Check your bloggage...

Was thinking this morning that - this week - the midweek "hump" for me is not Wednesday...it's Friday. That will be the busy day, as we get ready for the battle of the bands. WOOHOO! It should be fun, though, if not a little scary at the same time. I just hope everyone who comes has a good time and one or two of the dingleberries that I've dealt with in the bands work well with us and with the other bands. Musicians...we're the toughest people in the world to deal with...

Paid off a substantial amount of debt yesterday. A BIG WOOHOO! Some of our payments will now be cut in half! It's great to see some things start to get more manageable. Also, we should be getting our security deposit and pet deposit back from the house we rented in Dunbarton (at least, I can't think of a reason why we shouldn't get it back). That'll be like $1200 we can use on whatever...debt, moving furniture from Atlanta to here...we'll just have to see.

Band practice was productive last night...amidst the random burps and kids' roaming around. There are some things we need to work on to improve our stage presence, and it may mean more work, but the irony of the "more work" thing is that it means on Sunday we can have more fun doing what we're doing...worshipping. There will always be technical issues and missed notes, but the more we can reduce those, the better an experience Sunday morning will be. Also, a good worshipful and servant mindset begun during the week and carried into Sunday can give us a kind of implicit "stage energy" - because we've been connecting with God and his mission for us all week! Heck, such a mindset can help us defeat discouragement that arises because of inevitable missed notes and tech issues.

Afterwards, we went to Applebee's. Another good time all around. "CBS's" for all the guys (LOL). Good service, too. Came home afterwards and went almost straight to sleep. I was pretty tired.

Today I'm going to pick up "Call of Duty" if it's already made it to the local EBgames. WOOHOO! That game should be incredible...the demos were amazing.

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Jonathan, no more dream stories...I don't want to hear about your dreams...I'm disturbed, now." "My BFOH was stuck in the BFOT and my BSOR crashed right after my BHOFFORTDO locked up, so I fixed it with a screwdriver"...ROFL. "Ewww...Jordan, you didn't bring any food up with that burp, did you?" "Ben 2003 edition takes up more 'hard disk space' than Ben 2001 edition. I blame metabolism." "It's easier to convert people to Christ than to get them to watch the Simpsons." "You're starting to get into politics? That's...er...um...cool."

Ne-blog-udnazzer

We've been sinking our teeth into Daniel this morning (through e-mail and even our blogs)...It's such an interesting book seeing how much God is interested not so much in Daniel but the people around Daniel...how he extends so much grace to people like Nebuchadnezzar and his descendants. It's also interesting to think about how WE in our lives can be like Daniel...connecting with our culture in influential ways. Knowing when to encourage and when to challenge...

Stacey's off today, so we're heading out to fight Wal-mart crowds to get some grocery shopping done. Maybe after that we can get some more unpacking done...

I hear J-mo and Kyle had a good time at G3 seeing Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Yngwie Malmsteem play...though, J-mo said Yngwie was a goob. Note to old hair bands: "The long hair-open chest-leather pants look no longer works when you've gained 200 pounds." Well, I take that back...it doesn't work for skinny people anymore, either.

Guadelajara was fun last night. It started with just Stacey, Dana, Kailyn, and myself, then grew into a sizeable gathering as Dave, Jack, Eric, Wendy, their kids, Allison, and Jeremy showed up. I like Monday nights...kind of like salvaging some of the "free-spiritedness" of the weekend and shoving it in at the beginning of your work week.

Anyway, stuff to do...

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Kevin, where did you learn your Bible?" "Yngwie is a goob." "I looked for the girl in leather pants, but she wasn't here" "J-mo, that was over a year ago."
"
KEY PHRASE FOR DAVE: "w00t. woot woot woot woot woot woot woot woot... Get your woot on. Woot's wrong with the word woot? It's just nerd for "dude." Like, "dude, where's my car." Instead it's, "woot, where's my PC?"

Er...maybe not... Now that I think about it, I'd rather say "dude."

DUDE!

The Sound of Silence...

It seems like several of us have lagged in our blog updates. Oh, well...if we're not blogging, maybe we're doing something productive instead.

Church went great yesterday. All the music seemed to go fine, especially Amber's song...WOW! I look forward to her singing with us again. Jordan did a great job, too...especially considering it was her first time singing with us in front of a whole crowd...

Yesterday afternoon, I spent some time napping, then Dave came over and we watched the video of the service and evaluated how well we think it went. Man, I hate watching myself on video. It was good to see some things we've improved at and to take notes on things we could do better.

Last night, J-mo came by and played some PC games. Spent some time on Battlefield 1942. Desert Combat was wacky with the new NVIDIA drivers. Eric was right...they plain out STINK! Hopefully, they will correct whatever's wrong with them quickly, so Medal of Honor and Desert Combat can actually be playable again...

Not much going on this morning. I pray Donny does get his liver transplant AND that everything goes well after that. I fear the alternative...well, because there is no alternative...it just has to be done.

Anyway, everyone's busy today, I guess. J-mo and Kyle are on the way to G3 in Nashville. Dave sounds like he's got another busy day going on. Oh, well...Monday is Monday.

Peace...

KEY PHRASES OF THE WEEKEND: "Am I a nuisance always asking to come play games on your PC?" (wes): "Blah blah blah...great church this morning...blah blah blah for the rest of the day." ROFL!

All in the name of Jesus...

I spent a good part of yesterday working on a video for church Sunday, compiling a lot of images of celebrities, heroes, leaders, etc. Dave decides we need pictures of supermodels in the video, so I'm using Google's image search to look for supermodels. So that means I - all at Dave's request - spent some time browsing images of supermodels like Claudia Schiffer where over half of them are definitely images we couldn't use at church as they gave glory to certain full-exposed feminine "features." Then again, maybe if I did use some of those we'd have people breaking down the doors to come to church... Well, I did it all for God...all for God... (God, please don't strike me down...)

The closer Sunday comes the more nervous I'm getting about it...a lot of new things happening...a 3 Doors Down song, a song Amber's singing, etc., worship songs that Eric doesn't like the bass lines to, lots of technical things happening... "God, please be with us tomorrow - and today as we finalize our preparation for tomorrow."

