Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie

Nike CEO receives advice from Steve Jobs in his new post. A great idea for all companies, organizations, and individuals.

Finally released after forever. Looking forward to this. That is all.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Another night another dream!

The details of this one are a lot more vague but a theme seems to be developing.

In the dream I had last night I found myself in a room in a big house. This time, I was being chased by some sort of monster.  I don’t remember seeing the creature, but I knew what he looked like. He was very tall and his body was shaped like the old ‘My Pet Monster’ toys from my childhood, but he was definitely not someone you wanted to mess with. 

This time in the dream Nat wasn’t with me initially but then I found her, and after I did we both escaped from the house together.

What was interesting this time about the dream was that the monster came out of the house but not in his physical form, and I knew that. He possessed the bodies of other individuals, and it was easy for us to see who was possessed. In the dream it was older men, and in particular a Chinese man, who slowly walked forward with a blank face. I warned Nat not to touch or look at him, and we raced on. This was the end of the dream.

So a theme from dream last night  & the one before is that I’m being chased, and Natalie is involved. Weird.

I’m not one to normally ‘have’ dreams so when one comes along and I wake up remembering it, I’m usually pretty excited about it.

Last night’s dream was definitely one of the more memorable and exciting ones I have had in a long time.

Here are the details I remember.

In the dream, something happened or something I did (I can’t remember or didn’t know) caused me to start getting chased by these guys (I think there were 3 of them) with swingable (bat-like) objects.

I was able to get away safely from them, and arrived at Peter Boulware’s house where he let me in and I met with a couple of other guys. Once I got there I discovered that the guys who were chasing me, had decided to go to my house and take Natalie hostage. They held her and a small party of people hostage in my house because they could not find me.

I was briefly able to speak with Natalie and I told her not to worry and that we would get them soon and to not tell the guys anything.

We then began plotting on how to rescue the hostages inside Peter’s house. Then I woke up.

So that was my dream.

The last movie I saw was Shutter Island(youtube trailer), because I’m sure a few of you might be thinking to ask me what I last saw. I watched it on Thursday night, 3 nights ago.

So, have you had any strange dreams lately?

I love this song. It’s the title track from MUTEMATH’s album, Armistice
. I really enjoyed hearing it live in Atlanta last fall when I caught them there. It was a little weird at first listen, but it had a great jam and groove. I love what they did with it in a live setting.

MUTEMATH is definitely a live band. Their albums are great and I have loved them all, but if you haven’t seen them perform live, you’re really missing out on a great show, teamwork and musicianship.

Check out the video below of Armistice from their Japan tour.

ALL NEW! Star Wars Gangsta Rap: Chronicles

I recently finished up recording a song that I wrote. The title is the title of this post (minus the Sammy J Original part… however… hmm). Anyway, would love for you to check it out. I hope you like it.

For those interested, I recorded the song entirely in Logic Express using my laptop. I used my lovely guitar Betsy (who turned 11 years old this month) for all the electric guitar parts, through a small Epiphone Valve Jr. amp; Stella, my acoustic guitar joined the fun on the chorus parts of the song.

I would like to than Ryan Flemming, who helped me with the bass guitar. He adds so much awesomeness to this song with his funky fresh groove. Thanks Ryan!

Hope you like it. I’ve embedded two version of the song below because I can.

Enjoy.

Humbly I’ll Fall  by  Samuel Febres

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days (and I know many that do), Apple unveiled a new device called an iPad.

Rumors and speculation, as usual for Apple events and products were at an all time high and yesterday was the big day. Well, it came and went and it looks the majority of the internets are a bit let down. It would be hard not to with all the expectations folks were forming in the their creative little minds.

The majority of the complaints are that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table and it’s nothing more than a giant iphone or an ipod touch. On a cursory glance, one could see why someone would come to that point of view without testing the product at all.

My thoughts are that it really could be a game changer. Most folks are focusing on what’s missing, and not what it is designed to do.

According to Steve Jobs, the iPad’s purpose is to “browse the web, enjoy and share photos, videos, music, play games and read books.”

If you’re looking to do something more than this with an iPad, then this device is not for you. Look elsewhere… for now.

Netbooks have become popular devices. People who have been gobbling them up get them because they’re inexpensive computers, but if you’ve spent time with one, they are horrible devices to use. The keyboard is cramped; depending on the quality, you would be hard pressed to get a Youtube HD video to actually play smoothly on it, and it’s a horrible resolution and screen size to look at. What do the majority of people want these devices for? It’s not to load Office on it and write books or essays. They want them to surf the web, read their email, and socialize, but the experience is horrible.

This is the problem that the iPad is providing a solution to. A lightweight device for surfing the web. They have removed the cramped keyboard, they have created a UI that works for a smaller screen and device, and improved upon the features that people purchase netbooks for, which is to surf the web (or at least the only thing it could sort of be considered good for) but made the experience more pleasurable AND they’ve added the ability to do music and photos and play games.

If you got excited about Chrome OS, they you should be peeing your pants for the iPad.

From the Google Chrome blog below: Replace Google Chrome with iPad and Google with Apple.

“Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web…

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.”

Google is stating what the average computer user wants. Not the tech nerd bloggers. Apple does the same thing. Simplify the experience. Their design choices are for the benefit of most, not the few. The same thing happened with the iphone when it was released and everybody was crying about how it didn’t have this or that, and should have had this or that. People still bought it, love it and use it today. I think the very same thing could happen with the iPad.

The iPad is bigger than people realize and are giving it credit for. This is no Apple TV. This is a small step for Apple in their plans for the future.

“In many ways this defines our vision, our sense of what’s next.”
– Jonathan Ive

Also, check out this guy’s thoughts. They’re better written than mine.
A Message to the Internets regarding the iPad – Michael Pusateri

UPDATE: Thanks to Clayton for sharing this video with me. It’s worth a good laugh. Hitler and I don’t see eye to eye I guess.

Today I am 30. No longer am I a 20 year old. I don’t know if I lose cool or hip status now, or if I have to get a new ‘old person’ card. I don’t care. I’m 30 and I’m excited about this new decade of life.

I know a lot of folks lament turning 30. I’m not. I think it’s great. I cannot wait to see what GOD has in store for me and what new adventures and challenges await. I welcome them as best as I know how. 30 is the new 20 for me. Life is great. I have a beautiful wife who loves me. I serve an awesome GOD, and he’s blessed me with great gifts and talents, in addition to a great friends and family, from church and otherwise.

Life is exciting. I’m excited. Thank you Father GOD for another year. I hope and pray that I will make you proud.

(It’s hard to believe that I’m gone from this

and this

to this…

Wow).