Halloooooo, Decatur!

Been a good weekend. Quick recap for those of you who need your "blog fix" and can't live without knowing what excitement has filled my world in the past few days:

Had a good Thanksgiving with the folks...good to see them again, and I think they really enjoyed seeing Kailyn. While home, I rented a trailer and loaded a lot of my grandmother's old furniture into it (a piano, dresser, chest of drawers, 2 nightstands, round table with 4 chairs, mattresses...I got the "hookup" on some free stuff). A lot of work getting it loaded, but we got it done. Made the joyous 4-hour drive back to Decatur with the U-haul trailer-from-hell in tow (half the lights were out on it, and there was something screwy with the trailer's onboard hydraulic brakes...yikes). Brian and Dave helped me unload the stuff, then I headed over to B's with a couch and a grill we were giving him...

This morning...what should've been sheer mayhem was not. 3 (yes 3!) of our band members were all sick this morning...both guitarists and our drummer came down with the Asian flu (apparently, it also affects tall caucasian guitar players with dark hair). But, my "Plan D" (as J-mo called it) worked, and we had a very successful acoustic set this morning. It turned out to be nice for a change and fit the topic of "finding God in silence" more effectively than a full-blaring band might have done. And - strangely enough - none of the last-minute changes caused any "usual" feelings of stress, etc. It's nice to see clearly how God just works some things out for good.

Took care of some shopping needs this afternoon, had a meeting at Dave's later, then went out to eat at Pizza Hut with Dave and the fam. Now, as long as I can keep me and my family well, I'm happy...

There...now you're all caught up...you can go back to whatever important thing you were doing...

KEY PHRASES: (12 hours before showtime) "Don't worry, I'll be there." (1 hour before showtime) "I can't make it." "But we're a closer drive than Tuscaloosa if you want to play in church." "I'm taking Emma away from you people so she doesn't get sick." (hehe).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Is God speaking to us, and we merely can't hear it? Is he drowned out by all the noise, noise, noise (think the "Grinch"). Cell phones, PCs, blogs (cough), telephones, televisions, billboards, radio, CDs, mp3 players, pagers, meetings, lunch appointments, games, illnesses, family, stress, pain, past hurts, personal agendas, "busy-ness,"...even church? What do we need to "turn down" so we can hear God?

Much ado about something...and nothing...

SOMETHING: The Thanksgiving holiday!

Hope everyone out there has had a Happy Thanksgiving. We didn't stuff ourselves too much here in Hotlanta ;-). It's been good seeing family again...and letting them see Kailyn some more. But, like every holiday, every meal following the BIG ONE has had something in it with turkey, ham, and dressing...blagh... Tonight, though, we talked my mother into making spaghetti to break up the leftover monotony. Ah, it's good to be home for a bit...

Spent a good portion of the day loading a lot of furniture into a trailer to bring back to Decatur with me (happy, happy, joy, joy). Bedroom furniture, a piano, lots of goodies...but HEAVY goodies. Get to make the fun drive back to Decatur tomorrow morning. But at least it won't be raining this time around...WOOHOO!

NOTHING: Blog Controversy...wth?

Let it be said once and for all...if you blog, great. If you don't, also great (maybe better). Though the subject of some not-to-be-taken-serious "razzing," no one REALLY cares. It's been said countless times this week that blogs are most definitely not real priorities...nor should they be -sigh-. For those of us that do have the time to blog, I think we'd all agree that the fascination with blogs is that we DO like reading about the REAL priorities going on in other people's lives...family, job, miraculous recoveries, etc...mainly b/c other people's lives might generally be more interesting than our own :-).

But the subject of controversy they've become? Much ado about nothing!

This Thanksgiving, it's these REAL PRIORITIES that I want to be thankful for: My family, my faith, my church...and above all, all the things God has done in this community (Donny's recovery, Kim's mom's recovery, the list could go on and on). It's these things that are truly important...and, for me, definitely worth blogging about (sharing) today.

KEY PHRASE: "Does turkey make you constipated?"

On being "ridiculous..."

Why is it raining on Thanksgiving? Why, God...why? I could just say, "Oh, man...it's raining." But...no...that truth-seeking, must-find-the-meaning-in-everything part of me wants to know why... Yes, human nature is ridiculous...

Why give us much-needed rain on Thanksg...er...oh...

