My World, Welcome to It!

CMA Awards - Hour 3

2011-11-09T22:58:00.004-05:00

I forgot something from hour 2. Kenny Chesney sang a duet with some lady. She was good. I think he wanted to sing it sitting down because he's shorter than her.

The first few seconds of Brad and Carrie were cut off here :-( Carrie has a great voice but I'm just not a fan. Brad is just beyond awesome though. Who is this chick with two tone hair? She annoying me. And The Band Perry takes it. Does The Girl Perry let The Boys Perry talk much at all? Who's the runty guy who looks like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory?

Here is Jason Aldean, finally another cowboy hat! I think his guitar player is chewing gum. His drummer has a mohawk. This ain't my daddy's country music. Now ladies and gents, Elle Woods! Male vocalist of the year is Blake Shelton. It's his award for having to do that cover of Footloose. You should read him on twitter. He's crazy and proud of it. Now Martina McBride with her new song about someone with cancer. Powerful. I dedicate it to friends who have battled breast cancer.

Now a tribute to Glen Campbell. He's a country legend and he's battling Alzheimer's. Three of the finest voices in country music, Vince Keith and Brad are paying tribute. He's had personal demons in life but he's a heck of a vocalist. I like that the CMAs will do these tributes and put an emphasis on performances. That's country!

Faith Hill is back at the CMAs for the first time in 5 years. Man she has a lot of hair! I still would love to see Trisha Yearwood back on stage singing. Female vocalist of the year is Miranda Lambert. Hubby and wife winners again. Vocal event went to Jason Aldean and my girl Kelly Clarkson to their awesome duet Don't You Wanna Stay. Go Kelly! Now a commercial for a movie about a choir starring Queen Latifah, and, yes, Dolly Parton! It looks cheesy predictable and dumb, but c'mon, it's DOLLY! January 13th nationwide :-)

Now Reba and her two new friends present enrertainer of the year to Taylor Swift. Somewhere in Nashville, a certain Miss Pendergrass just punched a wall. But you can't hate her, it's like hating a puppy. Did Carrie rip off some curtains and put em on? Yikes!

Not a bad show. Hope y'all enjoyed the recaps!

CMA Awards - Hour 2

2011-11-09T21:57:00.002-05:00

This may not be in order because I lost what I previously wrote. Oh well. I remember Taylor Swift sang. She was on key at least 90-95% of the time. She does better with that type of breathy song. Go TayTay!! Luke Bryan sang a rock song while half dressed women danced around him like they were (as my late Granny would say) hussies. Lady Antebellum helped me get over some of the Lady A fatigue. But why were there people up there just hanging out. It looked like a bad after work happy hour. Jason Aldean won album of the year and I think I saw some goth girl in the audience. (miss anything?)

Now Lionel Richie is singing with some country acts. Little Big Town filled in well for Alabama on Deep River Woman. Hootie is doing a good job with Stuck On You. Lionel still sounds good. He's from Alabama ya know. Rascall Flatts again? Did I lose a bet? Haha Dancing on the Ceiling lol. I like Lionel, but this is a dumb dumb song. What, nobody dancing upside down? For shame! And another Chipmunks movie? Is Jason Lee broke or did he lose a bet? And overwrought Grey's Anatomy promos (redundant I know) make me roll my eyes.

Now, The Band Perry singing on an old circus stage. Karline you are right, The Girl Perry got some guns! One of The Boys Perey is wearing the puffy shirt from Seinfeld. The other one is wearing a scarf. Why? They sound really good, but the background people are distracting. For instance, the woman getting her palm read. Ugh, LeAnn Rimes, but at least it looks like she put on a few pounds. Apparently husband stealing took its toll on her. Lady A wins, ugh. Now though, here's sugarland singing with some whispery guy. Jennifer nettles looks a lot like Kirsten Dunst. His movements are creeping me out more than his beard. Go potty y'all, fixin to be time for hour 3.

CMA Awards - Hour 1

2011-11-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Nashville, by way of Tuscaloosa. The always twitter funny Blake Shelton starts off with his remake of Footloose. The set and dancers are cheesy and not country. It looks like a kids construction set. Blake even looks a bit uncomfortable. Kenny Loggins then comes out to sing a bit with him. Kenny doesn't look good. Kinda looks like Weekend at Bernie's. Reese Witherspoon is there. Reba looks like she smuggled in a few friends too.

The always funny Brad Paisley and Judy Jetson are hosting. Oh wait, that's the boring (to me) Carrie Underwood and they start with a Hank Williams, Jr joke and Bocephus comes out. He should be glad he was kicked off football, people weren't talking about him until then. Seriously Carrie, what are you wearing? Poor Faith Hill, apparently she got caught in a wind storm on the way to the show.

The first presenter is the guy from Modern Family. And single of the year goes to If I Die Young by The Band Perry. Pretty song, depressing as heck, but nice. And those guys need haircuts, and apparently she eloped because she came in her wedding dress. That's dedication!

Now up, Keith Urban. He's the first victim of bad sound mixing. It sounds like his singing is backing up the guitars. He's also the victim of white people clapping out of rhythm. It's a sad epidemic at the CMAs. Is that Kim K's ex in the crowd? No wife, no job (NBA lockout) country music is right for him. Now the crown princess of Alabama football, the lovely Sara Evans. She's surrounded by chicks doing splits while suspended from fabric. Is it me or is that fabric crimson? Nice touch Mrs. Barker! She sounded great. Rascall Flatts is singing with Natasha Bettingfield? Did she lose a bet?

Good thing Will Jester doesn't make a drinking game of taking a shot every time Carrie changes clothes. He would have been passed out before Miranda Lambert came on to perform. (you're welcome Will). She's a bad chick, but I think she's wearing a WWE championship belt. Cool, she's got fire! She's not a dainty girl, awesome. Now my daddy's favorite singer Kellie Pickler and someone from Twilight, which he's never heard of. And the winner is If I Die Young. That one guy's hair is still freaking me out. Poor Carrie, something got caught on the side of her dress. Now Zac Brown Band with a tribute to Georgia, the state not the mediocre football team. Gregg Allmann is looking like Willie Nelson without, um, herbs. The whole effect of this version of Georgia on My mind is like a lazy river version of a New Orleans jam band. That is a compliment. But Zac, lose the Ashton Kutcher dbag hat.

Rascall Flatts, not a fan, can they convert me? Lead singer still looks like Food Network's Guy Fieri. Natasha Bettingfield sounds good but looks to be wearing a bathroom rug. Song is ok but a bit overdone. Vocal duo of the year goes to Sugarland. Why don't they just combine it with group? But I do lik Sugarland :) Now newbies, Eric Church is first. A bit cliched but he brought good fun and energy. Thompson Square is on now. Are they singing in front of an old manger set? Decent song. Now Chris someone is singing. He's got the country trifecta: mama, church, and beer.

Emmy Awards - Hour #3

2011-09-18T22:59:00.000-04:00

LL COOL J!! I miss him rapping. What has he done for himself since then? This is the movies/miniseries section of the show, also known as "HBO cleans up here". The big 4 networks don't seem to do movies anymore, so it's up to HBO and the UK via PBS to do them all. Since I don't get HBO, I don't care as much about the nominees. But Jane Lynch just had the line of the night "People always ask me why I'm a lesbian, ladies & gentlemen, the cast of Entourage." AWESOME! Downtown Abbey won for writing. Julian Fellows also wrote "Gosford Park" for which he won an Oscar. Do y'all care about that bit of trivia? Nope? Didn't think so. Supporting actress in a miniseries/movie goes to Maggie Smith! I loved her in Gosford Park and My House in Umbria for which she won an Emmy. Still don't care? Well, I don't care that you don't care. I'm just glad Evan Rachel Wood didn't win. She frightens me and she used to seriously date Marilyn Manson. Once you seriously date/get engaged to Marilyn Manson, I think you lose all rights to win entertainment awards. This means you too Rose McGowan. I'd include Dita Von Teese, but I still don't know what the heck she does or who she is.

Paula Abdul comes out for a quick joke with the accountants. Now Amy Poehler & Melissa McCarthy are hilarious together! Lead actor in a miniseries or movies goes to Barry Pepper for The Kennedys movie that everyone hated, well, the Kennedys hated it and nobody seemed to want to air it. But he was in that horrible Battlefield Earth movie, after that, anything looks good. Emmys are loving Downtown Abbey (and it being British, it's pronounced Downton Abbey). Now the president of the Academy is introducing those we have lost this year, or as I call it "The Death Parade". Who are these guys singing the 5 millionth version of Hallelujah? It was originally written by Leonard Cohen, but Jeff Buckley gave it some popularity. Who wins the award for most applause for a dead celebrity? I couldn't tell. Thanks to Anna Torv, I just found out it was The CANADIAN Tenors. Dang it, taking away good paying jobs from AMERICANS!

Supporting actor in a movie/miniseries nominees are glad PBS wasn't in this category. It went to Guy Pearce. I'll always think of him as the guy from Memento and LA Confidential. Some will always think of him as that lady from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. For lead actress, the Emmy goes to Kate Winslet. She seems happy. She seems a little TOO eager for awards though. But she's a very talented actress. For outstanding miniseries or movie, the Emmy goes to Downtown Abbey. Wow, they like it a lot more than HBO huh. You know a British accent doesn't make it better, right? Let's make it AMERICAN dang it!

For outstanding drama series, the winner is Mad Men! I can't complain. It's a great show. This season was AMAZING! Although the creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner can be a bit of a jerk. The episode titled "The Suitcase" was the best hour of TV I saw this year.

And Gwyneth gets to give out the comedy series Emmy. I'm SOOO over her. She's pretentious, that dress? Really a belly shirt? Are you a slutty 14 year old? Her death scenes in Contagion made me laugh. Modern Family won, big surprise, but it's a good show. Congrats to them.

OK show, some good winners. Some funny parts, some unfunny. Such is life.

Emmy Awards - Hour #2

2011-09-18T22:01:00.001-04:00

Starting off hour 2 with The Lonely Island and Michael Bolton doing their song from SNL. Then here comes other songs from this season, one of the few funny spots on SNL. Instead of Andy, Jimmy, and Gaga, it was Ed Helms, John Stamos, and my fave Maya Rudolph, then Akon told us what he just did. Now Lea Michelle & Ian Somerhalder are unfunny presenting a directing award. How did SNL win? One good episode a year and they win an award? Why is Anna Paquin still allowed to "act", if you can call it that? I do love The Daily Show, but 9 wins in a row, c'mon, spread the love Stewart!

Now, time for drama, still loving the goofy singers. I'm a fan of all those actors, well, except Wilmer. Oh yeah, not a fan of Ashton Kutcher either. But now he's on a CBS show and I work for a CBS station, so, I'll keep it to myself :-) And the Emmy goes to FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!! How flipping awesome. I loved that show and it deserved so much more recognition. I love Mad Men, but I'm so happy for FNL! And supporting actress in a drama series goes to Margo Martindale from Justified. I've never seen it, but I've heard it's awesome! Everyone is tripping up the stage too. What's with that? Is everyone drunk or is it bad set design? I have never seen any episodes of the shows nominated for directing in a drama series. Martin Scorsese won for Boardwalk Empire, which is here is ok, but boring at times. Flipped it over to see the Falcons & Eagles, there was a fumble and a big Falcons DE picked it up and ran. I love seeing big defensive linemen running. Now, supporting actor in a drama goes to Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones, never watched it, but somewhere, Chelsea Handler just wet herself.

Anderson Cooper is hosting an AC360 segment on a lady (Lynch) who is responsible for Jersey all over TV. Unfortunately, it featured the cast of Jersey Shore, therefore it was awful and pointless. Look, Tom let Kate out for the night! Now Lead Actress in a drama series, the Emmy goes to Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife. I would have loved Connie Britton to win, but I'm happy Julianna won, because she is AWESOME on The Good Wife. But that dress still looks stupid. But I've loved her since ER. Now lead actor, it better be Jon Hamm or Kyle Chandler. KYLE!!! I am glad the Emmys are finally recognizing Friday Night Lights. I just hate it took so long. Wait til it's off the air? Oh well, better than nothing.

That's hour 2!

Emmy Awards - Hour #1

2011-09-18T21:07:00.000-04:00

The wonderful Jane Lynch is hosting and starting off with a production number full of singing and comedy featuring half of the people on TV. The Mad Men part was the best by far. I like the idea of The Emmytones (goofy singers featuring celebrities), I hate the idea of Wilmer Valderrammaa being in it though. Why hasn't he gone away from the entertainment world completely. But the first presenters, Jimmys Kimmel & Fallon were funny. First winner, Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy is Julie Bowen!! WTG, she was hilarious in the Halloween episode of Modern Family! Although looking at her dress, she needs to eat more and work out less. Julianna Margulies is presenting Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. She's funny, but something attack the top of her dress. Or else someone had to use the rest of their gems in their Bedazzler. The winner is Ty Burrell, from Modern Family. Starting off to be a good night for them. Ricky Gervais' part was pretty funny I have to say. And now ZOOEY!!

Let's see, Jane Lynch did a Tea Party joke, now Charlie Sheen is presenting. Why? Can't we send him & Wilmer off somewhere? I have to say, he does look to be in bad shape. Now, Lead Actor in a Comedy is Jim Parsons! I do love Sheldon and Big Bang Theory, but would have loved a Steve Carrell win. An accent joke with Sofia Vergara? Wow, that's as original as a pair of Gap Khakis! LOVED Amy Poehler coming up on stage when her name was announced though, and then the others. What a great plan!! :-) It's just like Miss America! Even Edie Falco played along and she's about as funny as psoriatic arthritis. And Laura Linney who is even less funny than that. WOW!! Melissa McCarthy won!! Go SOOKIE!! (Not that awful Anna Paquin Sookie, but the real Gilmore Girls Sookie). Bridesmaids must have helped her a lot. I was rooting for Martha Plimpton, but I like Melissa.

I loved The Office parody. I love all the different shows being parodied. But why was Kim Kardashian there? I know she was making fun of herself, but really, Kim, making fun of you is our job! Showing some of these reality shows further shows why I don't like most of these crappy shows. And since I watch none of those reality competition shows, I don't care that Amazing Race won. I do always love the writer nominees intros, and shock, Daily Show wins again. That's hour 1 y'all!

VMAs

2011-08-28T23:25:00.000-04:00

OK, I got home late and missed the first 20 minutes or so. I have to go back and watch Gaga and watch Britney win Pop Video. I would have chosen Katy with Bruno #2. Brit would have been 4th, maybe 3rd. Oh well, hopefully Katy can win something.

Kanye & Jay-Z were good. I still woulda laughed if Taylor Swift busted in there. Foo Fighters won for rock video. That is AWESOME. That's a great video! Jack Black, Will Ferrell, and the usually funny Seth Rogen as Beastie Boys of the Future was epic mega lame. Glad Nicki Minaj won. She's flipping nuts. And Katy did finally win a moonman for E.T. with Kanye.

Now, my favorite catchy song "Give Me Everything". I love Ne-Yo and Pitbull doesn't annoy me. But this performance is all about the dancing sluts ain't it? Glad he left the Lindsay Lohan line in. Why is she suing? She was locked up.

Apparently, Beyonce still knows how to capture the spotlight. She announced her pregnancy on the black carpet. Her butt is gonna be the size of Oregon! Go Beyonce!

Adele is singing "Someone Like You" YES!!!!! And did she nail it? Heck yeah she did! 21 is a brilliant album. If you don't own it, you really should or else I will question your musical taste.

Seriously, Bieber won? Those other 4 videos were 500,000,000 times better. That's stupid, ridiculous, and a travesty. Stupid teenage girl voters. Then what was up with the Chris Brown performance? Dancing and singing to other people's songs. Dumb.

Now I'm waiting for the Amy Winehouse & Britney tributes. Gaga is still in character as Andrew "Dice" Clay. But the dancing is awesome. Too bad Britney can't even come close to dancing like that. But the whole acceptance speech was interrupted by Gaga and it all seemed too brief. Why did Britney introduce Beyonce in her own acceptance speech. WEIRD! But Beyonce can throw down for a knocked up chick, but she did make it all about her with the pregnancy announcement. If you don't have a good video, get the attention somehow.

Young the Giant was ok. Gaga won female video but was still in character. That's really getting annoying. Oh, and I finally watched her performance. I know why she went for the drag thing, because of the video, and it kinda worked in the performance. She was great at the piano, but that choreography was hideous.

Now here is the Amy tribute. This has the potential to be epic! BRUNO doing Valerie!! He's awesome. You should also check out his Doo Wop & Hooligans CD. I do wish Adele would have sung in this tribute though. What the smurf (pun intended) is Katy Perry wearing on her head? I'd hate to be sitting behind her. And her husband was annoying even in his tribute to Amy.

I haven't read The Hunger Games so I don't know if I'll care about this, but I like Jennifer Lawrence (see Winter's Bone if you haven't). Katy Perry won video of the year for the very inspiring Firework. It was deserved. It was a very well done video.

Lil Wayne trying to sing is as painful as my arthritis without my Humira. Why was he chosen to close the show?

Best performance: Adele (runner up Bruno). Worst: Chris Brown.

OK, see y'all at the Emmys

Green Lantern Review

2011-06-18T22:50:00.002-04:00

I went in going for a good fun diversion. Well, except for Ryan Reynolds (and all too brief appearances by Taika Waititi), I hated this movie. The script was awful & the direction was bad. I know it was an origin story but it was a leaden bore. Reynolds seemed to know when to take the story seriously and when not to, something the rest of the cast could have learned from. Angela Bassett was woefully under utilized. Peter Sarsgaard didn't know whether to be serious or hammy. And was I supposed to believe that Tim Robbin's character was old enough to be Sarsgaard's father?

Speaking of that, were Reynolds & Lively supposed to be the same age? If so, I didn't buy her as being in her late 20s, much less her early 30s. And Lively is as believable playing an ace pilot as I am playing Blake Lively. I thought Blake was overrated in The Town (which is an AWESOME movie by the way), so why is Hollywood trying to make her the big IT girl? Besides being pretty, what does she bring to a movie? And as for her recent scandal, Reese Witherspoon was spot on RIGHT at the MTV Movie Awards.

But this movie just wasn't fun. Iron Man and the X-Men movies showed you can have a superhero movie that is fun and knows it isn't making great art (the exceptions being the Batman movies made before Christopher Nolan took over). Superhero movies are bad when they start to take themselves too seriously (see Watchmen and the 3rd X-Men movie. The Christopher Nolan Batman movies are the exception). Ryan Reynolds looked ready to have fun, but wasn't able to let loose.

And then, about 10-15 minutes before the movie was over, a lady and 4-5 kids came in. I think they had bought tickets for the showing AFTER the one I was in. For some reason, she didn't realize the movie had started, much less was almost over. She was talking and herding her kids to their seats in a normal to loud volume, as if there was nothing wrong. Didn't she see the lights were off? Didn't she see the movie on the screen? Didn't she see what time it was? It was so close to the end, people really didn't do or say anything. I think they were ready for the movie to just be done.

I Set Fire To the Rain

2011-02-23T00:29:00.000-05:00

Hello happy citizens of Eddieland. I hope all is well with my loyal subject. You've been faithful with my Facebook posts, but thankfully those are pretty much daily. I teased you with my 4 part Grammy spectacular. I know y'all are wanting this for the Oscars as well, but I will be out of town watching the Oscars with friends old, new, and yet to be made. I hope I can kepp up, but I'm not sure, it won't be my top focus. I'm making food for our little gathering. I'm like a caterer, except I'm not getting paid. At least I don't think I am, but if I'm offered money, I'm not dumb enough to turn it down. But I can't wait though. Anytime I get to chat with my friend, I take it. Anytime I get to see my friend, I go for it. And driving to Atlanta is much closer and easier to get to than taking an early bus to NYC, spending the day there, and then taking an overnight bus back. The things I do just so people can see me. But friends are worth it, I guess :-)

But enough about others, let's talk more about me. I've been at my new job for a month and I still love it. That's a good thing. I moved back with only a good chance at one job, and that's not the job I took. This one came about pretty suddenly and after I'd put in my notice at my former job. The other job seemed more certain, or at least a good starting point. But I know that I made the right choice all around. I'm glad to be home (although moving to Birmingham wouldn't be bad, know any affordable apartments in decent areas), glad to be back at my churches (but finding a choir director job would be nice, know of any churches in the Bham area looking?), glad to be at this job (especially since the one I didn't take could be in jeopardy since the company is being bought out), glad to be around friends (if you haven't seen me yet, what the heck is your delay?). It was sad leaving my old company though. I made many good friends, plus I knew my way around my insurance (if any of you work for medical insurance companies, don't let me know. I'd harass you for hours about what an awful industry yours is.) I'm hoping my insurance is now all settled and proof of coverage means I can go to my arthritis doctor soon. I'll be happier once I can take my arthritis medicine again though. My hand is swollen more than Rush Limbaugh's ego and stomach. But since I'm sick again (probably from taking my arthritis medicine too soon after being sick in January. Patience is a virtue, but impatience is quicker.

I've even gotten back to the gym and back on Weight Watchers. I wonder if it'll be easy as last time. Sadly, I don't think it will be. My next goal is to get under 200 pounds. If I do, I need a good celebratory act. I just don't know what yet. I know it won't be running a marathon. I don't like to run unless I'm being chased.

OK, now, controversy time, somewhat. When did we stop worry about big problems in the world? Why are we letting pettier things rule us? We fight over football and whether arguing over it caused a nutjob to kill trees. We listen to sports talk radio argue over arguments about spots. Finebaum & The Opening Drive have turned into the radio equivalent of PeopleOfWalMart.com Listening to those people makes me ashamed to be southern at times. And while it's nice that Bama & Auburn fans came together to say a nutjob was crazy (that's about as obvious as banding together to claim water is wet) and give money to trees, I thing about all the good that money could do for those in need in the state. The poor, the hungry, the elderly, the sick. Nothing against Auburn at all, but perspective. Same thing with the Sunday liquor sales initiative. I don't foresee this making an impact on my life at all to be honest. I don't think it was God's will that the measure be defeated. I know many good Christians who supported the measure and who opposed it. Where does that leave God in this? For some though, it seemed more a referendum against alcohol itself instead of just selling it on Sundays. You know what, the sun will still rise tomorrow. There will still be work to be done. There will still be a positive example of God's love which needs to be shown. And that is my final thought of this long blog (it's been a while, so sue me. Plus I figured it if was long and I put controversy at the end of the blog, most of you would have stopped reading by now. I guess I'll find out), there is more than one way to tell others about Christ. As I've heard before (and sometimes attributed to St. Francis) "Preach the gospel, use words if necessary". If others know we are Christians, they learn more about Christianity from how we live our lives & treat others, than by quoting the entire Bible at them. You can quote John 3:16 or the Roman Road to someone all day long, but if you don't show love, then what have you done? You haven't acted like Christ. I try to treat everyone with love & respect and treat them all equally. "Good Christians" shouldn't get treated more equal than others. I hope that I show the same love, respect, & courtesy to everyone, no matter what you believe or who you are. I'm glad I have friends of all makes & models (for lack of a better term).

