It tastes awful. And it works.

I've been on the road for the last week and a half or so and it's been one of the busiest trips we have done in a while. I prefer the busy trips. I figure if I'm away from my family I should be as working as hard as possible. So let me show you a quick run down of what this trip looks like for me.

Wednesday - Fly to Nashville
Thursday - Orange Beach, AB
Friday - Drive
Saturday - New Kent, Va
Sunday - Washington DC
Monday - Drive
Tuesday - Cambridge, ON
Wednesday - Ottawa, ON
Thursday - Montreal
Friday - Saint John, NB
Saturday - Charlottetown, PEI
Sunday - Truro, NS
Monday - Halifax, NS
Tuesday - Moncton, NB
Wednesday - Mirimichi, NB
Thursday - Fredericton, NB - drive to Nashville
Friday - Drive
Saturday - GMA Nashville
Sunday - GMA Nashville
Monday - GMA Nashville
Tuesday - GMA Nashville
Wednesday - Fly home

So yeah, a little hectic but good. The big problem is that back on the first Monday when we were driving to Cambridge I started to feel a sore throat coming on. By Ottawa I could barely talk. I didn't feel too bad but talking was an issue. This is a problem since I'm supposed to sing some BGV's and do a World Vision presentation. Then an all night drive after the Montreal show didn't do much to help.

But yesterday I finally think of Buckley's medicine. I have been loading up on Vicks, Fisherman's Friends, and some other sort of drop until now. I picked up the Buckleys before the show and and a couple of swigs before we played. I was able to sing again, and my voice was feeling pretty normal too. A bit more Buckley's before bed and I feel like a new man this morning. Not 100% but way better. Being sick on the road sucks. I'm just glad neither of the singers picked up what I had!!

GL

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Books

I just finished a book by Benjamin Levy about learning how to remember names and how important that is. In any job this is important. I meet so many people every night I'm on the road and I've just been terrible at remembering their names. Well, it turns out I'm not actually "bad with names," I just don't have any strategy for remembering them. He likened it to someone who has never had a snow skiing lesson in there life say I'm a bad skier. Well if you haven't learned how to ski of course you are. Anyway, great book. I was able to memorize thirty random words in a specific order with about ten mintues of work after reading the book. THAT IS CRAZY! So yeah, if you think you have a bad memory, check it out!

I'm also re-reading a C.S. Lewis classic, Mere Christianity. I'd like to leave you with a piece of what I read tonight.

"I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Dveil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

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Jonah on Bass

Now just look at the hand position . . . he's a natural!

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The Salvation Army

Here is an article that my brother-in-law sent me. He works on staff at the school this article refers to. I am really proud of what he and my sister-in-law are doing out there. I think this is what Salvation Army founder William Booth had in mind when he started the Salvation Army church.

Right-click on it and save it to your desktop so you can view it large enough to read.

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Icy Run

I thought this would be a fun thing to share. On February 22nd I was in Wacovia, MN with my band "downhere" and I decided to go for a run. Below is my route. I created the image using my Garmin Forerunner 201 (a gps unit), a web site (http://www.gpsvisualizer.com) and GoogleEarth for Mac. And yes, I did run straight across the lake.

Being February in Minnesota it was obviously frozen. I passed quite a few fishing huts. It was actually a nice warm day. I ended up taking off my sweater when I got to that island so I ran with just a long sleeved shirt and a t-shirt. And pants of course! Warm meaning about -2C (or 28F) and sunny.

Click on the picture to see it a little bigger.

The run ended up being a little over 7 miles and took me a little over an hour. Not too bad for a winter run across a lake!

My next marathon is booked so it's time to get back into marathon shape. Official training starts on Easter! More to come on that soon.

GL

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In response to Ceremonial Dagger

I had some great comments on my last post and wanted to respond with some info and thoughts here.

Are you really not allowed to pray in school anymore? I can understand not forcing everyone to say the Lord's Prayer in our "multicultural" society but I thought they still at least had a moment of silence where people can say their various prayers to their various Gods. I don't like it but I understand we don't live in a Christian nation.

And about celebrating Christian holidays in school, they may not say Merry Christmas now but at least we still get the Christian holidays. Who knows how long till that changes!