I also slept through the men's breakfast today. Wow, how the heck did that happen? I don't even remember my alarm clock going off. I get a good breakfast once a month or so and I missed it...dang it. Note to self: Must get better sleep.

Well, lots to do...

KEY PHRASES OF FRIDAY: "Yes, yes, I'll do it for God." "I'm convinced that guy is an idiot." "Hey, guess where I am?" "Applebees?" "How'd you guess?"

Rerun and dog-runs...

I just read that Fred "Rerun" Berry of "What's Happening" died yesterday at only 52 years old (stroke-related). That's sad to me. Maybe it's sad because he was on an episode of "I Love the 70s" recently, and I got filled with nostalgia (even though I only saw "What's Happening" as reruns in the 80s. Maybe it's sad because I'm old enough to know who he is... Was interesting reading about his life and what he did AFTER "What's Happening?" Basically..he did nothing, got into a little drugs, had a short career re-boost with "What's Happening NOW?", then he got out of drugs and actually became a minister at a church right around here in Madison, Alabama.

But if you don't know who I'm talking about...then all this banter means zilch...

Got up on a normal schedule this morning. I like not sleeping late and feeling like I've just wasted a bit of my life away...

I'm glad to see Wes joined the "productivity-sucking-activity" called blogging. And he vows not to get "personal." But isn't saying that you're not going to get "personal" actually a way of being "personal?" ;-)

KEY DIALOGUE OF THE MORNING: (6:00 a.m.) "Stupid dog's barking." "What dog?" "Our dog." (pause, followed by my knocking on the window trying to get my dog to shut up). "Quit knocking on the window." "But the stupid dog..." (annoyed, she says:) "Stop knocking on the window." (annoyed, I reply) "Then YOU get up and make the dog stop barking." (another pause, as she's obviously already asleep again). "Okay, I'LL get up and make the dog stop barking." (insert grunts/creaking bones as I get out of bed, dress, and stumble outside)..."Sheesh it's cold out here." (I open the gate, let the dog out to put her in the garage...then I "joyfully" get to chase her around the yard). "Come her you stupid dog." (finally drag the dog inside, put her in the garage, and go back to bed). "Hey, get off my side of the bed." (she moans and moves over). "What were you doing?" "Stopping the dog from barking." "Whose dog?"

(sigh)

Actually, now that it's later and I'm no longer sleepy...that was pretty funny...

On birthdays, Applebee's, and vocal talent...

What a fascinating day this one's been...

It's had its rough spots. Kailyn fell down the stairs today...OOOPS! She was okay...but like all parents would be, I think we were more rattled by the experience than she was... On top of that, she's got another mild fever again... Oh, well...the wonders of parenthood!

Spent most of today working on music for rehearsal tonight. It's going to be a big Sunday "music-wise," and hopefully in other ways, too...and I cannot wait to see where God's going to take all this...

Rehearsal went well tonight. The worship music was rough, but that's been our pattern lately...rough worship rehearsal, a clean performance on Sunday. We also prepped "Be Like That" for Sunday. The bright note of the rehearsal, though, was having new vocalists sing with us. Jordan sang with us on the worship songs, and WOW...she's already got a great voice that only got better as her confidence emerged in the rehearsal. Also, Amber is singing a special song with us, and we were FLOORED by her talent when she practiced her song. Wow, she can sing!

Afterwards, we ALL went to Applebee's. That was a lot of fun. All the adults and a boatload of kids...6 in all, including newcomers Noah and Abby (Amber's kids).

It's amazing to see the friendships in this group start to really "gel," see new people getting connected, and to see the spark of spiritual "hunger" start to emerge in different people... I hope others see this and that it excites them as much as it excites me.

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Look, there's the "stunt" baby." "Emma, unlike stuffed animals, you can actually break real cats." "But J-mo, you gave me your basket." "Holy smokes, that girl can sing!"

Shamalamadingdong....

Well, up late again... This time fixing YET ANOTHER PC GLITCH. Audio suddenly quit working, so I had to reinstall all my audio drivers. I love Creative labs. Hose monkeys... Actually, someone "unauthorized" used my PC today, and I can't help but wonder..."WHAT DID THIS PERSON DO????"

Spent a lot of today working on music and brainstorming about team development. Went to the church this afternoon to meet one of the guys who's playing in the battle of the bands. Unlike Saturday, he actually showed up this time. Like all our other entrants, he's a "unique" individual...kinda out there, but hopefully will be pretty good... heck, I guess all of us musicians are kinda "out there."

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "She said I was the better-looking of the 2 Asians at Crosspoint." "She's not a hose monkey, she's a hose-chimp." "No one wants an en-kyle-lada from Guadalajara." "The rest of my life...i don't want to be with you" (oh, that one was funny in context - ask J-mo). Stacey, I need 2 things from Wal-mart...paper towels and overnight diapers" (ewwwww...).

I hate when good days come to an end...

Wow...today's been a really good day. Dave's been communicating an awesome experience he's having at Willow Creek in Chicago, and his experience is contagious. Read his blog at http://www.crosspt.cc/dave/blog/ and see what I mean. We've also been engaged in a really cool dialogue about finding passion and purpose in our worship band. No flame wars this time, just "blunt-speak" about our spiritual journeys, our pain, and our hope to find new ways or revitalize old ways to connect with God and serve Him. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to see where God's going with this thing...

Tonight we did our Guadelajara Grill weekly gathering. It was Stacey, Elizabeth, our kids, J-mo, Eric, Wendy, their kids, and the Root. Another fun night watching J-mo and Kyle "oogle" over girls that walk by... On top of this, Eli had lost her voice, and that was pretty funny listening to her repeat things until she was understood...

After Guadelajara, everyone came over here (minus Kyle). Eric and J-mo sampled the Call of Duty demo on my PC, now they're probably at home pre-ordering it from EBgames. Wow, what a game that's going to be! Eric, J-mo, and I also jammed to some Jack Johnson, Godsmack, John Mayer, and even a little old-school Extreme.

