Merlin

Has anyone else watched or been watching any of this little BBC show called Merlin?

One of my son's really into fanstasy stories, and I told him about Merlin a few months ago while watching the show last year Sunday nights on NBC before football started. Since, NBC has dropped the show, but the SyFy Channel scooped it up. Anyhow, he watched his first Merlin show last Friday and really loved it.

The premise is essentially a reboot of the King Arthur legend beginning when Arthur and Merlin were in their teens a la Smallville and the Superman saga -- in fact, the show's producer commented that Smallville was quite an influence for Merlin. In the show, King Uther Pendragon, has outlawed all sorcery in Camelot. Meanwhile, Merlin is a magical being serving a snooty but good-hearted Prince Arthur for the good of Camelot that comes under all kinds of attacks that are going to take some of Merlin's magic to defeat. The building of the Arthur/Merlin friendship is a key part of the show. Also, Camelot regulars Guinevere and Morgana are invloved, and guest appearances by Lancelot, an imprisoned magical golden dragon, and some of the other figures in the Camelot legends should be expected.

I haven't watched too many episodes, but each one I've seen has been really entertaining and totally family-friendly -- unless you're just dead-set against the "magic" issue, which I realize some people are or you're very hard core on limitations to the Arthurian legend because this one takes its liberties. Also, most of the actors and actresses in the series are newcomers, so you're seeing them essentially as the role they're playing, which is cool.

Also, for anyone interested, Year One of Merlin comes out on DVD beginning April 20th. I ordered it for my son for Easter here at Amazon. If you're looking for a fun, family-friendly show, check out Merlin - Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. CST on SyFy. I recommend it!

Happy Easter!

Sunday comes! Jesus lives! The Resurrection and the Life. Believe!!!

Where I Fall Short

Just a very, very few of the areas where I fall short:

Love for others. Honesty. Hard work. Friendliness. Loyalty. Faithfulness. Personal discipline. Pridefulness. Anger. Parental guidance. Spiritual discipline. Listening. Broken vows. Dietary concerns. Being a neighbor. Hard-heartedness. Prioritizing. Competitiveness and fair play. Showing grace. Boundaries. Stewardship. Following through. Foul language. Sympathy. Lustfulness. Kindness. Self-indulgence. Bearing others' burdens. Protecting my own heart. Prayer. Apathy. Love for God.

So I confess, work on, and pray about those things where I'm the one holding the hammer and driving the nails. On the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter, those sins haunt me. But for all those things... Jesus died. And Easter Sunday's coming.

Groovesharkin'

After receiving my message from management of having my Pandora music cut down to 40 hours per month, I was informed by oft commenter and pal, Douglas, about Grooveshark. It's sort of the next step up from Pandora, in my opinion, as listeners can create their own playlist. It's like having my own Ipod at work. Bannerman! I've got one ninety [*edited - now up to 111]songs long right now, and I'm gonna list if for you -- in order -- and see if you can get a little list going that's better than mine. It certainly doesn't have to be as long as mine. Also, you're welcome to flame me for some of my poorer choices.

