The Right Voice

I had the pleasure misfortune of attending a mega church last week. Now, McLean Bible Church is not as big as Joel Osteen’s church, but with four campuses and several different worship options at each campus, it is nothing to sneeze at. In my opinion, it is far too big to effective at doing anything but having a church service. Don’t get me wrong, it is great that it can preach the Gospel to so many people, but churches are called to do more than that. Churches are supposed to provide fellowship and teaching to the believers. The book of Peter calls pastors to feed His sheep. It is not that people are not fed at these mega churches, it is just that they are fed milk. The book of Hebrews calls churches to move from milk to meat. Milk is for infant Christians. As we mature in our faith, we are supposed to be fed meat.

Part of it is my fault, I suppose. I enjoy traditional worship (Hymns and such). Since I had no idea what was going on, I walked into the only open door I saw. I was “The Edge” with “contemporary band led worship”. That is not my style at all. In fact, I despise it. To me it sounds canned and there is such a huge lack of raw emotion. People singing them just seemingly go through the motions, as it were. I was so disenchanted by the music that I did not even pay attention to what anyone was saying. I could only even make out the words through the noise during the offertory when the chorus was “Kingdom of Heaven, rain down on me.” What does that even mean? Sounds poetic, I suppose, but no one at home is ever going to say that. Once I figured out that I was in the wrong room I contemplated leaving and going to the other room, but by that time, it was much too late for that.

After worship time (seemed like an eternity, but in reality, it was about 30-35 minutes which is still quite long) there was the sermon. It was delivered via satellite from wherever he was preaching from (Loudon?). We were graced with a sermon that lasted about 15 minutes. It was about witnessing. It was part 8 in a series. I can only assume that there is so many parts because there is only so much you can say in 15 minutes anyway. It was light and fluffy like I was expecting. I was hoping for substance, but there was hardly any. He just said to preach the Gospel which is exactly what we are told to do in Matthew 28. Thanks, I definitely could not have figured that out on my own.

So after that experience at church it was time to leave. Well, that is another story. I went to the parking garage and found my car where I parked it at F3. I saw a little bit of traffic getting out, but I was not expecting what happened. I was stuck in the parking garage for upwards of 30 minutes, then when I finally got onto Route 7, There was massive amounts of traffic. The police even get involved in the mass exodus from this particular church. It took me over an hour and a half to get home. So I all in all, I had 2 and a half hours of driving time, $1.50 in tolls and a miserable church experience. I probably won’t be going back.

Todd

Yesterday, I had to do something I had never had to do before. I had to shop for a winter coat. Growing up in Southern California, I hardly ever needed anything more than a hooded sweatshirt. In Washington, however, it  gets much colder and my windbreaker would hardly cut the mustard. Work was also a reason why I had to get a winter coat. I can’t, very well, walk into the building wearing a hooded sweatshirt from Aeropostale or Hurley. Those days are over. I can only imagine the looks I would get from co-workers.

Malls near me like to charge for parking. There are two malls that do not. One of them is the Landmark Mall. That mall is less than 5 miles away. Would have taken 10-15 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, the Landmark Mall is the worst mall I have ever been to, and this is coming from someone who spent all of his formative years going to the Media City Center in Burbank. Those of you who know about the Media City Center can only imagine how bad the Landmark Mall is. It is a constant battle I have with my boss because he loves the Landmark Mall and visits it often. Anyway, I have gone way off track. The other mall near me that does not charge for parking is the MUCH nicer Tyson’s Corner. I headed down King St. and proceeded toward the mall. It is about 11 miles away and all of it is surface streets. I went down the same road (Hwy 7) but the name changed from King St. to Leesburg Pike and then finally to Broadway St. all while driving to Tyson’s Corner.

