Century Grill shuts down reception?

My fiance and I had this great idea to have a very small reception for the key friends in our life, and make it as opulent as T would have LIKED the wedding to be. So two months ago we booked and pre-authed the payment on our credit card. Sounds like we have a solid commitment for 31 people on July 22nd from them.

So T calls me today and tells me that the booking agent from Century Grill called, and told us we can't have the restaurant on that day, because Champ Car needs it. Now I would understand if they had told us prior to booking that it was not available, I would probably even understand if they had cancelled on us prior to use putting down the credit card. But we clearly had an informal contract with these people, and we dedicated a couple large of credit towards it. They have offered another room that is smaller, less appealing, at a different restaurant downtown. So the location, room, parking sucks, and now I feel like I'm being screwed/used/abused.

We of course haven't accepted the other room yet, I still think we need to fight for this. We have however started looking at other locations, and if this goes the way I hope it won't, I'll have to write a letter to the Journal, Sun, and BBB, and use the ever powerful word of mouth to keep this story shared.

Is it too much for businesses to keep commitments?

Learning Dutch

Some people would say I'm somewhat crazy to try and learn the language of a country before I visit it. What they don't know is that I don't so much learn the language as remember about 10 words. At any rate I think I will try this system to learn dutch. Seems interesting.

http://www.rosettastone.com/en/individuals/method

Power's Out

I woke up with the power out,
not really something to shout about.
Ice has covered up my parents hands
don't have any dreams don't have any plans.

I went out into the night,
I went out to find some light.
Kids are swingin' from the power lines,
nobody's home, so nobody minds.

I woke up on the darkest night,
neighbors all were shoutin' that they found the light.
(We found the light)
Shadows jumpin' all over the walls
some of them big, some of them small.

I went out into the night.
I went out to pick a fight with anyone.
Light a candle for the kids,
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid!

Ice has covered up my parents hands
don't have any dreams, don't have any plans.
Growin' up in some strange storm,
nobody's cold, nobody's warm.

I went out into the night,
I went out to find some light.
Kids are dyin' out in the snow,
look at them go, look at them go!

And the power's out in the heart of man,
take it from your heart put in your hand.(hand)

What's the plan? What's the plan?

Is it a dream? Is it a lie?
I think I'll let you decide.
Just light a candle for the kids,
Jesus Christ don't keep it hid!

Cause nothin's hid, from us kids!
You ain't foolin' nobody with the lights out!

And the power's out in the heart of man,
take it from your heart put in your hand.
And there's something wrong in the heart of man,
Take it from your heart and put it in your hand!

-Arcade Fire, Power Out

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Advanced copies of Thom Yorke's "The Eraser" made it on the web awhile ago. My friend tells me they sound very promising. Looking forward to more "Radiohead".

Updates

I've updated the side bar with some occasionally great blogs, and my Amazon wishlist. I figure it's a good way to keep track of books I want and need to read. Any suggestions? Comment or chat me up on msn.

You all rock.

Media Warming

"Global Warming" is now a recurring theme in our culture and generally understood by grade school children. When it's a really nice day out we "thank global warming". And why not, we need to make light of something that has the potential to be true. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is a political piece dealing with this whole mess. From what I understand it's mostly propagandist and not overly grounded in too much fact. This article speaks to THAT reality. So what do you believe?

I hate the fact that I despise watching the news. I'm an information junkie, and I love learning about all kinds of random and relevant things. And the news doesn't provide it. The BBC radio is the closest thing I've ever heard to good reporting. We need to change the way new broadcasting is done in our country. Less ratings, more relevance. As long as we are depending on a business model that encourages the negative and sensationalist stories to be aired, that's what we'll get. It's possible online delivery methods will fix that, but that's probably 10 years down the road (mainstream market acceptance).

So I think this thread of thought is prevalent among the post-modern generation, and it will likely affect change. I'm just impatient for it to get here.

A challenge?

So bear with me as I put into perspective some thoughts that have been percolating for quite awhile.

I think it is wise, and in many cases necessary, for leaders to get out of their zones of leadership and experience the culture of a similar organization. This primarily applies to the church, but can also be applied to business, schools, coffee shops, restaurants, musical preferences etc. The perspective gained from a regular change of scenery is invaluable to the leaders understanding of a community as a whole. Let me give you an example.

Two years ago I switched out of a rather drab church at which I had been attending for 14 years. I had rarely done much else, but for the last two years I was there was convinced that while the grass may not be lushly greener on the other side, it had to be greener that what I was feeding on where I was. I was right, and God put me in a very cool place where two years later I'm a part of a church plant, in leadership, and very excited. What's my point?

During that period of growing up, learning, adjusting, and experiencing what I would term a "dry" chruch experience (with peeks at what God has in store), I was isolated from external influence, and had little context to guage whether the discontent I was experiencing was justified. Once I was old enough (read: had a car) I was able to experience a diversity of churches and spirtual environments. This changed my perspective in a healthy way. You're still asking, what's my point?

In short, all leaders should "get out" once every quarter (businessy term) or so. I recently had a chance to "get out" and play with a worship team that was doing the ordination service for a local major denomination. It gave me huge perspective on where I had been, where I've come to, and ideas and excitement for where I can go in the environment God has placed me. I encourage every leader to figure out how they can get away and change their worldview with something "different". Try it at least once.