We Have a Winner...

Congrats to David Cook, American Idol: Season 7's winner!

This, of course, means that I didn't correctly predict the winner.(Which put my predictions at 5 for 11) But the guy who I wanted to win did. So I'm stoked! Finally, a rocker won!

Sweet...

Web Wednesday: Shotgun, No Blitz...

It's Web Wednesday!

And today's edition comes straight out of childhood. Have you ever been in a situation where someone calls shotgun on the way to the car, only to realize that they have no idea if their call is in accordance with the universal rules of shotgun calling? Well, worry no more.

Here are the official rules. Go forth, with this knowledge, and rule the world...

I've Got a Crush On You...

What? Two American Gladiators posts in two days!?! Oh yeah. Why? Read on...

As I watched last night's episode of American Gladiators (which shall, henceforth in this post, be referred to as "AG"), I decided that, out of all of their musclebound, spandex-clad, television warriors, only two stand apart as being attractive. Those two are...

Gina "Crush" Carrano and Jennifer "Phoenix" Widerstrom

Here's some background info on Crush and Phoenix...

Now, before you start leaving comments like, "Josh, how could you find these amazons attractive in any way?" or "Josh, you must be hyped up on 'roids to think these "ladies" are hot." (a common misconception) or "Josh, they could beat you up on your best day.", let me strike preemptively and list out my reasons for thinking it a good idea to want to date either one of these feminine fighters...

Josh's Reasons for Wanting to Date an American Gladiator
1) Free tickets to the show... (If you grew up in the 80's, and you're a dude, you have to love this show. It's the law.)

2) I'd no longer have to go to the gym to build up my own musculature for the purposes of "defending my woman". In fact, I'd probably begin to invite guys to hit on her, just so I could then watch her hit on them...

3) I'd finally get the chance to run around in one of those giant hamster balls...

4) I'd get to meet Hulk Hogan...

5) I'd no longer have to be the one asked to open the jar, carry something to the car, or lift anything...

And there you have it: five inarguable reasons why I have a crush on these two AGs.

I love logic...

Body Double 26: The Youth Worker Who Cried Wolf...

As a kid, I loved American Gladiators. In fact, I dreamed that one day I would be able to run around inside a giant hamster wheel while wearing spandex. Oh well. One out of two ain't bad...

All of that to say, just a few nights ago I watched the season premiere of the New American Gladiators. That's when the good Lord brought a Body Double to my mind.

Let me first say that, this isn't originally my body double. I saw it on another guy's blog. But I can't remember who it was. So, maybe if he reads this, he can comment and I'll credit him.

UPDATE: It was Jared Kirkwood. Full credit to him.

Here it is...

American Gladiator Wolf and PDYM Guru, Doug Fields could be spandex-clad brothers...

I don't care how much McGill says they look nothing alike...

They Do That VooDoo That They Do So Well...

Perhaps you might recall only a few short days ago when I wrote of my excitement to visit Portland's VooDoo Doughnuts. Well, this past Thursday was the day...

To say that this place was a hole in the wall would be an exaggeration. It was smaller. And to say that it was a bit... PG-13 would be an exaggeration. Actually, no. No, that would be right on.

I was going to take a picture of a rotating display case of the doughnuts, but there was one in the shape of a... Well, my mom reads this blog.

So, you'll have to make due with this picture. What doughnut did I select?

Oh yeah. Doughnut + Fruit Loops = awesome...

So great...

Because at Least Veronica Has Wallace...

Perhaps you haven't heard, but one day, I plan on saving the world.

And the longer I've thought about this, the more I've come to realize that I left one key element off of my list. My sidekick.

Here's four that I would consider...

Bert 'Sock' Wysocki from Reaper


Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother


Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia


Burton 'Gus' Guster from Psych

I Love the World...

I started seeing this commercial sometime in mid-April. I think Discovery launched it along with their new logo. After seeing it a few times, the song got stuck in my head. After singing it a few times, I decided that I loved the message it was sending.

I do love the world! And it is an awesome place! And I would love to light someone on fire...

Worship the King...

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of leading worship for a junior high group...

But my relationship with worship music hasn't always been an amicable one.

I got my first guitar when I was fifteen years old. I used to take it to church with me on Wednesday nights and the intern for our youth group, Bryant, would show me one chord each week. I think the first one I learned was a "D", then a "C", then "G". After a month or so, he told me to practice switching between the chords. Once I got that down, he gave me some worship songs to help me work on my rhythm.

Bryant eventually finished his internship, so he moved on. After that, my Sunday school teacher, Terry, began working with me on my playing. He even went as far as helping me buy my first "nice" guitar. Once I had a few songs under my belt, my youth pastor, Mark, asked me to lead a few songs for the group. So, quaking in fear, I got up in front of all of my friends, and sang and played a few songs.

Sometime around my sophomore year, my friend Billy Webb taught me my first non-worship song, Sweet Home Alabama. After that, I started working pretty exclusively on other "secular" songs.

Fast forward a couple of years to my ministry experience during college. It didn't take long, once the youth pastors I worked for found out I played guitar and sang, for the command to be handed down. "Hey, you play guitar and sing! You should be in charge of forming a youth praise band!"

This came to be a sentence that I grew to fear and loathe. Music was always something that I loved and enjoyed in my personal life, but never really had a passion for in ministry. This combined with the fact that I've always had a little bit of an automatic push-back when told to do something, made for a bad relationship between worship music and I.

That all changed once I arrived in Orange County. I met Taffy during the first week of my internship. After about five minutes of conversation he asked me if I played guitar or sang. I replied, rather reticently, that I could if he needed me to.

So, within a few weeks, I found myself at a worship band practice and then onstage leading during a weekend service. But it was on that stage that everything changed.

I still remember stepping off stage after my first time leading and saying, "Wow! That was actually fun!" After that, I led at least twice a month for the next two and a half years.

Once I moved down to San Diego and began pastoring a Middle School group of my own, I wasn't able to lead as often as I would have liked. (I had two incredible volunteers that led for me.) And so, other than the occasional opportunity in big church, music became purely extracurricular again.

All of that to say, this past weekend was amazing. To be able to lead Jr. Highers in worship again felt like a missing piece of me was returned.

Here was our set list:

My Glorious

Dancing Generation

From the Inside Out

Mighty to Save

It was a blast. And I can't wait to do it again...

American Idol: 5 for 10...

It looks like it really will be a battle of the Davids...

With last night's elimination of Syesha Mercado, we'll go in to the American Idol finale with who most people agree were the two most talented contestants this season. Editor's Note: Even though I had originally predicted Carly would be in the top two...

I can't wait to see who comes out on top! I want David Cook to win, but I think it might end up being the monchichi...

Curious Josh: Painkillers...

This is the second post in the series. For the first, go here...

Have you ever wondered how painkillers work? I mean, how do they know where the pain is? And how do they go to the right place? And how do they stop it? Oh... You haven't. Well, I have. And I found a sweet article that, much like Clarissa, explains it all. Click here for the article. Here's a short clip...

First, we need to make a distinction between the two main classes of painkillers, which are used for different situations and function via different mechanisms.

The first class is the narcotic opioid drugs. These are the heavy-duty drugs, like morphine and codeine, used to treat severe pain. They relieve pain in two ways: first by interfering with and blocking the transmission of pain signals to the brain, and then by working in the brain to alter the sensation of pain. These drugs neither find nor kill pain, but reduce and alter the user’s perception of the pain. They’re kind of like having an optimistic friend that says, “Hey man, everything will be cool. Nothing’s wrong. Here, look at this shiny, distracting thing!”