Philadelphia... here I come! (2)

Random Philly-related pic. Quite fancy a Phillies cap.

God is good!!! Turns out that my friends Existential Punk and Royzoner are up for hooking up in Philly... when I'm over. EP has a big drive and Roy will be in Manahawkin New Jersey while I'm over... so hopefully we can hook up and spend the day together... hanging out... drinking coffee... and being pals!

I can't wait. Anyone else from the ol' Nanolog community in or nearby Philly from the 15th through to the 22nd?

Yesterday...

All I can say about yesterday is wow! What a day... it was electric!

Kicked off early by racing through to Scotsys for their grand opening of their store on Great Western Road in Glasgow. I needed a power cable for my iBook and the briefest of possibilities of winning a prize for the purchase was thrilling. Don't think I have won anything but have my beloved iBook back in operation. The Soos bought an 80 gb iPod (that he couldn't get to work with his Powerbook) and would have bought a 17" Macbook Pro... but they didn't have any in stock (d'oh!!!)

We then headed over to Glasgow's Transport Museum for the girls... It is fab to consider it costs £1 to park for 4 hours and you can see the Transport Museum... Kelvingrove... and Byre's Road. The Museum was fab... so much to see

Highlights for me were the old fashioned street and underground station...

and the beautiful VW Campervan. I so want one of them!!!

Afterwards we headed to The Fort for peri-peri chicken at Nando's which was lovely! The girls were very well behaved and Miriam loved being our serving wench for the meal... running back and forward filling up our drinks. Thanks honey!

Thanks to this man :: The Soos! generous to a fault and looking dapper in his flat cap.

Afterwards... we popped over to Borders for a wee look at the magazines... and a wee GINGERBREAD LATTE from the ol' Starbucks. For the record - I love Gingerbread Lattes and although I am suspicious of Starbucks globalisation policies... I love their product this time of year. If that makes me a hypocrite then so be it... at least I am honest in my hypocrisy.

We did a bit of shopping... or should I say The Soos shopped and acted as his personal fashion advisor. Multi-talented! Argyle is big this season!

Later on... the Soos and I went to see INXS at the Barrowland Ballroom and OMGoodness!!! What a gig!

The new lead singer was born to do what he does... he was amazing! The kind of guy you want as a lead singer and would hate as your daughter's boyfriend! He wasn't a karaoke singer - he made the old songs his own and sang material from Switch in a way that the audience just reacted! Amazing.

Their set was so strong... Kicking off with Suicide Blonde and playing classics from Kick like never tear us apart... New Sensation... Need you tonight... Mystify... - absolutely brilliant! Here was a tight, experienced band who were... possibly... passed their best... rejuvenated and onfire! It was a beautiful experience... although JD smoking on stage and pouring wine on folk was a bit too excessive for me... and Devil inside makes me uncomfortable (although this is for the truth in the lyrics!) All in - fab concert!

We rounded the day off with late night noodles in Wagamama :: Yaki Soba tastes great any time of the day!

Great times with my family... Truly electric!

U*P*D*A*T*E

Thanks again for the mention on the Blog! Liked the review of the gig, but thought I should mention that from what I saw, JD wasn't pouring drinks on the audience...he was pouring wine for them. I thought it was very gracious...he threw out cups and then proceeded to fill them for the crowed...he had the bouncers hand more out to people a little further back too. Throwing out the bottled water later was a nice touch too.

The Soos

I'll take back the excessive bit re pouring drink - Didn't quite get the full picture.

Philadelphia... here I come!

When I am not trying to change the world... or at least the Salvation Army... I work for a Bank. I am part of their Business Internet Banking project... and am part of the team that works directly with the business - we take their requirements and design the end product. I work with a good group of guys and, although I have issues with my confidence and willingness to be there, for the most part its a good job. Every so often when sunshine pokes through the black cloud above my head... I enjoy it.

Anyway, that's about all you need to know about what I do in Glasgow. I don't consider travel to be a perk... but then I have only been to London, Leeds, Edinburgh and Aberdeen with my work. I found out on Friday that I am needed for a week in Philadelphia aka The City of Brotherly Love!

Will be heading over there from the 15th through to the 22nd of November. It clashes with a number of things I want to do :: See Lewis enrolled as a junior soldier... attend the "all of Scotland" youth councils (I was to be the roadie for Paul Clement and his band) and also miss the Holy Spirit day and the post-Holy Spirit Day Alpha gathering (which is really annoying). I'll also miss Olly and the we'ans terribly. Olly could have come over for the weekend - my team would have paid for it if I went coach - but Olly don't fly!