I love days like today...lots and lots of fun, and God working in the midst of it. Very cool...

Only thing left to do is send out music for Wednesday rehearsal...

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Stay out of my bonus room." "Rahrunk (insert squeaky sound) to Gwadagghhhalarrraa." (that would be Eli with laryngitis). "Wow, check out that AA fire!"

BEST PHRASE OF THE DAY: "Jesus, wreck my life."

Ahh...the pre-Kailyn hours

Taking advantage of the fact that Kailyn is still sleeping. Been working on setting up the music/instrument aspect of my bonus room...trying to figure out where to hang guitars on the wall, where to put my keyboard, etc...

Pretty cool e-mail dialogue going on this morning about passion and the band, etc. Kinda excited to see where this discussion goes.

Stacey stayed up until 2:00 a.m. cleaning last night. I don't know what got in to her. Usually she goes to bed pretty quickly after Kailyn goes to sleep.

Anyway, work to do...

PHRASES OF THE MORNING: "Stacey, get up." "Stacey, is manic-depression contagious?"

We got crabs...

Today was a pretty good day...

Church this a.m. went ok. Joel couldn't make it at the last minute, and there were some powerpoint issues, but nothing that was all that bad in the long run. I hope the music sounded good. Holy crap, it was hot on stage...I was sweating so bad, it'd run into my eyes and sting like crap. How do you lead others when your freakin' eyeballs are on fire?? Oh, well...it went good. Jack got us out early by about 15 minutes...wait, was I supposed to let people know that?? On a side note, Stacey ran sound this morning (which she used to do at Mountaintop)...she did pretty good, since she hasn't gotten her "feet wet" with mixing in a long time...

After church, Stacey, Kailyn, and I cruised over to Dixie and Andy's for a spaghetti lunch. It was very good. AND it was nice to NOT eat out at a restaurant spending $$ I don't need to spend. Btw...15 month old kids and spaghetti DO NOT mix...she was rubbing spaghetti sauce all on her face and in her hair...ewwwww...

Took a much-needed 2 hour nap this afternoon, then got up and caught up on my e-mail...most of which was from Dave. Man, his trip to Willow is obviously recharging him...he's going to be bouncing off the walls (in a spiritual sense) when he gets home. I want to go to the Arts Conference in June, and as soon as I can research more details about cost, etc., I'm going to mark my calendar and see if I can drag some fellow "artistic" persons along with me...

J-mo came over tonight, and we cooked crab legs. YUM! Kailyn likes crab meat A LOT, so we spent a good amount of time just pulling meet out of the shells for her. I've made seafood lovers out of my whole family now...mission accomplished. Now, if it wasn't so freakin' expensive...

Eric came by during dinner to pick up the power supply to the laptop I traded him... He was talking about how he was driving around different neighborhoods mapping peoples' wireless networks, but that people may wonder why a car is slowly driving through their neighborhood with a dull glow of a laptop monitor eminating from the interior. Wow, what a funny image...imagine getting pulled over for war driving..."well, officer, um...I'm...uh...oh, never mind..." (how would you explain it?)...

Anyway, spent the last hour or so playing Halo on the PC. What a fun game (I am so glad I never bought an Xbox to play it)! My only gripe is that it runs with a pretty pathetic framerate on a couple of levels, which bothers me considering it's a 2 year old xbox game... Oh, well...ports are usually buggy... But it's fun...

PHRASES OF THE DAY: "We've found Crosspoint's most 'eligible' bachelor" (imagine a picture of an asian with a mullet, a wife-beater, and a tatoo that says "mom" (LOL)). [side note: Eric, send that picture to Jeff..he might laugh]. "Lara, I can't read that fast." "Process guide (?)" "If I see a bald man driving slow in my neighborhood in a car with a weird glow, I'm calling the cops...woot!"

It's been a while...

Wow...my blogging has been SLACK! Okay, no more...

Week ended out okay. Thursday we did the band practice routine, then went to Cracker Barrel where we (as usual) laughed and laughed about stupid stuff.

Friday? Friday started as a good day. Took Kailyn to the doc for some fun vaccinations (wow, if you want to hear a child scream, stick a needle in their leg). We tried to go by and see Donny while we were at the hospital, but he was asleep.

We found our missing dog. The animal shelter gave us the phone number of someone who'd found a husky one neighborhood over from ours, and - lucky us - it was ours. Now...how to keep her from getting out again...rocks? electric wire? hmmm...

Stacey went to the "ladies night" out last night, so I got to hang out at home with Kailyn. I know, I know...woot! All in all, pretty boring. Nothing on TV but 80s movies and Star Trek: TNG reruns on Spike TV... So I bailed on TV and went to play Jedi Academy on the PC. That's a pretty good game...lame plot, but an improvement in fighting over Jedi Outcast. Dual lightsabers...force powers...(yes, I'm a geek, so DEAL WITH IT).

Wound up going to bed really late...have a lot to do today for the battle of the bands AND to get ready for church tomorrow morning. On top of this, we still have mucho amounts of unpacking/organizing to do. Soooo...let the FUN begin...

KEY PHRASES OF THE END OF THE WEEK: "Here comes J-grope." "You found her? Do you want her?" "Look, there's Matrix people." "WHO THE FREAK CARES?????" "Get out of bed...it's 11:00 a.m. already."

Riddle me this...

Wow, it's been a long day...

First, I go to let my dogs out and realize that our husky, Schastye, has dug herself out of the fence...don't know when she did it, so she could be anywhere in Decatur by now... Dang it...

Second, Stacey's supposed "bug bite" infection is actually probably a case of shingles. D'OH! So, if you've never had chicken pox, stay away from her.

On the bright side, the Joker (J-mo) got my PC up and running...but he freaks out if you ask him questions like "what was the problem?" or "what did you do?" So what if I want to know what busted so I DON'T always have to rely on others to fix my PC problems...