What I was not counting on on a Saturday afternoon - traffic, and lots of it. It took me a little more than an hour to drive the 11 miles. During the trip, two ambulances and a fire truck weaved through traffic. One rude ambulance driver honked at me when there was no where else for me to go. I was up as far as possible and as close to the center divider as possible. I understand that there was an emergency, but there was nothing more I could do. After about 5 seconds traffic moved enough for him to get passed me. No accidents or anything on Hwy 7, just traffic. Oh well, at least I had good music. Listened to an entire Screaming Trees album and half of a track on a Townes Van Zandt album.

I walked around the mall for about 2 hours. went to Macy’s on the advice of a friend who told me about Columbus Day sales. No such sale, just the normal 30% and 40% that they usually have. I have never seen anything full price at Macy’s. After a long time of wandering around I finally decided on a Sean John tie. After all, who knows more about fashion than P. Diddy? According to P. Diddy, no one. What was I there for again? Oh yes, a coat. I finally found a Guess wool coat that will do the job nicely. So, it was a fine day of shopping at Tyson’s Corner.

Todd

Once again I am forced to rail against Bud Selig. By allowing TBS to have a monopoly on the Division series, he once again, shut out the East Coast to baseball. How do you expect to gain new fans when playoff games start at 10 PM? I could only stay up until the 4th inning. How can I keep up? Would have been cool to see the Cubs/Dodgers game 1 and see Maddux come in as a closer. Too bad that happened at 3AM Eastern Time. Bud Selig is the absolute worst thing to ever happen to baseball, and he should be fired. I will take a decade to undo the damage he has brought to the sport.

Now that that is out of the way, lets focus in the playoffs. I am shocked that the Cubs are down 0-2 and are on the brink of elimination. They were the strongest team in the NL this year. I had them at least to the NLCS, if not the whole thing. I am also surprised by the Angels poor performance. Scosia has a solid club with offense, defense, and great pitching. I had them going to the World Series.

How about them Rays? They are an incredible story that is an example of everything right in baseball. I also hate the White Sox. I could care less about the Phillies and Brewers.

From the Files of You Can’ Make this Stuff Up:

Here is a picture I took on the Metro coming home one day

If you can’t see it, it is a can of sardines.

Todd

Well, OK, summer ended a while ago (although not officially until whenever the Autumn Equinox was, but for all intents and purposes, it ended after Labor Day), but I am just now getting around to updating my blog. I wanted to write about this because I noticed a sharp change in Washington.

I got to Washington in Mid-June when summer was just getting started. However, not being in school, I hardly cared that it was summer. The only thing it meant for me was it would be extremely hot and humid (I don’t ever recall a summer when I was more uncomfortable). I still had to get up early and go to work everyday. Boy, was I mistaken.

Washington takes the sumer off too (not me, I still had to work). I did not think much of the streets that were not completely buzzing because there was still plenty of foot and vehicle traffic. I did not think about the Metro trains that were not full to capacity, partly because we get shoved in like sardines in the morning on the Yellow train on the way to Fort Totten. I did not think much of it because it was all I knew.

July quickly became August and Washington fell asleep. Congress went on recess (except for the Republicans) and it was largely uneventful (with the exception of Sarah Palin). In fact, there was one Friday where we left work at 330 because there was absolutely no point in staying any longer. It was a ghost town (As close as a bustling metropolis can be anyway).

As the air became less thick and muggy, I knew September was upon us. Seriously, we have had good weather for a few weeks now. The weather was not the only difference. DC became alive with action. More so than in June or July. There was a significant increase in foot traffic and the Metro was much more crowded. Things are moving, people are talking. This city has awakened and summer is over.

Todd

Well, not really, no, I am not. But, I was featured on the blog of Rep. Eric Cantor’s personal blog because he spoke at The Conservative Blogger’s Briefing at work today.