OK, enough rambling for now? I hope so!

Grammy Awards Blog - The end

2011-02-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

Rihanna & Drake were introduced by Diddy who was talking really slowly and seemed to have something in his mouth. That's odd because Diddy is usually so put together and confident. Rihanna may not be the best singer, but she knows how to entertain and pick catchy songs. These days, that's all it takes. That being said, it's a fun song, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Skeletor and some chick who can't sing presenting Record of the Year. I can't believe the safe choice. I'm kinda ticked. And this is coming from a Lady A fan. They are BORING compared to the other nominees. I'm resenting Lady A, when I'm really upset at the boring Grammy voters. 4 Urban songs up against a pop/country adult contemporary song. I would have placed Lady A no higher than 4th in that line-up. After their song of the year win, I would have placed them 5th.

Next, a band The Friend introduced me to, ARCADE FIRE! I'm glad they went full on rock tonight. The Suburbs is a great song and real low key. This was a super flippin rockin' song!! Gotta love a good rock song!

Now ~~Jeff Bridges~~ Kris Kristofferson & Barbara Streisand present album of the year. I'll take a Gaga win over Lady A if I can. The winner is ARCADE FIRE! Congrats to them!! I have that album, it's awesome. I also have Katy Perry and Lady A, Arcade Fire is the best of those 3! I do now wish they had played The Suburbs before they end of the show cut them off haha.

Ok, so that was fun. Not a bad show. Unlike last year, people sang on key, even Katy, for the most part. Enjoy your week. It will be upper 60s/low 70s all week. I can't wait. I will also see Black Swan & True Grit this week and try out the Y. It's a busy week!

Grammy Awards Blog - Hour 3

2011-02-13T22:53:00.000-05:00

We are starting off with Katy Perry for hour 3. I can't help but like her. She seems like such a nice girl, and got a raw deal from Sesame Street (how ironic is it she followed Cee Lo?). Sometimes she sounds good, sometimes not. She sounds ok tonight. The Friend loves the song she started with. Teenage Dream reminds me of being in San Diego (I heard the song a lot there and it's catchy fun). After Russell's awful SNL last night, she redeemed the family. It was fun to see Nicole Kidman dancing and singing along with Katy. See, she's not a robot.

Jolene by Mayer, Jones, & Urban, that was awesome. But is John Mayer trying to look like Johnny Depp's younger dirtier brother? Depp can pull off greasy as cool. Mayer looked like he had been hanging out with Charlie Sheen all weekend. Now onto Song of the Year. I do love that it is The Song otherwise known as Forget You. That should have won over Lady A. Grammys just don't like urban songs I guess, PUNKS! I like the drunken booty call song, but I was rootin for Cee-Lo.

Hooray for Seth Rogen for the Miley Cyrus joke. Now, on to Eminem's performance! Wow, Rihanna is starting out sounding FIERCE! I don't know that I've heard her sound better. Eminem is firing on all cylinders tonight. WOW! Dre joins in too. More fierceness. That was absolutely amazing!

Now, best new artist. I'm rooting for Florence or Drake. The winner is Esperanza Spalding in a HUGE upset. I don't even think she knows who she is.

With most of the Rolling Stones looking like cadavers donated to medical schools, I'm not sure it's smart having Mick Jagger come on right after the death parade. It's fun to see him go back to the Stones' R&B/rock roots. He seems to really be enjoying himself. Nice Cyndi Lauper sighting.

Kris Kristofferson is a very talented man, but is he drunk or did he have some medical problems? Now, Barbra. Song, hair, and dress straight from 1974. I know the song won an Oscar and Grammys, but it's very dated and not very good. Couldn't she have sung The Way We Were or something good? But you know some too old Grammy voters are thinking "Why aren't there more songs like that anymore?"

On to the last half hour & such!

Grammy Awards Blog - Hour 2

2011-02-13T21:55:00.001-05:00

We start with Bieber & Usher. I just don't get the Bieber popularity. He's not that great a singer or a dancer. He's like a mediocre church singer. No better than other those little disposable teen pop boys that have come and gone over the years. Then out pops half of Will & Jada's retirement plan. Yeah, that was annoying. I love Usher's Star Search dance routine, but he looks like he got his outfits at a Star Trek garage sale.

Best Rock Album went to Muse!! Their performance was AWESOME! I'm happy for them. Best Pop Vocal Album went to Gaga. I was rooting for Katy. Why are Gaga and Donnie Wahlberg both wearing sunglasses. You are INDOORS!

In the same set used by Zac Brown Band at the CMA Awards, Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, & Bob Dylan performed. I love a song with a banjo AND a horn section. That's good! I'm loving this acoustic section, really digging it.The bouncy guitar player in the suit for Avett Brothers is really into the song. Dylan can be hit or miss with me. I know he's a great songwriter to be revered but his voice, wow. He sounds like someone's old coot grandpa trying to tell you a story from the depression.

Lady Antebellum singing Teddy Pendergrass? Skeptical, but starting off really well. I do wish they wouldn't do a big medley and just sing 1 song, but what do I know. But why is the girl wearing a ring pop on her hand? Nobody believes that is a real gem. But it was too low key for my taste.

What has Kings of Leon ever done to anyone to deserve having to present an award with Miley? Congrats Lady A.

Now, CEE LO! I do wish Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't singing with him. Gwyneth was good in the context of Glee, but this is Cee Lo's moment. Gaga, this is how you do over the top! Like 70s Elton. Plus, PUPPETS!! How can't you like that :-) It was like grown up Sesame Street. I won't say what letters it was brought to you by. Cee Lo is AWESOME!!

On to hour 3!

Grammy Awards Blog - Hour 1

2011-02-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well boys & girls, men & women, humans & non-humans, it's Grammy time. It's fun to watch celebrities take themselves and award shows too seriously. I still don't get why people cry when they win a big award. Be grateful yes, but not cry. You didn't cure a disease, you won an award. But that's neither here nor there. I like the Grammys because I want to see who can actually sing live and who can't.

Let's get this out there. Lady Gaga came in a giant egg, or "womb" as her people called it. They said she was incubating. Some find it brilliant, some find it puzzling & overkill. I'm in one of those group. But now, in the immortal brilliant words of Black Eyed Peas "Let's get it started, let's get it started in here!"

Aretha Franklin tribute to start with Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, Florence Welch (Florence + the Machine), Yolanda Adams, and Christina "I never met a vocal run I didn't like and couldn't stretch longer" Aguilera. CA was ok on her song (but should go up a dress size), as was Martina. But Florence TORE UP some "Think". She's awesome. I'm glad to hear Jennifer Hudson sing something other than that awful Weight Watchers song. Yolanda Adams looks & sounds like Whitney, if Whitney didn't get all strung out and crazy and Bobby Browned. Good to see Aretha at the end. She looks good!

Best pop vocal by a duo or group went to Train for that song I despise because it's dumb. Just read the lyrics, I hope they weren't sober when they wrote it.

Gaga finished incubating to perform her new song ~~"Express Yourself"~~ "Born This Way". The melody is the most generic she's put out. I think she needs to see a doctor about her shoulders. They look a little pointy. She knows how to put on a spectacle though. Glad to have another singer putting out a song about loving who you are. I think it would have sounded better with a rock beat instead of dance.

Aww, Blake is introducing Miranda. She's singing one of the most beautiful & emotional songs around. She did a great job. It was a performance as simple as Lady Gaga's was big. She was followed by Muse, who look like they enjoy being rock stars. I love the set, the performance, the visuals the song. I'll have to look them up! The Friend says he loves them so I gotta check them out.

BRUNO!! He's awesome. His CD "Doo Wops & Hooligans" is fantastic. But why is B.o.B wearing Mr. Peanut's monocle? Y'all know I'm loving the song Grenade right now. I love the Little Anthony & the Imperials type throwback (look it up and trust me) what a rearrangement of this song. That was brilliant and awesome. I love Janelle Monae tried to copy Bruno's hair and suit. I'm loving the song. Such a 60s throwback! Plus Crowd Surfing!! This is why I love the Grammys. Between Janelle & Muse, I have 2 new acts to look up and download.

Country female thankfully went to Miranda. I would have been ticked if Carrie won. That's a great song!

Well, hour 1 is over. So far, not too bad!

With every step I take I know that I'm not alone

2010-12-12T21:54:00.001-05:00

Wow, it's been a month since I've written on here, and even then it was the CMA awards blog. Well, a lot has happened since then as you know. I went to NYC, quit my job to move back home, down over 40 pounds, lots of stuff.

Yes, I'm moving back to Alabama. This was not a quick rash decision. This is something I've been thinking about for months. The main reason is, even though I've lived up here for 2 years, my life was still in Alabama. My family & friends are all in the south. My visits home were too few and too brief. I felt like I never got to see everyone or do everything when I was home. I didn't spend Easter at home for the first time ever this year. My dear friends had a baby in July (my sweet Caroline) and when I went to see them at Thanksgiving, I couldn't believe how grown up she was in those 4 months. I lost 40 pounds and didn't get to rub that fact in the face of friends & family. I wasn't able to go to Arkansas with Daddy. Every night after work, I'd come back to the apartment and just turn on the TV. Or go to the gym first then come back and turn on the TV. I didn't have the family, friends, & support group I had back home. I've had many people tell me they could never move that far away from home, for that long, with no friends or family around. Apparently, I am brave! I like the thought of that. I sometimes wondered if I dropped dead on a Friday after work, would anyone notice before I didn't come in to work on Monday hahaha

So after much prayer, thought, advice, and job searches, I decided to take a leap of faith and move on back home. I'd come to discover that if you are looking for a job in Atlanta (or Birmingham) and you have a Pennsylvania address, it's tougher to get noticed. No, I don't have a job right now. But I have a peace about it and I have faith. Even more than that, I have a TON of contacts in TV in Birmingham who know me and love me and are helping me by looking and recommending. So on that, I'm not worried, and nobody else should be either. Just keep me in your prayers, and if you have contact in Birmingham (or even Atlanta, that's close enough but far enough haha) see who's hiring. I've already had contact about 2 different jobs. I wouldn't come back COMPLETELY unprepared.

I've had a great 2 years here. It was a great experience to live in (well, actually just near) the big city. I had a very good job. One that actually changed about 8 months in, but gave me valuable experience and led me to meet more great folks. I found a church up here as well. A southern Baptist church even! They are fantastic and I love them dearly. They are a great church home and I will stay in touch. I did a lot of traveling here too. I went to NYC (twice), Philly, Hershey (twice), and San Diego. I had people jealous of my travels. But I did these alone, well except for Hershey last year & NYC this year. I had snow up here too. Snow is very pretty when it blankets the city and you can sit and look out the window and see life in a peaceful white slumber. But then you have to get out in it, drive in it, shovel it, stay in a hotel and walk across a blizzard hit parking lot to go to work. Then, it's a hideous white demon. I'm not made for snow & ice & shoveling & getting my car stuck.

So now, I'm coming back. Back to my family & friends. Back having movie night with the Busbys. I'll have lunch with MaryJo and catch up on everyone. I'll get to see Caroline and be around to hear her call me "Uncle Eddie". I'll be here for women's basketball season. I'll see my Gilgal family, I'll see my Union Chapel family, I'll see my actual family more than just at Thanksgiving. I can drive over and see Brandon & Adam in Atlanta when I've had more than 3.5-4 hours of sleep and walking around NYC all day...

Which was fun. I love NYC and I will go back again. It's an amazing place to be. So much to do, so much to see. My friend Brandon (who I think I talk to as much as if not more than I talk to my parents) was going to NYC for his birthday with his roommate. I joked that I should come up a day since I'm just a few hours away. So we agreed I would, and I did. NYC in a day is a lot, but I made it. We went to Rockefeller Center, saw the tree, saw the rink, ice skated in Central Park (I didn't fall!), ate pizza, saw snow flurries, took pix in Times Square, charged our iPhone back at their hotel room, took pix inside Grand Central Station (which is AMAZING!), and I had a great time. I hope I didn't come across as too tired. They had more sleep than me. haha. And now, if they'll have me, I can come over to ATL to hang out on more sleep. See, it's good having friends around.

So now, I start the process of packing up and moving back. A little sad to leave folks behind, but very excited at what's to come for me. I know it'll be great. Some are shocked, some can't believe I'm doing it without a job, some are wondering how I could stay gone so long haha. I think Bon Jovi & Jennifer Nettles sang it best "Who says you can't go home". Some things are just more important.

CMA Awards Blog - Hour 3

2010-11-10T22:59:00.000-05:00

Lady A is starting off the 3rd and final hour with one of my favorite songs, Hello World. BRILLIANT!! That's all I can say about that. Male vocalist goes to Blake Shetlon. I had a feeling he'd get it. I always root for Brad, and Dierks Bentley is great. But Blake is really good, really funny, and engaged to Miranda Lambert, that didn't hurt at all. The Band Perry is great, and I love that song If I Die Young, but I didn't expect them to look like that.

Why does Carrie get to sing again? Also is is against the CMA rules for her to be seen in the same dress twice? This song has bored me. I don't hate all Carrie songs. I love her song Wasted.

I guess Dierks Bentley is having to use the leftover fog from Tay-Tay's performance. Love me a good fiddle part in a song. One of my fiddle parts in a song, Amarillo By Morning by George Strait. Love that. One of Daddy's favorites too. Good performance.

They keep threatening to have Gwyneth sing. They just showed the commercial for her movie Country Strong. Seems a bit Lifetime-ish right now and not nearly as cool as Jeff Bridges last year, but it could be good. Heck, they should have had Jeff come on and sing The Weary Kind from Crazy Heart. Awesome song, awesome performance.

Speaking of Oscar winning performances of country singers, here's Sissy Spacek starting a Loretta Lynn tribute. Gotta love the Coal Miner's Daughter! Miranda is doing a good respectful version of that song. Sheryl Crow isn't doing bad either. But then Loretta herself comes out, how awesome. You could see how much it meant to her. Reba is even in tears. She looks like she's been pulled so tight she probably cries out of her ears. WTG Miranda!

Here's Gwyneth finally. At least she's with Vince, and she sings live better than Taylor (yes, duh, I know). The song itself isn't all that amazing, but not bad. She actually looks a little nervous. I've heard her sing before and she's not bad. She's still more than halfway crazy when she's trying to act pretentious and better than everyone. Good grief her legs are long. Looks like one of the flamingos I saw at the San Diego Zoo & Sea World.

Now Entertainer of the Year: Lady A, Miranda, Brad, Keith, or ZBB. Who will it be? BRAD PAISLEY! Congrats to him! Could have done without Tim giving it. Seriously CMA, did y'all get too much self tanner at Sam's Club? At least he didn't sing that stupid Southern Voice song. But back to Brad, he is truly humbled.

All in all, not a bad show. Good, I needed that after a long day!

CMA Awards Blog - Hour 2

2010-11-10T21:58:00.000-05:00

Tay-Tay starts off hour 2. How off key will she be? Apparently she wandered on a fairy tale set. No guitar this time, it's a piano! And fog! It actually looks like she's in a cemetery, with fake snow. Very pretty song, but very cheesy and about as country Manhattan. But she's staying on key more. I think it's because she's sitting down. I guess she can't walk and say on pitch at the same time. Plus she doesn't come across as big of a skank as Miley does.

Now, SUGARLAND!! But what the heck is with this musicbox dancer routine? Thankfully it didn't last too long. Jennifer Nettles still looks a lot like Kirsten Dunst mixed with Martha Plimpton from Raising Hope & The Goonies, and the lady from Reno 911. Lady Antebellum wins vocal group, not a shock. I hope they sing Hello World. I luuuurrrrrrve that song!! They have some famous relatives. Hillary's mother is Linda Davis, who sang with Reba on that Does He Love You song. And one of the two guys is the brother of Katherine Heigl's husband. He's a singer too, but everyone knows him as Katherine Heigl's husband or Lady Antebellum guy's brother. Wow, sucks to be him.

Now it's time for Keith Urban. Good song and good use of Ellen Degeneres' former hairstyle. Now Reba is singing "If I Were a Boy" by Beyonce. Well, at least she isn't doing the 5,000th youtube version of Single Ladies. But it would have been fun to hear her do Crazy In Love. Sugarland has already done a great job on Irreplaceable.

KELLY CLARKSON!! I've heard great things about this duet. Wow, they tore that up! Great job, although Jason Aldean was slightly blown out of the water by Kelly, it still was good. Her voice as strong and awesome as I've heard it. Album of the year time. It's between Lady A & Miranda. Who'll win? Miranda Lambert takes it home. I need to download that. She seems a little crazy. I appreciate that! Plus, one of her producers kinda looks like Chaz Bono. Now, Kid Rock is singing. This I dedicate to my dear sweet friend Vicki! She's been on the Kid Rock cruise. He is a very good performer. I actually liked this song too. But dude, that fringe is too much.

Once again, let me just say that Brad Paisley is awesome. He is someone who respect the history of country music, is super talented, and funny as all get out. Now time for Vocal Duo of the Year, and it's Sugarland. This is mainly because there aren't really any other duos out there having much success. They should just combine duo & group. And apparently they couldn't put the video of the year in the main telecast. You need time to have Gwyneth Paltrow sing. Because when I think country, I think of a pretentious actress who lives in England and tells everyone how backwards America is. Well that's country!

Bring on hour 3!

CMA Awards Blog - Hour 1

2010-11-10T20:57:00.000-05:00

Well, Carrie Underwood is starting off this year's awards show by oversinging to show how loud she can sing. Unfortunately, the audio person is cranking up the electric guitar even louder than her. I guess the audio guy is a Taylor fan. Brad Paisley & Keith Urban came on to play guitar and banjo respectively. They make her look more & more like a robot. No, I'm not a huge Carrie fan. She has a great voice, but annoys me. But then the opening monologue further proving how awesome Brad Paisley is. Redoing Buck Owen's Tiger By the Tail into a Tiger Woods song was brilliant.

Ty Pennington looks like a tall skinny oompa loompa. Orange isn't his color. Lady Antebellum wins single of the year for "Need You Now", a great song about a booty call, but a classy one. It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now. That's class. haha, I kid I kid, it's a great song and I downloaded their album. For those of you under 30, album is an old term for a big CD.

Rascall Flatts sang a song that wasn't horrible cheesy and overly emotional for a change. But I don't know where the lead singing shot got that couch to shoot so someone could make that shirt. By the way, his name is Gary Le Vox. That's not his real name, he changed it. Le Vox is Latin for "the voice". Pretentious much?

What happened to Kellie Pickler's face? WOW! She looks like a mannequin, and not in a good way. Song of the year went to "The House That Built Me". That is one of the best songs I've heard in a long time. It's just brilliant. Miranda Lambert sang it beautifully. More funny from Brad then some Blake Shelton. I've watched Blake on Chelsea Lately and he's at least half crazy and dang proud of it. I appreciate that.

Miranda Lambert is just flippin awesome. But it's odd still to see country music sung in fancy clothes. The sound mixing is still awful. Are they really afraid people won't be able to hear the electric guitars? George Strait is and always will be the King of Country Music. Kids, this is how to be cool, by not forcing it. Just let the cool be. Nicole Kidman was so moved by it, her over botoxed face almost showed emotion. Glad Zac Brown Band won New Artist. But I promise you he looks like the homeless guy who used to show up around my office at my first job. But their performance was just down home awesome, especially when Alan Jackson came out to sing with them. Then Kenny Chesney came out to sing his football song. He makes weird faces when he sings, and the song is pretty schmaltzy and predictable, but it perfectly captures football, especially in the south.

Bring on hour 2!

I'll find a reason to believe.

2010-10-10T23:31:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been more bad than good. I think I'm done with people for a while. I think Thoreau had it right, even though Walden bored me to tears. Although, with the life I lead, I almost feel like I'm isolated at Walden Pond, or I'm the Unabomber, one of the 2 haha.

Eh, I'll start with the bad and work around to good. Bama lost. South Carolina just outplayed them. It was painful to watch, but it didn't ruin my weekend. It won't ruin my week, month, or year. If a football game affects you that much, you really need more to your life haha.

Other things can tick you off instead. I've lost 35 pounds. That's great and all, but now, my pants look like a drawstring bag on me. I still have more weight to lose, so I don't know how long I'll be in that size. Therefore, I don't want to make a huge investment. I want to be economical. You'd figure I could find some pants, but NOOO! Either they don't fit right or they aren't the right color or style. Yes, I'm picky. I have to wear them everyday so they need to be something I like. I made it through the redneck mall in York (although there is apparently one that's even more redneck), the Towson mall, Kohl's, & Marshalls. I think I know most every style of pant (including short jorts, YIKES! Gotta please the rednecks) and none are right. So I have to be droopy for a while longer. I hate shopping. I hate it more when nothing is right. Maybe I'll wear sweatpants everywhere. I have a pair that fit.

Then, there is my phone. Had trouble getting & keeping a signal. Went to Best Buy first. Went to the one closest to the office. Wanted to make sure my iPhone protection plan was still good. Guy there, well, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Yes, he could have been the butter knife. He suggested I check with the store where I bought the phone. So I did. That guy thought the other guy was just not smart. He couldn't figure out what was wrong. Told me to check with AT&T and Apple before switching out my phone. He thought it could be a network issue that AT&T could fix easily. Saturday, went to AT&T. He said it wasn't a network issue. Wouldn't even humor me and check. Best Buy guy was right. They work on commission. If you ain't buyin, they ain't tryin. So that made me ill. Went to a different mall today. Different AT&T, same result. So I went to the Apple Store. OK, it's like Wal-Mart at Christmas in there. And you have to make an appointment they are so crowded. I was lucky to get one 1.5 hours later. But the one chick there either hated me or hated her life. She wasn't friendly. Maybe it was because I rolled my eyes when she said 1.5 hours. Well excuse me for thinking that's odd. So I looked at more pants that were too expensive. Got seen about 15-20 minutes after my time. Lady said she'd restore/reset the phone, should take care of it. She did it, I leave, tried to make a call, same problem. Went right back in, she reset it again. I went outside, had to try a call. It worked, but then it went back. GRRR!! Went right back. Had to deal with Little Miss Sunshine again (she really needs charm school). This time, instead of resetting it, my technician Toni (who actually was very nice, unlike other chick) got me a new phone. So it worked and off to more fruitless pants shopping. Get back to the apartment, I'm having trouble with iTunes and have to call Apple. I apparently have them stumped until tomorrow. At least I didn't call for an iPhone problem. I would have had to PAY for a tech call about that. Yeah, ridiculous. Ugh, nothing went right. Braves couldn't even hold a lead in the 9th. Weekend wasn't great.

