Twitter & Up and Coming

You may have noticed my serious lack of blogging as of late...er...as of always. But do not worry, I haven't forgot about my blog friends. In fact I think that this next weekend will provide ample opportunity for me to share my thoughts. Brian and I are heading to Sacramento this weekend for the National Youth Workers Convention. This will be our third time there in four years. I am way excited about going. It's always a good time of care for the soul, learning about ministry, and experiencing some great times with 3,000 other youth workers.

In case you hadn't looked on the side of my blog recently, I've become a Twitter addict. It started out very simple and mostly so that I could see what the big todo was. Now I'm hooked. Feel free to follow me by going to twitter.com/aarongeist.

New Look

Sometimes you just want to change. Well, today was that day.

I acquired some web space which allows me to do many things like hosting my blog. Yeah!

What does this mean for you? Well, for one, it means that I broke your RSS feed, so you'll have to re-subscribe: Put http://www.aarongeist.com/atom.xml into your feed reader of choice.

Second, it means that now instead of aarongeist.com redirecting you to renmusic.blogspot.com, the opposite will happen. Bookmark http://www.aarongeist.com as the official blog.

Lastly, it means that for those of you with iPhones running 1.1.3 firmware, when you 'webclip' my blog to your desktop, you get a cool icon. Touching eh?

Well, pardon the mess as I get links and other goodies established on my side bar.

And while you're at it, check out the last year in photos at our church, here. (put together by Brian.)

New Blog

No, I'm not moving blogs. But my friend Tyson just started a new blog. Check it out when you get a chance. I'm sure that if he goes for it, it will be filled with art and good thoughts.

While you're at it, Check out his artwork.

Feliz Año Nuevo

After such a long hiatus from blogging, one would think that my new goal of blogging 6 times/week is out of reach. One would probably be correct.

None the less, I decided that I would try to begin before the new year arrived. The image above and to the left is of our group's trip to Winter Youth. Details of that will probably be in my first week of posting.

Until then, may God bless you in this new year.

San Diego, Here We Come!

Brian and I head down to San Diego tomorrow for 4 days and 3 nights at the National Youth Workers Convention...and boy are we excited!

We went two years ago and were impacted, refreshed and much more. Our plan is to spend some time blogging so you can see what we're thinking as we go along. Unfortunately, the hotel we're staying at charges $9.95 per day for wireless internet! You've got to be kidding! The Super 8 give free internet. Geesh.

I'm excited about David Crowder leading us in worship for the first day.

Merry Christmas

Wow! I've had a hankerin' to blog for some time, but just haven't found the time. From the amazing wind storms of last week, our church staff Christmas Party, to all that went along with Christmas, it has been exciting.

Saturday, Ali and I spent much time making onion and clam dip, my dad's famous chocolate-chip cookies and strawberry cheesecake squares. Sunday morning reminded me of my Costco days, getting up to be to church by 6:45 am. We played a special number written by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That was fun. Jon Knapp rocked out!

After church, Ali and I went to my parents for my dad's side of the family get together eating a wonderful dinner, singing Christmas carols and exchanging gifts. It seemed that after a short nights rest we awoke, and went to Ali's parents for the morning. What a wonderful relaxing time!

We drove to my parents in the afternoon for time with my family and Matt & Annie, (Also wonderful) :) and capped off the night with my family and Ali's family all over at her cousins' house for quite a feast. I am so lucky that my families love each other so much!

Today I counted up Christmas gifts, money I had from my birthday 6 months ago (and yes, nobody wished me a happy half-birthday), and some gift cards and I got an 8GB Nano! Woohoo! Thank you all who gave me this present! I've had lots of fun already and even figured out how to put my Google Calendar on the iPod.

Ali and I are cleaning and packing for Winter Youth, a 4-day high school retreat at the Jantzen Beach Red Lion (I know...I'm really roughing it!) with around 1,500 students and leaders! It features great speakers, bands, worship times, a choice of seminars, and of course, the annual trip to Old Navy for the amazing clearance sales. Last year, two of the guys and I bought the same jacket!

I'm brining my laptop, so hopefully I'll find some time to blog.

