We’ve just returned from our second day of work. It wasn’t too bad. The heat which is usually unbearable this time of year was tolerable. This has been an interesting 2 days. We’ve got 98 people from various church groups working at our site. That’s an awesome number (Praise The Lord!) but it causes a few problems on the worksite. The site is only so big and there aren’t enough jobs to go around. So most of the time a substantial number of us are sitting on the sidelines waiting for something to do. This lends itself quite nicely to mingling and socializing with your fellow brothers and sisters but it doesn’t really afford you the chance to get much real work done. It’s a get in where you fit in kind of thing. Today was better than yesterday in that regard though. Yesterday we were digging trenches all day. The place where we’re building is a fairly small lot so there are only so many people that can dig a hole at one time. There are a bunch of kids and teenagers on the trip and they’re more than eager to jump in and do the work. They’re definitely more aggressive than me which tends to mean that they get to do the jobs that need to be done while I’m sitting on the side trying to find some shade.

Today our cement mixer arrived which created more jobs for people to do. I became a part of the bucket brigade providing the sand/gravel mix that was eventually turned into the finished cement. Me and several other guys and girls spent several hours scooping up the sand and dumping it in buckets. A similar line was started for providing water and the dry cement for the mixer. It took a little time but we eventually worked out a good system. Things went very smoothly after that.

Let’s talk about lunch. In years past lunch has been one of the highlights of the day. It’s what you look forward to after several long hours of work. This year lunch has merely been okay. I’m very appreciative of the ladies from the church who are cooking for us but on a taste scale of 1 to 5 I’d have to rate this year’s food as a 3 where as normally it’s a 5. Maybe I’ve gotten spoiled by the ladies in Monterrey (which is where I’ve gone the two previous times I’ve taken this trip). Those women could cook.

We are working in the town of Acuna just across the border from Del Rio. It’s really a blessing to be able to help provide a permanent place of worship for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Mexico. I was shocked when we arrived on Monday morning. The place where they’ve been worshipping was basically a shack made of wood and tin with old wooden benches and beat up theater seats to sit in. It was a very humbling sight. I take our place of worship for granted whereas these people barely have a roof over their head during worship time. It’s exciting to think though that by the end of the summer they’ll have a nice new structure within which to worship. Back to the shack that is no more though. That structure was proof to me that the church is not about where you meet. God’s church exists in the hearts of His people. That’s a very valuable lesson that has been reiterated for me this week.

I’ve got to lead singing for the group tonight at the devo. My friend and roomie for the trip, Michael, is leading the devotional thought. I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t lead singing in a while so I’m a bit rusty but eager to get back to it. Most of my day has been spent going over the songs I’m going to lead in my head. I’ve probably run through the list 50 or 60 times. I even sang the songs out loud to make sure I had all the words right. That’s all for now. Gotta get ready for the devo. I hope to have more to report tomorrow. I would have posted something yesterday but we were having problems with the wireless connection here. I was tempted to call my work and complain about my wireless connection not working as a joke (I get that call all the time from our users). I’ll write more later. Please pray for the work here in Mexico. Peace.

Well I’m writing this post on a friend’s laptop in a hotel room in Del Rio, Texas. Wireless connectivity is so cool. I’ve never really used a Wi-Fi connection before. Ah the wonders of technology. It is 2005 after all.

We left Memphis early yesterday morning around 4 am. It took us about 12 hours to make it to Austin where we spent the night last night. We stopped in Austin to hook up with some former members of our church, the Reese family. They are back in the country for the birth of their 3rd daughter. Marcus and Diane are missionaries in Paupau New Guinea. Our church helps support them and their family in their missionary efforts. This morning we worshiped with the Reeses at their primary supporting church, Westover Church of Christ. It was a nice church from what I saw. I couldn’t keep my eyes open for more than a minute or two. I fell asleep in Sunday School and the main worship service. I’m not sure why that was either. I got plenty of sleep last night. I went to bed really early for me, 10:30. The church was very modern and large. Their regular church attendance averages over 1000 people a week. They had a large auditorium with 3 huge viewing monitors viewable from anywhere in the room. It wasn’t the typical Church of Christ that I’m used to. They had a praise team leading singing. I thought it was cool but some folks at my church at home look at they kind of thing as taboo. It’s a major Church of Christ issue that I won’t get into here.

Anyway we had a nice service and then jumped back on the road. And now we’re here. There’s a huge contingent from Churches of Christ from all over the country. We should have a big group at the worksite tomorrow. This is my 3rd year comming on the church building campaign. Can’t wait to see what this week has in store. I’ll keep you guys posted now that I know I have free Internet access all week. Check you guys later. Gotta get some grub then head back here for a devo. Peace out.

