Ground Rules

At least for now, I want to continue blogging.  But for the sake of purpose and clarity, I’ve tried to think through some ground rules, a sort of blog-filter if you will.  The blogs that have lasted are the blogs that matter and have a point.  The days of everyone starting a blog and posting nothing but personal updates and you tube videos are over.  Partly because we get tired of that.  Partly because Facebook offers a much better way to communicate personal-life details.  I’m even getting a weird feeling that Twitter is going to die out soon.  Anyone who has enough time on their hands each day to keep a consistent Twitter feed going needs to re-evaluate what exactly they are doing with their time each day.  And those are are Twittering consistently are simply going to get tired of it.

So a blog needs to be thoughtful, meaningful, and provide an actual reason for a reader to return.  I know most of you that read, and you can simply become friends with Erin on Facebook to find out that Eli had a good day at kindergarten, we went on a camping trip, or that work has been rough.  So for you to stay interested, and to attract possible new readers (which I admit I want to do), there has to be more.

With that in mind, here are a few ground rules I’m going to establish.  They’re not necessarily hard and fast (and if you just said “that’s what she said” to yourself, shame on you), and I may occasionally allow myself a guilty humorous pleasure or two, but they’re ground rules nonetheless.

1. If I can create a post in two minutes or less, it’s not a post, and never deserves to be a post.

2. Blog posts shall be well thought out, and written to the best of my ability.

3. I will try to focus my content on issues, opinions, challenges, questions, admissions, hypothesis, and general diatribes that are important to my faith, worldviews, and overall life experience.

4. Because of ground rule #3, anonymous comments are both welcomed and encouraged if the commenter feels it necessary.  This gives you the freedom to question my views, give truly honest feedback, or simply bash me.

5. There shall be no established guideline to the frequency of posts.  It’s easy to post frequently if such posts are not well thought out (see ground rule #2).  That shall not be the case here.  Posting frequency shall coincide only with the time and ability I have to post thoughtfully and effectively.  Therefore, any comment asking where I am or did I disappear shall be ignored.

6. Reader comments are not only welcomed and encouraged, but shall serve as a litmus to the quality of the posts, and the overall health of the blog.  An equation might look like this:  Comments = good post & healthy blog …(or)… No comments = crappy post & dying blog.

7. The total number of “views” on this blog shall no longer mean anything (much like a pitcher’s winning record when his ERA is actually 5.23).  It is apparent that most of my 27,000 views to date have come from people who have Googled the following search terms:  “Hillary Clinton’s cankles”, “Toyota Corolla”, “Michael Jackson History”, “BVD underwear”, and “Best Worship Music.”  None of these Google searchers have either read or contributed to the blog in any way.  They are dead to me.

I hereby announce that the official Ground Rules are established.

In the Year 3000…In the Year Three Thousaaaaand

Mountain Dew, Red Bull, & Amp will form a partership to combine their technologies into one drink….it will be called “OH HELL YEAH I’M TWEAKING BABY!”  It will be a hit.

People will still speculate whether or not Elvis and 2Pac are still alive.

All of Europe will have transitioned into a nudist continent.

Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and the rest will be replaced by ThinkWarp.  You simply think something, in your mind, and your friends will hear it in their ears.

People will think of the A-Bomb, Napalm, and Nuclear Missles the way we think of spears and slingshots…as in, “Wow, I can’t believe people back in the 21st century had such primitive means of battle.  What woosies.”

Braveheart will still stand as the movie to which all other movies are compared to in terms of overall greatness.

Cows, pigs and chickens will no longer need to be raised and killed.  All meat products will be expertly grown in labratory-factories with giant petrie dishes.  All humans will have become lactose intolerant because of 21st and 22nd century steroid enhanced milk, making dairy products obsolete.

Bill Clinton will be looked upon as one of the greatest presidents in our nations history.  George W Bush will still be the butt of presidential jokes.  Barack Obama will have paved the way for future black presidents, hispanic presidents, and eventually a gothic teenage president.

Because of increased fear and crime, Trick or Treat will devolve into “Knock and I’ll Shoot”.  Of course, shoot is such a present day term, as guns won’t exist as we know them in that time.  It will probably be more like, “Knock and I’ll Say Intruder”, at which point the voice activated home protection system will active the magnetic field under the porch (all people will be required to wear lightweight magnetic shoes, enabling law enforcement to stop an individual at any time by activating the magnetic field under the area in which they stand), causing the person to be stuck in that spot.  It will then automatically alert the local law enforcement agency with a detailed report of the both the person (through use of a retinal information scan, or RIS) and the incident.  Police will arrive within seconds through an underground tunnel system (sort of like a hyperspeed roller coaster with protective tubes that you travel in), and take the person in question to jail, where their punishment, which will actually be the uniform punishment system, will be to sit in a room for 48 hours, where they will have nothing but bread and water, and be forced to watch all 12 Seasons of the early 21st century version of ABC’s “Wife Swap”.

