since my last post…

I spent 4 days in Elkhart, Indiana on a work trip.  Felt amazement at the vast expanse of corn fields along the interstate.  And partook of an almost live pig while there.

Went on a “stay-cation” in Pigeon Forge with Erin & Eli in early August for 4 days.

Took a 2 day golfing trip to Richmond, Kentucky with a great friend of mine who I had not seen in three years.

Saw Eli off to his first days of Kindergarten.  He’s doing rather well, I think.  Most days, his favorite part of the day is getting to choose what he wants to eat for lunch.  The choice is the key.  When I was growing up, they served what they served.  But he gets to choose between two main dishes, and can pick 3 of 5 side items.  Heaven for a 5 year old who loves eating.

Began shaving my head again.  I can’t help it.  It’s who I am.  I like it this way.

Saw our first ever sunflowers grow to be 6 – 12 feet tall.  Soon after, they got too top heavy for their own good and began to fall over.

Went tubing down the Pigeon River twice, once with 3 guys from small group, and once with Erin and our great friends Reid and Sarah.  I nearly broke my finger swinging from an old rickety rope swing on the side of the river.

Joined my first ever fantasy sports league of any kind.  And won my first matchup.

Celebrated my 5-year anniversary with Threds (today, in fact).  The longest I’ve ever been at one job in my life.

Saw my guys small group nearly double to at least 16 guys, maybe 18.  Sadly – and happily – we’ll soon be “reproducing” into two separate groups.

Heard the loudest singing from our community at Crossings that I’ve ever heard in my over-2 years of being there.  Tear jerking.

Rearranged my office at work.  Come visit me sometime.  You can see.

Spent 3 days in Charlotte, NC at the annual Salsarita’s franchisee convention.

Went camping for 2 1/2 days in Cades Cove with my good friend Chris.  My first time camping in about 10 years.  We saw 4 deer walking through the campground, saw 3 bears while driving the Cades Cove loop, did a 5 mile round trip hike to Abrams Falls, ate 4 fire roasted hot dogs each, and went through an entire bag of marshmallows.

Helped a new friend from small group move to a new apartment just days after he had a terrible motorcycle accident, broke his pelvis, busted his hip, and tore his leg up pretty good.  I’m so grateful to be in community with guys who are ready and willing to help.

Was thrilled to see my wife, Erin, be awarded the Golden BVD award at the last Crossings Leadership Community.  Congrats, honey!

Have thought often about the future direction of this blog.  I’ll get into that more at another time.  For now, please enjoy a sampling of pictures that help encapsulate some things I’ve just mentioned in this post.

muslim hip hop

Last Thursday night after small group, Scott, Chris & I went to the Carousel Theatre on the UT campus and saw 2 Puerto Rican muslims from Brooklyn, New York perform a live hip hop show.

How’s that for random?

a year since vegetarianism

It was about a year ago at this time that I ended an approximate 2 month run at vegetarian eating.

In the roughly 355 days that have passed since, I have eaten in the neighborhood of…

23 steaks

188 chicken nuggets

107 hamburgers

31 pork chops

19 servings of meat sauce (on top of spaghetti, mixed with Manwich, added to cheese for nacho dipping)

4 pounds of meatloaf

26 sausage patties

20 strips of bacon

39 chicken breast portions

No tofu

42 ham, turkey, or chicken salad sandwiches

A few spreads of potted meat on crackers (uh huh, i love me sum potted meat)

14 cans of Hormel’s chili (looks a lot like Alpo, but tastes much better)

22 hot or corn dogs

46 tacos/enchiladas/burritos/tostadas/crunchwrap supremes/or chalupas

A few months worth of pride.

arrested development live

I can hardly believe that, last night, I actually got to see Arrested Development in a live concert in downtown Knoxville – for free.

Nearly 18 months ago, I had written this post, wondering what had happened to this group.  I’ve had their original CD (pictured) since 1993, and have always loved it.  Little did I know that when I wrote that post, Speech had just reunited 4 of the original 6 members and they had just released a new album and started touring again in Europe and Asia.

Apparently, for a while after getting back together, they purposely did not tour or promote heavily in the US, mainly because of America’s hip hop affection for negative messages and gangsta style lyrics, both of which are on the opposite side of the spectrum from Arrested Development’s music.

Anyway…they were the headline show for Market Square’s first Sundown in the City concert of 2009.  Reid (friend from small group) and I headed downtown after small group.  Unfortunately, I think we missed the first 2 or 3 songs of their performance, but still got to hear them for another 90 minutes or so.  It was actually much better than I expected.  Their live music was amazing, they had great energy, the did all their old songs that everyone knows and loves.  And one of the group members is a 76 year old man named Baba Oje who dances around the stage, getting into the hip hop groove.  It was awesome.

And Market Square was PACKED.  I’m guessing maybe 10,000 people?  It was standing room only in the entire square.  We were fortunate to muscle our way fairly close to the stage, although left of center just a bit.

So, to answer my own original question, where did Arrested Development go?  Well, they split up in 1994, did some solo stuff, got back together around 2006-2007, and now they just came to the big town of Knoxville.  Makes me happy.

Video Games

Thanks to the gracious allowance of my wife, in the last 10 days I have obtained a used X-Box game system and 20 (yes, 20) games ….. all for about 50% of the price of a new PS3, Nintendo Wii, or an X-Box 360.  This is my first game system since I got rid of my original Playstation about 7 years ago.  It’s funny how easy it’s been to get addicted again.

Anyways…in honor of this new possession, I thought I’d share my favorite video games of my lifetime.  Keep in mind – this list is pulled only from the games that I’ve owned or played, so it’s certain to leave off many, many great/classic games.  I’m going to do my best to do these in order.

10. Combat – Atari
9. Breakout / Super Breakout – Atari
8. Double Dragon – Nintendo
7. Cyber Tiger – Playstation
6. Contra – Nintendo
5. Double Dribble – Nintendo
4. The Legend of Zelda – Nintendo
3. Tecmo Bowl Football – Nintendo
2. Top Spin Tennis – XBox
1. NBA Jam – Sega

No, I really do like doo-rags

Seriously.  I have for a long time.  My enjoyment of doo-rags started way back in August of 1990, at the age of 14.  During my first ever missions trip, to Barbados, one of the team members in our group was named Brian.  He was probably 17 or so.  And he wore a doo-rag pretty much every day of the 2 week trip.  I thought it was so cool.  He was a very doo-raggish guy…very laid back, sort of a surfer attitude, easy going.  He had a big mop of hair too, and he wore the doo-rag in the “open” style in the back, where the tail kind of flopped around and his hair flew out of the back…sort of Aunt Jemima style, I would call it.

I’ve never had long enough hair to really make that style work for me, so I’ve always tucked my doo-rags in in the back, so it has a slightly more “skull cap” look, which works for me considering I’m a rap trendster and wanna be gangsta.

I really started my doo-rag craze back in 1994, and sported the look often over the next 3-4 years.  In fact, pictured below are two Camp Calvary photos, the first from 1994 and the second from 1995.  During those two summers I worked as a faculty member at 10 total weeks of camp.  I was always the do-anything guy…lead worship, lead recreation, speak, dorm dad, whatever.  And during all of those camp weeks, I was doo-rag-a-licious.

Just so you’ll know it’s me…here’s a closer look at these two pics.  Notice also that in both pictures, I’m also sporting fashionable “Christian” t-shirts, which I also was big-time into during that period.  From 1994-1997, I probably owned about 20 different Christian t-shirts.

Yes, I understand that – for whatever idiotic reasons – doo-rags are no longer as in style as they once were.  It’s upsetting.  Still, even in my older age, I like to find opportunities to wrap my head in an awesome, comfortable, sexy square of itchy cotton.  Makes me feel younger, cooler, hipper.  In fact, a doo-rag donned my dome back in May of 2008, for one of the first of many Crossings BVD pictures:

In closing, doo-rags are awesome.  You suck if you don’t agree.  And if you decide to wear one…please know that it automatically makes you the hottest, smartest, most Matthew-McConaughey-est person within a 1 mile radius.  Period.

Stuff I’m Bad At

Building Things.  I’m a terrible builder.  If you asked me to build a birdhouse, I wouldn’t know where to begin.  My understanding of what goes into building  a house…foundation, framing, drywall, etc…is basically nill.

Fixing Things.  Similar, but different.  Fortunately, I’m not of the Heathcliff Huxtable ilk … he wanted to fix things even though he couldn’t … I just recognize I can’t … so I don’t.  The extent of my handman skills are in the realm of adding windshield wiper fluid to my car, hanging pictures in the living room, and changing out the air filters each month.

