It's been a while since I came up with a new t-shirt design but I finally did. This one has been floating around in my head for a while. The design for the face came to me today while I was doodling a bit in a meeting at work. The text says "i never realized just how amazing i was till i started watching other people". Funny. You can get to the cafepress store here.

Switchfoot is a band that has changed its sound significantly over the last couple of releases. The current release, Oh Gravity, is quite a few steps removed from their megahit The Beautiful Letdown. In fact it seems like a more mature and established release along the same direction that Nothing Is Sound took. That's not to say that Oh Gravity is not any good. In fact, it can be argued that this new direction is better and fresher than the earlier releases. After a few listens it is growing on me.

Hood is the first book in Stephen Lawhead's Raven King Trilogy. The trilogy is a retelling of the legend of Robin Hood but with a historical twist. After extensive research Lawhead is convinced that the real Robin Hood started in Wales, not England. In a small article at the end of this book Lawhead lays out his fairly convincing reasoning. But all of that aside, the book is excellent. Lawhead has always been a good story teller as there is some bardic lineage in his distant past. With Hood Lawhead's story telling abilities are out in full force. The story is full of deep and interesting characters, smart plots, and innovative scenes and settings.

Dragonspell is the first book in Donita K. Paul's Dragon Keeper Chronicles. It is primarily intended for a young adult audience but it is an easy and fun read for adults as well. The story is alive with action and imaginative characters. The allegorical elements of the story are obvious but not over the top. I picked up this book based on recommendations I found online and I'm glad I did. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Out of ignorance I was reluctant to see this movie. It looked like another "angry woman who takes things into her own hands" type movie and that didn't seem too exciting to me. I am happy to admit that I was wrong. Instead this is a gritty exploration of the feelings of someone who has come face to face with violent crime. This sort of movie is not my normal fare. There is a significant amount of brutal violence and language and I usually avoid that in a show. In this case I think it was necessary and worth it to tell the story.

Giver Of Roses is Kathleen Morgan's first book in the Guardians of Gadiel series. As of now this is just the first book written in the series. Plans for the next two are set for 2008 and 2009 (according to the author's web site). I am looking forward to the next in the series. This book was well written and very entertaining. Morgan created likable and vivid characters that play in a sufficient but not overly complicated plot. The good guys are flawed and have their own hangups and the bad guys show a soft side that hints at a path towards redemption.

Unregister is a component that allows users on a Joomla site to unregister themselves. This current release is a minor update to allow compatibility with Joomla 1.0.13. It maintains backwards compatibility with previous Joomla versions. Thanks to Rünno Reinu for pointing out the issue and serving as a beta tester as I made the updates. More information about the change and a link to the new download are found below.

Some motivated people like to create a list of all the things they want to do before they die. Oftentimes these lists contain things like skydiving, climbing Mt. Everest, or eating 15 cherry pies in one sitting. While I applaud those who can make such a list and get those things done I just don't see that sort of thing working for me. My list would change too often as my life circumstances changed. Or, a lot of the things I want to do are completely out of my control. For example, I want to watch a tree get struck by lightning at some time in my life. How am I going to make that happen?