Digital Format. I am a fan of open format (no, not necessarily open source, that is a conversation best held after lots of coffee). Simply put, it means that there are some things that should not be proprietary. For instance, suppose that I am listening to the radio right now, an AM broadcast. I can listen to it on any AM radio. I don't have to have a radio made by Company XYZ to listen to it. Now the exception to this might be satellite radio where I have to have a subscription and select XM or Sirrius. But even in that realm I can select a couple of different devices. But, most formats are standardized and therefore you can just hope on.

Document processing has faced that for years. The "DOC" format has become the defacto standard thanks largely to popularity of Microsoft Word, although many other products can use that format. JPG is the standard for pictures with nearly all software and cameras using that format. PDF is a popular format that is "locked" therefore perfect for online contracts, and other documents that you don't want people to change.

Where am I going with this? The standardization of audio formats on the web. MP3 has become the standard for audio books and music for years now. I can make a CD with MP3 songs or an audio book and play it my Suburban, my DVD player in the family room, a computer, even the bedroom TV. But, because of concerns over digital rights management some players in the industry claim that I have to use their devices if I download music off the net. This is really stupid because I can get it other places for free, and since they are forcing me to have an iPod to download off of the iTunes sight I am not likely to even try. But, if they have MP3, and have the price per song reasonable, I would gobble them up. The problem? Still with the recording industry execs who demand such insane fees for the music. But, I am of the notion that if everyone were to have the ability to download the music in a standard format that they wouldn't bother getting the stuff from the millions of free sites out there. For instance, I want to hear the new work by U2, How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Now I know that I can go to iTunes and download it for about a buck per song. Am I going to? No way, because if I have the software to download it I can't transfer it to my non-iPod MP3 player. Stinks. So, I can play it on my wonerful computer but that is all.

What if they had an open format. What if the songs were 24 cents a piece, close to the cost of printing a 4x6 picture. Well, I might jump on that. U2 probably gets less than that per song now, there would be no cost for the development of the CD, shipping, warehousing, middlemen, etc.

What can I do about it? Not one thing except complain. But, I will continue to collect my MP3s and burn them to CDs and play them on my MP3 players, and smile every time.

Life is Good! Got an unannounced bonus today! So cool to be on an extended vacation (now through January 4) and then get paid extra too. Now we are set for our vacation to Texico. Got first flakes today, only a couple, but that is all that is needed to officially have a first snow.

Pray for my sister. She is in the hospital and will be for another week, then a month or two in bed.

Try to log on to do some of my expenses. Thing isn't working. Might try again later. Time for a good book, some tea, and a fire in the fireplace. CYA!

New Toy. Anyone who knows me knows that there is one thing that I find irrestible; gadgets. Well I have a new one this week. Not really new to me, I have had one before, but it is new none the less. I have the new Sony MP3 Walkman. This little gem plays for 85 hours with out recharging (2 rechargable AA batteries) and since I tend to keep 80-100 songs on a CD (MP3), I can go quite a while. Still want a good MP3 player with a hard drive so that can keep my entire music collection with me. Looking hard at the Dell Digital Jukebox DJ20, will hold about 5000 songs. That should do me for a while!

Blogsphere. Just need to ramble a little this morning on the awesome revolution known as blogging. This is likely to a rather long entry, so either grab a cup, or just move on.

I am going to make a bold statement, I think that blogging is the greatest revolution in communication since Gutenberg started ing out Bibles in 1450. While there are some who will certainly argue that Marconi’s discovery of radio waves being able to travel over long distance in 1894 might fall in there, but I would suggest that radio has largely been a communication for the elite. You either have to have a lot of money, or you have to be famous already. But with blogging I can submit my ideas for the world to see, and can read articles from just about anyone (4.5 million blogs and counting).

Let me hypothesize for a moment. Suppose that I have some great insight into something that I want to communicate. And suppose that blogging wasn’t available. Without the internet (and I acknowledge that there are a couple of great other Internet tools out there) I would be left to doing a postal newsletter, and not a whole lot else. But with the world of the Internet I can host and post a web site, do e-mail newsletters, or do a blog.

Back to reality. I have nothing significant to contribute, and I will confess that is something that I have thought about a lot lately. What is my mark on this world. I have some things that I do fairly well, few that I do better than anyone else. Just keep scratching my head. If I get the new camera that I am working to get I think that I will probably focus this blog space into a commitment to that camera system. Not that it will make my mark in the world, but it will be something that will be unique. We shall see.

Great article in Business 2.0 on a new technology that I would love to see take off. It is audio bloggin on demand. The idea is that the blogger makes an audio blog and then puts it up on the net for bloggers to download to their MP3 devices. If I had a device (iPod for example) I could connect and have those feeds automatically sync so that I could then listen on my flights (which I gratefully don't have to take any more this year). Cool tech, bet it really catches on.

I have a day off! Glad to have a day to just chill. Horrible game tonight on MNF football, think that I will read.

Had a fantastic weekend with my beloved at a marriage retreat at Cumberland Falls. I think that we should have probably stayed another day, but tough enough to get someone to spend the night with the kids, let alone 2 nights. But, since I have the day off we are going to run down to Bowling Green and kick back at Barnes and Noble and get some groceries. I think that I will spend some time working on my expenses as well (so much for day off!).