Well, afterwards, I (the Riddler), the Joker, Stacey and I went out to Applebee's for food and "beverages." WOOT! Shocking, we didn't see Kyle there...but we did hear there had been a brief Kyle "sighting" by the staff. In his blog, Kyle makes it seem like he hung out a while, but Natalie said he was in and out...LOL. Guess Davina wasn't there...WOOT!

KEY PHRASES: "Stacey has what????" "J-mo, I thought you were going to 'fix' my PC...not break it." "Lassie, come home!"

Transylvania 6-5000

Thanks J-mo for tracking down the "Transylvania 6-5000" Bugs Bunny cartoon (wow, that first aired in 1963...oh, well...good humor is timeless, I guess). Since halloween is coming, we need to do something like get a group together and watch old Halloween stuff...WOOT! Bugs Bunny halloween specials, Simpsons' "Treehouse of Terror" episodes, whatever...

Today was a pretty productive day. Got the living room all straightened out, and now I'm working on the bonus room. Stacey's off tomorrow, we have no plans, so maybe we'll both get more done than usual... And my PC's almost completely back up and running (now i'm down to just re-installing everything and "tidying" up the case and the work area).

Anyhoo... we had our weekly gathering at Guadelajara tonight. A fun time again. Eli's mom was back with us this week, as were Matthew and Meredith. To top it off, Eric and Wendy joined us for the fun. Kyle wasn't there, so we guess he was hanging with his 'real' friend(s) at Applebee's...WOOT! Either that or he was swamped with yet another video project. Or...it was simply past his bedtime ;-).

Jalapenos, margaritas, salsa, chips, fajita meat...throw in a sense of humor, and you have a great time! After we ate, we roamed the mall. We visited EB Games, the arcade, and the mens' bathroom at Sears (ironically, I had to spend most of the time there...LOL). I know...TMI... While I was "out of commission," the rest of the group played games in the arcade or roamed various stores. Wow, except for US, the mall is a very dead place on a Monday night...even more depressing than normal.

Also, being a true Simpsons fan, I picked up a used copy of Simpsons: Hit and Run for the Gamecube. Mix Grand Theft Auto III with Springfield, and there you go... (if you don't know what Springfield is, I have seasons 2 and 3 of the Simpsons on DVD should you want to catch up on the incredible humor you've been missing out on).

The latest on Donny was that he was improving a bit in spirits, if not in symptoms (he's still fighting pneumonia). We're still praying that he pulls through all this okay.

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Quick, Elizabeth...we need chlorine." "Jonathan...usually the babies throw up on YOU." "Can you give someone a hickey through a straw?" (Jonathan): "Meredith, I'm macking on your sister." "Better be careful, or we'll be collecting a 'bail-bond' offering at church on Sunday."

Abracapocus

Wow, today was a long..but good...day. Did the church-thing this morning. That was a lot of fun... Music went okay, and even with some people out of town, we had a decent crowd. Only glitch this morning was when Dave fried BOTH portable USB drives we had...well, "he" didn't do it...but we don't know what did... At least we had Powerpoint for worship...

After church, Stacey had to work, but J-mo, Eli, Kailyn, and the "particle beam cannon" (Emma) went to O'Charley's. After a couple of drink mixups, my meal turned out to be good. Chicken fingers with chipotle sauce...mmmm... Another fun (and funny) meal playing a little "curb" racquetball...

After lunch, I met up with Jack, Dave, and Heavy E to mow Donny's lawn, then we mowed the church. Yard work is not NEARLY so bad as it is when it's 100 degrees in the summer. We knocked it out pretty quickly, even with a bunch of wasps harrassing us at Donny's.

After all this, J-mo, Stacey, Kailyn and I went to dinner at New China...where J-mo embarrassed Ivy about her new short haircut when she brought us our food.

Then we went to see Donny, who's taken a turn for the worse today...now he's developed pneumonia on top of having a mild stroke and the whole cirosis thing. So, he's still fighting for his life, it seems. And our prayers will continue...

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Hocus Cadabra." "Bring some Windex and some Brawny." "Hey, give the 'bonus prize' a call." "It wouldn't be church without a technology malfunction..." "Who's your favorite of the 3 stooges? Larry, Mo..or 'Curly?'" "My back itches." "So, shave it."

Don't forget to flush..

I flushed more money away today on my PC...

Jonathan came by this afternoon and installed the new motherboard only to discover that - oops - that wasn't the problem. So, we tried swapping the power supply, and that turned out to be the solution. So my PC is once again up and running, but now I have to engage in the tedious task of reinstalling all my software. Fun Fun. On the bright side, my "accidental" upgrading has netted me an 800Mhz FSB motherboard with a new 430 watt power supply...as opposed to the 1 lb. "bargain" that used to be in there.

But...all this cost money, and I'm tired of spending money...

FINALLY got my speaker wires run around the living room today...it took forever, since Kailyn was EXTREMELY fussy today. You do not know how difficult it is to get things accomplished around a "bawling" baby unless you're a parent. But I finally got it done and got the furniture moved into it's final resting place (I hope), and I can once again can enjoy the Dolby Digital and DTS experience when I watch...um...Star Trek re-runs on Spike TV.

Glad to hear Donny's doing well...I hope that the minor stroke that he has is something he can recover well from. Man, he'll do anything to get out of running sound at church (I'm kidding...I think that would strike a chord with Donny's sense of humor in a good way, though).

Other than the "busy-ness" of the day, nothing really laugh-inspiring happened.

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Kevin...just leave me alone and let me do this." "Sanford and Son don't really live here, it just looks that way." "No, I dont' really 'need' a fan with a cathode light...but, what the heck...you only live once." "I really, really, really, really hate cat litter."

"It's 3 A.M., I must be lonely..."

Yes, it is actually 3:40 a.m. Had one of those moments where you wake up "stressing" about things...

First, started thinking about the damage to the siding on the house in Birmingham that happened 4 months ago. Ben and L-D ordered furniture from "Goons2Go," and they parked their truck in such a way on the curb that it snagged our phone line, which - when they drove away - was ripped off the house taking siding with it. The phone lines were the legal height, too. Anyway, after much "runaround," they agreed to pay for the lines. But now 2 months have passed since they "approved" the claim forms, and no check. So, in order to fix the siding before the next "rainy" season, I may have to shell out $500 to get it repaired before something else happens. So, now I have to be confrontational and talk to whatever moron in their claims department is hoping (i think) this will all slip through the cracks...

