Bible study, Heroes, MPACT, and more

I went to the Bible study about James again last night. I really like the FBC Benton youth group. And the Bible study was good. We read through the whole book and discussed it in small groups and all together.

After Bible study I watched Heroes.....in high definition. It was beautiful. The episode itself was good, mostly a setup episode though. Few things were actually resolved but many questions were raised, likely to be addressed in the next episode. The promo said the next two weeks would be amazing and yesterday's was just alright so maybe next week's will be extraordinary.

I watched American Idol tonight. I paused it when it started, ate dinner, and returned 20 minutes into it and fast-forwarded through the commercials. That was sweet. I was almost caught up to live at the end.

LOST returns in less than 8 days now! There's a new podcast on the LOST site but I think it's just been put up and isn't quite ready yet. Anyways, I'm excited.

More in-depth about MPACT: It started on Friday night with a large group session. Curt Jones was great. S.H.A.R.C. was good. We went bowling which was cool. Then we went home and had a small group time. We discussed Ahab and Jezebel and how selfishness isn't good (the theme was Others First) but also how women can have a powerful influence. I went to sleep around 2am.

On Saturday we ate breakfast at church and had a large group session. Then we drove alllllll the way to St. Peters (an hour away) to play broomball at a covered outdoor rink (that's what the sign said, it wasn't climate-controlled). I played two games and it was so fun. After that we went to demolition ball and laser tag. I played laser tag first then played two games of demolition ball. After that, we went back to the church for small group time. This time we discussed Jacob and Esau and how selfishness troubles relationships. Then we had a large group time and returned to the host homes for two sessions. We paused The Sixth Sense and had our sessions. They were good. And then we watched The Sixth Sense, skipping through the commercials. After a shower and brushing my teeth and such, I couldn't keep my eyes open easily any more so I went to bed around 12:30.

On Sunday we ate breakfast at the host home then went to church for a large group session and church service. Then I went out to lunch at Taco Bell with the Chapmans and Kleinbachs and Matt. Then we began the six hour trek home.

So that was MPACT Weekend. On the Thursday before I hung out with Charlie and went to youth volleyball and set up MediaShout (lyrics on the screen) for MPACT. I got to see Kristen and Juli and Katy and Matt so that was cool.

Pictures from the weekend are online at this Picasa Web Album

Tomorrow is the last LOST-less Wednesday for 16 weeks!

-Kevin C. Burns

Mpact 2007!

I am back from my visit to St. Louis for Mpact weekend. It was an amazing weekend and I had a great time with all my friends!

The theme for the weekend was "Others First". To expound upon this idea, examples of Biblical people who were selfish and paid the consequences were presented in small groups. Curtis Jones from FBC Irving (fellow Texan) did a great job, he communicates well (he was also at Super Summer). The small group leaders were good. I stayed at the Fischers' house, it was sweet. The recreational time was cool. Demolition ball was good, laser tag was good, broomball was so cool. And of course hanging out with friends for the weekend was great. More about Mpact in later posts... Thanks to my parents (for paying), Jason, my friends, Ricky and the other small group leaders, Curt, S.H.A.R.C. (the band), and all my friends for making the weekend great!

In other news, I am now officially a licensed driver! That was the thing I mentioned in the post below that I couldn't say because depending on your definition of resident, I may or may not live in Missouri anymore (I believe it's up to interpretation). Anyways, the Arkansas laws were ridiculous. Making me start all over with an Arkansas permit and having to wait is dumb. So I took the driver's test in Missouri and passed with an 83! I'll transfer my license to Arkansas, without their idiotic restrictions, later this week.

LOST returns in 9 days and 22 hours! Heroes is on tomorrow and the promo for the next two episodes looks great.

I got my HD tuner via UPS on Wednesday night before we left for St. Louis. It's pretty much amazing. KATV, ABC, is the hardest to get but I have found a good location to fall back upon if I need it to record LOST (it's not good for watching but it would record well).

I'm tired so I'm heading off to bed, more on Mpact, a review of the HDTV tuner, and more coming later to kevincburns.com

-Kevin C. Burns

Bella: 2, Mice: 0

Bella dominated another mouse yesterday. Once she sees them, they're doomed. We have found that their only (hopefully) point of entry and exit is under the stove/oven. So as long as they can't get back there Bella can dominate. She caught her second yesterday. We saw it scurrying in the dining room so we called her over and she chased it into the living room and was able to catch it (and kill it). Not only are dogs better than cats, our dog can catch mice too. I think that furthers the gap between dogs and cats :-D.

I went to the FBC Benton Senior High Bible Study last night. It's held at a house nearby. It's on the book of James. Yesterday was an intro and prayer time. I got to meet some new people and learn names. We'll see how many I can remember come Wednesday...