Michael Jackson – Part 1 – Songs

I can’t possibly put all my Michael Jackson thoughts into one post.  I could, but you’d probably get tired of reading.  So I’m breaking it up into parts.

Part 1 – my favorite songs.  I couldn’t figure out how to narrow it down to 10, so I conceded to 15.  So, here are my 15 favorite Michael Jackson songs, in order from 15 to 1.  Feel free to critique.

15. Off the Wall (Off the Wall) – amazing bass line!

14. Wanna Be Startin Somethin (Thriller) – what a fun song … to this day, I still don’t  know why he says, “you’re a vegetable” about 4 times.

13. Is it Scary (Blood on the Dance Floor) – a very intense song, basically asking whether or not you get scared when you look at him.  Probably his least popular selling album, so you may not have heard this one.

12. Get on the Floor (Off the Wall) – another amazing bass line.  This might be the easiest upbeat song every written to sway back and forth to if you’re not a great dancer.  Not that I’m not a good dancer.  I am really.  Club style dancing though, not line or waltz or swing.  And there’s a great part toward the end of the song where he’s basically grunting, “shic a bope a ba, schic a bope a ba”.  It’s so cool.

11. Stranger In Moscow (History, Disc 2) – you’re going to see a few songs from this disc on my list, please tell me you’ve listened to them before!  A slow, almost creepy sounding song about his experience of being in Moscow.

10. Remember the Time (Dangerous) – known by many because it was a theme song/video to the Eddie Murphy movie, “Coming to America”.  Another song with great grunting sounds.

9. Break of Dawn (Invincible) – chorus line – “and we’ve got to make sweet love until the break of dawn”.  Come on, how can you not love that?  Great song off his final album.  Very smooth beat and great vocals on this one.

8. The Girl is Mine (Thriller) – awesome song featuring Paul McCartney.  How many times have you heard the line “I’m a lover, not a fighter” used?  This song is why.  Nuff said.

7. You Rock My World (Invincible) – his last hit single.  Really catchy chorus.

6. Keep the Faith (Dangerous) – a very gospel choir type of song.  Inspirational, as the title would suggest, with a GREAT build toward the end of the song.

5. Billie Jean (Thriller) – considered one of the greatest songs ever written, and the video is infamous.  Great story line, easy to sing, and anyone who hears the amazing bass line at the beginning immediately knows what song it is.

4. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough (Off the Wall) – I totally love the quiet dialogue that builds into a very tense but hushed scream to start the song.  Grew to love this song more when I heard a bonus track of Michael and his brothers/sisters playing pots, pans, and random percussion instruments in a living room to lay down the original demo for this song.  It’s crazy good.

3. Scream (History, Disc 2) – incredible song, GREAT video.  If you’ll remember, this was a duet of sorts with sister Janet.  Again, the intensity is what I love about it.

2. Earth Song (History, Disc 2) – unfortunately, not many people are familiar with this song, but it’s an amazing, nearly 7 minute long song where he cries out about how we’re mistreating the earth.

1. Man in the Mirror (Bad) – I have every grunt and scream memorized on this one, along with the words.  Ask me.  I’ll perform it for you on the spot.  I’ll tell more stories about this one next week.

favorite things

This is actually copied and pasted from one of my pages at the top, but I don’t think anyone ever reads them, so I thought I’d post it.  There are a few updates from the page.  Enjoy.

Favorite Food – Hamburgers

Favorite Movie (All Time) - Braveheart

Favorite Movie (Current) – Slumdog Millionaire

Favorite TV Show (All Time) - The West Wing

Favorite TV Show (Current) - The Office

Favorite TV Show You May Have Never Watched – Sports Night

Favorite Article of Clothing - Shoes With No Laces

Favorite Sports Team – Tiger Woods

Favorite Athelte – Tiger Woods

Favorite Person With an Animal’s Name – Tiger Woods

Favorite Retirement Dream – Traveling all over the world to all the most beautiful, spectacular natural environments … Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Great Barrier Reef, Alaska, Montana, Mayan and Incan Ruins, etc.

Favorite All-Time Music Artist – Michael Jackson

Favorite All-Time Music Group – DC Talk

Favorite Way to Spend a Quarter – 2 pieces of Laffy Taffy

Favorite Drink – (tie) Coke / Sweet Tea

Favorite Restaurant – Cracker Barrell…you always know what to expect, and you always know it’s gonna be good.