1. Burden, The Connells

2. Slide, The Goo Goo Dolls

3. Bare, Matt Nathanson

4. The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes, and The Pride of Life - 77s

5.Pickin' It Up - Hot Hot Heat

6. I Was Wrong - Social Distortion

7. Nod Over Coffee - Mark Heard

8. Love Your Mind - The Choir

9. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

10. Train in Vain - The Clash

11. Just Like Heaven - The Cure

12. Deep End - 77s

13. Shimmer - Fuel

14. Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds

15. I Don't Like Mondays - Boomtown Rats

16. The Best of Jill Hives - Guided by Voices

17. When the World Gets Weak - Warren Zanes

18. Since Your Gone - The Cars

19. Where the Streets Have No Name - U2

20. Don't Forget to Dance - The Kinks

21. The Waiting - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

22. That Ain't Right - Pete Droge and the Sinners

23. Where Do the Children Go - Hooters

24. Dulce Et Decorum Est - Matthew Ryan

25. Hold on Hope - Guided by Voices

26. Wither, I'm a Flower - Whiskeytown

27. I Must Be High - Wilco

28. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers

29. Bent - Matthew Nathanson

30. If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself) - Pete Droge

31. I Don't Love You - Lost Dogs

32. Middle of the Road - The Pretenders

33. Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order

34. There She Goes - Sixpence None the Richer

35. Breathe - Michelle Branch

36. The Adventure - Angels and Airwaves

37. What's My Age Again - Blink 182

38. Lurgee - Radiohead

39. Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

40. Hard Luck Woman - Kiss

41. Can't Help Falling in Love With You - Lick the Tins

42. It Could Be Worse - Matthew Ryan

43. Waiting to Derail - Whiskeytown

44. Left of the Dial - The Replacements

45. World Class Fad - Paul Westerberg

46. Truth Is - Sister Hazel

47. Jam - Toad the Wet Sprocket

48. Easier - Glen Phillips

49. When You Say Nothing at All - Allison Krauss

50. Does Your Mother Know - ABBA

51. Wolfgang - Pete Droge and the Sinners

52. Mr. Brightside - The Killers

53. Big Brown Eyes - Old 97s

54. Fallen World - Altar Boys

55. The Sunny Side of the Street - The Pogues

56. Camera One - Josh Joplin Group

57. That Much Further West - Lucero

58. Disappointed - The Connells

59. Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers

60. Nearly Lost You - Screaming Trees

61. Thunder Island - Jay Ferguson

62. That Thing You Do - The Wonders

63. Wedding Day - Rosie Thomas

64. New Madrid - Uncle Tupelo

65. Garden Days - Jolene

66. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - The Ramones

67. Basket Case - Green Day

68. Superman's Song - Crash Test Dummies

69. Alcoholiday - Teenage Fanclub

70. Ain't That Enough - Teenage Fanclub

71. Stone Cold Yesterday - The Connells

72. Always Saturday - Guadacanal Diary

73. Compositions of the Young and Old - Bob Mould

74. Girlfriend in a Coma - The Smiths

75. Vacation - The GoGos

76. Bonzo Goes to Bitburg - The Ramones

77. I Know You Know - Friendly Indians

78. Offer - Vigilantes of Love

79. Now as the Train Pulls Away - Bill Mallonee and Vigilantes of Love

80. Sing Me Sweet - Matt Nathanson

81. Welcome Back - John Sebastian

82. Do You Believe in Magic - The Lovin' Spoonful

83. All She Said - Toad the Wet Sprocket

84. P.S. - Toad the Wet Sprocket

85. Angels We Have Heard on High - Sixpence

86. If She Knew What She Wants - The Bangles

87. It's Raining Again - Supertramp

88. Brim Full of Asha - Cornershop

89. For Blue Skies - Strays Don't Sleep

90. Back into Your World - Son Volt

[*edited to 111

91. Feel the Pain - Dinosaur Jr.

92. Competition Smile - Gin Blossoms

93. To Call My Own - Golden Smog

94. Speed of Sound - Coldplay

95. Sick of Myself - Matthew Sweet

96. A Little Is Enough - Pete Townsend

97. Do It for Love - 77s

98. You Know That Is Nothing New - Vigilantes of Love

99. In a Big Country - Big Country

100. Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations

101. December - Collective Soul

102. Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows

103. The Things We Do for Love - 10cc

104. Blue Jean - David Bowie

105. Secondhand News - Fleetwood Mac

106. Surrender - Cheap Trick

107. Don't You (Forget about Me) - Simple Minds

108. Back on the Chain Gang - The Pretenders

109. Save It for a Rainy Day - The Jayhawks

110. First Date - Blink 182

111. That Thing You Do - The Wonders

okay, I'll stop adding - at least to the post - now :) ]

I list all these, not so you know what a goober I am with my musical choices, but rather so that you can see that Grooveshark's catalog of songs tha you can choose through is extensive. And all types of music are available. You want classical, R&B, soul, rap, country, Christian, metal... they're all there. You want 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s... all there. Like Pandora, there's a "Radio" button you can hit, and it has some kind of formula that tries to see what your tastes are and add songs that are similar. Actually, there are a lot of features as I'm just getting started. Anyway, wanted to let everyone know.

Let me know what I should add to my list as well.

Spamania

Interesting how much spam we've gotten in our comments that I rejected since we took off from blogging. I just deleted at least twentysomething ridiculous spam-ments.

Alright, I should be back blogging here in the next day or so. Stay tuned. All one of you.

