This Guy Falls Down

Check these out...

Barbara Nicolosi recently traveled to Israel and has some amazing pictures on her blog. Most fascinating to me was her visit to a site believed to be the place where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Barbara and her friends tested it to see how the sound would carry.

Also check out this interview with Alice Bass, author of The Creative Life. Look out - this could be coming to a Book Club near you.

Speaking of Book Club, we recently read Scribbling in the Sand by Michael Card and are still discussing it. This month we're working through The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. Stop by and let us know what you think about it...

Third Day Blogroll

OK, so this is really cool. A friend of mine and fellow blogger, Matt Swanson, has put together a Third Day Blogroll, and it's extremely easy to be a part of it. Just go to the site and sign up. You will instantly be included in a randomized list of other bloggers who are Third Day fans. Where it gets really powerful is when you copy and paste the code to your site (the sidebar works great). If we get a fair number of people to do this, it will be a great way to publicize your site (Technorati rankings!) and tell people about Third Day.

Occasionally Wright, Blueland Blog and Will Ferrell

You know how you have that guy who went to your high school who plays for the Indianapolis Colts? Or maybe somebody you went to church growing up is now a famous news anchor. Everybody has that person that they knew before they were famous. That's how Ben Wright is around these parts. When I first started blogging, Ben was one of the first fellow bloggers I met, and I've been a fan of his site ever since. Not long ago, Ben made the move to Atlanta to do web promotion for the Thrashers and Hawks. As part of his job, he operates a Thrashers blog called Blueland Blog. I'm just proud to say I knew him "back in the day".

In addition to the Blueland Blog, Ben also maintains a personal blog called Occasonally Wright. Ben most recently posted about Talladega Nights and linked to a list of Will Ferrell's Top 10 Sketches. GOULET!

New features

If you'll look to your left, you'll see that I have two new sidebar features. My del.icio.us is an RSS feed of articles I've found interesting enough to post to del.icio.us but not quite worthy of a full blog post at this time. As you can see, these will probably lean towards the green (I've been doing a lot of GW research online) and the Roaring Lambs/cultural type articles. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

I've also added a "Green Links" feature. I'm still grappling with exactly what that's going to be. I'm hoping to find a good introduction to the global warming issue (haven't found it yet) and a good "steps you can take to help the environment" kind of page (I haven't found a good one yet. I'm convinced that everybody can do their part without feeling guilty for eating meat and driving a car!). Right now, the links lean towards those which support a GW response which relies heavily on free market solutions.

If you have any ideas or recommendations, I'm all ears.

One other area I really intend to step up in is the "link love" department. If you have a blog which you'd like to see linked here, send me an email. If you're not a freak and you're not a spammer, I'll add you to the sidebar...

NOTE: As I'm sure you already understand, the idea of "link love" is for you to reciprocate the link :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Today marks my third "blogoversary" (hey, everybody's making up ridiculous names these days, so why not me?). I started with a humble "test" post on August 15, 2003 and time has literally flown by in the years since. I had planned on commemorating the occasion by changing the look of the site and unfurling some new features, along with a mission statement. Gang aft agley. So instead, I'm going to announce that in the near future, I'm going to change the look, add some features, and come up with a mission statement.

Thanks to everyone who's supported me the last three years. Thanks especially to others in the "blogosphere" (there's one of those ridiculous names right there) who have inspired and encouraged me.

Rather than allowing this occasion to just go by unheralded, look for a few more posts in the coming days as I reminisce about how things have changed in the last year and as I highlight some of my fellow bloggers. Should be fun.

TypePad Mobile (***** out of 5)

After using TP Mobile for a couple of days, I can safely say that it's pretty impressive. Check out the posting I've been doing on the Third Day Weblog today to give you an idea. Where it really shines is with pictures. I've been able to take pictures with my camera phone and upload them to the web instantly. As a result, I've posted more pictures to the 3D blog today than I did on the whole spring tour, and probably more than I've ever posted here. It's also extremely easy to add a new post. Just hit the button for your weblog, and then hit "create new post". Then type the text into the template. It's as easy as that. The only limitation is my Treo's tiny keyboard. For longer posts, I could always get a keyboard attachment. And I would bet people with Blackberrys and Sidekicks would probably have a little easier time.

