Chocolate Rain & Marketing Smarts

Have you seen the "Chocolate Rain" video by Tay Zonday? Never heard of Tay Zonday, you say? Well, somewhere around 11,000,000 other people have. He posted a music video on YouTube about 7 months ago called "Chocolate Rain". It took off because his voice doesn't look like it fits him. The song is really about nothing, but he and it are just unique. Since the video took off, he's done the late night talk show circuits and YouTube had him do an employee luncheon event.

If you haven't seen the video, here it is, but read further after you watch it:



Now, Tay Zonday has made a follow up video, only this time it is a unique and (while I don't like all of what is in the video) genius marketing ploy by a famous company. You have to watch the video all the way through to get the marketing part. This is a company taking tremendous advantage of the fact that millions are using YouTube. Disclaimer: The video below, and its comments (on both this one and the original) on YouTube, contain material that may be offensive to some.

In Case You're Following The Story...

Yes, I did get the van door trim panel back on successfully, to the tune of about $40 for 8 tiny plastic clips! Unbelievable! Must say that it does feel good to finalize a repair myself though!

Frustrated!!!

I am just frustrated as all-git-out tonight! My van passenger power window has been inoperative for some time now. I ordered a new motor a couple months ago. It's been sitting in my garage ... TAUNTING ME ... "Install me, why don'tcha?", it screams whenever I pass it by.

Well, Saturday, I finally did! My father-in-law helped me take the door trim panel off, we found the old motor and took it out. Not easily, of course. It just HAD to be installed with "well nuts"; a metal nut set inside of a rubber casing DESIGNED to be used ONE TIME! You HAVE TO break the things to get the motor off.

And does AutoZone or Pep Boys carry these "well nuts" with now-stripped bolts? NNNooooo! You HAVE TO get them from the dealer. Three bolts and three "well nuts"...that'll be $25 sir! Got those today and tonight, presto, that new motor whirs in its place like a well-tuned machine!

Now, let's get the door panel back on with those generic panel clips from the auto parts store that my father-in-law picked up for me. Taking the door panel off required breaking the old panel clips. Does AutoZone or Pep Boys carry Plymouth Door Trim Panel Clips? NNNooooo! Now we (sorry ... I ...) gotta go back to the dealer tomorrow to get those fancy clips! Anyone want to start a pool on how much those are gonna cost me?

Call me a whiner ... cry me a river ... thanks for letting me gripe!

Search Keywords For My Blog

I was perusing my blog statistics tonight, specifically checking out the keywords people are using on search engines that got them to my blog. Those are usually pretty benign, but I got a laugh out of some of the phrases I found tonight.

The best ones were:

• "it's gonna be a good day to get high today" (oooo...kay!)
• "musings of an old pastor" (hey ...c'mon ...I'm not old enough to be called "old"!)
• "pastor for memorial service" (ugh ... the hardest part of my job)
• "pastor paul 105.1" (never thought of myself as the rockin' pastor!)

Hmmmm ... good night!

Too Busy To Enjoy?

I love this article I found at PastorHacks! It's not just for Pastors, but for anyone caught in the "always available" trap.

Enjoy! .... REALLY!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and that it was filled with family, friends, and lots of food and fun! We had plans in the morning to serve the homeless in downtown L.A., which Colleen and the kids did. I was sidelined with a worsening case of bursitis in my right hip (long story). I am glad to say they had a great time and my hip is feeling better today.

We then hosted Colleen's sister and her daughter, Colleen's parents, my Sister and her husband, and a single mom from church, along with her son for the traditional Thanksgiving turkey and trimmings.

I can't imagine Thanksgiving without turkey, and I really enjoy doing the carving. I am always looking for the best ways to pull this off, and I think I've found the best so far, though I haven't use it yet. I found it AFTER dinner!

Click here to see it. I'll use it on my next turkey a few days from now. That first turkey is always so good, and it's so cheap this time of year, I always buy another to cook later. My mother-in-law taught me to BBQ it a few years ago, so if the weather complies, I'll probably do it that way.