Mpact is only three days away! We leave in two days so I can do something (that I'll talk about after I do it so that I can't somehow be denied) and Kayla has a braces appointment. She gets them off two weeks from Thursday, thus we'll be back in St. Louis two weeks from Thursday but only for the appointment. Anyways, I'm so excited about this weekend and can't wait!

Heroes returned last night, it was good. I need to go back and watch it again, I had a hard time focusing and I was catching my dad up some. Hopefully next week I can watch it in HD :-D

My HD tuner's estimated ship date was yesterday but I didn't get a shipping confirmation so maybe it hasn't left yet? Circuit City's order tracking isn't the best...

Have a great Tuesday,

-Kevin C. Burns

The Hunter, My 17th Birthday, Football, and More

I have begun my 18th year of life after birth. Woohoo, I'm 17!

I opened gifts last night. I got a little stuffed penguin! With a $35 Circuit City gift card (which I spent in about three hours, more on that further down...) in its pouch. I got Remember the Titans Directors Cut on DVD (I only had it on VHS). And I got jeans. I also got some cash and a check. Thanks to both sets of grandparents, my sister, my parents, and all my family for the cards and gifts. And thanks to my friends and family who called me this afternoon. You made my birthday great!

Today was good. I went back to FBC Benton. Then we came home and ate a good lunch and watched the Mavericks defeat Miami to make their NBA-leading record 34-8. Go Mavs! Then I watched Remember the Titans on my laptop with my sister. Then I watched some football and hung out. Then we watched Love Wrecked on ABC Family (it was alright, kind of long and predictable but hey, it's an ABC Family original). And we caught the last six minutes of the amazing AFC Championship. Congratulations to the Colts for finally getting past the Patriots and to the Bears for defeating the Saints. I like both head coaches but in this Super Bowl I'm rooting for the Colts. I pick Indianapolis to win 34-24. That's my preliminary Super Bowl XLI pick subject to change by the time the game arrives.

And I'll be enjoying the Super Bowl in HD! I ordered my HDTV tuner from Circuit City (the use of the gift card mentioned above). It was on sale for $159.99. Still pretty high but the amount I actually paid in cash is less than if I had bought a different tuner I was looking at. Plus that tuner is dependent upon a cable connection and is only analog. This tuner is analog and digital, cable and cableless. So I'm looking forward to getting it. It's supposed to be here next Monday. Hopefully I can get it running for the second midseason episode of Heroes, definitely for the Super Bowl and most definitely for the return of LOST (hopefully in HD, see below post for my frustration about KATV).

And now to the hunting...

Our dog, Bella, suddenly made a strange noise and her dish flopped out of her crate. I thought maybe she stepped in her dish and it scared her or something but she walked out with her mouth shut not really caring about her crate (she loves the crate). I noticed a tail hanging out of her mouth and then she dropped the mouse she had just killed, sniffed it and picked it up again. Dad came in and got her to drop it and walk away. Props to the dog for her kill. Mice are quick but she's got skills.

Another mouse caught in the trap on Friday night brings the count to...five I believe. We're now looking into further options beyond our two traps in the kitchen...

That's all for today, thanks to everyone who made today a great birthday!

-Kevin C. Burns

Today's fun and a rant about KATV that involves LOST

Today we went to the Peabody Hotel in downtown Little Rock and saw the famous Peabody ducks march out of their palace and into the fountain at 11 (picture on left at the top). It's been a daily tradition in all three Peabody hotels for 75 years.

After the ducks' march, we went to the Old State House (bottom left picture). The Old State House (oldstatehouse.com) is the oldest state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. It was built in the 1830's to house Arkansas' legislature. The legislature left early in the 20th century for a bigger building. The Old State House became a museum for Arkansas history in 1947 and has been the backdrop for numerous parties for former President Clinton. It's where he announced he would campaign for the presidency in 1991 and where he celebrated his back-to-back elections. Though I don't particularly care for former President Clinton, it was cool to see the history in the building. So that was fun.

Then we went to lunch with my dad at Jason's Deli. It was alright.

And then I rode my bike with my sister. And here I am now. Onto the rant...

