It was last Friday night when I visited the Kroger's on Brentwood Ave. with one thought in mind: I was hungry. I hadn't eaten since lunch, and it was now close to 23:00, and I was starving. I thought about my various options...get a TV dinner, pop it into whatever microwave I could find - but I didn't want to take the time to find a microwave. I thought about getting some fresh produce, but I couldn't find anything that I could easily eat my in my car without utensils or plates or bowls that didn't require preparation or didn't carry an insane price tag. It was then that it hit me...the smell of freshly-baked bread, and suddenly I had an intense craving for a good bagel. Not the crappy, overpriced, $3 bagels you get from Starbucks, a fresh-baked, whole-grain soft chewy warm bagel with blueberries inside.

Sadly, it was not to be.

Since it was 23:00, most of the places that would have a good bagel were closed, so I settled on a $3.50 resealable bag of five blueberry bagels from the bread section. You get what you pay for, of course, and I was not impressed with the quality of these rubbery creations. The surface was almost oily, and oil is not something I care to find on the surface of my bagels. And in addition to being cold (Did I expect them to heat the bagels in the shelves or what?) the texture was a joke, and the flavor was almost absent. Panera's bagels were even worse - the outer skin was like concrete and more rubbery, and the dang thing cost more money. In my mind, a good bagel should be warm, soft, slightly chewy while not having a thick crust...a little, but not a rubbery outer shell. I have it on good authority that the Atlanta Bread Co.'s bagels are pretty good, I'll have to try them later, and an internet search turned up Noshville's Deli and Fido's for good bagels, both of which I will have to try.

That being said, we have a few other things to talk about out.

Even though I'm no longer the technical director of POG, or any church, I still like to keep on on church technology and church conferences, so I had to point out this awesome video of the Hillsong 2007 Conference opening. Watching this video makes me feel two things...completely sad that I'm no longer the leader of a tech ministry with the resources to do cool stuff like this, and hopeful that one day I will again be behind a sound board with thousands of people around me worshiping. While we're on the subject of churches, I want to mention an excellent song I heard at church a few weeks ago, "Revelation Song" by Gateway Worship - it blends the traditional hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" with some new lyrics and does a very nice job of it. And since we're talking about music, David Crowder's "Remedy" rocks, go buy it if you haven't.1

In other news, I'm attending Mosaic on Sundays - it's a smaller worship gathering of about one hundred people. The pastor there is very bald, and has a Jeff-like habit of breathing rapidly in short bursts for no apparent reason. But he seems cool. I'm helping out with the sound (Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming.) and playing piano for another church on Wednesdays.

Coming soonish, pictures, including pics of the apartment, and some discussions about usable space in cities.

1. M1, your copy is coming. Promise.

Exit, stage left. Sparks