When life throws you lemon... you make lemonade and then form a global multi-national corporation and take over the world.

I am hoping to hook up with the Existential Punk and maybe get to see some of Philly... and, who knows, check out some sweet Philly Soul.

So anyway... need your help. Any hints, tips, ideas for the trip? Anyone want to hook up? Where's the Sally Army in Philly? Any new expressions of church in the emerging culture that I could connect with? Any sights worth seeing... apart from the Liberty Bell?

Let me know. Oh and if you can support Olly and the we'ans while I am away... I'd appreciate it!

Technorati Tags: philadelphia, travel

INXS tonight @ the Barrowlands

Managed to score a couple of free tickets to see INXS tonight. Olly isn't up for it... but the Soos is! It'll be my first time at the world-famous Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom - it has a rep as a great venue... just worried about the motor!

I'm not big on the new INXS - I saw the old band live with MH in the mid 90's at the SECC but kind of lost interest after X. I understand their new frontman, JD Fortune, won the gig as part of a reality TV show... which was, by all accounts, a great show.

I need to check out their latest album :: Switch :: the Soos rates it... and that is usually a good indicator that it'll be sweet.

I don't really know what to expect... but I am looking forward to it.

Technorati Tags: inxs, glasgow

When the Soos comes to town...

The Soos is over for the weekend... we've got the we'ans while Olly chills out.

Reminds me of that TV show :: My Two Dads :: which is kind of crazy.

Anyway... its always good to spend time with the Soos... probably head to the Fort for a while... and then to the park or something. Need to give Olly some downtime.

Good times!

Friday Funny

"it's sounding very interesting..."

"In short, it's sounding very interesting, what you, Jon and Ivor have been talking about in Glasgow. How would you feel about a few of us gathering to chat it through and see what help we can offer, from the 'territorial' perspective, to get things moving? My suggestion would be that the three of you plus myself and Andrew Grinnell meet together. The reason for inviting Andrew is that while I have the knowledge and background from the prayer side, he is much more knowledgeable about the youth and 'emerging expressions of church' side... you might not be thinking of 'church' as such, but he's good on stuff to do with setting up never-before-tried-out models within the SA, and that's what anything that springs up within Glasgow would be. "

Lyndall Bywater
24-7/SA Prayer Network Co-ordinator
The Salvation Army Evangelism Department

New Music :: Mark Calder's Psalms

Absolutely chuffed to be able to offer 3 tracks from Mark Calder's Psalms demo.

Psalm 13 / Psalm 46 / Psalm 86

Well recommended! Not my usual flavour of music... its challenging... and pretty intense... but well worth hearing one man sing psalms to his King.

Technorati Tags: psalm

Moleskine icons for your Mac... and others

Thanks to Lard for the link to www.pixelpressicons.com where they have tons of free icons for Mac OSX... including some moleskine books which I really like.

Check them out... but only if you rock the Mac.

Technorati Tags: icons

Gay Christian... an oxymoron?

Found this article on The Rubicon to be challenging and fascinating :: Growing up gay in the church

For too long, the gay community has been marginalised in societies all over the world, not least in developing world contexts. They have been rejected and brutalised by society. In western society things have gotten a lot better recently but the overtones of disapproval and rejection are still to be seen around us.

The thing that saddens me the most is that the one place people who experience this rejection should be able to come for safety, is the place that can be one of the biggest perpetrators of this bigotry; The church.../

/...The major issues that we should be considering when dealing with gay people in the church and in society are the issues of love, grace, acceptance, salvation and justice.../

/...I find it intriguing that gay society in the 70s adopted the rainbow as what is now one of our most well known symbols. Many Christians were upset that their symbol of God’s promise to the world had been hijacked. The gay community largely chose the rainbow because of its many colours, and we wanted to symbolise diversity in humanity. However, I see it as largely prophetic that this promise of God’s eternal and irrevocable love, grace and mercy to humanity is chosen as the banner for this particular community.

This is the Salvation Army I am proud of! A place where the marginalised and rejected can find love and acceptance.

Read the article and make up your own mind on the subject... oh and give all the lovely people you know with rainbow guitar straps a big hug and tell them that you love them and accept them just as they are :-)

Technorati Tags: gay, christian