Name That Tune!
So today in Business Law, we were talking about third party rights and were using terms such as obligor, obligee, assignor, assignee, delegator, and delegatee. One of those words in particular caused a certain song from decades past (think John, Paul, George, and Ringo) to run through my head the whole class period. Can anyone guess the artist (not hard) and the song?
Happy 1/2 Birthday To Me!
Well, I officially turned 20 1/2 today. Yup, it's true. I know you're really excited. Almost as excited as me, I'll bet. Anyway, I celebrated by going to my 9:00 class and having a boring time, then getting a great hot chocolate in Mocha Joe's, then going to play for a voice lesson but finding out they didn't need me (break...yes!), then working on my recording tech project (mixing the song I did last semester, but this time in Pro Tools), then going to my 1:00 class and having another great time, then mixing some more. My, that was a long sentence. My apologies. Anywho, I "finished" my project just before 5:00 pm when I was supposed to have Jazz Ensemble. I put finished in quotes because I know it's not perfect, but it's due tomorrow, so I don't plan on being able to do much better. It's actually pretty good though. Anyway, jazz ensemble was cancelled (which I had previous knowledge of, but I had forgotten), so I am now back in my room waiting to go to another rehearsal, this time with Nathanael. He leads worship in chapel tomorrow (which he had forgotten about until today), and then we're playing at the next Cheap Thrills, so we'll practice for both of those events. After that, I'm pretty sure we'll take some time to relax in his family's hot tub, then I'll have to leave to go to an Orangehaus Publishing meeting at 10:15. After that, I will come back, do my homework, and hit the sack, only to wake up bright and early at 6:15 am tomorrow! Happy 1/2 birthday to me!
Matt
Grrr…santhemum?
I have a strong distaste for, dislike of, disapproval of, and disconcertion/perterbation with accounting homework. It kept me up way too late last night, and now I'm tired. It is time for a nap.
The Wait Is Over!!
Now that I've lost about 50% or more of my faithful reader base, I will attempt to rescue this blog from the pathetic state in which it currently finds itself. This post could potentially be really long, but I'll try to be as concise as possible. So here we go!
Let's start with Christmas break. Wow, has it really been that long since I last blogged? I guess so. Anyway...so my church back home in Dutch Vegas, Michigan had a fancy Christmas Eve/Morning service. They asked me to sing and play in this service, which was exciting. It turned out that I played B-3 and keyboards on a few songs, sang the 2nd tenor part in a quartet, and sang "O Holy Night" as a solo also featuring my good friend Ken on the piano. I was fairly nervous, but it went off pretty dern well...nothing to go home and cry about. Um, what next? Oh yeah...I got a digital camera from my Dad for Christmas. He won it, but I convinced him that he wouldn't use it to its full potential (and he already has one anyway), so he gave it to me. I'm so naughty... Anywho, I've been taking pictures and will continue to do so, so hopefully I'll be sharing some of them with you right here on the blog. You can check out my complete gallery at gallery.mattulrich.com. Unfortunately, I've not found the time to get all my pictures up yet. I'll get around to it eventually.
Ok, now on to this semester. For starters, I saw Chronicles of Narnia with Doug Irving on the day it came out. It was super-dee-duper. It's a must-see for me and hopefully for you too. But let's back up for a bit. I came back to school a week earlier than almost everyone else for a couple reasons. I bet you'd like to know what those reasons are. Well, let me tell you. First of all, I now play country music. I'll let you take a minute to recover from that piece of news. (pause - only continue of you're ready) Mark Pay (president of Orangehaus Records) hooked me up with a country gig, playing keys for a girl named Paige, who is only 15 years old but you'd never know it by listening to her or looking at her. Anyway, she's very talented and has great potential to go far with this whole music thing. Anyway, back to why I came back to school early. Paige has been performing at fair conventions in the four surrounding states (OH, IN, MI, and IL...just in case you didn't know), and two of those performances were the week before classes started. So I came back early to practice and perform with her. But that's not all. My friend Nathanael is new Orangehaus Records recording artist, so he has been working on his new album. The recording process also started the week before classes. Check my gallery for pictures from both Paige shows and recording Nathanael's album.
