Join Me At Church on Sunday...

Below is a letter that I wrote to all my friends about the launch of www.northpointonline.tv on Aug. 16th at 6pm EST...And you're my friends too so you should read it and then join me...

And, here's a brief look at what we'll be watching/listening to....

Promo: "Losing Your Religion" from North Point Media on Vimeo.

To All,

I truly hope that this email finds everyone doing well in your respective locations. Things in the ATL are great and the married life is treating me well. Time certainly flies by as Amanda and I celebrated our one year anniversary over a month ago. Craziness I tell ya…

So, I’ll cut right to the chase…You’re my friend and I want you to join me at church on Sunday. That’s as clear cut as it comes. But I know some of you are thinking, “Hey Jonathon, I live in California or Vegas or Michigan or Texas or Louisiana or Chicago (or you name the city) and I really don’t see myself coming to Atlanta this weekend”. Or “Hey Jonathon, I live in Atlanta and you invite me and I’ve told you several times that I’m not into it.” Or “Hey Jonathon, you know my beliefs and you know they don’t line up with yours, so put down that crack pipe you’re smoking?” Or maybe it’s some other question…Nonetheless, I have the answer for all of them…It doesn’t matter…

And why you ask????

Well, let me tell you why…

Buckhead Church (www.buckheadchurch.org), the church Amanda and I have been a part of for a few years is launching a brand new live online service (www.northpointonline.tv) at 6pm EST this Sunday August 16th. That means, regardless of where you live, as long as you have a computer with internet connection, you can join me. I’ll be in person there during the actual service and if you’re watching, it’s like we are there together. Cause it's live...Not recorded...But live...Maybe we can shoot a text or tweet back and forth to really form that bond…The possibilities are endless…So, no Sunday’s best, just you and your computer sitting in your chonies watching some incredibly awesome music and hearing a life changing message…

And I know there are several on this email that have totally different beliefs than me on this whole church thing and I honestly and sincerely understand. Regardless of our differences, we are still bros. But, I can say from the bottom of my heart that the message you will hear will be none like anything you have ever heard. It’s not the if you drink a beer you’ll go to hell stuff. It's not old ladies with funny hats. It's not old hymns being sung by grandmas...I promise you that it's not....It’s relevant, it’s applicable, it’s real and it’s potentially life changing. And once again, all you have to do is take up some bandwidth on Sunday afternoon in the comfort of your own home. So has they say in St. Lucia, “No pressure, no problems.”

So…Recap…

1) You’re my friend

2) You should join me on Sunday at 6pm EST at www.northpointonline.tv

3) That’s 3pm EST

4) That’s 5pm CST

5) And something else for Mountain Time but they’re kind of weird with their whole time change thing so you’ll have to figure it out…

6) And if you’re up to it, shoot me an email or text to let me know what you thought


Check out www.jburnside.blogspot.com for a little teaser video…

You guys shred and I miss all of you who I don’t get to see very often…

Your Red Headed Friend,
Jonathon

The Walk 09....

A few weeks back, Amanda and I headed down to Panama City Beach with about 400 high school students from Buckhead and Brownsbridge Church. It was absolutely amazing. The students were awesome to hang with and God just lit my heart on fire...I took some video while I was down there and finally got around to editing it. This was my first shot at using iMovie so if you think it's lame tell me in a constructive manner so I don't get all boo bears since I'm such a sensitive dude.

thinking about blogging again...I'll keep you posted...

Smokety Smoke Goodness....

In the grilling world, the big debate is charcoal vs. gas...Some say that charcoal has better flavor whereas some of the gas side say there's no difference...
I'm a gas guy cause I have the patience of a 3 year old and don't like dealing with the charcoal. I do however offer a solution to bring some smokey goodness to your gas grill...
Here's a step by step guide...

Step 1: Purchase some wood chips from your local home improvement or BBQ store. They should have several varieties to suit your smokey pleasure. Right now, I'm on the Apple Wood kick. These bags run about five to eight bucks.

Step 2: Soak your wood chips in some water for about 20 - 30 minutes. Go ahead and light up your grill while you're soaking.
Step 3: Grab some drip pans that normally go on your grill to use as your smoke box. You can make your own smoke box using foil if you don't want to use these. Step 4: After your wood is soaked, place the chips in the drip pan and cover with foil. Cut a few holes to release the goodness.Step 5: Place the homemade smoke box on your flavorizer bars or somewhere above the flame. Then give it about 5 minutes to start smokin'...Step 6: Throw on your grub...In this case, it's a nice rib eye and some sliced zuke...

