I added a second Twitter account today. I find that I’m hesitant to tweet about church leadership, ministry strategy and the like on my every day twitter account (@locustfist). I have set up a Twitter for leadership and ministry strategy type content that you should follow if you’re into that type of thing – @vincemarotte. For more on the reasons, check out my article on Missional Social Media at ChurchCrunch.com
@locustfist will still be my main every day twitter so stay with me if you follow it.
For my job I have been mapping out some goals for this year and it had me thinking; ‘what about personal goals?’. I’m not talking about those serious ones we all get caught up in, losing weight, quit smoking, etc. I was thinking more on the not mission critical goals tip. So here they are:
Shoot under par at Wilco
I have shot par twice at Wilco, but only on my best days. There’s only a few scoring opportunities for people like me who can’t throw 500 feet, the rest of the holes you just need to survive.
30 inches
At my peak in college I measured in at 38″ standing vertical and was getting over 40″ at game time. It was really the only thing was good at on the court. I haven’t dunked all over someone in a long time…I think I need to change that this year, I’m shooting for 30 inches.
7 ply
I’m going to get my kids on skateboards this year. It’s time they learned about the maple and urethane that saved my life.
What are some non-essential goals you have this year?
The first decade of this millennium started off pretty weak for music. When I sort my iTunes by year and flip though the decade, the options from 2000 to 2005 are rather sparse, in 2006 I it picks back up again. I would also add that really good albums take a year or two to get traction in my collection so Veckatimist, Monsters of Folk, Hold Time and Blood Bank may have made the list if they came out earlier. So here you have it in no particular order:
In Rainbows | radiohead
I almost want to say that it is my favorite album of the decade, but it’s too close to call with Sky Blue Sky and Cease to Begin. Radiohead continued to progress and drop yet another album that is totally fresh and yet still Radiohead.
Sky Blue Sky | Wilco
I’m not a Wilco diehard; I came late to the party. This album might not be really high on the list for Wilco fans, but I love it. A really complete album that I love to listen to front to back.
Cease to Begin | band of horses
This one sat around in my iTunes library collecting dust for a while. I knew I liked it right away, I just needed to sit with it and get to know it more. The only bummer is that the album is only like 34 minutes long.
Fleet Foxes | fleet foxes
Music hasn’t seen much of anything earth shattering in terms of a fresh movement since grunge hit. From what I can tell the Northwest has delivered a ground swell again and we should feel blessed that it hasn’t caught on in the main stream. That movement is the Alt-Folk movement or whatever you want to call it. The whole genre has been a breath of fresh air and the Fleet Foxes are my favorite….
Bleed American | jimmy eat world
I think radio was in the middle of killing itself in 2001 and the web hadn’t quite become the source for new music that it is now. Bleed American slipped through the cracks of crap that was being played and showed everyone that good albums could be played on the radio.
Continuum | john mayer
To be honest I have to say that I can’t stand John Mayer prior to Continuum. He grew up or fired someone around him that was holding him back and put together what 20 years from now we might consider to be one of the best guitar albums of all time.
We Don’t Need to Whisper | angels & airwaves
I’ve said it before; I can’t figure out why I like this album so much, I just do. So there.
By the Way | red hot chili peppers
I know, every Chili Pepper’s album can get annoying, but this one is different for me. I think partially because I moved to Hawaii prior to its release and it was a perfect album for the place I was at in my life.
Silence | Blindside
I love me some hard rocking music. I first saw blindside when they opened for Project 86 and POD at a little club in 2000 and it was a refreshing spin on the genre. Was he singing? Was he screaming? Maybe a little of both?
Live at Stubb’s | matisyahu
The only reggae album you own is Legend, that’s okay, you’ll like Matisyahu. I’m still spinning tracks off this disc. And it was recorded right here in Austin at Stubb’s!
I’ll be blogging, tweeting, podcasting and shooting video for the Verge Conference that is coming to Austin February 4 – 6 2010. I’m going to post the more focused posts and videos here on my blog and I will be posting all the Verge Conference insider info over at verge.posterous.com. If you’re heading to Verge, be sure and subscribe to both, and while you’re at it, subscribe to the rest of the people that will be covering the event:
I think I was in sixth grade or so. There was a housing development going in about a mile from my house near a creek where we used to ride our bikes and mess around and do boy stuff. The big machines came in and leveled out a big area and then more machines came in and dug a trench; it was about this time that the work seemed to just stop. Like any inquisitive boys should, we rode our bikes all around the dirt mounds and newly carved but not yet paved street.
It wasn’t long before we were in the trench exploring every nook and cranny.
No reason.
No forethought.
We just had a burning desire to see what was there.
The trench formed a ‘U’ along what eventually became a cul-de-sac. At one point, myself and a couple kdis were in one side of the ‘U’ and one of our friends was in the other side. The trench was just about chest level on most of us and up at ground level there were mounds of dirt. The situation was perfect for what was about to happen.
As we walked along the trench out of the sky came the first shot. The explosion of dust when the dirt clod hit the side of the trench was beautiful. Immediately we all new exactly what we needed to do. Within seconds the sky was alive with fist sized balls of dirt. The ground was a medley of puffs of dust.
Teams formed. Some boundaries were set and we had a full scale war.
Perfection!
We spent the rest of the afternoon hurling wads of earth at each other. The rush was pure and the excitement was true.
We came back the next day and the day after that. Within about a week, you could count on 15 kids showing up to do battle. After a few weeks school started and construction resumed and the battle field is now someones front yard.
There was some blood drawn that summer;Â a few goose eggs and the occasional dirt in the eye too, and it was so worth it.
Maybe if we were older and we cared more about being safe that first dirt clod wouldn’t have been tossed.
That would have been a shame.
One day I may be walking through a field with you and I may see a dirt clod. I’ll pick it up and hurl it in your direction. Not because I want to hurt you, but because I want you to feel alive, and I want to feel alive too.
This thought is incomplete. Help me figure this out
My name is Vince, I'm trying to figure life out just like you. I've met a lot of amazing and beautiful people so far and I'm always listening for more stories. You can and share your story or you can to my little blog and hear more of my story.
