Saturday, October 18, 2008

Project Complete!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, I finished fixing up my new bass. Here it is. I will be playing it this weekend at church. 



I replaced the pickguard with a black one and changed the volume and tone knobs. I also added some strap locks to secure my strap. 

The "Love" sticker was included in a sticker pack I ordered from TWLOHA a while back and I haven't been able to find a good place to put it....until now at least. I think it looks pretty cool. What do you think? 


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Greater Things

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

For the past 5 weeks, we been in a series at my church called "Greater Things". This has pretty much been the most important series we have ever had here as a church. Greater things is our people campaign that will be going on for the next 3 years. God is doing greater things in our lives, the lives of our family and our church and are excited to be part of what's coming. Let me show you what I mean. 

 

Here is another video of a super powerful moment we shared last weekend at CBG. 


Monday, October 06, 2008

My new project!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

So a friend of mine called me yesterday to tell me he was interested in purchasing one of my guitars (The one in the header on the left). Being that I am not really much of an electric guitar player and my friend has played it more than me, I decided to sell it to him. I immediately thought of a bass I had seen at a pawn shop near my house a few months back. I had fallen in love with it when I saw it but didn't have the money to pay for it. Well now I do so here it is. 
 

For those of you who know about guitars/basses and know me, you know I have been wanting this particular model for quite a while. I do, however, have some work to do on it. It needs some hardware replaced as well as some cleaning up. I really wish MAE was open this late so I wouldn't have to wait for tomorrow to go get the parts. I won't go into details but I'll post the picture of the finished product when I'm done. Peace for now!

P.S.
GO TENNESSEE AND GO FINS!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

My College Pick!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

So here it is. My 0fficial college football team is... Sorry it took me so long to post. 
(Cue drum roll)

Ok so I picked the Tennessee Vols a few weeks ago. Why you ask? well here it is. 
  • I am in love with the state of Tennessee and still have hopes of one day living there (particularly in Nashville). 
  • My friend Heather, knowing I have a strange love for Tennessee, gave me a Vols sticker a few months back after a trip she took to Tennessee. I put the sticker on my Guitar Case and ever since then I have had alot of people ask me if I am a Vols fan. I just say "No I just really like Nashville". Well now I am a Vols fan. Be proud Heather! 
  • One of my favorite NFL quarterbacks, Peyton Manning who currently plays for the Indianapolis Colts used to play for Tennessee. 
Photobucket

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

GO TEAM!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...
I am so excited that football season is finally here. I have always been a fan of football but never really got into it until a few years ago when my friend Miguel got me into really following the season. I've been hooked ever since. Last season I was able to make it to 2 dolphins and hopefully this year I will be able to go to more. Here are my top 5 the teams.

Miami Dolphins
Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks


Indianapolis Colts

New York Giants



Now when it comes to college football, I have never really been a fan. One of my friends told me, "Just pick a team and root for them". Seems easy enough so I picked one. I won't tell you who though. I will reveal that tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fighting!


Hello Fellow Bloggers... 

I have spent all this week fighting and fighting a cold. It hit me right on Sunday morning last week and hasn't left ever since. I have taken tons of medicine, fruit, liquids, vitamins and it has not gone away. Today it finally seemed to settle down a bit. However, this weekend is the first weekend I play acoustic guitar and lead a song at my church in the main service. I have been pretty excited yet worried that I worried I wouldn't be able to sing due to my sore throat. Well, I made it through today but I cannot talk anymore and my throat is once again killing me. As I write this I am drinking fresh squeezed lime juice and honey to help soothe my throat. All I can do now is go to sleep, pray, and hope that I'll wake up with a voice. Goodnight Blog world!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Back from Vacation!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, unfortunately my vacation time is officially over. I spent 4 days in Ocala, Fl with my dad and a few days relaxing at home. At Ocala, I pretty much did nothing but sleep, eat, watch tv, surf the net, sleep some more, eat some more and sleep even more. It wasn't like your typical vacation where you go to a million places and are always out. I relaxed so much and am now nice and refreshed and am ready to back to work. It was my dad's birthday on the 11th (I know...what a day right?) and we spent it fishing. Fishing has been something my dad and I have loved doing ever since I was a little kid. And since I was little, I always catch more fish than my dad! We didn't catch any this time but still had a good time. Here are a few photos of my vacation.














Back to Work!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Lots to do!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

As many of you know, I am currently in Ocala, Florida visiting my dad for the week. His birthday is this week, So I thought I would spend the week with him. For those of you who don't know where Ocala is, it's about an hour and a half north of Orlando. 

  • The bad thing about Ocala is that there is nothing to do but eat, sleep, watch tv and surf the net. 
  • The good thing about Ocala is that there is nothing to do but eat, sleep, watch tv and surf the net. 
I always look forward to coming to Ocala because it gives me a chance to relax and do nothing!
Today, however, I discovered one more thing to do in this small town. 

                   

Oh yea and there's also fishing. We're doing that on Thursday!

