Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, has posted a new entry about the iPod. According to Rose, the entire iPod line is set to be revamped. (Brilliant move, since the US$199 iPhone will undoubtedly eat into its profits.) Cosmetic changes to the Nano, updated software, a new iTunes… all in the span of three weeks! We’re talking about iPod price drops in less than three weeks - all to the tune of less than US$200! What does that mean? An 80GB iPod for less than PHP7,000? Bring it!!

The biggest piece of news: significant price drops so it won’t compete with the iPhone! I may not have to take out a few payday loans to finally have an iPod!

(Listen to Feels Like Redemption by Michael English off his new album The Prodigal Son Comes Home and read Michael English Feels Like Redemption lyrics on this post. GannsDeen.com does not offer Feels Like Redemption mp3’s or Michael English mp3s for free download or paid downloads. If you like what you hear, please leave a comment in the Comments box. Come back to GannsDeen.com for the latest and best in Christian, country, and pop music.)

Most people remember contemporary Christian singer Michael English, Dove Award winner, for his scandalous 1994 affair, but Christian audiences are a forgiving bunch, and the new single, Feels Like Redemption, is garnering airplay on Inspo charts across the United States. It’s about time, I say. The former Gaither Vocal Band vocalist hits a home run with this triumphant ballad, and I think English has suffered enough. Emotion-filled and certainly heartfelt, Feels Like Redemption is a return to form of this brilliant singer. Welcome back, Michael, we’ve missed you.

Listen to Michael English Feels Like Redemption mp3
Read the Feels Like Redemption by Michael English lyrics after the jump.
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I have been struggling for the past three weeks with Noah’s SD card, and it’s driving me batty!

My Nokia 5300 Xpress Music, a gift from my beautiful wife, is designed for the music lover. When I first received it, I used the PC Suite it came with to sync the phone and transfer music in and out of it, which worked fine. Unfortunately, when I transferred jobs, I was assigned a Macbook Pro (named Macky), and I could no longer sync Noah, because, apparently, Nokia doesn’t produce similar software for Mac users. (Why use a Nokia phone and mp3 player when you can have an iPod and iPhone? Blast you, Steve Jobs, for your savvy future-telling skills!)

Noah has a ‘data storage’ function that enables it to upload information and the like via USB. For some reason, though, the Music folder, when synced with my Mac (and Cathy’s subsequent PC), doesn’t reflect the songs in the memory card. They’re like 180MB worth of ghost songs!

The end result? Noah has 51 songs totaling almost 180MB that I want to erase to make room for new songs, but can’t, because they doesn’t show up on the USB. I reinstalled the Nokia PC Suite software last night on Cathy’s PC to see if I could erase it using the legit software, but even that isn’t working. When I removed the memory card from Noah, the phone told me it had no songs in its memory, which tells me this is really a memory card issue.

*sigh* So my next action plan is to bring the memory card to Nokia’s service center to have them look at it. Seeing as I’ve had this phone for less than a year, I’m hoping that any issues I may have with the card can be resolved with their simply replacing the card. Hopefully. If not, I’m going to have to either buy a new memory card or just deal with this one, which sucks because 180MB is a lot of space.

I am now on Week 2 of my ‘Rest of My Life’ fitness program. I call it that because I intend to stick to it for, well, the rest of my life. (I can hear Raft3r now going ‘yeah right.’)

The ‘Rest of My Life’ diet is an amalgam of two fitness programs: the Fit For Life program of Harvey Diamond and the Get With the Program program of Bob Greene. Diamond’s program will help me deal with my food intake, making me eat healthier with almost 90% of my food intake being fruits and vegetables (which I love). Greene’s program, on the other hand, helps me get to the bottom of my issues, which include binge eating and emotional eating.

The end result, ideally, will be an overall healthier me.

Yesterday, I learned I won a gift certificate from Jaymie for a discount off a Nike+ Sportsband. (Thank you, Jaymie!!) From an original PHP3,300, I can get it for PHP2,700. I didn’t expect to win it, so this comes as a bit of a surprise; I don’t exactly have the budget for it. But after Pastor Joey Bonifacio spoke the world of his Nike+, I realized this was just what I needed - okay, wanted - to jumpstart my exercise program. (Since my Gold’s membership has expired and no one seems to want to join me for Lazer Tag or badminton, it’s been a lonely exercise trek.)

(So it’s not a need, it’s a want. The Bible tells me the Lord will grant the desires of my heart in accordance with His will and desires for me as I desire Him too, so I guess I will just have to believe Him for it.)

The GC also comes quid pro quo: if I buy the Nike+ Sports band, I should ideally participate in Nike Philippines’ upcoming Human Race on August 31. Jason, one of my volunteers, has been training for this marathon for months; am I so self-deluded to think that I should join this marathon having NO training, less than two weeks before the event?

Well, regardless of whether or not I get the Nike+ Sports band, I think I will start running. If Joey Bonifacio says it’s remarkably good for him, it’s gotta be good for me too.

Meanwhile, if y’all wanna join the Nike+ Human Race, you can sign up at any Nike Park store on or before the 30th of August.

Jennifer Hudson’s Spotlight is getting more remix love from some of the bigger names. (Mashup or not, they’re still pretty cool.)

This Jennifer Hudson Spotlight remix features Young Jeezy.

This remix of Jennifer Hudson’s Spotlight features Rick Ross.

Current Billboard positions for Jennifer Hudson’s Spotlight bode well.
Hot R&B/Hiphop Songs: #12 (up one notch)
Hot R&B Airplay: #6 (up two notches)
Hot Dance Club Play: #13 (up one notch)

Some people say you are what you eat. I say you are what you listen to.