Favorite Extra Curricular Activities – Movies, Church, Darts, Reading, Frisbee, Tennis, Enjoying Nature

Favorite Thing About President Obama – Seems to connect with the “common man”

Least Favorite Thing About President Obama – When doing tv interviews, he often comes across as scowling and a little snippy.

Favorite Cereal – Wow, what a tough question.  All time, I would have to say Apple Jacks.

Favorite Worship Song (All Time) – Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Favorite Worship Song (Current) – Jesus Paid It All – updated version from the Everything Glorious Album

Favorite Worship Song That I’ve Rarely Heard Sung in Church – Ancient of Days

Favorite Soap – Irish Spring

Favorite Shampoo – Pert Plus

Favorite Hair Cut – high and tight

Favorite Book (All Time) – Lord of the Flies

Favorite Book (Current) - Blue Like Jazz

Favorite Talk Show – Ellen

Favorite Reality TV Show – (tie) Extreme Home Makeover / So You Think You Can Dance

Favorite Place I’ve Actually Been – Barbados

Favorite Place I’ve Never Been – Idaho

Favorite Bachelor Food – Manwich

Favorite Car (All Time) – Honda CRX

Favorite Car (Current) – Honda Element

Favorite Thing About God – He is Constant, Never Changing

Favorite Slang Word – “sick”

Favorite Place to Eat Wings – Quaker Steak & Lube

Favorite Sandwich – Buffalo Chicken

Favorite Video Game (current) – Tiger Woods Golf, X-Box

Favorite Video Game (all time) – NBA Jam, Sega

Favorite All-Time Tennis Player – Andre Agassi

Favorite Sandwich Bread – Honey Wheat

Favorite Non-Sandwich Bread – Banana Nut

Favorite Character on The Office – Jim Halpert

Favorite TV Show I Hardly Ever Watch – Scrubs

Favorite All Time Baseball Player – Will Clark

Favorite List – Favorite Things

thinking out loud

Watched the first half of Bill Maher’s Religulous documentary last week.  It was so obvious what the gist of the documentary was that I didn’t have the motivation to watch the 2nd half.  Here’s the plot:  Maher has candid talks about his religious doubts with people who don’t know how to articulate their faith without sounding dumb or getting angry.  Maher laughs and they look like fools.  Maher moves on to the next person.  The end.

Eli had his annual physical / immunization check up last week.  He got 2 shots in one leg, 2 shots in the other leg, and had blood drawn from his finger.  Poor little guy walked with a limp for 4 days.  These types of things should be bold printed in the introduction of books like “Things to Expect When You’re Expecting.”

As part of a response to a previous post I did about wanting to hear some new music, Bill & Betsy made me 5 mix cd’s with like 80 songs for my birthday.  I’ve only made it through one so far, but I absolutely love it and can’t wait to hear the next four.

I think the name United States has evolved into a serious oxymoron.

The very first cassette tapes I ever owned (back in 1986) were Run DMC’s “Raisin Hell” and The Beastie Boys “License to Ill”.  No joke – in 5th grade, my friend Joseph and I used to go to other 5th and 6th grade classrooms in my elementary school and perform “You Be Illin” by Run DMC.  Our teacher actually set this up for us.

On the non-hit TV show Wipeout, has ANYONE ever made it across the gigantic bouncing balls without falling into the water?  Seriously, why do people even try?  Just leap into the water and start swimming.  It will be faster.

Quiz

Hey friends.  This is probably going to be a pretty busy blogging week for me.  I’m thinking at least one post each day this week, so I hope you’ll stick with me and come back each day.

First, I have a quiz question for you.  Can you guess which of the peanut butter & chocolate chip granola bars shown below came from Aldi in the Aldi-brand granola bar box, and which one came from Kroger, in the Kroger brand granola bar box?

Movie Ratings – Part X

Wow, we’ve made it all the way to Part 10 of the movie ratings on this blog.  Hard to believe.  That means I’ve rated approximately 45 movies in the last (almost) 2 years.  As a special treat to commemorate the occasion, I have more ratings to share.  And you will like them.  Word.

Gran Torino.  How old does a guy have to get before he ceases to be intimidating?  In Clint Eastwood’s case, I’m guessing it will happen at age 94.  In the meantime, he’ll continue to write, act, direct, and kick ass.  My Rating:  Listen punk.  Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have f**ked with? That’s me.

Watchmen.  This movie can be summed up in 3 words.  Big blue penis.  My Rating:  It was long, it wasn’t very action oriented, it was a little confusing, and it featured a big blue penis.  You make the call.