I’m in the purple tie. 5th from the left. Seated next to me is John Fund from the Wall Street Journal. He was there to tell us about his book Stealing Elections which talks about how voter fraud is stealing elections and how ACORN is only fueling the fire of voter fraud. He also states that Florida in 2000 was just a sample of how bad the election can be this year if steps are not taken. 14,000 lawyers have been deployed to contest any close election result. H likened it to having a lot of underbrush in a forest with 14,000 people that had matches. Not good.

Today, I had the opportunity to take part in a training seminar titled “FOCUS: Achieving Your Highest Priorities”. It was a great class that taught many practical things that I can use everyday that will make me more productive at work, and more productive at home too. By setting attainable goals that are completely in your control can make a real difference in how you view your seemingly insurmountable “to do” list. (Writer’s note: I can’t believe I spelled insurmountable right on the first try).

I even got a snazzy new leather bound notebook to keep track of everything. I hope I can keep up with this. If I can’t it will be a triumph of my incredible laziness. It is really easy, and even I should be albe to keep up with it. We’ll see.

That’s the sound of my tub leaking. It’s been leaking for over a week now. It was supposed to be fixed last Wednesday, but that did not happen. They were supposed to come today, but they did not. The real problem is that it is the hot water that is leaking, and, I fear, running up my gas bill.

Todd

This last week has been a long one, but also a fun one at the same time. Monday I had a late night t work and I did not get home until 8, went to bed at at 11 and started over the next day. Tuesday, I had plans to meet a friend of mine and after work I took the Metro to Adam’s Morgan and we met up for dinner and drinks. I got home at 10 and went to bed at 11 and started over. Wednesday, there was a happy hour party put on by a blogger at the Top of the Hill room in the Pour House on Pennsylvania Ave. I went to that after work and stayed there until about 8 and got home about 930, or so, went to bed at 11 and started over. Thursday, I got of work at 3 and got home about 430. We picked my friend’s fiance up form the airport at 9 and we had dinner and saw a movie. We got home at 130 or so. We got to sleep in on the 4th, until about 930. We took care of some things we had to do (shopping, mall, otherwise) We got home and we all took a nap. After the nap, we headed over to DC for the party at mywork and watched the fireworks from the roof and went home. We got home at around 10 or 1030. Got up at 930 on Saturday for an intense day of touring as my friend’s fiance has never been to DC. We started with the Internatiaonal Spy Museum. We got tickets for the 4 o’clock hour and headed to the National Mall area. We took in the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War II (the big one) Memorial, and the Smithsonian. We walked by the capital and headed back to the spy museum. We got done with the spy museum and headed home. After we got the car, we headed for a place to eat. After eating we headed home. By this time, it was 11 and we left the apartment at 11. A full 1 hours. We were exhausted.

It was a week of long nights, but I had a really good time this week. It is something I don’t like to do all the time, but I  am not opposed to it once in a while. I am excited about next week, though, because softball starts.

Well, the goodbye’s have been said (most of them) and new people have been met. I left sunny Southern California on June 11th and flew into hot and humid Washington, DC. I spent a few days getting my apt ready by getting furniture and other essentials. It was a rough couple of days getting all the furniture bought and built, but we were all done by Sunday night in time for work on Monday. What a whirlwind it was. Here were some of the going’s on.

The whirlwind tour started in May when I was hired in DC. It was time to start saying goodbye to California and friends. They had a nice party for me at work. They even had a cake for me. Everyday, it seemed, someone wanted to have one last lunch with me before I set off. I never knew how many people I knew until I had to say goodbye to them all. On June 4th, it was time to say goodbye to my old job. It was kind of surreal. I was alone in my area because all my coworkers friends were in training, so it was just me. I had my exit interview at 1030, and at 11 I was escorted out of the building. The last few days were really busy. Especially the weekend. Saturday was packed. I met with close friends for breakfast, went straight to a BBQ for another friend leaving town for Indiana. Immediatly following that, I held my own party at my Burbank apt. Sunday. I stopped over at Matt’s. I was really glad to get to see him and be able to say goodbye to him. then I caught up with my Aunt and Uncle and we had lunch at Ribs USA in my former home of Burbank.

