Trouble Sleeping?

June 14, 2008 — Leave a comment

I sometimes have trouble sleeping. It usually is a result of not shutting off my brain – especially if there is something going on that has a whole lot of details that I don’t want to miss due to their interconnectivity.

Then I saw this article from Men’s Health and now I’m ready to combat insomnia. Here are some highlights:

THE MATTRESS
There’s more to take home from hotels than mini shampoo bottles. Chains such as Four Seasons, Westin, and W have been working with mattress manufacturers to create the most comfortable sleep surface possible. Made to the exact specifications of each hotel, the beds feature more coils and cushioning than even high-end store models.

Best in class: Thanks to a near-perfect balance of support and padding, the Four Comfort Bed ($1,300, starwoodhotels.com) provides the ultimate slumber surface. The specially designed Sealy mattress sits atop a foundation made of heavy-gauge, high-carbon steel, which does a better job of flexing to absorb weight and movement than a traditional box spring. Need something softer? Check out the Heavenly Bed ($1,450, westin.com); its pillow-top mattress provides an extra layer of padding that you can sink into without being swallowed up.

THE SHEETS
Instead of looking for quadruple-digit counts, pay attention to the fabric. The rule: Go with natural fibers, such as cotton, and avoid synthetics, which are less absorbent, says Breus. “Over the course of an evening, you can release close to a half gallon of sweat and oils.”

Best in class: Make your bed with Garnet Hill Signature flannel sheets ($135 for king size, garnethill.com). A napped cotton surface makes these sheets somnolent soft. And, while warm, they weren’t oppressively so. Runner-up: Pure Beech sateen sheets ($100, bedbathandbeyond.com). They’re woven with fiber from beech trees and were lighter than the Garnet Hill flannels and nearly as soft.

For more on the right blanket, pillow, supplements, and sleeping pills, read the full article HERE.


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…and then let’s see what it looks like in super-slow-mo!

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HT: double 3 via Ragamuffin Soul


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Wii Magic…

June 12, 2008 — Leave a comment

As of September 2007, Nintendo has sold over 13 million Wii game consoles. This significantly exceeds the number of Tablet PCs in use today according to even the most generous estimates of Tablet PC sales. This makes the Wii Remote one of the most common computer input devices in the world.

It also happens to be one of the most sophisticated. It contains a 1024×768 infrared camera with built-in hardware blob tracking of up to 4 points at 100Hz. This significantly out performs any PC webcam available today. It also contains a +/-3g 8-bit 3-axis accelerometer also operating at 100Hz and an expansion port for even more capability.

Too much technical mumbo jumbo? Well how’s this grab ya…

You can turn your Wii remote into a finger-tracker and interact with your computer (like Tom Cruise did on Minority Report before he became all creepy).

Or you can use your Wii remote to create an interactive whiteboard on almost any surface.

Still not enough? How about using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar to accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen, effectively transforming your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space.

All these wonderfully creative and nerdy projects can be found HERE on Johnny Chung Lee’s blog.

This post is a part of Creative Chaos hosted by Ragamuffin Soul.


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It’s Michael W. Smith time for my buddy Randy Parker. Check out his blog for the big announcement.

I will have more to say as “the day” gets closer and will likely do a tribute post, but until then, let me say this:

  1. I am incredibly happy for Randy. This is a wonderful opportunity that I knew about from Day 1. I encouraged him to go for it and I think he will do a great job for North Point.
  2. I will miss Randy like crazy. Randy is one of my closest friends. He is one of the only people I have ever had in my life that is so much like me at the core. Randy and I think alike, and yet he challenges my thinking all the time (as I hope I challenge him). I can replace the position, but I can never replace the person.
  3. If you are a Lighting and Scenic sort of person… drop me a line!

So take a moment and go over to Randy’s blog and congratulate him on his new adventure.

I love you, buddy, and I’m proud of you!

This post is a part of Watercooler Wednesdays hosted by Ethos.


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The baseball team Fresno State (42-29) made history last night when it became the first No. 4 seed to reach Omaha since the NCAA expanded the tournament field to 64 teams in 1999. The Bulldogs will open against Rice (47-13) on Sunday. This is the first time the Bulldogs have been to the College World Series since 1991.