That is all there is to it. It probably takes about the same amount of time to do this than to get your charcoal grill going but I still am going gas. One of these days when I have a sick backyard to have several outdoor cooking devices I'm sure I'll have both. But while we're in team apartment, I'm on team propane.

Wouldn't Mind Being in HB Today....

Stoked to be Home...

Just got back from a long work trip...As you can see, several places were visited along the way. The purpose of the trip was to take a couple of engineers from our boat division in Japan to survey some dealers about some super secret kick tail new product...All in all, it was a successful trip. The two dudes from Japan were super cool. Didn't know a lot of english but I helped with that. They will go back with some Jonathon-Nese...
Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pics during the trip...
Here's a few though...
Johnathan Hillstrand from Deadliest Catch. We met him at a sushi place in Sarasota. Super cool guy. He sat down and rapped with us for about ten minutes. Said the new season that starts on April 15th is going to be off the chain...


Here's a few shots from fishing on Sat. in St. Petersburg. Great day. The guys had a blast and the fishing was pretty good too.
One of the several reds that we caught...

My boy Mochizuki...He was big dog that day...

The other guys we were fishing with


Saw a real cool band at the hotel we were staying at in Shreveport...Whiskey Folk Ramblers...Go check em' out here.

Really stoked to be home. This was the longest amount of time that Amanda and I have been apart since we've been married and it sucked. So thankful to be home...

Have a great Easter everyone...

Must Be In the Genes...

My parents used to have driveway throw downs before they has a sick backyard. Amanda and I are continuing the tradition. Last night we threw down on my majorly good grub. Then we just hung out in the garage and had fun taking photos.

Long exposure goodness...
Little heavy handed with Lightroom but I like this style of photo that looks like we were drawn with chalk...
I don't know why I think this pic is cool but it is...

Keeps Getting Better...

Based on my last post, I thought it couldn't get better...
Kind of did...
Eating Cookie Dough Ice Cream.
Watchin' Entourage on iTunes.
Enjoying my #2 spot in my bracket where I shall continue to dominate.
Amanda's watching Greys on the DVR.
Weekend shreds...

Great Freakin' Weekend...

Weekend was stupid fun...
Quick recap for all you fans out there...
Friday night - Picked up Cara (Amanda's So Cal Friend) and had a great dinner at Osteria 832. Love that place. Good food. Kind of cheap. It was great to hang out with Cara and learn about her biz...She was selling some website goodness at the World Congress Center this weekend...Heard she closed a few...Great job Cara! I think I may have convinced both Amanda and Cara to start blogging as well. We shall see...
Saturday - Amanda and I went our own ways and got a bunch of stuff done. By bro man Jimbodini has been so kind enough to store my grill this last year and since it's officially Spring, I had to reserect that fool from the dead. Got a bunch of stuff from Lowes and Home Depot to bring it back to life. More on that later...Janer and I went to a great b-day party on Sat. night. Great times with some new folks that are turning out to be some great friends.

Sunday - Top 10 service today at Buckhead Church. "When tempted, don't say don't, say help." Really, really good. Lazy for a bit and then used the Weber. Red Snapper a couple of different ways along with some grilled asparagus. Although we live in an apartment, we throw it down. Had a great time hanging outside, grillin' and listening to some Jack J...

The goodness on the grill - Snapper on Cedar and Snapper in Foil...Holler for the recripe.
Our little set up...
Ridiculously hot and awesome wife...
Great weekend. Loved every second. Looking forward to a great week...Hoping you have a great one as well...

Why I don't do Facebook...

Over the past several weeks there have been a couple of blog discussions going on about a couple of things that have been rather interesting...One has to do with moral integrity and what some people do to safeguard their marriages. The other having to do with relationships in a Web 2.0 world.

And I thought since I've been getting asked by about everyone (sorry Grandma) I know about joining Facebook, I thought I join in the discussion on both fronts...

I know everyone has their opinion on these things and I'm not offering my opinion on either of the two above subjects but more of why I do what I do...

