Ladies and Gentlemen...FINLEY GRACE WRIGHT!

The Island

Could I love The Island more?

Thought This Might Be A Fun Game To Play

10 Things I Love About My Church

10. I can wear jeans on Sunday morning.
9. I can rock if I want to.
8. They don't care that I'm poor.
7. My band is skilled and humble.
6. People treat my family . . . like family. They call when we're sick, cry when we hurt and party with us when we win.
5. Its liberal enough to let me be as conservative as I want to be.
4. People sincerely come into that place every week desiring to meet with God.
3. I'm learning more than I thought possible.
2. Clay Walker
1. They are concerned with holiness. Taking what we hear inside the building and taking to the world around us.

Okay, everybody! Your turn!

Saturday 1/21/06

Woke up around 6-ish. Ate breakfast and hung out with the family for a bit before heading out to day 2 of the Wesley worship retreat. Jonah and I wrapped Kristen's birthday presents, which made me a little late, but it didn't matter. Half of the people at the retreat weren't even awak when I pulled in the parking lot.

Our session got started late, went good and ran long. (I actually recorded all of the sessions, so if some of you would like to listen to me be brilliant, I'll be happy to share them.) We took a break. Instead of doing session 3, Romack needed to do some songbook work with his team and then they had lunch. I went up to the video room and tracked some acoustic for Glorify. Clay and Mike stopped by, then Clay and I went to lunch.

Came back at 1 for session 3. It was quick, but really fun. Then the band did a song workshop; they learned "All Praise and Honor." It went good. Luckily, it's a song that's easy to remember, and they worked really hard.

Got home just after 4, woke Jonah up from his nap and hung out until Kristen's party.

Went to the party at 5:45. Kristen got a ton of good gifts.

Came home, played with the youngun' and then put him to bed. We got a nice little rain shower. I kept switching between SNL and Mad TV. Went to bed at 11.

Friday, 1/20/06

Slept a bit late; 7:15, maybe?
Threw on some clothes, made my PB toast and grabbed a Diet Coke for the drive downtown. Got to work plenty early and got to work right quick.

Jonah had a doctor's appointment at 9:30. That's the four-year checkup, folks. Yep. Six shots. So, Krist and Jonah pick me up and we head to the doctor's office. Jonah does okay. The nurse get a blood sample - he wasn't great, but he didn't freak. He peed in a cup, which was a first.

Dr. Fidone comes back in and examines Jonah. Jonah did great, but Fidone says he's got a piece of earwax in his right ear that's "the size of Detroit." He lays Jonah down and tries to dig it out. No luck. So he brings in a nurse with a water-pick. Thirty minutes later, Jonah is soaked, screaming and I've now seen something come out of my son's ear that looks more like a creation of my body than his.

No problem, right? Wrong. We still got the shots. The nurse was amazing - Krist and I dogpiled Jonah and she nailed him six times bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam. He did relatively well on that part.

Back to the office at 12:30 for a busy afternoon. Friday afternoon shouldn't be busy, you know?

Home at 5 to play with Jonah quickly. Kristen was at the hospital doing a non-stress test and I had to be at the Wesley retreat at 6.

Retreat was good. The acoustic-percussion-bass thing was great. The session was okay. I think they're still trying to figure out if I'm a freak or not. I hung out a bit and helped Justin and the band set up for tomorrow. I recorded my session - I'm anxious to see if I sound like a moron.

After the retreat, I went to Del Rio with Chris. That makes 2 times this week.

By the way, I just threw Cross of Christ and Promised One on www.soundclick.com/toddwright. These are the versions everybody's heard, but I hope to more out there soon.

Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday 1/19/06

The Wrights got up pretty early. Jonah woke up wide-awake at 6:15. Kristen did NOT want to get up, but she did. She tried to get him to go back to sleep, but it didn’t work. Thirty minutes later, I told her I would take over. She went back to bed while I dozed on the couch as Jonah played Pixter.

Came to work; didn’t deal with many files, but we did have a lot of calls. Working in the criminal section can be really depressing, especially for a father.

Krist got out her doctor’s appointment at 11, so we met for lunch. That’s right, friends. Del Rio. Is it possible for me to love that place anymore?