Tolerance.  I hate this about myself.  Sometimes I realize my intolerance and stop it…most of the time I’m blinded by it.  I seem to hold others to unreal expectations of how they should act, feel, speak, live…even to expectation I don’t measure up to myself.  I’m intolerant of people who are dependent on others to do things I think they should do for themselves.  I’m not even really sure where this comes from, but it’s definitely a sour side of my personality that I’m working on.

Cursing.  I don’t consider myself foul mouthed by any means, but I tend to use more curse words in daily life than I’d like to.  It was definitely worse back in my car-selling days….working around drunks, druggies, and curse-every-other-word-because-they-can’t-think-of-better-things-to-say people definitely rubbed off on me a little.  And I’m definitely not a cursing-is-of-the-devil kind of guys…I just don’t like when it’s used as a crutch, as a remedy for the absense of better vocabulary.

Gift Giving.  I’ve shared this before.  Something inside of me just has this sort of disdain for gift giving holidays….Valentine’s, Easter, Birthdays, Anniversary’s, Christmas….it’s not the spirit of the holiday I’m opposed to, but the cultural expectation of gift giving – gift giving as an expression of how much you love or care about a spouse, friend, family member, coworker, etc.  It’s the way you’re looked down upon if you don’t pitch in at the $10.00 office gift swap.  It’s the idea that a holiday somehow isn’t complete unless you buy someone something.  I don’t necessarily apologize for my stance on this….what I’m bad at is letting it affect me to a point where I’m unable to fully enjoy the spirit of the holiday because of my poor frame of mind over gift giving.

Exercising.  Plain and simple…I almost never, ever exercise.

Praying Before Meals.  Plain and simple…I almost never, ever pray before meals.

Team Sports.  This is a combination of my inclination to be reclusive….as well as my intolerance (see above) for the miscomings of others.  I’ve had a pretty terrible competitive drive for most my sporting life.  In college, I would get so mad at my intramural teammates (who, by the way, were my closest friends, but simply were not quite as athletic as I was), that I finally gave up intramurals after my sophomore year, because I could see how damaging this was to my psyche and potentially to my friendships.  Because of this, individual sports/games – tennis, golf, ping pong, billiards, darts, stuff like that – have been more enjoyable for me over the years.  At least in those sports, if I lose, it’s because I was not good enough, and I have no one else to blame.

Small Talk.  I’m definitely not one to talk about the weather.  The weather is the weather.  It happens everyday, all year.  It changes.  It’s hot, cold, rainy, snowy.  The weather is the weather.  I tend to go straight from small talk to meaningful talk as quickly as possible if I can.  The bad part is that, just as often, I tend to go from small talk to I-don’t-want-to-talk-to-you-at-all if meaningful talk doesn’t seem possible or interesting.

Thoughts on a Faith Community

Over the last 19 months, I’ve had to redefine my own perception of community.  I had always perceived a community as a simple gathering of things … a gathering of homes on a street, a gathering of people in a square mile radius, a gathering of believers in a church, etc.  But that’s really it.  A gathering.  A group.  A number of things grouped together.

Any notions of this word that went deeper than a just a gathering bordered on the weird – hippies, cult-like religious fanatics (Branch Davidians, Jesus Juice), nudists.  The thought of “joining” a community brought to mind images of a Lion’s Club, Mason’s, or being on the community activist planning committee.

Part of my reservation in understanding true community stems from my natural desire to be sort of reclusive.  I’m great at being outgoing, funny, witty, and comfortable in front of groups of people, but only when there’s no real investment involved.  It’s easy for me to be a likable, humorous, engaging version of myself when I know those around me won’t really have the opportunity to know the real me.

But, ultimately, when it comes to true friendships, I’ve always been a real one-on-one, very small group of 3 or 4 friends type of guy.  As much as I hate cliques, I enjoy them in my own reality.  I like fitting into a small group of like minded people, loving others but keeping them at a distance, enjoying inside jokes, exclusive experiences, “you had to be there” moments.  Even 11 years removed from college, I sometimes long deeply for those days, when I had 4 really great friends who were always around.  They knew me.  I knew them.  Except for the cute girls I had crushes on, I could have cared less about the other 600 students.

Crossings, slowly but surely, has begun to change all that.  In this place, I have witnessed, heard about, seen, and experienced community in a new way.  A way I wasn’t sure existed.  A way that is magnetic, authentic, passionate, and deep.  I’ve had the opportunity to engage in a guys-only small group that has grown, changed, grown again, served together, studied, laughed, prayed, and opened ourselves up to one another.

I’ve seen everyday needs being met by others.  Heard stories of community-provision that brought tears to my eyes.  Even now, our neighbor (a family of 3) is about to be without a home….and families within the Crossings community, without even having met these people, have opened their homes and offered them a place to live.

I’ve seen a community truly engaged in the Sunday morning teachings.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a church where people could actually recall what had been taught 2 or 3 months earlier.  I’ve seen people of ALL ages engage fully in worship.  In a setting where you might expect only 20-somethings to be comfortable….there are 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70-somethings enjoying themselves every week.

I’ve seen people give of themselves week after week, hours upon hours, to own this community and make it a special place.  I’ve seen people really examine their lifelong beliefs and traditions – not because we expect them to “conform” – but because they’re finally taking steps to make their faith THEIR faith, and not the one that was handed to them.  And even when their beliefs or traditions don’t match up exactly with what we do at Crossings, they are tolerant and accepting, realizing that we are all on the same journey together, and that what really matters is not communion rules, alter calls, or song styles, but the lifelong struggle of finding your way back to God.

God is still working on me.  I can tell there’s more to this community-thing than I have yet to experience.  I’m still working on just being me, on being transparent and authentic.  I’m still struggling with how to let-in all 8 guys in my small group, rather than just 3 or 4.  And I’ve been in a months-long dilemma with understanding and responding to God’s call in my life.

But everyday is an amazing adventure.  Every Sunday is life-change just waiting to happen.  Every Thursday night is an opportunity for friendship, growth, and honesty.  Every evening at home is a chance to live out God’s love with my family.  And through it all, community happens.

Funny thing.  I rarely call Crossings a church anymore.  Not to myself, to my friends, to my co-workers.  Not that church is a bad word.  It’s just somehow not sufficient in today’s vernacular.  We are a faith community.  We do community, live community, share community,   flesh community, cry community, and teach community.

It’s like there are 1000 meanings of the word community, and for the first 31 years of my life, I only knew 2 of them.  But God does what God does, and now I know about 30 meanings.  And there are 970 more that He’s just waiting to reveal to me, in His own time, as I’m ready to understand them myself.  Almost like He’s smiling, nervous, anticipating, excited for me to learn the next meaning.  I know just how He feels.

FUN STUFF – JUMPING, BOWLING, SLEDDING!!

This is an exciting post for me…mainly because on Monday of this week, Knoxville received the most snow that I can remember seeing in the last 6-7 years.  So I wanted to share some fun stuffthat Eli (and I) have done lately, highlighted by a couple of incredible snow days.

First, Eli loves to jump from the ottoman to the couch.  Slowly but surely, he pushes the ottoman farther and farther back to test his (and our) limits.  Recently, he had me take a bunch of pictures of him jumping…here’s one of the better ones:

Next, our family recently went bowling for the very first time.  Our friend Chris joined us, and Eli muscled his way through two complete games.  It’s not easy to roll an 8 pound ball when you can’t hold it with your fingers. 

Saving the best for last….SNOW.  I’m so pumped we got snow this week.  Last winter, we received not one single snowfall that was enough to break the sled out.  But on Monday, all hell broke loose.  It snowed heavily all morning.  Threds (where I work) actually anounced at 12:30pm that anyone who felt the need to go home for safety reasons was free to go.  Needless to say, I took advantage.  I already had Tuesday off anyway, so it was perfect.  Picked Eli up from school, went home, and proceeded to get in about 3 hours of sledding time over the next day and a half.  On Monday, we used the yard across the street from our townhouse.  Eli kindly rang the doorbell and asked the lady who lives there if we could sled in her yard.  We sledded for about an hour, took a warm up break, waited for mom to get home, then went for another hour.

Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I actually took Eli to a much larger hill at the outskirts of our subdivision for some serious riding.  Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of this one.  The hill ranges from 20 yards to 50 yards long, depending on where you go down, and also varies in steepness.  The snow was hard packed and icy from the overnight low temps, so it was fast, furious, and quite bumpy.  Some other kids that were there let Eli borrow their much cooler sled, which went faster and farther than ours.  It was great.  Eli typically doesn’t have a large threshold for pain or adventure, but he was unstoppable on this day.  Forwards, backwards, on his rear end or stomach, small and big slopes, it was great.  So many times I would stand on top of the hill laughing as I heard him go down, yelling, “ouch, ouch, that hurt, ahh, watch the fence, woo hoo!”   I just can’t describe how happy I am that it actually snowed and I got to take my son sledding…when we went a couple of years ago, he was still a little timid with it and mainly rode in my lap.  Now he’s loving it completely on his own, more daring than I expected, and is already asking about when we can do it again.  Thanks God for the snow!!

