Post Secret

So I am taking Post Secret off of my favorite websites. The first few times I went to it I loved the idea and didn't see anything really objectionable on the site. But wow, it has been pretty raunchy as of late. I think that the good it does is FAR OUTWEIGHED by the very objectionable content that it posts at times also.

So it gets the AX from my website.

Blogs, Journals, Friends, Choices

So I have woken up early today! That doesn't happen very often with me. Even more strange is that I woke up and was not tired. I decided to do some early Sunday morning-spiritual-strengthening. It has been nice. I have listened to "Discipleship" and "Free to Choose" by Neal A. Maxwell. They are powerful addresses.

I also wrote in my journal. It is incredibly rewarding to write in it. I was thinking about the nature of both pieces of writing and I was somewhat struck at the differences and similarities.

My blog is not very intimate. I do bear my feelings and thoughts in it, I think more than the average blogger on a very public blog. But I don't go very deep, at least not as deep as my journal. In my journal I am more likely to bear my soul. I don't even let Kylee read my journal. I wouldn't be upset if I ever found out that she had, but I ask her not to, at least not in the same year that I write it. You see, I keep my journal on my computer. I write in it and add pictures to the days that I am writing about . I print it out once a year and have it spiral bound and put plastic cover sheets on the front and back. It is very inexpensive and I write in it much more because it is on my computer and I hate writing the normal, hand written way. So, anyway, I don't care if Kylee reads previous years writings, I just don't want her to read current posts. It is too intimate, and I bear too much in them, for her to write in it. In my journal I mostly write about my attempts to follow God. I write about events and similar things also, just to keep a family history, but it is mostly my peaks and valleys that I experience in the hike to find God. It clearly outlines both successes and failures.

My blog, however, is not as intimate. I write mostly about things that I am thinking about. It isn't as personal. I write a blog mostly to have discussion about things that I am thinking about. I love comments and love some good, lively debate. It is a way to network with the people that I enjoy discussing things with.

It would be fascinating to see what would happen if I made my blog as personal as my journal. I am not going to do that, but I would be fascinated to see the outcome.

On another note, we went to Dan and Cindy's house yesterday with Sam and Becky. It was fun. I think about when we were first married, and none of us had kids and we hung out then. It was so different. We are still hanging out now, but our population has doubled. Each of us have two kids, a boy and a girl (we are all lucky, I know). Life turns out in ways that we never expect. Also, it seems to get sweeter with time. I think about our group of friends and marvel that all of us have made rather good choices. I can see it in our lives. I can sense, in the times we are together, that we are blessed. The Lord has been good to all of us. I hope we can continue to make good choices.

New Blog Layout and Picture

I was getting really tired of the nasty brown blog template I was using and decided to change things up. I took a picture of me leaning against a wall and used photoshop to make it look a little different. I am going to continue messing around with it. I am trying to figure out how to get the text on the empty side of the picture but haven't spent much time messing with it yet.

I am going to try and come up with my own template and learn how to really mess around with blogger. I really want to end up just having my blog on my webpage www.matthewduff.com but I haven't figured out how to make it sweet yet. When I figure out how to mess with webpages more I am going to move it all over to that site. It should be quite the undertaking.

I am still messing with the picture of me, in a couple of weeks I am going to have it a little more fancy looking.

What do you guys think?

Some Songs that I am Liking Right Now (Lyrics)

So I think all of these songs have something in them that make me really love them. I have been listening to them all quite regularly lately. Comments on any of them would be welcomed.

Patty Griffin- "You Are Not Alone"

She sees him laying in the bed alone tonight
The only thing a touching him is a crack of light
Pieces of her hair are wrapped around and 'round his fingers
And he reaches for her side, for any sign of her that lingers

And she says you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight

One of them bullets went straight for the jugular vein
There were people running , a flash of light
Then everything changed
Nothing really matters in the end you know
All the worrys sever
Don't be afraid for me my friend, one day we all fall down forever

And you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight

The wedding date was June just like any other bride
She loved him like no one before and it was good to be alive
But sometimes that can slip away as fast
As any fingers through your hands
So you let time forgive the past and go and make some other plans

And you are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight
You are not alone
Laying in the light
Put out the fire in your head
And lay with me tonight

Jane's Addiction- "Jane Says"

Jane says
I'm done with Sergio
He treats me like a ragdoll
She hides
The television
Says I don't owe him nothing,
But if he comes back again
Tell him to wait right here for me
Or just
Try again tomorrow
I'm gonna kick tomorrow
Gonna kick tomorrow