Came back to the office and sat around until my co-workers came back. Then I acted busy.

Went home at 5 for the crazy-Thursday rush. I have rehearsal on Thursday night, so I’ve usually got about an hour at home. The family made pancakes, I played with Jonah, grabbed a shower, bathed him and headed for the church.

Mark was late – no big surprise there. Rehearsal was okay. Mark’s snare was craaazy loud, but it was okay. Our piano player was gone, which created some gaps, so we did our best to fill them tastefully. We wrapped up the run-through around 8:45pm, but the band wanted to run through a couple of things. Justin and Angela showed up to setup for the Wesley retreat this weekend, so I got them started on some stuff. One cool thing about last night was our invitation song(s.) We’re currently in a series called “ipod God” – we’re looking at secular songs and trying to answer questions they ask. This week, we’re doing “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. We’re just playing the CD in the service, but for the altar time, the band will play the chorus as the invitation – then we’re going into the chorus of “Not A god.” When we were doing it, one of our female singers was doing melody with me, so I just let her lead it.

After that, we set up the system for the retreat and make sure that the projection worked. I’m excited about the little percussion setup. Not sure if Justin Jinkins is still up for it – I hope he shows!
Got home at 11. Talked to Kristen for about an hour, then chilled and watched a little television.
Also had a Frosty “Fix and Mix.” It was good.

Wednesday, 1/18/06

I think my alarm went off at 6. I’m not sure. Either I didn’t set it correctly or I reset it while in a semi-conscious coma of slumber. Either way, Jonah woke up at 6:30 and I slept until 7.

I finished off the peanut butter before bed the night before, so breakefast this morning was a bowl of cereal – a Hy-Top brand of Fruit Loops, pretty much. It was alright. Got to work just on time, and started working immediately. I’m not sure why. Since I’m in a new department now, I just don’t feel like sitting at the desk for 20 minutes before getting started. I’m not that committed or anything, I just don’t want to appear lazy.

Krist called me at 10 and said that she and Jonah would pick me up for lunch. That usually means “Del Rio,” but today it meant “Little Ceasar’s.” Trust me – I didn’t mind. We came home, ate pizza and I played with Jonah for a little while before trucking back to the courthouse.

I’m not nuts about going to lunch at 11 everyday, but I will say that working at the courthouse in the 12:30 – 2:00 block is a pretty sweet deal. Normally, there’s not a lot going on, so I can catch up on work or make setlists or check email or play my guitar in the women’s bathroom.

I’m totally joking about that – I would never check email at the office. (Insert rimshot.)

One of the more interesting things about the afternoon was a woman who came in asking for legal counsel. She said her family was involved in a molestation trial and that she needed legal assistance of some kind. One of my co-workers suggested she call the Legal Aid office, to which the woman laughed. On her way out, the woman starts saying that “God’s going to overthrow the government in 2008 anyway.” She kept talking out of her head and I was about to call security down to remove her, but she finally left before I could call them.

Later in the afternoon, Romack called me to see I could lead worship at Crosspoint this Sunday for John Rolf. I really wanted to, but with two worship clinics and reconfiguring a stage, it just wasn’t going to happen. Hope I get a chance to do it again.

After work, Jonah and I went to Target to buy presents for Kristen’s birthday. I think he and I did pretty good – guess we’ll know Saturday, huh?
We came home and ate. Since Kristen’s been pregnant, supper has fallen to Dad more often than not. Usually, that means frozen pizza or quesadillas – last night, it was quesadillas.

Jonah went to bed at 7:45 and Krist and I settled in to watch Lost. It was a pretty good episode – Jack’s back story was a little predictable. I’m sure we’ll find out a some point that Sarah, Jack’s wife, was having an affair with somebody either on the island or connected in some way. Krist and I hung out for a bit while I ironed and tried to finish 24. She went to bed at 10 and I went for a walk. After the walk, I went to Wal-Mart to get milk and diet Pepsi (I don’t consume them together) and then back home to finish 24.

I seriously considered going up to the church to record some stuff – I want to send some acoustic demos out to some folks. If only Jimmy had that studio.

HELP

Okay, all my technological friends...

I really want to start utilizing MediaShout's ability to run mpeg backgrounds, however, I have no idea where to download and/or buy them! Anybody know of online sources to purchase these backgrounds?