 

 

Year in Review

Simply put, here are some things that either happened or didn’t happen in 2008:

Eli turned 4, has a girlfriend in daycare, and played about 1/4th of an Upward Bound soccer season.  I’m getting the early feeling that team sports will not be his forte.  Tennis maybe?

I think I watched Conan O’Brien about 3 times in 2008.  That is truly heartbreaking.  This is due to the fact that I actually stayed up late enough to watch Conan O’Brien about 3 times in 2008.

Received the Crossings BVD award in May and proceeded on a month-long BVD Tour.  It was fun.  You can check it out by clicking here.

My youngest sister was lucky to come out alive after a terrible car wreck in the spring.  I spent probably my most wretching 4 hours of the year that day waiting to get updates back from my other sister.

I took 3 vacation days from work this year.  That’s it.  Three. 

Played enough darts and tennis in 2008 to nearly have to start icing my elbow.  In 2009, I’m contemplating showing up to darts/tennis with an Allen Iverson elbow sleeve.  I’ll be ready to kick-some-ass then.  Although I will not be inclined to practice.

Made 4 trips to visit my family in Kentucky this year, including a farewell trip to the family farm.  It’s been a blessing to be able to do this, and to see our newphew Grayson grow up. 

I’m pretty sure I made it through the year without attempting to eat a can of Chef Boyardee anything.  This was a goal of mine.  For some insane reason, about once each year, I get the idea that I actually like Chef Boyardee.  Then I buy a can of ravioli, cheesy mac, or spaghetti and meatballs.  Then I eat it.  Then I nearly puke, and vow (once again) to never eat Chef Boyardee again.

Turned 32 in April.  According to average life expectancy, I’m just on the cuff of middle-age.  So, naturally, I’ve started spiking my hair, drinking more mixed drinks, and driving my Hyundai a little faster, with popular music blasting from the speakers.  And taking more Ibuprofen.

I did not vote this year.  I have never voted, so this is not a shock.  The only time I ever really wanted to vote was in 1996.  I headed to the courthouse in Grayson, Kentucky, home of Kentucky Christian University, stood in line, waiting to vote for Bill Clinton, only to find out that I had to be registered not only in the state, but in the county I was voting in.  As a result, I’ve never voted.

Very good year with Crossings.  Small group has been great, serving each week on the productions team is a blast, and we’re now 11 days away from our first service in Market Square.  Very exciting. 

I spent roughly 8 weeks as a vegetarian back in March/April.  Carbs were my friend.  Who knew a person could actually order french fries and apple pies at McDonald’s 8 times in a row?

In a nutshell, here were some of my favorite things from this year (regardless of whether they actually happened or originated from this year):  The Dark Knight, Blue Like Jazz, Obama-mania, online recipe sites, jeans and a t-shirt, Dexter, sweet tea, SNL digital shorts, Weeds, fuel economy, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Splash Country, the fall foliage, the Wimbledon final, Tiger Woods, Hillsong United, Cracker Barrell, Mellow Yellow, the blog nation, ESPN radio, Erin, Eli, and Jesus.

Wuz Up Big J-Baby?

The other night while playing darts with my Monday night small group at Spicy’s, my friend Daniel referred to me as “J-Riz”.  He normally calls me “J-Rock”, so it caught me off guard, and got me to thinking about all the “J-” names I’ve been called over the years. 

The one that probably stuck for the longest was “J-Baby”.  In January 1995, me, Brian, and John were driving across Missouri on our way to Joplin for the National Youth Leaders Conference.  Brian had gone by the nickname “Boog” for quite a while (because of a MLB baseball player named Boog Powell…they shared the same last name), and we were actually talking about nicknames in general…how do they come about, why do some stick and some don’t.

Literally, while we’re having this conversation in the car, driving through Missouri, a car passes us on the interstate.  It has a vanity plate on the back.  The plate reads J-BABY.  And immediately, my first nickname was born.  John passed away from a heart condition back in 2000 (another story for another day), but Boog and a couple of other college friends still call me that to this day. 

With that in mind, I thought I’d try and list all the “J” names I’ve been referred to over the years. 

J-Baby
Jaybo
J-Rock
J-Riz
J-Rizzle
Jake-a-roo (my papaw called me this for a long time)
J-Money
J-Mack
J-Man
J (just J)
Big J
J-Fresh
J-Dog

J-Baby definitely was the most popular of these, although I probably haved liked Jaybo the best.  I’m also open to J-Pimp, J-Ride, J-Homey, and J-Smack.

Me, Rob, Bud, & OJ

June, 1994.  I had just recently graduated from high school, and my youth minister, Rob, was one of my closest friends.  On the evening of June 17, which I’m guessing was a Friday or Saturday night, Rob and I were hanging out, doing pretty much nothing.  Which is all there is to do in a farming town of 2500 people.

Not too long before this, in a town next to us called Lebanon, Lebanon Christian Church had hired a new senior minister.  Bud Owens.  Yep.  Bud.  And whatever you probably think of to hear the name “Bud”, he embodied it.  Bud was about 26 years old, big, burly, liked to wear a cowboy hat, drove an old truck, talked country, the works.  Lebanon Christian is my grandparents home church, and we had already worked a week of camp together, so I knew Bud fairly well. 

Anyway, it’s probably 9:00pm, and Rob and I decide to go visit Bud unannounced.  He had been renting this old, run down house in the boonies of Lebanon.  It took us a while to find the house, because we only knew the vicinity it was in, but had never been there.  Finally, probably around 10:00pm, we found the house, and recognized the truck in the driveway, assured we were at the right place. 

It’s dark outside by now, even in June.  We knock on the door.  Knock again, harder.  We hear a sort of grunt in the room on the other side.  Some movement. 

“WHO’S THERE!?” yells a loud, gruff, angry voice on the other side. 

“Bud, it’s me and Jason!” yells Rob. 

“Who!?  What do you want?”  Another angry yell.

“Bud, open the door!  It’s Rob and Jason.  From Springfield.”  At this point, we’re not exactly sure if he just awoke from slumber, doesn’t recognize our voices, or maybe is on drugs. 

“Damn it…hold on!” comes on another yell.  Rob and I are laughing.  Bud’s a weird character.  In fact, he’s still at Lebanon Christian today, 14 years later.  He dated my cousin Dianna once or twice.  She was infatuated with him actually…up until the night they went out.  She was soon un-infatuated. 

Finally, the knob turns.  The door opens.  And Bud is standing on the other side, wearing only a pair of boxes shorts, with a shotgun held to his side, pointed straight at us.  Now, I once shot a guy in the nuts with a bb gun (by accident, true story), but I’d never had a gun pointed at me.  Neither by a friend nor a foe.  Rob and I both jumped to the side of the door, yelling euphamistic profanities at Bud, ensuring him it’s just us, not intruders. 

Bud rubs his eyes, realizes who we are, and as if he had never stood in the door in his boxers with a shotgun trained on us, invited us inside. 

We laughed about the event.  Soon, we headed went into his living room, sat down on an old couch and chair, and Bud proceeded to turn on his 9″ color tv sitting on the coffee table. 

And there it was.  OJ being chased down the interstate in the white Ford Bronco, police cars in pursuit, helicopters flying overhead providing the footage.  The boxers and the shotgun were forgotten as we focused our attention for who knows how long on the bizarre event on the tiny tv screen.  OJ had apparently killed someone, fled the scene, and was now on a futile car chase in southern California. 

A few months later, I remember my roomate Andy (we called him Buddha) and I running full speed back to our dorm room from class to catch the OJ trial and the verdict….not guilty.  I remember feeling stunned, not necessarily knowing if he was guilty or not, just having come to the conclusion that he would be “found” guilty. 

And now, 13 years later, The Juice is off to jail.  I never saw him play, although I did see him act, and he was a bad actor.  I have no personal feelings toward The Juice, only to think it sad that someone of such great stature in the world of sports has fallen so far.  And, at the very least, I’m thankful for the night that he diverted my thoughts from the barrel of a gun, and instead directed them to a 9-inch television.

Self Explanatory

Sports Thoughts and Other Tidbits

Who among anyone living picked the Tennessee Titans to win 10 or more games this year?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

Chad Pennington and the Dolphins (1-15 last season) are actually battling Brett Favre (retired, unretired, took Pennington’s job) and the New York Jets for the division lead/title.  I love it.