Don’t Mess With the Zohan.  Never in my life would I have thought hummus could be so funny.  Or racial slurs and profiling.  Or humping old women.  But somehow, against my better judgement, I watched this movie, and actually laughed.  My Rating:  If you’re trying to make a decision between Step Brothers, Don’t Mess With the Zohan, or Superbad…ah hell, it’s a toss up.  They’re all ridiculously crude, wrong, insensitive, and ashamedly funny.

Marley & Me.  I laughed.  Then I went, “awe…..how cute.”   Then I enjoyed some chips and salsa as the story developed.  Then I noticed some lacsadaisical movie making moments.  Then I laughed again.  Then some more time went by………………………..and then I cried.  And cried.  And cried more.  And then had to actually work hard to keep myself from vocally crying out loud.  This was like watching a really great episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition and then having Ty Pennington die in a freak accident at the end of the show.  My Rating:  I’m recommending it.  But I’m stating imperatively that you MUST have a box of tissues nearby.  Don’t test me on this one.

i say again, no one is blogging

When I wrote several days ago that blogging is becoming obsolete, I had thoughts as to whether or not I had jumped the gun, reacted too quickly.

I’m not so sure now.  Example – in my blogroll to the left there are 14 different people/blogs listed, those friends of mine whose blogs I make sure to read the most regularly.  In the last 7 days, among those 14 blogs, there are a grand total of 7 posts.  That’s 1/2 post per blog over the last 7 days.  And a few of you have not posted in 2 weeks or more.

I know who you are.  You’re smart, well versed, funny, insightful people.  You have more important things to share than what can fit in 1/2 of a post over a 7 day period.  Some of you have many multiples of Facebook updates/comments over that same time period.  I know.  Big Brother is watching.

No man is an island.  I will not blog alone.  I put my heart on the line at least 2-3 times a week, and I have nothing to read in return.  I’m looking for friends, both men and women, who will stand up, open their minds, pour out their hearts, make fun of others and themselves, show ridiculous You Tube videos, and generally entertain me during my breaks at work.

Will you be that person?  Do you have what it takes?  In the totally irrelevant words of William Wallace……..

FREEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Some Stuff Jason Likes

70 degree weather … hamburgers … shorts and a t-shirt … shoes with no shoestrings … mellow yellow … creeks, rivers, waterfalls … frisbee … blockbuster online … sunglasses … rubbermaid storage containers … cereal … mcdonalds … witty humor … epic movies … jalapeno peppers … older (and easier) playstation games … small group … close knit friendships … witnessing my son get bigger and smarter … hamburgers … driving in country settings … worshipping loudly in the car … sports talk radio … sentimental moments … intentional spontaneity … The Office … SNL digital shorts … easy to manage hair … doo rags … frisbee … hamburgers … fiction … assurance of salvation … the scene in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles where the country baccer-chewin boy introduces himself to Steve Martin and John Candy right after spitting out some chew and wiping his mouth with his hand that he then uses to shake Steve Martin’s hand, and then he introduces his wife and tells her to put the guys’ luggage in the truck, then when Steve Martin insists that he can do it himself, the country boy, says, “oh no, she don’t mind.  she’s small, but she’s strong.  our last baby…came out sideways…and she didn’t scream a lick.”

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.

Stuff I’m Good At

Typing.  About 65-70 wpm with minimal errors.

Moderating.  I’ve always been good at listening to and understanding both (or all) sides of an argument, issue, or viewpoint.  Even in my faith, it has often taken me a long time to reach my own conclusions on a doctrine, because I’m able to see the validity of different viewpoints, and I’m torn between them.

I used to be really good at golf.  At one point, in the year 2000, I had seriously considered looking into entering PGA school, to train to be a certified PGA professional.  Not in the playing-on-the-PGA-tour sense…I was never close to that good.  But in terms of running a golf course, being a certified teacher, giving lessons, etc.  I was good enough to have done this.   I’m not anymore…this is mainly due to having not played golf in 18 months, and only having played about 12 times in the last 3 years.  Too expensive.

Making decisions.  Now, I’m not necessarily great at making the “right” decisions on things.  What I’m good at is actually being willing to be the person to make a decision on something.  I’ve always been willing to do this and accept the consequences of it.  As a result, throughout high school and college, I was ALWAYS the person who ended up being the “group leader” in any group project or assignment that our classes took part in.

Math.  Unfortunately, I’ve barely studied or practiced math in the last 12 years, so I feel sort of dumb again.  But I scored a 33 on my ACT in the math section, and have always been able to do quick calculations in my head and think that equations are the true building blocks of creation.

Being a one-on-one conversationalist.  I’m normally a terrible conversationalist in group settings…too many people to engage and listen to.  But in one-on-one situations, I feel like I can have a meaningful conversation with anyone….young, old, believer, non-believer, poor, rich, black, white, doesn’t matter.