My friend and pastor Rich Blaylock listens to podcasts from some of Christianity’s most electrifying apologists. That’s why he’s insightful and deep for his 24 years.

(Of course he also listens to really loud rock. This morning, I had to check my eye sockets, ears, nostrils, and mouth for signs of bleeding. I say he’s going to be the rock on which God builds His church.)

Another friend and co-worker, Mich, listens to a variety of musical styles, including alternative rock. That’s just about right; in case Rich isn’t the rock on which God will build His church, Mich is the alternative rock. She gets along well with a variety of people of differing ages and social strata; someone whose musical tastes linger on the wide gamut of musical personalities that make up alt rock would fit in, methinks, with all types of people.

My wife Cathy likes R&B-type grooves along the lines of Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Elliott Yamin. She needs music like this to handle the pressures of her job. R&B can also stand for riveting and beautiful, which she is.

I listen to pop fluff, so I’m fluffy. Analogical stretches aside, I go for anything with a tight sense of harmony. We Are The World-type songs, you know, or Barbara Ann (Beach Boys), The Lion Sleeps Tonight (The Tokens), even Hold On (Wilson Phillips). And of course, gospel and Contemporary Christian Music provides much opportunity for layers and layers of harmony.

This 2003 study says people are drawn to musical styles that reflect their personalities. According to the study, people who listen to “reflective and complex” music score well in tests that measure verbal ability, self-perceived intelligence and political liberalism; people who enjoy “upbeat and conventional” music score highly on extraversion, self-perceived physical attractiveness, athleticism and political conservatism.

What music do you listen to? Do you think it reflects who you are?

Last Sunday, I attended the 11AM service at Victory Fort Bonifacio, the progressive church in Makati to which I belong. The Sunday message was delivered by 24-year-old Richard Blaylock, Victory Fort’s youth pastor, and I tell you, he knocked it - CRACK! - out of the ballpark.

Rich was amazing. He was eloquent, confident, and funny. He connected to old and young people in the church, and save for a poorly chosen video - yes, Rich, you liked Dodgeball, but we didn’t, and that clip was just cruel - it was a perfect message.

I was so blown away by Rich’s preaching that it struck me yesterday that many of the men I admire most in life are significantly younger than I.

Pastor Dennis Sy, pastor of Victory Greenhills, a church in Greenhills I used to attend until I started working for the Fort (I MISS YOU, GREENHILLS!), is only 27. Pastor Dennis Sy has it all: humor, passion, heart. Victory Greenhills is the growing Greenhills church it is because of the volunteers and the way he invites and inspires them to rise up to every challenge.

Pastor Carlos Antonio, Director of Every Nation Productions and one of the most imaginative, effervescent, charismatic people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, is 29. Caloy Antonio is a wellspring of ideas, a virtual library of creativity. Ah, his sense of humor! He was making fun of me this afternoon and I called him ‘fathermocker.’ He laughed his huge laugh; a Christian man who can appreciate a good, albeit slightly dirty, pun, is always tops in my book.

And then there’s Pastor Rich. I have the privilege of working with Rich daily; I often have lunch with him (Lord knows why he chooses to hang out with me). The depth of this man always astounds me; his wisdom and insight is unparalleled for someone his age. Despite that, when he gets to horsing around with Teri, our worship coordinator, or talking about Metal Gear or other videogames that go - WHOOSH! - over my head, his eyes gleam with a mischief that reminds me that he is also still a kid at heart.

In Timothy 4:12, Paul says, “Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young. Instead, be an example to the believers with your words, your actions, your love, your faith, and your pure life.”

No matter how young you are, God can use you mightily. Age is nothing but a number; there are no handicaps with God. He has used the weak to chastise the strong, and he can use you - yes, YOU - to touch someone, regardless of how old you are. What matters is this: are you willing to be used and are you ready to do what it takes so you can be used?

I look at the young men and women of our church and I am so encouraged to raise my son Nathan well so he can join their ranks. I look at Rafa Oca, who’s making waves at Victory Greenhills even as a volunteer, so funny and so passionate about serving God. I look at young artists like Benjo Marquez, whose smile can light up a room and whose story about being healed from cancer has strengthened the faith of many an old geezer like me, or at pastor kids like Joshua Isleta or Nathan Punzalan, and I wonder what God holds in store for these guys. I know one thing: it’s gonna be so bright, we gotta wear shades.

(And with that post, I reveal my age. Cheers!)

Note: If you’re interested in hearing what Rich had to say, you can click here to download his podcast. (It’s still not up yet; I’ll give the link once it’s up.)

In the wake of Mandisa’s God Speaking revival by Alvin and the Chipmunks, I discover they also revive Jennifer Hudson’s Spotlight! Wow, this music editor has excellent musical taste. TWO THUMBS UP!

Mandisa’s God Speaking gets a reworking courtesy of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Even when sped up 30 times, Mandisa still sounds spectacular!

How many blogs do you maintain?

I’ve been a blogger since 1999. I started one blog back then. Today, I maintain almost 12.

It’s hard to maintain quality when you have that many blogs. It’s just too complicated.

Time to settle things down and simplify things. I’ve watered down my online - and offline - relationships with all this hullabahoo. It’s time to fix up my blog life, glue things shut, and put an end to the madness.

Two blogs: GannsDeen.com and Hyundai Getz Philippines: Life With Gina. Everything that I wish to blog about should ideally fall under these two.

If you’re a blog buddy, holler in my Comments box so I can start fresh and add you to a set of new links on the right sidebar.

I’m taking it back to basics, and it’s going to be so much easier. Please join me on this simpler, easier, more interesting ride.