haven't spent anytime with Derek Webb, what a sad and pitiful life you live. If you are really clueless, he is one of the guys from Caedmon's Call (p.s. For all of you guitar players out there, here is a link the greatest collection of Caedmon's Call tabs on the net).

Ok, as usually I have given of my self selflessly. You are welcome.

kirkout

One Long Day (Revised)

Hey Kids,
I hope that life is going well for you and yours. Today was the end of the beginning for our youth Fall schedule. Today we had Youth Sunday at our contemporary service. It has been what I have been gearing up for the past two weeks (and actually closer to a month of brainstorming and preping). I preached (we are working on getting the audio available for download...no am I not kidding) and felt really good about it. We had 25 first time possesions of faith, 12 exorcisms, we unbaptized 8 people, had four people leave the Methodist church, and I became Jewish. So, all in all it was a positive in the membership column! Seriously, I thought it went well. Anytime "the youth" are in charge it is always exciting but not always good.

I am back to my NCAA 07 franchise. I am currently into my first season with GSU and working my way throught the SEC West. I have a big game with Arkansas tonight and I hope to finish up the year sometime tomorrow night. I have landed a top flight recruit (#3 ranked MLB) and am working on a Right Tackle. We will see. {Update 8/29/06} I completed my season with a three game winning streak and a Music City Bowl win to end the season 8-4. I am playing on Varsity (2nd skill level of 4) and I think that effects recruiting, as I ended up with a top 12 recruiting class. My overall team rating went from a D to a C which is a huge jump. I got enough players at some key positions (you didn't ask...but MLB, CB, & Satefy) so that I could red-shirt some younger guys and begin building my dynasty. Things seem to be looking up. I also landed three transfers (all were Jr. who had already been red-shirted and thus lost a year of eligability which is stange to me) which will help the team next year (2008 season) but are glued to my bench this season. I won my first game (Hawaii they threw the ball EVERY possession...urr...) handily 37-3 and am working on re-inforcing my O-Line with the in season recruiting.

I also finished my second and final Fantasy Football Draft of the year with excellent results. Unbeknownst to me at the beginning of the draft no one in the league has ever particapated in a fan. football before. My awareness of my leagues unawareness of how Fantasy Football is played became more and more clear throughout the draft. Many of them had been in a baseball league, but it was an auction based league. By the end of the day I was explaining how we keep score, why Bye weeks matter, and why you need bench players. Just to give you an idea...here are some of the more "suprising" draft picks:
The Manning Combo: #5 Peyton Manning not unheard of...but #6 Eli Manning
DEF Run in the first 16 picks: #9 Chicago DEF followed by #16 Carolina DEF
Getting stuck with a So-So backup QB: I managed to get Marc Bulger (arguebly one of the top 3 QB's) in the 9th Round (#81) after top flight QB's like Vick (#43),Green (#61), Clupepper (#71), & Bledsoe (#78) where off the board.

So, back to work stuff. Yeah, we have implimented some changes in the youth ministry (some big some small) and we are almost done with our first month of them. So far I would give us a A- which is really quite good. Now we are going to be going downhill for a bit and I am going to get to take a breathe. One of the adjustments is going to hopefully give me less teaching responibilities on a weekly basis. While I will miss it, I am hoping it will help me provide time to get little things done (like planning trips or cleaning my office) and prepare great teachings instead of just another teaching.
Robin begins school this coming week (28th of Aug) which she is looking forward to. This Labor Weekend my family is coming to help us put up a fence around our house/shack which is going to be a good and long weekend.

kirkout

Catching Up

Hoy Hoy Bloggers,

I hope that all is well in your neck of the woods. I am just starting an "adult" blog. That is one that isn't geared toward the Trinity UMC. So, here you go. If you are reading it, I suppost you care enough to read (at least to this point).
Fantasy Football: Last Sunday night, as many of you were involved in, I was in the third or fourth Boro league I have been involved in. Again with what always feels like not quite enough prepration and too much paper I entered our league draft. I wish I could put some witty comments about it (i.e. Luke or Josh), but I am just not that funny. I feel good about my team. Damon seems to really like my squad. I would have liked to have made some more timely picks late (read: I wish I had been in front of the other owners who drafted players I wanted).

NCAA Football 07: I have also taken back up my obession with NCAA 07 on the xbox. I got it the week it came out, but after a fleeting affair with Hulk: Ultimate Destruction I am back to the pigskin. I enjoy the game but trying to get into football at the end of July is just a little too much for me. I am excited about today's release of Madden 07 but I am commiting to not pick it up until after November. I need to burn myself out on NCAA and the option before I move onto another $50 game.

Let's see...what else...OH. I can talk about things in my life that actually matter. Work (at Trinity UMC, Youth Minister, in Warner Robins in case you forgot) is going better. We are into our first month of our new Fall calendar and programs which is a relief. If you have spent anytime with me in the past few months, you know I have been pretty burned out by everything surrounding work. And if you haven't spent any time with me...too bad. But the kids seem to be responding (that means that they haven't called the pastor to complain, yet) and I know that this is what we need to be doing. Having no orginal ideas in a church for 5 years is no place to try and live (or grow).
Robin is doing well. About to begin her second year at Second Baptist Preschool and she continues to plan on working at the Vet office part time. Napoleon is going well and getting better at soccer. I haven't told him yet that we aren't going to drag our son all over God's green earth to practice and games for the next 15 years (2 1/3 dog years) just so he can awake up his senior year and say "Dad, I don't think that I am ready to play soccer this year." Oh no. I will not have that happen to me!...ok...flashback I just had a Dan Martin. Sorry.
Well, I am out. Sorry this was so long. Rookie bloggers. I actually think you care about what I have to say!

kirkout

Welcome to Blogspot Kirk

Hey World (or Friends),
I am new to blogspot. While I have had a blog for the youth (on xanga: trinityyouthnet) I am going to work on creating one for my "non-youth" friends with more info about me, my wife, and my random ramblings.
KH