Critiquing church services.  Whether this  is a spiritual gift or not, I cannot say.  This relates to having a core understanding of, in the application of  a church worship service, how to help people feel truly comfortable, creating healthy responses, controlling the flow/atmosphere/asthetics in a meaningful way, eliminating unnecessary distractions, stuff like that.  It would be cool to get paid to do this.

Rapping.  Yep, this is true.  I’ve never been really great at writing rap songs.  I’m okay, but not great.  I think if I had some sort of studio where I could create beats and really work on songs, I could be better at it.   What I’m good at is the actually rapping.  Over my life, I’ve been able to rap along with Will Smith, the Fat Boys, Run DMC, Naughty by Nature, Young MC, Eminem, Dr Dre, The Fugees, Vanilla Ice, The Beastie Boys, T-Bone, Dynamic Twins, and more.   Seriously.  This is true.  Stop laughing.

observations

There were somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000,000 people at the Obama inauguration.  That’s a lot of people.  Astute observation, I know.

Are the San Antonio Spurs EVER going to get to old to compete?  I’m beginning to wonder.  Seems like they’ve been the “older, veteran” team on the block for about 5 years now, yet they continue to win.

Michael C. Hall could possibly be the greatest actor whose name you just don’t recognize.

I’m having a really hard time finding any optimistic reserves regarding the economy.  At my place of employment, we were on 32 hour work weeks in November and December, had a mandatory shutdown from Christmas through New Years, changed to a company-wide 10% pay cut for January, and are now going back to 32 hour work weeks indefinitely.  And I feel like I have to consider myself lucky, because I actually still have a job.  It’s hard to imagine how the 15,000,000 jobless feel.

I’m about halfway through the 4th book in the Twilight series…which, for now, is the last book.  The only other vampire book I’ve ever read – Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” – kept me awake at night, scared, watching my windows for floating shadow’s.  Not so much with this one.  Even though I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been less of a scary feeling and more of a Notebook-Return to Me-While You Were Sleeping-Sweet Home Alabama-One Fine Day sort of feeling. 

For the most part, when an athlete says, “It’s not about the money.  Even if I wasn’ t making anything, this is what I would be doing”, it’s crap. 

I have a weird thing for jackets.  At home, in the closet, I have a minimum of  12 different jackets….rain jackets, winter sledding coats, plain zip up hoodies, mid-weight jackets, pullover windshirts.  This is partly because of where I work, but a few of these are over 5 years old and still in good shape.  I can’t explain it, really.  I just like jackets.

Wanna watch some videos of guys having their arms broken while they arm wrestle?  Here’s your chance.

Just recently made hamburger steak at home for the first time ever.  I love hamburger steak.  I cannot understand why I’ve never made this before.  It’s sort of like making miniature versions of meatloaf.  And I love meatloaf. 

Good bye Goody’s.  I’ll miss you.  That one and only time I purchased a couple of sweaters from your store about 10 years ago was a great experience for me.  I loved those sweaters.  Got them for about $6.00 each and wore them for at least 7 years, before they finally wore out. 

Declarative Statement:  If you’re not a fan and active viewer of The Office, I pity you.

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.

Amazing Worship Album

Over a year ago, I posted some thoughts about 12 years (now 13) of listening to worship music.  One of my issues was that not much has been out recently that really grabbed me or moved me in ways new worship music used to.  After that post, I ended up finding all of Tim Hughes solo stuff at McKay’s.  Good, not great.  Hillsong United was another suggestion, but I could never find them used, and I haven’t spent the dough for a new CD in a long time (not too mention I’m not a hip member of the IPod / ITunes revolution), so I just haven’t gotten to listen to them yet.  I know the handful of songs we do at Crossings, which I really like, but that was it. 

Then, last week, I borrowed the live 2 CD Hillsong United “I Heart Revolution” album from Greg.  Over the last 3 days, I’ve been able to listen to all 30 songs.  And I’ve been blown away.  Out of 30 songs, there are probably only 6 I didn’t really care for.  And, although the other 24 are not all necessarily that singable on a Sunday morning, they are all really great.  Great lyrics, great musical quality, great rhythm and tempo changes, powerful builds, songs of adoration, songs of action, songs of reflection.  Most of the songs just have such a powerful feel and are so easy to worship to.  I will say that the music sounds very similar on a lot of songs.  They’re really into the smooth, almost U2 like electric guitar rhythms, which has really infiltrated the sound of a lot of popular worship today.  Regardless.  It’s still amazing.

Disclaimer:  Hillsong United may may not be quite as good as Jeff Moody, circa mid-90’s, but it’s VERY VERY good.

