i think it’s time for a good apple post. it’s been awhile. how ‘bout it?

a couple months ago, the true fanboys rushed over to youtube to watch what was almost surreal in some kind of tech world/hollywood celeb meets real life mashup: steve jobs presenting to the cupertino city council. at said city council meeting, jobs presented apple’s plans to build what has been dubbed—very appropriately—the mothership. apple’s new campus will be a round glass, 2.8 million square feet building that will house thousands of employees. this will truly be the big apple. (see what i did there?) inside that 2.8 million square feet will be a 25,000 square foot fitness center, a 36,000 square foot dining area and a 100,000 square foot auditorium (presumable for future keynotes?).

at the presentation, jobs showed some pictures and people were able to get a quick look at the building. but now, the city of cupertino has made all the plans public (including a plan overview, landscaping diagrams and floor plans). most notably, apple included quite a few renderings that look, well, amazing.

well, mutemath has done it again. not only have they released the lead track from their upcoming album, odd soul, but they’ve released a video (of sorts) that has—in a matter of hours—generated a substantial internet buzz.

several years ago, their video for typical—which was filmed in reverse and as one, continuous shot—garnered widespread accolades and propelled mutemath into late night talk show gigs and internet viral status.

today’s release of odd soul will do much the same. in this case, though, rather than simply releasing a video (which they have done), they’ve released an innovative youtube-reliant interactive audio/visual remix board.

throughout 2010, i blogged about derek webb’s latest innovative project called democracy vol. 1. fans were able to cast votes for up to 12 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 12 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the album was recorded over the span of 2010, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. from january to december, webb released 1 track each month.

i’ve been wanting to create an infographic for a very long time. not only do i love them, but i’ve had a particular project i’ve been working on for quite a long time that lends itself to an infographic. while i’m still working on that project, i recently had an opportunity where this type of presentation seemed like a good fit.

the project was a handout/”promotional” graphic we assembled to solicit volunteers for our 4 primary connecting points at eikon. we’ve been preparing to put a little more shape and form to these various aspects of our church and lining up volunteers was one of the primary things we needed to do in order to bring that to fruition.

throughout 2010, i blogged about derek webb’s latest innovative project called democracy vol. 1. fans were able to cast votes for up to 12 songs that they wanted webb to cover. then, the 12 songs receiving the most votes would be covered by webb for the album. the album was recorded over the span of 2010, with 1 track being recorded and released each month. from january to december, webb released 1 track each month. for those who would like to catch up, here’s links to each month’s blog posts from 2010:

january | february | march | april | may | june | july | august | september | october | november | december

and here’s the 2011 tracklist so far:

1. cee lo green: f**k you
2. bon jovi: livin’ on a prayer

today, we found out may’s (yes, it’s a little late) track: god only knows by the beach boys.

i consider myself a particularly patient person. i really do. but when season 3 of my favorite show on television—amc’s award winning breaking bad—held its finale on june 13, 2010, the legions of fans who follow the complex life of chemist walter white never anticipated that nearly a year later, we’d still be waiting on the follow-up season.

the wait is almost over.

yesterday, amc announced that season 4′s premiere episode would air on sunday, july 17 at 9 pm.

UPDATE :: i assumed this story would get a lot of response, but even i was surprised at the overwhelming reaction (it is now my most read post of 2011). i appreciate the reposts, retweets and other things that start with ‘re-‘… i wanted to offer an update and unfortunately, the update is much less heartwarming than the original story.

as of yesterday afternoon—ironically just hours after posting the story—my friends were kicked out of the house. i’m still not too sure of all the details, but it seems the woman had nothing to do with it. it was out of her control. my understanding is that she is the manager/caretaker of the house (and has lived there for quite some time) and a family member is the actual owner. once the owner found out, he kicked them out.

so, they’re back on the streets.

given the immense response, i thought i’d put it out there to see if anyone knew of any alternative housing situations for my friends. they need to stay in the downtown area if possible because they don’t have a vehicle. it’s just the 2 of them, so it wouldn’t need to be much.

if you have anything or know of anything, please contact me and i can offer some more information. you can leave a comment or email me at ryan [at] beingryanbyrd [dot] com. thanks in advance!