Also found out that my neighbor from up the street back home (Alabama is home, I currently live in "the apartment", I don't call it home) passed away. Mr. Shuttlesworth was always just the nicest man, always with a smile, always a Godly man. He lived a good long life and I was blessed to know him. RIP to a dear man.

But at least The Social Network was a great movie. Who knew the story of Facebook was so interesting. Jesse Eisenberg was amazing, Andrew Garfield (soon to be the new Spider-Man) was also very good. Justin Timberlake even did a good job. You must see this movie. And I sang at church this morning. Small solo that I first went over just the other night. It all worked out. Yeah, those were the only good things. Dang, my weekend did suck. haha

So I move on to next week. Gotta be better, right? I hope my phone gets fixed. It's my key to my friends & family. Tough being away from home. Hope everyone has a great week. I'm done whining. For now at least.

I Feel Good, I Knew That I Would Now

2010-10-03T22:41:00.000-04:00

So, who's sick of me talking my weight loss? Well, tough luck buster, I'm talking about it some more. What's more, you get a few more details tonight. Yes, you'll even get numbers tonight. I know you've been waiting on that. haha. But before I tell you where I am, I must tell you how I got here.

I never was the skinniest of kids. I was even born big. 10 lbs, 9 oz. Sure, I was over 3 weeks late, but that's not the point. In elementary school I got a bit chunky around 3rd or 4th grade. I even wore "husky" size jeans. Yeah, don't get me started on calling jeans husky. Even though I played little baseball & basketball and was on a swim team, you wouldn't know it by looking at me. That probably had to do with the fact that I wasn't very good. haha. Then around the age of 13 or 14, it evened out. I grew taller and had to give up fried foods because of my stomach condition. Eh, it helped. So in high school I was never fat, just not as skinny as everyone else. Same thing in college. Just your average guy, a little heavy. Then I went to Savannah, GA on summer missions. Being so active that summer and in the sun, I came back 10-15 lbs thinner and tan. I wasn't complaining haha. I finally evened back out to my normal weight.

But that didn't last forever. After a few years, I started noticing some pain and stiffness. I finally went to the doctor when it became too much to bear. I was diagnosed with arthritis. When it hurts to move, you don't move. When you don't move, well, you obviously gain weight. It took 4 years to find the right medicine. But finally I did. I felt like the Tin Man after Dorothy used the oil can on him. Physically, I was better. But after 4 years of being lazy, it's tough to be unlazy. Once I moved to Baltimore, I had my arthritis doctor and my primary care doctor telling me I needed to lose weight. I will admit, the worst part about going to the doctor wasn't getting blood drawn, it was getting weighed. That number kept going up. I learned to live with the weight gain. I had mama move over the buttons on my pants until I finally had to go up a size.

I even joined a gym back in March. I was good about going at first. Then I got sick or hurt or busy or had high blood pressure or something and I didn't go as much. Then I kept thinking about doing some sort of weight loss program. I had semi decided on Weight Watchers. I'd heard good things about it. I kept seeing my weight go up and then got a look at myself in some pictures, including that one I put on Facebook. I was heavier than I wanted to be. So when I was in Alabama, I signed up for Weight Watchers.

On Sunday July 18th, I weighed myself at home. My weight was lower than it was earlier in the year, but still too high. I weighed 263.3 lbs. Yup, I'd been in the 260s for a while. But with Weight Watchers and working out 3-4 times a week, I started losing weight. I was losing more than I imagined I could. 5 became 10, 10 became 15, 15 became 20 and so on. I can't tell you how good it has felt to see the numbers on the scale go down. My arthritis doctor was pleased. My only regret is that my family & friends back home can't share it in person and I can't rub it in their faces :-) Kidding.

Well, I weighed myself this morning and I was at 230.0 lbs. Yup, I'm almost in the 220s. Just 2-2.5 months ago, I was firmly in the 260s. I thought I was destined to stay there. I look back on pictures now and I can't believe the change. Thanks to everyone for all their encouragement. It has meant a lot. I can't wait to get back home to show off to everyone in person. It's a great feeling. I'm not done yet. My primary care doc suggested being under 200 for my height. So I'm aiming for that. I'm pretty much halfway there. This is but one goal I'm working on. Bring it on world, I'm ready for ya!

I never heard the melody, until I needed a song

2010-09-27T01:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. I didn't think it'd been a month. Time flies when you have no life. Well, anyway, I looked back and on my last blog/note, I was down 20 pounds. Now, I'm down close to 30 pounds! I'm well on my way to my original weight of 10 lbs., 9 oz!! Yes, I even lost a pound on vacation. I kept up with my points and walked around a lot, which was my exercising instead of the gym.

So yeah, I went on vacation about a week and a half ago. I went to San Diego. If you read this at all, you know this. No, I don't know anyone in San Diego, although I did find out that I did know someone who would be there (more on that later), I have no family out there. It was a random choice. Free flight from Southwest and I've always wanted to go to California. My flight was mid-morning so I didn't have to wake up too early to get to the airport and I made it there in plenty of time. I had my book ready and my Vanity Fair & Games magazine on hand as well. I was prepping for an uneventful flight. I got on the flight and thought I was gonna have drama courtesy of one woman. She and her husband were the last 2 passengers and the only seats left were center seats. She complained without complaining to her husband about it and made a big deal of the inconvenience. Her husband was sitting by me, she was in the row behind. The lady in the window seat behind me heard her griping too and offered to switch seats after she was done with her work. She also told griping lady that if you check in earlier, you won't have this problem, but in a polite way. Griping wife finally made friends with the passenger on the other side so when working woman offered her seat later, she politely declined. She said her husband probably was enjoying the peace & quiet. Since I was reading Vanity Fair rip Sarah Palin to shreds, I wasn't talking to him, so I imagine he was enjoying the peace & quiet. Glad I could help you out sir!

So then I landed in San Diego. I saw sunny skies & palm trees. I loved it already. Hotel wasn't far from the airport and I didn't get lost, so that's good. Went to my hotel, which wasn't fancy, but it was clean and nice and the pool was good - and it was CHEAP! then I got something to eat. I headed to the beach so I could get some west coast sunset pictures. It look a long time to find a park, but I found one just in time. There is a huge pier at Ocean Beach and I got some great shots. Leaving the pier, I saw some guy with rolling papers and he was putting something in them. HOPEFULLY it was tobacco. I was too intrigued to look away but too paranoid to stick around. Then, I went to eat at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel that night. I got a spicy chicken sandwich, I don't like Mexican food. Then I prepped myself to be a tourist!

Thursday was zoo day. That is a big zoo, and it's really nice too. It's layout is good. They have a lot of animals and they do a lot for animal conservation. I got lots of pics of some sort of critters. Some of them I even recognize. I even dealt with some work issues while there. I'm a multi-tasker! The day started out sorta cloudy, but by noon, it was perfect. Clear skies and temps in the 70s. Yes, I got too much sun that day. But I couldn't be in California without coming back with sun. After the zoo, I went to the Wild Animal park which is about half an hour north of the zoo. I don't know why I went. It had some of the same animals as the zoo, the exhibits were just ok, and it overall looked decent, but like it was an afterthought or maybe once had been more dynamic. It looked like the old mall in what's now the lesser part of town.

That night, I went to Old Town. Mainly because I heard it was cool and I could get there without getting on the interstate. I walked around a bit, tried to find something to eat, and scope out haunted tours. I found a lot of Mexican restaurants. But I found a place called O'Hungrys. They had 2 guys singing and playing guitar, but more importantly, they had $5 entrees. I was sold! It would be my home the next 3 nights haha. I also found the "haunted" Whaley house and made plans that next night to visit there. It was good to hear the stories about the house. They give history tours of it by day, ghost tours by night. One night in Old Town, I even saw a man who set up camp outside a store and had 2 dogs and a chicken. Sometimes, the chicken would ride on the dogs' backs. Yeah, it's weirder than it sounds and that says a lot.

Friday, was Sea World. My friend & former co-worker Brook, I found out, was in SD the same time I was. Happy accident. I was at Sea World the same day she, her husband, and her sister were. I had hoped to run into her but she found me at the sea lions show. I loved that show. It was actually funny & entertaining. The dolphin show had too little dolphin, too much weird aerial ballet & diving. Shamu was good, but with some horrendous Disney style song that could have benefited from a sound system malfunction. I saw a dog & cat show too. Yes, at Sea World. No, I didn't get it either. I saw dolphins up close, I saw sharks, I dealt with a work issue, I rode the sky tram and didn't freak out (but was scared, I freely admit it!). It started off cloudy but soon gave way to clear skies and temps in the 70s. Sea World was awesome. Later that evening, just before sunset, I got in the hot tub at the hotel. I was all alone in the pool area and loved it. I looked up and saw the sky begin to change colors from blue, to red, to orange. I saw the tall palm trees sway gently in the breeze. I was perfectly at peace. I was in a hot tub in southern California at sunset. Loved it!

Saturday, I had plans at one point to drive up to LA. I'm glad I thought better of it. So I took a trolley tour of San Diego. I went to the Harbor (it was the beginning of fleet week so it was PACKED!), went to Coronado and saw the hotel there. It's HUGE!! And it's wooden and had a red roof, but it's nothing like a Red Roof Inn. Apparently, parts of Some Like It Hot were filmed there. I went to eat lunch at a restaurant there (after the seafood place at the harbor messed up my order) and found some Tennessee fans. They were very nice people. Bama was demolishing Duke and UT was in a dogfight with the Gators at the time. It was good to be around folks who cared about SEC football though. One last night in Old Town, then off to pack to come back to Baltimore and deal with work issues on Sunday morning. The plane ride back was quieter. I sat next to the 2 nicest older ladies on the flight to KC. They were sweet as can be. I sat close because I had a quick turnaround between flights, but I need not have worried. I had to go 30 feet to my gate and still way 10-15 minutes and deal with a work issue before boarding.

So yeah, then it was back to reality. Back to work on Monday. Back to the gym but with still sore feet, back to my exercise class, back to choir practice. Back to life, back to reality, back from a fantasy (thanks Jeff for also thinking of that song for me earlier this week, it was already in my brain haha). I did see The Town on Friday. Awesome movie, a must see! Yesterday, it was the church community fair, then back to the apartment to watch Bama come back in the 2nd half for a huge win, watched a kinda decent episode of SNL, then sleep. Today was church, WalMart (and some NedWrecks!), Steel Magnolias (don't judge), NFL, and Mad Men. Yes, I'm that boring.

My deep thought of the week is about resilience. Kids are some of the most resilient creatures on Earth. They have short memories of heartache, despair, and pain. Yesterday, a little boy at church busted his mouth open, he was crying, he was bleeding, his world was awful. His dad was inside packing stuff up, his mom was at his grandmother's car. He needed his parents in a bad way. So I scooped him up and we went searching. It hurts me when kids are crying & in pain. Mom was found and she took over. I checked on him a few minutes later, his two front teeth were out and he was cleaned up and smiling. He was happy again. 5 minutes earlier was an awful time for him, but he bounced back that quickly. He even smiled for us all and showed his new profile. Why aren't we like that? Why do we let petty things drag us down? Why do we have such long memories? Jackson has a lot to teach us I believe.

Have a good week everyone. Wake me up when September ends.

I'm not drowning, there's no one here to save!

2010-08-29T22:06:00.000-04:00

Welcome back blog readers. It's been a couple of weeks, I hope you missed me, because I enjoy being missed. Only in America and only on the interwebs could the travails of a single guy who does as little as possible be read by anyone. Well, the only people that read it are people who know me, so I guess it's not as spectacular as I would have myself believe. (cue the sound of bubble bursting).

Well, after an opening negative, I will now move on to a positive. I have now dropped 20 pounds through Weight Watchers and exercise. I still can't believe I get to say I've lost that much. Now, I have to keep it up because I'm nowhere near my goal yet. But I'm very proud of that 20 pounds. It came off easier than I thought it would. That's just an evil tease of that weight. Sure, the first 20 are easy, now try for more. I'll kick your butt you stupid weight! BRING IT ON!

I've been going to the movies lately for some tacky cheesy horror movies. Piranha 3D was exactly what I thought. It was gory, bloody, and stupid. I had a great time! I went to see The Last Exorcism this past Friday night. It wasn't exactly what I expected. It took a few turns. Some people will hate the twists. I may not have agreed with them, but I appreciated them. I think the twists can be traced back to stuff earlier in the movie too. It's not for everyone, but it kept me on the edge of my seat. If scary movies scare you, well, then, you are a wuss. MAN UP!

I've taken a few daycations lately as well. Last weekend, I went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. I went expecting to find a bunch of really nerdy people in ye olde timey garb speaking like bad Shakespeare and generally being annoying. Sadly, I was wrong. But I still had a good time. The look of it was fantastic. It's on the estate of a winery in PA and the old buildings and all the trees made it look authentic. They had a lot of shops with all sorts of clothes, knick knacks, turkey legs, things like that. There was some stupid dance troupe which was a bit ridiculous. But I did get to see a guy in stilts as part of an audience participation circle dance. You don't see that everyday. Once a week, maybe, but not everyday. The Queen was also there! Not Helen Mirren, or Aretha Franklin, the ACTUAL Queen!! Sure, she died in 1603 but it had to be her. They also had some performance shows. One was a group of Squires & Sirens telling dirty jokes & singing dirty songs. Apparently, the time of Elizabeth I was like an episode of HBO's Def Comedy Jam. Who knew! There was a human chess match which had two knights fighting because one insulted the other. They finished it on the final jousting field. One knight championed by Sir Francis Drake, the other by Sir Walter Raleigh. Well, Raleigh's guy insulted the Queen a few times. It made it seem like a 16th century WWE match. Turns out that Raleigh's guy, unbeknownst to Raleigh, was working with the Spanish king to overthrow Good Queen Bess. Then there were attacks, explosions, blood, all sorts of fun stuff. Overall, it was a well done production. Very professional, with dirty jokes, fire, knives, another Spanish defeat! Next time, I need to have a turkey leg!

Yesterday, I went to the Inner Harbor. A bright sunny day. I got on a speedboat. I got a sunburn. But I look good with color. It helps me avoid looking like a vampire extra from Twilight or True Blood. But being around people, at the Faire or out in public, I've come to realize that we really need to keep people from wearing certain things in public. Not every body type was made to wear a tank top with, um, a lack of support. Not every foot was made for flip flops. Think before you go strapless. All shorts should be a minimum length on your leg. Also, bikers, are bike shorts REALLY necessary? I need scientific evidence or an episode of Oprah to convince me. I just don't get them. Also, I wonder, are bike riders supposed to be like car drivers or like pedestrians when on the road? I've seen both & it confuses me.

My next goal in life is to win a contest. HGTV is giving away an apartment in NYC. A NICE apartment. I want that!! I was gonna get political on stuff, but ya know what, I don't have the energy to do that tonight. I'll tell everyone on both sides how stupid they are at another time in the future. For now, I'll go back to watching the Emmys. I've been pretty happy with the awards so far. However, I never wanted Kyra Sedwick to win for The Closer because her southern accent is horrific. Anyway, how ya doin? How's yer mama n'em?

Daycation All I Ever Wanted

2010-08-16T00:58:00.000-04:00

I'm becoming increasingly aware that people actually read & follow what I write & what I do. Wow, I don't know how I feel about that. haha. It gives me pressure to keep it entertaining. Eh, I'll do what I've always done. I'll write to entertain myself. If others are entertained, so be it!

As you know, I went to Philly on Saturday. Earlier in the week, I decided I needed a day trip on Saturday, or as I called it, a "daycation". I thought I was clever and original with the name. Um, no, I wasn't. I still like it though. After scouring the area to see what was within driving distance, I settled on Wilmington & Philadelphia. After researching Wilmington further, I decided I'd only lunch in Wilmington and spend the afternoon in Philly. Come Friday, I still didn't know exactly what I'd do in Philly. I did find a lunch place though. A retro type diner in Wilmington. I even kinda knew what I'd order. Then, luck and Google would shine on me. WALKING TOUR. I love walking tours. You get to see so much more. This one took you to the historical areas in Philly. Then, more luck. There was a deal to get a few bucks off when you buy a walking tour ticket AND a ghost tour ticket (called Spirits of 76. Clever!). Boom, my day was planned.

After my exercise class Saturday morning (yup, still going to the tai chi/yoga/pilates hybrid class. The people in it are very nice too. Some of the moves are just odd though), I got ready to head out. Still no scale at the gym after some MO-ron smashed the old one to smithereens. A picture of it was even posted. Bizarre! I didn't get lost at all on the way. I would have gotten there sooner but there were a couple of wrecks. By the time I reached them, the wreck & police presence was over. I'm guessing folks were slowing down to look. DON'T DO THAT!! Drive past and move on. I think people who slow traffic by rubber necking should have their car keyed. I also had to pay a couple of tolls. I've never been through many tolls booths. I've only been a passenger through them. I didn't realize it until I went through them. Is it odd I've never tolled? Anyway, some of these toll booths reminded me of pit stops in NASCAR. You get off the exit at the same time them you split off and find the booth with the shortest line before anyone else gets there. I was expecting to get my tires changed or radio my crew chief. Since I left from Maryland and came back to PA, I had different routes. The route going back had 1 toll. There were 2 coming from MD. Just saying.

Anyway, made it to lunch. Friendly retro place. Most of the servers were guys. That was odd to me. Had the Monte Cristo, which was ham, turkey, & swiss on French toast. Pretty good. Plus a side of home fries. It was way too much for me to eat all of. Then on to Philly. Found my parking garage, then tried to find my tour which was many blocks away. Yeah, I should have taken a cab (or is it a taxi, or a taxicab?). Twice I was asked if I was from Philly so they could ask directions. I think it's because I made eye contact with them. Here's a hint, if someone makes eye contact, they probably aren't local lol. Saw giant board game pieces in front of a museum, a guy riding a motor scooter shirtless, and a guy skateboarding in traffic, stopping at a red light & everything. So yeah, weird.

Finally found where I needed to be. This exercise must be paying off because my walking was fine :-) GO ME!! At first, I was the only one on the tour, then others joined at the last minute, including 3 Brits. I find that hilarious, but they were awesome. Tour guide was great. Very informative, plus he's an actor so he sold it really well and did a few accents. Got to see a lot of historic places that shaped the country today. After the tour was over, I still had a few hours to kill before the ghost tour. So I decided to go ahead and eat. I found a place that served cheesesteaks. Probably not a well known place for them, but I didn't care. Had one, had some baklava and a diet ginger ale. All in all, pretty nice. Then I still had a ton of time to kill so I found the place, then walked around a while longer and saw some more cool buildings. Finally, the ghost tour started. I don't believe in ghosts and spirits and stuff like that. I know that sounds strange since this is my 3rd ghost tour (in addition to Chattanooga and Fell's Point) but it's fun hearing the scary stories and walking around the town. There were 2 children on this tour. Why you'd take a child on a scary GHOST tour is beyond me. One kid was about 9 or so and she was smart and she was fine. The other poor girl was about 4 years old (Yeah, 4 on a ghost tour. Lazy parents) and kept talking and asking questions and asking if the ghosts were mean & stuff like that. Plus, some of the stories were pretty gruesome. I saw no orbs, no spirits, no specters, no cold chills, nothing. After that, I got in a cab, back to my garage, and off I went alone into the dark Pennsylvania night.

All in all, it was a good day. I saw a lot, got to do some fun things, eat, say I've been to Philly. I did have to cross over one sort of scary bridge, but it could have been worse. Plus, the temperature wasn't too warm. I was fine in jeans. The world didn't need to see me in shorts. Oh, and 1 person got that the A on my shirt stood for the University of Alabama. He asked if Bama was gonna win the SEC. I told him yep. I would have stayed and chatted with him, but we were about to start the tour and he was on a break from the visitors center so he was probably about to head back to work. Less than 3 weeks till kickoff. RTR!

Got in at midnight Saturday/early Sunday. I was exhausted and sweaty. But I still made it up for church today. Then I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. AWESOME movie. Too much fun. Action, comedy, non stop fun. Then back to church for a church wide meeting. It's fun seeing folks other than Sunday morning. You get to talk with them more when they aren't in a rush.

I haven't lost as much weight this week, but after a few days of futility, the scale at least is headed back down. WooHoo!! Other than all that, work, Dale Carnegie, and trying to help a friend get over a romantic crisis, life's been pretty simple. Got to decide when my next daycation is and where to go. I have friends in DC so I could go there. A lady in my exercise class and the awesome Janet Cash both suggested places in northern Virginia. But my next accomplishment will be my San Diego vacation next month. Maybe a trip to LA too while I'm there? I wonder if either of them have ghost tours. Hmm...but pre-schoolers aren't allowed this time.

Like a drifter I was born to walk alone

2010-08-01T22:01:00.001-04:00

BEWARE IT'S A LONG BLOG:
Well, well. Another week and another month have come and gone. July was pretty good. I had two 4th of July parties, went to the carnival and the parade, turned 35, went home, saw my sweet girl Caroline, started exercising and Weight Watchers (and even lost weight!!), finished reading one book and even started another. Church & work were good. I saw Inception which was amazing. August, you are on alert, you better bring it!

So where should I start? OK, with the weight. I've been on WW a couple of weeks now and I've almost hit my first goal. I am even exercising 4 days a week. I went back to my BodyFlow exercise class. This time, I didn't have to chug down a SlimFast before class so I didn't feel sick 15 minutes in. Let me tell you, all that balancing and stretching ain't easy! Especially when you have to support your own body weight to do it. And the part where we work on abs, ok, listen skinny teacher, don't ask a person with a stomach to lay on their stomach. It just gets in the way. Same thing when I bend. But I was tired and sore after so that had to be good (plus I'm losing the weight). I was even able to, thanks to the freaky yankee summer, walk on the trail 2 nights this week. It's usually pretty low key with people walking or biking. But one guy had the NERVE to be fit and shirtless and running. Really, you are gonna show off? That ain't brave. Dragging my arthritic overweight out of shape self on the trail in sweatpants and chugging along at a good pace for 40 minutes, THAT'S BRAVE!