Disclaimer II:  If you link to the 12 years of woship post, notice that Tony from Tony & Donny actually commented on the post.  I emailed him after receiving the comment, but never heard anything back.  So, Tony, if you happen to be Googling your name again and come across THIS post, feel free to comment again.  If you do, I promise to email you again.  And you better respond.  If you don’t, I’ll never sing “I Oh I” in the shower ever again.

Additional Thoughts On…

The Dollar Menu / Value Menu.  In the midst of inflation, deflation, bailouts, foreclosures, and unpredictable gas prices, thank God for the Dollar/Value Menu.  Did you know that Wendy’s started the value menu roughly 20 YEARS ago?  Sort of makes you wonder if the 99 cent chili was actually a value 20 years ago.  Honestly, if it weren’t for the dollar/menu, I might be bankrupt right about now.  To keep up with rising costs, McDonald’s recently changed the $1.00 double cheeseburger to a McDouble…which is a double cheeseburger but with only ONE slice of cheese.  Lucky for me, I always order my double cheeseburgers with NO cheese (not a big fan of cheese on my burgers), so it makes no difference to me.  I’ve never really understood the cost benefit value of paying an additional 30 to 50 cents to have a slice of cheese on a burger.  I wonder what the over/under will be on when all dollar/value menu items will no longer be $1.00, but more like $1.25 or $1.50.  June 2011?  August 2013?  What do you think?

Guilt Ridden Offering Collections.  Man, I’m shaking in anger just typing this sentence.  I absolutely despise offering collections, love offerings, or special offerings that are laced with guilt and shame.  About 10 years ago I went to a mid week revival at a local church (to be unnamed, except to say it’s one of the larger churches in the area, likely well known to most people in Knoxville).  The worship and message were okay, not quite my style, but that’s cool.  When it came time for offering, the basic gist of the offering message went like this:  “Friends, last year at our church, 500 people came to know the Lord for the first time, or redidicated their life to Him.  When you divide that into our yearly giving, that means that for every $3000.00 given, a life was saved.  So let me ask you, how many lives do YOU want to save this year?  Open your pocketbooks, get your pens ready, and decide today how many lives YOU want to save.”  Both I and a few people there with me immediately got up and left.  If I’m ever in a church or service and hear something like that again, I may actually stand up and begin an angry debate right there on the spot.

Cooking at Home.  I like it, it’s fun.  I actually do more of it than Erin does, just because I enjoy getting new recipes and seeing if I can make them come out okay.  Just recently made a batch of corn pudding that was out of this world good.  It’s generally cheaper than eating out (unless you stick to the dollar menu), it’s healthier, and we normally have plenty leftover for another day or two worth of lunches to take to work.  However, there are definitely a few drawbacks.  Ingredients.  I’m just not into buying ingredients for one meal that I know I may never use again.  I hate seeing that 3/4 full container of dill weed in the cabinet that hasn’t been used in 8 months.  Dishes.  Let’s just say that neither Erin nor I are ever very aggressive at tackling the dishes that pile up in the sink.  It’s a point of contention really.  We mentally keep up with who’s put away the dishes and reloaded the dishwasher the most recently, so we can make the other person feel bad enough to do the next load of dishes.  And of course, The Flop.  This is when you spend about $10.00 on stuff to make a new meal, try a new recipe, and it flops.  Either you didn’t make it right, overcooked it, wrongly anticipated it’s flavor, whatever.  The Flop really stinks.  It’s a terrible feeling to spend an hour or more excitedly making a new concoction, only to force feed it down, or to simply throw it away and fall back to the old faithful…a bowl of cereal.

My Thoughts On …

The BCS.  It’s dumb.  It’s even worse than high-school superlatives voting.  I was voted “Most Studious” my senior year, basically because I was always known as the smartest guy at school.  But I definitely didn’t study the most.  I can tell you at least 4-5 guys who worked harder than me.  But because I got good grades, I must be the most studious.  And how subjective is “most popular” or “most attractive”?  And so it goes with the BCS.  Oklahoma beat Texas Tech who beat Texas who beat Oklahoma.  So who’s better?  Florida.  That’s who.

The Socio-Economic Climate.  I can only speak from personal perspective on this one.  I’m semi-anti-social, but not to the point that I can’t speak and carry on conversations with people.  I just prefer smaller groups to larger groups when it comes to relational stuff.  I can pretty much get to know anyone 1 on 1, but I quiet down a lot in a group setting.  Economically, I’m probably “lower middle class”.  I’m not even sure there’s a true middle class now.  It skips right from lower middle class to upper middle class.  As far as the climate, it was 22 degrees out this morning, and my car was encrusted with ice.  It took me 10 minutes just to de-ice all the windows and windshield, then put deicer fluid in both mine and Erin’s car, which ended up making me late to work. 

