Its been a while since our last post here and we make no excuses. The last few weeks have been pretty eventful for the staff of powellblog.com. We now have four less wisdom teeth, one less job, one new school, and soon, hopefully, one less car.

First among the events of said time line was the extraction of wisdom teeth. While this wasn’t, and I expect never will be, a pleasant experience, it wasn’t that bad. Which is kind of like saying, “I got beat up the other day, but it wasn’t that bad. I’ve seen other people get beat up waaaay worse.” Not fun, but not nearly as painful as the experience was for some of my friends. For that I am very thankful. I’ve learned three main things from the ordeal: 1. When your diet consists entirely of low-carb ice cream and stout antibiotics, your stomach does not approve 2. Vicodin has just about zero effect on me, which is another reason I’m thankful the pain wasn’t unbearable 3. It’s utterly amazing how much food can get stuck in your tooth sockets as they are healing. Very gross. If you, dear reader, find yourself needing this procedure, I highly recommend Baywood Dental. While it did take a while to actually get my appointment started, I was in and out of the operation in 20 minutes. Pretty impressive.

Second on the time line is my finding out that I will soon be leaving my place of employment, Beldin Technologies. December first, which oddly enough will be my three year anniversary with the company, will be my last day working with Charlie at BT. Thankfully, because I’ve been with the company for three full years, I’ll be receiving four months salary and a new Cadillac upon my retirement. Thanks Charlie! Seriously though, these last three years working there have been BY FAR the best employment experience I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure as far as the software industry goes I couldn’t have worked for a better boss or a better company and I’m very thankful for these last three years. I’ll be very sad to leave next Friday, but excited to see what direction the business takes over the next few years.

Which leads to point C, or III, or 3 – the new school. As you probably already figured out from my not so subtle graphic at the top of this post, that school is Dallas Theological Semiary, aka DTS. I found out this morning that I’ve been accepted to the Master of Arts in Christian Education program. I’ll be moving in January to study under some of the top professors in the country, taking classes like “Theological Education in Intercultural Contexts” and “Designing Biblical Instruction”. I’m really excited to start working through my 65 units. Indeed, I have much to be thankful for this holiday.

And finally, speaking of being thankful, the time has come for me to sell my Nova. After almost two years, and hundreds of hours of work, and more dollars than I care to admit, it is time for me to wave goodbye. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a buyer within the next month, which could be somewhat difficult. The car is basically done, with the exception of body and paint, which usually makes a car like this much harder to sell. Most people who are willing to spend money on this type of car either want it totally finished, or not yet begun. So if you happen to know anybody who wants a great deal on an awesome 66 Nova that they can paint whatever color they want, be sure to give them my email address.

One final note, I got a new CD today, actually a box set, that I highly recommend. It’s called Songs For Christmas and it’s a 5 disc set from your favorite eclectic folk singer and mine, Sufjan Stevens (see review below). I broke the cardinal rule of Christmas music by listening to it a whole day before Thanksgiving, but I did it for you. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

Reason to not travel to Hollywood: The Man will give you a ridiculously lame parking ticket.

Reason to travel to Hollywood: you get to see these guys rock out.

There are all different types of bands out there in this marvelous world. There are country bands, rock bands, folk bands, pop bands, jazz bands, worship bands, hardcore bands, and rap bands ers. One of my favorite pastimes is going to listen to bands (or solo artists, I don’t discriminate) live in concert. There are some bands that great on an album, but their live performance is a let down. I can only think of a handful in this category, with the most recent being Mae – love their CDs, hated the concert. Then there are bands that have great albums and are equally as good live. Some of my favorites that I would put in this category are Weezer, Switchfoot, and Jimmy Eat World. I have seen all three several times and they never disappoint. Then, there is a third category of bands. Bands that have good albums, but are just flat out amazing on stage. In this category I would put bands like Radiohead and The Black Keys – I love their studio recordings but the digital audio pales in comparison to experiencing them live.

I am happy to say, I discovered another artist last night that fits firmly in the third category. His name is Sufjan Stevens, and his music is… well… basically… very different. But very cool. I’ve been a fan of his folk-rock style and his mad banjo picking skills for quite some time and have been looking forward to this show for a while. The opening band was an interesting act called My Brightest Diamond consisting of a girl on guitar and singing, accompanied by four violins and a cello. Overall, not the best opening band I’ve ever heard, but far from the worst, with a few pretty cool songs. Then, during the stage change we see Danny DeVito walking up our aisle. That’s right, the same short bald guy that starred opposite our governor in the 1988 classic Twins. Jeff totally nailed the normally awkward celebrity interaction. As he was walking back to his seat, Jeff nonchalantly yells out, “Hey Danny!” and we both casually wave. He totally waved right back as if he thought he knew us. This had the makings of a great evening.

Then the lights dimmed and the main event got under way. No less than 15 band members walked out on stage wearing matching butterfly wings and masks. Then Sufjan came out and sat behind the piano wearing his own set of giant bird wings and a feather mask. So great. I didn’t think it was possible for it to get any more random. Then two different times during the show they threw out a bunch of inflated toys into the crowd: first inflatable supermen on the song The Man Of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts, then inflatable Santa Clauses (or is it Santa Clausi?) during a yet to be released Christmas song, joyfully entitled The Worst Christmas Ever. The entire set was amazing. The band sounded incredible and Sufjan’s creativity and songwriting came alive with these really cool video clips they had playing behind them, and I couldn’t help but think to myself, “what is going on inside that guy’s head?”. I can’t speak to that, but I do know that Sufjan is a Christian in a demographic where probably 95% of his fanbase doesn’t share his faith. It was really encouraging to hear his songs communicate Christ, like The Transfiguration and Chicago. Interesting to hear the hip LA crowd sing along to lines like “You came to take us, to recreate us” and probably not realize what’s being talked about.

Anyway, I say all that to say this – if you’ve never heard of Sufjan Stevens, I highly recommend you check him out. His last four albums are all fantastic and he’s supposedly releasing a 5 disc Christmas album in November. On top of that, if you ever get the chance to see he and his friends perform – don’t miss it. It’s a unique experience that you won’t forget. I promise.