Misty May Treanor is the best volleyball player maybe ever.  Indoor or outdoor.  Incredible instincts, fast, smart, soft touch, good placement.  Plays many dozens of beach volleyballs matches a year.  Fought through the Olympics with her playing partner and won the gold medal…..then goes on a freaking dancing show and tears her achillis tendon.  That’s just not fair, man.  Not fair at all.

I enjoy keeping up with NASCAR.  There’s a lot of good intrigue, some fights, arguments, great characters, funny advertising.  I appreciate what they do and the risk they take.  But I swear I cannot watch more than 7 laps of action without just lapsing (pun intended) into complete boredom. 

I love it when new people join the Saturday Night Live cast.  Literally, just last week, two new women were introduced as “featured” players on the show.  And in the entire episode I think they garnered 8 seconds of screen time and spoke 9 words.  How funny is that?!  It’s fun to watch the newbies because you know they’re nervous, fighting for a job, hoping to be the next Will Ferrell or Molly Shannon.  I’ve seen some newbies I thought would be the next big thing and turned out to be disappointing (aka Fred Armisen).  I’ve seen other newbies who I didn’t care much for who’ve ended up being great (aka Seth Meyers, but only because of Weekend Update).  And…who’s with me here…how in the world is Keenan Thompson still on SNL?  This is his FIFTH season.  AAAHHHH.  Please, please, please, get a new black guy.  I’m begging you.

Greg Oden needs a good nickname.  I have some suggestion.  “Limpy”, “Crow Mag Num Man”, “Papaw”, “Greg the Leg Oden”, “The Tortoise”, “Needacane?”, “Sam Bowie, Jr”

A guy more diminutive than me just won the NL Cy Young Award.  Mr. Tim Lincecum ladies and gentleman, all 5′11″ and 170 lbs of him.  Unfortunately, because he plays for San Franciso, it’s possible you’ve never watched him pitch.  You’re loss.  It’s amazing.  It’s sort of like when you wind a pencil around and around a rubber band until you can’t wind it anymore, and then let ‘er fly. 

We’ve been into watching TV series that are out of DVD for about 4 months.  First it was Weeds.  Then Dexter.  Now we’re in the middle of both Six Feet Under and Madmen.  Man, this is the way to watch a tv series.  The waiting a week crap stinks.  Two Sundays ago, Erin and I watched FIVE episodes of Six Feet Under in one afternoon/evening.  It was incredible.  Up for future consideration, once we’re done with these….Flight of the Conchords, The Closer, The Shield, Entourage, and Arrested Development.

The last 3-4 weeks of fall have been the most beautiful I think I’ve ever seen.  And now it’s gone.  The orange, auburn, red, and yellow have pretty much all turned to brown.  The trees are beginning to look bare.  Low 60’s have been replaced by mid 40’s to lower 50’s.  Every year, I have to remind myself to really breathe in the beauty of fall.  It’s so amazing, but goes by so fast.  Luckily, now we’ve entered another 3-4 period of time in the year….the period in which I eat enough pumpkin pie to last until next year.  Loaded with Cool Whip.  Oh man, I’m so pumped.

Salsarita’s Convention

Spent most of my weekend in Charlotte, NC at the annual Salsarita’s franchise convention.  Threds does all the apparel for all Salsarita’s restaurants nationwide (www.ritasthreds.com), and we attend this event every year.

My co-worker Stephen and I spent much of last week boxing up inventory, creating signs, packing the cargo van, creating surveys, and brainstorming how we’re going to sell as much stuff as possible.  Then Saturday comes.  We leave Threds at 6:15am, and arrive in Charlotte around 10:30am.  The vendor show starts at 2:00pm, and vendors are supposed to start setting up at 11:00am.  Little did we know that the entire downtown would be shut down for a parade, and the convention hotel would be located SMACK in the middle of the parade area.  So we drive around the city for 40 minutes trying to find a way to the hotel.  Finally find a way.  Then we find out the convention is on the 3rd floor and are directed to go the loading dock area.  We find this, but realize that there’s no elevator in there.  Then we discover we need to use the freight elevator at the back of the hotel.  10 minutes later, we find this elevator, and begin unloading a butt-load of stuff from our van, carting it down the corridor and onto the elevator.  This takes about 20 minutes.  We go up to the 3rd floor.  We find a couple of Salsarita’s “gophers” to help make several trips with all of our stuff to the vendor booth area. 

It’s there we discover that our booth is about half the size we were expecting.  Basically, we’ve got all this display equipment, clothing racks, grid wall panels, and about 20 big boxes full of apparel….and no space to put any of it.  By now it’s almost 12:30pm.  We have 90 minutes left.  We make the decision that it’s going to be impossible to sell anything….and we scrap our original idea and begin working on a smaller set up, focusing only on displaying the product, giving away some freebies, and making ourselves known. 

We’re set up by 1:45am, grab a very quick bite to eat in the lobby, and then man the booth.  By 4:00pm, almost everyone has come through, and headed back to their rooms.  So…a four hour drive, 45 minutes of driving around downtown….loading dock….freight elevator…half size booth….take most everything back to the elevator….1 hour set up….for a 2 hour trade show.  So…we begin breaking everything back down, boxing stuff back up, and carting back to the freight elevator.  Down the elevator, down the corridor, and back into the van.  Finish with all this around 5:20pm.  Back to the room, clean up, have a couple of cocktails and appetizers in the Salsarita’s reception gathering, leave to grab some dinner at Unos, back to the room to watch UT get thrashed by ‘Bama, then lights out around 11:30pm. 

Little did we know that the 18th floor of the Charlotte Hilton would turn into a circus until 3:00am with parties, wrestling, yelling, laughing, and drunkedness filling the hallway as we tried to sleep.  (This was not Salsarita’s related…just a bunch of gosh darn hooligans)  Up at 7:00am, clean up, check out, hop in the van, and drive back to Knoxville.  Back by 12:30pm. 

Just another typical Threds event.  Lucky for me, next Monday I get to drive a 16 foot box truck 10 hours to Florida for a 4-day Sea Ray plant sale trip.  Woo Hoo!

Every Vehicle I’ve Owned

Disclaimer – this does not include my wife’s two cars that I’ve “co-owned” in the last 5 years.  Also, these are not actual pictures of the cars I owned.  They are pictures of the same model year and type of car I owned.  Mostly just the colors are different.  With that said, starting at the top left, going clockwise:

1. 1987 Ford Escort.  Mine was a 2-door, black, with red interior.  4 speed manual.  Bought it in June 1992 with 60,000 miles for a grand total of $2300.00.  Put in a Kenwood CD player and a big-ass speaker box in the trunk.  Drove it until December 1995.  It had roughly 107,000 miles when I traded it.

2. 1993 Mazda Protege.  Mine was 4 door, 5 speed manual, champaigne colored.  Had about 34,000 miles when I bought it in December 1995.  I was traveling a TON on weekends with ministries during college, and was not confident in the Escort anymore.  Used some student loan money for a down payment and financed it on my own at age 19.  Pretty cool.  Nice car.  Replaced the power steering pump at 60,000 miles (it went out on me) for about $300.00, but that was it.  Drove it until June 1998.  Had about 96,000 miles at the end of my ownership.

3. 1995 Ford Ranger XLT.  Mine was 2 door, 5 speed manual, green colored.  I had been wanting a truck for a while, just had an itch.  Bought this 1 month after I graduated and moved to Knoxville.  Had about 70,000 miles when I got it.  Good truck, ran well, I enjoyed it.  However, I quickly learned that a 2-door, 3 seater truck wasn’t the best vehicle for a youth minister with no church van.  I needed more seats.  Hence…

4. 1998 Mazda Protege LX.  Traded the Ranger for this one in November 1998.  The car was 1 year old with 32,000 miles.  White, 4 door, 5 speed manual.  First vehicle I owned with power locks, windows, and a remote entry.  Drove it until it had 102,000 miles and did no service to it other than oil changes, battery, tires, general upkeep stuff.  Very dependable car. 

5. 2001 Mazda B3000.  My first ever brand new vehicle.  Bought this about 4 months after I’d started selling cars for a living.  Traded the 98 Protege and leased the truck because of a great lease rate Mazda had, which made for a great payment at the time.  It was 2WD, white, extended cab, 5 speed manual.  Looked pretty much just like the picture above, except it wasn’t a 4×4.  Awesome truck, just one complaint.  It was extended cab but didn’t have a 3rd door.  So the extended cab was nearly useless, because you couldn’t get things in and out of there.  Only owned it for 1 year and 17,000 miles.