First off, I have the propensity to be an idiot. That being said, for me, I don't do facebook for the simple reason of not having a chance to be an idiot (at least in the social networking front). When I did the whole myspace deal back in the day, it was so easy to reconnect with people of the past. And I caught myself being way too involved with checking out how so and so was looking and spending more time checking out pics of people than wanting to know how they were doing. Basically, I was being an idiot. So I gaffed the myspace thing as did Amanda and we agreed that we wouldn't do the facebook deal. I'm sure it's a great thing but it's just something that Amanda and I have chosen not to do...I know we could probably have an account together so we can hold each other accountable but it's still a risky prop...Because remember, I can be an idiot...

To the second part of the discussion...I feel at times I'm a crappy friend. I'm so ridiculously blesssed to have the raddest friends on the planet and I feel I don't spend enough time with them or call/email them to see how they're doing. I have friends right here in Atlanta that I haven't hung out with 6 months. That's crap. I have friends in HB that I haven't talked to since I've gotten married. That's crap. I have a friend that had a baby 3 months ago and I just called him a couple of days ago. That's crap. I have a friend in Bolivia that got married in January and I haven't returned his call or email (Sorry bro). Not because I don't like him but because I'm lazy and I take my friendships for granted sometimes...So for me, joining the Facebook revolution would probably make me a worse friend as I can't even juggle the friendships I currently have...I know reconnecting with little Billy from 4th grade homeroom would be rad but I need to give some shout outs to my bros that I got now...Once again, I'm sure people are able to make that whole deal work but I just can't see myself making it happen. I have too many relationships that I need to work on...

Enough said...I gotta get on the phone and send some emails...

I don't forward emails but I will post this one cause it made me laugh out loud...

A soldier ran up to a Nun. Out of breath he asked, "Please, may I
hide under your skirt. I'll explain later."

The Nun agreed. A moment later two Military Police ran up and asked,
"Sister, have you seen a soldier?"

The Nun replied, "He went that way."
After the MPs ran off, the soldier crawled out from under her skirt
and said, "I can't thank you enough, Sister. You see, I don't want to go to
Iraq ."

The Nun said, "I understand completely."
The soldier added, "I hope I'm not rude, but you have a great pair of legs!"

The Nun replied, "If you had looked a little higher, you would have seen a
great pair of balls. I don't want to go to Iraq either."

Reason 8.72 Million...

My wife shreds...
She was proud of her dude and got him a gift today...
Since flowers just aren't manly, she hooked me up with something better...
Fruit flowers!!
How cool are these?
Freakin' love this chick...
Ridiculously lucky.
The fruit is pretty bomb too...

Fact! I'm faster that 80% of all snakes...

Rainn Wilson, AKA Dwight Schute is blogging these days and it's a pretty cool website/blog.
www.soulpancake.com just launched and it's definitely worth the look.
I never would have pegged this dude as a spiritual guy but it seems that he really is. I hope this becomes a cool community with people sharing their opinions to life's big questions.

Check it..

New Breakfast Spot...

Amanda and I skipped our Friday night date night to this morning instead...Usually, we take it down to Highland Bakery for breakfast but I was given the task of finding a new spot.
That new spot...West Egg Cafe...
Awesomeness, awesomeness, awesomeness...
Really good food and a great vibe. Amanda got herself a smoked salmon benedict and I got the huevos tejanos...Amanda also got a red velvet cupcake which she hasn't grubbed on yet. Apparently this place is known for their cupcakes.
If you haven't been there, you should. Don't be lame.
And behind the parking deck was this cool looking building and I attempted to be cool urban photog...Attempted being the key word here...

Winter Vonderland...

Snowed in the southeast today. Walked out of church at noon and it dumped for a good three or so hours. Had a blast taking photos of my hot wife.

I'm pretty much ready for it to get warm now though...

This is the view from our bedroom looking down onto the pool area...







Out like trout.

Gas Pump Cop

For those that live in Georgia and ever go to your local gas station you know this dude. He's creepy and he's all about catchin' people that drive away without paying for gas. I kind of want to meet the guy one day...

Anyways,,,randomness, I know...

Get Your 909 On...

Yes, I still blog...Just not very often...
Last night, cruised to Motor X with Janer, Doche, Ali and two little dudes from my small group.
Absolute blast. Place was sold out and packed.
Team Yamaha and James Stewart won the main event.

Stewart coming across in first...Dominated start to finish...
They brought out stunt riders before the main event and brought some crazy goodness...
Me and my little homies...They were lovin' it...
Janer, Ali and the Doche...

I took a bunch of video as well that I'll try to edit. Just got iLife 09 and apparently iMovie is way easy to use...We shall see...

