Music

"It is though God by command has withdrawn every other throne.
And God is saying, "No. These people will deal with me alone."

- "Kansas" by The Devil Wears Prada off "Dead Throne"

So much good music has come out recently that it's a little hard to keep up, but three albums stand out in my mind. These include releases by The Devil Wears Prada (see above), We Came as Romans, and Oh, Sleeper. The formost of those in my mind however, is Oh, Sleeper's new album "Children of Fire". "Children" is the perfect next step in the Texan metalcore act's career, following up 2009's "Son of the Morning".  From vocalist Micah Kinard's opening yells in "Endseekers" to guitarist Shane Blay's desperate pleas in "Means to Believe", the album takes the best aspects of what has made Oh Sleeper noteworthy, and amplified them to the point where they can't be ignored.  

Homework vs. Halo

Today I finally got the 100 ft. coax cable in the mail that I've needed in order to get the XBox hooked up to the internet so I can play Halo for the first time in over a month.  Today I also got a ton of homework handed to me.  That seems to be one of the problems with a real university (as opposed to a community college.)  They love to hand out the homework.  I guess I'm going to spend tonight reading about intervals  and scales instead of perfecting my head shots with the battle rifle.  #firstworldproblem

Half week update.

Halfway through the week, and I've now had at least one meeting of each class I'm taking this fall.  The favorite is currently Pentateuch with Dr. G Freisen, as he's got an engaging teaching style that ends up with us actually remembering the material covered.  Other highlights are Ministry to Youth and, of course, choir.

With the free time I currently have as the semester's beginning, I'm starting up P90X again, and trying my hand at something new, parkour. As of now, I've been working at it with a few students who have been doing it for years, and a few to whom it is also new.  A few bumps and bruises later, I can finally do a Kong into a roll.  Combine these with my half credit of Ultimate Frisbee, and I'm sore enough to barely be able to bike into campus.  

Anyway, I have a bowl of alfredo sitting next to me, and Arrested Development is on, so I'm out for now.

Berry Picking, Food Carts, and Cool Cotton.

This morning, Melanie and I decided to get a bit more of a taste of the city we've found ourselves in. We started by going to a nearby doughnut shop, Annie's Donuts, recommended to us by Yelp.

They sold fantastic doughnuts, but the atmosphere was virtually non-existent, so I highly doubt we'll be returning there on a regular basis.

Following that, we hit the road and crossed state lines, heading up to Vancouver, WA to visit Philbrook Farms for their last weekend of berry picking for the summer. Having never been to a "U-Pick" berry farm before, this was definitely a cool experience for me. We spent probably half an hour there picking blueberries, resulting in a little over four pounds of fruit for less than six dollars. Much better than buying them at Freddie's or WinCo, and we're hoping to do it again next summer, but for strawberry and raspberry season as well.

Next stop, back into downtown Portland for the (apparently) famous Saturday market. We walked through the many vendors, selling all sorts of handmade wares for around an hour before deciding we needed food. Having heard about the market's food stands, I was particularly excited for lunch, as it looked to be an opportunity for adventure. Turns out, we're not as adventurous as I would have thought, and decided to hold of on eating from food carts until we have someone with us to tell us what's going to give us food poisoning and what's okay to eat. Fortunately, there was a Chipotle only a few blocks away that offered the comforts of familiarity, even if they don't serve black olives.

After we'd taken care of food, we decided to hit Goodwill, followed by a few fabric stores on the way home, as Mel's starting on her first quilt and needed material. Again we had to turn to Yelp, and it led us in the right direction, taking us to Cool Cottons, a cute little shop that had taken over a small house. Mel got to select some fabric and we finally made it home.

Tomorrow, we're looking at furthering our pursuit of finding a new church to find home, stopping at Mosaic Church just a couple miles from campus.