• Church Marketing Sucks.
• My faith journey and why I moved away from a Baptist background.
• Being blacklisted over population control.
• Adoption.
• How I got to where I am in my writing career.
• Living simply (for which I’m a poor role model).
• How jealous Jonathan is of the Detroit Red Wings and their awesome Stanley Cupness.

It was a fun conversation and I hope I don’t sound like a jerk. I have to admit, however, that I do sound like Dr. Hibbert. My wife always says I have a Dr. Hibbert laugh, and after listening to this I have to concede that she’s right.

For now you can watch it at the Dr. Horrible site or buy it on iTunes.

This little musical bit of entertainment was conceived during the writer’s strike and put together on the cheap. And it’s pretty funny. It’s also receiving a lot of attention for something that amounts to 42-minutes of entertainment: TV Guide, Wired, MTV, Entertainment Weekly, Gawker. But we’ll take it.

As I was saying, they’re back. The four-song EP My Dear Machine is available from NoiseTrade (a music download service from Derek Webb where you can download an album for whatever you want to pay or by giving the e-mail addresses of three friends. I’m not sure how I feel about using your contacts as currency, but it seems to work for Webb.) and they have a Christmas album (!), The Dawn of Grace coming out October 14.

I was never very excited about their breakout self-titled album, but I loved 2002’s Divine Discontent (specifically “Eyes Wide Open” and “Paralyzed”). I’m still deciding what I think of My Dear Machine, but at the very least it’s nice to have them back.

But as Shaun points out, we all have masks, and behind those masks are real people with real problems and real hurts. It doesn’t make everything OK, but a little understanding goes a long way.

I’ve been eyeing one of these systems since they came out in late 2006. But they’ve also been hard to come by. I’ve only seen them in the store once. Until Thursday night when we walked into Best Buy and they had four Wiis sitting on the floor. With a large pile of unspent birthday cash still on hand, I snatched up a Wii. I spent $330 on a Wii, an extra remote and an extra nunchuk (the controllers the Wii uses–it comes with one remote and one nunchuk, as well as the Wii Sports game), including tax. I planned to purchase one more game, Mario Kart, which was currently out of stock but would run another $50. So a $380 minimum investment.

We went home and played bowling, baseball, tennis and boxing (I think I might have lost every game, but that’s beside the point). The next morning when I woke up I was having second thoughts.

It’s not Wii, It’s Me
I wasn’t questioning the Wii’s gaming experience. I’ve played it several times and it is indeed fun. What I like most about the Wii is that it’s a great party game. It’s inviting for non-gamers and I’ve seen plenty of over 50 types, the kind who would never touch a video game, dive right in and have a blast playing virtual bowling in the living room. It also has some great online features which would enable us to play with friends across the country. That’s pretty cool.

My buyer’s remorse had little to do with the Wii itself. It had more to do with me.

Not a Gamer
First and foremost, I realized that I’m not a gamer. While I do enjoy playing video games, I don’t play them very often and I often feel guilty when I do play them. I find myself forsaking other activities so I can play a video game, often rationalizing my behavior just so I could keep doing it. There’s something a little off putting about sitting in the dark playing video games alone when there are other things you could be doing. I did that a lot in college. I realize the point of video games is to escape and be entertained, but I have enough escape and entertainment.

When we got a GameCube in 2004 (another birthday present) I was afraid the same thing would happen, though for the most part I avoided that self-destructive behavior. Instead I just didn’t play it very often. I kept most of my playing to social playing and I think we got plenty of use and enjoyment out of it.

I think I realized that I’m just not a gamer. I like video games, but they’re not the first thing I turn to for relaxation and fun. And that’s evidenced by how little I played the GameCube in the last few years.

Costs Too Much
Secondly, the cost of the Wii started to sink in. I’d already spent $330, which was already more than my actual birthday money. I planned to spend another $50 for a second game, so it would be $380 up front. That’s a lot.