6. 2002 Mazda Protege LX.  My 2nd new vehicle.  Why so soon?  After driving the 2001 truck for only 1 year, 9/11 hit, gas prices went up dramatically, and my car sales career wasn’t going very well.  The Protege’s were on 0% for 60 months at that time, and the car got 10mpg better than the truck.  Payment was almost identical, but I was immediately saving about $30.00 a month in gas alone.  Every penny counted.  This car was silver, 5 speed, with a sunroof.  Really, really, really great car.  Drove this one for over 6 years, 97,000 miles, and never had one mechanical issue.  Just like the previous Protege, all I did was oil changes, new battery, tires, etc. 

7. 2008 Hyundai Accent GLS.  White, 4 door, automatic.  Got it in September 2008.  After 16 years of driving, my first automatic transmission.  The 2002 Protege was great, but needed about $1400.00 in “age” repairs (timing belt and clutch) to continue it’s life.  I didn’t want to fork out that chunk of money, and after 6 years was sort of ready for a change.  This car is very basic.  No power windows, locks, no keyless entry.  10 years ago I would NEVER have considered a Hyundai.  5 years ago they started getting my attention.  Now I finally feel comfortable owning one.  So far, after 2600 miles, I’m averaging 31 mpg consistently.  I only hope it will be as reliable and long lasting as my Protege’s were.  

8. My future car.  A 2008 Porsche 911 GT2.  I’m thinking with inflation, resale value, and saving every penny, I’ll be able to buy a used 2008 Porsche 911 GT2 sometime in the year 2019.  I’ll be 43, in a mid-life crisis, and ready for a hot, fast, identity-crisis type of car.  It will be perfect.

The Edelen Family Farm

Tomorrow after work, Erin/Eli and I will be heading to Kentucky.  It’s a pretty special, exciting, and sad weekend.  On Saturday, the Edelen family will be having a get together at my grandparents farm for the very last time.  It’s been about 15 years since we gathered there together, which makes it even more special. 

My grandparents – my dad’s parents - bought a 270 acre farm in Springfield, Ky sometime back in 1955, when my dad was just a baby.  My dad is the 4th of 8 kids – 3 girls, 4 boys – who all pretty much spent their entire lives growing up on, and working on this farm.  I’ve taken a Google satellite image – it’s as close as I could zoom in before the image was lost – and cirlced the plot of land that makes up this farm.  See the letter “A” designating a road?  That’s Edelen Lane….the 1 mile long driveway that leads to and dead ends at the farm.  Across the road from Edelen Lane is a very very old Catholic chuch that my dad has attended his whole life.  He went to school there as a child.  So when my dad talks about getting up at 5am, milking the cows, and then walking a mile to school up and down hills in the cold, the snow, and the rain….well, he actually means it. 

Most of my greatest childhood memories are from this farm.  I have two cousins, Todd & Matt, who are pretty much the same age as me.  Every year at family get togethers for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, we would make this 270 acre yard into our personal playhouse.  4 barns, 4 ponds, an awesome creek that dissects and borders the outside of the farm, open fields, forested area, hay bail forts, jumping into corn bins, playing basketball in the upper level of one barn, shooting bb guns, swinging from ropes, skipping rocks, finding old animal bones and using them as swords, chasing after pigs, you name it.  If there is any fun to be had on a farm, we had it. 

Back around 1992 or 1993, after all the 8 children had finally grown up, left home, and started lives of their own, my grandparents decided to build a home closer to town, to semi-retire in.  The farmhouse was getting old, they had NEVER had air conditioning and relied only on wood burning stove heat, had no washer/dryer, and utilized a pretty old plumbing system.  (yes, there is an outhouse, and i’ve used it many times)  They didn’t sell the farm, because my papaw is a lifetime farmer and needed to continue to do the work, but it ended the era of family get togethers at the farm.  I actually have felt sorry for my younger siblings since then, knowing they did not really have the same opportunity as I did to enjoy our get togethers out there, to know the farm, to explore it, to love it.

My papaw – now 83 if I remember correctly - had continued to run the farm up until this year.  Mowing, hay, raising cattle, all of it.  I know my dad and his brothers have helped him out with stuff here and there as needed, but for the last 20 years it’s pretty much been papaw’s farm to work.  In the last 8 years, I’ve only visited the farm on 2 occassions, both pretty short visits, just to see how things looked. 

Then, just a couple of months ago, our entire family received an email from my dad.  The first line of the email simply read, “The farm has been sold.”  I think I speak for most of the family when I say it was like a punch in the gut.  For as long I can remember, the farm has been bordered on one side by a local rock quarry.  Apparently, they’ve been interested in buying the land for years, and finally made an offer that was too good to pass up.  Combined with the my grandparents age, and the future difficulty of selling the land had they passed away and left it to 8 children, it was definitely the right thing to do. 

So, in two days, the entire Edelen family – roughly 45-50 of us including the grandparents, 8 children, all the grandchildren, the grandchildren’s wives or husbands, and the great grandchildren – will gather together at the farm one last time.  The weather is forecasted to be sunny and in the lower 60’s, which is perfect.  I am INCREDIBLY excited at the opportunity to take Eli there for his first and only time, to explore the farm with him, go in the barns, ride the tractor, walk through the fields, and stroll along the creek.  I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more than he will, but that’s okay. 

I feel sad and happy at the same time.  I know on Saturday I’ll do a lot of smiling, and probably even shed a few tears.  It feels sort of like I’m losing a friend.  But the memories will live on…memories of popsicles, outhouses, good cooking, a warm stove, lots of family, endless adventures, and knowing that a family worked hard just to have food to eat and a place to sleep.  And these memories will always be good.

The 1st Thing I’ve Built In Years

A couple of weeks ago the subdivision Erin’s parents live in had it’s 12th annual community garage sale.  It’s always big, and really good.  We’ve participated 3 times, and always sold everything we put out.  This year, while walking around the neighborhood, I found the Sanyo 27″ TV you see in this picture…and bought it for $20.00.  It now sits in Eli’s room. 

However, when we bought it, I knew there wouldn’t really be a spot in his room to put the TV.  So I decided to build him a TV table.  Myself. 

I sketched it out, did the measurements, went to Lowe’s, found the wood, had it cut on site, realized AFTER it was cut that I had grabbed the 2×10″ wood instead of the 2×12″ wood, which screwed up my sketched out plan.  So I had to figure out how to use the precut wood I had instead.  Figured it out.  Proceeded to build the table in our kitchen.  Realized the screws I was using were not really the right kind.  Went to Ace Hardware and got new ones.  Made lots of noise and lots of dust in the kitchen.  Measured mostly by eye, which you aren’t supposed to do, realized the table was slighly wobblier than I had hoped, but was able to use two left over pieces as extra support braces.  Decided to nail those in instead of screw them, which was REALLY loud in the kitchen.

And finally finished.  Didn’t varnish or paint it.  I wanted Eli to be able to draw and decorate and write all over it if he wanted.  He did for a while and was done.  But it’s still his for the decorating.  And it holds up his TV.  So, when it was all said and done, Eli got a 27″ Sanyo tv in GREAT condition, a custom made TV/VCR/DVD stand, and a VCR/DVD combo (from his grandparents who weren’t using it anymore), and I spent a grand total of about $50.00.  Not too bad.  However, it kind of sucks to think that it took me 29 years before I had a TV as big as the one he now has at 4 1/2.

Car – Buying a Car – Car Salespeople

I may be buying another car very soon.  I love my 2002 Mazda Protege LX.  I bought it with 12 miles on the odometer.  It now has 97,500.  However, it needs a new clutch and a new timing belt VERY soon….I’ve gotten 3 estimates and the cheapest so far is $1300.00 to do both.  Because I’ve had to refinance my car a couple of times to make our family budget work, I’m still making payments on it.  Not sure if I want to drop $1300.00 on a car with 97,000 miles that I’m still making payments on.  Tough choice. 

Anyways, just started a little car shopping, and am immediately reminded of why I no longer sell cars, and never ever ever want to again.  My sales guy last night was about 26 years old, and for over an hour looked like he needed a drug fix really bad.  In fact, at one point I was outside with him.  We started to walk inside, and he began sniffing and rubbing his nose frantically and said, “I’ll meet you inside….I’m having some issues with my nose….my sinuses are killing me.”  I’ve worked with many car salespeople who were on cocaine.  This was a classic cocaine reaction.  I worked with a guy who was a crack addict.  Every so often he would bring random things to work to try and sell to other salespeople for $15 or $20.  Clocks, phones, a watch, etc.  I worked with another guy who, about 1 year ago, was put in jail for life for killing a mom/daughter while driving drunk.  Turns out he’d been arrested for DUI about 9 times in the last 10 years, and had only spent about 1 week in jail.  He was the top salesperson for over about 2 years at one dealership I worked for.