Monday, I woke up to the car shipping company telling me they were there to ship my car. After I shipped my car, I went back to sleep and slept until about 1. I woke up and fixed my coffee and started to pack up the last boxes I had to ship. The one extra box I was planning on shipping turned into 7. I was not happy, but all that stuff needed to go. Tuesday, was surreal. I knew I would be driving down the Burbank streets for the last time. I knew I would be seeing people for the last time for a while. I spent most of the day at home cleaning out my room and taking bigitems down to the ally. My bed, TV, shelf, dresser, chair, and desk would not make the trip. I decided that none of that stuff was worth shipping and it was not. My friend Mike picked me up and I went over to his house and had dinner with him and his fiance Christina. After dinner it was time for my last softball game for a while. We won for a change. It was very bittersweet. I had a really good time with good friends, but I knew it would be my last for a while and my last with those particular people. After softball, I got home and played one last game with my roomates. At about midnight, I decided it was time for bed. I went to sleep…on the couch I did not sleep at all.

Wednesday, I woke up at 615 to catch my 8 o’ clock flight. My roomate drove me to the airport and I was off to my new life.

I landed at the Dulles Airport and I gotmy luggage and went over to the Super Shuttle counter to get a ride to my apartment. After about an hour (traffic, go figure) I got to my apartment. I had to wait outside for about 20- 30 minutes because I had to wait for my friend to get off work so he could let me in. The apartment was empty, there was no TV, no Internet, and nothing to sit on. Pretty dull.

I woke up on Thursady, and dropped my friend off at work so I could use his car. I realized that we could connect to the Internet from an unsecured wireless network in my room. I headed over to Sleepy’s and I bought a bed. After that I went over to Ikea and I bought a couch with a hidabed so my friend who is staying with me for 8 weeks would have somewhere to sleep. It also will work for those who will come visit me to have a place to sleep. We went out to dinner on Thursday, and called it a day. Friday was much less productive. I had to go into DC to get a drug test for my new job. Between Metro, waiting for the test, and driving, it took about 4 hours. So that day was lost. We went to a movie in Alexandria and had a pretty good time. The next two days would not be as fun.

Saturday was the day we were going to get the rest of the stuff for the Apartment. We went to Target and bought everything for the kitchen, and a TV stand. We had already bought a desk at Office Depot the day before, so on Saturday we went to Staples and got a chair. It was close to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so we stopped in and got a nightstand. We stopped for lunch and then headed out to Wal-Mart. There we got a coffee table, and other assorted cleaning products. We also stopped at Best Buy and Circuit City to pick up cables. We took it all back to the apartment and built it. We were exhausted. Completely out of energy. The only problem was that we still needed to go grocery shopping. We got a coupon for Circuit City so we stopped there first. We got done with the shopping around 930. We called Domino’s and picked up some pizza (It is literally right across the street). We accomplished a lot and met our goal of sitting on our couch eating pizza and watching The Office on DVD. It was a tiring, but good day.

Sunday was a bit more relaxing. We only had a few places to go and it did not take very long. It was a bit stressful for me because the next day, I was starting my new job. I did not sleep that well on Sunday night.

The firs tweek of work went really well. I am meeting a lot of new poeple and they seem excited about what I can do and the ideas I am bringing them. I am learing a lot and getting used to the new schedule. Days are long, but I am happy. I made the right choice.

Todd

I am hoping that this will be the final home for “The Right Voice” I know all my dilligent readers have been disappointed over the lack of posts in the last month, or so. Well, I have been rather busy and have not had much time to post, and when I did have time, I never took the time. I hope that that changes.

 Anywho, My new Web site is about to launch and I am excited about it. I have friends helping me out with cool logos and design features, but it is mostly my creation. This blog will be a big part of it and I hope you enjoy it.