If you get to use the carving method attached here, let me know how it goes!

Who Are My Friends REALLY?

Here are some interesting thoughts from a friend about the current trend of social networking .... enjoy!

I add to his thoughts (especially for us Facebook users) ...

• "TOP" Friends?!?! What is UP with that application? Seems to be for people who have so many friends that aren't really friends that they now have a way to indicate who their friends REALLY are!
• I like Facebook for its easy to read (MySpace drives me NUTS when someone has been overly creative with their page background) interface and ability to communicate with a whole bunch of folks at once.
• I don't do the SuperPoke thing because I don't want you to feel bad if I don't poke you back. Nor do I want anyone to wonder why I poke some and not others ....

Weekend Reflections

• Another awesome weekend at NewHeart! Worship rocked (not just "rock 'n roll" in that, but "rock your world if you let it" is more like it).
• Second Sunday every month is "Family Sunday", when we have our kids in with us during worship. Great way for kids to see worship modeled. Today being Veteran's Day, I thought it was great for them to see us remember our veterans as a church family too!
  
• Started a new series today. I'm calling it "Seasons" and talking about the different seasons of life God walks us through. At the end of each service, we took some time to be silent and ask God to reveal what season He has us in and how we should respond to it. Then, we asked people to share if they wanted to. End of second service was amazing!
• Sounds like God has us as a church in a season of harvest. I don't get that by numbers necessarily, but by what God is speaking to a number of folks.
• My beard is growing still, and so are the questions. Again, NO, I am NOT growing a beard ... just being lazy. I think it's OK to be lazy about some things once in a while ... not ALOT of things, just SOME things. It's still there because Colleen said, "Let it go another week if you want."
• Only 43 days left till Christmas! I'm putting some lights up this week because I can't WAIT! I've never gone this early before!
  
• Our boys' football season ended yesterday with a loss. I'll miss the camaraderie and cherish the new friendships. Just realized this week that my boys will leave this team next year as they move UP a level and most of the team stays where they are.
• I'm looking forward to some gym time! I don't know that my body is, but the rest of me is ready!
  
• Took time yesterday evening to pick up a couple of very good friends of my boys who live a couple hours away. Met them and their dad halfway, but didn't anticipate some pretty heavy traffic. What should have taken about and hour took us two and a half! I wasn't all the way done with my message, so bedtime didn't come until 1:30 am! I was TIRED this morning, but God still showed up!
• Gave blood today at church. Really! A lady in our church organizes a blood drive twice a year. What a great way to give life to others!
• Saw "Fred Claus" with the family and some friends this afternoon. Funny movie, though I cringe at the allowance for stuff like couples living together before marriage being an OK thing.
• Got our first comments back this week from the Planning Department on our upcoming bathroom and entryway remodel, which will be more extensive than it looks. Not too bad a list of requests. We'll meet this week with the contractor to adjust the drawings some and resubmit. Keep your ears and eyes open for more info soon.
  

It's Gonna Be A Good Day ...

As I was tidying up my morning list of things to do, I was anticipating heading over to Starbucks for a good tall, extra hot soy white mocha, decaf and no whip. Looking outside at the grey sky and knowing the temperature to be a bit cool, the thought struck me, "wouldn't it be great if Starbucks had egg nog in today?" It is the drink I look forward to ALL year!

Well, lo and behold, I walked into Christmas cheer at Starbucks ... TODAY was their very first day to dress up the store and add EGG NOG to the menus!!

THEN, I ran into a couple of NewHeart ladies enjoying time together! Talk about a good day!