Some of the reasons I hated selling cars….

1. You’re pushing people to spend many thousands of dollars “on the spot”.
2. Everybody lies.  The salespeople lie.  The customers lie.  The managers lie.  The detailers lie.  If “Kit”, the Knight Rider car, was for sale on the lot, he would freaking lie to you.   
3. Some days you could be at the dealership for 12 hours and only work with 1 customer, and that customer would buy a vehicle.  Other days you could be at the dealership for 12 hours and work with 14 customers, and not one of them would buy a vehicle.
4. You never, ever know what you’re going to earn….from sale to sale, day to day, week to week, month to month.  From August to November of 2001, this was my monthly earnings…. $4800.00 … $2200.00 … $1800.00 … $500.00.  No kidding.  I made $4800 one month, then 3 months later made $500.00 the whole month.  This is common.
5. Balloons, balloons, balloons.  Every Saturday morning is was vital to put balloons in every conceivable spot around the lot.  On the cars, on the trucks, on the hot dog stand, on the gates, on the fence…it made you want to tie a big helium balloon around your neck and have it wisk you off to Kansas.
6. Terrible business sense.  Here’s how it works.  You’re a salesperson.  For a couple of years, you’re the top salesperson.  You become a sales manager.  Doesn’t matter if you have good people skills, if you’re a good manager, if you know how to work with other salespeople, if you’re good with business and marketing matters.  Top salespeople = future manager.  No matter what.  The sad part … most of the top salespeople make HORRIBLE managers. 
7. Almost Zero customer loyalty.  Over 90% of the customers I sold to could have cared less how hard I worked, how cordial I was, how honest I was, how I would go over the top to help them.  Once they drive home (unless they have a problem), they forget who you are. 

Enough venting.  It’s time to make a choice.  I’m going to look at a 2008 Hyundai Accent after work.  It’s new, with NO frills…no power windows, no power locks.  But I can buy it brand new for about $13,200.00, so it may be worth it.  Hyundai has come a LOOONG way in the last decade.  They are now one of the top rated vehicles, period.  The Sonata recently beat out both the Camry and Accord in a Motor Trend midsize car test.  5 years, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, 10 year, 100,000 drivetrain warranty.  We’ll see.  Maybe it’ll work, maybe not.  I’ll let you know.

Until then…be nice to your local car salesperson.

A Few More of Life’s Simple Pleasures

Hitting the SNOOZE button for the 3rd time.  I am definitely a snoozer.  Very, very rarely do I get out of bed after the first alarm sounding.  I usually don’t even remember the first one.  I remember the second one, but do not want to wake up to it.  But by the third alarm, I’m finally waking up.  So when I hit the snooze on the third one, I’m mostly awake, but it’s like I’m taking a little 9 minute nap until the fourth alarm…at which point I finally get up. 

Wearing shorts and a sweatshirt.  This, my friends, is when you know the weather is PERFECT.  That day you go out with sneakers, shorts, a sweatshirt or long sleeve tee, and you feel totally comfortable.  Unfortunately, there seems to be only about 3 weeks each year where this is possible.

The first drink you take (of whatever) in the morning.  It doesn’t matter what.  Coffee, Coke, water, tea, milk, etc.  When you take that first swig of your morning-time beverage choice, it feels so good.  You can feel the liquid go all the way down your esophogus, just coating it with goodness.

Not Just a T-Shirt Company

Threds (my place of employment) has tried hard over the last couple of years to market themselves as more than just your standard t-shirt shop.  New logo, new website, new marketing campaigns, etc.  We do embroidery, custom design work, marketing, a WIDE variety of promotional products (check out www.searaywearables.com or www.nautiquegear.com to get an idea of what we can do).  As you may know from some previous posts, sometimes I get totally stressed out working here.  But sometimes (like today), we have our moments as a company that make you proud to be a part of it.

We’ve recently partnered with the UT Bookstore on campus to provide a customized, unique men’s and ladies “fashion apparel” line.  They’ve given us our own section in the store and we’ve just sent over our first production of 4 men’s and 8 women’s fashion-styled tees.  And they absolutely LOVE it.  The UT Bookstore has tons of basic tees…orange, white, all kinds of UT logos and designs…but nothing to speak of the “fashion” line – custom cuts, ladies fits, American Apparel, California style stuff.  But now they do…and I’m proud to have played a significant role in making this happen.  Here is a small sample of some of the designs we did for them….if you’re a visitor to the UT Bookstore, check out our stuff!  (unfortunately, these virtual designs don’t do the actual garment justice….you’d just have to see them to see how freaking awesome they look)

a few of life’s more simple pleasures

Peeing in the shower.  What an awesome time in the morning, waking up, having to pee pretty bad, getting in the shower, the water washing over you, and then finally peeing without really having to look or aim.  It’s one of the best times of the day.

58 degree mornings.  These can happen in the springs, the summer, or the fall.  But it’s so great to walk out the door in shorts and a t-shirt, still trying to wake up a little, and having just enough of a cool morning to give you a shiver and jump start your heart a bit.

A really good glass of sweet tea.  Sweet tea is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’re gonna get.  Some are too sweet.  Some not enough.  Some are smooth.  Some are slightly bitter.  Some have too much lemon taste.  But when you take a drink of the perfect glass of sweet tea…the drink that tells you you’re about to consume at least 4 glasses before you’re done with your meal…that’s an amazing moment.

There are more I’ll share later.  What are some of yours?

Movie Ratings – Part VI

Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull.  The Ark of the Covenant, The Cross of Coronado, various ancient artifacts, The Holy Grail…and space aliens.  That’s exactly what I want from my archeological adventurer movie.  Space aliens.  Oh yeah, have I mentioned I’m not a big fan of Shia Lebouf?  My Rating:  I would say it’s about the fourth best movie in the Indiana Jones series. 

Bella.  Do you ever go to rent a movie, and you see that movie you’ve never heard of, but all over the movie cover are raving critical quotes, film festival award symbols, and enough stars to make you think you’re dizzy?  And sometimes you take a chance and rent it.  And it ends up sucking?  And sometimes you take a chance and rent it.  And it’s really really good and you’re so glad you took a chance?  My Rating:  We took a chance and rented this movie.  And I’m really really glad we took the chance. 

Wanted.  I’ve always thought Angelina Jolie was a good looking woman.  But I never really considered her to be “hot”.  Until now.  And somewhere along the way, over the last couple of years, I’ve grown to be a BIG fan of James McAvoy.  He’s of the same ilk as Ryan Gosling.  You don’t really think about them much in terms of being big time actors, but, man, are they good.  And would somebody please tell the movie industry to stop casting Common in movie roles?  He’s total dead weight on the screen.  And, as much as I like Morgan Freeman, is it really necessary for him to be in 68% of the movies I’ve seen in the last 5 years?  My Rating:  It’s totally far fetched and unbelievable….but it’s a LOT of fun to watch.

The Dark Knight.  Okay.  Erin and I went to see last weekend, its second weekend in theaters.  We wanted to see it in IMAX.  We showed up at the theater at 2:30pm in hopes of seeing the 3:40pm IMAX show.  It was already sold out.  In addition, the 7:00pm IMAX show was already sold out.  And so was the 3:10pm showing, which was the next show in the regular theater.  So we got tickets for the 4:10pm show.  Then, beginning at 3:00pm, she and I started the line for the 4:10pm show.  Yep, first in line.  By 3:30pm the line was about 150-200 people deep/thick, and by 3:40pm the 4:10pm show was sold out.  But then, at the glorious time of 3:50pm, the barrier was opened, and we were the first ones in the theater, getting the select choice of seats (which was about 5 rows up, dead in the middle).  By 4:00pm, the theater was almost full.  Around 4:10pm, just before the previews, the idiotic movie goers who think it’s no big deal to show up right at the movie starting time show up, and have that oh-so-funny “oh crap” look on their faces as they realize it’s the neck-cricking seats for them this afternoon.  (One of Jason’s big pet peeves – not showing up early to movies.  Seriously.  If I can’t be in the theater about 10-15 minutes before the scheduled show time, I don’t want to go.)  Then we watched the movie.  And I was proud of myself for having the strength and stamina to hold off going to the bathroom for the last 80 minutes of the movie.  It hurt, but it was worth it.  My Rating:  Do you really need me to rate this movie?  Even if I thought it was so-so or not-that-great, you know you have to see it anyway.  And if I think it’s the greatest movie since Titanic, then I’m just riding the bandwagon.  So who cares?  You’ve probably already seen it twice anyway.