I hope you had a great, restful Christmas.

Aaron

A Great Day

I just have to take this time to say what a great day it is and why:

I took my last final of the term today and won't head back to school until January 11.

I played guitar on Justin & Jessica's 6th Christmas album. (Which you'll be able to hear at a later date).

My brother returned from the blogging dead with a great post.

So those are my reasons for the great day. How about you?

Happy December from Oregon

It's been a while since my last post. I thought I'd just say hi, I'm still here, and finals are quickly approaching. With only one class next term, these could be some of the last scholarly finals I take. (But really, do you actually take them?)

If I may, while I'm already blogging, quote Marko who quotes Tony Campolo:

We do not take god into places where he doesn’t exist; we join god where god is already at work.

...Good thought to chew on.

Announcing...

With much fanfare and ado (about nothing really), I proudly introduce:

www.aarongeist.com

Yes, instead of having to remember renmusic.blogspot.com you just have to know my name. Please note that even though I am on the commercial domain, I will not be selling anything or trying to make money off my address.

For all of you out there that want your very own domain name to point to your blog, check out 1 and 1. It's only $5.99 per year! HT to Brian.

"How to" of the day.

I subscribe to a fun little RSS feed called the "Wiki how to of the day". It is written by anybody, and offers advice on just about everything from removing stains to measure the height of a tree.

I found today's article interesting. How to Dissuade Yourself from Becoming a Blogger.

Guess I should have read that one. :)

Monthly Update

Yes, I am alive and well!

You may notice the new blog template. I switched over to the new blogger (beta.blogger.com) which is only avalible for a few at a time. Slowly, I will get things back in order, add links, books I'm reading and the like.

Lake Tahoe was a wonderfully relaxing time. I'll post some pictures from the experience later.

School started last Thursday. (Yeah!?)

I hope that Fall brings a refreshment to life.

Refferals

My page hits counter does more than count hits. It also tells me where people are when they look at my site, and how they got here (refferals).

I always expect getting hits off my friend's blogs, or the occasional hit off the 180 staff page or even the 180 newsletter. But sometimes, people get to my blog by searching on Google.

What do they search for that leads to my blog? Here's a sample:

"head on" +"apply directly to the forehead"

tetanus shots multnomah county

stepupmovie

emo-o-matic

everclear lyrics "i would buy you"

tsunami what was said to the rose to make it

...Very Interesting...

Blogging Exile

No surprise...I've been a bad blogger. I should expect that no one will read this after I've left you high and dry for weeks on end.

Well I am posting again now to let you know that I will be posting a bunch real soon...maybe as early as tonight... (with pictures!)

I hope y'all have been doing great!

Aaron

Broken Blog

My apologies to all who could not get to my blog in the past few days. I guess something wasn't working. (On Blogger's end or mine, I don't know.) But for the inconvenience, I will give you each a dime if you send me a self addressed envelope explaining how disappointed you were that my blog was down.

Aaron

Welcome YS Readers

Welcome to all you YS Newsletter Subscribers. I am a 'Ministry Assistant' to the great Brian Eberly, who gets to work with youth, lead singing (worship if you prefer), and generally enjoy life!

I'm married to a beautiful woman, Alison, and the rest is on my blog. I've pulled out a few posts for you...these aren't a best of, but a sampling of what I'm thinking...

Welcome to my blog! Drop me a comment, or tell me about your blog.
Aaron

About me:

• My blog's name
• My sister's engagement
• Yard Work
• Our Mexico Trip
• Oops!
• School
• Learning from Grandpa

Thoughts on scripture and life:

• Freaked out pigs
• The Kingdom of God
• Tradition
• Rescue is coming!
• Misplaced Identity
• Confession

New Template & the Freeze

First, if you're a regular or a semi-regular at my blog, (Notice that I specified the indefinite article, therefore not possibly referring to the state of your intestines), then you will notice my "new look." It really isn't that different, but none-the-less different.

Second, I am so excited because I'm going snowboarding tomorrow with my friends Justin & Dennis. It's a good thing that we didn't go yesterday...wind-chill factor was -15!!!