Pandora (my Blogathon site monitor) wins the “Most Unrelated Comment” award for her amazingly off chocolate comment on my DesiringGod/Squidoo post. (Yup, looks like I’ve posted the same sort of thing in just five days. Hey, I was sleepy and I forgot!) While it was related to a previous comment by Josh, it had nothing to do with the post itself!

Dell popped in to say she doesn’t like coffee at all — and at 1:30 in the morning, that provoked some deep thought on my part! So Dell, you win the “Most Thought-Provoking Comment” award! Congratulations!

And now, for the Grand Prize:

Josh Alves (sounds like “elves”) wins the “Most [New] Comments [Overall]“ award, coming in at 16 comments! (Technically I won with 19, but it’d be silly to award myself.)

Congratulations, everyone! The winners are being notified by e-mail right now!

Whew! It’s been a blast, folks, and I want to thank everyone who kept me company over these past 24 hours. (I especially want to thank my beautiful, loving, and all-around wonderful wife, Nicole, for covering for me yesterday morning! I owe you one dozens, Babe! )

Once I’m rested up, I’ll tally the results for the comment contests I was running. There’s still time to get in there! I’ll cut off comment counting after 9am Eastern, so anything between now and then still counts.

Well, time to get ready for church. Please pray that the 3- and 4-year-olds survive my sleep-deprived silliness!

So as this not-so-subtle tombstone reads, “Bye!”

frykitty over at the Blogathon blog asked, “will you do it again next year?” At this point I’d have to say YES! I’ve been through a trial by fire and I’ve survived — but just like any refining fire, it’s helped me see more clearly what is dross. Not only do I feel like I understand better how to prepare for an event like this, I also think I’m getting a better grasp on how to approach blogging, period.

Next year I plan to be “back and better than ever.” This has certainly been a fun experience!

(Must… stay… awake!)

Check it out. Then come back here and tell me what you think…

The past six hours have just flown by for me! WOW!

Just read a new post by Tim Challies. It’s a good post, but he said something in there that really irks me:

I believe that music, assembled notes and chords, is morally neutral. I don’t think there is music that is inherently good and music that is inherently evil.

I don’t think this is a Biblically-informed statement. Now I’m not knocking Challies—Tim could probably thrash me in theological debates most any day. No, this is a very common statement to make, but I believe it’s unbiblical. I’ll try to explain why, but please keep in mind that I’ve been up for about 24 hours now…

God didn’t complete His act of Creation on the sixth day and call it “neutral” — He called it “very good.” When He acknowledged the man’s need of a helpmeet, He didn’t say, “It is morally neutral that the man be alone, so I’ll flip a coin (or whatever God does) to decide whether or not to give Him a woman.” He said, “It is not good…”

The universe is God’s handiwork, and God is Good. Sin has wrecked much in the universe, and sin is evil. It’s like two sides of a coin: if you flip a coin, it could land on either heads or tails. Anyone with half a brain would acknowledge this. However, it is utter folly (or a strange application of quantum mechanics) to claim that a coin has some sort of mystical “neutral” side to it until it gets flipped.

I think we’re in danger of self-deception the moment we think in terms of moral neutrality — because if something isn’t actively (or inherently) glorifying God, then is it not morally repugnant to Him?

Music was created by God. However, music was also employed by the Prince of Lies. It’s either one or the other, folks. That something can be either good or evil does not mean it is neutral; no, regardless of its moral adaptibility, everything in the universe has a moral default — and that default will either be good or evil. There is no middle ground.

So what does this have to do with rap music (or music in general)? I would say that, in light of the Fall of Man, all human employment of music is tainted with evil—to varying degrees, but tainted nonetheless. Music can be redeemed in Christ, and this doesn’t mean “only Middle-English hymns” or “only praise choruses from the 1980s.” Such definitions miss the point of music.

The purpose of music is to praise God. Fallen Man has taken this gift and spent it on his idols—whether beautiful women, drunkenness, or simply himself, man has used this worship tool to worship other things. Thus, I would say that any employment of music divorced from praise of God is evil, and any employment of music directed as praise to God is good.

It bothers me to no end to have a web page I’m working on misbehave, leaving me with no clue why it isn’t doing what I want it to do. And most of the time, it’s some really dumb mistake I made somewhere.

This is what I’ve been dealing with for about 45 minutes now. Lack of sleep hasn’t helped the matter… but the problem is solved now, and I can move onto other issues!