What is God Trying To Tell Me

Made some spaghetti last night, with meat sauce.  Yummy.  I’ve been in the habit of bringing my lunch to work for a long time now … can’t really afford to buy lunch everyday, not really sure how so many others can … and spaghetti is a great lunch option.  For about $6.00 you can make at least 5 servings of sketti and meat sauce, which provides a meal at home for 2 and 3 days worth of lunch.  Perfect. 

After I’d eaten some sketti, put my lunch servings into tupperware containers, and cleaned out the pots and the strainer, I left the kitchen to watch some tv with Erin.  A few minutes later, when I came back into the kitchen for something, I noticed this in the sink …

Yep, it’s just what it looks like.  A small piece of leftover spaghetti that didn’t get washed down the drain, in the undeniable shape of an ICTHUS fish.  I had to take about 10 pictures to get one that looked okay, since the stainless steel sink kept reflecting the camera flash.  Finally, Erin held a flashlight over the ICTHUS spaghetti fish, I turned off the flash, and captured the image you see here. 

What does it mean?  I made some dinner and cleaned up afterward, so I performed my husbandly duties okay.  No problem there.  I made reasonable sized servings, so no gluttony.  Should I be eating MORE spaghetti?  Is it really good for me?  Do I need to think about God more while I’m cooking, being thankful for the opportunity and for the food provided for us?  Maybe, just maybe, if I look at my sink closely enough, I’ll find a sublimal image of the Virgin Mary.  And the ICHTHUS spaghetti fish is likely sitting right where her stomach is, an obvious metaphor of the fact she carried the hope of mankind in her womb.  Or maybe, just maybe, the spaghetti poured onto the sink, this piece got stuck, some water flowed on it and caused it to move a little, and it ended up looking like a well known Christian symbol.  I don’t know. 

What I do know is that if I ever see several grains of rice clumped together in the sink in the shape of a cross, I’m going to totally freak out. 

DC Talk – Top 12 Songs

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  I’m a HUGE DC Talk Fan.  Have been ever since a week of church camp in 1991, when a summer travel team from Cincinnatti Bible College spent the week at our camp.  One of their team members, Kevin Comp, would play the song “Heavenbound” over the sound system in chapel every evening before the service would start.  It was sort of the “get all the campers pumped up” song of the week.  I had never heard Christian rap before.  Ever.  And, much like the first time Barry took the ‘roids, I was hooked. 

 

Went out that summer and bought the first DC Talk tape.  Wore it out.  Memorized every song.  Less than two years later, after installing a cd player in my first car, one of the very first cd’s I ever bought was the “Free At Last” cd.  Still have it to this day. 

 

Then, it was Jesus Freak.  Went to the christian bookstore in Lexington on the day Jesus Freak was released.  To this day, Jesus Freak has sold more copies in it’s first week of sale than any Christian album in history…and I helped make that happen.  3 years later, Supernatural.  Same thing.  Opening day of release.  Christian bookstore.  Me.  Money.  Smiling. 

 

I’ve seen them 5 times in concert.  In fact, the very first concert I attending in my life was Audio Adrenaline & DC Talk in Louisville, Ky, in the fall of 1993 on the Free At Last tour.  Saw them at Kings Island.  Saw them at a concert Festival at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.  Saw them in 1996, again with Audio Adrenaline, in Columbus Ohio.  Finally, saw the Supernatural tour when it came to Knoxville in early 1999. 

 

My old friend Lee and I co-deaned a week of Intermediate/Jr High camp at Camp Calvary back in 1996.  We called it “Jesus Freak Week.”  To this day, I’m pretty sure it’s the largest week of camp in Camp Calvary’s history.  It was ridiculous.  To open the chapel service each evening, we would play the Jesus Freak music video over the sound system and project it on a screen and all the kids would mosh around and dance like freaks.  A good way to get them to burn some energy before a message, you know? 

 

For the last 8 years, I’ve been hoping and praying for a DC Talk reunion.  I don’t know, man, there are mixed messages out there.  Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.  Their solo stuff has all been pretty good, but it hasn’t matched the quality of what they did as a group. 

 

So, with a lot of hard thinking, tears, sweat, and apologies for the songs that didn’t make the list, I’ve come up with my Top 12 Favorite DC Talk songs of all time.  There are another 4-5 songs that could have easily made this list, but I had to cut it down to 12.  12 is just a good number.  God says so. 

 

And Toby, Kevin, Michael….if any of you guys happen to be Googling your own names, or the name of DC Talk, and you happen to stumble upon this blog, and read this post, and hear this heartful plea….please, please, please get back together.  Write new stuff.  Let the creativity flow.  With the exception of “Nu Thang”, everything you guys did was money.  Swallow your pride.  Do what’s right.  Millions of fans like me will thank you for it. 

 

 12.  Heavenbound  (DC Talk)

11.  It’s Killing Me  (Supernatural)

10.  In the Light  (Jesus Freak)

9.  Socially Acceptable  (Free at Last)

8.  Sugarcoat It  (Intermission)

7.  What If I Stumble  (Jesus Freak)

6.  Just Between You & Me  (Jesus Freak)

5.  Like It, Love It, Need It  (Jesus Freak)

4.  Consume Me  (Supernatural)

3.  Jesus Freak  (Jesus Freak)

2.  What Have We Become  (Jesus Freak)

1.  Dive  (Supernatural)

 

A Few Updates

I’ve played more tennis in the last 2 months than I had in the last 10 years.  It’s been great.  Although playing until after midnight on Tuesday nights with my pals, getting to bed around 1:00am, and then getting up for work the next day has been a little rough on this old body.

I’ve picked more berries in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life previously.  Picked some fresh blackberries at Daniel & Mandy’s about a week ago, and just ate them right off the bush.  Then, Eli & I went to The Fruit & Berry Patch in Halls a few nights ago and picked some blackberries and peaches and took them home.  Then a couple of nights later, Erin, Eli, & I went back out to the Patch and picked blueberries, grapes, blackberries, and apples.  And we bought a thing of honey made in Nebraska that is probably the most delicious honey I’ve ever tasted.  Then we went home and I took the blackberries and blueberries and made a homemade cobbler all by myself.  Never did this before.  It was really really good….and VERY sweet….went just a little overboard on the sugar.  Although I did take the cobbler to work the next day and it disappeared quickly. 

Work is hectic.  One guy in my department was let go about 4 weeks ago, and another girl resigned and went off to greener pastures.  So I’m taking on some full time web accounts again, on top of trying to do the things I’ve been doing the last several months….technical training and development, product development, various projects, etc.  Stressful.

I LOVE the show So You Think You Can Dance.  Love it.  I’ve watched previous seasons as well, although I’ve never committed to watching it every single week like I do with Lost, The Office, or Prison Break.  But the dancing is so incredible.  This isn’t celebrities “trying” to dance.  It’s 18-28 year olds who are actual dancers trying to make it and get their big break.  I love it.  The choreography each week is so stinking creative and amazing.  And I don’t think I can dance.  I know I can.

Erin has recently gotten pretty good at throwing Frisbee.  I’m not sure how or why, because every time she’d tried in the past, it went pretty poorly and she’d get frustrated and quit.  But something clicked.  And although there’s still room for improvement, we’ve actually gotten out and thrown several times over the last few weeks.  Awesome.

Because of season passes that were given to us as a gift, we’ve been able to go to Dollywood & Splash Country 4 times each so far this year.  Yee Haw!

This time next year, we’ll be getting Eli ready for Kindergarten.  Buying a backpack, shopping for school clothes, getting pencils and paper, finding a cool lunchbox.  How is this possible?  5 years ago this little person did not exist.  Now he talks back, climbs on the counter to secretly find snacks, dances all around the living room breakdance style, wears his water mask/goggles in bed while watching cartoons, prefers to get dressed all by himself, picks bugs up off the ground, sings on tune, loves to eat mushrooms, has a sort-of preschool girlfriend who is so clingy to him that he says “why does she be my friend ALL the time??”, and laughs just as wonderfully as ever.

Some Things That I’m Truly Afraid Of

Almost anything to do with going to the doctor….needles, having blood drawn, shots, the phrase “this shouldn’t hurt too much”, the smell, the other sick people in the waiting room, the bad news, the bill, the $50.00 prescription.

Something bad happening in our home while we sleep.  Intruder…fire…leaving the oven turned on…carbon monoxide poisoning, infestation of bugs.  This stuff often keeps me awake.  I hear noises coming from downstairs and lay awake for 10 minutes listening intently for more noise.  I keep a golf club under the bed.  About once every 2-3 weeks I get up and go downstairs (heart pounding) looking for what might be down there.  Some nights I check on Eli about 5 times before I can go to sleep. 