As for what we can do, I called my local MP's office to find out. We can write a letter explaining our opinion and mail it to:

Vic Toews
Minister of Justice
House Of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A0A6

Or you can just contact your local MP's office. To find your local MP go here. You can request that they send a letter too. So there are things we can do if we really want to, no matter how small our voice may be. It is the voice that our Grandparents and Great Grandparents fought for! Let's use it.

Glenn

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A Blessed Life

I'm sitting at wife's computer typing this blog entry. Over the past 24 hours I've yet again gained a new appreciation for my wife.

For those of you who don't know me, my job as a "musician" causes me to be away from home often for long periods of time. It was a hard adjustment when I started but Sherri and I have really got into a good groove now where it is a manageable way of life. Having a son was another readjustment but we are handling it well I think and our marriage is quite healthy and still a lot of fun.

I say all of that because after two nights of me being home Sherri went out last night for most of the evening leaving me on my own. Not a big deal, I have lots to do, but as the night wore on and I started getting ready for bed I couldn't help but think, "How does she do this every night I'm away? At least I know she'll be home by the time I get in bed." I was starting to feel lonely and bored and I kept looking at the clock hoping more time had gone by. When Sherri got home and I asked her about all of this she said that when I'm gone she just sort of switches gears and somehow it's not too bad. Knowing that many people keep us in their prayers must have something to do with why it's easier to handle too.

So I had to ask again (I frequently do), "We're doing the right thing, right?" I don't think this is a question I really need to ask her but it's like hearing "I Love You", I just need her to tell me once in a while for reassurance. I'm sure when she feels differently I'll know! Sure enough she told me of course we are doing the right thing and not to worry!

Man, do I love this woman or what!!

Then . . .

My computer has had an issue for the past few days with not being able to plug into power anymore. Sucks! So I've been using Sherri's PC during the day as I am right now and I don't know how she has the patience to tolerate this archaic piece of non-Apple machinery! It drives me nuts!!! She uses this thing without hardly complaining. If I ask her, she can't wait to get a new computer, but hardly is there ever a complaint.

I am truly blessed to live the life I have and to have such a great woman in my life!

Glenn

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Sikh Ceremonial Dagger

I just read this news article on CBC.ca, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation web site. Here are the first two paragraphs to give you an idea of what's happening.

"A Montreal boy can now wear his Sikh ceremonial dagger in the classroom after Canada's top court unanimously overturned a ban on the kirpan.

In its 8-0 judgment, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday that a total ban infringed on Gurbaj Singh Multani's guarantees of religious freedom under the Charter of Rights."

So what they are saying is that it's OK to bring a knife to school? Here's more.

"Manjeet Singh, the Sikh chaplain at McGill and Concordia universities, who also assisted Gurbaj Singh's legal team, said baptized Sikhs believed the kirpan is a symbol of courage, freedom and responsibility to stand up for their rights.

"It is one of the five articles of faith that every baptized Sikh is supposed to have on their person, all the time," said Manjeet Singh."

So what about on airplanes? How do baptized Sikhs get this knife through security? I'm guessing they don't and that it's not a big deal to them because they understand the circumstances of todays world. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt there. I would think that bringing a knife into school would fit into the same category.

I don't think anyone is saying that because a Sikh boy brings a knife into school that he's going to use it but a potential weapon is now in the school that anyone could have access to. This puts Sikhs in as much danger as Christians or Muslims or Athiests or Jews or anyone else.

Check out section 2 of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Fundamental Freedoms

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

1. freedom of conscience and religion;
2. freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
3. freedom of peaceful assembly; and
4. freedom of association.

You can read the rest here at a Government of Canada site. That link goes on to say this:

"Even though these freedoms are very important, governments can sometimes limit them. For example, laws against pornography and hate propaganda are reasonable limits on freedom of expression because they prevent harm to individuals and groups."

I know I'm just a musician but it would seem to me that not allowing this ceremonial dagger into school would be a reasonable limit because it prevents "possible harm to individuals and groups." Sometimes I wish I understood politics better so that this kind of stuff would make more sense.

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