Picture of a Tornado Over My Church

A tornado touched down here in Huntsville a couple of days ago about a mile from my old house. Someone caught this picture of the tornado with my church (First Baptist - Huntsville) in the foreground. Really cool picture, but a little disturbing, too. What do you think?

Headlines

These have been making the rounds on the Net (some of them are old), but they're funny enough that I thought I'd post for those who haven't seen them. I took out a couple. Even some of the ones I left in are a bit crass... but then, they're funny too!

For the record, if police are arresting folks with crack between their buttocks, I had to shower at the gym after playing basketball yesterday, and I'm here to tell you: there are A LOT of criminals down there! Hope you enjoyed these! If there are any "Headlines" you think are funny and are willing to share, post them in the comments. Please and thanks!

2010 Is Rucking, Rhaggy

Can someone PUUUUUUUH-LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAZZZE beat the New York Jets?

Let me just say that if both the Crimson Tide win the National Championship, and the Jets win the Super Bowl in the same year, my head is gonna explode like that guy from the movie Scanners. No. That's a calm understatment of what my head will do.

Somebody wake me please and tell me it was all ONE BIG NIGHTMARE!

Haiti - E-mail from a Missionary

Was forwarded this e-mail from my cousin's wife. It's from my Aunt Dorothy, who is a missionary in Haiti, working with orphans and children whose parents cannot afford to take care of them (heavy emphasis on children with HIV/AIDS). She works for Christian Light Foundation, which I'm linking. A minute ago I was thinking what a disaster it was that I didn't have anything in my fridge to eat tonight when I go home. Then, I read this. Puts things in perspective and sums up what's going on down there. Even though I don't know anyone else she references, I don't need to add anything; I get the picture. Here's a copy of the e-mail:

Jan 15 2010

We survived the earthquake, all of us. PRAISE GOD!!!!!!

Amanda, Natasha and I were just arriving at Sacred Heart Hospital (CDTI) near what we think was the strongest area of the quake. Jesula, our nanny who had been with Poutchino at the hospital, was collapsing on the ground outside, in shock. Natasha ran inside for Poutchino. We parked the car. A man carried Jesula to the car. She was frozen with fear.

Hospital patients were brought outside, injured people came in thru the gate. All hospital personnel worked thru the night and next day with barely a break. Amanda and I took turns holding a flashlight for a surgeon stitching wounds and gradually learned how to do more. Natasha had to stay in the car holding Poutchino.

Some people were beyond help: the doctors gave them medicines for pain and treated those they could help. I counted about 40 people who died during the 24 hours we were there, all ages. Security manned the gate, only letting in the injured people that the doctor felt they could help.
Generators lit the parking lot. It seemed like a scene from hell with all the moans and screams and cries for help and the ground covered with injured people and blood. People panicked at every aftershock. Burns were the worst injuries but thankfully few.

Communications were cut off -- no one could find out about the rest of their loved ones. We had to try hard not to imagine the terribles thing that might have happened to our children and staff. Rumors trickled in about the buildings that had crashed. A rumor started that a tsunami was coming and we had to leave.

Heroes were everywhere. Groups of people sang and prayed and praised God for sparing so many. Doctors and nurses barely stopped to rest thru the night and well into the next day. Pain pills and shots were given freely. Every injured person got a shot of ampicillin. I gave shots, too. The hospital emptied its shelves, giving everything they had to help people. The strong carried the weak. Everyone comforted everyone else. People walked around praying for others. Two people scoured the streets for anything that could be used as splints. I am still amazed and glad that I had donated blood just that morning! We saw God working in us and all around us.
We finally were able to leave the hospital Wednesday afternoon, bring Poutchino with us. Collapsed buildings, wrecked and crushed cars, blood and bodies were everywhere. Coming home was such a blessing! No one was injured, the house was intact! Hallelujah! sweet relief!

Praise God we had just received new supplies of antibiotics. We gave most of them plus a lot of gauze and tape, tylenol and ibuprofen, needles, and IV sypplies to a clinic set up in our neighborhood. We had a little bit left over to give to Healing Hands this morning, and sent home some gauze and soap with a nanny for her injured grandmother.

Poutchino definitely had meningitis but there was no more infection by the time the CSF was tested. Considering the chaos at the hospital we brought him home with us. His abdominal pain is completely gone. He can eat again. I give him 1 gram of ceftriaxone every 12 hours hoping to keep the meningitis from returning. Infection could be hiding in his shunt. An operation to remove the shunt would be difficult to get now.

