There must be something...

Well, I think there must be something worth writing about, but I can't think of anything at the moment.
Today I ran with my dad, but did 4 ½ miles instead of the usual 2 (there are some uphill parts).
I am not a very fast runner (short sprints are one thing, but I have no stamina...but then, there are many who are much faster sprinters than I am), so if you're a girl around my height, you can probably stand a pretty good chance of beating me in a race, even if you're nowhere near as good of a runner as Neely Spence is.
Oh, well, maybe I'll be a faster runner with more stamina someday. 

Well, got to get to bed now.
-Max out.

Some impressive new cars

Considering I haven't written a post about cars in a while, here's one. :)

These are a few new cars that are very nice, and almost certainly very out out of your price range.
1) Lamborghini Murciélago LP670 SuperVeloce
A pretty impressive-looking "super" version of the LP640, don't you think?

2) Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Mercedes finally came out with another supercar, taking the place of the SLR McLaren and SL 65 AMG Black Series.  It's a tribute to Mercedes' 300SL Gullwing of the '50s (notice the way the doors open?) and expensive like the 300SL was, but it's naturally much more sophisticated (and probably better in just about every way), and much, much faster.

3) Bentley Continental Supersports
The most powerful Bentley ever makes up for its hefty weight to some degree by having a twin-turbocharged W12 engine that produces 621 hp. 

4) Ferrari 458 Italia
This is Ferrari's new mid-engined V8, and while the styling will have to grow on me, its performance is a substantial improvement over the F430. 

5) McLaren MP4-12C
While not as radical as the F1 in terms of things such as styling, weight, and price the new McLaren is supposed to live up to McLaren's reputation.  In the words of McLaren,"The rules in the sports-car world are about to be rewritten."  It's equipped with a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-8 putting out about 600 bhp, and with a host of other features, it should be pretty impressive.  It's logical competition should be 2-seater sports cars in the roughly $200,000-$250,000 range, such as the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 and Ferrari 458 Italia.
6) Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
Here's yet another luxury/performance sedan (joing the mid-size 5-seat luxury/sport sedan class that includes the BMW M5, Cadillac CTS-V, and Jaguar XFR) that is already garnering excellent reviews.
Not because of the price, naturally, as it should sell for more than $80k, but you usually get what you pay for, and this super sedan shouldn't disappoint in either the luxury or performance department.

7) Aston Martin Rapide
It is agreed by many that this car is one of the most beautiful sedans to be made recently.
It will compete with the likes of other exotic sport sedans such as the Porsche Panamera - although this one is thought be many to be the better-looking car - and the Maserati Quattroporte, although the Maserati is probably at least half the price.

I admit, I didn't use to like Aston's styling (I still find the One-77's front end a bit odd), but as with the Bugatti Veyron and other cars, the looks have grown on me.   
My tastes in many things has changed greatly from the past, from perceptions of beauty (in cars, not just physical appearances) to music and other things.   

8) Brabus EV12
Although I won't post photos of them here, the Mercedes CLS tuned by Brabus that the German tuner called "The Rocket," and subsequently the BMW M tuned by another German company, G-Power, are the most recent record holders to claim the title of "World's Fastest Production Sedan."
Apparently Brabus didn't appreciate being one-upped by G-Power, so once again they hold the world record for the "The World’s Most Powerful High-Performance Sedan," the E V12, which has a top speed in excess of 230 mph.  It gets its power from a V12 Brabus put under the hood (as opposed to one of Mercedes' V8s).  The engine produces 800 hp and 1,047 lb.-ft. of torque!  Probably in order to spare the car's tires and make it easier to drive, the torque has been electronically limited to 811 lb.-ft. and the top speed is electronically limited (definitely because of tires) to 217 mph.  However, electronic governors can be bypassed with the right devices.
More photos and info about the car can be seen here: 2010 E V12
The G-Power M5 Hurricane RS, here: G-Power BMW M5 Hurricane RS 
The Brabus Rocket, here: Brabus Rocket and here: Brabus Rocket 2
And the G-Power BMW M6 Hurricane CS, which I am putting here simply because it looks like a big improvement over the regular M6, at least where looks and performance figures are concerned, here:
G-Power BMW M6 Hurricane CS




[more to come]

BarlowGirl music video: Beautiful Ending

Here's a music video from BarlowGirl (yes, another thing from my favorite band), but it's a good song, and you may be able to see why I and others say they do harmony very well.