Then I started to add up the continuing gaming commitment. You inevitably grow tired of your games and want more. The Wii has an online collection of old school video games you can play on the Wii, as well as Wii originals for download. But all of those cost more money. Plus the fact that we only had two controllers and would need two more to take full advantage of four player games. Money, money and more money. None of that is required, but it all enhances the experience and once you already own the Wii it’s that much easier to say yes and pony up the cash.

I’m pretty cheap. I tend to buy music twice a year, after my birthday and after Christmas when I have gift cards or cash to spend. We’re also in the midst of adopting and trying to cut back on expenses to help pay for it. Certainly birthday money is supposed to be spend on things you wouldn’t normally buy, like a video game system. But spending lots of money on something that will usually mean spending more money at a time when we’re trying to save money didn’t seem very smart.

Simplify
A while back I talked about the desire to simplify my life. I had a hard time figuring out how a Nintendo Wii simplified my life. It really didn’t. While there’s nothing wrong with a Wii, it is another toy, another expense, another distraction in my already busy life. Sometimes distractions are welcome, but it’s not like I’m hurting for distractions.

What Do I Like To Do?
And the more I thought about it, the more I realized sitting in the basement with a video game system isn’t what I really like to do. I’d much rather take my camera and check out some art or a park or something fun like that. I realized upgrading my camera, something I’ve thought about for a while, was a much better use of my cash (OK, the camera is technically a business expense and that’s decidedly not birthday money, but that’s besides the point).

So on Friday afternoon we played another round of bowling, tennis and boxing (I won a few this time), and then I packed up the Wii and took it back to Best Buy. I walked out with a new camera.

Impulsive & Irrational
So in the end I think what I knew all along was pushed aside by the combination of money to spend and a Wii actually being in stock. How could I pass it up?! My rational side went out the window and I bought on impulse (though it’s worth noting being impulsive for me still meant standing around the store for 20 minutes thinking about it). Honestly, it’s kind of embarrassing. But it has been useful to think through these things and figure out what I really want.

I’m not making any judgments about people who own Wiis and I’m not saying we’ll never own one (my wife was pretty disappointed when I decided to return it). It just didn’t feel like the right decision. And now that I’ve taken it back, I feel good about it. Lesson learned.

(And let me just say that I feel kind of dumb blogging about this. I think it’s valuable to put down my rationale and share it, but it still feels kind of silly. I doubt many people are in the habit of returning Nintendo Wiis.)

So what are they up to?

• Brave Saint Saturn - Third and final album due out late July and a little web site.
• Hollyfelds - Former FIFers go alt-country?
• Hearts of Palm (formerly Nathan & Stephen) - Lots of bearded men and a girl named Jeff. Oh, and a free download.

And if actual FIF alums isn’t enough for you, how about other bands singing tribute? Relient K has not one, but two tracks on its brand new The Bird and Bee Sides release paying tribute to Five Iron:

“Five Iron Frenzy / They were good, they were good / They were really really really good.”

You can grab the normal version or the ska mix. Reminds me of the hidden track on the W’s debut album thanking Five Iron Frenzy.

There’s something about getting an update from Cobra Commander that makes me laugh. Maybe it’s the thought of an evil character doing something as mundane as text messaging. Or maybe it’s just the burst of something over-the-top funny and short. Sometimes life gets a little too serious and you need a little funny.

Anyway, I love the fake Twitter characters. And I want to write one. I’m into too many things that don’t pay the bills, so if I go this route it’ll have to pay. I haven’t figured out how to make Twitter pay (neither have they, so I’m not alone), so if anyone has ideas I’m game. Or if anyone would like to hire me to create their fake Twitter character, I’m so there.

To start with the basics, the adoption tax credit started in 1997 as a $5,000 credit and was raised to $10,000 in 2001 as a part of Bush’s tax cuts. Bush didn’t start the tax credit, though he did raise it. It’s also not clear if this is something Bush pushed for or if it was just part of the package. It’s also slated to expire in 2010 if it’s not renewed.

And this is where it gets tricky. Where do the current presidential candidates stand on renewing the adoption tax credit?