ESPN Writer Bill Simmons.  This guys is an amazing columnist and writer.  But his articles are always so long, I just don’t have time to finish them.  Which is very frustrating.  Like getting into a GREAT book and realizing it’s 2:00am, you’re too sleepy to continue, but there’s only 5 chapters left to finish the book.  Ahhh, what a dilemma, right!  That happened to me with The DaVinci Code, I ended up finishing it at about 4:00am and had to get up at 6:45am for work. 

Live Theater Productions.  In the last 15 years or so, the only live theater style show I’ve seen is Riverdance, about 5 years ago, here in Knoxville.  In middle/high school, we used to take field trips to Louisville, KY to see live shows at a place called Actor’s Theater, which probably seated about 600 people total.  The most memorable for me was The Cask of Amontillado.  I always enjoyed those shows.  But for some reason, I just can’t muster enough desire to go see shows today.  Partly because I just am clueless about what’s in town and available to see.  And partly because I’m simply unwilling to shell out $30 – $50 to see the good ones at the Tennessee Theater.  Any free theater productions around town that I don’t know about?

Meatloaf.  Friends, I absolutely love meatloaf.  It’s incredible.  Crackel Barrel’s meatloaf is usually really really good.  Erin has never been that big a fan, but recently a co-worker shared her meatloaf recipe with us.  Erin tried it.  We ALL loved it, even Eli.  It has something to do with Heinz 57 sauce and brown sugar in the recipe that puts it over the top.  Meatloaf is fairly simple to make, you can make a lot of it rather inexpensively, it goes well with a variety of side dishes, it reheats magnificently, and it’s very filling.  If I were stranded in the desert for 40 years, it’s very possible that I would pray for meatloaf to fall from the heavens.

Unexplainable

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.

euphemisms

“A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener; or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker.  It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.”  (from wikipedia)

Euphemisms for Curse Words:  Shoot, darn, durn, gosh darn, dang, crap, gosh, terd, frick, freak, frack, SOB, SOL, FUBAR, bull, bullcrap, fart, screw it, fudge, crud, poop, bullhockey, jeez, geez, gee whiz, flip, shucks, frag, foo, fooey …. what am I missing?

Other Euphemisms, Random:  special needs, physically challenged, vertically challenged, post traumatic stress disorder, getting to third base, scoring, love gloves, passed away, went to sleep forever, we’re having him put down, sanitation officer, wellness programs, making whoopy, pre-owned vehicles, cutting excess salaries, working class neighborhood, correctional facility, unable to perform in clutch situations, escort service, and being held back a grade.

What are your favorites?  What have I missed?  As a Christian, are the cursing euphemisms acceptable to use, or is it just like cursing anyway, so it doesn’t matter?  Are euphemisms stupid?  Excuse me, I mean are euphemisms less mentally able?  Are they helpful?

The Dancing Brunette

A few weeks back, I posted the “dancing skeleton”, which had acosted me a few times on the weather channel website.  I haven’t seen the skeleton in the while.  Now it’s the brunette woman.  I’m not totally sure what her ethnicity is, but she seems very carefree and unassuming.  You kind of get the feeling she’s REALLY happy she can get a $133,000 mortgage for under $529/month.

Let’s Chat

I took Eli to Dollywood yesterday after church.  We hadn’t been since May (even though we have season passes), and it was the perfect day to go.  75 degrees, low attendance, and we rode 10 rides in less than 2 hours.  Right now Dollywood is celebrating “Barbeque and Bluegrass” season.  At one point, we walked by a food area that, literally, had an entire pig speared and roasting over flaming coals.  Now THAT is exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to see at a family park.

I used to be a golfing freak.  Several years back, I even considered entering PGA of America training to become a full time golf instructor.  Now, I’ve not swung a club or struck a ball in 16 months.  But also, just recently, I’ve actually started to lose interest in watching golf.  Basically, if Tiger’s not in the field and near the lead, I pretty much don’t care about watching.  This weekend was the Ryder Cup, and I probably watched about 90 minutes of the entire event.  Not long ago I would have taped the entire Saturday and Sunday coverage and stayed up until 2:00am watching every shot.  Good bye golf.

Jason’s Deli is now our new favorite place to eat…that is, when we actually have money to eat out…which is rare.  It’s quite a bit like McAlister’s Deli, except a little more “modern” and “youthful” feeling, which is important as you near your mid-30’s.  And they have free ice cream with any meal purchase.  Mmmm.

Speaking of nearing your mid-30’s.  Played tennis last night….and this morning my knees hurt, my thighs hurt, my back hurts, and I’m morbidly tired.  I apologize to my employer in advance for my lack of productivity today.  Where did 1996 go, and can I get back there soon?

