Relient K te ownzer

Wow...Relient K is SICK. I just got done with the show that was the highlight of my week. It was incredible. It was four groups, the first of which I missed because I was in an exam. But after that exam (the group I missed was one I'd never heard of called House of Heroes) I got there in time to hear Maxeen, which is a fun group with some great hooks in their tunes. The next group was one called The Rocket Summer. Never I think have I seen a group with such energy. The front man could carry neither any group all by himself. He's got a fun voice, can play many different instruments, and just jumps all over the place during the show. Their sound is really unique with a lot of piano mixed into their songs. Finally though, the apex, the climax, the most enjoyable part of the evening. The most incredible group I know right now, Relient K. They were amazing. It helps that I know all of their songs and I was able to sing along with everything. But their show was ever improved when they busted out a Top Gun trio of songs with Highway to the Danger Zone, Take My Breath Away, and the Top Gun theme song. It was amazing. Definitely got the place rockin'. Now I've got an exam in the morning.

Now to expound....Relient K is probably the most lyrically amazing group you will hear in the last 5-10 years. Obviously this comes from bias, but check out their words and the context they are used in and you will really appreciate the message that is gotten across. Sometimes it's as subtle as a nudge on the shoulder and other times as powerful as a kick to the guy, but they always have a layer beyond what you first see and the music just adds to them to make one of my favorite groups.

SOTD - 2 - This is my second concert this school year and it was a blast. I think it was far better than Fall Out Boy, even though they put on a good show still. Now I have to debate if I want to go to Switchfoot this coming month.

State of the Blog Address

I, Cap'n AHab, have been slacking in my updating of my weblog. This is due to the intense ammount of business I've experienced. I feel as if school has numbed me...somewhat. I've been doin' my thing and very into it. It's not as if I'm not in touch with myself....I have plenty of fellowship/discipleship/battleship (just checkin' for those zoning out). However, I must admit, I will not be posting as much, as I do in fact journal on my own. There my thoughts are even more raw and personal. I'd rather that not be what you get to read unless I deem it to be a good idea. So I will update with happenings and profound thoughts, but otherwise, don't expect as much...as I'm sure you've already grown accustomed to. I will not fail with this though.

SOTD: ~55% - By using one phrase instead of another today in ME300, a buddy of mine found that we save about 55% of the letters by using the shorter one. That's a heck of a rate of breath I'm saving!!

Nawlins is Ova

I'm sad, I'm glad, I'm done. The Illini Life Missions Trip over Spring Break to New Orleans is over. I had a week without class and gained a lot more than I could've in a short week of usual schooling. I have so much to speak of and a small portion can be summarized by the Illini Life OFFICIAL Missions Trip Blog. There is so much more to say though....

We left from Champaign on Friday morning and I was ready to go. I wasn't scared, worried, or even tired, despite my crazy early rising time. The ride there was a long one, but good. I got to know new folks and really have a good time with it. Getting into New Orleans was one of the bigger shockers. The situation down there is nothing pleasant still. This is six months after the hurricane hit and we're still clearing up the damage and this work will take years...YEARS!! This is a very desperate situation. That was highlighted early by us driving down the road while the other direction traffic was stopped up because a man was sitting on the edge of the bridge looking to jump to his death. That was very sobering and helped to prepare a lot of hearts. And things just got worse...The buildings were trashed. Everything was decimated. The relief organizations that made it to the city first had a system with spraypaint for labeling the houses because there were so many. One number on the houses was for any bodies found inside...and not all of the homes had zero on them. When we arrived at the military camp, it was a situation where I wanted to start working right away, and we didn't get to work until Monday morning. We had gotten there Saturday afternoon....a day and a half of sitting. So Mike Olson and I took a walk across the street into a neighborhood hit by the hurricane (I say this as if any had been spared...they hadn't). It was amazing. The air was heavier with mold, there was so much junk on the sidewalks, but that junk wasn't junk six months ago. It was the things that people used and treasured daily. It was an intense walk with people having spray painted on their homes that they'd be back, and some giving up hope saying that their town was dead. Sunday morning, the same neighborhood was walked by myself and some more friends and we got to see a lot of decimation. We also got to talk to a gentleman that had been cleaning his house out. He was a record keeper for New Orleans and had hundreds of photos ruined by the hurricane. This was just getting more intense. After going to church on Sunday and experiencing a "double barrelled shotgun of truth," we went into the city itself and hit up the French Quarter. This was a region largely unaffected by the hurricane. The music was incredble, the architecture beautiful, and the food delicious. Some guys and I also bought some cigars from a shop where they made them themselves in the downtown area. That led to an amazing conversation just having cigar time with some of the guys. God really helped to create fellowship.