Ok, last thing. I promise. I just started a position at East Side Church of God in the worship arts department. I'm not really sure what my title is, but I think it's something like Production Assistant. Basically, I'm acting commander of the band (sorta), behind Pastor Mick of course. I make sure that everyone that's scheduled to play is actually planning on playing, I make sure the stage is ready for the band by Sunday morning, I lead the 7:30am band rehearsal every Sunday morning, and I help develop players and integrate new ones into the band rotation. Sound fun? I think so. I get paid too. That's nice.
This post took way too long to write (distractions, distractions), so now I will close. That is all.
Adieu,
Matt
Slideshow
Ok, everyone...remember the days in elementary school when you'd watch a slideshow which was accompanied by a sound recording on tape? What's the part that everyone remembers about it? That's right, the beep, that annoying noise which happened between every explanation, indicating that the projector operator should continue on to the next slide. Well, we're going to try this technique here, except when you hear (see in this case) the beep, click it. Herrrr we go!
Slide 1 (Background): For the past year, I've been trying to get a free iPod from freeipods.com. In that time, I've seen them go from offering the 20 GB black-and-white-display iPod to the 20 GB color-display iPod to finally the 30 GB video iPod. When the video iPod was announced, I quite honestly probably coveted and lusted and likely broke a few more of the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins. Needless to say, I wanted one. A few weeks back, I finally acquired my final referral. It told me to check back in 5-7 days to see if my account was approved (they recheck each referral). Of course I checked back almost every day. A few days later, the ETA had changed to 7-10 days. I was a little disheartened, but I figured I'd waited a year, so what's another few days? Well, I'm pretty sure it ended up being much longer than 10 days, but maybe it just felt longer. I logged on not too long ago (like an hour), and found this:
Slide 2: I was pretty stoked (to reference a colloquialism from an earlier era). So I continued on into this journey. Next I got to select my prize.
Slide 3: Thank goodness I wasn't wanting an iPod nano...4-6 weeks??? Anyway...I continued on. I entered the address to which I wanted my video iPod to come. Of course this is my school address. Why would I want it to be sent home? Actually, now that I think about it, I'd better get it before Christmas break, or I'll be upset.
Slide 4: There was a "discrepancy" with the way I formatted the address, so I got this screen:
Slide 5: Upon fixing the problem, I was successful in submitting my address. All that's left is to click "Finalize." Here we go!
Slide 6: It's done! I hope I don't have to wait forever.
Oh, I get a free t-shirt too. I hope it fits, and I hope it's at least somewhat cool so I can wear it with pride whilst I listen to music and watch videos on my iPod! Thanks to everyone that helped out in this process. For those whom I bribed, let me know if you still want the cash. 
Thank you for your attention, children. Class dismissed.
BEEP!
Random…
So here's what you'd call a hodge-podge of topics in one post, a potpourri if you will. Let's get it started!
First off, here's a song I wrote for songwriting class. It's called "All My Days (Surrender to You)." It was supposed to be a worship song suitable for corporate worship. Well, it turned out to be a great worship song, but better for a soloist. Oh well. The lyrics please...
VERSE 1
O faithful One, of Whom I sing
This simple song to You I bring
Accept my praise; be magnified
In You I will be satisfied
CHORUS
I sing to the One and Only
You alone are pure and holy
My sole Desire, I give you praise
I surrender to You all my days
VERSE 2
O worthy One, what can I do
To glorify and honor You?
Words can’t express how You love me
Only Your blood on Calvary
BRIDGE
I am unworthy
But You made a way for me
You run my direction
Despite my imperfection
I might record it someday so you can hear it and not just read the words.
Topic #2: I put a song up on my MySpace page. It was a project for my recording tech class. Here's the link: myspace.com/mattulrich
Thirdly, I almost died tonite. Well, not really, but I thought I might. There was supposed to be a huge storm of "historic proportions" coming through, but we got lucky. There wasn't much of anything.
Next, I must comment on this blog. As much as I love WordPress, there's no community like there is with Xanga. I don't think I'll be switching, but I do have a Xanga so I can keep tabs on my friends. I might redesign this blog so it has a little more relaxed look (like Xanga). We'll see what I feel like and what kind of time I have. That probably will have to wait until Christmas break at the earliest.
On the topic of webdesign, I am still waiting on graphics from my friend Dane Benton to design the SGA website. So when I finally get that stuff, that website will be going up. Also, I am the official designer of artist websites for Orangehaus Records, or at least that's the way I understand that part of my position. I also was resonsible for designing and getting out the first electronic issue of the Orangehaus SPIN, our newsletter. You can read it here. So yay...pat me on the back. Gosh, that sounded conceited. Sorry. I guess I'm just keeping you informed of what I've been up to.