For those of you who know our staff, Claudia's leg is broken and her house destroyed. Jesula and her family are safe but their house was destroyed and they are staying here. Leonne's home was destroyed and she is staying here. Eva's house was destroyed but she has another place to stay. Suzette's house was destroyed: she can't come to work. Rosemanie is fine. Bb was thrown from a truck during the earthquake and was injured but is doing okay. She was on her way to work the overnight shift. The other ladies who were here took care of everything. They worked very very hard. Our staff is fantastic!

Both of our usual grocery stores, Caribbean and One Stop, were destroyed. We haven't heard what happened to the people inside. Those were the only places we could cash checks. Gas stations arent open yet. We heard that Sherrie Fausey's building partially collapsed and one child was killed. Sherrie and Julie are fine. Karen Bultje and her kids are fine. Nikki, who went to live with Roberta, was killed by a falling wall. Roberta and all other children are okay. Pastor CJ came by this morning to see if we were okay. He said Pastor Leny and his family are okay. Pastor Genada called. They were in Port au Prince during the quake and a block fell on his daughter's leg. They had to go all the way back to Gonaives to get help for her. Karen Bultje is still being an angel of mercy for as long as her diesel fuel holds out: she brought us several cases of pop tarts so we have breakfast for a while. Dottie was temporarily trapped in her house but is okay now. Nickson and Ivens and their families are okay. Deedee, the Boyers and the Olssons are okay. Barb Lataillade's foot was nearly amputated. The U.S. military got her out to Jacksonville, Florida for care.. Our pediatrician called to check on us.

Phones are starting to work again but not yet normally.. Helicopters are flying overhead all the time, and small planes. The U.S. military is running the airport now. Civilian flights are all canceled. UN police are in charge of security. Not much is seen of Haitian police, I don't know why. I expect, hope, that relief supplies will come in soon. Our biggest concerns at the moment are cooking fuel and water.

We all are fighting shock, trying not to be overwhelmed with grief and horror. I am trying to plan without being overwhelmed with worry. PRAYER AND PRAISES REALLY WORK TO KEEP SPIRIT UP! Remembering what God has already done in protecting and providing for us reassures me that He will continue to provide for our needs. I am so thank Natasha and Amanda were with me at the hospital and that Natasha can stay here for a while to help.
I have heard that maybe 100,000 people died. I can believe it based on what I have seen. I heard that the earthquake was 7.3 on the Richter scale. We need news from outside but please keep emails strictly to news. We have to use our precious supplies of gasoline to get online. Since we have no place to cash checks I have to work with Christian Light Foundation to find a way to get money to us.

Please pray for all of us in Haiti and for all those sending and bringing help.

Dorothy Pearce

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I Cor. 13:13

Faith-Hope-Love Infant Rescue
http://dorothypearcehaiti.blogspot.com/

Donations:
Christian Light Foundation, Inc.
P.O.. Box 23881
Jacksonville FL 32241-3881
Memo: For D. Pearce, Haiti

Lists Rich Doesn't Make -- Reprised

Once, a good while back, I claimed on this blog that I wasn't a list-maker. In general, in life, that's true. I don't make many, and my life certainly isn't governed by them. However, blogging being what it is, Ken, our semi-resident Diabolical Genius, pointed out how many times I had posted lists here in The Realm of Possibility just to show me the humorous irony of my words.

Well, guess what?! It's the New Year. What's that mean besides the fact that I'll be receiving my W-2 within the month and get to start dreading tax returns? It means RESOLUTIONS, of course. In an effort to try to maintain some semblance of truth here on the blog to my claim of not being much of a list-guy, I'm going to keep my resolutions short and sweet this year. Without further ado, they are:

• Spend more time with God. Just time. Presence. Prayer. Bible Study.
• Write. Plot and write. Get back in sync with Ken in our writing efforts.
• Learn how to play the guitar. That's right. I'm 43. It's time I knew.
• Curb my television watching.

Short list, but for me, believe it or not, it's tough. Very tough. Each one of those requires self-discipline, which is one life requirement of which I'm sorely lacking. The root of so many of my personal ills. Without it, though, I feel like I just skate through life without much meaning. And that's the mark of too much of my life.

New Year, new beginnings, however, and all that good stuff. So cheers.

Alright. Your turn. New Year's resolutions anyone?