Weekend Reflections

• Our Harvest Festival last Wednesday was incredible! Probably our best ever. John Cox made a video we showed Sunday thanking our volunteers. Here it is in case you missed it:
  
  
• Colleen and I were BLOWN AWAY by the gifts we received for Pastors Appreciation Month! The Starbucks cards alone should hold me over until, say, next week or so! Just kidding ... in actuality, they'll probably hold me for quite a while!
• Our boys' biggest football game of the year was Saturday. It was for the playoffs and we barely got there. Literally made it into this game by a coin toss. Anyway, we did well in the beginning, but eventually lost. Last game is this weekend as a consolation game. I have bittersweet feelings about the season's end.
  
• Got lots of comments this weekend on my new beard. Actually, I don't really have a beard because I can't grow a good one. From a distance, it just looks live I haven't washed my face in a while. It's there because I was too lazy to shave last week (and OK with it!). For the record, here's a picture before it comes off.
  
  
  
• Katie Miller is doing a fantastic job as our new Worship Coordinator. Sunday's time of worship was so fun, rich and themed really well around the cross as we received Communion. For any Worship Leaders reading this, her set was Beautiful One, Indescribable, You Are Good, Lead Me To The Cross, and Jesus' Blood. But then, at the end they transitioned back into You Are Good, and it was amazing!
• We concluded our "Lord of the Spiritual Things" series on Sunday morning. Taught about why things like psychics, tarot cards, palm readings, horoscopes, and Electronic Voice Phenomenon are NOT good things to be messing with. You can listen here if you want.
  
• I got to spend Sunday afternoon with a couple who just came back to our church after being gone for 4 years. They left under strenuous circumstances. We were very close to them and it was very painful for us to be without each other for these last years. God opened doors for us to reconnect over the last couple months or so. We have watched reconciliation and restoration of relationship happen and they ended up feeling led to come back to NewHeart. ONLY GOD!!
• Took the boys to Barnes & Noble Monday night so Colleen could have a quiet evening to prepare for a test at school today. Did you know Colleen started her Sociology program at CSUN this Fall? Taking 2 classes right now. I am SO proud of her!
  

Sad State of Affairs

If I could count the number of couples I've sat with who felt like they were done with each other and incapable of finding any more passion and compassion for the other person, I know the sheer number would be unbelievable. Whenever I think about it (which happens whenever I see a couple like this, which is way too often), it makes my stomach turn.

Well, how's this story working for ya? (found via Anne Jackson's blog)

A Bosnian couple are getting divorced after finding out they had been secretly chatting each other up online under fake names.

Sana Klaric, 27, and husband Adnan, 32, from Zenica, poured out their hearts to each other over their marriage troubles, and both felt they had found their real soul mate.

The couple met on an online chat forum while he was at work and she in an internet cafe, and started chatting under the names Sweetie and Prince of Joy.

They eventually decided to meet up - but there was no happy ending when they realised what had happened.

Now they are both filing for divorce - with each accusing the other of being unfaithful.

Sana said: "I thought I had found the love of my life. The way this Prince of Joy spoke to me, the things he wrote, the tenderness in every expression was something I had never had in my marriage.

"It was amazing, we seemed to be stuck in the same kind of miserable marriages - and how right that turned out to be.

"We arranged to meet outside a shop and both of us would be carrying a single rose so we would know the other.

"When I saw my husband there with the rose and it dawned on me what had happened I was shattered. I felt so betrayed. I was so angry."

Adnan said: "I was so happy to have found a woman who finally understood me. Then it turned out that I hadn't found anyone new at all.

"To be honest I still find it hard to believe that the person, Sweetie, who wrote such wonderful things to me on the internet, is actually the same woman I married and who has not said a nice word to me for years."

- from ananova.com

If anything, this story ought to REAFFIRM for this couple that they really CAN communicate with each other. There are obviously some issues that would remain to be resolved, but if couples can find this place of intimacy in their communication, I believe a number of issues would never be issues because of the passion and compassion for each other that is such an important part of the foundation for any relationship.

Every couple comes across issues that must be resolved. No two ways about it. However, the way in which we communicate with each other makes all the difference in the world toward either digging the hole deeper or filling it up to truly resolve it.

Just my thoughts.