MUCH NEEDED rain...gotcha, God. (God, please help Chad see the "why" in weather...the motivation). Why was it 70, then 30? To make us appreciate the fall? (wow, one can read "meaning" into anything...LOL).

Chad, we had a superviser who made illogical decisions? Uh oh...how many people read my blog?

j/k.

About to hit the road this a.m. to go to Atlanta to see my fam. I hate road trips in the rain, but I'm not ranting. Just matter of fact. It's raining. It's not fun to drive in rain. (Why, God...why?...j/k, Chad...I've seen the light...wait, it's hidden behind clouds).

Moving on...with the funk

Waking up with a headache...slight "dry" feeling in my throat...Uh oh...am I about to fight my first round of winter illness? I hope not...not going into Thanksgiving, anyway.

J-mo is feeling a little "blah" as well.

Wow, this could make band practice interesting. Anyone else feeling "blah?"

Played a brief round of Desert Combat last night...was doing good until some "lag" kicked in. Also lost points for team killing a teammate...who, like a dufus, ran in front of my tank. Still, I ranked 4th in the whole thing.

KEY PHRASE: "No, my name is not Kevin Burp." (LOL...U-haul called me, and this is who they asked for)

Let my groveling commence...

It's been brought to my attention that certain portions of my previous blog entry were "distasteful." I sincerely hope I did not offend anyone earlier regarding their blogs. Really, I enjoy reading other's blogs, so I hate to see them cease for whatever reason...but it's really no thing - a blog, after all, is only a blog (if it's more than that to any of us, we need help). You only have time to do what's important, and blogging is definitely not on the list of high priorities...nor should it be. It was simply fun to raz you guys about it precisely BECAUSE it's much ado about nothing ;-).

And the quote regarding the whole blogging ability/weight correlation was ABSOLUTELY intended to be humor among friends, but - in retrospect - might seem particularly distasteful. I SINCERELY HOPE NO ONE WAS OFFENDED BY THAT, but if you were I deeply apologize. I didn't pause long enough to consider that any of you might be sensitive to the subject. So I just vomited something I thought was funny when I heard it, and quoted it (knowing the the person whom I was quoting was totally speaking in "fun among friends," too - since he was also partly making fun of me in the process!)

Therefore, the offensive content has been deleted, and some of the entry has been modified.

As I think about this, I remember that some of you posed a question when you started blogging...what was a blog supposed to be? Is it a place to rant? To expose deep feelings? How much "sharing" becomes TOO MUCH sharing? Blogs are such a new entity, it's hard to know the boundaries. What's acceptable? What isn't?

For me, a blog is just an outlet for...whatever's on my mind - sometimes positive, sometimes negative. It's not intended to be an article in Newsweek for the whole world to analyze...or a personal diary that I expect no one to read. It's simply...thoughts. Some of it is thought through...some of it isn't. Most of it is to just share the funny moments, good moments, or "interesting" experiences I have. Maybe that's entertaining, maybe it isn't. Usually, I like to make people laugh...and occasionally "think." And though I usually try to watch what I say and how I say it, blogging is - after all - expressing myself...and that inevitably leads to mistakes and much-needed retractions.

But I never intend to offend anyone...or hurt someone's feelings. I view the small group of people that actually read my blog as family...nothing more, nothing less. Again, humor among friends...or insight among friends...

If you weren't offended, HALLELUJAH! Heck, if you didn't read it, then you're probably going "what the...?" and you're now offended (or not) for the first time. But I don't want to take the chance...I'm writing this because I can't assume that "no harm was done".

Peace.

KEY PHRASE: "Here am I...warts and all."

Irony...and more irony...

It's ironic - after reading Kyle's latest blog entry - that one of the headlines on the blogger home page is how to not get fired (er, I mean "freed to pursue other interests") because of blogging. Kyle, I don't know whether to hate it for you or laugh - since you did hate your job that let you come in whenever you wanted and leave whenever...um... At least you don't have rent...living expenses...LOL. But I will pray that you find a job you enjoy (and pays well).

Hmm...Whasuppeople? "Update" your blog doesn't mean slap a "closed" banner on it. Sheesh! (I utter this as yet another blog flatlines). Really, I don't care that much...but I do enjoy knowing what's going on in people's lives without actually having to pick up the phone and call...er...wait...wow, how lazy is that? Maybe that WOULD be a good alternative to actually expend the energy to talk to someone instead of wait for an "update"...yikes, technology strikes again at making life too easy...