Well, let’s find out.

I went to both candidate’s web sites on June 23 and tried to find the answer. It didn’t help that Barack Obama had no search box. But neither John McCain nor Obama had a site organized enough to answer my question. Or my question is simply to specific to be there. Anywhere. I know it’s not front page news, but with the ballooning web presence most candidates have I’d expect to find an answer to any policy question, no matter how small. Apparently not.

So I asked. I contacted both candidates through their online forms. And this is where it gets fun.

Barack Obama
One week later I’ve received exactly seven e-mails from the Obama campaign. They sent me two auto responses talking about the flood of e-mail they receive and how they’re unable to answer it all, and they sent five e-mail newsletters. Apparently filling out their online form dumped me into their database by default and now I’m getting everything they send out.

You’d think they’d have an opt-in option on their contact form. I guess not.

You’d think they’d have an army of interns to answer simple questions like mine. I guess not.

You’d think they’d split up their e-mail newsletter into interest categories so they don’t overwhelm people. I guess not.

You’d think with all those responses they could actually answer my question. Not so far.

John McCain
And one week later McCain’s campaign has sent me nothing.

No response to let me know they received my message. That’s bad.

No flood of e-mail newsletters. That’s good!

But no answer to my question. That’s bad.

The Answer
Some googling came up with the Major Provisions of the McCain and Obama Tax Plans PDF from the Tax Policy Center which seems to say that both Barack Obama and John McCain support extending the adoption tax credit.

So the short answer to a long story is that the adoption tax credit shouldn’t be going anywhere. That’s good. But the bad part is how easily and passionately people can spread false stories. Candidates, especially presidential ones, should be getting the correct information out there. Better organized, searchable web sites are a must. But so is basic communication. For all of the candidates’ forays into social media, it doesn’t count for much if it’s still a one-way street. It’s not web 2.0 unless you’re communicating both ways.

Update: I received another e-mail from Obama campaign about five hours after I wrote this. So that’s eight e-mails in one week.

What have I learned from shaving my head?

• It comes back quickly, which I’m thankful for (as is my wife). I expected to be bald long ago, so every day I still have hair is a surprise. That’s actually why I grew my hair out in the first place–grow it while you got it.
• I think the hair on the top of my head grows the fastest. Initially I thought it was my chin, but I think my goatee slowed down and my head caught up. The slowest growing hair? My sideburns. When I shaved my face I kept some short sideburns, but they’re barely there. (I suppose technically it grows the slowest on my cheeks which is why I’ve always shaved those and just kept a slim beard. Seems I’ll never have a mountain-man beard.)
• While I’m not going prematurely bald, I do have quite a bit of gray starting to poke in. And I think my hairline is crooked too.
• When you shave your head there’s an incredible velcro effect. When you put on a shirt it just sticks to your bald head. I expected a greater sensitivity to temperature and I knew I’d have to rub sunscreen into my head (which feels weird), but I wasn’t expecting the velcro effect.
• I do love the benefits of having little to no hair: I spend less time in the shower, no time fixing my hair–and nothing messes it up. I can change shirts as many times as I like, drive with the windows down, enjoy being outside on a windy day without a hat, and the list goes on. It all sounds incredibly stupid, but it is a noticeable difference.

So that’s the great head shaving experiment of 2008. My wife pointed out to me that I’ve changed hair styles quite a bit throughout my life, so we’ll see what happens this time.

Smokestack go boom.

You can check out my before and after pictures, but the real excitement is the video. I missed the opening blast, but it took plenty of time for the 570-foot smokestack to fall. Lots of folks showed up for the demolition, and a lot of us on the High Bridge had to get out of the way of the coming dust. I think I got some smokestack in my eye. The bridge shook with the initial explosion, but the final thud of the smokestack hitting the ground was wild.

Demolition of the High Bridge Power Plant Smokestack from kevinhendricks on Vimeo.

Both Bob Collins’ News Cut blog and Teresa Boardman’s real estate blog have coverage.