If you know, holla!

One for Jimmy . . .

I was privileged to share a meal with Jimmy Williams on Saturday. Naturally, we discussed many of the great challenges that face gentlemen such as ourselves – young, handsome fathers with tremendous gifts and powerful anointing.
Yeah, right. Mostly, we talked about blogging.
At some point in the conversation, I mentioned my initial blogs – a sort of hour by hour account of each day. I had originally hoped to emulate the blog of filmmaker Kevin Smith (without the vulgarity,) but after numerous chastisements from Robert, I opted for a more universal form of online journaling.
Much to my surprise, Jimmy told he missed those early forms; that he often sat around and thought, “What did Todd do today?”
Well, James…I’ll tell you.

Monday, 1/16/06
Jonah woke up at 6:45. I picked him up and took him to lay with Kristen on the couch. Then old Dad collapsed back into bed for some much needed sleepy-time. I had Monday off, and planned to get as much sleep as possible.
Thankfully, Jonah and Krist lounged on the couch till around 7:30. She came back to wake me up, but it didn’t take. Jonah was watching “Big Big World,” a new environmentally-charged PBS series. (Think of Democratic Bear in the Big Blue House.) Instead of getting up, Krist and I just laid in bed, talking. Sometime after 8, we got up.
Ate peanut butter toast for breakfast while Kristen plotted out our day. She had to go for a non-stress test at the hospital and her mom wanted to take her shopping. I decided that Jonah and I would go and see my grandparents while Krist did her running around. She called the hospital to tell them she was coming, but the Labor and Delivery department was completely full. We all got ready. When Kristen’s mom came to pick her up, Jonah and I headed out to PaPa and GiGi’s.
We got there around 10:30. My grandfather had driven down the road for a bit, so Jonah and I watched a little Cartoon Network. (Can I just say how thankful I am that I didn’t have access to Cartoon Network as a child? I was lazy enough without a 24-hour cartoon station.) My grandmother made us lunch while Jonah and I walked around with PaPa. We ate and “visited,” then headed home around 12:30pm. We met back up with Kristen and her mom’s house, then went home.
Kristen was really tired, so we had Jonah lay down so she could rest on the couch. He didn’t go to sleep, of course, but she was able to rest some. While they were both resting, I watched some of the “24” premiere. (Still haven’t finished it – it IS four hours long, after all.)
Once everybody got up, we drove around. We went by Target. In the toy department, Jonah wanted to look at “Override,” a Transformer that he’s been saving up for. It costs $10, and he’s got about $8 saved. However, somebody had moved it to the wrong place – under the $7 sign. Instead of reading, I told Jonah,
“Jonah – you’ve got enough money to get Override!”
So, I bought Override.
While Jonah tried to figure out how to transform the stupid thing, I drove Kristen to Hancock fabrics. We went home and Jonah and I had a massive Transformer battle in his room.
We bathed him at 7 and he was out by 7:45. (I kinda’ like this no-afternoon-nap thing.) We’re sitting around watching TV and Kristen gives me that look that says,
“Go buy me something yummy.”
Oh, yes, my friends. The Marble Slab “Big Dipper” with double-dark chocolate and heath bar. Nothing better.
Went up to the church at 8:30 to do a little post-Storm cleanup. Got home a little before 10. Grabbed a shower, put Kristen to bed, watched “24” until midnight.

I don't know if I told anybody this, but last week I was moved back to the Criminal Records Department. (I've worked there off and on, but now it's permanent.)

So I'm trolling through a big list of misdemeanor charges (it was a slow morning) and I see this:

Amputation of Human Foot by Podiatrist

There are so many things wrong with this
It's only a misdemeanor?
Just human feet?
Isn't a podiatrist about the only guy you want amputating feet?

Krist went to the doctor on Thursday...

Finley arrives on Tuesday, January 31, 2006!

ipod update
as of 1/8/06: 238 songs, 17.6 hours of pure listening pleasure

Should we try to impose a timetable on songs? Something like,
“We’ve done that song 12 times, let’s retire it.”

Can it be rated like that? And should we put boundaries on it? Like, 7 times in a 3-month period?
If you think we should use this sort of system, what’s your number?