Like VeggieTales. Has anyone (currently reading my blog) seen the films? What do you think of them?

Coding’s taking longer on the new layout than I’d hoped for, but it’s still going quicker than previous designs have. I guess now I know how to schedule design projects!

I wonder if perhaps I suffer from knowitallism. It doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you could successfully self-diagnose, but what do I know?

But hey, it’s free—so I guess I oughtta take what I can get, huh?

Because everyone should have a little happy randomness in their lives!

I’ve got extra-strong coffee in the pot, and I’m barefoot — which means right now my feet are staying pretty cold. That’s got a quickening effect on me!

I’m also redesigning my blog, and probably the main website it branches off of.

And if the past month is any indication, my nursing wife and son are sure to check up on me every 2-3 hours.

If we can get a full-fledged Spider-Man 3 trailer a whole year before the film is set to debut, why can’t I put up a little teaser image from the redesign I’m working on?

Oh, and I’m actually getting work done on a redesign. Stay tuned!

That’s right: no one. Including myself.

So like the first two billy goats gruff, I’ll ask you to just wait for the “bigger and better” that’s surely coming up any minute now.

I hope!

Oh, and I just remembered that I brought in a bunch of CDs from the car. I’ll have to start listening to ‘em… help keep the eyelids up! There’s a Derek Webb album in there that I haven’t listened to in months because the car’s player is on the fritz. (That seems to happen to CD players in our Explorer. I wonder if the car’s the problem…)

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to make some coffee.

Speaking of coffee, I might just be weird… but I can’t stand Starbucks. Really! I much prefer Panera Bread’s Hazelnut House Blend.

Now you know. (And knowing is half the battle! G.I. Joe!!!)

…

Of course, all that’s in the house is Folgers.

Not only does the main webSeitler.com site need major surgery; I’m also planning to give this here blog a facelift, too! I think I might just take the Midnight-to-6am timeframe to get all of that done. (I’ll have you know I do some of my best work when I’m incredibly sleep-deprived!) It’ll also possibly be the focus of my posts for a while…

Anyway, here’s a few of the sites I check out for some basic “oh, you can do that?” inspiration and gut-checks:

• CSSBloom
• CSSElite
• CSSVault
• Thomas Marban’s Screenblog

I first learned of The Coral Castle years ago, thanks to Andrew Peterson.

So down to the water I will come
To raise for her this castle with my hands
And steal away before the morning comes
Cause I don’t need her love to love her all I can

Well, well. That was a nice resolution, and in another context I’d love the film.

But it was creepy. I think I’d have bad dreams, if I were going to sleep tonight.

I’m sorry, I just can’t get far enough past a Biblical view of death and the afterlife to really enjoy this film the way it was intended. I almost wish I could…

And with that, Nicole is off to bed. I’m now the only person in the house who’s awake — and I’ve got to try and keep it that way.

DVD Timestamp: 0:50:08

Okay, so we’re starting to see some actual story here. For some reason, I don’t think that new guy is very nice.

And is Victor even still alive at this point?

DVD Timestamp: 0:24:26

Psychadelic skeleton jazz… yeah. And what’s up with the constant “whoops, it’s a skeleton, so the arm’s gonna break off!” gags? Once or twice I get. I think we’re over the two-dozen mark at this point, and we’ve only seen dead people for what, three minutes?

Nicole: Well, I like it…

DVD Timestamp: 0:08:56

So far it’s okay. Haven’t really seen much yet, aside from the first song(?). I didn’t know this thing was a musical… and what’s with the butterfly? Seems this monochromatic hero-dude is attracted to the few symbols of beauty that exist in this gray, gray world he’s in…

Omigosh. Could this be… foreshadowing?!?!

Nicole is a Tim Burton nut. I think it almost killed her (no pun intended) that we didn’t see The Corpse Bride in the theaters.

Well, she’s exacted her revenge. She got it at a RedBox in the local Giant, and she wants to watch it on the computer.

Because that’s how we watch movies. We don’t have a television.

So… I’m going to liveblog the movie! Yeah… let’s see how well that gets pulled off.

UPDATE: She wants to check eBay auctions for rubber stamps, too. Oy vey.

Meltdown? What meltdown? Katie runs in circles talking gibberish all the time!

Nicole: Are you okay?