I'm still in awe of the number of people who read this thing. Weird that people are entertained by it. I'm surprised I am. But it makes me feel connected to friends. Well, this and Facebook. I swear, I keep up with people more now than I used to. Well, this Facebook and text messaging. But you get the drift.
Anyone have the iPhone 4 yet? Would it be worth selling my iPhone 3GS on eBay (what's with all the weird capitalization on stuff? WooHoo! I'm glad I don't do that) and investing in the iPhone 4? Or just forget it and live with what I got?

What's next? Um, let me get things which tick me off out of the way first. As you read on Facebook, Domino's is now my enemy. That's what I get for splurging. I order ahead to have it delivered at 730pm and it gets there cold an hour later. I call and I get excuse after excuse. Not "I'm so sorry. My sincerest apologies. You are correct sir". I didn't "Go Holt" on Antoine the phone answerer or George the driver. I did kinda "Go Holt" on Domino's in one of my famous complaint emails though.

#2 complaint is political ads. People buy too many of them. You think you hate watching them? Trying placing them! Politicians in Tennessee should be glad I don't live there. I'd say more but I still want the FCC to love me. Speaking of politics, here is #3 complaint. When did we as a nation turn politics into a playground shouting match? People can't discuss politics without this current of hatred and vitriol aimed at the other side. Commentators, who should be there (in my opinion) to help clear things up for us, instead stir the pot to where we don't know what's up and what's down. Politicians, you are worse. As lawmakers, you are entrusted with doing the best for the country. Instead, you do just enough to strike fear in your power base of voters so you can get re-elected. That's not helpful, that's not progressive. For YEARS now, you can't even admit if the other side does something good. That's why I'm looking into the Coffee Party Movement.

OK, enough of that. But going on those themes, like I've repeated to y'all ad nauseum, I just read "The Unlikely Disciple" by Kevin Roose, about a guy who spent an entire semester at Liberty University. He's not an evangelical conservative Christian. He's a liberal Quaker from the Ivy League. But I was happy when I read it that he was able to have most of his stereotypes busted, and busted theirs. A few of mine were reinforced, mainly Christian guys use of nicknames and facial hair. Add in fist bumps, seriously where did that start and can we end it soon--at least the ones where it looks like your hand explodes after you bump because that annoys me, and you have the triumvirate. But if someone can come into that environment and focus on similarities instead of differences, why can't all of us? Why do we look for differences which separate us instead of similarities to unite us? Why are we still living with an us vs. them mentality. This man was able to conduct an interview with Jerry Falwell and bring out his humanity even though his family and friends were fearful for him. If you can't like people because they are people, you really need to re-read the New Testament. These themes are also echoed in my current reading adventure, Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" about maids and race relations in 1960s Mississippi.

Finally, on a funny note, with just a little lyrical tinkering, I think I can turn Whitesnake's 80s power balled "Here I Go Again" into a Christian song. I am singing at church next Sunday, but I don't think I'll break it out just yet haha. Look at the lyrics and see if you can see it too. Maybe soon, I'll have it rewritten for ya. But for now, "Mad Men" wooHoo!!

I don't know where I'm goin
but I sure know where I've been
hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday.
An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time
but here I go again, here I go again.

Tho' I keep searching for an answer
I never seem to find what I'm looking for.
Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on
'cos I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams.

Here I go again on my own
goin' down the only road I've ever known.
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone.
An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time.

Just another heart in need of rescue
waiting on love's sweet charity
an' I'm gonna hold on for the rest of my days
'cos I know what it means to walk along the lonely street of dreams.

Here I go again on my own
goin' down the only road I've ever known.
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone.
An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time
but here I go again, here I go again,
here I go again, here I go.

Waging wars to shake the poet and the beat

2010-07-25T23:54:00.001-04:00

Well, another week in the books and accounted for. Since I last blogged, I: flew home, saw family, saw friends, got 2 books, 3 shirts (one I couldn't wear, I'm super picky), got a cake, sang at church, and got to hold a precious sweet baby girl who wasn't even 24 hours old. All that happened in one joyous fun filled weekend in sunny...TUSCALOOSA ALABAMA!! Trying to make it sound like a game show prize, did I do a great job? I thought so, thanks for the compliment.

Then I decided to lose weight again. This time, I'm not only going back to the gym, I'm going on weight watchers. So far, I'm able to eat pretty much what I want. I can handle that sort of diet. I even went to one of the exercise classes at the gym. This one is called BodyFlow. It's a mix of tai chi, yoga, and pilates moves. It'll help with flexibility, cardio, and all that crap. It was more intense than I thought it'd be, but that's because I'm fat arthritic and out of shape. Amazing how that affects your fitness level. But apparently I've lost 5 pounds this week so I must not be screwing up too much. I'm eating less, switched to diet drinks (blech), and found a most amazing discovery today: BLUE DIAMOND VANILLA ALMOND MILK. Awesome stuff and lower in fat and calories.

I'm also reading a fascinating book, "The Unlikely Disciple" by Kevin Roose. This is the true story of Kevin, who was a student at liberal Brown University and decides to spend a semester at VERY conservative and Christian Liberty University, the one founded by Jerry Falwell. It's amazing to see how "outsiders" perceive Christians. I was worried that they'd be portrayed as kooks or weirdos, but they aren't. They are shown the way I see Christians, and that's a good thing. I'm about halfway through and not offended. Some of my more conservative friends SHOULDN'T be offended by it, they may, but shouldn't. It is a good read so far.

I'm still doing the Dale Carnegie course and it's not sucking. I saw the movie "Inception" and it was AWESOME! It's a total head trip so you have to pay attention and plan out your potty breaks. I also want to see Angelina Jolie in "Salt". It looks pretty good. I saw the preview for Jennifer Aniston's new movie "The Switch". Wow, that movie looks hideous, disturbing, and dumb. Saturday, after exercise class, I decided since I was already in town I'd take in a sight or two so I went to the zoo. Yeah, on a day where the high temperature was over 100, I go to an outside open air zoo with little shade. Even the animals were miserable. They have a penguin exhibit. #1, it's outdoors. It's not the flippin Arctic circle, so why are they outside in summer? #2, they had a lawn sprinkler out there to cool them off. They looked like little redneck children playing in the yard haha. The zoo also has camel rides. Yeah, that's odd. They have a lion, and he was in the back under the shade and not putting on a show like all good zoo animals should. Chimpanzees look weird from behind. All the animals were just so sad. I was a miserable animal too. I was sweating like a fat kid at the zoo on a hot July day. It wasn't pretty. I didn't make it to the Maryland exhibit or the polar bear exhibit. The African exhibit had all the cool animals anyway. I mean, they had giraffes! Then I went back to the apartment all sweaty, tired, and disgusting. All in all, a productive day!

Other than that, not much is going on. My life is still as boring as ever. But at least I'm good at commenting on other people's lives and giving advice too. I'm waiting to get my own show on radio or TV and make money off of this deal. I figure I won't start writing my books until after I become famous. I even have them titled already. Well, that's it for now. I watched the Mad Men premiere tonight and it was AWESOME!! No show would be able to stand up after that so I decided to just watch the Kardashians in Miami and Holly's World on E! instead. You don't expect them to stand up to Mad Men so it's like a cleanser. Have a good night everyone!

Listen To What the Man Said

2010-07-13T23:32:00.001-04:00

Picture it, Tuscaloosa, AL, July 14, 1975. It's a hot mid July day in the south. The #1 song on the charts is "Listen to What the Man Said" by Paul McCartney & Wings. One young woman has been waiting since June 22nd to meet her son. Apparently, he's in no hurry or else doctors haven't heard of the word "induce" yet. Finally, at 3:30 in the afternoon at Druid City Hospital, a wonderful bouncing baby boy arrived. He weighed 10 lbs., 9 oz. Yup, that's me.

No big frills or fanfares greeted my arrival. No camera crews or paparazzi. My life hasn't been extraordinarily ordinary. I had pneumonia when I was 18 months old, but I recovered. I went to school, started reading early, went to the gifted program, went to church, left that church, found a new church, went to high school, marched in the band, sang in the choir, was on the math team and scholar's bowl team, I played the part of a nerd quite nicely I believe and am proud of it, I went to college, majored in too many things, worked for a stocks/investments broker, went to the BCM and met a ton of great friends,summer missions 3 times (hey Kansas! You too Savannah) switched to TV and worked a 2 TV stations and met a ton of great friends, diagnosed with a skin condition and arthritis but am doing much better now, switched to radio (more friends RIP RQ!), back to TV, another church (directing music!) up to corporate and far away from home, finally found another church, had my job responsibilities change to a brand new challenge, moved to a Mayberry type town, and here I am, on my bed flipping between Chopped and House Hunters International.

That's me in one incredibly boring run on paragraph. It's amazing how the high points of our life don't really fill up a whole lot of space. That's because life is made of so many small moments. Those small moments provide us with so many memories and experiences and life lessons. I've seen and learned so much in my life. In my 35 years, this is what I have seen & learned.

I've been alive bad times in Bama football and for 4 Crimson Tide National Championships! I have seen the Braves suck like a new Dyson vacuum and I've seen them win the World Series! I've made many friends and gained many new members of my family. I've also seen too many people pass away (now matter how long it's been, you'll always miss your grandmothers). I had 4 official majors, visited a lot of states, had 5 paying jobs, been through 7 presidents, owned 6 cars, went to NYC, and been through 8 Bama head football coaches (I don't count Pensacola Price).

What other things have I learned? Well...

I put up my senior picture as my profile picture because it's a good picture, I actually cleaned up pretty well back in 1992 when that picture was made (and see, I did have hair, smile and eyes still look the same though. My eyes aren't brown, they are Tootsie Roll colored!) I think the Hummer is the most ridiculous and impractical vehicle. I STILL don't get the appeal of Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Aniston, or Nickelback. Politics has become such an ugly game that people on all sides should be ashamed of themselves and what they have allowed this country to become. Even though I was made to go to church all of my life, I do not regret it, I now go because I want to. I still want to host The Soup once Joel McHale when he gets too famous to be on E! I should be ashamed that E! shows are my guilty pleasure, but I'm really not. I need to start going back to the gym again before my doctor calls me fat again. What's Love Got to Do With It was a great movie to watch at the movies, especially when the sisters were cheering when Tina finally fought back against Ike. An "acquired taste" is a stupid thing, if I don't like something the first time I eat it, why would I try it again? I believe ice cream can heal a bad day and a sore throat. Selling seafood by the side of the road more than a couple of hours inland just doesn't inspire confidence (especially not at a place called She's Got Crabs). I hate that As the World Turns is going off the air because the show still reminds me of when my Granny used to watch it. I still remember the long Spring Break road trips to Arkansas. I miss hanging out with Krista, Ann(e) Marie, and the rest of the Gilgal youth group. I should probably be packing instead of blogging. Duff on Ace of Cakes looks like he'd smell like a mix of butter, sweat, and cigarettes. The look of joy on a 4 year old's face while he's watching his first parade AND getting candy thrown his way make you say HOORAY!! It's much easier and much more effective to smile and be in a good mood than a bad one, people tend to appreciate it. We as Christians should ALL learn to be more Christ like and help our fellow man instead of acting like we are all morally superior.

Finally, I've learned that just because you aren't in the same city, state, or time zone, you can still be good friends. I spend way too much time on Facebook, I know. But it's how I reconnected with a lot of friends. I love laughing with friends, listening to them, giving advice, getting advice, etc. Keeping friends around, even if you never see them or even call them on the phone, is critical. That's the most important thing I've learned in the last 35 years.

Ain't that America, Home of the Free

2010-07-04T20:59:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th of July everyone. I hope y'all had a great day. I've had a good weekend. Saturday, I went to cookout number 1. I made my famous sausage rolls (aka "chicken nuggets" haha), met new people, got too see some adorable kids play. I walked there and back, ensuring my exercise for the day (ok, for the weekend). Sunday, I went to church. Then I was gonna come home, bum around for a few, then head to the church picnic. However on my way home, I got stuck behind a wreck so no time to bum (I hope everyone was ok). But I made it to the picnic in plenty of time, my red velvet cake was a huge hit (wooHoo famous!! Thanks Aunt Sara for the recipe in the Gilgal cookbook!) even if the layers did come out a bit cattywampus (yes, in the south that's a word). I thought it was a tad dry, but everyone loved it. Yes, I'm awesome. I'm humble too, and I don't mind telling people just how humble I am!

But I also got to hang around and chat with my fellow church members. I was glad to get to say more than a few hellos that I normally get to say between the end Amen and the time everyone gets to their cars. I got to make them laugh, just talk, tell them what I do for a living, etc. Those that don't follow me on Facebook got to see my sense of humor (although Wendy, and logically following that, Jeff as well, said she already knows my sense of humor and appreciates it from being my FB friend SHOUT OUT TO VALLEY!). It's good getting to know people. Special thanks to Ed & Joy Herbold for opening their home to everyone. PS - Get well soon Janet!

In a Sunday & church related rant (not my current church though), church business meetings are just plain ridiculous sometimes. I know there are rules which need to be followed. But the rules are there to move things along in an orderly fashion. They are not to be used to try to lord power over people (for lack of a better term) or push your own agenda, or to try to keep your fingers in everyone's pie. When I was told of actions today, I asked the person who told me the info if someone stood up and said to the offender "Why are you being such a butt? Just because you can be?" Seriously people, you aren't enacting laws or running a country here. Just let things run with logic & common sense. If you can't do that, sit down and be quiet.

OK, that was fun! Another thing that will be alternately fun and a headache is the New Freedom Carnival. It's a fair with rides & food & stuff and it's at the park. The park happens to be right across the street from my apartment. I'm glad it's so close, but I have a feeling this week will not be full of peace & quiet. haha. Um, anyone care to house me for a week? LOL. I'm glad I'm a night owl, but the fireworks Friday night will be at midnight. Plus, parking could be a hassle. Well, it's just a week, right? It's rare that Mayberry Hollow (this town is part Mayberry from Andy Griffith and part Star's Hollow from Gilmore Girls) has this much loudness & activity so I should be able to deal.

Finally, I'm actually thankful for Facebook. It's bizarre to me that so many folks tell me they read what I write. I write all this for my own amusement. If others are entertained, that's just a bonus. But because of FB, family back home can keep up with me, I talk more with folks I went to school with than I did when I was in school, I can stay in touch with former co-workers, I can play Family Feud, and I can reconnect with folks I haven't seen in a long time. Heck, some I now talk with a lot. Haven't seen them in years, but now we talk like time didn't pass. I am even able to give advice remotely. Hopefully it's good advice. If it's not, well, at least I'm not charging you anything for it. hahaha

OK, gonna finish watching Jaws (perfect July 4th movie huh?) and eat some KFC. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Hopefully you are off on Monday as well. If you aren't, well, I am, and isn't that what really matters?

I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life

2010-06-13T18:59:00.000-04:00

Hello happy readers of my purposeless ramblings. I hope all of you are doing well. It's been quite a week, but I made it through. For one, I took a day off, a full day off!! I did it so DirecTV could come by and install. It was 4:15 or so when he got here and about 7:30 when he left, but at least I have HD and a DVR and more channels, so I guess that isn't bad (even though I thought I'd have to make up my spare bedroom and cook him supper!). I'm enjoying it so far. Still have to keep Comcast for internet, but I can deal with that.

Unfortunately, that happened on the same day that we lost a very dear person. A boss so nice I worked for him twice! My thoughts and prayers go out to the family & friends of Ronnie Quarles. Godspeed Q!!

On to lighter topics, I actually went out walking a few times last week (as evidenced by my boring nature shots on Facebook). That happened because the weather was actually quite nice. Normally, I wouldn't mind that, but it's June and I'm used to oppressive heat & humidity. Oh how I miss summers in the south. You get in your car and everything you touch leaves a 2nd degree burn because it's so hot. You crank your AC full blast, and when things finally cool off in the car, you arrive at your destination. Then you get out of your cool car and by the time you get inside, your shirt is already sticking to you. Good times! At least it is hotter here this weekend and I can utilize my AC, which finally got installed. Too bad my washing machine is a bit temperamental. I couldn't get it to rinse or spin last night. So I had clothes sitting in water for a while. I fished those out like they were a dead body on Law & Order and tried to get the spin cycle to work. It didn't. Thankfully, I had clothes to wear today. If not, I would have had to direct hymns in jeans, and I'm not sure Jesus or my Mama would have liked that.

Yup, I got to direct hymns this morning. It'd been a while since I got to direct. Did I miss it? Yeah, but I enjoy just being able to sing without the pressure of picking out songs. Plus, more people at church got to see me and put a face to my loud voice. Maybe even more people will know me and say hey and ask me to do stuff :-)

In the news, Joran van der Sloot is a creepy murderous villain and the parents who let their 16 sail around the world alone are stupid. That's all you need to know. In sports, the Big 12 is a big mess right now. Will anyone want to stay? It's like a group of kids at a school dance. Someone already asked Nebraska & Colorado to dance and everyone wants to dance with Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, OSU, and Texas Tech. That leaves Kansas, KState, Missouri, Baylor, and Iowa State feeling like the ugly nerds with no dates. Those poor schools. They are now wanting to keep the Big 12 together. Yes, dance with each other. Just get uglier nerdier people (schools less talented than yours) to come dance with you. Will the SEC ask anyone to dance? SEC is the stud everyone wants to dance with and get giggly and shy around. It's good to be the SEC. Oh, and USC and Lane Kiffin, bwahahahahahahahaha, y'all got what you deserved.

Finally, I get to plan trips!! Next month, I come home to Alabama for a few days (and for my birthday. Those of you in town, I can make a list of gifts I would like. Maybe I'll do it like a registry. You can buy the gift or gifts now, or you can start saving money) to see folks. I hope my sweet baby girl Caroline will be born while I'm here so I can see her. It will be a wonderful honor and privilege to see her!! PLUS!! I've decided on my vacation this year. I'm going to SAN DIEGO!! Home of the zoo and Sea World and hopefully an economically priced but still nice hotel. I have a free flight from Southwest that expires so why not spend it on someplace fun. Now to finish planning it. If you have any ideas, tips, discounts, donations, etc., just let me know. Plus, I'm gonna try to make a day trip to LA while I'm there. I CAN'T WAIT!!

Maybe when I'm in LA, I can ask the movie studios why they put out so much crap this summer. I have gift cards and passes burning holes in my billfold and there is precious little I want to see. I thought about seeing The A-Team, but thought better of it. Karate Kid? I don't think so. I'd rather watch the world cup.
OK, that's enough excitement for now. I thought I'd blog early just because. Plus, with the Kardashians and Holly's World coming on tonight, my dance card will be full. I like hard hitting, insightful, and informative TV! Have a great week everyone!

In the Midnight Hour

2010-06-02T01:27:00.001-04:00

Where I am, it isn't the midnight hour anymore, but back home it is. Yes, I still call Alabama "home". I'm in my apartment, but I don't call it home. Anyway, that's not important. I can't sleep so I thought I'd blog. Why? WHY NOT!!!

Anyway, it was fun keeping up with the Alabama elections online. It has felt odd since I stopped being involved in election coverage. Actually, my first real election experience was back in 1994 when Gerald Allen first ran for State Representative. I actually got to help on the campaign. I even held a sign one day. I remember it vividly. I was at the intersection of University Blvd, 15th St, and Hwy 216 in Cottondale, next to Meaney's. It was raining, but I had a poncho. I was dedicated. I held that sign and waved at the people going by. If I remember correctly, Gerald's brother in law, Robert Shirley was out there for some of it (and now that I think of it, Mr. Shirley and my current pastor look a lot alike, COOL!!). Then, I saw a man run a red light (slowly, odd in Tuscaloosa) and have a wreck. It looked like he had a heart attack. Many gathered, including me, to make sure he was ok. I think he ended up being fine. Oh, then, on election night, I don't know how except maybe my handwriting and math skills put me ahead, but I got to write the vote totals by county as they came in on the big white marker board at the post-election party. Yeah, I was inner circle that night and proud of it!

Then, several years later, I got to see elections from the newsroom side of things. I was the one typing the numbers up so they could go out over the air. I got to see people run around like chickens with their heads cut off. I got to see live election coverage from behind the scenes. That was amazing. Sure, we weren't the biggest station around, but we worked hard to get the results, and we were 100% local by golly! I was there during the 2000 Presidential Election. Boy wasn't that exciting. haha. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. Even though I was production, and not news, I learned a lot about the news business there on Jug Factory Road. Plus I'm still friends with folks from there and I've been gone 8 years! 8 years gone, can you believe it?

Now, I keep up with the election from my computer. I see Artur Davis, who did a very solid job in Congress try to run for Governor without playing the political game with his votes & actions. He lost, BIG! Politics is a tough game. The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination is VERY close. Good to see Dr. Robert Bentley, a well respected Tuscaloosa doctor and just well respected as a person too, in the hunt. Congrats to him. I hope he makes it to the runoff. Not a Tim James fan. Like father like son, I say. Alabama doesn't need to be Fobbed again. Plus, that commercial would make Bama a laughingstock. I'm just glad Roy Moore didn't make it. I have no use for him. He reminds me too much of the Pharisees in the Bible (and they're not fair you see. C'mon, you knew you were singing it). Troy King seems to have lost because he didn't back Riley's Raids. I see that in my home gerrymandered district (come on, it goes from west Jefferson county down through the black belt and into Montgomery and is shaped like the letter C, It's GERRYMANDERED!), our old rep's son couldn't make it through. Good, I'd be afraid he was like his Dad. Hey Earl, how is Quaddafi these days? But you still have Sheila Smoot there. Anyone who was in Bham/JEFFCO politics, you should vote against them on principle. Ah, Alabama politics.

At least it beats Baltimore politics. I'm sick of hearing on NPR about the $121 million budget deficit the city is facing. It's the radio version of "a select coalition of all-white fraternities and sororities designed to influence campus politics." Turn it into a drinking game if you so desire.

What else is up? Glee was on tonight. It was, um, odd. OK, that ending funk song had me alternately, laughing at them, laughing with them, loving it, hating it, embarrassed for them, etc. It looked like what Soul Train would have been if produced by the ACLU.

I'm jealous of my friend Brandon. He got to go home for a few days PLUS he lives in Atlanta, home of the FIRST PLACE BRAVES!! I work in Baltimore, home of the embarrassment known as the Orioles. It just isn't fair. haha

Finally, I watched Chopped on Food Network tonight. For those unfamiliar, up & coming chefs, usually pretentious, are given a basket of ingredients and must make a meal out of it. All are given the same ingredients and one person is eliminated or "chopped" (aha clever!) each round. The ingredients are usually odd, ones they wouldn't normally use, or use together, and ALL the ingredients must be used. I leave you with this. In the dessert round, hot dogs was one of their ingredients. I think I threw up in my mouth a little and probably shed a tear. So wrong.