Yes, we are a group of nosy people...or maybe we're just a group of bored people...or people desperate to feel "included"...or...I dunno...maybe, like I said earlier, we just like knowing what's going on with our friends. Dang you, people!! (j/k).

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "I've been under investigation..." (man, any sentence that starts with that is funny). "What does he mean he never IM'd at work?"

More talk about hair...

Stacey left at 9:30 this morning to get her hair highlighted. Hmmm...now it's 1:15. That's one thing I like about being a guy. Haircuts...15 minutes (if that...or more if you're J-mo...LOL). Cut, comb...that's it. Women? Hours and hours. Granted, we guys like the fact that women look good and don't have "guy hair" themselves, or don't have "man hair" under their arms or on their legs...or face (though, around here I've seen some frightening women). Oh, well...maybe I should fear the day when Stacey no longer wants to nurture her appearance. So, in that light, this 4-hour hair-done marathon is a good thing...

KEY PHRASE: "Yes, E, you do have some f***ed up friends...but you have friends :-)." (language-sensitive for accuracy).

But dogs have fur...

I bet my dogs are mad at me...since it got down to 22 degrees last night, and I left them outside. Hey, they have a LOT of fur...the golden retriever has a lot of it, and the huskies have undercoats...so if you're offended, get over it. Actually, I think they love cold air (compared to summer heat). And see? I'm compassionate enough to mention my dogs in my blog, so I do think about them every other day...

Yes, it's cold outside. It's ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME, too. However, I would prefer a more gradual cool-down in the fall...70s one week, 60s the next, 50s, and so on...not a 30-degree drop in 4 hours. If God had a suggestion box...LOL...okay, I'm just kidding about that. Maybe now it will stay a little cooler for a while.

Headed to the Guad last night for our weekly gathering...but, as Eli, pointed out...it's just the same few faithful: Eli, J-mo, Stacey, me, and the noise-makers (kids). Still, it's a lot of fun, and I respect others' commitment to other things or to not spending money to go out, but I do enjoy hanging out with people OUTSIDE of band practice, church, work, meetings, whatever. Maybe they just got sick of us...that's highly possible. As J-mo said, "you know who you are" -- which really means, "Come on, we miss you guys." (and your blogs, too...come on, people...update!).

Headed to Dave's for a meeting afterwards about a big Christmas program. It will be a lot to put together, but should be really cool when we pull it off.

So here we go...we're heading into the "silly season" (or "crunch time," or the "hell-idays" as someone on TV called them this week). And I think it's tragic...both Thanksgiving and Christmas are supposed to be times of spiritual focus, but have instead become times of consumer focus, financial stress, and "forced" family-time. So, like so many things, we throw the baby out with the bathwater. "I hate the holidays" is a phrase uttered by not one, but most of my friends. I can definitely sympathize...no one likes the stress and money-spending. But...do we have to throw out the good with the bad? Thanksgiving IS still a time to be thankful (yes, we should be all year, but...be honest...are we?). Christmas is still a celebration of the birth of Christ. So, do we celebrate that? Do we celebrate our re-birth because of him? Or do we view this next month as simply a time to hurry through...mumble complaints under our breath (or out loud..LOL)...and let the rest of the world know how bitter we are and how much we hate the holidays. Sorry people...I"m sick of the consumer-ized holiday myself...but I refuse to throw out the joy that should come with celebrating Christ's birth, remembering things to be thankful for, and spending time with family I do NOT get to see very much anymore. (yikes...look out...i'm standing up for my principles).

Rant complete...end of line.

KEY PHRASES FOR YESTERDAY: "You don't sleep alone? Why? Did you let Kelsey inside last night?" J-mo: "What's wrong with strip clubs?" (-sigh- lol). Jordan, in a shivering tone: "Wow, it's cold outside." Me: "Then why aren't you wearing shoes?" (double sigh). "How many times can you use the word 'puke' in an e-mail before it becomes too much? Three times? Two? Once?"

A Turkey Day...