Follow me!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Today I discovered a pretty cool widget to add to my sidebar. It's my follower widget. According to my sources at google, I have 11 subscribers to this blog and I have no idea who they are. So, if you are a reader of "Mind of Bert", then do me a favor and add yourself to my follower list on the left sidebar. 

Take that worpress!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Anyone like Impressions?

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, today I did something new. I went to the Audiologist (that's fun to say) to get impressions of my ear canal. Why you ask? I have finally decided to order my first pair of custom fit IEM's or IN EAR MONITORS. Recently, I have been finding myself using in ears alot, especially at church. Now custom molded EIM's generally can run anywhere between $400.00 - $1200.00 so it's not really something I have been able to do, however, last time Anthony Evans led worship with us, he told me about some that he uses. They are much more affordable and according to the reviews I have read, they sound and feel great. Getting the impressions done felt wierd to say the least. It was like someone shoved play dough into my ears and I couldn't hear a peep for 5 minutes until it hardened. I absolutely cannot wait to get them in. I'll let yall know when they come in. 

Did I really just use the word yall???












Tuesday, September 02, 2008

...Aaaannndd I'm back!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...Thanks for sticking around!

As you've probably noticed, I have not blogged in exactly one month. I was planning on doing so a few weeks back but instead decided to not blog for a month. So here I am! 

Here are a few of the things I have been holding in. 

1. I am still in shock about the Michael Guglielmucci Healer Scandal. I first heard about it from this blog. This sucks to say the least but I still believe this is a powerful song and has so much power to transform lives. Guglielmucci has released a statement recently. Read it here








2. I FINALLY HAD MY GRADUATION. 







3. My music sight is officially up. Check it out here. I am still working on it so be patient.








4. September 25th. Enough said there. 





Saturday, August 02, 2008

Made with bits of real panther so you know it's good!

Those of you who enjoyed the movie "Anchorman" are probably the only ones who will appreciate this find!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Random Thoughts and Re-caps

Hello Fellow Bloggers...


  • It was a great weekend at church. I have been off for the last 2 weeks and really was missing leading worship with my fellow CBGers.
  • I am playing bass the next few weekends and I can't frikkin wait! (I don't play bass much)
  • I returned my new bass. I absolutely loved how it looked and sounded but I couldn't handle the weight. WAY TOO HEAVY!
  • I love student ministry.
  • I need to find a better job. (Preferably in the area of music)
  • Twitter is spreading like crazy. In fact, my church just wrapped up a series called twitter. Check it out here
  • My diet is going slowly but going good. Check sidebar for details.
  • Being done with school is such a good feeling. My graduation is gonna be at the end of next month...then comes the party
  • I don't see what the big deal was with "Dark Night". I watched it and it was a great movie but definitely not "THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN" like people said it would be.
  • This band is awesome.
  • I am toally hooked on this restaurant.
  • I won't be able to go to this year's Hillsong United Conference after all. I couldn't get enough money together and I couldn't get anyone to go with me but it's cool though. God has his reasons!
  • Switchfoot is coming back along with some other really cool bands!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

What I do on Wednesday Nights!


Don't worry, I shaved and cut my hair shortly after 
making this video

Sunday, July 20, 2008

"Locos"

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Well, it's about 1:30am, I just took a shower and am about ready to hit the sack. I am dead tired. Today I got a really cool opportunity to help out my brother in law, Carlos with a gig he had today. You see Carlos is the sound engineer for a local latin/funk/reggae/cumbia band called "Locos por Juana". He goes everywhere with them. He has been to Virginia, New York, L.A. and many other places. Thankfully, I get to help him out sometimes when he has local events with the band and today they had an showcase event at the Seminole Hard Rock. The band is signed with Universal and it was a private event with about 5 really good bands. Actually this was the first time a Latin band is invited to play at this type of showcase event for Universal so it really was awesome to be able to be there. It wasn't too long of a set and I got to mix the last 2 songs (see video below). For the most part, however, I served as guitar/bass tech and helped with set up. 

"Locos por Juana" has gained popularity really quickly and they have worked hard to earn it. They are featured artists on MySpace Latino, have been featured on MTV TRES and were even nominated for a latin grammy last year. 

check them out here
 

Me Mixing

Here is the Rig we used

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Check it out!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

I got this yesterday
Woot Woot!

Follow them here

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I Caved!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

Sorry I have been gone for so long. I hope there is still someone alive out there in mindofbert land!

So I finally did it and I caved and bought the bass I have been wanting. Check it out.


It is a Fender Mike Dirnt Precision Bass!

For those who don't know, Mike Dirnt is the Bassist for Green Day. If you don't know who Green Day is then I can't help you. Now I am not even a little bit of a Green Day Fan or much less a Mike Dirnt fan and I have seen this bass many times but didn't really fall in love with it until I saw Deon Rexroat playing it. Deon is the bassist for a band called Anberlin who I absolutely love! I researched it, played it and it sounded even sweeter than it looked. It has been on my wish list for quite a while now but I couldn't resist any longer. Fortunately I had some money left over from my stimulus check (Thanks George Bush...I think). So I called up my good friend Jeffrey D. and he hooked it up. Thanks man!