Finally we got to work! Day 1 of work started by waking at 6 AM. For those of you that don't know, this is slightly earlier than I get up normally at school. So after getting up, getting dressed and rolling to our worksite in a short bus, we got to see one of these houses completely untouched, ready to be worked on. It smelled, it was ugly, and it was intense. I was given the distinction to be a team leader, so I got to delegate duties. Thank God Dan Herron was there. He really helped coach me on how to lead that first day. We put on all of our safety gear and we attacked the situation. It took a lot of work and the house was dark and dank. However, after seeing the things that these people owned, seeing the was their house was layed out, it was clear this house was actually a home. After gruelling work for 7 hours, the tool trailer returned and we were forced to leave our house. I was definitely disappointed about the shortness of time that we worked, but I had to play by the rules of the system. Day two of work was different. Our pace quickened like mad and we got a lot of work done. It was so amazing to see the improvement, both in the crew and my leadership. I was still frustrated that we didn't get to finish the house though. We did get to talk to the neighbors and that was a very heart warming and heart wrenching experience. The third day included more work and allowed us to finally finish the house. It also allowed us to have more time to talk to the neighbors as we finished work early. I also got to talk to our homeowner over the phone and he was ever grateful. I was amazed to hear what he had to say. He was a Christian as far as I could tell, and it was great to hear his words of encouragement. That night...I think it was that night, I got to talk with Mike A. Mike is a great guy. He has my sarcasm in every way. He also has a lot to offer in every situation. Finally day four of work came, and I was sad that this was it for us. We got to finish the process for one house in the morning and in the afternoon we got to start a new house. You should've seen our pace on the last house. We were flying. I was SOOOO proud of my group. They attacked it hard. Although we probably attacked it too hard at one point as we ran into a conflict. It was so great that we got to work through it. God really is a multi-tasking God as he was working on us as well as the homes we worked on. A staff member from the church at Ohio State that was there coincidentally with us talked about an analogy of us being homes and God breaking down the walls inside of us so he could rebuild us into a palace. That was so perfect for what happened that day for us.

The entire week was filled with quality fellowship and worship almost every night. The music was great and we have very talented musicians in Illini Life. The food was also phenominal at the military camp. It tastes extra good when you add a day's worth of hard work. The Thanksgiving dinner style meal after the first day of work definitely ranks up there with some of the best meals I've EVER HAD. Also, Wednesday after work, after I had showered, and I was just hanging out, I was foolish enough to fall into the creek behind our tents. Go ahead and ask if you'd like more info. But I was knee deep in mud. I did salvage my sandals though!!!

Our trip back was just amazing. We got to choose who we rode with, so I rode with a plethora of people...or at least a small variety. It was so cool that I got a chance to talk with people I barely knew before the week started. We stopped in Memphis on our way home. Once again, we were in one of the top music cities in America. It was so cool to catch live music while we ate. And glory did we eat!!! The plate was fantastic, and Memphis knows how to do BBQ. Then we got to hear more live music, and let me say that Blues is a genre I'm not sure I know anything about, but would love to! Finally, the last day of the trip was our drive from Memphis to Champaign. The guys I sat with all that day were HILARIOUS....We freestyle rap battled over the walkie talkie to the other vans and really had a BLAST. We also go to stop at a place called Lambert's in Missouri. It was amazing. So much food, and it was SOOOO good too. Finally rolling into Champaign, I was sad. The trip was over and that meant school was starting again. Here I am though, not doing the homework thing because I'm working on telling you all what happened. There is so much more to say, but I've already made an intensely long post. So now I will instead go work on my school work and let you talk to me about it yourself later. I can just say it was glorious and incredible and amazing and phenominal and so much more...