I just had one of those days where I realized how much I love my job. I know it sounds kind of corny but I really do. I seriously cannot sleep right now because of all the stuff I have rolling around in my dome.

Usually when I get asked what I do for work, I can't really explain it. After I tell them I work for Yamaha, and then have to explain that we sell outboard engines and not electronics, I tell them my title is Supervisor of Business / Market Planning and they want to know what a Supervisor of Business / Market Planning does. And honestly, I can't give them an answer. My job description is a blank sheet of paper. And today was a perfect example of that and I really do have to share...

We have had our three boat companies in that we own as well as our newly purchased propeller manufacturer discussing year end for 2008 and the forecast for 2009. And if you hadn't noticed, it's kind of a tough market out there right now and we sell a product that isn't really a necessity. So we have to drastically change our course to survive...So between these meetings as well as the other things I have going on right now, here's a random smattering of things that I did today...

1) Discussed the timing of new EPA regulations and how it pertains to the pricing, programs and new product launches for this year and beginning of next.
2) Dug through different HR stuff (ie work share programs and WARN act) as we deal with staff reductions at some of our facilities
3) Talked through aluminum ingot prices and how they are affecting gross profit at our boat builder in Missouri. We use several million pounds of aluminum each year at this factory so you can do the math when we have a penny swing per pound in aluminum pricing.
4) Had a conversation with a web designer in Southern California who I am working with and talked through the layout of a new product we are trying to get introduced in about a month.
5) Worked with our product manager on the copy for a brochure we are getting ready to pull the trigger on...Need to finish this one first thing in the morning.
6) Had to explain what is going on with the Yen vs. the dollar and how that affects cost of goods. If you didn't know, Yamaha is built in Japan where the Yen is kicking the dollar's ass right now.
7) Attended a video conference with another boat builder in Vonore, TN and was given the lead on reducing our emission footprint at each of our group's five locations.
8) Drew up a new process for our monthly financial meetings...First one due on Wed.
9) Starting pulling data for 50 different markets in the US for a huge competitor of ours to find out their market penetration and how we can combat.
10) Worked with our boat builder GMs on contingency plans on wholesale and retail financing of boats and motors (If anyone has any good ideas, I would love to know it because getting money right now sure isn't easy)
11) While giving a tour of our new warehouse, saw that some product I just had brought in had a wrong label and had to call our supplier in Indy stat...This one kind of sucked...
12) Talked with a boat designer in Florida about our schedule moving forward on some really cool stuff...
13) Began making plans for a couple of focus groups in Dallas and Shreveport for above said "cool stuff"...
14) Learned about acid passivation on stainless steel boat propellers and how to combat rust
15) Ended the night with a video conference with some super cool electic Japanese boat designers on some new concepts

Whew!!! What a day...It's typically not that crazy where I'm juggling so many things at once. I'm usually working on two - three of those things a day but nothing like today...But seriously, I loved today. That's pretty much why I can't explain to anyone what I do or what my job title means. I really just want to put "Dude" down on my business card. I think it would better suit me anyways and I wouldn't have to really explain it.

I'm so thankful that I have a job that isn't boring. I'm so thankful for my bosses for letting me run with some of this stuff and letting me make big decisions. I'm so thankful for the incredibly smart people I get to work with and absorb stupid amounts of knowledge.

Anyways,,,just wanted to get that mind dump on paper while I was rollin' around...Time to go back and spoon with the missus...

Fun Little Grubbage...

Hooked up a fun little meal for Amanda and I on Thursday night...

Here's the scoop:

Ground Turkey (85/15)
Diced Onion (White)
Diced mushroom
Diced water chestnut
Grated carrot
Romaine Lettuce leaves
Hoison Sauce (Asian sauce, really good)

Throw all of the above, save the carrot and lettuce, into a frying pan. Cook til' Turkey is good to go. Spoon out some of the meat stuff onto the romaine lettuce leaf and sprinkle some carrot on top for color. Eat like a taco...

This is a super easy recipe. It's good. It's healthy. And there are probably like 8 million combination's based on your tastes...

Andy bros down with Barack...

The Pastor of the church that I go to, Andy Stanley, encouraged us to pray for the new President. Well, apparently, he walked the talk...Andy was invited to say one of the few prayers said at the National Prayer Service the day after the inauguration.

It's also pretty cool that he's the only dude that's not rockin' a robe or a crazy hat. I'm sure Andy wanted to pimp some jeans and a polo but went with a suit instead...

Check out below...