Cornerstone Festival 2010 was my first time experiencing the Cornerstone community. I went with expectations of what I was going to experience but I didn’t anticipate on the community that the people create like the sense that we are all a big family or that we’ve all known each other for a long time. I would end up in conversation with someone for a half hour that I nearly ran into and just started some good conversation.

I CAN say that I did not miss packing one thing! I went over my checklist 4-5 times and thought about what I was bringing for about a month before we left. After running sound for Element Church on a Sunday morning, Caleb and I took off to drive straight through to Marietta, IL. We stopped off in St. Louis to meet up with a friend for coffee. My timing was exact but I forgot about the time change! We were meeting at 6am but I got us there at 5am! So Caleb pulled out his cot and slept in the Starbucks parking lot.

After Starbucks, we have another 4 hours of driving through nothing but cornfields to get to Cornerstone Festival. That is probably the hardest part, not the 18 hours we spent getting to St. Louis, the driving through the same scenery for hours. 11am Monday morning we arrive and blast through the line and see a spot to set up our tent. We set up the tent and realize that the tent is not large enough to hold our stuff and our cots! Oops. Luckily we kept the Element right next to the tent so we didn’t have to walk too far for our food and clothes.

To cut down on costs, we stopped at a Walmart and picked up ham, turkey, cheese and bread. This became the staple for every meal. Cornerstone has carnival food but that can wreak havoc on you if you eat too much of it in the middle of the non-stop heat!

Camp is set up and we already hear bands playing on the stages. The metal begins! So we jump on our bikes and tour the campgrounds. Tents begin to pop up anywhere and everywhere they possibly can. If you watch the video below, we went and watched a few shows starting with a hardcore band with a female singer; this singer has a deeper voice than what I can even produce! After the breakdowns there would be a pause in the songs and then the girl would flex right before singing again and it freaked me out! Scary scary stuff. Walking a few tents down we see a band that’s hardcore (go figure) but they have some serious talent! In The Midst of Lions has some sick guitar riffs and they even have a midget screaming in certain parts of the songs too.

To sum up the first day there, we go to the skatepark and talk with some of the skaters and had one do a kickflip over Caleb. That was day 1.

To give you an update of what our house church CasaRush is doing, we are going to give out bags of goodness to the men and women on the side of the road. We put our money together and came up with like 8 different things for each bag and we made 40 bags. We’re just 20 people trying to make a small difference.

What is the first thing you think of when you think of a homeless person? My first thought use to be a sun-aged old man with a thick beard, a cardboard sign, rugged clothes and a reflector vest (for those in Tampa). Some people feel lead to give them money or food and some people roll their windows up and make sure they don’t make eye contact or else they might actually feel bad for them. Or they’re frustrated that someone is trying to “scam” money out of them. The make assumptions that the person is too lazy to work and they result to just standing on the side of the road for handouts.

.

I use to talk to a lot of homeless when I worked for the Tampa Bay Dream Center. I invite you to step in their shoes for a moment for a day. There are 2 major places to stay the night. Salvation Army and Metropolitan Ministries. When staying at Salvation Army “the Sally”, you have to stand in line to get a voucher for the week in order to stay there. If you get in line too late, you cannot stay for the week and must find a different avenue. All walks of life stay at the Sally. It’s not a safe place to be but it’s not on the street. Your personal items being stolen from you is a typical issue when you’re on the street. You have to go find work and be out of the Sally by 6-7am. Where ever you go, you can’t stay there.

.

There are places to get day jobs but as you sit and wait for contractors to bus you out to the job, you realize that you might not get work today. If you do end up getting a job, you get paid minimum wage at best and the labor pool that you were hired through takes upwards of 40% for getting you the job and transporting you to your job for the day. So after working 8 hours hard labor, you walk away with $36 in your pocket. You can make more money on the side of the road begging for 8 hours and you’re not doing hard labor, you’re sweltering in the sun. Either option is very taxing on your body for a small amount of pay. During the week, there are certain places that serve free food but you have to make sure you make it there between the hours they are there. Now that you’re on the other side of town, you then have to make it back to the Sally by a certain hour so you’re not locked out and possibly voiding the week long voucher to stay there.

.

Let’s change our view now. My wife was working one of her jobs the other day and talking with a girl she’s worked with for quite some time. This girl tells her that she was having troubles with her roommates and had to move out. Lot’s of financial strain has been put on this coworker and she doesn’t have a place to stay. She has a car, has a cell phone and has 2 jobs (maybe 3 actually) but has been living at the Sally until she can afford to rent her own place. My wife had to pick her jaw up off of the floor after hearing this as her heart now pains for this coworker. She says that she could easily pickup and move back with her family in another state but knows that she should be here and stick it out. She’s gone to college and has a degree but doesn’t have a roof over her head to call her own and she’s going to the locations that are handing out food so she’s able to save as much as possible.

.

