Which Grade Of Gasoline Is Best?

out of curiousity i did some research on which grade of gasoline was best to find out if using a higher grade would benefit my car. what i found out was suprising. what i found out was that there is no one grade, example 87, that is better than another, example 93. the octane rating has to do with the speed at which the fuel will burn. when a car engine is engineered it is designed to run on a particular ocatane, and will perform best on that ocatane of gas. using a different octane could potentially damage your car over a period of time by causing deposit build-ups and lower performance. if you are like me and you want a more detailed explanation. you can visit the link below.

what octane rating of gasoline should i use?

The Cobalt Season

last night my church hosted a show by the cobalt season. i didn't have any expectations since i had never seen nor heard of them, but i'm all for hearing new music. especially from groups that i've never heard of. the group/band is comprised of ryan and holly sharp, husband and wife, and whoever might be joining them that evening.

i must say that i thoroughly enjoyed their performance last night. it was exactly as their website describes...

"The Cobalt Season emerges as a voice of hope and clarity amidst an apathetic consumer-driven society. Deconstructing the American Dream and all it's cronies (American religion, nationalism, corporatism, etc.), Ryan Lee Sharp paints impressions of a better way, a better day.
Sometimes with large brush strokes, sometimes with fine lines, Ryan and Holly Sharp (and whoever might be joining them that evening) create a live experience that isn't soon forgotten. From infuriating you to giving you hope, from deconstructing to reconstructing, you will remember your encounter with The Cobalt Season. Indie Folk Rock with a Social Conscience. Story-Driven Songs with Soul."

if you weren't present for their performance or if you've never heard of them. i recommend that you check them out. you can listen to some of their songs by visiting their myspace music page.

Shows That Won't Die

this morning while looking on yahoo's home page at the yahoo pulse section i noticed that "days of our lives" was a show that people did a lot of searching for recently. i thought to my self, "do these soaps not die? they must have been around for 30 years." i can remember as a small child i would stay at my grand parents house when i was sick or if the daycare was closed on a day that my parents still had to work. i controlled the tv from 7am -11am, but from 11am - 2pm my grandma had the remote because her soaps where on. so i knew these shows had been around for at least 30 years, but that is where i was wrong. check out these dates...

the young and the restless - 1973 (33 years)
all my children - 1970 (36 years)
one life to live - 1968 (38 years)
days of our lives - 1965 (41 years)
another world - 1964 (42 years)
general hospital - 1963 (43 years)
as the world turns - 1956 (50 years)
guiding light - 1952 (54 years!) the television has barely been around that long!

This Song Moves Me

a couple of years ago i bought the jars of clay album, furthermore: from the studio from the stage. it is a two disc album. disk one was recorded in the studio and disc two live. the last song on disk two really moves me. it is called "worlds apart". it is a very long and poetic song that last 10:52 on this disk. it was originally released in 1995 on their self titled jars of clay album. i've never heard the studio version, but i can't imagine it being better than the live version i have.

you can find a clip of it on amazon, but a clip doesn't really do it justice. also, here are the lyrics from the studio version. they vary slightly from the live version i have.

WORLDS APART

i am the only one to blame for this
somehow it all adds up the same
soaring on the wings of selfish pride
i flew too high and like icarus i collide
with a world i try so hard to leave behind
to rid myself of all but love
to give and die to turn away and not become
another nail to pierce the skin of one who loves
more deeply than the oceans
more abundant than the tears
of a world embracing every heartache

can i be the one to sacrifice
or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow

take my world apart
i am on my knees
take my world apart
broken on my knees

all said and done i stand alone
amongst remains of a life i should not own
it takes all i am to believe
in the mercy that covers me

did you really have to die for me
all i am for all you are
because what i need and what i believe are worlds apart
i look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
and wipe away the crimson stains
and dull the nails that still remain
more and more i need you now
i owe you more each passing hour
the battle between grace and pride
i gave up not so long ago
so steal my heart and take the pain
and wash the feet and cleanse my pride
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things i cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
the sin-soaked heart and make it yours
take my world all apart
take it now, take it now
and serve the ones that I despise
speak the words i can't deny
watch the world i used to love
fall to dust and thrown away
i look beyond the empty cross
forgetting what my life has cost
so wipe away the crimson stainsand
dull the nails that still remain
so steal my heart and take the pain
take the selfish, take the weak
and all the things i cannot hide
take the beauty, take my tears
take my world apart, take my world apart
i pray, i pray, i pray
take my world apart

Written by Jars of ClayCopyright 1995 BridgeBuilding Music (BMI)/Pogostick Music (BMI). All rights reserved.