Morons...

Then, the stress over things heightened as I have seized this opportunity to worry about everything from debt to thinking about how I can take the music program at Crosspoint to the next level (setting real goals). Even started worry about my health and getting older...

Why do our brains do this to us in the middle of the night?? I have worries in the day, but they're always amplified in the middle of the night...sheesh...

On the bright side, being up in the middle of the night has allowed me to talk on Y!IM with Joel while he hangs out at the Holiday Inn front desk. Wow, I couldn't work nights... Joel must have a "gift" for that...

PHRASES 'OVERHEARD' IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: "..........................................." "....................................." "..............................."
"Stupid people flock to hotels." (sorry, only one person talking...)

You built a time machine...out of a DeLorean?

I wonder why the time stamp on my blog is off...if I try to change it, it waits hours to post...

It says 8:23 AM...is it Pacific time?? Or has my computer turned into a Net time machine and I can relive everything that's 2 hours old...hmmm...

Nah...

Technology strikes again...

On a bright side, my couches got delivered about 9:00 a.m. (it's 10:30 now).

w00t!

MORE 'OVERHEARD' THIS MORNING: "If you made me move my car to back up your delivery truck so you wouldn't have to walk on the grass...why did you STILL walk on the grass and track mud in my house????" "Hose-monkeys!"

Another week gone...

Friday is here. I used to look forward to Friday. Now it scares me how close Fridays are together. Time seems to be moving faster and faster. I miss being a kid when it seemed like weeks/months/years took FOREVER to pass. A summer seemed to last for half a year. What scares me is that the last half of life is relatively shorter than the first half, simply becuase of how fast time flies... So, maybe I've already past middle age...relatively speaking...

(sigh)

Stacey be working today, so I've got to get a lot of stuff done around the house. (Yes, J-mo, there's more to "stuff" than unpacking boxes) I need to work on the powerpoint and flow for Sunday, and also move a lot of furniture around and assemble some more. My new couches and my new motherboard should both be delivered today, too, so that will be fun.

Last night was too fun hanging at Applebee's with Stace, Kailyn, Eli, Emma, and J-mo (and, technically...Kyle and Jeff). Eric decided it was a little late to go (i guess), and headed home after band practice. But he would've laughed hard with us...

Haven't heard any updates on Donny, but Eli said at dinner that they'd disconnected the ventilator and were trying to slowly bring him back to consciousness. I REALLY hope and pray he's going to pull through this and the same old, wise-cracking Donny we all know and love will be back in our midst.

'OVERHEARD' THIS MORNING: "So, what does 'sitting with Natalie' REALLY mean?" "Wow, I heard Dave and Dana had to dress up last night...what does THAT look like?" "Get your hood addicted to crack. Collect $50 from every playa."
Last quote from a game called Ghettopoly...check out the controversy at:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/978212.asp

No, really...i'll tip this time...

Almost 11:00 p.m., just got back from Applebee's after band practice. Band practice was good, but we certainly missed Donny operating the sound board. Kyle bugged out early, 'cause he said he had to go.

So, much to our surprise, we saw him at Applebee's. I pulled in right after J-mo, and said...hey, that's Kyle's car here...i thought he had something to do, and that's why he left band practice. J-mo answered this with a funny comment that I will refrain from repeating here...lol.

Ah...Applebee's...at least Davina didn't spit in my food for forgetting to leave my receipt with the tip amount on it last week. We had a lot of fun there tonight...Kyle and Jeff sat a booth over from us, and it was fun listening to their conversation... First thing I heard was them asking Davina how many "birthday" songs restaurants sang. Wow...what gripping dialogue...lol.

Ordered an appetizer sampler and a Mega Mud Slide...we also bought Eli's dinner for watching Kailyn tonight. J-mo tried to teach Emma some new words...that again, I won't repeat. He was almost like the "gropinator" with Eli tonight...lol...no, not really, but he kept insisting that he could give her 30 minutes of free "johnny love." Funny stuff.

Then, J-mo's suave character was assasinated by a well-placed sneeze from Emma. Jonathan about jumped out his seat and immediately started wiping his arms, legs...everything, it seemed. Given J-mo's aversion to anything "unclean," it was a funny moment.

Well, got to go let the dogs out...get my guitars out of the car...etc., then go to bed...

KEY PHRASES OF THE EVENING: "I can't stay, I've got 'stuff' to do." "Isn't that Kyle's car?" "Yep, he's a __________." "I got hit with 'particles'." - after Emma's sneeze. "Put that in your mouth." "J-mo, how can you give anyone 30 minutes of 'johnny love?' You can't even play a PC game without turning off 'head bob' or you get nauseated!!" "Off to the bonus room."

Thank you, Good night...

More parenting joy

Ewww...Kailyn woke up this morning soaking wet...apparently her diaper got saturated with more "liquid" than it could hold...on top of that she had a very runny nose.... eeeeeeeyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuck! Yes, these are the "parenting" moments that make J-mo say he never wants to be a dad. Wait...maybe he's not a dad 'cause he don't have a woman...ZING! Anyway, Stacey bathed Kailyn while I got her breakfast ready...

Have to run to the courthouse today...that's always a pleasant experience...NOT!

I never thought about it, but Eric's right about Home Depot and Lowe's being like a man's "aromatherapy." And at both stores, the "flowery" section is as far from the lumber section as possible...as if to isolate the "manly" odor from the "girly" fragrance of flowers...lol.

We actually got our garbage out on time this a.m. We missed it last week 'cause it comes significantly earlier here than our old address, so it's nice to get rid of 2 weeks worth of trash...WOOT!

Donny's definitely still in all our prayers. He will DEFINITELY be missed at band practice tonight knowing that he's literally engaged in a life or death struggle right now... God's already done some major miracles in Donny's life...he's lived much longer than doctors estimated already. But he's a good friend to all of us, and I pray that God works yet another miracle in his life...