Well, I may attempt sleep. Who knows.

Ain't That Mr. Mister on the Radio

2010-05-30T22:58:00.000-04:00

Good evening all my loyal readers & fans. How y'all been? I'm hanging in there. Yes, I mentioned on my statuses (stati? haha) that I haven't been feeling well. I am blaming it all on my attempt to lose weight. You see, about a month ago I bought this multi-vitamin at Wal-Mart. It's called Weight Conscious, same as the One-A-Day brand Weight Smart vitamins. They have something extra to boost metabolism and stuff. I have to take a vitamin anyway, might as well get something extra out of it. So I went to my regular 3 month arthritis doc checkup. They took my blood pressure. To me, this is simply a formality. My BP is ALWAYS 120/80. Has been for years. Nurse said, "Your pressure is a little high, so I'm gonna check it again". How high, I logically asked "How high" (I had my pressure checked within the last month & a half and it was fine so I was concerned). It was 140/100! What the WHAT!! I told my nurse & doc about the vitamins and a few doctor friends on here. They all think that could be the reason. I bought a monitor and have been checking it religiously. I believe it's finally starting to go down. I've cut back on caffeine and been taking it easy all week. I'm good at taking it easy. I'll ease back into things and exercise now that it seems to be back at a decent level. I did joke with mama Tuesday morning that I didn't have a stroke overnight so that was good. She doesn't appreciate extreme sickness jokes. Please, I've had enough wrong with me over the years that I like joking about it. Also, beware of any sort of diet/weight loss/fat-burning type pill or supplement. Apparently, it can mess you up!! I wish weight loss came in a pill form. It'd make things a heck of a lot easier.

Bama softball and baseball played today. Baseball in the SEC final lost to LSU in 10 innings. I napped & missed it. Bama lost on a walk off homer today in the super regionals. Heartbreaking and sad. Those little Hawaii heifers liked to lean into pitches to get hit. I think, and others do too, that the Bama pitchers should have really zoomed some pitches in there. If they want to get hit and get first base, you ought to pay for it. Oh well, hate it ended that way.

In idiot news, BP still hasn't capped their gushing oil well in the gulf. UGH! Now, the fun game to play is "Whose fault is it?" It's BP! It's TransOcean! It's Obama! It's Bush! It's Halliburton! Guess what, I DON'T CARE WHOSE FAULT IT IS, FIX IT YOU FINGER POINTING NIMRODS! They are worse than the Brady kids on the episode of The Brady Bunch when they broke the vase or when Jan ran over the picture, or when...wow, they were some trouble making little honkies, weren't they? Anyway, right now isn't the time for blame, it's the time for results. I really think the BP guys are sitting in a room getting high and trying to come up with the wildest ideas to stop the gusher. Try working together to fix this for once: BP, White House, Democrats, Republicans, etc. The Gulf can't afford this. But as we've sadly learned in this election cycle, cooperation with the other party will get you voted out. Yes, how dare we have compromise.

On to TV. There are some really bad/weird/trainwreck-you can't-help-but-watch shows on right now. This show on NBC the other night, 100 Questions, was one of the most unfunny things I've seen. I'm surprised Jenna Elfmann and Oliver Platt weren't in it. Right now, I'm watching Long Island Princess Unleashed on E! It's a new show. It wants to be Real Housewives with 20s-30s women. Just as trainwreck fascinating. I'm still thinking I should do "Real Housewives of West Alabama" It's be AWESOME! But in WONDERFUL news, Royal Pains returns for season 2 this coming Thursday. I loved this show last year and can't wait for its return. It was such a good, solid, funny show. HooRay!! Lee won Idol, but he shouldn't have. He did bad things, or at least uninteresting things, to 3 of my favorite songs of all time. I was team Crystal from the beginning.

Oh, the blog title? It comes from that horrific Hey Soul Sister song by Train. Train holds a special place for Drops of Jupiter, but I want to punch them all in the face for this abomination of musicality. It's as dumb as a Ke$ha song. WHY?!?!?!

Now, I am just sitting here watching TV. I have no Memorial Day plans. If I were back home, I'd be in Arkansas right now. Yes, I know that sounds confusing, but it makes sense to me. Holidays get ya homesick. I heard Sweet Home Alabama on the radio this morning. Plus, a friend of mine was able to go home to visit for the first time since last June!! Bless his mama's heart! Glad you are getting to visit buddy. I'll be in Bama in July. I fly in on my birthday night, so I expect presents or something. haha. But I also need a vacation soon too. I have friends in ATL so I could go visit there (I still have the $100 Delta voucher from earlier this year). I want to hit a beach though, maybe San Diego, West Palm Beach, someplace fun that Southwest flies. Gotta love a free trip. That'll probably be in September. I figure prices go down after Labor Day, and I'm cheap.

Well, that's enough mindless rambling for now. Later folks!

Up to the Mountain

2010-05-26T00:58:00.000-04:00

This is the song Crystal Bowersox sang on Idol as her last song. I'm glad they didn't make them sing some horribly written song that's sickeningly sweet and cloying and overly pseudo-emotional. This beautifully written gem is by Patty Griffin (whose version I have include) and was also amazingly sung by Kelly Clarkson on Idol Gives Back (further proof of why she's my favorite Idol by far!). Read these lyrics, please. She based it on a speech by Martin Luther King. We ALL can relate.

UP TO THE MOUNTAIN (MLK Song)
I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere

Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be walking
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later
It's there I will go

Here are Patty Griffin's version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl4HjwQ77XM

Kelly Clarkson (featuring the awesome Jeff Beck on guitar): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shTQ5UTbfsM

And Crystal Bowersox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGt5bjf31o4

Just be yourself. It doesn't matter if it's good enough for someone else!

2010-05-18T22:43:00.003-04:00

Forgive me readers for I have transgressed. It's been 17 days since my last update. In that time I've worked with an office that was displaced due to a flood, celebrated Mother's Day and Daddy's birthday alone, conversed with Michael Lohan (at least he claims to be him, but it could very well be him), avoided the gym due to sinuses and leg pain and lack of motivation, finally watched Sherlock Holmes, tried to see the new Nightmare on Elm Street with my free movie pass I earned only to be told they had to cancel the showing so instead I got 2 movie passes (no restrictions so I'm guessing new releases are fair game), suffered through the most boring season of Idol in quite some time (still I say CRYSTAL BOWERSOX FOR THE WIN!!!)Just, started watching the horrendous debacle known as Real Housewives of NYC (do NOT judge me! I am putting the blame squarely on Merideth Thaxton for getting me hooked), caught up with some old friends on Facebook and gone to work, church, and my apartment. Yeah, quite an eventful 2 1/2 weeks. Who says you can't have fun alone in Mayberry!

I was very happy today that no professed automotive Christians showed road rage towards me. What would Jesus do, NOT TAILGATE! Seriously, are you in that big of a hurry? If so, LEAVE EARLIER! I was going the speed I was because I had a car in front of me and an 18 wheeler next to me. I'll move when I can get over you selfish road hogging nimrod!

People still amaze me. Never underestimate the power to overestimate people. People either don't know what they are doing, think they know how to do everything, tell you something is wrong: call AND email, tell someone else, who tells someone else, to tell you to make sure you really know. Seriously? What, the skywriter wasn't available? Just tell people once, that's all that's needed.

I'm also amazed at how one tragedy bring legitimacy to a celebrity. In April, Bret Michaels was still a joke. An enjoyably entertaining joke, but a joke no doubt. He was in a fun cheesy 80s hair band, dated Pam Anderson, starred in a "dating reality" show which no doubt cause prescriptions of penicillin to increase exponentially, had a set piece drop on his head at the Tony Awards (Bret Michaels on the Tony awards is odd enough), went on Celebrity Apprentice. Pretty much this is the celebrity irrelevance tour. But, one near death experience with a brain hemorrhage and now he's on Oprah. Only in America!

Now, politics. Usually, I stay away from talking about politics because I have found very few people who can have a political discussion without it turning into a personal attack on the other person. To me, that is a sign of immaturity. If you think I'm wrong, that's your right. But it's my blog and I'll say what I want and I'm about to upset people. Extremism in politics is going to divide this country far too much. I'm not sure if talk radio/news commentary shows are the culprit or not. I do know it's seemed to make everyone an expert on what's wrong with the other side. And let me tell you, each side has come up with some winners. Hateful people, bullies, people with awful phone calls broadcast all over the media, WE'RE DOING IT LIVE!, former 2nd rate stand up comedians, and an ESPN anchor. Yes, when I'm trying to learn about the intricacies of a Senate bill, or our relations with a combative nation, I want to know what the former host of Inside Edition or a guy who used to make smart aleck remarks about sports bloopers has to say. Yes, that's my first thought!

But these programs and these hosts promote extremism. They've even led to political movement bent on removing people from office who aren't extreme enough. Some Democrats and Republicans were victims of movements to get rid of them because they voted for the health care bill. The Dems are out because it wasn't liberal enough. The Republicans are out because it was too liberal. Those people who dared reach across the aisle to try to get some work done are being voted out. I guess it's true that no good deed goes unpunished. I'm not a Democratic, I'm not a Republican. I've voted for both in the past and will vote for both in the future. I'm not a liberal, I'm not a conservative. The title of the blog (a song lyric of course) give a good hint :-) I'm a moderate independent and dang proud of it. But I think people are being ridiculed and ostracized for being so. Why is that? Why is it wrong to see the good & right in both sides? Why is it wrong to want to see the government try to help those who can't, yet still have some social & fiscal conservatism. Why does MSNBC make it seem like the Tea Party group are a bunch of kooky fascists who are racist and can't spell and are mesmerized by Sarah Palin (although, truth be told, I don't understand her appeal either. During the VP debate, she came across to me as someone who'd be overwhelmed in a debate for VP of the Hannah Montana fan club). Why does Fox News make it seem like liberals are evil atheistic egoists who are out to bankrupt the country and replace the stars & bars with the hammer & sickle? (although Harry Reid does sorta give me the creeps). I also love it when each side acts like they are the only one truly in touch with Jesus. Last time I read the Gospels, Jesus wasn't a registered Democrat or Republican. What I really want to know is why we can't get along? What's wrong with being a moderate? What's wrong with being able to see both sides of an issue? Political extremism frightens me. I don't see any good coming out of it. If we don't learn to be understanding with each other, we'll never make progress as a nation. We should be mature enough and smart enough to do that. Grow up and get along. Y'all are worse than 5 year olds on the playground. At least they can be friendly after throwing dirt at one another.

OK, that's enough for now. I really want something with cinnamon. But I don't have anything. Instead, I'll eat my Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes. So, any suggestions for my next topic?

Sing a song about the heartland, sing a song about my life

2010-05-01T20:08:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been a busy week. Heck, it's been a busy month. I'm glad April is over. Work has been wicked busy, but that phase of busy is over. Now, onto a new phase of busy! But it's a different kind of busy. That's what I get I guess!

Anyway, on to the past couple of weeks. Yes, Comcast still sucks. Pretty soon, I'll probably get rid of it (except for internet, darn you New Freedom and your lack of DSL!) and switch over to DirecTV. I now need the account number of someone who has it and I'll give it when I sign up (which should be this coming week I guess). First come First serve (if you are referred by a DirecTV user, both of you get a $10 per month credit for 10 months!). Bring it on users!

Orioles suck this year (no shocker there) and the Braves suck this year too (Bobby's last year thankfully. He did a great job, but once you are 212 years old with 6 knee replacements, you need to give it up) so baseball isn't high on my list these days.

The other day, I had to turn on the heater. Today, it's 90 degrees and my air conditioners aren't in my windows so it's very warm in here. At least I wasn't moving today like my neighbors. Yup, the next door neighbors moved out this time. But apparently it's already been rented. I'm gonna have seniority!

But things aren't all bad. Friday I got GREAT news from my ENT (ear nose & throat). A year and half ago I had a small little ulcer type irritation on my throat. I sound more hoarse than I used to and my throat usually feels irritated and my singing range seems affected. Well, the doc (who, trust me, was a bit of an odd duck) said the spot wasn't there and my irritation was a combination of sinus drainage and reflux (gross sounding I know, but I'm happy it's fixable, or not worrisome at least). Then Friday night, I bought more Mello Yello (thank you Target) and finally broke down and bought some almond milk. You know what, it's not bad. I think I will like it a lot.

Today was quite a full day. I went to bed earlier than normal and woke up later than normal. Apparently, I've been tired. Then I had some Chocolate Cheerios with almond milk. Then I went to the Amish market. I went to the furniture/home store first. It looked like some cutesy country barn exploded and the merchandise is the shrapnel. Then, I went to the food part. Or as I like to call it "Heaven in south central PA". Bakery, candy, ice cream, fudge, restaurants, butcher, deli, and if you are so inclined, produce (I don't incline that way). I limited myself to the bakery and some homemade rolls (which I doubt will be as good as my aunt Sandra's, but away from home you take what you get) and a pound cake (but trying to lose weight, I only bought a half a cake). Then I went to eat at Cracker Barrel and it was good today, except I had the laziest waitress ever. It took several minutes after I sat for her to come over so I went ahead and ordered (that was visit #1), she brought my food (visit #2), and then brought the check and asked if I wanted dessert (visit #3). No extra trips to check on me, no extra trips to refill my Coke. LAZY! But I did get Yankee Candle car fresheners (vanilla lime is AWESOME!) and those red & black berry candy (those have been a favorite of mine since The Peanut Shack at the new mall all those years ago). Then I went and took my car through the car wash and threw away too much trash. Then I came back to the apartment and changed for my brisk walk. I walked around Mayberry some. Stopped and visited the Harrisons. Saw boss lady, knew better than to offer my lack of experience to her hubby while he put up a fence, saw the sister in law, and 2 adorably sweet little boys (one playing in the dirt, one playing with an air pump. Also learn if you spin around a 15 month old and try to get him to walk, he looks drunk, can't stand and it's hilarious!). I then went on the NCR trail to the tune of songs from Glee. OK, "Home" which was Kristin Chenoweth sang this past Wednesday night is AMAZING. Her performance of it was great and the words are great too. Yes, it's tough being away from home. Maybe one day. Now, off to eat something for supper and iron clothes (I iron at night because I'm OCD & paranoid about going off in the morning and leaving the iron on. Yeah, I'm weird!). Have a great May everyone!

ACM Awards - The Final Hour

2010-04-18T23:00:00.001-04:00

Hour 3 starts off with the award for Vocal Group of the Year. OK, they really should combine Duo & Group into one award. This award was presented to the awesome Lady Antebellum by Eddie Cibrian, aka LeAnn Rimes partner in homewreckin’! Well, it is a country music show, might as well have homewreckin’ spouses together.

Tim McGraw is performing right now. Thankfully he’s not singing that horrendous Southern Voice song or that even worse It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You, which was co-written by the lead singer of Nickelback, that should give you more than enough reason to hate it.

Brad Paisley is just awesome beyond words. He and his wife seem like they’d be normal, down to earth, and the type of people you could hang out with. This song “Water” is probably gonna be my summer anthem. Lovin it! Matthew Mc Conaughey is just pretty much half crazy and doesn’t care, ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! I’m guessing his daughter is 3 months old now. Gee Matthew, thanks for sharing. But glad Brad won male vocalist. HooRay! Plus, he’s one of the funniest people around. And naturally funny, not forced funny.

I’m not a big B&D fan, but I would have picked “Red Dirt Road” for them to sing. It’s the best of the 3 songs. My Daddy says it’s the one song by them he can stand. It reminds him of growing up because he lived on a red dirt gravel road. But goodness, Ronnie Dunn looks a mess like he just woke up or something. But how bad was it that his microphone wasn’t working on their final performance as a duo? I think he’ll come out with a solo album soon, right? He was almost always front and center anyway. He could be a success. I still say Sugarland should have won top duo. B&D won because it’s their last hurrah. Oh well.

I’m glad Reba is having musical success again. She went a bit too over the top in the mid 90s but then reined it back in, just like her plastic surgeon reined in her signs of aging and sagging. But her work is more subtle than Dolly & Nicole. I’m glad Carrie didn’t win female vocalist. Good for Miranda. She seems shocked & happy. I like it when people don’t expect to win.
Keith Urban came in carrying a camera and they seem to be focusing on odd and different camera work during his performance. That’s a shame because he’s a very good performer and they shouldn’t detract from this song. But the camera they are using gives it a concert video or rehearsal look instead of a live awards show.

Carrie Underwood won Entertainer of the Year? Yuck! I just am not a fan of her overall. Why you got your cell phone on? Why’d you bring your purse onstage. Give it to your mama girl!
Darius Rucker closes the show? Why? He’s become a country success and that’s good, but why is he closing it? Why didn’t Sugarland perform? Overall, it wasn’t that bad of a show I must say. I figured Taylor Swift would have won at least something. She has a lot to live up to with her next CD though. Congrats to Lady Antebellum and Brad Paisley!

ACM Awards - Hour 2

2010-04-18T22:15:00.001-04:00

Taylor Swift kicked off hour 2 by flying over the arena in a combination tuna can/hot air balloon basket. Good thing my friend Ms. Pendergrass wasn’t there to throw stuff at her. Then she took off the dress and was wearing black to show she’s serious. Then she walked to the stage followed by people for no reason. The curtain dropped to show a choir made up of people who couldn’t make it onto American Idol or Glee. Then she danced at the end like a spastic 19 year old white girl followed by a stupid stage dive. I will say Taylor actually sounded good tonight, very good. The song wasn’t very good though, but she sang the heck out of it.

Then, an Oompa Loompa came out and introduced the new artist nominees. I didn’t know Willy Wonka knew country music. Wait, that’s that chick from that dancing show with too much tanner? Nevermind. Glorianna was great. Their harmonies are great. Luke Bryan was good as well. Joey & Rory should win for using the term “white trash”, for him wearing overalls, and for having a great kiss off song. And the winner is Luke Bryan.
Lady Antebellum is now performing “American Honey”. If it wasn’t about a woman, it could be my song. I love it, I love them. They have had some pop crossover success, but can still keep country roots, unlike some.

Then Rascall Flatts had to perform. I’ve been over them for years now. Their lead singer is too full of himself and their songs have been horrid. That stupid summer song last year was a low point. The way he sang the word “sexy” in that summer song gave me the creeps. And tonight, as that genius Randy Jackson would say, they were pitchy dawg. I mean he was really off and really bad.

Miranda Lambert won Album of the Year. Glad Carrie didn’t win, she annoys me. She was shocked, she was planning to look ticked off again losing to Lady Antebellum. But those producers need to let people talk a little bit before cutting them off. They don’t have that many awards, give people their say, DANG IT!

Jason Aldean was OK singing Crazy Town, but to me, nothing special. Good, solid, etc., but I don’t think I’ll remember it tomorrow. Miranda Lambert went soft and slow tonight instead of fierce and angry. “The House That Built Me” was achingly beautiful and sad. Great job. LeAnn Rimes still looks squinty and creepy. She wins the Home Depot Humanitarian award last year, then proceeds to leave her husband for another woman’s husband. Not very humanitarian if you ask me. Heck, I haven’t liked her for a while. Plus, she was ticked Trisha Yearwood beat her out for awards for “How Do I Live”. LeAnn, it’s not Trisha’s fault that your version sucked. This “Barbie Doll” is kinda dumb. Dierks Bentley, how’d you get dragged into this? Oh look, dancing sluts on stage. You can tell this show is in Vegas.

Carrie is singing that sappy song Temporary Home. As usual, she has parts where she oversings, even though the arrangement is simply and beautiful. Pull back some or you’ll get to the point where you shout on every song like Martina. The flower petal rainshower at the end, ugh. But I don’t like flowers. But that being said, she seems like a sweet girl. On to the final hour!

ACM Awards - Hour 1

2010-04-18T21:00:00.002-04:00

Miranda Lambert & Carrie started with CCR’s “Travelin’ Band” joined by Brad Paisley on some KICK BUTT guitar. Miranda can do good attitude. Carrie just looks like she’s playing slutty dress up and has painted on attitude. She always dresses like a slut though. John Fogerty which was cool, but you couldn’t understand a word he was saying and he looks like he went to Bruce Jenner’s plastic surgeon. When Charlie Daniels came out playing the fiddle though, I thought it was just a big long Geico commercial.

I love Reba hosting the show. She got off a good Tiger Woods/Jesse James joke. She’s sassy and gave a “Bless her heart”. Can’t beat that! She needs her own show again. What’s up with Nicole Kidman’s forehead? It looks like you could show an IMAX movie on it. She’s in her 40s and her forehead looks like that naturally? I don’t think so.

Why is Cher at the country music awards? She’s CREEPY these days. She better watch out with those cheekbones, she’ll put an eye out. Blake Shelton & Trace Adkins sang “Hillbilly Bone” which wasn’t too bad. Deep down, we all hick! Then Billy Currington sang “That’s Country Boys Roll”. Yeah, I know a lot of guys like that. And then there’s Kenny Chesney. He annoys me. I will not go to see his movie, especially 3D? Seriously, why does a concert movie have to be in 3D?

Song of the Year went to Lady Antebellum for their 1am drunken booty call song “Need You Now”. I was rooting for it or “People Are Crazy”. I didn’t know until a month or so ago her mom was the woman who sang with Reba on the “Does He Love You” song, the one with the video where the boat blew up at the end. I do love Lady Antebellum though, CONGRATS! But that one co-writer looked like he was 12. He wouldn’t know about a drunken booty call at that age. But he thanked his wife and daughter, so I guess he isn’t 12. But seriously dude, look older somehow.

Then Laura Bell Bundy performed. She was on a soap opera and has starred on Broadway. That was a very Broadway production of an unmemorable song. It was too much about dancing and performance. Plus, she isn’t a big enough star to get a full performance on a major awards show. Her record company must have pulled some HUGE strings.

Toby Keith’s tribute to Waymon Tisdale was touching without being sappy. I liked the use of Dave Koz
on the sax too. Glad to see Zac Brown Band out in the Middle East playing for the troops instead of in Vegas.

Single of the year went to Lady Antebellum again. I think it’s gonna be a HUGE night for them. “I Run to You” is still my ringtone. I downloaded their new CD. They are awesome! The song “Hello World” on there is BRILLIANT!