BarlowGirl sweepstakes

In the event that you are a fan of BarlowGirl (as I am) or simply like their music, here's a sweepstakes to win a copy of their latest album, Love & War, and some other stuff:
BarlowGirl sweepstakes

And in case you like BarlowGirl's album, How Can We Be Silent, you can get it here on amazon.com for less than $5: How Can We Be Silent (premium edition)
It comes with a bonus DVD with interviews, music videos and other stuff.

Total Truth

Today I finally finished a book that I have been in the process of reading for a long time.
The book's title is Total Truth, by Nancy Pearcey.  While it is a fairly long book, it's very good and I highly recommend it.  Its main premise is something like this: "Many Christians have a two-story perception of truth and Christianity; that is, they have relocated Christianity to an "upper-story" realm of "facts & values while placing everything else in the "natural, physical realm."
For instance, for many people, Christianity falls under the "religion" category of their lives, and they go to church on Sunday, but when it comes to applying Christian principles in the rest of their life (such as at work), they aren't intellectually equipped to do so.  

Total Truth deals with having an all-encompassing Christian worldview that is applicable to all of one's life, not just with things that deal with strictly spirtual matters, such as attending church.

My explanation of the book is woefully inadequate (I may revise this post at a later time and put it better), but if you read the book, you will not only read what I missed, but you will likely be better equipped to combat illogical, naturalistic worldviews.  Here's one thing it may help with: refuting evolution.  Other people, books and movies have shown evidence against evolution, but this book shows why evolution undercuts itself.  Also, in this age of relativism, it is helpful to show that there is absolute truth.
The book shows that to be consistent with their stated beliefs, evolutionists have to believe in a world completely without moral rights and wrongs (including things that are appaling to most people, such as genocide and other things).  Otherwise, if morals are just a human creation and evolved like the mind, who's to say what's right and wrong to you is better than than right and wrong to me?

I haven't said this very concisely and orderly, but I'll try to write more later.
-Max out.

The church I am attending

For now, I am going to a church called Moore Christian Assembly, in Pine Forest.  Just like when my other church, Heritage Bible Fellowship (in Hope Mills) used to meet in a Kiwanis rec center, this one meets in rented building, a place called the Train House.  However, unlike Heritage, this church meets at a "normal" time: 10:30 am as opposed to 3:00 pm.  Some unique things (to my experiences, anyway) about this church are the fact that it has fellowship meals every week; the second part of the service, in which we are currently going through a child-training DVD series; and some other stuff, such as after the preaching has finished, the men of the church (as in heads of families, I think, but I'm not exacly sure) ask questions or elaborate on the passage that was preached on.  Two Sundays ago, three kids were baptized.  They are two brothers and their sister, and their dad, an elder of the church, baptized them.  The place of baptism was also unique to my experiences.  I've seen "regular" baptisms in churches in the baptismals behind the pulpit or outside, or wherever it was, one where the person being baptized did not "want everybody watching her, so we'll close the curtains..." (rather odd, if you ask me; what's the purpose of baptism?), and I've also seen people baptized in the ocean.  That only made sense in Guam, considering the 30-mile-long island has a beach pretty close to wherever you are.  However, these baptisms were the first I witnessed that happened in a pond.  

After the service and meal and DVD seminar is over, we fold up the chairs and clean up, and then go outside to the adjoining park, for "extended fellowship."  This may consist of talking about the sermon or other theological issues...or playing Ultimate Frisbee or baseball with the little kids.
Well, that's all I really have to say for now.  Adios, ciáo, good-bye, or whatever.
-Max out.

Photos of assorted stuff

The Porsche photos were taken at a parking lot in Cary, the photos of the "doggy driver" were from a Walgreens in Sanford, and the ones of the sign were from Harris Teeter in Fayetteville. (I added the circles)  Finally, the Gallardo photos are from last year at the Barnes & Noble parking lot in Fayetteville.

OK, so they didn't come out in the order I wanted on here, but oh, well.  Such is life.

                            

                                                                                                   

Back in the business

Well, I'm back.  After receiving some helpful advice (something like this: "Your blog would be easier to read if you changed the colors of it from red on black"), I decided that a change might be good. (even though I think a black background looks pretty cool...guess what one of my favorite colors is?)
So, for now I'm testing out a blue background and leaving the previous text the same color as before.  I will be exmerimenting with my current text color also.  I'll switch backgrounds soon to something else (maybe a shade of gray) if I don't get any feedback on the color.
Any advice and/or other comments would be welcome.