Yesterday was another one of those Sundays you'd like to have every week, where - in spite of technical glitches and the like - you could tell God was doing something. A good crowd...visitors who were moved by the message and the music, etc. Yes, glitches abounded Sunday a.m. And - though no BLAME was perceived (hose monkey!) - it is frustrating to not touch anything between rehearsal and Sunday and have things malfunction...period. Fixing it then becomes an immediate concern which takes away from other preparation time that could be better spent warming up/practicing/etc. I especially hated it this morning because I arrived 15 minutes early to account for tech "glitches."

And I loved the new "mystery delay" that plagued our audio (Pam had particular fun speaking into the mic when that happened). Big John speculated that it was the power amp (going bad). I'm hoping it's something simpler (and cheaper)...like a loop created by the Terapin CD recorder which was plugged into the inputs AND ouputs on the tape in/out with the "tape to main mix" knob turned up about halfway. Someone hooked a tape deck up the same way to the Mackie we had at Mountaintop, and the resulting squeal was...unpleasant. However, I made the mistake of opening my mouth with my theory of the problem in a roomfull of engineers and others with previous audio experience...D'OH! (So much for my own past experience). So, I just retreated back onstage...LOL. John did turn down the "tape to main mix" knob when he cycled the power, so right now the source of the problem remains a mystery. Hopefully, if it does return, it won't be on a Sunday morning...and we'll actually have time to analyze the problem accurately.

But like I said - in spite of the bad cable/mystery delay/monitor not working "fiasco," we did get through our run-thru ontime, and the music went very well (also in spite of 1 or 2 "oops" moments and a botched key change). Dave's message was good...with no Dave-isms to report this week :-). Our guests also seemed to really enjoy the morning, and two of them returned for our dinner that night. All this just serves as a strong reminder to me that what happens at church really is all God's doing, and we just come along for the ride... Our God is definitely bigger than our "glitches."

After church, Jack, Pam, Kailyn and I headed to Applebee's. Funny moment: Saw a woman dressed in a tight red leather outfit there...and Pam wasn't too keen on my suggestion that our "doo-wop" girls wear something similar onstage...LOL. J-mo...I'm sure you would have had some choice "comments." Anyway, I'm sure Kyle would've found our table service "lacking." We did. But the food/company was good...I guess that's what really counts.

Yesterday afternoon was spent relaxing and preparing a corn casserole for the holiday dinner at the church. Dana also borrowed our oven to cook a ham.

The dinner was a lot of fun. The turnout was awesome (over 60 there), the food was excellent (wow, J-mo CAN cook), and the video drama we shot this week was a hit with the crowd (though I didn't see Brian, Eli, or Noah signing autographs at the door later). I also liked the sharing time where people spoke about things they were thankful for. All I can say about that is it's amazing to see how God's working in people's lives. Wow!

Afterwards, we hung out as the crowd dissipated. Matt Rose showed us some of his classical piano skilz.

KEY PHRASES: Doris: "I like the band. I like...Kyle...I think that's his name, is it?" "No, it's YOUR mic cable, you dufus." "Hope Susan remembered to put down the fart towel this year." "Amber, we've set aside a 'quarantine' room for you and your kids." (LOL) "Donny, I knew you were back home when 'donny-spam' returned."

"Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"

Monitor Lizard...

Just got back a bit ago from running to Madison to help J-mo pick up his new monitor at the Airborne Express terminal. He's right...there's no way it would've fit in his Honda. Ate at Jack's when we got done, so now I'm pretty full...too full.

Stacey didn't sleep well last night, and blamed me!! First, she said she was waiting on me to come to bed, and I didn't actually go to bed until after 1:00. I asked her why? She said, "I was waiting to tell you to set my alarm clock for earlier than usual." At this point, I'm thinking...the clock was 4 feet away, and you know how to set it...wow. Then she said I kept her awake by stealing the covers all night, and she was cold. I don't remember stealing covers... I can't win...I just said, "sorry," and let her leave for work ;-).

Seriously, I hate it when she doesn't sleep well before a 12-hour shift. Not good. Hopefully, she'll be able to go to bed early tonight.

Tonight is v-ball...don't know how I'm going to make it. I'm pretty worn out myself, and I've STILL got a lot of work to do: Continue working on the video for Sunday night, assemble an armoire, empty some more boxes we "unearthed." -sigh-

On a different note, other people's blogs aren't being updated or are temporarily (?) out of commission. So, I don't know what anyone else has going on...except for J-mo and Kyle...and Dave, for the most part. Come on, people!