PHRASES OF THE MORNING: "What's that smell??" "Stacey, are you going to sleep all day?" "1, B, III." "Hehe...do girls really e-mail Kyle looking for work????? Or did he just find that pic surfing the net?"

"If all's not lost...where is it?"

Latest from Donny is that they were still fighting off some bleeding internally. Wow, I'm really praying hard that he's going to be alright.

I'm glad we can "discuss" things like playing out. At my old church, there was no discussion. You were told "do this," and you had no choice, or you were labeled as someone who was not a "team player." What a mind game. No personal opinion counted. The vision was never talked about...it was "handed" to you... Maybe things up hear sometimes "echo" memories we'd all like to forget, but Crosspoint has been a breath of fresh air to me... I like that we can agree...disagree...whatever... But it helps to pound out the issues and either get back on the same page or arrive at some consensus.

I hope that anyone who reads this knows that Crosspoint is human. We don't pretend to not have issues from time to time. We don't pretend things are always easy. But, we will try with all our might to not become something that removes all "good" from a church... we've all seen that too much before...

BTW, E.. was Big John the same Big John Sheffield we all know? I didn't know he was a gamer...

On other notes, I found a quote today that sometimes sums up all our "debt/financial" issues: "It's not hard to meet expenses...they're everywhere."

-K

"Culture....what's that?"

But first, Dave sent out an e-mail letting everyone know that Donny had emergency surgery last night and he's in intensive care now. Wow. I really hope he's going to be okay. I know I'll be heading to D. General sometime today to see him (if they're allowing visitors).

Makes all other "issues" seem moot...

Wow...I got a funny response about music in the mall. And, I certainly do not want to send Eric's music career the route of Barney...ROFL.

Really, I think Dave's idea of playing there really wasn't Christmas music (I was trying to create a "funny" image of us playing electric guitar-driven Christmas carols across from a choir or jazz trio...obviously, it wasn't funny). I think Dave's original idea was for us to play exactly BECAUSE people are used to high school jazz trios and "geriatric swingers" - and it might be eye-opening to see something else (non-Christmas music). So, before J-mo boycotts the band and before Eric sends in an application to PBS or Nickelodeon, I wanted to clarify that. But...what the heck are the "Wiggles?????"

Man, there really is no "culture" in Decatur. We were laughing about that with Eli at lunch the other day. That the only culture people talk about here usually takes place in doctor's offices when people talk about a "throat culture" and bacteria. Ewww...

It's like Footloose... I may not get arrested, but try to do something cultural, you get the "heavy look" from those who PREFER geriatric swinging and "wiggle" music (hmm..that could be a new genre).

So...IS THERE ANY WAY TO CHANGE THE LOCAL MINDSET AND AWAKEN THE MINDS OF PEOPLE WHO ALSO FEEL TRAPPED BY IT???? IS THERE A WAY TO BRING CULTURE TO DECATUR?

I hope so... I don't want Kailyn growing up in a world where the only culture is old people playing brass or students playing out of tune instruments badly...

...or watching the "wiggles"... just the sound of that scares me...

Zzzzzzzzzz....

Just about bedtime...

Ordered my new motherboard today...so now I'm out some $$, but hopefully I'll have my PC up and running again soon enough...w00t!

Kyle never seems phased by any comments I or J-mo make in our blogs...hope that's a good sign, and he's not offended by anything. Either that, or we'll have a "church"-place shooting one Sunday a.m. "Well...he was such a nice young man, still lived at home...never thought he would turn violent."

Planted new plants and shrubs today...I know...try to contain your excitement...

One of our neighbors came by tonight and brought us cookies. Said their 4-wheeler was stolen out of their driveway 2 Friday nights ago. That's gotta suck... Still, nice to meet some neighbors.

Last night Dave suggested that we consider playing Christmas music in the mall (the band). Hmmm... could be fun IF we played "Merry Axemas" type Satriani music, with Kyle leading the way...but only if the "you-know-who" choir is close by... Takers, anyone? I think that would be fun...

KEY PHRASE OF THE EVENING: "But it said 'no more tears' on the bottle..." (insert loud baby crying into the background).

Concerning jalapenos, a cola "buzz," and the "happy" Asian...

Guadelajara was fun last night...and yes, J-mo, my virgin Rum and Coke did wash away my PC woes. But...thanks for drinking enough for the both of us...LOL. The "happy" Asian (call him "J-even-mo-love") was back...the one that makes Elizabeth laugh when he hits on her (well, jokingly...I think) However, the "happy" Asian brought up the "curly rice" incident again. I dunno, maybe it was the margaritas talking. Nonetheless, it spurred a brief session of "curly" stories which were both incredibly gross AND funny at the same time. Ewwww.... Dave had some of my jalapenos, and wrote in his blog they weren't too hot, but he did quit eating them pretty quickly and chased them with some ice cream...hmmm...

I took my processor over to Dave's last night to see if that was the problem, and NOPE...it worked fine in Dave's PC. So, it's back to the motherboard or the RAM... Don't you LOVE diagnosing PC problems when you have no spare parts??? So, part of my day today will be researching a motherboard replacement. I did manage to get my hard drive slaved to the one in Stacey's PC, so I've been able to back up my files at least. Now...how to upgrade without spending a lot of $$...

I always laugh when I read Kyle's blog (I hope he intends that). Back on myoplex.... Now, maybe he'll pump up in a way 8 years of gym workouts haven't. By now, he should be Root Ferrigno (The Incredible Root). But who am I to talk...8 years of sitting on my butt haven't turned me into Kevin Schwarzenegger, either. (more like Kevin Devito).

Wow...his mom will be in Hawaii, so he'll have to eat out a lot. But I thought he did anyway? Well, at least for 3 weeks, Kyle can bring girls to his house and at least "look" like he lives alone... Wait, I said "girls"...forget that... Maybe he can take a picture of some girls in a car as they drive by the house... Okay, okay, I'm kidding Kyle...i'll go back to razzing the other Asian some more instead...