Got to see two baptisms in two different rivers this weekend as well, that was incredible. One was in Beaver Creek (near Coral Hill) and the other was a tributary off of the Cumberland River a few miles from the falls. I wish that when I was baptized that option would have been given to me, because I really feel in my heart that is a much better way to go. I applaud both of the men for their courage to brave cold rivers to do what they knew they must. How convenient it would have been to climb into a heated baptistery.

Hunting season has come upon us here and I was gone. I don't really have the time right now but I think that I will wander out in the woods later this evening and see if anything comes up. I have seen three does almost every night for a month, didn't see them this morning (but then again I was sleeping in).

Big news in Cave City, we had a murder! Not a lot of details, but the woman owned a collectible shop down the road and was found with a couple of shots in her. The police suspect foul play, they are brilliant. The odd thing was that I always thought that a guy owned the place. I saw him sitting on the back of his truck with a dozen police cars there, so I guess that they don't think that he did it. The whole area is taped off with crime scene tape. I am sure that there will be a CBS Sunday Night Movie made over the whole thing.

Got to go enjoy the rest of my day. Thanks for stopping in!

Dulles was shut down during rush hour due to security breach, man with gun. I am really starting to get tired of the travel.

There are times when I write long winded diatribes on one thing or another and then come to the conclusion that I am the only one that really cares. Tonight I spare you from reading about 2000 words on s, ists, and the decline of the West thanks to liberal thinking. You can thank me tomorrow.

Once every now and then I get a little blue over the amount of travel that I do, more lately. Today was paradise! I was in the office all day long. Except for a quick trip to the pharmacy to get some antacid pills (that says a lot doesn’t it?) I was home all day. It was great. Well tonight as I was sitting here watching the Colts whoop up on the Vikings and I decided that I would cruise the web and update some of my frequent traveler sites. Now I am charged.

The good folks at Delta say that I can travel to Europe and back. Need to do a little checking, but I may have the points to take my beloved too! That will save my marriage.

Southwest just gave me a round trip anywhere in the US today. Cool! Thinking about a getaway to the Pacific Northwest for a weekend next year.

Hilton? Come on, spend a night on us. Marriott, us too! Holiday Inn, stay for 2 weeks or pickup a ton of great merchandise (I qualify for a 27 inch TV!). How cool is that?

Think that I will focus my travel to the Marriott properties next year to get an Apple iPod (40gb) with Bose noise canceling headphones. That would be really cool.

So, this week when I get up at 5am to catch a flight to DC where I won’t return until after midnight, I won’t complain.

Dealing with a little spiritual battle this weekend. A family member has criticized many of the family because we have made the decision to attend a church that has a different name over the door than that which he is used to. So we are now dealing with a comparison as to what God wants, what is available, and what is best. The battle stems from what this particular franchise has been known to say, and what this particular branch says. The funny thing is that the things for which this franchise is accused for believing are mostly the things for which the old church believes.

Old Church New Church
1. Once Saved Mostly Few
2. Solid preaching Downloaded Fresh
3. Evangelistic What's that? Weekly
4. Baptism Biblical Biblical
5. Worship style Blended Blended (too much southern!)

There are a lot of subjective things that have to be considered as well. The church body is often represented by the lifestyle of the preacher. It is NOT true that this is indicitive of that church's positions, but their lifestyle says a lot about the direction that they would take that church. For that reason I have really had to take a close hard look at these two leaders.

New church preacher. This man home schools, has a son who has followed him into the ministry, has a wife who believes that it is her place to be at home to support her husband. Republican.

Old church preacher. Not really fair to make a comparison. Let's just say that he has made other decisions for his family which he probably feels are better.

There are things that will prohibit me from ever attending the former again, mostly centering around the integrity of the preacher. However, we have an abiding love for the family fo Christ there and miss them incredibly. Some of those have left, we hear others are about to go. So sad.

I hate that I know the shortcut from the hotels to the rental return area that only locals know... in Baltimore!

If Bush won by a much larger margin in 2004 than he did in 2000, can Kerry really say he made a case for change?

So nice to breath the fresh air today. Traveling in the DC area all week and I have been concerned with threats of terrorism, more than normal. Well, nothing has happened.

Last night was a great night to be an American. Those who threatened to move to France (or Canada) if the election went to Bush are now free to move. Vive la Bush! To Mr. Kerry, sorry bud but you just got Bush slapped in big way. For the whimpering libs out there - deal with it. It wasn't a landslide, but it was a mandate, the largest number of votes that have ever been handed to a candidate (4 million more than Reagan ever got). And look at the increase in Senate and Congress! Hope W takes this and runs with it.

To the millions of Christians who went to the polls and voted, thank you. Don't forget this day.

To the millions of you who voted because you like Bruce Springstein, get a life.

Oh, before I forget. Tom Daschle, heard they are hiring at McDonalds. Can't share how much I am going to miss your obstructionist behavior. Must feel pretty horrible to be the first sitting party leader of Senate to be voted out.