Comparisons

I kinda feel like "Third Day" is the Christian "Nickleback."

Comparisons:
-Everyone at some point liked them (despite our constant denials).
-Most people that still like them are from the south.
-Most people that still like them are older than you.
-You know most of their songs without even trying.
-You've probably seen them in concert.
-There's not much creativity to their music.
-They have a lot more money than you.

Can you add to this list?
Do you disagree?

Kony Island

I refuse to comment on #Kony simply due to the fact that I do not have or know all of the facts. There is a great voice for the cause, but there is also some debate to what has been presented in the 30 minute feature.

However, I do know that I will not simply throw money at the cause to simply clear my conscience of something that I am not fully educated about...no matter how great the cause.

There is no dispute that Joseph Kony is a man that has done truly despicable things, and needs to be stopped.

Here's the video presented by Invisible Children:

Here's an analysis of the film and situation in Uganda.

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Animal Misconceptions

Gazelle Intensity

Remember Tony Little's Gazelle?!
Well this has nothing to do with him, or his toned & well-shaven legs.

Gazelle intensity is a chapter in Dave Ramsey's, "Financial Peace" course work book.
A couple years back, my church from back in VA offered the class on Sunday nights. Hannah and I took the course (before we were married).

A lot of the principles offered in the class were things my parents had already taught me, but I definitely learned quite a bit from the course. I don't really remember what the "Gazelle Intensity" chapter was all about, but I'm pretty sure the main point was to fiercely find a way to: get out of debt, save your money, and budget wisely. Before I took the course I bought Hannah's engagement ring. Except I didn't technically buy the ring. I had the money saved up, but when I went to pay the jeweler she told me that I should set up a line of credit and make payments on the ring so I could "build my credit." Not knowing what I was doing, I took her advice. Then after two of the, "Financial Peace University" (FPU) classes; I went down to the jewelry store, and paid the rest of the ring off.

A year ago Hannah and I were in quite the pickle. We had just gotten married, we had one car, one job, one income, and other than my coworkers we didn't know anyone. Things were tough. We needed a 2nd car desperately so Hannah could look for a job, and once she found a job - get to and from work. We had a little bit of a nest egg saved up from the wedding and my savings, but not nearly enough for a decently priced, reliable car. We did a lot of research, and found a certified used car on craigslist. Then I went to a local credit union and took out a small loan, and we had a car. Not to mention some unwanted debt.

- But we had a plan.

We determined that we would pay the car off within one year. Keep in mind, it wasn't a new car, but the car cost more than we had in our account. Yesterday afternoon I went down to the bank and paid off the rest of the car! We met/beat our goal, and paid the car off in under a year. How did we do it?

-Discipline.

You'd be surprised how much money you can waste or save on little things. Here are a couple areas of focus:

1) Food.
Eating out can be very expensive. Let's break it down to just the work week. Let's say going out to lunch at work everyday M-F. Lunch is anywhere from $5-$10, per meal. For sake of ease, we'll say 7 bucks per meal. If you work 5 days a week, 50 weeks out of the year, and eat out every work day - you would spend: $1750...on work week lunches alone!

2) Unnecessary expenses.

At my workplace we have 2 phone options. a) the company phone - Blackberry. b) your own phone & phone service & a monthly stipend. Without getting too far into the details - I've had plenty of people (some from work/some not) telling my how much I "needed" an iPhone. Let's be clear. I'd love an iPhone. By far it is the greatest phone on the planet. Also, I can afford an iPhone. But I definitely don't "need" one. Nor do I need the bill that comes with it. Let's break down the numbers in estimates. Going beyond the $200-$600 that it costs to purchase an iPhone (pending in or out of contract), here's the facts.

Most data plans through Verizon & AT&T put your iPhone service at around $100 per month (Sprint is $80). Most people don't have one iPhone. They have two. One for them and one for their spouse. So now we're at $200 a month, just on service. We won't include: accessories, apps, repairs, or insurance.
To have an iPhone (for you and your spouse) at base rate is: $2400 per year.

3) Random credits & debits

Me and my wife have a little different outlook on this, but nonetheless we have a middle ground. Anytime I get a gift card for whatever reason, I use it for whatever expenses/purchase I can. In my mind, when I'm using a gift card - I'm not spending my own money. She thinks giftcards should be used for: gifts, items for yourself, etc... Either way, it is extra money - so use it how you see fit. I don't mind using gift cards for groceries or gas if I can. 

On the gross estimates from the phone and food areas, you can either save or spend: about $4000 per year...(btw - there are plenty of other areas where we can all do better with our dough).

-Let me be clear.

I have nothing against eating out for lunch during the work week, and I don't have anything against iPhones. I just know that I know what's important to me. One day I might have an iPhone, or eat out 5 or more times a week. But not right now.