Another fun thing about my life is that I've been reading through Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. Every Tuesday morning at the slightly ungodly hour of 7am, Doug Irving (my adopt-a-parent at my Anderson church) and I have breakfast at Panera. We talk about life and the book and pray with each other. So far it's been a rewarding time. I feel like I've learned and grown a lot through this time with Doug. I've also discovered I love Panera's dark and vibrant coffee. You should try it sometime.
Hm...what else? Oh, I've been working a bit on helping a friend named Jeff Owen design his cd cover. He seemed to like one of my ideas should the colors be modified, so we'll see. By the way, in addition to doing his own singer/songwriter thing, he plays bass for Joy Williams. Two of my other friends (sort of...one's more of an acquaintance, and the other is somewhere in-between) also play for Joy. Dylan Williams plays lead guitar, and Darren Rayl plays drums. The latter two have played for Jon McLaughlin in the past, and I believe Dylan still does when Jon wants a guitar player.
Next topic: my "free" iPod. Well, it technically will be free, assuming I get it. Any money I've paid hasn't been directly for the iPod. It's more because I wasn't careful when picking an offer to complete and because I bribed a few people to do offers. Anyway, having gotten my 5 referrals, it is now currently in the verification stage wherein the company makes sure all my referrals are legitimate. It says to wait 7-10 days (I'm pretty sure it said 5-7 when I first requested verification), but I feel like it's been that long or longer. So I continue to wait... I'll keep you updated.
Finally, I have some great new friends this semester. Among these are Kalyn Yocum, Megan McDaniel, Mindy Parsons, Chelsea Travis, Joe Balbaugh, Glen Lovitt, Antoine Brown (who, in combination with me, makes up "Mantoine"), Nate Heironimous, Phil Larson, and many others. The first few are new to AU, and the others have been here, but I've just gotten to know them a lot better this semester. Still no woman for me, though.
Thus ends what I believe to be my longest post ever. I am out.
Verbosely yours,
Matt
I’m Kilroy!
Sorry for the random post title. I couldn't think of anything else. With 80s Encore in the not-so-distant past, those sorts of things stick with me. Anyway, I'm currently listening to some 80s Michael W. Smith...yeah Smitty! Anywho...that was awkward... Ok, on to why you're really here. Actually, it would be more like on to why I'm really here. This post is by request of my former roommate, Mr. Jon Mobley, host of Late Night with Jon Mobley, a new show here on the AU campus. It's quality, and I play in it when I can. So come if you're on campus Wednesday nights at 10pm. If you're not on campus, it's worth flying in and renting a car just to come. No joke. Anyway, enough commercials. What's been going on with me? We'll just say a lot. After getting back from a great time in Florida, I had one day of classes then Homecoming weekend, which basically meant I spent all of Friday night and Saturday on Encore stuff. In my opinion, it was a great show (especially the 10:00), but you can make your own judgement. My parents were down for two different weekends recently, homecoming being one of them, and they were able to see the show. I love them. Oh, and if you think about it, pray for my Dad as he's between jobs. He's waiting to hear back on one, so hopefully that will work out. Ok, back to the Strong's Exhaustive Update on my life since my last blog entry (that was for you Bible buffs). Well, I had a busy week of doing homework, playing for chapel, teaching Melissa how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb and Amazing Grace, taking recording tech quizzes, working on my recording tech projects, getting up for two early-morning breakfasts, and playing in church. Luckily there was a phenomenon called Fall Break. Give it up for the three-day weekend! I didn't do very much except a little laundry and reformatting my hard drive and restoring my system. Oh, and I found out Logic Pro won't run on my system, so I have to pick out a new DAW to purchase. I guess it's either Cubase or Digital Performer. Well, I do take donations, so if I could buy a new G5, I'd be able to run Logic Pro and create beautiful music for the masses to enjoy. Man, I wish rich people were reading this. Ok, I think it's time to get back to the homework. I know I need to be a more faithful blogger, so I'll do my best to keep you informed. I love you all. Goodnight.
Matt, aka Matthew, aka Matty, aka Melonhead, aka Mellonhead, aka Melonfoot