"Swim" by Jack's Mannequin

I'm a sucker for inspirational lyrics put to catchy music. The background to this song is inspiring. Jack's Mannequin's principle member, singer, songwriter, etc... is a guy named Andrew McMahon.

Three months before the release of the band's first album, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was consequently forced to cancel an upcoming summer tour to fight the illness. Three months later, he received a bone marrow transplant from his sister which lead to a full recovery.

This week's song, Swim, is the track on JM's newest album, The Glass Passenger. The song's lyrics depict his struggle with Leukemia and how he found the strength to overcome the illness and push forward in spite of it. Pretty amazing stuff!

Check out the lyrics here, http://www.lyricsyoulove.com/j/jacks_mannequin/swim/

And listen to the song on youtube or be a spender and download it from iTunes. It's well worth your time and 99 cents!

Let me know if you like it!

New Track Tuesday

In an attempt to share some music with my friends and family who take time to read my blog, Taylor Howe is giving back!

Those who know me know that I have a passion for music. One of the most powerful lessons I learned as a missionary in Brazil is the power (both positive and negative) music has on us as individuals, particularly through lyrics.

Now I dig on music from various genres and I'm always looking for new music to get into. With that being said, I want to share a little music with you. Each Tuesday I will write about a new song that I'm into and include the lyrics. I need to find some type of widget to post an MP3 of the songs (anyone know of anything?) but until then if you want to hear the song of any given week, try youtube.com and you'll likely find it there

I hope you like the songs!

Jacksonville is my new home!

Quick entry tonight! I moved back to Jacksonville, where I worked for two months at the beginning of the summer. Alicia told me on the phone tonight that it snowed in Utah? Yeah, I went to the beach yesterday...it was pretty sweet, oh, and SUNNY! Anyway, the main reason I wanted to blog is to post a few pics of my new girlfriend Amanda Anderson. She's an amazing girl...and the reason I moved back to Jacksonville.

That's all I have for tonight. Love you all!

It's been a while...

It's been a little while since my last post and since I know all of you have been anxiously awaiting news from me I decided to throw down a little something something! Life has been extremely good to me as of late. I've been living in Tampa, FL still working for the same company, Pinnacle Security, going to the beach, Busch Gardens theme park, Tampa Rays games and all sorts of fun stuff (a little work too.)

Last Saturday I had the incredible privilege of seeing Mr John Mayer in concert at the Ford Amphitheater in Tampa. The man is so beyond talented it's unreal. I loved every second of the show. Unfortunately, me being well...me, I forgot to charge my camera battery before the show and was left without the ability to record the night on film. OneRepublic, another band I'm really into right now, opened the show with a pretty strong set. It was an excellent night for the music lover in me! Check out OneRepublic's album, "Dreaming Out Loud" and John Mayer's latest release, "Where The Light Is" for some excellent tunes for jamming out!

The next day, Sunday, I drove down to Port Canaveral and boarded the Carnival Sensation for an amazing end-of-the-summer cruise to the Bahamas. The best part about it was...it was all paid for by Pinnacle Security! We went to the islands of Freeport and Nassau and also had a day at sea aboard the boat. Stay tuned for pictures and video featuring my highly touted Karaoke skills!

That's all I have for now. My next post will be from Pittsburgh, PA where I'll be working for another month before, hopefully, coming back to the Beehive State that I love!

Go Utes...and props to the Cougs

I had some rare downtime tonight so I decided to read the DesNews online and check out what's going on in the hometown. Needless to say I was pleased to see this link to a pre-season poll which has the Utes and Cougs ranked 14th and 17th overall respectively, check out the link:http://www.philsteele.com/

Ricky Bobby at the Daytona 500 Racetrack

Singing baseball's greatest song at Wrigley Field!

O meu primeiro blog

I always thought that blogging was merely a way for married LDS women to stay in touch with their friends and post pictures of their babies doing "cutsie" things (and I mean that in the sweetest way possible)...apparently I was wrong! The way I see it this blog will be one of two things, either a great way for me to post dumb videos, happenings of my life (boring I know), and to serve as my personal editorial column OR it will turn into what my journal has become, an empty book of well intentioned entries. Hopefully it will be the former.

Currently life has taken me to Jacksonville, FL where I'm working as a Sales Rep for Pinnacle Security, aka, I knock doors with a look of desperation glued to my face (sometimes the "puppy dog" face works too) in hopes that someone will buy a security system from me! I've been here since the end of April and so far it's been everything I thought it would be; difficult and draining but a great learning experience and, knock on wood, a great way to save up a little bit of money for my future endeavors. Anyway, I'll keep this one short. Check out the videos I posted. One is of the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field during a Cubs game and the other is down on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Both were taken during my road trip to Florida last April. Ate mais gente!!