Much to my dismay, SEC basketball (not specifically the Razorbacks) takes priority over prime time programming here in the Little Rock area. Now if this basketball took the place of programming on NBC or FOX, it wouldn't be a big deal (other than Heroes on Monday). But it's on ABC, home of my favorite show, LOST. There are two more airings of SEC basketball that take place on Wednesdays. And, of course, one of them is when LOST returns on February 7. That means that if the game (again, it's not even Arkansas sometimes) overruns its two hour allotment from 7-9pm, LOST will be delayed until the game is over. At least LOST is on at 9 now, otherwise it would air at 12:30 the next morning like the block of programming from 8-9pm. But because it's delayed and KATV, the local ABC affiliate, does not have the equipment to tape-delay HD programming, LOST could, and probably will be once, broadcast only in standard definition. One of the reasons I'm getting my HD tuner for my laptop is to watch LOST in beautiful HD. But our second-rate affiliate, KATV, chooses basketball over affiliation. Leave the basketball to an independent station. You're an affiliate of one of the Big Four! (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) I am upset at KATV, but I'm more upset at ABC. That they would allow their original programming to be cast aside until the late hours of the morning is ridiculous.

I have expressed my displeasure to the KATV Program Director while asking what the procedure was if the game overruns. I have e-mailed ABC and asked what their rules were for affiliation and how this is kind of a disgrace to ABC. It's not even Arkansas basketball! The other night it was Tennessee and Mississippi! Now I love basketball. But basketball is on ESPN. It's on ESPN2. It's on CBS on Saturdays. It's on KATV on the weekends. To tape-delay LOST (and other programming) is ridiculous. Maybe KATV will hear the voices of displeasure (I'm not alone in this according to a TV forum). This is the only time I wish I was far away from Little Rock and in between two cities with ABC affiliates (the other ABC towers are over 100 miles away, digital signals travel no farther than 60 miles usually).

So that's my predicament. At least it's only two Wednesdays and at least LOST is on at 9 and will be tape-delayed so I'll get to see it the same night. But still, that's very frustrating.

Are you in the Little Rock area and upset too? E-mail the Program Director at tv7@katv.com. Not in the Little Rock area but wanting to help? E-mail ABC at abc.com. Thanks.

-Kevin C. Burns

Ice on the way?

My grandparents are here so that's awesome. They made it in before a possible ice storm...

There isn't much is going on around these parts. I went to "Impact" at FBC Benton last night. I really like the youth group there. The worship was good and the message, about abiding in Christ, was good as well. It's a really good place to be.

Perhaps we will get some ice this weekend. It appears it will be too warm for snow. Most of the time it will likely be too warm for ice too. So mostly rain around here.

MPACT Weekend is next weekend in St. Louis. Can't wait!

That's all for now, LOST returns in 20 days!

-Kevin C. Burns

Finding the Balance, Mice, Heroes, Rain, and More

I'm going to follow the order in the post title...

It's becoming difficult to find the preferred balance between traditional and contemporary in the area churches. On one hand, FBC Benton has a traditional service with mostly hymns and slower music. The church we visited today, Church at Rock Creek, has a contemporary service and style that goes beyond Sunday morning. Rock Creek doesn't have Sunday School, doesn't have a specific night for activities (Wednesday typically), it's very contemporary. So the struggle currently is to find the balance. Contemporary worship service, traditional schedule.

It was weird to be out of church at 10, out of lunch and at home at 11:30.

We caught our third mouse in the kitchen this afternoon. Two others were killed previously around 11PM last night and a few nights ago. Today's mouse didn't die in the trap. It only had its leg caught. Thankfully it couldn't escape. But it did require effort for Dad to kill it. I won't go into any more details.

I have completed the viewing of the first 11 episodes of Heroes. Great show. Can't wait for its return on the 22nd.

It has rained consistently since yesterday morning. As of 8:30 this morning, my rain gauge had received 4.7 inches of rain. Likely above 5 inches by now. That's in the past 36 hours. There are large puddles/ponds all over the area. Our yard isn't a valley collecting all the rain but it has its streams.

We went to Hot Springs yesterday. That was pretty cool. The water tastes good. When it comes directly out of the ground with no cooling done by the city, it's hot. I think it's above 135 degrees hot. Didn't get to spend much time there but we'll go back sometime soon. Cool city.

I have made up my mind on a TV tuner for my laptop (a TV tuner is like a TiVo in that it can record TV shows when connected to cable/satellite, it also allows you to watch TV on your laptop or desktop computer). I have decided upon the Autumn-Wave OnAir GT tuner. It's a mobile HDTV tuner for your laptop. It requires no external power, it runs on your USB 2.0 port. It has the standard inputs (red-yellow-white RCA, and a S-Video in). It comes with a telescopic antenna (metal pull out antenna like old "rabbit ears") that's one foot long allowing you to receive free HDTV from your local stations. I am sooo pumped to watch LOST and Heroes in HD. I didn't think HD would be a big deal but I've watched some short HD videos and it's sweet. You can get some cool still shots. Plus sports in HD looks amazing too. Go watch a movie trailer in HD on Apple's site to see what I mean (my laptop can't process 1080i from Apple but the 720p still looks great). Click here for Apple's trailer section. Anyways, it's currently $169.99 at Circuit City. The only reason I can consider it is the $100 CC gift card I got from Mamaw and Papaw at Christmas. So I plan on buying that soon. Waiting until after my birthday...