Quit hatin' on Ramsey.

-A lot of people at my old church (and in general) scoffed at the Dave Ramsey class. Why? "I know how to handle my money." "I want to live and spend the way I want." Some people don't like Ramsey because of how successful and wealthy he has become. Well if you took the class you would've know that one of his biggest principles is giving. Giving to the church, to the community, to missions, and to the needy. Dave teaches that it's hard to be benevolent when you are in debt yourself. So if you save more, then you can give more.

Hannah and have zero debt. Which is very freeing. We worked hard at it, and it is worth it. We adopted only a few of the principles FPU offered. At times we are not disciplined. We will make big purchases. We'll go to an expensive restaurant. But we'll budget for it. And if we can't afford it, then we won't buy it.

We are now gearing up for Hannah to go to school. We will put ourselves in debt by doing this. But it is an investment, and we have a plan. And we trust that God will always provide.

We need better music - Free Download

Other than the many negatives of the Grammy's - i.e. - Manaj, Katie Perry, Gaga, Chris Brown - I could go on forever baby - There were some great things to take away.

The obvious - Adele.
As I posted on my tumblr a while back - "21" is one of the best albums to come out of 2011 (perhaps the decade.) After a break from touring and performing due to surgery on her throat, she was back and better than ever. She's truly a delight to watch sing, and her songwriting is well beyond her age.

The steady - Foo Fighters.
Again one of my top 5 albums from last year. Not only that - arguably the only legitimate Rock band left (save any of the classic rock bands still around.) FF are rock & roll. No more, no less. Their performances at the Grammy's were nothing less than solid (mashup with deadmau5 was a little weird).

The goods - The Civil Wars.
Albeit only a 60 second prelude to T-Swift. It was one of the best minutes of the night.
Go have a listen to (east) Nashville's own. Oh, and go download this live album for free from their website.
If that's not enough to sell this band, I don't know what is.

Back

After a long a long break from blogging here, I've decided to come back.
I'll continue to do most of my day to day, minor blogging, and video posting here.

This is just a quick welcome back post for me, but here's some updates.
I moved to Nashville 20 months ago.
We got married 17 months ago.
About a year ago we found our home church.
God provided a car and a job for my wife 1 year ago this month.
We are praying about the next step - Hannah going back to school.

Oh and today marks 5 years, count em, 5 years that I have been at my job.

The Proposal

Friday March 12th:

545pm: My girlfriend and I go out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. This was the place where our first "technical date" took place about 10 months earlier.  It was a gray, rainy evening that prevented us from going kite-flying at the beach. I apologized for the rain ruining our plans, and also apologized for another "lame night" of just going out to eat and doing nothing.

715pm: Me and my girlfriend finished our meals, got our cheesecake to go, and headed to pickup some coffee, and chill at my house with my brothers for the evening. Again I apologized for the "lameness" of our evening.

805pm: The girlfriend and myself arrive at the house & begin our normal evening in the living room chilling with my bros. I check my email, she checks her fishville, and I go into the kitchen for a glass of water...nothing special. Just a completely boring, yet adequate Friday night.

820pm: I call my girlfriend into the kitchen, insisting that I had to tell her something.  She answers my summon, and I then lead her into the family sunroom...which was completely dark and only lit by 150 mini-tin cup candles. She gives me a strange look and I convinced her that we never did anything romantic, and I wanted to do something nice for her. We go in and sit down on my parents old green couch, in which my guitar was lying up against & and I offer to sing and play her a song, since I had never done such a thing in our almost 10 months of togetherness.

830pm: My girlfriend is all smiles after I finished playing her a song. We then hug & kiss, yet she still has no idea what exactly was going on...I slip off the couch onto one knee and surround her hands with mine. I begin to expound on our relationship & how much that I loved her, how much she meant to me & a bunch of other stuff that you'll never know ;). I probably spoke from two to four minutes, but must have seemed much longer to her. Her face was flush red, her big blue eyes were welling up with tears - still not quite, positively aware of what would happen next.

835pm: I reach for my pocket, fumble with the box, open it & asked my girlfriend to marry me and spend the rest of her life with me...On the brink of tears, she confirms with me that this is indeed the real deal, and exclaims yes & embraces me.

836pm: My fiance & I temporarily stop hugging, in which a good friend of ours emerges from the far corner of the room, where he hid under a blanket and a table and took pictures of the entire event without my fiance ever knowing.

If you don't believe me:

Thanks so much to everyone who loves & supports us on our journey.
Big thanks to Danny and Rochelle for capturing our special evening on film. Please check out their website to see more of their fantastic work. I highly recommend them!
http://rnkevents.org/

Hannah Elizabeth Addesa & myself will be tying the knot on September the 4th of this year.