Really deep water.  I’m not sure how well I would handle a cruise or deep sea fishing.  The thought of floating on water that is 1000’s of feet deep really disturbes me…..even more so than the thought of an overweight, chain smoking clown hiding in my refrigerator, which is apparently a common fear.  I’m an okay swimmer, not great.  But the thought of going under, and it becoming pitch dark and cold….aahhadrdradlaadlfkj, it gives me chills.

Missing out on life.  Not too terribly afraid of death…it’s more the missing out on life that scares me.  Watching my son grow up.  Seeing new technological advances come to fruition.  Growing old with family and friends, reminiscing.  Enjoying sunshine.  Things like that.

Pain.  (see going to the doctor, above)  During one 18 month stretch of my childhood, I broke my left arm on 3 different occasion.  Three different breaks.  Three trips to the doctor/hospital.  Three times having my bones reset, which is still the worst pain I’ve experienced in my life.  Three times overreacting and wishing I would just die so I didn’t have to deal with the pain again.  The result of this experience is that I’m somewhat pain-o-phobic.  I will gladly avoid engaging in activities (flag football, excercising, getting up from the couch, cooking dinner) that could result in serious pain. 

My Movie Ratings – Part I

With Blockbuster Online, we see our fair share of movies at home.  And fortunately, I’ve actually been able to see a handful of movies in the theater over the past few months….partly because one of Erin’s co-workers is the sister of the CEO of Regal Cinemas.  Cha Ching.  So I thought I would share some personal movie reviews and ratings on flicks I’ve seen over the past few months.  I’ll offer minimal thoughts, so as to not ruin any plot or narrative, and then I’ll rate the movie.  After much consideration, I’ve developed my personal movie rating scale.  Here it is:

My Movie Rating Scale:

Holy Crap – It’s The Second Coming of Braveheart

It’s Sort of In Between Crash & Shawshank Redemption, With a Dash of Magnolia

On Par with Heat, Just Not Quite There Yet

Oh Yeah, You Should See It.  Just Be Sure to Follow It Up With A Few Good Men.

It’s Definitely Watchable….It’s Just Not Braveheart, And Never Will Be

I Loved Seven.  Did You Love Seven?  This Was Okay.  But This Was No Seven.

It Could Have Been Better If Steven Seagal Was In It

Ever See The Bridges Of Madison County?  Slow, Watchable, Totally Mediocre?  Yep, It’s About Like That.

If William Wallace From Braveheart Belched, This Movie Would Come Out

It Only Wishes it Could Be a Preview on the Braveheart DVD

Could Be a Cult Hit – If You’re a Member of the I-Love-Movies-That-Suck Cult

Remember Ace Ventura?  Yeah, It’s Almost That Bad

I Would Rather Watch a 2 Hour PBS Documentary on Smog While Snacking on Seaweed

So….let the ratings begin….

The Nanny Diaries.  Life in New York City is something I’ll never comprehend.  But Laura Linney is a great actress, and Scarlett Johansson is quite easy to look at.  My rating:  It’s Definitely Watchable…It’s Just Not Braveheart, And Never Will Be.

In the Valley of Elah.  Really good cast.  Good overall story.  Very nice performance from Tommy Lee Jones, even better than his role in No Country, in my opinion.  My rating:  Oh Yeah, You Should See It.  Just Be Sure to Follow it Up With A Few Good Men.

The Heartbreak Kid.  Can Ben Stiller actually act?  He’s talented, right?  He’s capable of being funny, isn’t he?  Didn’t he once have a bright future ahead of him?  My rating:  Remember Ace Ventura?  Yeah, It’s Almost That Bad.

Transformers.  Man, was I a big fan of the 80’s cartoon.  BIG fan.  You know what I’m not a big fan of?  Shia LeBeouf.  Major overactor.  Some cool effects, a nice emotional quality to the transformers themselves, and a total waste of Josh Duhamel’s decent acting ability.  Although it did elevate Meghan Fox to super-hottie-on-the-cover-of-every-men’s-magazine status.  My rating:  It Could Have Been Better If Steven Seagal Was In It.

Alvin & The Chipmunks.  Well.  Um.  Eli seemed to like it okay.  And I thought it was cool that Jason Lee was able to take off the mustache, wear nicer clothes, be a successful musician, and still pretty much look, sound, and act just like Earl J. Hickey.  My rating:  It Only Wishes It Could Be a Preview on the Braveheart DVD. 

BVD Tour – The B-Side Pics

Here are 4 BVD Tour photos that, for whatever reason, just didn’t make it into the official tour stop posts. 

Clockwise, starting from the top left:  standing inside of Payless Shoe Source in the Target/Kroger shopping center on Clinton Highway in Powell (Christine, an employee, took the photo) ….. me and Eli at Morton’s Overlook in the Smoky Mountains, elevation approximately 4800 feet (doesn’t it look like if we fell backwards off the wall we’d plunge about 1000 feet to our imminent death?) ….. standing in front of Borders (my favorite lunchtime getaway) in the Turkey Creek shopping center (self photo) …..  me, Eli, and Erin just off the parking area at Clingman’s Dome, elevation 6643 feet (a nice lady name Renee took the photo).

Roughly once a week I’ve been going to Borders and reading a chapter of Tim Keller’s “The Reason for God”.  I’ve been doing this for about two months.  I mark my place in the book with the outside cover of the hardback flap.  After two months, no one has purchased the particular copy I’ve been reading.  I go in, find the book among the 6 or 7 that are there, open up to my flapped bookmark, and read the next chapter. 

In college, I had a genius professor who could SPEED read.  Seriously.  He told us stories of how he would go into bookstores, see an interesting book, read it from cover to cover while standing in the aisle, and then feel guilty about it and go purchase it anyway.  He spoke about 12 languages fluently, including 2 or 3 that read from right to left instead of left to right.  So, when he reads, he actually reads SIX lines to the right, then SIX lines to the left.  So, basically, in the time it takes you and me to read one or two lines, he would read one full page.  With full comprehension and memory.  Amazing.  It was Dr. Jim Girdwood.  You can actually see him by clicking here.  You’ll also see 3 other professors that helped educate me during my tenure at KCU, Drs Ford, Fiensy, and Knight.  Is there anything else I can ramble on about?  Hmm.  I guess not.

a few thoughts & struggles

The BVD Tour has been fun.  But it will probably slow down a bit for the next few weeks.  I had assumed I would be in possession of the BVD for one month, at which time it would be presented to someone else in the Crossings leadership community.  However, the June leadership meeting was cancelled, and we will not meet again until August.  This means I have the BVD for 3 months instead of 1.  And it sort of seems like the initial “boom” of the tour has faded.  I’ve gone from being the 2nd most popular blog on wordpress (for a particular few days of time) to being back to like the 2,225,875th most popular.  I still plan on keeping it with me, but I’ll be more selective as to when to bring it out.  And I still have 4-5 photos I haven’t posted yet, so I’ll make sure and offer those in the next week or so. 

On another note…I’m experiencing a time right now, and have been for a little while, where I’m having a very difficult time being content with my life.  And it encompasses many areas.  And the hardest part is knowing what to do, or even having the proper motivation to do anything about it.  For instance…

Erin & I have been on a really tight debt-reduction budget for a long time, and it seems like it will never end, and I’m having trouble being content with the amount of money we make, the place in which we live (we still rent), and the things we’re able or not able to do because of money. 

I’ve posted before about a renewed desire to serve in a greater capacity in ministry, but I wonder if it’s ever going to be possible and whether it’s something I should stop thinking about, at least for now.

I started playing my guitar again about 3 months ago, but I’ve already faded on it again, partly because I have little opportunity to play outside of my bedroom, and partly because my attempts at writing songs seem to head off into nowhere.  =/ 

I’m unhappy with my general physical condition, but have little motivation to do anything about it – jogging, walking, eating much better, developing accountability, etc. 

I have a real desire to develop deeper, stronger friendships in my life and seem to run into some mental roadblocks in that area…. (such as) I don’t have enough time to devote, the friends I have don’t have enough time, friends I’d really like to know better seem to have so many other close friends already that I feel like an intruder or an outsider, with others I wonder if our personalities would mesh well enough to become closer friends….and on and on it goes.

There’s more, but you get the idea.  I wonder if this is something others commonly deal with, or if I’m just in a unique little rut.  Either way, life goes on, right?  Any advice, encouragement, or prayers you may have to offer are certainly welcome.  I know I’ve been given a good life, certainly better than most, but I so often find myself wanting more.  And I’m not always sure whether or not that’s a good thing.