Travis: Yeah, it’s just… I’m overdue for posting, and things just aren’t going as fast as they should, and… I’m just tense… like some… really tense rope thing.

Nicole: You should just post that, seriously! And then that knock-knock joke with Katie.

Travis: What do you think I’m made of, typing fingers? ::wiggles fingers::

At its core, Christian hedonism springs from the the belief that delight in God in inextricably linked to gloryfying him — or in other words, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Go check out my Desiring God: Christian Hedonism in Daily Life lens at Squidoo, and let me know what you think! (Especially since it seems to be missing something vital, and I just can’t figutre out what that might be…)

The authorities in many nations are very sensitive about their image abroad. When they realize that outsiders are monitoring a prisoner’s situation, conditions may be improved.

For this we have a scriptural mandate. Read and pray through the following verses, which will help you understand the role you are undertaking and I will post how you can become an advocate and write to these prisoner’s in the next post. This is no doubt front line spiritual warfare and you will also need to pray through all your thinking and letter writing.

Hebrews 13:3
Matthew 25: 34-40
Matthew 5:10
1 Peter 3: 3-17
1 Peter 4: 12-14

Good stuff, Cindy—and everyone else be sure to check out her blog!

Well… um… I’m finally going through that Blogathon-surfing page I mentioned earlier…

We’re about to have supper — Nicole’s made some yummy meatballs in the Crock Pot® that are about to fill up some hoagies… and then our tummies.

Katie’s all dressed up like a princess. I’m the “King Papa” and Nicoles’ the “Queen Mama.” (It’s about the only thing she retained from when I read her The Princess and the Goblin last year.)

Chris Giarrusso (of Bullpen Bits fame) got back from this year’s San Diego Comicon and posted what future generations will assuredly consider the penultimate ‘con report — check it out!

~Travis (inspired by Pandora’s Darty Award entry.)

Nicole just went out to Target, and Katie woke up from her nap literally 5 seconds later.

Cranky.

And wet.

Like, very much so.

(I wonder if this is the new-sibling relapsing I’ve heard so much about.)

So now Katie’s in a too-full bath (with too much bubble soap, too — I think I was distracted) at least until I get another post churned out.

Ah, the joys of parenting… at least she hasn’t woken up Joshua yet!

You’ve got to check this out: a 20-page preview of Enlightenment (on sale in September?). I just can’t believe how cool this thing is. (It’s a bit disturbing, though, so don’t look if you’re disturbed by gory disembodied limbs and exploding frogs and stuff.)

How did I find out about this? The forums at ChristianComics.net. Check ‘em out!

Dave over at ***Dave Does the Blog is posting a bunch of comic book reviews for the Blogathon, including one for Daisy Kutter:

It’s a Western. No, it’s SF. No, it’s both. Firefly fans would enjoy this; the background of the world is never really explained, but we have six-shooters and robots and a female protagonist and trains, and a basically story that could be recast as a classic cowboy tale, if you were willing to settle for that.

Daisy’s a retired bandit, and a bit bored, when she… (keep reading @ DDtB)

I stumbled upon a freebie of issue 4 (the last of the 4-part miniseries) and Nicole fell in love with it. I’ll have to order the trade paperback eventually, I guess.

Alright, it seems a number of Blogathon participants are running contests, which is a cool idea! I think I’ll take that idea, repackage it and make it seem brand new…

Introducing the Blogathon 2006 Second Mouse Comment Contest! That’s right, you can win just by commenting here! I’ve got a number of fabulous prizes to give away to winners in the following categories:

• Most [new] comments [overall] (spam will be baleeted, and won’t count toward totals)
  This award goes to whoever (“whomever”? I can never remember which is used where) post the most new comments in my blog during the Blogathon (9am-9am Eastern, July 29th-30th). The winner in this category will receive a complete set (volumes 1-10) of Mickey Mouse Adventures!
• Most thought-provoking comment
  This winner will receive a copy of Walt Disney Treasures Vol. 1: 75 Years of Innovation!
• Most unrelated comment
  Um, this winner gets a postcard. Unless it’s my little sister, in which case she gets to see her nephew again.

I’ll pay the shipping (USPS Priority Mail) on all of that stuff. So how come I’ve got so many Disney comics books to give away? Well, I’m the Disney Comic Books Art Director at Gemstone Publishing, and these are my comp copies! That’s how much I love y’all. Or comments.

I’m pretty hungry… I’m gonna grab some cold fried chicken from the fridge.

