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over 200,000 people flocked to see his speech in berlin today.

from this clip, i can understand why.

button as seen at the republican party of texas’ state convention. 

this makes me sick. 

[h/t: marc ambinder of the atlantic] 

this is the video i spent most of last week producing/directing, stressing over, and rendering ;-). kyle gray of themile.tv is the speaker.

memorial day short film - rc1 from cedarcreek church on Vimeo.

this is not a post about the chicago bulls getting the number one pick in the nba draft when they only had a 1.4% chance.

rather, this is a post about american idol… sorry.

i don’t think any self-respecting david cook fan really believed that he would win tonight. i think we all collectively believed that even though david cook was consistently the most original, hardest working contestant, the droves of teenage girls voting for the also very talented david a. would far outnumber us.

tonight was a victory in the mantra “hard work pays off.”

i understand that there is a lot of cynicism out there over american idol being all that’s wrong with the music industry, and i get it. i get the people who have never watched a show and never will… i understand it. but i’m telling you, never before have i seen a reality show contestant that i have felt so proud of. this guy came from nothing, tending bar in kansas city to be exact, to winning the biggest competition on the planet. don’t believe me? ninety-seven million people voted last night in under four hours. that’s asinine. the kicker? david cook didn’t even go to the auditions for himself to begin with. he was there supporting his brother who wanted to audition, but got talked into trying out himself at the last minute. absolutely incredible story.

of all the reasons i could pick out of a hat to say that i am most happy for the results tonight, the biggest of them all is the idea of hard work. david cook took time to make nearly every single one of his performances at least slightly different than what you would have expected. it was never just a karaoke competition with him. his hard work and determination showed every week, whether or not you liked the performance, at least it was “different” than everyone else just doing a cover. don’t believe me? watch a few performances yourself…

*ps - i’m aware billie jean is actually chris cornell’s version

$3.78

i hear some places are as high as $3.99

yet, our leadership says things like “four dollars a gallon? i hadn’t heard that.” like it is the most atrocious idea ever presented. by the way, that’s a direct quote from dubya himself.

here’s the thing. i don’t know who to blame on why gas is so expensive. what i do know, is i don’t like the oil companies making record profits, and i don’t like our president being in bed with the oil companies. i don’t like the de-valuing of the us dollar (i think i’m finally starting to understand, addison), and i don’t like our economy.

the problem with knowledge, is that it seems the more i learn about the world around me, the more depressed i get.

for example. ryanne and i are thinking about having a child sometime soon. we used to say “i don’t know if we’ll be able to afford a child” and people would laugh at us and say “you’ll NEVER be able to afford a child” as if it was some big joke. well, i am not laughing anymore. gas prices are sky rocketing, utilities continue to rise, we’re still in debt up to our eyeballs, and i’m not getting a huge raise anytime soon. it’s beginning to seem less like affordability being an issue to having a child and more like responsibility. i honest to goodness don’t see things turning around anytime soon, and i don’t know if i am in a position to raise a child in a way that i would expect/want too.

when is america going to wake up and realize that credit is the freakin’ devil? yes. i mean it. we spend more than we have, and then we cry when the chickens come home to roost. it’s a mess out there, and honest to god, i’m scared. i don’t know what’s next, but it’s terrifying. i’m already trying to figure out how to cut back on driving, which is going to include getting up stupid early in the morning to go to work (4:30am) with my wife so we can carpool.

and that’s just step one. step two has a lot to do with becoming completely anti-social and never leaving the house.

let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

i’ve posted about this before… but it’s become so important, that i feel a rehash is absolutely necessary. it’s a pet-peeve of mine, so of course i am a bit biased.

YOU FORFEIT YOUR RIGHTS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT GAS PRICES IF YOU DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING

• drive a hummer to “look cool”
• drive an suv for a family less than two
• drive fifteen miles over the speed limit
• drive with a lead foot
• insist on passing people, only to have to stop at a red light five hundred feet ahead of you
• don’t take the initiative to leave a little early and drive a little slower

these, are just a few. far be it for me to come here and call people morons without giving some sort of advice on how to change, so here are some tips on how to conserve quite a bit of gas, taken from the philadelphia inquirer:

Take your foot off the gas and coast to that red light. When the light turns green, go easy on the gas pedal. On the highway, set the cruise control to the speed limit - maybe even a little lower, if you dare.

these few tips are absolute murder on other drivers who are morons. to be honest, it’s actually kind of fun to count how many people give me the finger on the way to work. i don’t drive like your grandma, i drive slower than her. on city streets, i drive no faster than the speed limit, i take forever to get up to speed, and i take my foot of the pedal if i can see a red light ahead. coasting is key. you have to understand that you use the most gas accelerating, so therefore if you can reduce the amount of acceleration you must use in your vehicle you can significantly reduce your fuel usage. this requires timing, slowing down earlier is so important. and you can laugh your way all the way to the red light as people insist on passing you, only to have to stop.

now, the expressway is a totally different story. here in ohio the speed limit on our expressways is sixty-five miles per hour. i set my cruise control at sixty. i have somewhat of an advantage, driving a prius that has a real-time mpg monitor. this allows me to monitor the “sweet spots” for mileage, and i have found sixty to be the best expressway speed for my car. for a prius that gets better mileage in the city than on the expressway, this is very important. i don’t care if it bugs people behind me… pass me all you want. i’m laughing all the way to the pump, and bank.

you must all understand something, the faster you go, the more rpm’s your engine is making. the more rpm’s, the more gas it’s using. i’ve read a number of places that estimate for every ten miles an hour you go over sixty, you’re losing an average of four miles per gallon. do the math, that adds up.

here’s some resources if you’re interested on how to get the most out of your car. no matter what you currently drive, you can take steps to help reduce your fuel usage NOW. whether you drive a prius, sedan, suv or hummer… you can start saving money today.

http://www.hypermiling.com/
http://www.ecodrive.org/
http://www.cleanmpg.com/
cnn money article

i got an email from someone today. not one of those chain emails either… this was an honest to goodness real email written by someone i know who is quite upset about the cover of the new time magazine. check it out, let me know what you think. i have my own thoughts, which i will share soon.