These are two entries I wrote in my old "meditations" blog documenting much of my spiritual journey that led me to Unitarian Universalism as my chosen faith as well as my journey as a Unitarian Universalist.  I feel they're worth reflecting on as we say goodbye to 2011 considering that 2011 was one of the best years of my life and easily the best year in quite a few years (at least since 2007 if not 2003) and that has been in large part because of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami and Unitarian Universalism in general.  The amount of faith and trust that the people of UUCM have put in me in the year and a half I've been there has truly changed my life.  I had only been here a few short months when they asked me to be on the ministerial search committee to find and call a new settled minister.  I was kind of amazed that they were entrusting me with such an important decision.  The whole process taught me so much and gave me so much valuable experie...

    by Derrick Mustelier JANUARY 2ND COLLEGE BOWL GAME RUNNING DIARY                         Our schedule for the day: TicketCity Bowl: #19 Houston @ #22 Penn State Outback Bowl: #17 Michigan State @ #16 Georgia Capital One Bowl: #20 Nebraska @ #9 South Carolina Gator Bowl: Ohio State @ Florida Rose Bowl: #10 Wisconsin @ #5 Oregon Fiesta Bowl: #4 Stanford @ #3 Oklahoma State 12:00 -- TicketCity Bowl Begins (12:09): As I was typing this, Case Keenum just threw a freaking RAINBOW to score the first TD in the TicketCity Bowl in under two minutes game time.  This kid may be as good an NFL prospect as any QB in the country right now. (12:24): Not for nothing, but if I threw the ball like 60 times every game I'd probably be pretty accurate too #CaseKeenum (12:28): Does anyone else kinda wish Penn State was playing Notre Dame right now? #ChildRapeBowl (12...

Welcome one and all to the wonderful world of Vundablog. What is Vundablog, you're probably wondering. I assume you've deduced it is indeed a blog on these vast and wild internets. But what the hell does Vunda mean? It means turkey waffles... ok it doesn't mean that but stay tuned and maybe I'll explain it  one day. I am Stephen Escudero, one of Vundablog's founders. I am an aspiring writer, filmmaker, and human. Hope you enjoy the Vundablog and bear with us as we grow and change and hopefully expand until the eventual conquest of earth and this solar system. -Stephen Escudero

So.  What does Occupy stand for?  What are their demands?  What are they trying to accomplish?  That seems to be all you hear the media say about the Occupy movement and it kind of makes you wonder if the media has been collectively living under a rock.  The signs at the protests are clear as day.  The declarations adopted by the General Assemblies of many of the Occupy encampments are very explicit.  Wall Street, with help from Washington politicians they’ve paid good money for, are hijacking our economy and our country and taking it on a hundred and thirty mile-per-hour joyride with all of us riding unwillingly in the passenger seat. This is why we Occupy! https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-U2nJnW1vFRo/TsQYr9m9GsI/AAAAAAAAAFE/9cTpf5E7cFI/s912/big-bank-theory-chart-large.jpg This is a chart posted on a website called Mother Jones.  The title of the chart is “The Final Four Financial Institutions.”  As you can see, up until about 1996 there w...

1. Darkest Hour - The Sadist Nation 2. Crestfallen - Nine to Five RSVP 3. Every Time I Die - Enter Without Knocking and Notifying the Police 4. Every Time I Die - The Logic of Crocodiles 5. Refused - Protest Song '68 6. Leftover Crack - Gang Control 7. Thrice - Cold Cash and Colder Hearts 8. Thursday - For the Workforce, Drowning 9. Rage Against the machine - The Ghost of Tom Joad (Bruce Springsteen cover) 10. Fear Factory - Securitron (Police State 2000) 11. Propagandhi - Purina Hall of Fame 12. Against Me! - What We Worked For 13. Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome 14. The Beatles - Revolution 1 15. On the Strings Of - Brick By Brick 16. This Is My Fist! - Voice from Occupationland 17. Aus Rotten - Welfare Recipients 18. Refused - Deadly Rhythm 19. The Assistant - 93,800 Hours

1. Baroness - Ogeechee Hymnal 2. Baroness - A Horse Called Golgotha 3. Envy - A Far-Off Reason 4. Elliott - Voices 5. Elliott - Calm Americans 6. Far - Bury White 7. Deftones - Around the Fur 8. Sevendust - Grasp 9. Alice In Chains - Would? 10. Stone Temple Pilots - Down 11. Queens of the Stone Age - Song for the Dead 12. Radiohead - Myxomatosis 13. Adele - Rumour Has It 14. Kanye West - Slow Jamz 15. (hed) PE - Bartender 16. Jimi Hendrix - Red House (Live from Woodstock) 17. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog 18. A Perfect Circle - The Package 19. Nine Inch Nails - Somewhat Damaged

OK well I procrastinated and missed my deadline on last week's picks so here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna go through and, as honestly as possible, I'm going to talk about what teams I would have picked last week (believe me, I can already see quite a few I'd have picked wrong and I'm gonna own up to that).  Then I'll do the rest of the column like I normally would. Two Weeks Ago Highlights: Absolutely NAILED wins by FIU, Texas, Arizona State, and Michigan.  Also 2-0-1 on the spreads (USC/Utah was a push) Lowlights: Pretty much the only lowlight was the upset pick.  Guess I overestimated Jordan Wynn and the Utah offense. The Rest: Thought Alabama and South Carolina would win more comfortably than they did. No. 3 LSU at No. 25 Mississippi State -- ESPN -- Thursday, September 15th, 8:00pm Definitely would have picked LSU in this one (as evidenced by the fact that I have them #1 in my Top 25) No. 21 Auburn at Clemson   -- ABC -- 12:00pm I really thought Au...

“When we move, it’s a movement.”  Those are the words of a guy named Will Killingsworth from a band called Orchid and of no group are these words truer than of young adults.  Whether the young adults of this congregation, of this faith, of this country, and of this planet--whether they like it or not, every move we make is a movement because we are the ones who are next in line to lead.  I really wish so badly that you all could have been with me in Charlotte to see the irrepressible energy, the innovative ideas, and the incredible sense of focus, purpose, and overwhelming forward momentum oozing out of the UU Young Adults.  You guys would have seriously fallen out of your chairs.  I was overcome by a tsunami of optimism and hope for the future of not just that faith but of our country and our world.  These kids are already leaders, now, today, and they’re going to take us places, ladies and gentlemen.  You can either be along for the ride or get left ...