Just came back to check in on the family and change my shirt — these guys sure picked a humid day to have us move them into 3rd-floor apartments! Sheesh! Of course, by the time I was done changing, the rest of the crew had finished loading the other guy’s stuff into the U-Haul and moved it over to his place, so they’re off to eat pizza and I’m back at the helm.

Boy, it sure seems warm in here… gotta remember to bring my own water next time…

So Nicole says there’s supposed to be timestamps in place… and here I thought that could’ve been figured out “automagically” or something. Maybe tonight I’ll write up some code or something so’s the Blogathon Monitors can track that stuff without bloggers changing their templates.

Hopefully Nicole hasn’t started writing up knitting tutorials or something. (Of course, if she did I couldn’t very well blame her… )

Well, I’m a-rarin’ to go!

I thought of something. Here’s a link to one of his favorite meals, White Chili, on my good friend Tammy’s blog. You can think about that for a few minutes while I think of something worth writing now that the baby’s alseep.

And speaking of web designer, WebSeitler Design should be back up and running again soon. Travis came up with the name “WebSeitler” a few years ago. I thought it was cute and catchy (he’s a website-ler, like a carpenter) and most important of all–it helps people to correctly pronounce our last name (Site-Ler). But since then, I’ve been using webseitler as my username all over the ‘net and he’s not done a thing with it. Recently, we were talking about what he really loves in life and web design is one of those things. So plans are in the works to transform WebSeitler.com back into the lovely “business card” it used to be.

So, if you are in need of some fabulous web design, think of Travis Seitler! Because he’s too humble to ever brag about himself. He needs a loud-mouthed wife to come along and spread the word!

This little cutie says it’s time for his Elevenses.

I’m interested to see just how much this (not-so) little guy weighs at his appointment on the 1st. He’s growing into quite a Chunk-a-Munk!

I’ll be back after while…

(EDIT: Travis has shrunk the image!)

Something else I treasure in my man is his compassionate nature (he’ll probably say “Aww!” when he reads how I was trying to type this post one-handed). He’s a man full of kindness and sympathy. If your grandmother was sick and dying, he’d be all torn up about it, even if he’d never met you. And he’d probably be thinking of five different ways he could practically serve you in your time of need. Whenever I’m feeling ill, Travis seems to come down with the exact same symptoms as I have. Once he realizes it’s just “empathy pains,” he’ll go to any length to take care of me. Do I need some food? Something to drink? He’s so caring. Ah, what a sweetie!

And he’s a man of conviction. He’s a man who keeps his word. But more than that, he’s a deep thinker who doesn’t take life lightly. All these theological posts of his stem from his passion to press in to know more of God and to worship Him more accurately. If Travis sees something in God’s Word and feels convicted by God’s Spirit, he’s not afraid to step out and act on it. He’s zealous to do good works—feeding orphans, giving to brothers and sisters in need, sharing our possessions, living with eternity in mind. Sometimes he doubts himself and he’ll tell me he thinks that he’s leading our family poorly. Yet when I stop to look at the past, I see so much leadership! Yeah, we may not sit down for an hour of family devotions every day—so what! That doesn’t make a man a leader. It’s the day-to-day decisions he makes that lead and guide us. He doesn’t always see how he’s been continually exhorting us to live for Christ in the little details of our lives. And he must not think about how his hours of studying and reading up on little things are serving us. He doesn’t take life lightly and I so appreciate that. Well, most of the time—when I agree with him. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic.’

Boy, typing one-handed takes a looooong time.

Katie and I had a delightful breakfast this morning! (Nicole was resting up for Joshua’s next meal.) Trader Joe’s has these great little frozen blueberry waffles — just pop’em into the toaster oven and you’re all set. It’s perfect for the dad-pinch-hitting-for-breakfast-prep, and you don’t feel like a corporate sell-out (the way you would eating Eggos)!

Doesn’t Katie look ecstatic?! I tell ya, folks, it’s a wonder food!

Good morning, everyone! It’s about 9am Eastern and I’m rarin’ to go! I’ve got a bunch of ideas lined up, and I’m really excited about this thing! I’m one of 366 bloggers who are taking part in the event; let’s see how long I last!

I just realized there’s a way to check out random ‘thonners… cool!

Oh, and my lovely wife, Nicole, is going to pinch-hit if I need her to. She is my helpmeet, you know.