The only drawback I've found with TP Mobile so far is the fact that I maintain more than one weblog. To switch between them, I have to logout of one TP account and into another. In doing so, I lose any blog info I've got saved in my phone. But that's not too big a deal - I just have to make sure to upload everything before I logout. I would imagine this would only affect about 1% of TP users. Most people, even with multiple weblogs, use the same TP account to manage them.

If you have a smartphone or a PDA and want to blog on the road, this is a must have. It has already improved my blogging life exponentially. I'm sure you'll agree.

Cool local blog

I had the chance tonight to meet with Matt Swanson, the proprietor of a site called WhitlockAvenue.com, and all-round blogging guru. WhitlockAvenue is named after one of the major streets in Marietta, Georgia, and is a site dedicated to local happenings, restaurant reviews, etc. This is a perfect example of the local, niche blogs which are gradually taking over the blogosphere.

WKRN Blog Party

Earlier this evening, I completed a rite of passage which every blogger must undergo if they ever want to progress to higher levels of geekdom: a blog party. Seriously, this wasn't the geeky affair you're envisioning, I swear. Hosted by forward thinking Nashville station WKRN, the event was designed for local bloggers to connect and to get the word out about the station's new video blog content. Basically, WKRN is looking for local bloggers to put together short video pieces for use in the station's news programming. And to show they're serious, they are willing to pay good money for it, and has even offered to provide training. WKRN has received worldwide coverage for its groundbreaking embrace of the blogging community which has culminated in a great collaborative site called Nashville is Talking. Other media outlets take notice: this is the wave of the future.

I attended the event with Randy, and we ran into an interesting array of people, starting with none other than Nemesis Boy, dressed in a Darth Vader mask, complete with scary breathing and distorted voice. The evening featured a who's-who of Nashville bloggers, of which we met:

• Dan Phillips, a godblogger who has perfected the art of posting from a sidekick,


• Quiet Life, a political blog which is anything but quiet,


• What Would Coco Do?, a hilarious and interesting humor blogger,


• Lake Neuron, run by a journalist from Shelbyville, TN whom I share a common friend (small world!),


• Terry Heaton's POMO Blog, a fascinating blog about media in the postmodern era,


• Wonderdawg, who shared with us about Mothership BBQ, the local not-so-secret blogger hangout,


• Suburban Turmoil, whose blog has been converted into a weekly feature for the Nashville Scene,


• Busy Mom, whose aptly titled site has been featured in New York Times' magazine,


• Kate O, one of a small handful of Nashville songwriters who can claim that they've landed a reggae cut,

and

• RexBlog, who shared some great stories about previous blog and techie events he's attended.

These are just the people we met and talked to, which comprised maybe a fourth of the attendees. As you can see, Nashville sports a pretty vibrant and diverse blogging scene.

A great time was had by all. Thanks to Mike Sechrist and Channel 2 for pulling it together.

The blogging heirarchy

(via SHLOG:)
If you have any interest in figuring out where you stack up against the big dog's of blogging and how you can stand a prayer of increasing your status (or do you stand a chance?), you need to read this.

BTW - Shaun mentioned this and I totally concur. If anyone has any ideas for increasing traffic, I'm all ears. Of course, I don't know if having two blogs is exactly the best strategy...

Be sure to check out the duplex

Before I begin, let me preface this post by saying that I hate "I'm sorry I haven't posted" posts. But I felt an explanation was probably in order. I know I haven't posted a ton here in the last couple of days, but I fully intend to. I've got books to talk about, music to talk about, and I'm sure I'll find a few oddball things on the 'Net that I'll want to share with you. We just kicked off a tour this past weekend, and I've been a little busy with that.

If you're looking to get your Mark Lee fix on the web, have no fear. I am in charge of the Third Day Blog, and have been doing tour updates there. So check that out. Not to say that I'm not going to be hanging out here too, because I am. But I thought I'd make you aware.