On a happy note, I should get a check in the mail today or tomorrow from a C.D. I redeemed that should help pay off a LOT of debt. I'm looking forward to that.

I don't know why, but I'm kind of glad Eric's not selling his Alvarez...but I'm also glad he's making some dough.

PHRASES OF THE DAY: Dave: "Looks like I need to plan a message on the vices of alcohol." "Uh oh, Dave's in trouble." "I love you. Stop." "Gimme five." J-mo: "I had a dating flashback." Me: "Why, did she slap you?"

PCs will be our doom...

I found an online manual for my mb, and it told me how to interpret the 4 red LED's (not green like normal) burning on the back of my PC. The verdict? The processor is fried.

A mb was one thing. A processor, however, is more $$, even for the same one...at least $40 more. But I hate buying the same technology twice, so I'm contemplating making a modest upgrade...nothing to "top of the line" but something a little more substantial. Maybe a 2.8 Ghz instead of a 2.4.

On a side note...the further fiasco that is Charter Communications in Decatur got more personal today. They came to bury my cable line that had been laying in the yard...and tore up a lot of sod/ground to do it. The phone company had 1 guy come last week...made a small trench with a hand tool, covered it the phone line. But Charter? No... they pull a trencher off a truck, tear up the yard...and it took 2 people. Hmmm... To complain or not to complain... Would it bother me if it wasn't already a struggle to get my grass growing???

PHRASES OF THE AFTERNOON: "Red is bad." Dave: "Kevin, leave me alone about spare PC parts." J-mo: "No...uh...i'm...uh...in a meeting...yeah, I'm in a meeting...that's it." "Weur heur to baray your cabhul lahn..." (after it's buried) ;-)

Hey, God is still God. But even King David wrote some laments...er...would he have written a blog today? Hmmm... Turn to Blog 32, verse 10. WOOT!

Guadelajara: T-minus 3 hours, 9 minutes, 37 seconds

After today, it will be nice to get out...

"Looks like someone's got a bad case of the Mondays..."

This morning, I could rant about my PC malfunction...or I could say, "cool, an unexpected opportunity to upgrade."

I could rant about the fact that Stacey left with the car seat in her car, condemning me to a life without travel today...or I could say, "I didn't really need to go out today, anyway."

I could rant about the sheer amount of unpacking that remains...or I could see it as an opportunity to go through things, chuck what I don't need and make some space...get this home set up right.

I could rant about the "still healing" finger on my left hand that I "ripped" out of joint last week...or I could be grateful that it feels much better this week than last week...

I could rant about spending 15+/- hours in the studio this weekend when I could've been getting other things done or spending time with my wife on her weekend off...or I could view it as an awesome opportunity for the band to see what we can accomplish when we really put our mind/time/energy into it...

Rant, Rant...

Today is literally one of those days where I realize that the mood I choose (yes, choose) to be in depends on how I look at things. Negative, discouraging things happen...time flies by when you need to get stuff done (instead of wasting time bloggin' ;-) )...

Call me naive...call me an unrealistic-happiness "wannabe" who sees the positive in the negative...call me whatever...but I can't help but feel that in spite of the things that are frustrating me this a.m., that life is...dare I say it..."good." 'Cause no matter what ELSE happens today...no matter anyone says to me or about me... I'm absolutely confident that God is a good god, he's real in my life, and no one..or no frustration...can take that away.

KEY PHRASES FOR THIS MORNING: "Zzzzzzzzzz...." "I forgot how good Cinnamon Toast Crunch tasted." "Dana, why do you need 3 bales of hay?" "Kailyn, get that coaxial cable out of your mouth." "Well, $135 IS cheaper than a new PC! Thank God for 'upgradeability.'"

How do you like your motherboard, scrambled or fried?

Today is one of those days that started great and ended bad...well, partly. Church this a.m. went well. It was "neat" to see jack take the reigns from Dave for a week and make us laugh and think at the same time. Some of our transitions were rough, and Eli said the mix was "off," but it was a great morning. I think some people were pretty moved...and who knows...it's just good to see God work in a room...

Went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch with the wife, kid, J-mo, Eli, and Emma. Good food...good eatin... J-mo and Eli did have a slight tendency to play some "curb racquetball" with conversation, and Eli probably doesn't need to let J-mo teach Emma any more new "phrases."

Napped this afternoon (yes, a nap worthy of a blog entry).

This evening, went to Dave's for the Crosspoint membership seminar. Good turnout after all. Looks like God's doing some pretty big things in people's lives.

And all was well in the world...UNTIL...

Went to check e-mail, and i noticed my monitor wasn't powering back up as I moved the mouse. "Hmmm...I thought." Tried turning it off...it wouldn't turn off. Had to unplug it. Went to re-boot...nothing...just a black screen and none of the reassuring beeps that everything was okay. Dang it.. After a couple of phone conversations with Dave and J-mo, it seems that my motherboard or my RAM (or both) is fried. Sheesh, I hope it's not the processor. Well, I'm done "tinkering" with it for now...if I "tinker" any more with it, I'll wind up throwing it out a window to see if that fixes it...WOOT! Whatever the case, my biggest concern is that I can salvage the music files and pictures of Kailyn, etc. that are on the hard drive. Now that I have my new DVD burner, that was on my list to do this week. Hmmm...this stinks...

Anyway, send any PC advice to kcbsmp@yahoo.com

So now, I'm stuck with Stacey's PIII 600 PC...heck, at least I can still blog...and e-mail...or play Half Life and other games that are Quake 1 or 2 engine-based.

KEY PHRASES FOR THE DAY: "Where's Kyle...it's almost 10:00." "I've got my 'stuff,' and I'm running." "Bow or burn." "Joel's married??" "Emma, say 'beef tips.'" "Enough about the 'curly' already." "The expiration date on this was August 3." "Dang it, this is going to be expensive, isn't it?" "If you keep messing with it, it'll be even more expensive."

BEST (serious) PHRASE OF THE DAY: "Right away, I knew Crosspoint was different."

On Tips, ADD, and "who was that guy?"