The antonym of me

It's always cool when you're listening to a song that you've heard a dozen times, and a lyric that you didn't quite understand before becomes clear. The title of this post is a lyric from a David Crowder Band song called "Wholly Yours." The lyric struck an interesting chord with me. It's cool to just think about...

Hip Hop Art

So I was chillin' in the Union after my ECE lab this morning and decided to check out the newly discovered (at least to me) art exhibit section of the place. The current exhibit is of art relating to Hip Hop culture. It was very cool. They had some different stuff that was definitely boring and I could interpret it 27 different ways from Sunday, but there was also some very cool art. Specifically there were three pieces that really intrigued me. One had a man doing some crazy gravity defying stunts, another had different people and described a huge part of their lifestyle, such as DJ, graffiti artist, break dancer, etc, and it was just very unique. The last was a poster with a cartoon character with different ideals in different panels and it basically flat out said money comes and goes but ideals stick around through it all. It was really neat.

As for what's going down in my life....

• We leave for New Orleans in 4 days. I'm very excited. I've got a great team of workers on my side and we're gonna kick some major butt.
• I'm workin' on kickin' some serious homework butt early in the week this week because I have to pack and leave early on Friday morning and won't be going to class.
• GOD IS GREAT...let me just throw that out there. I really thoroughly enjoy HIM and what he's done for me.
• I've realized that I need to be filling myself with God again and again especially when I've got a longing that I can't seem to fill with anything else right now.
• My summer plans are still up in the air, although I really wish I could go back to CO from time to time. I just think about how awesome it was and miss it so much.
• My nostalgia for Colorado definitely isn't quelled by my watching slideshows from the summer. It is great though...I even made a new one of my own. You can download it at netfiles.uiuc.edu/ahable2/shared
• My time away from AIM is going well and I've been at the library the last couple of nights trying to hammer out work. It's fun at the library because I'm not distracted with TV, but I also get the release of people working on stuff around me to talk to every once in a while.
• I got my eye rocked by Ty playing basketball on Sunday. It's blackish now...so that rocks. But it could look a lot worse and I wish it did.
• I think that's about it for now. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think.

SOTD - 45 - I have 45 friends on Facebook that have recently updated profiles.

not much

I have all sorts to say. Nothing to say it with though. I will therefore not say much. I just want to let you know that I am fasting from AIM for the next two weeks, so if you've been looking for me, you'll know where I am. Or rather, why I'm not where you are....

SOTD -more than any other team- Illinois has more wins vs. top 25 teams than any other program this year...and we got stuck with a 4 seed.

Lady in the Dark

Good musical. I don't do musicals, but it was a lot of fun and very good. Lori did a PHENOMINAL job and really was great as her character!!! Congrats to her. Her co-lead was also hilarious. He was quite the great actor. Everything went swimmingly. The conversation in the car was incredible. Sydney and I definitely didn't have many realms where we had nothing to talk about. It was really great and fruitful. The only hitches we hit on the trip were

1. Ross told us he couldn't go on the day of the musical because he had to work. WHOOPS!!...
2. The musical started at 7:30 eastern time, we got to Indy at 6:00 central time. So we realized that the musical was starting RIGHT as we were eating and we had to rush to the theater.
3. On the way back, Syd and I definitely drove ALL the way around the loop in Indianapolis because accidently missed our exit and weren't sure what we should do.

So that's my deal today. My TAM exam wasn't too bad I think, but we'll find out the truth later.

SOTD - 50 - The loop in Indy is long. When you miss your exit, but you still think it's in front of you, you can end up wasting time and driving 50 miles out of your way.

I'M THE JUGGERNAUT BIATCH!!