KEY PHRASES: "Help...I can't get out!" "You're taking her home so she can have a cookie?? Supwifdat?"

Barbecue, mexican, and "mood" music...

Ah...another mid-week hump come and gone. But, when you're biggest project is preparing for Sunday a.m., there really is no mid-week hump. Oh, well...

As J-mo put it, band practice last night was 'weird.' Couldn't tell if some of us were in just a bad mood or just plain out didn't want to be there because they had other things to do. I hate it when that happens, 'cause it throws a huge 'wrench' in the machine of preparing ourselves for worship (at least it does for me, 'cause I find myslef worrying more about our moods than our mission). Yes, the music was rough...that happens, especially with some different dynamics - that's why we call it PRACTICE. I don't know...it was rough, but no rougher than weeks past. Maybe, being wednesday, it was just a long day for everyone...and they were impatiently awaiting the end of the day. And I didn't help that (in spite of being there early), because it took me a while to replace some missing mic cables, etc. before we could get started. But still, I want Wednesday night to be as much a worship experience as Sunday a.m., after all, that's what we're preparing for. I'd hoped that after all this time and recent discussions about passion and energy that we'd have figured that out by now (-sigh-). Oh, well...I could analyze the crap out of what happened until I'm blue in the face, but I made a decision this morning not to let it bring me down anymore...and I hope everyone else can move on, too :-).

As for J-mo and I, we joined up with Stacey, Eli, and offspring after band practice and headed to Logan's.

Stacey off again today, so we'll probably be trying to check out new cell phones sometime today. A girl she works with has connections with a person at T-mobile who may be able to get us a great deal on a couple of phones. I hope so. So, we have to wait on that and see.

Did you know there's a Jim N' Nick's BBQ in Sandestin? Yes, they're all over Birmingham, with a random one in Sandestin (how weird is that?)...and they're planning on opening locations in Nashville and Charlotte. All I want to know is "where's the love?" for Huntsville...just skip us and open up in Nashville...and Charlotte?!?!? -sigh- I want my chicken fingers with honey mustard. Mmm...honey mustard.

Chad, thanks for the insight in your blog into distinguishing between real Mexican food, Tex-Mex, and Old El Paso American-ized Mexican. Where does Taco Bell fit?

On a side note, I believe the Guadelajara Grill up here is owned by the same people who own the one in Birmingham (I think there are only 2 locations anywhere...Birmingham (by Circuit City) and Decatur... Now their food is pretty spicy, (for detailed description, see blog entry entitled "Guadarrhea" - LOL) especially if you order Guadelajara Nachos with jalapenos. Ah...Monday margarita night (like I've ever had a margarita on Mon. night...but it's fun to socialize).

KEY PHRASES: "Band Menstrual Syndrome." "J-mo, are you allergic to children?" "I think you can go to any Mexican restaurant in the US and just say the number 25 to your waiter, you will always get the same meal."

"Billie Jean is not my lover..."

...apparently, for Michael Jackson, little kids are. Kyle makes a good point that ANY parent who would let a child hang out with pop music's resident freak must be after a multi-million dollar settlement. Whatever the case, this whole thing is so weird. In the 80s Michael looked (relatively) normal and was accepted as some kind of a ladies' man. Maybe when his hair caught fire, it burned his brain. He's not black, he's not white...he's got a face like a poorly-colorized black and white film. He has no nose. He talks like a girl. His mannerisms are almost inhuman. I think he was PERFECTLY cast in Men in Black 2 as an alien. I just want to know what went wrogn with him? Did he go "loco?" It's like he's aging backwards...but inhumanly.

Integrity...we just dealt with this in Daniel. And no matter how many records M.J. has sold...no matter how much musical talent he still has...his mark in history will be one more of scandal than musical success (which is mind-boggling since his musical success has been incredible in the past).

-sigh- Who's next to take a hard fall alongside Michael, Kobe, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, and countless others? Hose monkeys.

On a better note, Stacey's out this morning touring a pharmacy in scottsboro (?) or some podunk location in Alabama. She's considering another job in the spring that will give her better hours and better benefits...that would be nice.