The Sun Devils (49-13), the No. 3 national seed, had been unbeaten in four postseason games before consecutive losses to the Bulldogs.

For those of you who don’t follow college baseball, what Fresno State did is a big deal:

They beat a nationally ranked team…

  • Who had a record setting 15 players drafted to the majors this year…
  • From a school that arguably has one of the most successful programs in the country (they’ve won 5 national championships and 58 College World Series victories)…
  • And who have had the third most alumni to play in the majors , including Barry Bonds and Reggie Jackson.

So set your Tivo or watch the game live as Fresno State takes on the Rice Owls this Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.


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Gifts Today…

June 10, 2008 — Leave a comment

*The Blogstar (aka Chad Jarnigan) has a great announcement on his blog today. Go over there and congratulate him.

But don’t stop there. Continue on to his wife’s blog, aptly titled, *Mrs. Blogstar. I really enjoyed reading Jennifer’s blog today. One of the things I love is that she ends most posts with “Gifts today…”

I love that. What an awesome way to look at life.

Gifts today:

  • My amazingly loyal and godly wife
  • My handsome and witty boys
  • Ron, Larry, Bishop, Frank, Mike, Randy, and Randy
  • Getting to do what I love

What are your gifts today?

It was a great morning today at NewCov. My buddy, Mike Chastain, had a great message and Ben Drati, a local principal gave his testimony.

The band brought it, as usual, and the vocalists did a great job, too.

Here’s the set list (with iTunes links):


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…you gotta deliver.

That’s what the owners and especially the trainer of Big Brown found out today. If you’re gonna talk big… if you’re gonna make winning the Triple Crown a foregone conclusion, you’d better bring the goods.

Just ask the New England Patriots… or Tiger Woods.

My buddy, Ron, used to say, “Those who do, do. Those who don’t, talk about it.” Truer word were never spoken

Oh yeah. and if you’re gonna be like Muhammad Ali, at least come up with some catchy rhymes.


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The other day, a small human boy woke me up at 4 a.m. to tell me his tooth came out. Then he turned on the light so I could see it.

After the appropriate oohs and ahhs, I put him to bed and tried to get back to sleep myself, but to no avail. I did some channel surfing and then settled in and watch the new Bon Jovi Unplugged special on Vh1.

I also made a mental note to set aside a dollar bill for later that night.

When I got home that after rehearsals, I was greeted by the following note (click to enlarge)…

dear tooth fairy,

My tooth broke in two and I don’t know hot it got brok in two.

PS. thank you the past years for exchanging money for my teath.

from Chase


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I call my youngest blonde boy my “Renaissance Boy.”

He loves sports – all kinds. Loves to watch them and play them. He hasn’t yet met a sport he doesn’t like. His current favorite is baseball.

He loves art. I’ve posted some of his art HERE, HERE, and HERE. I recently got him a sketch book and some pencils so we can do some artist retreats and sketch (I SUCK… but I want to encourage it in him).

He loves to read. We are currently reading through the Narnia series together. I can’t hold him back… he devours books (much like his brother).

And he loves music. He begged for piano lessons a two years ago (when he was 5) and he plays all the time. We never have to ask him to practice.

Am I a proud parent? Yep. Am I concerned that you might think I’m bragging on my kid too much? I don’t really care. Why? Because you should brag on you kids! Let them think that they can do no wrong, that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to do, that they are invincible. Don’t worry about reality… life will teach them that. Your job is to be their cheerleader.

So indulge a proud papa one more story: After his first recital for Mrs. Madden last Sunday (his current piano teacher), we were walking out when we heard the family talking about the cute little boy who did so well on his numbers. They turned around and saw Chase and said, “Oh, it’s you! You did so good! You are so cute!” Then another mom chased Mrs. Two Blonde Boys down in the parking lot to tell her how great the boy did.

Yep… I lost a couple of buttons on my shirt and the Missus teared up a bit. IT Was a proud moment.

And here is his recital (playing “Caballero” and “Pumpkin Boogie”).

This post is a part of Creative Chaos hosted by Ragamuffin Soul.

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