Hour 1 ended with the announcer saying something I’d never thought I’d hear on the ACM Awards “LL Cool J will introduce Taylor Swift”. Seriously LL, CBS is making you do this I know. Say no or tell them “Mama’s gonna knock you OUT!” But I do like Taylor, I want to make that known. It’s just that when I hear Taylor Swift, LL doesn’t automatically come to mind.

Just a hometown boy, born a rolling stone

2010-04-14T22:29:00.003-04:00

Well, it's been a week and a half since I put thoughts to blog, but is anything really going on or worth writing? I'm just as busy at work as ever. I NEED a vacation. I mean, it's becoming a necessity. At least I'm not at the point where every little thing is annoying, but then again, that could be fun. I've never been a ticking time bomb, that'd be fun to try. God help Beaver Dam Road and New Freedom, PA!!

I did make it home and I got to spend time with family and friends. I got to see church friends, hang out with some friends I don't get to see enough of, ate supper with my parents and my aunts, and took mama out for her birthday. Yeah, nothing funny happened. Just saw folks. What, you were expecting humor? Funny stories? Goofiness? What, I can't just go visit folks in a normal non-funny fashion. I'm human dang it! Wow, I do need a vacation haha. But no, it was normal. Food, food, bowling, Yogurt Mountain (which I wasn't all that impressed with. It's way too overpriced. I don't care how many flavors and toppings they have. I saw boys fix theirs and have to pay 8 bucks. You have to be flipping kidding me. For that price, that cup best be dipped in gold, or crude oil). Went to Red Lobster for the first time in a long time. It was ok, but the little hostess/manager chick came over telling us we were lucky enough to participate in a survey and we could bring in the receipt for a discount. Oh GOODY! First off, you have a nasal annoying voice. Second, don't come barging in on our family meal to give us some stupid dog & pony show about that stupid survey. Third, on our way out, she puts her hand on my aunt's back in the way you'd help an old lady across the street and said "You are going to fill out that survey ok?" I was waiting for Sandra to turn around, cuss at her, then slap her. I would have smiled.

This week hasn't started off well. Monday I had a hideous bad headache. I didn't feel like cooking so I had something called "broasted" chicken. It's just fried chicken, but it was pretty dang good! Tuesday, I lost my billfold at work. Then I found out my employees didn't really know the word "billfold". Is it really that southern? Well, that meant I couldn't go to the grocery store to buy stuff so I'm glad I had stuff at the apartment. Oh, I had a pig out session when I got home. I was tired & frustrated. Tonight, since I'd already eaten bad and missed the gym this week, I said forget it and got a $10 pizza from Pizza Hut after choir. Yeah, I think I need to hit the gym again. If I don't, at the rate I'm going, I should be beach ready by 2037.

Other than that, things are ok. Celebs are still annoying me. Tiger Woods, Jesse James, all their sluts and the lawyers representing those sluts just need to shut up and leave the public eye. Kate Gosselin, nobody cares anymore. You are now Stepford Wife creepy. American Idol, except for Crystal and sometimes Lee, this season pretty much sucks. Andrew, I'm glad you are gone. Your look scares me and your singing is bad. AI has really gone down this year. That's sad. At least some shows are good. The Good Wife is AWESOME. Glee came back strong too.

OK, yeah, I need a life. I need friends up here. That's what going home helped me realized. All of my friends are online. haha. Thank goodness for Facebook. LOL, it is weird how many people mentioned my Facebook when they saw me. Is that good or bad? Well, anyway, I'll try to find some friends and some activities soon. But first, I really need a vacation. A beach, a tan. AAAAH! Oh, and politicians, y'all can join Tiger, Jesse, Gloria Allred, etc and get the heck out too. I'm glad I don't live in Alabama, there are some real wackos running for office this year on both side. Good grief! OK, will that do for now? Want more, just ask, give a topic even :-)

Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days...

2010-04-04T20:18:00.003-04:00

Well, the weather is FINALLY warming up and you know what that means. Uh-huh, POLLEN & ALLERGIES!! But after this winter, I'll take a day full of sneezing instead of shoveling some snow. But now that it's warmer, the apparent spring traditions are coming out. There is a local ice cream store here in Mayberry. I haven't yet gone even though it's within walking distance. But there are reason why. It's only been open a couple of weeks, for the first week I had a bad toothache, then I was out of town, now I'm trying to be a little better and go to the gym.

Yes, you heard me correctly, I had a toothache. Got a root canal. It didn't hurt at all. Shocked me too. I was at work that morning. The most painful part was the bill, thanks to my sad dental insurance. I'm glad my medical insurance is good, because my dental ain't.

But yes, I've joined a gym. I'm even going!! I just finished my final free personal training session. She taught me how to use the machines, gave me some exercises I can do anywhere, so I have a bit of direction. My first week at the gym, I lost 4 pounds. Hopefully I can keep them off. I have more than 4 pounds to lose!

Oh, back to spring traditions, they've been selling stuff on the side of the road recently. The past 2 weekends, someone has been on the side of the road by the interstate selling flowers. Seriously? Besides Jesse James and Tiger Woods, does anyone really have that much of a floral emergency? And, if you need flowers that bad, head to the grocery store, or steal them out of someone's yard like God intended. Someone was also selling OYSTERS on the side of the road. OK, it's bad enough that people sell shrimp a couple of hours inland back in Alabama. At least you cook shrimp. If you aren't right next to the water, why the heck would you buy oysters, especially from THE SIDE OF THE ROAD? Seriously, why don't they call it salmonella on the half shell. Oysters scare me anyway though. They look like phlegm.

On to the serious portion of my blog. It seems like a lot of people are in a state of flux, or change, or hardship, etc. I have a friend right now battling breast cancer (ROCK ON HEATHER!!! You are in my thoughts & prayers), another friend still battling cancer (Keep fighting Susie!!) one friend changing jobs and moving cities (I'm coming down to watch the Braves with ya Brandon!), a beloved pastor leaving his church to move to another one (albeit closer to his grandchildren), people with loved ones dying, others facing illnesses and family issues. These are real issues, these are real problems, real challenges. THIS is real life. Yet, even though those of us in the real world face this, we have politicians being rude to each other while dealing with our nation's issues? They are worse than the characters in "Mean Girls". What's worse, this filters down to the loudmouths on TV and radio which filters to loudmouths in everyday life. Why can't things be discussed in a polite and mature manner? I say if you can't discuss politics politely, you shouldn't discuss them at all and I will head up a council to see if you can keep your voting privilege.

But, back to reality. Talk to your friends, see if they are in need. They may just need you to listen, to say hey, to spend time with them. Treasure your friends. Enjoy the time you spend around people. You never know when you won't get to spend time with them. I'm coming home this week and I have lots of missed time to make up for. That's been the toughest part of this job, leaving my friends. But I still bug you enough through facebook and texts I hope :-D

I hope you had a great Easter (the holiday about Jesus Christ's resurrection, not that commercial for candy that society tells you it is now). I had a nice low key one here, church, home to fix lunch and wash clothes. Now, I'm watching women's basketball GO STANFORD!! And Monday night, even though I picked Duke to win it all and think Coach K is fantastic, I would still love to see Butler win.

Doctor Doctor

2010-03-21T23:14:00.002-04:00

Another week come and gone and what a week it was. You think not much is going on and then you look back on things and realize it all adds up to be, well, not a lot, but at least more than you thought.

I'm finally caught up on Breaking Bad. What a wonderful, tragic, thrilling, disturbing show. Bryan Cranston from Malcolm in the Middle is amazing. It shows how one bad decision, even made for a good reason, can mess up royally in no time. I've spent the last half of this week watching this show, men's basketball (thankfully, no money bet!) and women's basketball (not as successful today as yesterday).

First off, I've been busier at work this week. Hopefully having the full week to deal with it will help out. Plus I need to work ahead because this time next week, I'll be on a work trip. No offense to Raleigh in January or Madison in February, but I think Pensacola in March could be nice. Dang it, it better be nice and sunny! My parents are going to come down to Pensacola for a few days while I'm there. They haven't seen me since Christmas, 3 months. I guess I'm worth missing. haha. Being alone up here is the toughest part of this job. Not easy or cheap to fly home. Would be easier just driving a couple of hours. But that's the life I lead :-)

I'm also trying to take care of my health. As you saw in my last blog, I went to the doctor. He said to lose weight. I'm also still waiting on the blood tests too see how else I'm unhealthy. I finally joined a gym. 3 free trainer sessions, first one Tuesday. So I should be in shape in what, 2-3 weeks? I kid I kid. But it's a smaller gym, which I like and the owner was super nice too. Plus I'm going to the dentist. Wow, when did I become so health conscious? Oh yeah, when ice cream started hurting my tooth. haha. Anyway, my teeth and sinuses gave me heck today. I woke up, had a screaming headache, took something, then went back to sleep for another 3.5-4 hours. Glad I had a bum weekend scheduled.

Speaking of health care, apparently the end of the world has come. A health care bill has passed. We are all now going to have to pay 3-4x what we do now for half the care. Actually, I don't think it will be that bad. I think a change needed to happen. The health care system is not working. Insurance companies don't play fair. If this helps, that can't be a bad thing. But I will be selfish and say I don't want my insurance messed with. I have too much wrong with me. Nobody has told me that it would be affected. By the way, this isn't socialism. Capitalism isn't going anywhere in this country and it never will. Do I like the way the bill seemed to bully its way into being? No. I think it should have been a bit more gradual, roll it out, take some time. Am I upset that there is a change to health care that will help more people? Not at all. If I didn't have good health care, my life would be a lot different. I couldn't afford all my trips to the doctor (right now, every 3 months), I couldn't have afforded the light treatments for my psoriasis, and I surely wouldn't be able to afford my arthritis medicine that has made a miraculous difference in my life. If this bill helps others like me live a more normal life, then I as a human, as a Christian, can't deny them that. The government already help us out in many other aspects of our lives: roads, Social Security, defense, education. I know some want less government, but right now, I don't trust insurance companies to help out on this.

Oh, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_health_care

OK, that's enough politics for a while. Let's be happy and get along.

You Cut Me Open and I, Keep Bleeding...

2010-03-16T00:12:00.003-04:00

Well, the snow is gone, well, pretty much. It's staying above freezing and rain has come through to wash the rest away. I'm so happy. Spring better be here for good. I'm sick of snow, in case y'all haven't heard. But I'm glad it's still cool enough to wear long sleeves. After having to be stuck twice for bloodwork, my arms now look like Courtney Love's arms so I need the sleeves to hide em.

Not much going on besides work and watching TV. Sometimes DVDs (Up in the Air, Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire, and A Perfect Getaway), sometimes TV shows (Law & Order, Parenthood, Community, The Good Wife), sometimes sports (MARCH MADNESS BABY!!). Yeah, I'm just that pathetic. I have no life and am just a big fat slob haha, which leads me to my next paragraph...

OK, once again a doctor, not my arthritis doc, tells me I need to exercise and lose weight. But he actually told me why, suggested I join a gym, etc, instead of making me feel like a big fat pig for no reason. So I probably will break down and join a gym this week or next. Hopefully one that's a bit smaller and not as crowded. Beach season comes around soon and I don't want some well meaning animal activist trying to set me back out to see to be with my pod. I just need motivation. Since pretty much none of y'all live here, it'll need to be done online. Can you be a good online encourager for me in my exercise/weight loss? If so, I'll keep you more updated on my progress if you hold me accountable. I'll even tell you my weight and give weigh ins! But if I tell you my weight, you can't tell it. If you do, I will turn evil and tell some secret or something bad about you, EVEN IF I HAVE TO LIE!!!! So if you wanna help, let me know, seriously :-)

Other than the weight, I seem to be in pretty good health for someone overweight with arthritis and sometimes low iron. WooHoo!! I'll take that victory!

In sad news, I know of 3 people recently who passed away. A lady at church with 2 young sons, the mother of a friend/former co-worker, and a girl I went to elementary school with. Life is short! Spend it loving & enjoying each other. It makes me appreciate my friends, all of them, all different, and all wonderful. Thanks y'all!!

It's a Beautiful Day, Don't Let It Get Away

2010-03-06T23:28:00.002-05:00

Well, today, I went out to see Alice in Wonderland in IMAX (although it wasn't TRUE IMAX. It was just a tall screen, not like in Huntsville where the screen takes up your whole field of vision. But I digress). It was supposed to be a nice sunny clear day. I went down to the harbor and the day was perfect. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature was nice (not too cold), almost no snow/ice/slush left on the ground, and the sky was the perfect shade of blue. I walked around for a bit, ate, went to the movie. It was a good movie. I enjoyed it, although some parts did drag, overall I would recommend it, except for very small children. Some parts may be scary, but no kids cried in my showing, that's good. The girl playing Alice looked like Mischa Barton, except she can actually act. Did you see Mischa on SVU the other night? Wow, she was bad. Heck, that show's becoming bad. I remember when it was good. I think it's time for them to hang up their handcuffs. Johnny Depp wasn't bad as the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter was hilarious as the Red Queen.

Back home in Alabama, things are flipping crazy with this gambling stuff. Governor Riley is dead set against any gambling of any kind in the state. Several of the gaming establishments have closed under threat of prohibition style raids. This is costing the state revenue and puts many out of work. Now Jesse Jackson decided to come down to march in protest of this, on the anniversary of the Selma march. OK, I'm fine the gaming establishments in the state (shocking & sinful, I know) because of jobs & revenue lost to other states and the state can regulate it. And I'm fine with people wanting to protect those jobs, but...(this will get its own paragraph).

Anytime Jesse Jackson gets the urge to go somewhere to support something or someone, I wish he'd think differently or someone would take away his car keys or airplane ticket or something. He's got all the wrong kind of baggage. Plus, in the many years that Greene County has had financial & employment woes, where was Jesse? Why wasn't he there to ask the state to help provide jobs in the area? Why Jesse? Why only now when it's all about the "bingo"? He was probably out getting his staffers pregnant.

Larry Langford got 15 years in prison. Oy vey!

Finally, a blogger for the American Family Association blogged about the whale who killed the trainer at Sea World in Florida. He said following the ancient civil code of Israel, the whale should have been killed, more correctly stoned, back in 1991 when he first killed a worker, and not only the animal but the owner as well, as put forth in Leviticus. Wow, really? It'd be interesting to see his life and see if he's fully following the Mosaic law. But anyway, the animal was doing what was in his nature. He is a wild animal forced to live & perform and we get upset with the whale for living its nature? For the love of all people, get a grip. I know friends of mine are fans of the AFA, eh, they aren't my favorites.

Anyway, that's my griping for the week. Yeah, I really need a vacation. Maybe I will just go and crash on someone's couch sometime for a few days and just sleep. I've just been tired. Oh well, such is life.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

2010-02-28T21:49:00.003-05:00

Be thankful, I have a few things to gripe about. Not a complete gripe session though, thankfully.

#1. My neighbors are loud. I live in an apartment on the 2nd floor of one side of a duplex. I have neighbors below me and neighbors next to me. Intermittently they are loud, thankfully it isn't a constant loud. Sometimes I hear loud bass coming from downstairs or next door. Sometimes I hear doors closing, sometimes I hear people next door trampling upstairs sounding like the buffalo stampede from Dances With Wolves. Ugh, it wasn't this loud when I visited. Hopefully it'll get better. I guess my last place just spoiled me. Plus, I don't want to move again lol. At least the snow is starting to melt so I can get my parking spot back.

#2. "The Crazies" was such a dumb movie. At least parts of it were laughably dumb. Some parts were just dumb dumb. At least thanks to my rewards card, I got a free movie ticket out of it.

#3. Politicians, y'all are just plum crazy and need to get busy actually doing something productive, or get the heck out. DC, good grief, y'all are about as productive and well behaved as a room full of sick toddlers who skipped nap time. Can't you get along and get anything done? Here's a hint, blaming the other side for the lack of progress isn't helping either.

#4. Montgomery, AL. I like Bob Riley, I voted for Bob Riley. But this vendetta against the bingo halls & casinos is getting out of hand & ridiculous. If Troy King doesn't even have your back, move on. If the state were to take over, they could regulate them, tax them, MAKE MONEY OFF OF THEM! Preventing them from operating won't prevent people from going. Also, Sunday liquor sales is coming around again. I'm a Southern Baptist, born and raised. I'm a SB because of their views on the Bible, the local church autonomy, the emphasis on missions. But, as it took me a while to learn, not everyone is Baptist and not everyone thinks the same way we do. Many other CHRISTIAN denominations have no problem with drinking alcohol. Let me tell ya, that kinda shocked me. I don't see why people can't just drink a Coke everyday, apparently many other denominations don't think you'll go to Hell for having wine on a Sunday. Once again, might as well make some money off the drunks ;-) Mainly, I'm trying to say, you can't legislate and force your view of morality on people. You can make your point known and let it be known in a kinda & compassionate way why you believe that way. But these are grown ups who can make their own decisions. Let them.

#5. Wow, I got political there. That's rare. Anyway, I'm ready for winter to be over and done with. Snow has gone from sublime, to ridiculous, to utterly asinine. I keep begging my boss to move our office down to Tampa, but I don't see it happening haha. I can't take another snowstorm. I'd move to Hawaii, but Saturday taught us that may not be too safe. OK, griping done.

CONGRATS TO THE BAMA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM!! They ended their regular season with a win on the road. Great job ladies!

Good thing, a friend of mine was on her way to Chile late Friday/early Saturday. I wake up Saturday morning, turn on the news, hear about the earthquake. I get on FB, seeing posts about her needing to be heard from. Then I connected the dots. Her family hadn't heard from her since the earthquake. Prayers went up. Turns out, although she felt shaking on the bus, she was safe & sound. Praise God.

OK, that's enough for now. Have a good week and don't hate me for my views if you disagree. They are just opinions. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is also entitled to be wrong. This may be your chance. hahaha

I Scream at the top of my lungs WHAT'S GOING ON!

2010-02-22T21:57:00.002-05:00

Well, another pretty uneventful week in the life of Eddie. I traveled for work, I came back to a traffic jam of mythic proportions. That makes me glad I moved to where I did. Baltimore drivers are nutty nutty people. It took me over 2 hours to get home from the airport. Yeah, Homie don't play that. I'm not sure if it was road work or snow removal or idiots behind the wheel. At least I had gone to eat before I ventured out onto that asphalt abyss. Eating out, that's the best part of my market trips. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking, but not cleaning, and I've been super lazy lately.

At least I got a decent report from my arthritis doc today. He gave me a new anti-inflammatory because, well, I've been achy lately. No biggie, I have arthritis, I'm bound to hurt. The side effects may include drowsiness and/or dizziness. Well, I only take it morning & evening so if it makes me drowsy in the morning, I can sleep it off at work before I drive home. I'm still TONS better than I used to be. I don't even want to imagine having to shovel if my pain was still very bad. I'd have to pay someone or move. Disposable apartments, that could be fun. It'd keep me from fighting the urge to tell either my downstairs or next door neighbors to stop stomping around & closing so many doors. The things I miss about my old place: thicker walls, dishwasher, lack of shoveling. The things I don't: nosy neighbor, no private laundry, smaller tub.

Tiger Woods finally made a statement last week. Who cares. What he did is between him & his family. Does he really need to tell everyone he is sorry? C'mon after the 3rd mistress spoke out, we knew how sorry you really were you jerk. Plus, now these women are wanting apologies from him for lies they were told by him. ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME?!?!?! I'd like to introduce these women to something called REALITY. He was cheating on his wife with you and you knew it. Now you are shocked he was lying to you. I didn't think people could be that clueless. One woman was upset when she found out that he was cheating on his wife with someone other than her. Gain some self respect, get a clue, push Gloria Allred out of the way and move on with your life. I don't feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for the wife who was lied to and has watched as her life and family crumble in front of the prying media. She deserves pity and an apology, not people who knew it was wrong to begin with. It reminds me of those people who want to sue fast food places because they got fat eating there.

Finally, I've been watching The Olympics. They are entertaining enough and only slightly disturbing. Goodness, some weird outfits. I haven't seen that much Spandex seen I last went to the People of Wal Mart website. Then there was the US guy for bobsledding. Yikes! There is also all the figure skating with their bizarre costumes. The halfpipe skiers are wearing flannel hoodies and baggy jeans. But the most bizarre ones are the aerial skiers tonight. They have stars all over them. They look like footie pajamas a 4 year old would wear. I can't tell if they are being coached or if they are having their coach read them Goodnight Moon. Ice Dancing is on tonight. It's ok, but all those earnest facial expressions creep me out. Plus, pairs skating is cooler because the guys throw the women into jumps and lifts like they are rag dolls. Still, I hope the Russians lose. I'm just mean like that. In men's skating, I'm glad the Russian lost because he seems mean, cocky, self absorbed, and looks like a criminal on SVU.

Well, that's it for now, probably for February. Can't believe it's almost over. My sister had a birthday. Bama women's basketball had a close loss to UT and a big road win ROLL TIDE!! Plus I made it through 2 blizzards and a trip to Wisconsin. That's why I need a vacation to either San Diego or Tampa. Hopefully I'll decide soon!!

I Don't Wanna Be a Pharisee

2010-02-15T00:17:00.003-05:00

Hello faithful readers. I come to you tonight from lovely Madison, WI. Doggoneit, it's been quite a long week for me. Last week when I wrote, I was digging out from a big snow storm, the biggest snow storm in Baltimore's history actually. Then, another storm had the AUDACITY to come through and dump another 2 feet of snow on the city. HOW DARE IT? The snow is taunting me. It knows I don't like it and therefore keeps coming around, like that one acquaintance you tolerate but really don't want around because they annoy you yet they keep showing up wherever you are. Well, due to the fact that my job doesn't stop just because it snows (and 7 of my 8 markets weren't snowed it) and there was too much work for me to do to try to work remotely, I stayed at a hotel during the storm. I then walked to work, where I was the only person there because the building had shut down. Yes, I'm just that dang dedicated. It was peaceful though Wednesday & Thursday. But my staff was still working from home remotely. They are awesome! But I was happy for Friday when things were back to normal, everyone was back at work, my car was unstuck, and I could eat something besides canned food! But then I worked late Friday, and Saturday, I had to shovel a heckuva lotta snow. I'm still achy. I'm fat, out of shape, and arthritic. I really should see if I can get a doctor's note and have insurance pay for someone else to shovel the snow. I'll check on that at my doctor's appointment next week (I will actually ask about my ankle though. Say a little prayer. My ankle has really been hurting for close to a month now. That can't be good)

But now I'm in Madison for work. Shoveled snow & washed clothes Saturday so I could pack and come here and help out our station here like I did in Raleigh. More cold & snow. Times like this I hate the north hahaha. Thankfully I love my job, too bad we aren't in Florida. Thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes I can handle. But my trip here was pretty uneventful (besides the girl behind me who seemed to have to hit my seat too often. I should have just leaned back in the seat), except I couldn't get the car charger on my GPS to work in my rental car. I should have gone back and asked the guy at the counter about it, but he was VERY blond and blue eyed. I think he was a grown up version of the kids in the movie "The Children of the Damned". Since I had no clue where I was going, that could be dangerous! So I tried on my iPhone. That worked, except instead of left & right, it uses east & west! Seriously? What, left & right too difficult? Turn east on X Road and bear south. NEWSFLASH: I WASN'T A BOY SCOUT! Give me left & right and I'm good. Also, I don't deal in miles as much as I deal in minutes. I live about 20-25 minutes from work, not miles. I did finally find where I needed to go after not too very long. Bad thing about Milwaukee, when I merged onto the interstate toward Madison, part of it was a steep curve. Those scare me to death! Hated that. So are large sporting arenas, it's the heights fear. Passed Miller Park in the dark, freaked again. Yup, I'm weird like that.