In addition to being the relase date for the new Dave Matthews Band album, May 10th marked the release date Weezer’s new album, Make Believe. I discovered Weezer back during my Junior year in college. A friend of mine named Joel had Weezer’s self titled debut (dubbed the Blue Album by fans). We listened to that CD over and over again. He made me a tape of it and I wore that thing out. After college I lost track of Weezer and misplaced my copy of the Blue Album. A couple of years ago I was browsing the used CD section at the local music store and came across that album. I bought it on the spot and enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane listening to all the tracks my friends and I used to love. Weezer have released several albums since the Blue Album. I have downloaded copies of their last two releases Maladroit and The Green Album. Neither of them even come close to the brilliance that is the Blue Album. I just purchased their second album Pinkerton from iTunes since most fans seem to consider it the second coming of the Blue Album. In my opinion Pinkerton isn’t all that great either so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Make Believe.

When I first heard their first single off the album, Beverly Hills, I had mixed feelings. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t like it at first but it grew on me. When I heard the entire album I was relieved. It sounds nothing like Beverly Hills which is a good thing because even though I’ve grown to like it’s quirky beat and off kilter harmony I don’t think I could have taken a whole album’s worth of that. Make Believe finds Weezer returning to what do best which is heart felt lyrics wrapped in bouyant harmonies set to catchy pop/punk/rock sounds. It’s the closest the band has come to The Blue Album in terms of sound in years. There are differences. Whereas the blue album was funny, ironic, and sarcastic, Make Believe is more straight forward and earnest. Lead singer Rivers Cuomo’s voice sounds wonderful on this album. He has an outstanding vocal range. He can rock out when he needs to but is equally adept at wistful crooning on the more somber tracks. MB even goes retro on a few tracks which is refreshing. My favorite song on the entire album is the 80′s synthesizer tinged This Is Such A Pity. Make Believe is an excellent album. Casual or first time Weezer fans (I’d lump myself in the casual category) along with hard core long time fans alike should all purchase this album. Based on their track record this is probably going to be all you get from them for a long time. They’ve only released 5 albums in 11 years. Heck there might not even be a Weezer come the end of the year. According to an article I read in Rolling Stone this past week Rivers has only signed one to support this current album through the end of the year at which time he will return to his life of seclusion and meditation retreats. Rivers is one strange cat but the music he writes and his band plays is wonderful. Pinkerton, Maladroit, and The Green Album excluded of course.

May 10th marked the release date for the lastest album from Dave Matthews Band, Stand Up. I’ve been looking forward to this album for a long time. Surprisingly it doesn’t dissappoint. Stand Up finds the band branching out and exploring a new sound. Personally I like the new direction they’re headed in. One person on the Nancies.org message board described this as the band’s “Pop/R&B” era. I’d have to agree though that person used that description as a negative where as I’d have to say the opposite. The majority of the songs on the album have a catchy pop sensibility to them. I was humming the words to several of the songs after only one listen which says a lot. I tend to listen the music (as in the instrumentation and beats) more than the words to songs. Maybe it’s the old band geek in me I don’t know. I just don’t tend to listen very closely to the words. Over time I’ll gradually learn the words after repeated listening through sheer repetition but I don’t go out of my way to listen to and disect the lyrics. I love the beats on this album. They had my head bobbing and my toes tapping from start to finish. The album’s producer, Mark Batson, comes from a hip-hop background. That influence definitely shows through out. You can tell that he helped the band focus in on making the beats tight and the hooks extremely hooky (for lack of a better term). That sensibility resulted in one of the few faults I found with the album though. The songs are short. Well they’re short by DMB standards. The longest song on the record clocks in at a measley 5:36. To borrow a term from James Brown the guys really hit it and quit on this album. With the exception of the aforementioned 5 minute and 36 second Louisiana Bayou where the band lets lose a little bit there aren’t any all out jam fests like longtime fans have come to know and love from the band. I wish the band had allowed themselves the freedom to explore the musical ideas that they came up with a bit more. Everything seems rather abbreviated in my opinion but that’s what makes the album the lean mean musical whole that it is. Personal favorites include: You Might Die Trying, Everybody Wake Up (Our Finest Hour Arrives), American Baby, Lousiana Bayou, Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back), Dreamgirl, Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd, Hello Again and Stand Up. A quick note about that last song. At first listen I thought Stand Up was stupid. Dave just basically sings Stand Up! Stand Up! over and over again but the music behind the words is so infectious you can’t help liking the song after a while. The one dud on the album would have to be Smooth Rider. It just doesn’t flow with the other songs in my opinion. Thankfully it’s over rather quickly clocking in at 2:17 (the shortest song on the album). Hello Again proves that they haven’t completely abandoned their roots. It’s the closest this album comes to capturing the old DMB sound from records past. It has a folksy, acoustic ho down feel to it. Steady As We Go and Out Of My Hands round the album out with a more mellow, less beat driven vibe. This is the most produced album the band has ever made. Some would say it’s over produced but I dissagree. Mark Batson’s production adds layers to the music that DMB songs have never had before. I like it. All in all I think the guys hit this one out of the park. Just barely out of the park but out of the park none-the-less.