I have this poster hanging in my room. My friend Martin gave it to me a while back. He said he got it because it had the bassist I love, the Bass I love, the band I love and it advertises an organization I love


Heredes insists it needs an Heredes.com sticker....ummm we'll talk later, H!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Reason to love a mac #3497

HFB...
I just found this really old picture while attempting to clean up my documents folder.



Thursday, June 26, 2008

Planting a Seed


Hello Fellow Bloggers...

I usually don't post sappy or inspirational posts like this but I have to tell you guys about something pretty frikkin awesome I experienced recently. I know this quite a long post but I am sure you won't be disappointed. Trust me!





Let me start from the beginning
Back when I was in high school, during my Junior year, there was a girl who sat behind me in my Geometry Class (yea I was pretty bad at math). I won't disclose names so we will just call her Regina. Anyways, as I got to know Regina, I felt the strange need to talk to her about Jesus. It was one of those things where you don't know why but you just feel the need to do it. So I spent alot of time talking to her about God, Jesus, Death, Heaven and other topics. Now at the time I was attending my old hispanic church but would go to FRC every now and then on Saturday nights and First Wednesdays. One day I finally told her, hey you should come to church with me and my sister. I explained to her how I attended a hispanic church but I knew about a great American church she would enjoy. Well, needless to say, she quickly shot me down (not the first time I get shot down by a girl). She said she didn't really feel the need to go to church and thanked me anyways. I told her the offer was always on the table. 

Progress
As time passed I continued to keep her in prayer and knew that God wasn't done with her. That same year, "The Passion of the Christ" came out in movie theaters and everyone and their mother had gone to see it. So one day in geometry class, Regina approached me and said what I had been wanting to hear for a while. She said, "hey Robert, I went to go see Passion of the Christ this weekend and I cried like a baby" I was like yea ok so did everyone else. She then said, "I want to go to church!" I was like WHAAAAT! I was so happy I couldn't believe it. So I told my sister about it and my sister took her to church. My sister was attending Calvary Chapel at the time and decided to take her there. All in all they went to church once together had a cup of coffee and pretty much never saw each other again. Unfortunately, we kinda lost contact once we went on to our Senior year and eventually graduated. 

Here's where it gets good
Now I would be lying if I said that I constantly thought about and prayed for her after high school. To be quite honest, I just figured it to be like most of my high school friends that I would never see again. Every now and then I would think, "I wonder how Regina is doing" but that's it. Now about a week after Easter, I was going through my usual blogs on my RSS reader when I found a particular video on someone's blog. The Video was an Easter Recap from FRC. So I was watching the video when suddenly who do you know shows up on the video?

THE ONE AND ONLY REGINA!

She talked about how it was the best Easter she had experienced because she gave her life to Jesus. Ok, now I must say that if it wasn't for me using my sister's laptop at the time I probably would have thrown it across the room and started jumping for joy. I immediately called out for my sister to come watch the video. She too was in awe and we both had chills. We were ecstatic at the fact that the person we were trying bring to Christ in high school not only went to church again, but she went to the church I was constantly inviting her to, and got saved there. 

It gets even better!
During the next 2 weeks, I was praying hard for God to let me bump in to her somewhere or somehow. I wanted to see if she was kept going to church and congratulate her on her new birth. I spent hours looking her up on myspace and had no luck. I had pretty much given up. One day I went to the gym on a Tuesday night as usual and as I was getting off the treadmill, who do you think I spot on the treadmill behind me?

THE ONE AND ONLY REGINA!

She didn't recognize me at first(thinner, long hair, beard, ears pierced, and glasses....who could blame her?) but once I waved she recognized me. I couldn't believe I finally found her. Seriously people, I have bumped into maybe 10 people since I graduated 3 years ago. She told me she lives in Miramar and is never in my neighborhood but came to that gym because her sister had invited her (If that's not a God thing, I dunno what is). 

Ok so here's where it gets crazy 
We got to talking and I asked her if she was still going to church. What she answered almost floored me. She said she was still going to church and was now officially on staff. HUH!!! "excuse me did you just say staff?" I couldn't believe it! She explained to me how she was volunteering in the pre-school ministry at FRC's Hallandale Campus. She said she has been learning and growing alot at FRC and that God has blessed her big time. She said that they decided her to offer her a official position the pre-school director at Hallandale. 

Almost Done!
Words cannot describe how it feels to see that the girl God was tugging me to talk to about him not only ended up getting saved at the very church that I had been inviting her too but was on staff and was now impacting lives herself. She told me that she had been thinking about my sister and I alot lately and wanted to thank us for what we did back in high school. It just goes to show you that even when you might not see the fruits of what you sew immediately, God is working as long as you obey and plant the seed!

- being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6 (New International Version)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Finally!

Hello Fellow Bloggers...

This week, I received a letter I have been waiting for for almost 2 years now!


18 months of hard work, long nights and lots of prayer have finally paid off! THANK YOU JESUS!

My graduation won't be until August!