I discovered a great song/band recently. Ironically, I finished Max Payne 2 on the PC and the song in the "end credits" was awesome. The song is a very melancholy song called "Late Goodbye," by Poets of the Fall...a band that hasn't even signed a label yet (or has any albums for sale). I'm intrigued by their sound, which is a cool mix of acoustic guitars, great vocal harmonies, drums, bass, and orchestral additions. Plus, in the spirit of John Mayer and others, the band seems like a group of true songwriters (even if their style's pretty unique). I love finding bands that actually put some effort into their lyrics and how the whole song weaves together. Hmmm...must experiment with that sound...

Band practice tonight...WOOHOO! Working on a new song, "I Can Only Imagine." It's popular with certain crowds, so I hope we pull it off okay.

Well, back to practicing...

Weathering it...

Wow...what a rainy day today's been. At least most of the severe weather stayed clear of our area...even if a tornado was spotted on the arsenal early this afternoon.

Spent most of my morning working on music ideas and team ideas. I'm once again trying to figure out the best way to put everyone in a rotation for the tech team. Right now, it's John (when he can be there) and Stacey. Donny will be MIA for a while longer. Chastity's shown an interest, but has no experience on the board. Brian also has some experience and interest, so we'll see how all this will work out. I'm just thrilled to have people who are interested in it!

Eli came by today to film her section of the video for the holiday dinner. Went pretty well...she "ad libbed" where needed be, so I think the video will turn out all right. I (sneakily) was teaching Emma to play Simpsons: Hit and Run while Eli was doing her voice-dubbing on the PC...LOL. Way I see it, if I can't convert the adults to The Simpsons, I'll start with their kids (insert Dr. Evil "evil" laugh here...).

Okay...just kidding...it was fun watching her try to master the GameCube controller. "No, Emma...hit the GREEN button." "Wait...steer...no...watch out for that car...no...go backwards..." Then Emma would finally say, "Here, Kevin...your turn" (or something in 'toddler-ese' that sounded like that). I thought it was funny, though Eli looked a little freaked ;-). She did say that that's how Matthew got to be such a good piano player...b/c he was developing hand-eye coordination at the age of 3 by playing games. WOOHOO! Games are a VITAL part of our development!!

Anyhoo..had more Mexican for dinner tonight. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Better take some Pepto now...

KEY PHRASES: "What are you doing with my potatoes?" "Emma...you just ran over a pedestrian...and a tree."

Guadarrhea

Last night Brian came over and we started filming the drama for the holiday dinner. Eli was AWOL, though (though she had a very good reason for being AWOL).

But, it turned out I DID have time to go the Guad...WOOHOO. So I drove up there around 7:40 and met up with Dave, Dana, and J-mo...and Stacey joined us when she got off work. Then Eli came strolling in around 8:30.

Went home, took care of my dogs, played on the PC for about 30 minutes, then went to bed early for some much needed sleep.

If you can call it sleep...since I woke up in the middle of the night with nausea, abdominal cramping...must...run...to...the bathroom... Enough details. Let's just say I was up for a while, then up again later...then again...

Something about the Guad did NOT agree with me. And believe me (Dave), I was praying it was Jesus and NOT a burrito. It was definitely the food, though.

Now it's 10:15 a.m. Feeling better, but my stomach is still killing me. Hope it's just what I ate and not my own bout with the stomach bug going around. I think it's just the food, 'cause I've got a lot of energy still...

I miss Sol Azteca in Birmingham. Good food, incredible service...sigh...NEVER made me ill...

KEY PHRASES: "Don't be surprised if that photo becomes his PC wallpaper." "Why is MY head spinning? I didn't have anything to drink!" "Yes, you did use the word 'prick,' but only the one time." "Jack's the only one of us with a hetero-sexual man-truck." "Hmm..that makes my car a trans-sexual she-man truck." "That truck is like a clown car."

Life without Guad...

Monday with no Guad. What am I going to do? Have to film a video instead.

Can I survive? Can I do without a margarita? Wait...when was the last time I had a margarita? I can have Mexican and a Coke AFTER I film. That's it. WOOHOO!

It's been a reflective morning...worrying about an old friend and overanalyzing everything. So, enough. You may have read this blog earlier and wondered what happened to the long post I submitted. Well, I decided to change it...delete most of it. I didn't want anything mis-interpreted. Like I said, I'm worried about an old friend of mine, and upon re-reading my entry, I decided it could sound like I was railing on one person instead of just "ranting" (which I was).

