jasonackerman.com

i wanted to write something of a reflective post, because this has been a quite momentous year for our family. this photo really just makes me smile. one of the biggest things is watching my son grow from a newborn to the edge of toddler-dom. as any parent of more than one child will understand, i’m continually amazed by how a person is able to be so head-over-heels in love with a child, and then to have it happen 2 more times. i love each of my kids, completely and differently.

this year completes my first full year working at compass. this was a change that was a long time coming, and God’s timing in the execution was perfect. i’ve learned a lot, both in terms of who i am and how i work, and in terms of new skills for a new career. it’s hard to believe that this is really my third career… but each of the previous two, while i could have stayed in and developed them as life-long pursuits, did so much to prepare me for where i am now.

the rest of this post will come down in categories and notes, list-style.

Concert of the Year: Katy Bowser and Kenny Hutson, at our house. To have a musician that graced our living room and then opened for Allison Krause within the same 90 days… this blows my mind.

Emotional Moment of the Year: Drew left Compass. This felt like a kick in the gut, because it really came out of the blue for me. Everything has worked out, and of course God is bigger than any of that, but the way it all went down was a hard thing, and really changed the face of Compass in a dramatic way.

And the Grammy goes to… OK, so I won’t win a Grammy, but I put some serious effort into playing out, and am now only days away from completing my first solo CD. It’s not something I’m trying to get a record deal with, just an accomplishment I’ve been dodging for a long time now.

I left my heart… in San Francisco. Cliche? Yes. But it was so much fun to take the family to SF this summer. It was our first major roadtrip, and all 3 kids fared magnificently. I hope we can do it again soon. While we already knew we dug the area, we really found ourselves feeling very at home there. Will we be called to plant a church there someday? If so, I won’t complain.

Can I get an amen? Had my first shot at preaching this fall. I enjoyed it, and look forward to doing it again this January. It was certainly a stretching experience.

So that’s the short list of things that stood out about this year. Here’s the quick hits, without much explanation, so don’t complain if you don’t get it, this is for personal reflection, remember?

- new friends – Ray & Ruth, Brian & Mandie, Tracie, Max, Connie…
- reconnecting with old friends – Brian & Julie, Mike
- new obsession: poker. don’t mess with me.
- camping trips: 2
- major computer crashes: 2
- instances of worrying excessively over fundraising: 209388
- website redesigns for compass: 4
- freelance web design projects: 5
- podcasts subscribed to: 4
- podcasts created: none, yet
- hours spent playing poker: approx 100, and all in the last 2 months. i told you, it’s a new obsession. for my wife too.
- the year in sports, uberquick summary: Broncos – looking good. Mariners – awful. Avalanche – decent team, victim of new salary cap. Winterhawks – not that good, but fun as always.

and to top it off, WordPress 2.0 came out this week. i’ll be working on that install next week.

that’s it. this is my last post of the year. what will next year bring? i don’t know. that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? i’m sure i missed a ton of stuff, but it’s evening time, and i’m tired of typing. i’ve got some poker to play.

don’t get too drunk, have a good party, stay off the roads, and have a fabulous new year.

Just before Christmas Eve, my hard drive decided to stop spinning. This left me in a pickle, because all the on-screen media for church was on that hard drive, not to mention my 40 GB of data. A fair spot of it is backed up, and so restoring shouldn’t be a huge deal, especially in terms of music and design projects. I did however neglect to backup my email, so if recovery is not an option, then I’ll have a lot of random information that I won’t be able to access.

I went out and bought a new 100GB drive, so now things run peachy keen, and I’m able to start restoring from the factory default, which makes customizing the thing much easier. Of course, a few new hardware “needs” are now on the radar screen… external HD, more RAM, etc.

I was tempted to make the requisite “year-end” post. Unfortunately, my self-improvement plan (list of things about myself I want to change) would take hours to enter, so I’ll just say this: I want, need, crave discipline. I’m almost 30 years old, and I coast around through my days as if I’m a carefree (careless?) junior higher. No offense to carefree junior highers, you guys are supposed to be that way. Enjoy it, because it doesn’t do you any good when you’re pushing middle-agedness.

All that to say, it’s more than just being organized. That’s what I’m after– something more than a to-do list can offer.

And I’m going on a “business” trip for a company that no longer employs me. To Las Vegas. And I’ll be staying in the Bellagio. And I’m not paying for it. How crazy is that? I’m trying to work up the guts to spend a few bucks and sit at a real poker table, but I’m kindof a fraidy cat. As evidence by my propensity to play against opponents that draw pocket aces, my daughter included:

KATU 2 – Portland, Oregon

It’s not the same as most areas of the country… around here, it doesn’t take much to trigger WINTERBLAST2005 wall-to-wall coverage. The storm team jumps into action to point out every minute detail of a storm that can mostly be assessed by staring out your window. But, so it is, and the ice and a thin layer of snow on top of it shuts down the city. We’ll take the break.

We’ve fared fine so far… haven’t lost power, but according to the KATU Storm Blog (are you kidding me?), several thousand customers have lost power and more are expected to. We’ll have the blankets and candles ready to go at a moments notice.

Church was good today. Something about the day has just had a dark mood though… I haven’t been able to place it, I just woke up in a kinda spiritual sort of funk, and it’s hung around all day. It was still nice to see how regardless of how I’m feeling, God shows up at Compass each and every Sunday and does something amazing.