That's all that's going on for me 'round here in Central AR. I'm ready to see my friends again next weekend for MPACT!

-Kevin C. Burns

I have found my LOST substitute...

Since Day Break was so badly canceled (it doesn't even have a page on abc.com though they said the remaining episodes would be streamed on their website), I have been without a show to watch. CSI: has grown to be too much. Survivor is off for a while. LOST is on hiatus until February 7 (27+ days). And Day Break was filling in for LOST but it's gone. But all that leads to......Heroes. An amazing serialized drama on NBC. I know I'm behind the times (didn't start LOST until season one was on DVD) but what an amazing show. I've only watched the first five episodes of the debut season of Heroes (there are 11 thus far, it returns January 22) but I love it. It will fill in well for LOST until LOST returns. Anyways, go check it out. You still have some time to catch up, for free, on NBC.com.

Youth service at FBC Benton was good tonight. They had a rally for their "Reality Weekend" (Discipleship Now). They had cake and punch and host home intros. Kind of like Impact's Friday night. I came in a little too late to really want to go to Reality Weekend but it does sound cool. And the people there make me feel welcome. So that's cool.

I drove a lot today and yesterday. Got some freeway practice today. Found out that insurance is going to suck away all my money when I get my license. But I did apply for two jobs. So maybe I'll get my license before my permit expires (and I have to take another test for an AR permit).

Now it's bed time. The days of rain start tomorrow night into Friday. Not looking forward to it...

-Kevin C. Burns

Record Numbers for www.kevincburns.com

A new record has been established for most unique visitors in a day on www.kevincburns.com. On Wednesday, January 3, 110 people visited www.kevincburns.com loading 251 pages. The visitor spike continued on Thursday and Friday with lower numbers (44 and 30 visitors respectively). These visitors came from 25 states and the District of Columbia plus Hong Kong, Mexico, and three provinces in Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec). Most of these visitors came from Google Video after viewing the amazing Fiesta Bowl highlights provided below...Thanks to all who visited, hope you come back soon.

In other news, I visited my first youth service in Arkansas on Wednesday night. I went back to FBC Benton. The people were nice and many introduced themselves. The youth pastor was good. Everyone made me feel welcome and wanted. Much better than I would expect of any youth group.

Box count: 2, yay.

The weather is beautiful today. Google's forecast calls for 58 degrees and partly cloudy.

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the San Antonio Spurs last night in a good game. Go Mavs!

The Cowboys have one chance to turn their recent slide around: tonight at Seattle. 7pm on NBC. Go Cowboys!

One month and one day until LOST returns. I think I'm going to bring back the LOST Observations blog for all my fellow fans.

Enjoy the weekend,
-Kevin C. Burns

What a Game!

I watched the football game of the bowl season thus far last night. Boise State vs. Oklahoma. Underdog vs. perennial power. The final minute and a half and overtime were amazing. Don't just take my word for it, watch the SportsCenter highlights below...

I hope this brings some serious discussion for a college football playoff. Boise State deserves a shot at the championship, they didn't lose all year and they beat a good team in Oklahoma, which could have been in the championship if the officials hadn't botched several calls in the Oregon game early in the season. But congratulations Broncos.

In other news, I kind of started back to school today. Didn't get a whole lot done but I guess I'm easing into it, lol.

You can watch the main session from the Passion conference in Atlanta from last night at 268generation.com featuring Charlie Hall and Chris Tomlin leading worship and a message from Louie Giglio. It won't be too long before I can go to Passion conferences :-D

Remaining boxes in my room: 3. I took care of two boxes with desk stuff in them today.

That's all for today, I hope the new year is starting off well for you...
-Kevin C. Burns

ESPN SportsCenter 2007 Fiesta Bowl Highlights

Highlights of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl featuring BCS #8 Boise State vs. BCS #10 Oklahoma from ESPN's SportsCenter mentioned in the above post.

Website stats have been reset...

By the way, all the counters on my website have been reset to zero. They track unique visitors, not page loads.

Over 2006, I received over 1,000 visitors. I plan on reporting kevincburns.com stats in brief occasionally on this blog so be looking for those.

Come back often, things are changing...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us at www.kevincburns.com. We hope 2006 was a great year for you and that 2007 will be even better.

Box count remains at 5. No progress in my room today. I'm to the point where I'm fine with how my room is which makes it more difficult. But my old desk is set up in the garage so I can put my desk stuff in now.

Tomorrow I'll be starting school again. I'm behind :-/

What are your new year's resolutions? Comment!

-Kevin C. Burns