But I made it here to my hotel, which unlike the last 2 places, has WIFI and not just a wired high speed internet. Now I can sit on (sink into) the bed and not be tethered to the wall. I got drinks for the week, then to Denny's for hamburger steak with brown gravy, always a favorite of mine. I should have gotten a dessert. They had a brownie a la mode cheesecake. Cheesecake with nuts, hot fudge, brownie pieces, and topped with chocolate ice cream. ICE CREAM & CHEESECAKE? So gross I bet it's awesome, like those KFC bowls were!

I've watched some of the Olympics. Opening ceremonies had some good moments (the visuals of the whales & prairies, the use of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" which is one of my favorite songs ever) and some bad (the Nelly Furtado/Bryan Adams duet was PAINFUL!). Apolo Ohno is much less cocky & annoying now which is good. The death of the luger was tragic. Watched the finals of luge, and in a purely superficial moment, I asked myself "What's with the cowbells?" Sounds like a bunch of MSU rednecks drove up to Vancouver from Starkville.

Church today was very good. The preacher spoke about the verses in Luke where Jesus compared the prayer of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Tax collector were thought of in very low terms in those days. Pharisees thought highly of themselves. The Pharisee prayed to make a spectacle of himself and show just how "holy" he was. The tax collector prayed to ask forgiveness and humble himself because of how sinful he was. Are you praying to be seen by others or be heard by Him? There's your Sunday sermon.

Snow Falling Down Around You Like a Silent Prayer

2010-02-07T23:43:00.006-05:00

Well, it's been quite a weekend here. First off, in case you haven't figured it out, I'm not a fan of snow. Snow deserves a Facebook dislike button. Snow ranks right up there with Jennifer Aniston, Nickelback, Mustard, Miley Cyrus, and pickles. In case you don't know me, or can't figure this out, I don't like those things. I don't care if you are a fan of any of those I listed, I'm not, it's my blog :-) First off, we were trying to get ahead at work because of the impending snow storm (one blogger for the Baltimore Sun called it the White Death. Yeah, not classy at all). I let all my stations know that we wanted to work ahead, we'd still get everything done and done correctly, just a bit faster than normal. I have 8 markets in 7 states and one department I have to deal with that's in one of those states. 99.9% of them were great about helping us get ahead. Then, there was 1 person. Because of this ONE PERSON and them not letting me, my boss, or their boss know how behind they were, I got out of the city JUST in time to avoid big travel problems. 3 words "they a heifer!" I did slide one time on my first attempt into the parking lot, but then was fine. So I slept late Saturday & Sunday (church was canceled), watched movies, watched TV, shoveled. Yes, I shoveled. A neighbor has a snow blower so that helped a lot. I shoveled the porch Saturday and ATTEMPTED to dig out my car. That was because some "genius" came through with a tractor and screwed up the traction royally. I got stuck about 3 times today. I finally got my car back in the original parking spot. I'm hitching a ride to work tomorrow with my boss, well, me & my sausage rolls are (sorry Union Chapel peeps!)

In happier news, the Alabama women's basketball team got a hard fought win today against Auburn. ROLL TIDE!! WTG Tierney Jenkins with a double double. I miss going to the games. I did it for I think a little over 10 years, once I finally started watching basketball again. That was thanks to Jeremy Hays. What are he & Dina up to these days?

WHO DAT!! The Saints won the Super Bowl, GEAUX SAINTS! They'd never won or even been to the Super Bowl before and they beat one of the best QBs the game has ever seen (yes, I'm a Bama fan and giving praise to a former UT player. What can I say, he's good). I skipped the halftime show. Not a fan of The Who. I don't hate them, but never got into them. But would it kill the NFL to have more than one act, or do more than classic rock? Just saying. The commercials this year weren't all that great. Not many were memorable either. Most were predictable or rip offs or played on dumb stereotypes. Beer drinkers will do anything for beer, guys are stupid, a little kid in a commercial will be funny and act unlike a little kid, animals will do weird things animals can't do and be human like. I liked the Coke ads best, as well as the ones with the Griswolds. The e*Trade spots still creep me out, Megan Fox looks like an evil cyborg bent on destroying earth, Tim Tebow's head is shaped like a potato, and Charles Barkley proves you don't have to lose weight while eating Taco Bell.

It Happens!

2010-02-03T22:31:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been sappy & sentimental and happy tree-hugging and all loving lately. There is a time and place for that, and I always will have that as a part of me. But sometimes, life happens and I just have to talk about it. Ain't y'all happy 'bout DAT!

#1, I hate snow. I'm sick of it. Snow affects everything you do up here. I'm sick of walking on it, driving on it, shoveling it, people driving like fools in it, brushing it off my car, etc. In theory and on vacation, snow is good. It's beautiful and peaceful and very scenic and can be fun. But in life, you have to deal with the messiness of it, and how it affects & messes up your everyday life. In other words, it's like falling in love on vacation. It sounds wonderful & romantic and the movies make it seem great, but in real life, it leaves your life messy, cold, & complicated. I'll take a thunderstorm, thank you.

Today at work was nutty. (very short work rant, but relates to snow). Apparently, when anyone asks, I have to immediately drop everything and put all my focus on you. Today, I was working to get a little ahead because of the possibility of a few feet of snow this Friday. I told folks that working ahead was my #1 priority. Apparently, that was an open invitation to be needy. I need to start making everyone take a number. NOW SERVING #12!

Wal-Mart, 2 days before a snow storm and at 8pm, decided that only 6 checkers were needed to handle all the volume. SERIOUSLY?!?! Yeah, that's good planning. Those poor checkers.

But last night, I did find one of the best worst shows EVER. It's called "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant!" WOW!!!! The stories themselves are entertainingly bad enough. Ladies, mothers, can you really not know you are pregnant? Aren't there some things that happen, or don't happen? Then one day, you have some back or stomach pain, you end up in the bathroom, or at the emergency room and 2 hours later it's "OH MY WORD I JUST HAD A BABY!" It just boggles my mind, especially when these ladies recount it very matter of factly. "Yeah, I was in pain, got on the floor and that's when I realized my water broke. Well, let me get my 10 old to call 911 and then let me traumatize him for life." But then, there are the re-enactments. The acting is so bad, it makes Avatar look like Hamlet. If you like bad TV, you have to watch this. I think it's on Discovery Health. Discovery, TLC, all those channels have weird programming now. I think they were supposed to be educational at some time in the past. Now, The Learning Channel has the Toddlers & Tiara show, or as I like to call it, the beginning of the end times.

Finally, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. I remember growing up loving this food. But now, I realize you have to eat that junk when it is first made. Once air hits, it begins to devolve into some substance that no longer resembles cheese and only by the slightest margin resembles macaroni. What is in it that makes it turn into this yellow gluey mess? Ugh!

Hope you are hungry, ENJOY!!

Grammy Blog - #3 the last one

2010-01-31T23:29:00.000-05:00

Bon Jovi is performing now. Apparently they now want to sound country. His voice has lowered over the years. This is quickly turning into the Jennifer Nettles show. She looks more & more like Kirsten Dunst too. The fan voting thing for the last song was just asinine though.

Seeing Mos’ Def & Placido Domingo together is a bit jarring. But heck, they may hang and brunch together for all I know. I don’t know how famous works. Don’t they all know each other? Run This Town, cool song, wins. It would have been hilarious for I’m On a Boat to win though. I wonder how many people were hoping Kanye was there to accept the award to see if Taylor would go up there and say Lonely Island & T-Pain should have won lol. Yeah, old joke, but I had to say it.

Apparently Rascal Flatts is on CSI this Thursday. Maybe they can kill the pretentiousness and ego from lead singer Gary “LeVox”. It’s not his given last name. He changed it because it’s Latin for “the voice”. Plus all their songs are getting dumb. I used to like them.

Time to have the tribute to Haiti. Andrea Boccelli & Mary J. Blige singing one of my all time favorite songs “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. It is odd hearing it sung as opera though. Mary J. is working it though. What’s with the pathetic arm waving in the audience though? That looks ridiculous.

I’m liking the DMB performance. I have the Grammy Nominees CD and this song is on there. It’s catchy with some good lyrics. I really loved his dorky dancing too. Haha

Where has Ricky Martin been? He really disappeared after he shook his bon-bon. But Beyonce’ made history just now by winning her 6th Grammy in one night. No woman has ever won that many in one night. But what is with her dress? It looks like she has football pads underneath it. The Pro Bowl is on ESPN, not CBS.

They paced out the show badly. They could have sprinkled in a few more awards instead of some of these performers. Plus, why didn’t Kings of Leon perform? It’s been forever since they handed out an award. Maxwell performed with Roberta Flack, nice but a little snoozy for late in the show. Then a cool Les Paul tribute but without huge names. Now Drake is performing with Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Travis Barker, so that’s kinda cool I guess. I think they only have Album of the Year left to give out. Finally the last award. Is Lady GaGa wearing shingles? Anyway, Tay Tay won. Sorry Pendergrass. Life is rough. Snowed in and Tay Tay won.

OK it was a decent awards show. Lady Antebellum was awesome, Beyonce was great, Lady GaGa was good, P!nk was interesting. But it felt like an hour between awards. C’mon, I know performances are important, but trot out some hardware too. We want to see how people get ticked off when they lose. I live for that. Plus, LET KINGS OF LEON PERFORM NEXT TIME!!

Grammy Blog - #2

2010-01-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

Grammy Blog 2

Lady Antebellum!! I love them. This is a great song, even if it about a drunken late night booty call. I do wish they would have sung “I Run to You”. Trivia, the piano player (the non lead guy) in Lady A is the brother in law of Katherine Heigl. Great performance!

Stephen Colbert is always funny. Loved him earlier and winning and getting his daughter’s coolness approval.

Big awards are coming early. Record of the year goes to Kings of Leon for one of my favorite songs of this past year. At least they admitted they were drunk instead of having people speculate it. But they cut them off too soon. Stupid Grammy producers.

Jamie Foxx just needs a little self confidence I think haha. He is having fun. I think he was even doing the Running Man or Roger Rabbit too. Plus, SLASH was there. Gotta love him and that wild mess of hair. With all the vocal effects going on, I could barely understand what was being sung, but it looked entertaining.

Zac Brown Band is AWESOME! But I wish they had gotten to do a full song, even if Leon Russell was awesome.

Taylor & Stevie were good. Taylor is never going to have the strongest voice. That’s a given. But her songs are well written & well produced. Taylor & Stevie had good harmony on Rhiannon. I LOVED the rearrangement of You Belong With Me sounded kinda 60s Beatles/Pet Sounds Beach Boys-ish. Very entertaining.

Michael tribute in 3D. Thankfully, I had glasses left from my 3D version of Polar Express. But the 3D didn’t add much really. Carrie Underwood was bouncing up & down a lot at times. She looked like a 4 year old that had to pee. She danced MAD white. She made Celine look hip. Michael Jackson’s daughter looks like Abigail Breslin. But the performance was pretty good. Liked that they had Michael singing with them. Carrie sounded a little pitchy dawg. She annoys me, but she usually annoys me on pitch.

Grammy Blog - #1

2010-01-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

I’m an entertainment nerd as you know. And since I have no use for the Pro Bowl, I’m watching & blogging about the Grammys.

The opening number was Lady GaGa and Elton John. I actually liked it. I think I haven’t liked GaGa because of Perez Hilton. He’s a waste. But her performance with Elton John was good. I didn’t get the grease smudged face & dressing like a Lucky Charms marshmallow, but it was good.

Single Ladies is song of the year? Um, ok. Fun record, and everyone has some jacked up version of the video on YouTube, but song of the year? Really?

Green Day & the Broadway cast of American Idiot. I may have to see this in NYC. I’m kinda digging this. Rock music fits well in a broadway setting because of the soaring anthem vibe to the songs.

Aww, Taylor is always humble & appreciative. That’s good.Is Beyonce singing with extras from Starship Troopers? I love how she went more rock than dance. That was great. I’ve seen the clips of her doing You Oughta Know, and she tears into it.

P!nk was way too subdued and the music overpowered her. Glad she took off the shroud Princess Leia used to record the message to Obi Wan. Then, bandages and bodysuits and air dancing, oh my! It looked artistic and beautiful though.

Miranda Lambert looked odd. Yea to Zac Brown Band!!! I want my chicken fried and my toes in the water. I love the CMA Awards. ZBB lost best new artist there (to Darius Rucker) but won it at the Grammys. Haha. GO ZBB!!

Miley, just go away. At least you aren’t singing. But I think still you can’t help but look & sound dumb. BEP, you have some catchy songs. This isn’t one of them. What’s with the mask? Beware, the Phantom of the Grammys? Now with I Got a Feelin’, are they performing with Transformers? Did Fergie get Josh to steal a few? I wonder what Jay-Z thinks. His song was Death of Auto Tune, and will.I.am uses it too much. Will better hide haha.

MORE TO COME LATER!!!

No We'll Never Know What Might Have Been

2010-01-29T23:59:00.002-05:00

If only I had done this. If only I had chosen that. What if I had decided this. What if I had decided that. If I avoided this. etc. etc.

Some people seem to live in the past. They live wondering what their life would have been like IF ONLY such & such hadn't happened. I admit that I have done that at times. But the key words, AT TIMES. I can't live in the past.

But why do so many people live in the past? It can't be changed. The past is done, finished. The past has passed (forgive the cliche). The past is a great learning tool. Learn where you came from, learn from your mistakes, failures, and successes. But unless you have modified a DeLorean DMC-12 into a time machine, with a plutonium-fueled nuclear reactor generating the required 1.21 gigawatts of power that propels you into time travel at 88mph thanks to the flux capacitor, then you ain't gonna change the past.

But why would you? If I look back on my life and look at the choices I made, they may not be the most exciting life, but it has it's good moments. But what if we hadn't chose the church we did back in 1989? There are a lot of people that have come through my life that I wouldn't know. May not have gone to the BCM in college. Which means I wouldn't have gone on summer missions and never would have gone to Ulysses, KS or to Savannah, GA. And if Benny Russell wasn't my church choir director, I may not have known I could sing. Then I wouldn't have led music and there goes Union Chapel for me. OK, I don't like that simulation.

What if I had stuck with one of my 2 other majors? What if I hadn't gone into television? I wouldn't have lived a dream and be involved in a television newscast (yes, that was a dream of mine. In the gifted program as an elementary schooler, I once did my own newscast). Also, a whole slew of people would remain unmet to me. I still keep up with people I worked with 10 years ago. We grew to be a tight knit group. I wouldn't have moved on to Birmingham to work, and gain experience, and work with another great group of friends. Then I wouldn't have gone back to Tuscaloosa to gain more experience, this time in radio, which then would lead to a management position back at my old job, which led to me moving to Baltimore to spread my wings and grow and learn and do even more. Me, LIKE A BOSS (with apologies to Andy Samberg & Lonely Island). Even after several years, it feels odd to say I am a boss and I have employees. But none of this would have happened if I had stayed in business (either accounting or marketing, more than likely accounting) or psychology. Yes, I was a psych major. That's why I give advice and try to fix y'all. I think it's better that I didn't become a professional in that. As an amateur advice giver, I can't be sued for malpractice, right?

Anyway, my point, and I do have one, is that all our decisions have a ripple effect in our lives. The people we've met and the experiences we've had along the way are worth it all. They make us who we are. I know that my friends and my job and experiences have made me the man I am today, well, that and ice cream (and probably a good dose of fried chicken too) have shaped me. But the ice cream has shaped me into round. Though my life is pretty low-key & unexciting most of the time, I wouldn't trade it at all.

Thank You for Being a Friend

2010-01-26T22:38:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, I look at my list of Facebook friends to see just how many people I actually know. It turns out, dern near all! I can't believe I know that many people. I guess over 34 1/2 years, you meet a couple of folks. I love how people know me at different stages in my life and see different sides of me. Some, mainly family, have seen me the whole time. Some knew me when I was younger, but we lost touch between graduation & facebook. Some have known me since I was about 14. Some met me in my mid 20s, late 20s, some even met me in my 30s!! I'm thankful for each and every one of my friends. At one time or another I know we have laughed together. With me, laughter is a given. With some of you I have shared, I have listened, I have worried, I have prayed, I have cared.

I'm so thankful to have so many people in my life that I can turn to in a crisis, if needed. I have friends I can laugh or goof around with. I have friends I can hang out with, sing old songs with, talk about movies with. I've had friends I have listened to in good times, bad times, break ups, marriages, babies, love, death, rehab, job loss, job gain. Thank you for letting me into your lives.

If you are/have been my friend, I look forward to keeping our relationship going, even if it is only over the interwebs. If we haven't talked in a while, drop me a line, even if just to say hey. If we still don't know each other all that well, get to know me. I'm really very nice & fun & funny & charming & smart & loyal. Wow, I sound like a cross between a game show host and a Labrador Retriever. Anyway, I'm polite & good folk.

And if you need a friend, I would like to think you can count on me. Right now, my favorite song is "I Run to You" by Lady Antebellum. It's about 2 people in love, but I like to think it can be about friends and how you need someone you can depend on. I don't know how people go through life alone. We aren't built that way. I can be VERY introverted, but I still like to have contact with folks and I like it when people depend on me. Run to your friends, the song says it all: I Run to You video

LYRICS:
I run from hate
I run from prejudice
I run from pessimists
But I run too late

I run my life
Or is it running me?
Run from my past
I run too fast
Or too slow it seems

[Bridge]
When lies become the truth
That's when I run to you

[Chorus]
This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you
I run to you, Baby

When it all starts coming undone
Baby, you're the only one I run to
I run to you

We run on fumes
Your life and mine
Like the sands of time
Slippin' right on through

[Bridge]
Our love's the only truth
That's why I run to you

[Chorus]
This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you
I run to you, Baby

When it all starts coming undone
Baby, you're the only one I run to
I run to you

Oh oh, oh I run to you

[Chorus]
This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you
I run to you, Baby

When it all starts coming undone
Baby, you're the only one I run to
I run to you, I run to you
Yeah

Oh oh, oh I run to you
I'll run to you girl
Oh Oh

I always run to you
Run to you
Run to

I Love a Rainy Night

2010-01-25T00:52:00.002-05:00

As I grew older, I gained an appreciation, respect, and ultimately a love of thunderstorms. But my first love has always been the rain. It is a wonderful & fantastic treat for all your senses. I love the SOUND of the rain. The staccato rhythms of the droplets as they hit the roof or fall on the streets are a welcoming lullaby at night. If you get the chance to be a passenger in a car on a rainy night, it's the best sleep ever! I like the TASTE of the rain when it falls innocently on your lips. Hopefully you aren't getting the polluted rain, but I still like to think of rain as water falling pure from the heavens. I love the SIGHT of rain too. Daytime I actually like the overcast dreary look the rain gives off. Mostly it's because I imagine myself curled up in bed watching a good movie or reading a book. At night, though, the rain gives the landscape a slick look. I love the way the street lights reflect off the rain drenched streets like a mirror. The SMELL after a rainfall is also one of my favorites. I especially love it in the summer when it enhances the smell of the grass and plants and flowers, although I really don't like the smell of most flowers, after a rain, I can tolerate it. I love how rain seems to wash the streets clean, even if for just a few moments. And finally, I love the FEEL of the rain. When I was a little kid, going out and playing in the rain was so much fun for me. I loved going out with an umbrella, or sometimes not and playing around in it. I loved getting wet then coming in and getting in dry clothes. That made me feel so warm & safe & cozy. Too bad we can't do that these days. If we go out on our lunch break to play in the rain, we have to sit around wet for the next 4-5 hours. Not as fun. But it's still fun to get a tiny bit wet on a rainy day. It's not gonna hurt ya ;-)

So yes, I am up VERY late. We don't get enough rain up here, mainly snow yuck. But the wind is blowing too. That's as close as I'll get to a thunderstorm for quite some time. I just want to lie in my bed and take in all the sensory overload this will provide. Next time it rains, think of the good parts of it and enjoy it :-)

My Blog-Mindless Weekend Edition

2010-01-23T22:58:00.002-05:00

Good evening my loyal followers. Oh, goodness, that makes me sound like a benevolent dictator for life. A statue dedicated to me and being elected with no need to campaign. Nah, I don't lead through fear at work. I can't. We have a Human Resources department that frowns on things like that.

OK, so I caught up on 2 big Oscar movies, Inglorious Bs and The Hurt Locker. Both were good, but The Hurt Locker was better. 2 different cinematic views on the horrors of war and how it affects both the soldiers and victims.

After the movies I had Domino's delivered for supper. Domino's has changed their pizza recipe and I decided to try it. Not because I wanted something as unhealthy as pizza and wings, NO! I had to test this for you, my readers. It was for your betterment. What if Domino's was lying and the new pizza wasn't better. I'm looking out for you! It was pretty good. I liked the sauce & crust. I'm still not a fan of their cheese, but it isn't bad. The crust is very good. Their buffalo wings aren't bad. No, they didn't change them, but I had to taste them to complete the test of the 3 major pizza chains wings. In pizza & wings, Papa John's is the best. But there isn't one as close. Pizza Hut is, but they come in last. Their new wings though are a marked improvement. Overall though, nothing beats Hungry Howie's pizza & wings, especially if you get the pizza with a butter cheese crust!

After the pizza, I furthered my movie nerdness and watched the Screen Actor's Guild awards. Sandra Bullock seems to be coming on strong as an Oscar contender for The Blind Side. It's between her & Meryl Streep. Sandra was great in TBS, and she perfectly captured that character. I've seen many southern women like her, she was pitch perfect. I want Meryl Streep to win though. She was amazing in Julie & Julia. She became Julia Child and made her much more than a cartoon. But who would have thought after Speed 2, Miss Congeniality 2, and this year's All About Steve, that Sandra Bullock would have a shot at an Oscar.