Exclusive Invite

last night i played poker with a group of guys, who shall remain nameless for my protection, in a hot garage in the lakewood area of dallas. i was honored to be the only guy out of seven at the table that didn't live within 3 miles of the previously mentioned location. i live 26 miles away to be exact. it was like i was invited to an exclusive club. really, for someone who lives north of two "loops" to be invited to east dallas (much less one) to play cards, that is saying something. i had a great time, i stayed within my limits of alcohol consumption (you have to when you live 26 miles away), and i only made a few out of control remarks, but none of which should keep me from being invited back. well, there was that one that made the two guys to my right a bit squeamish, but neither was the host. so i think i'm okay. i'm also happy to report that when all was said and done i walked away with a $6 profit, and that breaks my streak of 3 consecutive events of loosing all of my $20.

p.s. this is for the host....take my grievances with a grain of salt. okay, take one of them with a grain of salt. the one about the hot garage did hold some water, but that won't keep me from coming back if you feel so inclined to invite me.

First Movie Since 2005

yesterday i went to watch the new adam sandler movie "click" with my brother, and i must say that i really enjoyed it. it was funny, sad (i was holding back tears), and the story had a good moral. it is a bit outlandish at times, but that that is what you get out of any sandler movie, and it has quite the cast. i recommend it for anyone 13+.

Respectfully Sad

though i feel like this...

i'm still proud of...

and i have a lot of respect for these two...

Fun & Interesting Weekend

my weekend started on friday night at monica's in deep ellum in dallas. there, was an alumni event for the art institute of dallas. it was my first alumni event to attend and i must say that it was pretty cool. the alumni coordinator had a contest for a $50 gift card to help us get to know each other. basically we had to complete a questionnaire by finding out facts about other alumni. two good things came of this. the first was i won the gift card! the second was that some of the people i met knew a friend of mine from school who couldn't make the dinner, but was going to meet up with the group at the dallas museum of art afterwards. after we all met at the dma we decided to ditch and go to fuse, a low-key, tex-asian, restaurant/bar in downtown dallas. it was great getting to catch up with my friend lauren and talk about what is knew in each other's life.

saturday morning i woke up @ 5am to drive to waco and help my friend, dj, of 19 year move. we started out cool and wet from the rain, but ended up hot and sweaty after the sun came out. later that evening we attended a poker party that had 23 players! we both had a good time. unfortunately we tied for 13th in the tournament by both going out on the same hand! on our way back to his placed i returned a call from my cousin audrey in wichita falls and found out that she wants me to go on a double date with her, her husband, and her roommate from college sometime in the near future. she said that she and her husband jeff have thought that me and her friend would make a good match. hey, i'm game. i decided a few months ago that i woud quit looking for women and just let my friends and family find'em for me. i guess it's working?

sunday evening i made it home in time to watch the mavs play game 5 in the nba finals i have to admit that i fell asleep at the beginning of the 4th quarter and missed the mavs overtime loss. which evidently had a couple of controversial moments? this morning when i watch the highlights on nba.com it looked like d-wade was in some kind of zone in the 4th. he barely looked like he was trying? i still think the mavs will win the series.

A Different Game Of Basketball

i've never seen a european basketball game, but it must be quit a bit different style of play than a nba basketball game. what made me think of this was when the commentators for the nba finals commented on dirk nowitzki's great ball control for a big man. another big guy from over seas, that isn't quit the star that dirk is, but has great ball control is toni kukoc. being a bulls fan as a kid i was able to watch and marvel at toni, a 6-11 man, drive to the basket and shoot three pointers like your average guard.

here in america we tend to groom big players to be low block players. most of which can't drive to the basket from the top of the key or make a three pointer on a consistent basis, but we keep finding big men in europe that can. obviously they train their big men a bit different in europe. on the flip side these big men with ball control and a good shot can't control the paint quit like our american big men. at least not when they first come into the league, but i must say that dirk has gotten a lot better at that over the years.

a couple more examples of foreign big men with a shoot and some ball control are peja stojakovic and mehmet okur. i think this is a trend that will continue to grow and will really effect the way basketball is played in the years to come. as it is right now, teams really have difficulty guarding a player like dirk. if you stick a big man on him he will burn the guy on the way to the basket, and if you stick a smaller faster defender on him he will shoot the ball as if the guy wasn't even there or post up on him in the paint. i must say that i really admire these big men with skills other than dunking and rebounding.