The essence of the Dave Matthews Band doesn’t lie in their studio recordings anyway. For DMB it’s all about the live performance. That’s where they shine. The true test of the new material is how it sounds live. I got the chance to hear and see that first hand thanks to AOL Music. (Side Note: Normally I can’t stand anything that has to do with the evil that is AOL (AIM excluded) but I must give them props and debt of thanks in this one instance.) They broadcast the band’s May 9th album release concert live from New York over the Internet. Check out the wonderful 3 hour event here. It’s sweet. The new songs sound really good live. Dave and the boys take the musical ideas briefly touched upon in the album and flesh them out in a manner that proves more satisfying on all fronts. In this way I think the album acts as a teaser pointing the listener squarely towards the live concert experience as a way to appease the appetite that is merely wet by the CD. I will get to experience this first hand when I head to Nashville on July 21st to see DMB live. I have a feeling that’s going to be the highlight of my summer. I can’t wait.

Just got back from seeing the final installment in the Star Wars Prequel sequence, Revenge of The Sith. All in all in liked it. I’m not a huge Star Wars fan so I wasn’t head over heels, wet my pants, stand in line for hours excited to see it but the build up peaked my interest. I lump it in a category with movies like Titanic and The Passion of the Christ. You know the ending before the movie starts but it’s interesting to see how things unfold to reach that inevitable end. The first 20 minutes made my head spin. There was just so much going on it was hard to focus on any one thing. I found that a bit disconcerting. There was a lot more action in this one than I remembered from the first two which was nice. I think I’m going to have to go see it again to catch all things I missed. Like I said there’s just a lot going on.

I went with a group of guys from church. That was a welcome change. I love going to movies but I usually go alone. Actually I always go alone but anyway….. It was a cool guy’s night out. A bunch of the women of the church are out of town on a women’s retreat this weekend so we figured why not have our own mini-retreat. We ate before hand at the world famous Gus’ Fried Chicken. They have the world’s best fried chicken. Period. End of story. The grease they cook the chicken in is over 50 years old. Well a small portion of it is. They shipped it in direct from the original Gus’ Chicken store that’s been open more than 50 years. If you’re ever in Memphis you’ve got to experience Gus’ at least once. This was my first time at the fabled restaurant but I’m definitely going back. I’m questioning whether or not I should expose my Dad to the wonder that is Gus’ Fried Chicken. He might hurt himself. He loves chicken. Love probably isn’t a strong enough word for Dad’s affection for the flightless fowl. Anyhow it was a fun night. I hope we do more group outings like this in the future.

As an added bonus I got a chance to take a few shots with my new digital camera tonight. The new 1 Gig (yes you read that correctly 1 Gigabyte) xD memory card I bought for it is awesome. It should hold close to 500 4 megapixel pictures. Now that I’ve got it I hope to be taking more pictures. I miss taking pictures. I took a ton of them in college but my nice, regular SLR film camera has basically been sitting around collecting dust the last couple of years. I’ll have to get Aaron to show me how to post my pics to the blog here so I can put up a few shots here and there.

Well my beloved Memphis Grizzlies completed their season on a sour note tonight. For the second year in a row they were swept straight out of the playoffs in 4 games. The Phoenix Suns were simply the better team by a long shot. We had no answers for them. If you shut down the inside they killed you with the outside shot. If you shut down the outside they killed you on the inside. Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Quinton Richardson they were all too much for the Grizz. We played hard not quite hard enough. The Grizzlies have the unwanted destinction of being the first team in history to lose their first 8 playoff games. That’s a record you don’t want to have.

Tonight’s game was good in spots. The Grizz came back from being down by 7 at halftime to tie the game up at 64. When that happened I thought they had a chance. But the refs had different plans. I’m usually not one to rag on the refs. Generally they do a good job and having been a soccer ref in high school I know what a difficult and thankless job it is. That being said the refs we had tonight stunk. They refused to give us a call. Every call went the Suns way especially down the stretch. It was really sad. I understand that the Grizzlies are a young team and don’t necessarily command the respect of the refs around the league but a foul is a foul. The rules dictate that you call fouls. That’s their job. On the offensive end the Grizzlies couldn’t get a foul call. At the defensive end everything was called a foul. Fouls that were clearly offensive fouls on the Suns were instead called blocking fouls on the Grizz. The Suns traveled more than United Airlines but only got one traveling call the whole night. I was literally sick to my stomach by the end of the game just like every other fan in attendance.

The Grizzlies played much better tonight than they did Friday night. Friday was pathetic. Getting blown out by 20 at home is just uncalled for. The FedEx Forum felt like a funeral home that night. Fans leaving early. I couldn’t blame them either. It was painful to see my team go out like that.

It’s going to be an interesting summer. I have a feeling Jerry West and upper management are going to blow this team apart and go back to the drawing board. Bonzi Wells after his antics this week is gone I hope. Good riddance I say. If you don’t want to show up to practice we don’t need you. Stromile Swift will be gone I think. He’s a good player but he only played when he wanted too and won’t be sorely missed. A reporter in the Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote that this team was put together to make the playoffs. In that they were successful. Next year I hope they put together a team that can win in the playoffs.