A few thoughts about taking the Lord’s name in vain.  If I were to witness something terrible being done, and I said “God, Damn It”, in the sense that I’m literally saying “God….damn that terrible thing”, is that a violation of the commandment?  Or even just “damn it” in general…who’s the only One who can actually “damn” a thing?  God?  So would even just saying “damn it” imply that your asking God to do something?  Also…it’s interesting how Christians can be so cautious to never say the actual phrase “God Da** It”, but we so easily can say things like, “God, I’m so tired” or “Oh my God, you’re kidding me”.  But, ultimately, aren’t those types of phrases, unless we’re truly speaking to God in that moment, still taking the Lord’s name in vain? 

In honor of my friend, this week I’ll be purchasing a small Butterball turkey, putting it in a Crockpot with a can of cranberry sauce and a package of onion soup mix, and letting it cook all day on low.  I’m told it ends up making just about the most scrumptious turkey you could imagine.  We shall see.

(edit – addition) Oh yeah, me and Eli went to the Oakes Farm on Saturday to take a hay ride and check out the kids stuff.  It’s awesome, they have a bounce house, a gigantic sand pit, a big play box filled with kerneled corn that kids can jump around in, a kids maze, and more….while we were there, a 40 (or so) year old guy and his wife who are from Maine and are studying at Temple Baptist / Crown College in north Knoxville gave me a Gospel tract so I could get to know Jesus as my Savior.  Come on, man, who in the world gives away Gospel tracts while at a family-friendly corn maze/hayride/other fun stuff farm?  And who still thinks that initiating ridiculously awkard small-talk for the sole purpose of being able to give someone a gospel tract is really an effective way of introducing people to Jesus?  Oh, I know….Temple Baptist and Crown College “evangelizers”, that’s who.

More Questions

Where have all the cowboys gone?

For you betters out there … I give the over/under on the number of seasons before American Idol finally fizzles out at 4.5 season.  Where do you put your money? 

Who is this? 

 

 

When a comedian or performer has an awesome show, someone might tell him, “man, you killed it out there tonight!”  Doesn’t that sound extremely odd and anti-funny?  I mean, if an assassin successfully guns a man down, does a cohort tell him, “dude, you had them laughing so hard out there!” ?? No, because that makes no sense.  Why do we say so many things that make no sense?

Did you know you can occasionally catch re-runs of ALF weeknights on WGN?

Which would you choose?  $1,000,000 in a wire transfer.  Or $3,000,000 in pennies truckloaded to your home and dumped in your yard?

Scrubs might be my all-time-favorite-tv-show-that-I-almost-never-watched.  What’s yours?

Whoooo let the dogs out!?  Woof, woof, woof!

Isn’t the mere fact that the period of time from a presidential election in November to the time the new president actually takes office in January is referred to as the ”LAME DUCK” period enough to persuade Congress to possibly revise that procedure?

Questions

Is Michael Phelps really the greatest Olympian EVER? 

When did Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (one of them was on Weeds, season 3) go from being cute teen actresses to scary-looking, drugged up freakazoids?

I definitely lean more Democratic than Republican…but is anyone else as scared about Barak Obama as I am?

Things from the 70’s seem to keep coming back into style.  So will somebody please remake the Volkswagon Thing?

I had two vacation days scheduled for the end of this week.  I cancelled them because there’s so much going on at work I can’t keep up.  Does that mean I’m stupid and just working too much or that I’m a good, loyal employee?

Did anyone else really enjoy school lunch when they were growing up?  I did. 

If you a had a choice between a slow & glitchy computer or a gun to your head, which would you choose?  (think hard before deciding)

Has anyone ever done the math to figure out exactly how many animals were on the Ark?  We know the dimensions, right?  So we can calculate the floor space?  And we can estimate the size of various animals?  And therefore can’t we reasonably guess how many different types were on board? 

Is the Roman Catholic Church still universally relevant?

At what age will Tom Cruise actually start looking old?

A Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim embark on a sightseeing race across the state of North Dakota.  Which one dies of boredom first?

is it moving…or is it just you?

This can’t be comfortable

Took a picture of this dude while I was driving in the Turkey Creek area about 3 weeks ago.  Look at his arm position in the picture on the right!  I thought riding motorcyles was supposed to be relaxing?

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. 

Who wants some a this, huh? Who wants some?

Um…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chicken Truck

This is a picture I took from my car – yes, while driving, at approximately 62 MPH - on my way to work the other morning.

It’s a chicken truck. Filled with chickens. I have nothing to offer on this, except to say that it made me sort of sad to see it, and I drove beside it for about 2 miles just to try and see how the chickens were acting in there. Seemed sort of like they were acting like chickens, but I’m no expert.

It was still sad.