Tomorrow, after church, I am bringing myself farther into the tech world. Yes, I'm getting an iPhone. It's upgrade day for me and I'm going to take the plunge. The Droid is taking over my office, but I will do the iPhone, but one big reason is they aren't on AT&T and I'm not on Verizon. I may need help in learning how to use the dang thing though. I'll let you know. I may also get a blu-ray player if I find one I like and want. I know, all this technology it's scary. You see, I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and was later thawed by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! (RIP Phil Hartman)

I want to host The Soup on E! if Joel McHale ever gets too famous to host it. I was watching the clips of Heidi Montag, aka that blonde plastic skank from that MTV show I don't watch (like there is an MTV show I do watch) talking about all her plastic surgery. She's only 23 so that makes perfect sense. She doesn't even look human. Her chest is currently a DDD, which is an F. She wants to end up a size H for Heidi. Seriously? She's disturbed. Then she had the NERVE to say "Beauty is on the inside." She had a brow lift at 23. Your skin is in great shape at that age. What is she doing to herself? Also, nothing is wrong with imperfections. Our uniqueness is what sets us apart and makes us special. Also, who wants to look like they are auditioning for the role of the human and plastic lead in a remake of the 80s cheese classic Mannequin. People should just stop reporting on this heifer and her goings on.

And for my vacation this year, should I go to NYC or LA? I loved NYC last year and would love to go back and see more of it. It's only a few hours by train and I have a hotel where I could get a very good rate. But LA is LA! I've never been to Cali. I'm sure it'd be fun though. Or maybe someplace warm and southern. Who knows. The world is at my beckon call. It's good to be benevolent dictator for life!

Because I knew you, I have been changed for good...

2010-01-23T00:14:00.002-05:00

OK, I went to the movies tonight. I went to see The Lovely Bones because I wanted something light and humorous and I thought a movie about the love story between a paleontologist and a reporter from National Geographic would be light breezy fun. Apparently, I need to open a magazine or turn on a TV every once in a while. Apparently it's about a dead girl. Actually, I knoew what it was about going into it. But the way some of these little 14 year old girls were laughing and carrying on, you'd think it was another dumb Jennifer Aniston movie (but to me, dumb Jennifer Aniston movie is redundant). Parents, teach your kids some respect when they go to the movies. Other people are there to actually watch the movie and not chat, text, and giggle with my friends. OMG do that at home while watching Twilight for the 4,077th time you brats!

In happier news, another work week come & gone and I made it through in surprisingly good fashion. Things have actually been going really well. My staff has hit a good stride and they are pleasant to work with. Is it cynical or fatalistic of me to think something has got to be wrong or will go wrong? Eh, forget it, I'm gonna enjoy the ride as long as I can. Plus, I'm going to get an iPhone on Sunday. That should be good, everyone seems to like it. What about a blu-ray player? Who has one of those?

For the serious part of my show tonight, I'm wondering about the impact we have. Do you ever wonder the impression you leave on people? I partly thought of this because people say I can be very positive on the phone & in person. I try to be. This is partly because that may be their only contact with me and I want to leave a good impression. Also, a kind word and pleasantness (without crossing over to perkiness) can pay dividends in the future as well. Plus, charming yankees with a southern accent never hurts. Hey, play to your strengths!

But in all seriousness, do you ever wonder what impression you have left on people? My hope is that I meet someone and leave them with a positive impression of me. I want people to be glad they met me. For friends, co-workers, people I know for a while, I hope that I leave your life a little bit better for knowing me. Isn't that what we are supposed to do? Shouldn't we as humans want this in life? When I'm gone (not meaning death, but even just moving away) will people be glad they knew me? Will I change things for the better? Will I give positive memories? Will I give good advice? Will I help people? We should want to. Always leave things better than you found them.

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the Right. Here I am...

2010-01-20T22:17:00.000-05:00

OK, I hate politics. It's right up there with shoe shopping for me. I hate politics because people can't have civil political discussions. People on the right think people on the left are crazy. People on the left think people on the right are cold & heartless. What about those of us in the middle? Where do we fit in the political vortex? We are derided for having no opinion. But you know what, I do have opinions, and they don't always agree with the left nor the right. Sometimes, I split my ticket when voting. Scandal, I know. To me, what happened in Massachusetts is neither the dawn of a new revolution nor is it the end of the world as we know it. I feel fine. But on a side note, if a Democrat can't get elected to the Senate in Massachusetts, then they are either lazy or a moron, or a bit of both. Wow, she must feel like a huge loser.

We spend too much time griping about how people are different than us. Instead, shouldn't we see how we can work together for a common purpose? Are we really that afraid of differences? Are we afraid we'll catch their cooties? Grow up! If we can't have a discussion with another person about a subject without wanting to physically harm them, then we need to learn some maturity. For the love of all! Wow, see what politics does to me? I become so unfunny. But seriously, if you can't have a political discussion and still be civil, don't bring up the topic around me. I'm likely to move on (not .org haha). I want what is best for my country and the people in it. I'm and independent fence rider and dang proud of it!

OK, random thing. Dreams are just weird. It's amazing how our dreams work. Last night, I had a dream I was donating bone marrow or something. They had to put a needle in my hips or something. I woke up and I had arthritis pain in my hips. OK, arthritis is bad enough in my waking hours. Can't I get a reprieve in my sleep from it? Oh well, it's been much worse than this so I guess I can cope.

Well, that wasn't humorous at all huh? I guess I've just been in too good of a mood lately. I don't know why. I don't care why, I'm just enjoying the ride. My employees have been better than I could have ever asked for. I got to travel for work and maybe help folks. My family still worries & cares about me. I get to have amazing conversations with my Facebook friends. Throw in some cake & ice cream and this fat kid is happy. It doesn't take much does it. Live life & enjoy it. Life's too short to be miserable. Enjoy the good times & learn from the bad times.

Spreading Sunshine (yeah, not as cutesy as it sounds)

2010-01-19T21:39:00.002-05:00

“One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger” - Japanese proverb

Monday didn't suck! I don't know why I'm starting with that, but I just wanted to put that out in the universe. Who knew it could happen, but it did. I had a good day at work AND I found new shoes that fit and that I like and that weren't expensive. I don't ask for much. I enjoy the simple things in life. Oh, and ice cream. I REALLY enjoy ice cream. Hopefully I'm not addicted to it. At least I'm not addicted to what Tiger Woods is addicted to. I don't know why, but I find it funny there is a rehab facility for that, and funnier that it's in Hattiesburg, MS for some reason.

Sunday, I enjoyed the return of Jack Bauer on 24 and I watched the Golden Globes. I'm a big entertainment junkie. I work in TV, I go to the movies most every week, I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly for the love of all. Plus I have seen or soon will see most all of the big contenders. I'm really wanting to see "The Hurt Locker" but it has such a long wait on Netflix, I may have to see it On Demand. Yeah, I'm a movie nerd, and you can combine that with my other nerdy tendencies (just finished a book by my favorite author and savored it), I don't care.

But the theme of my life recently has been "spreading sunshine". Yes, that sounds so cloyingly sweet and overbearing. Normally, I'm sure it is. But let me clarify, I'm not a perky person. I hope I'm not at least. Perky works for some, but not for me. But in my job, I have to be positive and reassuring and, most of all, encouraging. THAT is something I'm apparently good at. And you know what, I like that. I'm sure I'm better at encouraging others than I am at encouraging myself. I think that's because I'm a fixer. If I see someone having problems or feeling down or unsure, I want to jump in and fix that. That's why I was in North Carolina last week, fixing not only the situation, but trying to fix their belief that things can work. If we go in with a defeated attitude, we aren't going to succeed.

Plus you never know where you get to spread sunshine. I've spread it to a department at work that has made things tough for us the past couple of weeks, and gave them an encouraging word. People appreciate that. Today at Wendy's it was something as simple as having my order ready and giving it clearly to the cashier. WOW, seriously? People still can't go to a fast food restaurant and order without becoming as confused as Paris Hilton at a calculus test? The options aren't that vast America. At most places you have the choice of burger, chicken, or sald. Or with me, burger or chicken (see, I've simplified things by ignoring whatever that salad nonsense is). Yet you stand there mouth agape and glassy eyed. You are the type to ask if the hotel you are staying at for a conference will provide soap (don't laugh, that happened. No, I'm not kidding).

Also, smile at people. That is one thing that infuriates me about the north (besides the winter. Ah, to live in Florida would be nice. Oh to dream), people won't smile at you. I don't care, I smile at them anyway. So spread sunshine wherever you go. As they always say, You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. But the truly genius among us know you catch the most flies with manure. Spread it all around! And be nice to everyone & respect everyone, no matter how different they are from ya :-)

Talking to Myself, and Feeling Old

2010-01-17T23:56:00.002-05:00

Well, another weekend has ended for us and a new week begins. Unless, of course, you are off work for Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I am not. Oh well, such is life.

I made it back from my trip tired, but satisfied with the work I did. Hopefully it turns out for the best. I put on my best positive attitude and laid out what I thought would help them out. Only time can tell. A great part of the trip was the weather on Friday. It was around 60 degrees. Awesome!! But on my way to the airport, apparently someone did something bad because I think half of the police force in Raleigh zoomed past. I saw them assembling behind earlier in my drive, then came the convoy. I was just glad they weren't headed towards the airport. No, I wouldn't allow that to happen. I'll hurt a fool my dang self before they mess with my airport security. I'll sit on someone. But my 1 hour flight was fine. That is such a short flight. Very bizarre.

I'm still not quite done with my book "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler. But I am more than halfway through. Wow, I resemble Ezra Tull in that book. Not completely, but wow, that's me.

Then I got back here and Saturday was a very nice day. It was sunny & in the 50s. I actually got out and about just a little bit. I went to eat at Mason Dixon Family Restaurant which serves portions that are way to big, but tastes pretty good and decent prices. I got chopped steak with gravy, so you know I was content. Then there was the dessert. OK, I got the dessert at TGIFriday's that seemed like it'd be awesome, but was just good. This dessert is probably served just past the pearly gates.

Today, it was raining on my way to church. I know it's a law you have to have your headlights on in the rain. Can we make it a law that if someone doesn't, you can throw stuff at them? On a foggy misty morning you don't think it's necessary to turn on headlights so others can see you? Safety isn't necessary? Seriously? Ugh. Church was good. It's what got me thinking about my pity party status on FB today. It's true. If you throw a pity party, you invite everyone you know, but nobody wants to go. If I want to get involved in drama, wait, I DON'T want to get involved in drama. There is a difference between leaning on friends for support in troubled times and always being "Woe Is Me!" Why is it some folks aren't content unless everyone around is just as miserable as them.

Then after church I claim temporary insanity because I went shoe shopping. If it wasn't necessary, I wouldn't have gone. Ya see, my feet are big and flat, VERY flat. I mean, you'd almost expect me to say AFLAC in Gilbert Gottfried's voice. Apparently, most of the country has normal sized feet. Not me. So it takes me twice as long to find shoes because I'm picky and they don't fit. Macy's was a no, Rockport started off helpful then he got perturbed a bit when I asked if they had anything "sturdier". Kiss off old man. Then I made the mistake of this place called Nordstrom's. Downstairs was clearance/outlet type merchandise that was crowded and a mess. And all mediums. Then, I went upstairs. It's a whole different world up that escalator (I hate escalators, that's another blog). This should tell you all you need to know about this pretentious monument to honky excess: THEY HAD A PIANO PLAYER! What the WHAT! There he was, and he was playing Tiny Dancer which made it surreal. Went to the shoe department. The clearance rack had stuff I didn't like. Then the regular shoes, most didn't have prices. That's never a good sign. Those that DID have prices, I wished they weren't on there. I'm not paying over $200 for a pair of shoes. Seriously? No! Then I looked down and noticed my boots were coming apart. BOOO!!! I think I'm just gonna ask if I can wear house shoes or injure my feet so I can wear some. That'd work.

At least the rain washed away all the road salt. But if it rains tomorrow (Monday), I'll have to get off my Everclear greatest hits kick and get back on Karen Carpenter. I'm not sure which is more depressing.

I Thank the Lord for the Night Time

2010-01-15T23:57:00.003-05:00

OK, I'm thinking Neil Diamond was correct in thanking the Lord for the night time. I've always been a night owl. I like staying up late. Heck, I was even born at 3:30pm. I'm guessing it was so I could stay up later and enjoy the late evening. Do I do anything exciting in the evening? No, I'm boring. But I still like it when the night comes.

When I was little, I thought all the cool shows came on late. When your bedtime is 830pm, your world view is quite limited. I loved Fridays when I could stay up late and legally watch the late news, reruns of Benson, MASH, Barney Miller, maybe even Johnny Carson (Jay Leno, you are still a jerk). Sometimes I'd stay up and read books, listen to music in my bed (or Channel 6 on the radio), read Trivial Pursuit cards, etc. I've been a nerd for a LONG time.

These days though, I like the night for other reasons. For one thing, sunsets. My love for sunsets has been there for a while. The colors that are in the sky during a sunset are amazing. A sunset after a storm, though, is absolutely breathtaking. Plus, it calms me. If I'm lucky enough to be out when a sunset occurs, I know it's a great bookend to the day, a coda. My rough day is over and the stress and the panic and the frantic mad dash are over for about 12 hours or so.

I also love the peacefulness of the night. At home, I always liked it when everyone was asleep. I can be alone with my thoughts. Maybe read, watch some stupid show on E! or HGTV. I actually like just lying in bed, in the peace and quiet in the dark. Alone with my thoughts, looking for clarity, I lie there staring into the dark wondering what's coming up next.

Finally, to show I'm not completely boring, I do love the excitement that the night brings. Well, at least the look of the excitements. I love how cities are lit up in the dark. Whenever I fly, I love getting a window seat for the view anyway. But at night, that view takes on a new dimension and new meaning. I love watching as the dark night is pierced by all of those lights below. The cities look full of promise and activity. I peer out the small window on the world and see thousands of stars in amber and cool blue. To me, it's as if the universe was turned upside down and I'm looking down at the stars. (A starry night is another beautiful thing, especially at the beach. I could write another full blog on that). My favorite big city light show though was Times Square, NYC. I had seen it in tv shows & movies for years. Last year, I finally went. I'm sure I must have looked like Jethro Bodine or Gomer Pyle (dumb hick in the big city) but I didn't care. All 5 of my senses seemed to have a reaction to everything that was going on. It was midnight on a Saturday. The place was packed, signs and advertisements lit the area like a man made sun. I was overwhelmed at seeing that dream come true of visiting NYC. I had to take a video of me doing a 360 in Times Square and trying to soak everything in.

Hopefully this explains why I'm usually up late chatting, writing, reading, etc. I just love the night. It has so much to offer (especially a rainy night, Eddie Rabbit was spot on!). Maybe one day, I'll be brave enough to do more than just observe.

We Can Be Heroes, Just for One Day!

2010-01-14T20:58:00.002-05:00

Well, I'll start with the frivilous and silly before I give you the more serious & substantial part of today's blog. Kinda like cheese sticks before the grilled chicken.

OK, the hotel room is pretty nice. But there is something about the bed. I wish hotels would warn you before you lie down that the beds are that TempurPedic stuff. Don't get me wrong, they are nice, but if you are expecting a bit of a bounce, and you just sort of sink in, your body goes into a little bit of shock. I did have a good night's sleep though. Another positive, the sink and mirror are completely separate from the shower. I don't know what cruel sadist thought you needed some big huge mirror facing the shower so you could see yourself getting out of the shower, but I hope there is some sort of punishment, cuz that just ain't right.

For a bit of marinara sauce with the cheese sticks. Conan O'Brien, who is getting royally hosed by NBC, really gave it to Jay Leno last night in his monologue. Conan was telling the audience how he tells kids to believe in themselves. Their dreams can come true, unless Jay Leno wants those dreams too. haha. TEAM CONAN!

On to the meat of today's blog, heroism. With the catastrophe in Haiti, I'm sure stories of heroics will emerge, which is good. People acting selflessly for others, doing the right thing, and not caring about the why or how, that's a hero. But what makes a hero or role model? And this is where I slam some athletes. It's been said over & over, by "experts" and by athletes, how athletes shouldn't be role models for kids, their parents should, teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc. I completely agree with that. But guess what, they are looked up to by kids. They want to be the superstar. They want to sink the winning shot, hit the game winner homer in the bottom of the 9th, sink a long putt to win the Master's. They look up to you athletes and you screw it up with sheer stupidity. Gilbert Arenas, seriously, you brought a gun to the locker room? What are you, 12? Who knew a grown man could be that dumb, DON'T ANSWER THAT. Mark McGwire, you are now asking people to feel sorry for you after you admitted you used steroid during your most productive major league years. You are such a jerk. Roger Maris is now a pretty much forgotten because you and exploding cranium Barry Bonds smashed his record. Why should anyone feel bad for a cheater? You symbolize so much of what was wrong with baseball back in the late 90s & early 2000s. You are a jerk and I hope your number of Hall of Fame votes goes down every year. Tiger Woods, you've acted like scum. You had a beautiful wife & children. You had a sparkling reputation and more endorsements than you knew what to do with. You gave it up to be with any woman with a pulse apparently. Now the world thinks you are on a level with Jon Gosselin. Was it worth it. If you didn't love your wife, why did you marry her, or why did you stay with her? Not fair to her or your children. You are a male skank and you deserve all that you get or lose. Athletes, I know you don't wanna be a role model, but you are. You can be a hero, you don't have to do big things. It's the little things that make you a hero. Helping someone in the time of need, listening to them, going the extra mile, encouraging them, being a friend. Simple things make you a hero & a role model. Follow it, dang it!

OK, time to step off the soap box. We had an appetizer and main dish. What's for dessert? Oh yeah, it's the Cadbury Creme Egg I bought at Kroger tonight. Oh yeah, sugar rush!!

The Long & Winding Road

2010-01-13T21:38:00.002-05:00

OK, first off, 445am is early, DANG early. But, I didn't mind. It's a good tired. I was able to help, I'm in a hotel room, and I can expense meals. To me, that is a success! I'm now exhausted (in a good way) and the kind of full where you just want to waddle to a soft spot and lay around like 3rd base. I had mozzarella sticks, steak with loaded mashed potatoes, and brownie obsession from TGIFriday's. I don't do it often. I pig out, it's just usually on junk food. As for real food, not so much on the pig out. For a fat kid, I'm quite a picky eater. Ironic, ain't it.

Ooh, some woman today deserved to be called a heifer. She was tailgating someone for close to a mile when she could have easily gotten into another lane and passed the car. Stupid entitled heifer! The road belongs to more than you!

OK, Lane Kiffin, what an idiot. Fans of other SEC schools knew very early on (day 1) that this guy was full of empty promises and no substance wrapped up in a shiny package, like rice cakes. He picked fights because he didn't have the talent to back it up. Plus, c'mon, he never looked like he wanted to stay there. He commits NCAA violations and claimed ignorance. No school with a halfway decent athletics department allows that (well, except any that hire Kelvin Sampson). Then he leaves and the Vols riot. Haha, that's hilarious. Mainly because I remember the Vol reaction when Dennis "Moobies" Franchione left after the threat of sanctions and did it late in the recruiting season and Bama had to search high and low for the right coach and save the recruiting classes. UT better hope some former player with a modicum of coaching experience and a famous dad needs a job.

Speaking of football, yes the National Championship trophy was on display in WalMart. Even people in Alabama thought it was a bit much. But it was a corporate deal with Dr. Pepper & WalMart, it wasn't a reflection on my beloved home state. I mean, most of the folks on http://www.peopleofwalmart.com aren't even in Alabama. Seriously, do you think people in Alabama would have WalMart as the BCS Trophy store of choice? Heck no! It'd be at the Bass Pro Shop instead.

I missed The Middle, only saw half of Modern Family, but watched Cougar Town. I love that show. This weekend, I'm gonna take it easy & relax (shocking I know) and watch DVDs of some of my favorite films of 2009: I Love You Man, Paranormal Activity, District 9, and (500) Days of Summer.

OK, that's all for now. Comment or email please :-)

Hey Hey Hey! That's What I Say!

2010-01-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

OK, I've been asked to blog, because apparently, a status update isn't enough. I don't know what all I'll write about, but whatever crosses my mind, good or bad or positive or negative. Right now, I'm sitting here in my recliner doing what I do best, watching TV and mocking things mercilessly. I say go with your strengths. I'm also doing laundry since I have to leave on a work trip tomorrow. It's my first work trip outside of Birmingham. I feel like such a grown up. Well, that, and I'm on a medication they advertise on TV with a long list of side effects. That's how I know I've really made it into adulthood, even more than my male pattern baldness.

First off, American Idol is back on TV tonight. I don't usually watch the opening rounds. I can't stand to hear bad singers being ridiculed by judges. Especially when one of those judges is flipping POSH SPICE!! When you are known as the Spice Girl with the worst voice, you really should never judge anyone's singing ability. That should be written in the UN Charter or something. Also, the woman looks like sketches drawn from the recollection of people who were abducted by aliens and asked what the creatures looked like. Add some skin and about 3 pounds of makeup and you have Posh. I was watching for a moment and saw the judges laughing when some untalented man with long hair and bad skin was singing through his nose so badly I wanted to give him nose spray. Show a tad bit of respect to the losers. Even the drunk mess that was a bad singer & judge last year was nicer than that. I'll watch again when the real singers come in.

I'm also watching HGTV which is the main target of my snark. HGTV should really be called PHTV, for Pretentious Honky Television. Watching these people looking for a new house takes entitlement to a whole new level. Even Dallas Cowboys fans don't act this entitled for no reason. Everything is just too small, it doesn't have an open floorplan, no granite countertops, but worst of all NO ROOM FOR ENTERTAINING! For shame, why don't they just condemn the house and take a wrecking ball to it. What kind of entertaining do these people do? Most of the time, they are having people over to watch football and eat burgers. That doesn't take 5,000 square feet. Up your price range (not price point, stop saying that) or lower your standards, or build your own house. Next, why does a family of 2 need a 3 car garage? Plus, some of these men on there need to assert themselves. These are the most beaten down & whipped men I've seen. Do you even have an opinion on the place you will live? Marriage is a compromise, I thought. Finally, going to the local farmers market and being able to chop vegetables does not make you a chef.

Well, I have to sleep soon. I have to wake up early to fly down to Raleigh. Did you know 4:45 comes in an AM version? WOW, you learn something new every day. Any ideas for the next blog?