• WTF. That is a friggin' weird video. Search for that phrase and you'll get the biggest waste of your life...so don't search for it.
  
• I've got my final exam of the week tomorrow. TAM 251 w/ Gustavo. Should be fun :(
• Tomorrow is UnOFfIcial St. Patrick's Day. It is a bastardization of a fine holiday to honor a great man. It's retarded and people drink from sunup to well beyond sundown, wearing their green and drinking their green beer. It's intense and it's a holiday that the bars surely encourage. It really shows the scary brokeness that exists in our world.
• That being said, I am wearing a green jacket tomorrow. I gotta have some fun with it methinks.
• My sister's birthday is today!!! Or rather yesterday, but It's still today to me as I haven't gone to bed. Happy Birthday Em!!!
• Last night, I basically led my first iTeam and it was fairly intense and awesome. It was really great how it went down. Andrew helped out with some movie clips and we then commenced to talk about boldness. I got good feedback and it was really encouraging to hear that from people. The thing I must worry about is making sure that it doesn't go to my head.
• Tomorrow I'm going to Indianapolis with Ross and Sydney to see a musical. I haven't seen Ross since Christmas break and we're going to see Lori, who I haven't seen since the summer.
• I however will be missing Lily Walsh, a good friend of mine from High School. I just heard that she is coming to Champaign and I will be missing her :(
• Finally...on Saturday, MY SISTER IS COMING TO VISIT!!! I'm so stoked. I get to show her what my school is like and give her a glimpse of what it takes to be here. I am excited to show her my friends as well.
• Speaking of friends, Pete is here, AND Fred is spending his first weekend in Champaign since coming back. Both exciting facts. I can't wait.
• NOW...I just gotta find time to do homework!!!

SOTD - 28 - The number of players cut from NFL rosters as everybody will be gutting their teams as of late as the NFl and it's player's association can't reach an agreement on much of anything.

arrows pointing all to the same place?

Well, I have had trouble as of late with my goals. So naturally I've been praying about them. I'll point out a few things that have lined up that I need to look into. You tell me, coincidental, or providencial?

1. The talk at SNG on Saturday night was about world missions and how do we get the Gospel to every nation in a practical way and what it looks like to be in misions.
2. Mrs. Wager talked with me afterwards about how I mentioned I've been struggling for direction as of late. She mentioned how engineering can be used in missions to do practical things like deliver fresh water to people in villages.
3. Calvin and I talked to people at the Union today (more later) and one of the guys we talked to was a student involved in Engineers Without Borders. EWB is a group that does engineering projects for people that wouldn't readily have access to engineering type things.
4. He pointed me to a Christian Engineering group, sort of on the progressive side of engineering, and I went and checked them out, as they just happened to be at the career fair that was going on today only.
5. On top of that, many of my friends are studying abroad and loving it...AND it was suggested to me by an advisor.

These are a lot of things lining up in a rather short time. It's kinda nuts. I don't know quite what to think, but I do know to pray about it.


In other news, our iTeam's spring outreach is in full swing and Calvin and I had an awesome time doing our 'contact evangelism' or even just striking up conversation. It was very blessed. It was Calvin's first time, so it was something new for him, but he stepped right up and was helping me in whatever way he knew how to and was comfortable doing. It was great. God really blessed our time together. Then Fred and Mike joined us and Fred gave a wonderful comprehensive summary of the Bible chronologically. That was very helpful to see and put a picture in my head of the events.

Illini won today...booya. The big game is tomorrow as OSU really needs to choke at Northwestern. I get the feeling it could happen!!!! We just gotta take care of our game and let everybody else hopefully help us out.

TAM exam tomorrow. I did some studying, but still more to do before the test. Here's to hoping for something better than a pathetic.

Bought 18 Relient K tickets yesterday. I can't wait to start getting paid back because it'll feel like I have a ton of cash :) I'm stoked about the concert. It's gonna be great!!!

one more thing..............

SOTD: - 3 - Today James Augustine had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. That assist number was already a career high, but if he'd just gotten two more dimes, we'd be looking at one sick triple-double.