Bubbly Water

today i went grocery shopping for the sign company that i work for and the owner requested that i buy some perrier water. later in the afternoon i decided to try some of this perrier water for the first time. as i sat at my desk i asked my boss what was so special about the water? he said that it was basically carbonated water, and it is a big thing in europe. he said that if you order water in europe you will most likely get a bottle of it instead of regular water. he also said that he had never met anyone that neither liked it nor disliked it. so i opened the bottle and proceeded to consume the bubbly water. after drinking 1/3 of the bottle i thought i might be the first person that neither liked it nor disliked it, but after drinking 2/3 of the bottle i decided to pour the rest of it down the sink and join the rest of the people in the world that don't like this bubbly water. i really don't know what europeans see in this stuff?

Equally Yoked

have you ever heard someone speak about being equally yoked and they brought up eggs? i know i have. i've always know what being equally yoked meant, but i have wondered what eggs had to do with it. i guess they were trying to be cute and think of some catchy way for people to remember the phrase equally yoked. i've watched ed young, jr. on sunday mornings now for a while and yesterday he spoke about being equally yoked. in doing so he gave the actual history behind the term equally yoked.

he said that back in the day when they used animals to pull plows they connected them with a device called a yoke. if a farmer didn't put two animals of equal strength in the yoke the plow wouldn't be pulled straight and they would veer off course. just as in a unequally yoked relationship. if you're not both following the same leader in life your destined to be pulled off course. now that i know the history of the phrase equally yoked, it makes so much more sense.

Pet Peeve

last night i pulled into a texaco by near my home to fill up with gas. after swiping my card and selecting my fuel grade i started to pump gas into my car. for what ever reason it was pumping quite slow so i decided to wash my windows while i waited for it to finish. i walked to the nearest wash bucket and it dry. so then i walked to the other row of pumps to use that scrub brush instead, but it too was sitting in a dry bucket. this annoys the crap out of me. is it really that hard to keep water in the buckets? this is texas people. a place where either dust, bugs, or both cover your windshield most of the year. this makes it very un couth to have dry window washing buckets at a filling station. based on this experience i will probably not go back to this filling station.

Gotta Read The Fine Print

after work today i went to the mall to get my hair cut. i always park outside of sears because it is the closest store to master cuts that has an external entrance to the mall. on my way out of the mall i of course walked through sears. as i passed the men's clothing section i couldn't help but see a couple of signs that said 90% off. like a bug to light i swarmed over to the 90% off racks. i spent about 20 minutes picking out 2 pair of jeans, 4 button up shirts, and 4 t-shirts. i was clearly about to buy over $300 worth of cloth for about $30. i take my pile up to the register and while the young clerk rings up my clothes i can't help but notice prices like $18.99 popping up on the screen. so i asked the guy why a $38 shirt that was 90% off would ring up as $18.99? he proceeds to tell me that the rack it came off of states that everything on the rack is up to 90% off. come to find out the words "up to" were about 9 pt type and the "90%" was about 150 pt type. obviously i overlooked the fine print. yet i didn't walk out of the store empty handed. i ended up buying 3 t-shirts for a grand total of $14.55 after tax.

Accomplishment, Beer, & The Coolest Sandals Ever

i'm writing this post while drinking a beer, in celebration of passing my securities exams, that i opened with my new sandals. this past weekend i really wanted to drink some alcohol and hangout with friends, but i withheld due to the fact that i was studying for two securities exams that i had this week, one on monday and one today. what can i say? i didn't feel that alcohol would help me retain information or stay awake to study it. needless to say i passed both of my test. besides studying 35 hours for my test last week, i ordered a new pair of sandals online that have a functional bottle opener on the bottom of each sandal. so here is a picture of me celebrating passing my exams by opening a bottle of beer with one of my new sandals.

46,260 Miles

when i bought my car on june 3rd of 2004 it had 8 miles on its odometer. 4 of which i put on it while test driving it. as of yesterday morning it had 46,264 miles on its odometer which means i've owned it for 46,260 miles. which is officially the longest i've ever owned a car as far as mileage is concerned. i drove my first automobile 33k miles before selling it to my grand parents to tow behind their motor home. i drove my second automobile 42k before it was stolen and chopped for parts. the vehicle i replace it with made it 23k before i traded it in, and i only drove its replacement 9k before i dumped it due to high gas prices.

taking into consideration my budget and my desire to not have a car payment for life, i will say that 46,260 miles is just the beginning of my new record. who knows, maybe i'll break my highest mileage record with it too? though i am 119k away from it.

Skin to Advertise Cloths

last night i went to the mall with my brother chad. he being 20 and into the latest college student trends wanted to go to abercrombie and fitch. i've been in there a few times in my life and i always wonder if they would sale more clothes if there ads had models wearing their clothes. you know, as oppose to wearing no clothes. when i look at a picture of a fit guy topless in a picture from the waste up i don't think of buying abercrombie and fitch clothes. i think working out. maybe they should add a gym to their stores?