Jane says
Have you seen my wig around?
I feel naked without it
She knows
They all want her to go
But that's O.K. man
She dont like them anyway
Jane says
She's goin away to spain
When she gets my money saved
I'm gonna start tomorrow
I'm gonna kick tomorrow
Gonna kick tomorrow

She gets mad
Starts to cry
She takes a swing but
She cant hit
She don't mean no harm
She just don't know
What else to do about it

Jane goes
To the store at 8:00
She walk up on St. Andrews
She waits
And gets her dinner there
She pulls her dinner
From her pocket
Jane says
I've never been in love
I don't know what it is
Only knows if someone wants her
I want them if they want me
I only know they want me

She gets mad
And she starts to cry
She takes a swing man
She cant hit!
She don't mean no harm
She just dont know
What else to do about it

Jane says
Jane says

Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Soul to Squeeze"

I got a bad disease,
Up from my brain is where I bleed.
In sanity it seems,
Is got me by my soul to squeeze.
Well all the love from me,
With all these dying trees I scream.
The angels in my dreams,
Have turned to demons of greed,
Thats me.

Where I go I just dont know,
I got to, got to, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
Im gonna give you some of my good time.

Today loves smile on me,
It took away my pain, said please
All that you ride is free,
You gotta let it be,
Oh ya.

Where I go I just dont know,
I got to, gotta, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
Im gonna give you some of my good time.

Youre so polite indeed,
Well I got everything I need.
Oh make my days a breeze,
And take away my self destruction.

Its bitter baby,
And its very sweet.
Im on a rollercoaster,
But Im on my feet.
Take me to the river,
Let me on your shore.
I be coming back baby,
I be coming back for more.

Doo doo doo doo dingle zing a dong bone,
Ba-di ba-da ba-zumba crunga cong gone bad,
Like an apple gift but I went out and never said my pleasures
Im much better but I wont regret it never

Where I go I just dontt know,
I got to, got to, gotta take it slow.
When I find my piece of mind,
Im gonna give you some of my good time.

Where I go I just dont know,
I might end up somewhere in mexico.
When I find my piece of mind,
Im gonna keep for the end of time!

Death Cab for Cutie- "Soul Meets Body"

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

And I cannot guess what we'll discover
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Brad Paisley- "Find Yourself"

When you find yourself
In some far off place
And it causes you to rethink some things
You start to sense that slowly
You're becoming someone else
And then you find yourself

When you make new friends in a brand new town
And you start to think about settlin' down
The things that would have been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell
And you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself

Where you go through life
So sure of where you’re headin'
And you wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that’s when you find yourself

When you meet the one
That you've been waitin' for
And she's everything that you want and more
You look at her and you finally start to live for some one else
And then you find yourself
That’s when you find yourself

When we go through life
So sure of where we're headin'
And we wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself

Kylee has a Family Blog

So Kylee has posted a new family blog. I was good at writing about things that I think about, but I wasn't very good at giving updates with the family. So Kylee took over responsibility for that. This is the address:

www.duffupdate.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Cell Phone Costs

Cell phones are starting to make me very upset. I love how useful they are, and I love all the things that they can do, but I am tired of paying for them.

I sat down today and figured out that I spend about 1500 dollars a year on cell phones. That is a staggering amount of money. Now that is also with two phones for 1400 minutes a month. We never go over our minutes, in fact, we have quite a few rollover minutes that have added up. They are amazingly convenient also. For instance, we have an old car that tends to not work rather frequently. When that happens, and it has happened in extremely remote areas before, we just call someone and have them pick us up. If we didn't have a cell phone we would be trying to flag down strangers that are driving by-not an appealing option, especially with a wife and two kids.

But can I justify spending 1500 dollars a year on phones? It seems like it is hard to do. I have an iPhone. It brings that cost of the phone up 20$ a month to have the internet and 200 text messages and all the other nice stuff. It is an incredibly convenient device. Sam and I went to Denver last month and it was very nice to pull out the phone and get directions to wherever we were going.

This is more venting than anything. It just seems like 1500 dollars is way too much for a phone for one year. Let's say our plan was half as many minutes and half as much money, would it be worth it even then? We don't have a house phone, so we do save about 35$ a month there. Life is just incredibly expensive. I wish we didn't feel that cell phones are a necessity now.

Which brings up another point. I receive about 15 emails a day during the school year. Those are the emails that I have to respond to where someone is asking me a question or doing something similar. It makes life incredibly convenient to have a phone that lets me answer them from the spot. Does my phone actually make me money? I am starting law school soon, do you think that it will become more and more useful as time goes on? I think it may.