Yesterday was LOOONG day in the studio. It was fun, and we got some stuff done. Some songs (esp. God of Wonders) ended up pretty rough, as the drum track wasn't as "on" as we originally thought...we couldn't sync up the bass and guitar to match it exactly, so hopefully Big John can throw some duct tape on the recording and fix it up. Overall, though, it was a fun experience...lots of moments of much laughter.

John must have studio ADD, though. I don't know how many times we sat there for..."minutes"... while he hooked up some other contraption we wound up not using. Oh, well... his offering us the time is very much appreciated.

I fixed my AB snafu...WOOT! Maybe I could've just let it go and recovered next time. But, I don't want an angry waitress next time I go. Besides, a lot of people might have let that kind of thing go. But what kind of character would that show? Hopefully, correcting simple mistakes like that in life instead of writing them off can let people know that all the stuff we claim to believe is very real to us...and...hopefully, will allow us to build friendships with people that allow us to explore spiritual issues as well as blah blah about weather, dating, food, music, etc...

We all met someone new at the studio yesterday. Meet Kyle # 3. Remember, Kyle # 1 is the practical, Sentra-driving, will "retire at 40" guy most of us are familiar with. And Kyle # 2 is the 240SX driving, "I'll blow $10,000" on a guitar but not a DVD player guy we also know. But Kyle # 3 is new (at least to our band, it was). The image: Kyle sitting on a stool in a wife beater...hits a wrong note...followed by a loud, drawn out expletive followed by yet another comment to...well, I won't go there. And this kind of thing happened on more than one occasion. This is the new Kyle. This Kyle needs a mullet and an '85 Mustang GT with faded paint and leaky t-tops. Instead of the Kyle who takes pictures 5 feet from girls OR the kyle who actually "talks to her," this is the Kyle we're all expecting to say, "hey, woman...bring me my beer, and while you're at it, hit the TV...the signal's all screwed up and I can't watch wrestling."

Seriously, I jest. I'm glad he was able to make it to the studio Saturday since he seems to work more on weekends with video stuff than he does during the week at Boeing...LOL.

An Asian with a mullet...hehe...what a startling image...

Can I get a beer in a sippy cup?

Last night certainly was fun at Applebee's. Kyle got hammered on Kool-Aid. We very much enjoyed our kids' chicken finger meals and "beverages."

Rehearsal went well, but rough...we all experienced kyle-like memory loss with our songs...except, ironically, for Kyle...who seemed to remember everything. Whatupwidat? Pam was fighting the nausea of early pregnancy, Joel brought (finally) his amp and electric...it was all good.

Today...it's studio time. This will either be fun or...heck, i'm going to stick with fun.

Anyhoo...the weather's beautiful today, Stacey had a safe drive to Birmingham this a.m., blah, blah...

Let me just sum up by saying God is good...

KEY PHRASES FOR TODAY: "Meesa chon wookie, jabba du hutt?" (referring to the BIG guy at the bar); "J-mo...no more stories about gas." "Good parents raise their kids until they're 28+." "Pam, don't vomit on stage, please..." "No, it runs...believe me, it just looks like it doesn't."

I Love the 70s

I updated my cell phone ringtone this week...well, if you call making it the theme to "Chips" an update. WOOT! Now, everytime I hear my phone ring, I have flashbacks of childhood-television watching...knowing that Ponch and John are making the L.A. freeways safe from out of control daredevils on dirtbikes and old people weaving in and out of traffic causing massive car pileups...

They finished our fence today...now we've effectively isolated our backyard from our neighbors...hehe. At least the dogs don't have to be confined to a very small space. All this and not a penny added to debt. WOOHOO!

Tried to run speaker wire through my ceiling today to no avail...can't run it down the wall because of the 2x4 "fire breaks" in the wall...dang it. Now I have to find another way to hide cable. BOOHOO!

Nice to see that Dave has rejoined the world of the "blogger."

Burned a DVD today for Brian Baer (for the Deason's shindig on Saturday). Feel good knowing my DVD burner works and I ACTUALLY figured out how to use it...LOL.

KEY PHRASES FOR TODAY SO FAR: "That's Officer Poncharello to you, mister." "Big John, where in the Sam heck are you??????" "Kailyn, what did you put in your mouth?" "Holy crap, is Eric's phone ALWAYS busy??" "Be careful, those wires are still live." "Is band practice tonight???"

Got the Mustang started today...WOOHOO! Just needed a new battery (at least...for now...hehe). Ah...it's faded-red-rusty-quarter panel, Lawrence-county-rear wheels look SO great in the driveway...woohoo!

Can anyone tell me why Kyle has 2 blogs? Or 2 cars? 2 jobs? 2 of everything? It's like there's 2 Kyles: The "not a care in the world-I go for college chicks-Sentra's rule" guy who forgets things like our upcoming studio session and takes lots of pictures standing 5 feet from girls... or the "uber-responsible-Dave Ramsey listening-240SX driving-will retire at 40-"i actually talked to her" guy who can make the rest of us feel like we've blown our retirement by getting into debt. Call them Kyle "she's old enough" Root and Kyle "I'm too busy" root. or something...like that...I dunno...the whole 2 blog thing has me as confused as the whole zip code + four thing...WOOT! (laugh, Kyle...laugh...it's not a diss).

Of course, I could go on and on about how long-winded my blog is...maybe I NEED 2 blogs...hehe. I just don't know which of his to check for the most recent Kyle info...and dang it, I need Kyle info, or my day just doesn't go right...LOL.

The old house is officially abandoned...except for a hose and a sprinkler for the new sod. Everything's cleaned, painted...restored to "mint" condition...

Now on to the daunting task unpacking and setting up this house...which will STILL have to wait b/c of studio time Friday and Saturday...D'OH!

KEY PHRASES FOR TODAY: "It's already 10 a.m.?" "That battery was made in 1997????" "Thanks J-mo for the studio "push"." "Stacey, you're in a better mood today." "No, it's your turn to walk the dogs." "Is that a new rash?" (relax, it's a Kailyn reference). "Taco Bell...again??" "Halo on PC...must...purchase...no...yes...dang it...now I'm out $$"