The Sally is not have very good living conditions on the girls side. She said there are holes in the showers and it’s just rough to be there. To see exactly what each person goes through, my wife and I are going to stay a night at the Sally. She’ll experience the girls side and I’ll experience the guys side (they don’t mix the two there for obvious reasons). We will come back with stories from talking to people there and our unfiltered feelings while being there.

.

What can be done about people like my wife’s coworker? I’m still trying to figure that out. My first thought is to have a way for people to donate online or donate monthly and 100% of the money goes straight to an apartment complex (not to anyone’s hands) to pay for cheap housing temporarily for those in need. That and also have updates and stories of the people the money would be given to. People have access to food, people are always willing to give food. People aren’t always willing to give a roof nor a job without a roof. Maybe that would be the one step that can be done in the recovery process.

We have a spare bedroom and I’ve been contemplating what to make it. Most recently, I’ve painted it a shade of teal and also painted my dresser an industrial slate color. Now, I am in need of some home decor. I nearly have put things on hold so I can work on my “project” room!

I’m looking for items from the 1900s-50s depending on the style. The concept is Steampunk. What is Steampunk? A step backwards in time towards the industrial revolution making antiques serve the purpose of art by adding a modern look to it. 19th century Victorian metal items altered with detail of gears, wires, metal, clocks and old machinery.

I’m trying to find stuff local, not buy it on eBay due to shipping old/heavy stuff isn’t always the best idea nor the cheapest. So what items am I looking for that maybe you could assist with? Well thanks for asking!

• Antique Fan that works :: example
• Railroad lanterns (I will add electronics if it doesn’t have it) :: example / example2
• Porthole (I’ll probably buy the one I’m showing as an example) :: example
• Sextant :: example
• Large gears from 3″ to 24″, like gears…ya know
• Vintage typewriter :: example
• Antique gauges
• Rusted iron pieces

If you come across any of these kind of items in the Tampa area, please contact me! Thanks for your help!  )

My wife asks me, “So what do you want for your birthday? People keep asking and they need to know so they can buy it for you.” I’m drawing a blank on stuff. Maybe because I don’t need stuff. I don’t need stuff.

I would rather the money that is going toward my unnecessary birthday gift go towards a good cause. Telling me that you donated to one of these causes would make me happier than a wrapped box full of stuff.

.

charity:water

Element Church

New York Dream Center

By donating to one of these causes, you will have made my day.

Two years ago, I began a print broker business called Toasty Print. With tons of promoting, dropping off business cards, post cards, flyers and mass emails, I still got back a limited response for clientele. My largest client came by accident!

I enjoy watching MMA and I took my camera to the events to record the matches. I was contacted by the CEO directly to remove the videos from Youtube or else they would sue me. I went on to explain to him how it would boost search engine optimization if the videos were linked back to their site. So at the next bout, I had tickets to watch the event but this time I was recording video for the sole purpose to boost their SEO! Worked out great for them, worked out great for me. In addition, I promoted my printing company and they were my largest client for about a year or so.

The biggest downfall of the whole business is that I was paying $100 a month to be a part of this printing network. Some months I didn’t even make enough sales to justify the $100 being taken from my bank account. It wasn’t until the large account that I started to get in the positive. I broke away from the printing network, created my own site and started printing with a different printer but at this time, I had lost most of my clients and the printing network consistently emailed my clients to take their business.

It was my first real adventure in business and I will take the experiences and knowledge to apply this towards my next business endeavor.

Do you ever get the crazy feeling like, “I have to do that sometime in my life”? I get those feelings quite a bit and I would have to say the most bazaar one is the desire to learn Mandarin Chinese. Why? I don’t know yet.

I picked up The Pimsleur Program and have been going through it over and over. I keep losing my knowledge simply because I don’t have anyone to practice with.

My goal: to be beginner level fluent in Mandarin Chinese by the end of 2010.

Chinese (Mandarin), Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur)

On March 30, 2010, eBay will be changing their fee structure around and it potentially can be a benefit to you depending on your listing style. If you are a casual lister without an eBay store subscription, you can list up to 100 auction style listings under $1.00 with no listing fee per month. After 100 listings, the fee is $0.10 for each. The Final Value Fee does go up from 8.75% to 9% though.

Here’s the kicker. This is probably about the only savings you’ll find on this fee change. If you are an avid eBay seller, you have to at least subscribe to the Basic eBay Store subscription at $16.99 a month. If you don’t, the Final Value Fees will come back to bite you.

For example, if you sell an item at $500, without the eBay Store subscription, FVFs are $45. With the store subscription, it is $22.38. The reason is eBay now will take a flat 9% on any sale if you do not have a subscription. With a subscription, it’s 8.75% up to $50, then 4% after that.

All this said, if you sell items under $50, there may not be a need for a subscription. If you plan on selling at least two items at $200 or more per month, it would make sense to get the store subscription.

Since the Renaissance Festival is back in Tampa once again, I figured I would showcase a few items on eBay medieval related!

Full Medieval Suit of Armor

Spanish XVI Medieval Priest Chest Box WITH Silver

Jousting Helmet King Henry II

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.