I’ve been playing Texas Hold em quite a bit lately. I know, it’s trendy, but it’s so much fun. I’ve been playing at PokerStars. It’s where Wil Wheaton plays, and they have quite an extensive network of free tables to play, which suits me just fine. (no pun intended). The whole point of this, is that I managed to hit something of a holy grail of texas hold ‘em, at least in today’s age of the poker bloggers… I won a hand with The Hammer! The Hammer is essentially the worst possible hand you can be dealt in hold em… a deuce and a seven of different suits. But if you play your cards right (pun fully intended), and you win the hand, you’ve just managed to really stick a burr under the collective saddles of the rest of the table. The image above is visual evidence of my hammer, which actually resulted in two pair, deuces and sevens. Click on the image for a larger size in a new window.

it’s been a weird rollercoaster of a week. nice to be home, though the trip was nice as well. never did get that walk on the beach.

played another show at cornerstone coffee tonight. not quite as successful as the last. i’m not sure if i sucked that bad, or if mcminnville hasn’t yet heard of the courtesy “golf clap”. i got some good response, as i warmed up, but nothing like the last time i played out there. i wonder if i just came in with a lack of energy, and it transfered through to the audience. this is part of why i think gordon shumway is pretty much over, i’m ready to have at it fresh. i did come away with a small bit of cash and a pound of fresh roasted coffee! that’s the great thing about that gig… they actually pay!

began work on a freelance project that came in just before the holiday. the client immediately decided the concept sucked and began pushing for immediate changes and updates. when working in flash, this is very difficult to do. when he began to threaten to pull the job from the firm i’m contracting for due to “lack” of progress, i began to lose confidence in the project. this guy is a salesman who fancies himself a designer, which makes it worse. on top of that, he can’t compose a coherent written sentence, it’s like deciphering a teenager’s instant message screen to read his emails. we’ll probably end up losing the deposit, which isn’t really fair based on the time we’ve put in (i did multiple phone consultations with him and his accountant over thanksgiving weekend! i also put several hours into redesigning what i had done that he didn’t like), but based on how he’s been, i’m not sure he’s the kind of guy we want to do business with. i’m doubting his sense of fairness is developed enough to pay us for our time up to now if he indeed pulls the plug before we do.

on the bright side, i’ve been hired by derby to do their new website. these guys are simply amazing, if you haven’t heard them. take a few minutes to listen, they’ve got this tight harmony, energetic, beatles/shins thing going on. what a grasp on pop melody songwriting. wayne, their bass player, is engineering my project. it all comes around like that.

christmas is coming. fast. had our first rehearsals with the string section last night… this is going to be fun.

there is much more to be said, but it will have to wait for later posts.

as of tonight, i have officially played my last show as “the gordon shumway project”. tomorrow morning, i enter the studio to begin recording a new project.

the long and short (mostly short) of it is that the gordonshumway thing has just played itself out. as my music changes, my songwriting changes, it just doesn’t really fit anymore. i’ll be adding band members over time, and releasing this new project, and it just seems fitting that if i’m going to take this thing seriously, g.s.p. needs to be put to rest.

so there it is. gordon shumway is no more. sometime over the next six weeks, as the cd is finished, mixed, duplicated, and prepared for release, i’ll be posting release details as well as announcing the new name/formation of the project that contains my music.

thank you all for your interest. things will only get better from here.

–j.

this is freaking hilarious.

found this interesting article about quentin tarantino, his films, and faith. having just watched the kill bill movies, i found this an interesting look at his work.

i personally find tarantino’s work to be fascinating– in some cases brilliant, in others gratuitously graphic– but always engaging. i definitely have to be in the right state of mind to keep from being overwhelmed. pulp fiction weirded my brain out for days, because i wasn’t prepared for what i saw. reservoir dogs, kill bill, four rooms, those didn’t get to me nearly as much.

anyhow. it’s a long article, but interesting.

Don’t tell my wife. I came to the coffeeshop to study. Actually, I’ve been studying for the last 2 hours. I’m up to my ears in the Doctrinal Questionnaire of the Christian & Missionary Alliance that I’m required to complete in order to schedule my licensing interview. It’s all a big hassle… but necessary.

We’re in Bandon, Oregon, for a family wedding. It’s quite a place down here in the winter, when wind and rain and sun and hail take shifts– short shifts. In the 2 hours I’ve been sitting here, I’ve seen each for about 15 minutes at a time. This will be the first service at Compass I’ve missed. It is nice to have a weekend off though.

my study table

view from my study table, with ipod on the ledge.

Things that are happening, in no particular order:
- we’re still trying to raise support so we can draw a full paycheck each month. this is very difficult.
- i have 3 studio days booked this month. my EP should be completed by the end of january. you’ll be the first to know.
- samuel is a year old. this simultaneously excites and saddens me.
- i’m working on some nifty stuff for christmas eve services. this is my first christmas service to plan, and we’re doing some big things… i already feel overwhelmed, but i’m excited too.
- i’m working on a couple articles i’ll be submitting for publication, first on a couple websites, then hopefully in print. we’ll see how it goes.
- i’m already starting to wonder where God will call us next to plant a church. i already feel drawn to a couple places, and wonder if that is just my inability to stay settled or God preparing us for our next adventure. i know there is still so much more to be done at compass.
- i got 2 really great freelance web projects this week. these will pay the rest of november/december bills, and hopefully allow some sort of christmas expenditure. this makes me happy.

That’s all I have for today. I hope to get a walk in on the beach tomorrow, regardless of weather.

Romans 6 (NLT)