But I will leave this food for thought in here, 'cause I've been chewing on it:

Are matters of faith and the mission of the Gospel so irrelevant to our "lost" generation, who hasn't fought in a great war or lived through a great depression or lived in a time of political and religious oppression or...um...wait a sec...

Hmm...the answer is right there, isn't it? It mattered to people in times much tougher than ours (though, some would argue differently...even so, there's a lesson there). It's BECAUSE of the confusion and the bitterness and the pain that our mission is more important than ever before...and faith is needed more than ever before.

The challenge: How do we connect with a generation who is largely biased AGAINST Christianity and anything to do with it? I read just this morning an article on how "political correctedness" is getting grossly out of hand...and anything pertaining to Christianity (ironically, not Islam) is being rooted out of culture, particularly this time of year. Yikes...that's all I can say. How can you talk about Christ, when the mere name of the son of God causes many to throw up barriers?

KEY PHRASES OF THE MORNING: "I'll let her PAY me back." "I thought he was more of a snowball than a snowflake."

Weekend wrap-up

This weekend was pretty busy, but good. Most of Saturday was spent doing work around the house. Sunday was more fun, though. Church Sunday morning went well. We had a good crowd. Even Donny showed up (all the way up from Birmingham), and it was VERY good to see him! Music went well (in spite of "string break-age"), Dave's message went well...all in all a great morning.

After church, Stacey, J-mo, Eli, and I (and "offspring") headed to Ruby Tuesday's for grub, then we toured Office Depot, T.J. Maxx, and Books a Million. Then we headed over to T-Mobile, where we watched a particular Asian friend cough up some $$$ for a (really nice) new cell phone.

Sunday night, we had another "gathering" at the hizzouse. Brian, Amber, Eli, and young-uns all came over to keep Stacey and I company. We grilled burgers, spent some time on the guitar, and even watched a little John Mayer on DVD. Wow, Eli REALLY likes John Mayer.

So..that's about it...

KEY PHRASES OF THE WEEKEND: "What was that line about the chicken again?" (LOL). "Uh oh...more particles?" "Kevin's going to prick on the guitar..." (um...that one scared me a lot).

THE DAVE-ISM FOR THIS WEEK: "Wenst" - (v., past tense) - "an exaggeration of "went." USAGE: "He wenst outside."

Let me out of my cell...

I think it's time to change cell phones...again. Our contract is up with T-mobile, but I do not know if we will stick with them or what. Our service is terrible out here on the frontier (bordering the wastelands of Lawrence county)...and my cell phone has started randomly shutting off...for no apparent reason. Besides, I'm sure people up here who'd like to call our cell phones would appreciate us (finally) changing our number to a local one...

Well, back to researching rate plans...ewwww....

What does this button do?

"And the enemy doesn't see me coming," he said aloud. Desperate to make his mark against the war-mongering Americans, the soldier slowly drove his T-72 battle tank up the embankment. "Slow," he thought, "If they hear me coming, I'm camel crap." He inched the tank over the rise. 1,000 yards. 500 yards. He stopped and brought the main gun to bear.

"No...my shot's not clear," he thought to himself. Too many times he'd been impatient and lives had been lost. Again, he crept the tank forward, hoping that the Americans did not hear the roar of the diesel engine as it moved the 44.5 metric ton vehicle closer to its prey. "Just a few more yards," he thought, his hands shaking at the controls.

"There..." Once again, he aimed the massive cannon at an opposing Bradley fighting vehicle. His sneak attack was going to work. Finally, he would make his mark in the war. For Allah? Maybe...maybe not. For his own sense of pride? Certainly.
The heavy metal gears that moved the turret creaked as he aimed the main gun at his target. A holy fire in the form of a 125mm shell would soon rain down on the infidels... He prepared to fire...

-click-

"What? What happened?" The monitor in front of him flashed. The image of the bunker abruptly disappeared and was replaced with an obscure image...and a message:

"A game is currently running. Press 'RESUME' to continue." The screen then faded to blue, accompanied by the most bizarre music...then the screen went black.

"Am I dead?"

And in a flash, the soldier was transported to another reality. "Where am I?" he thought. Suddenly, the rush of memories overwhelmed him. "Wait, I'm not an Iraqi. I'm an American."

-confusion-

"And...um...wait..." Slowly, the reality of another life invaded his perception. He remembered a house...a wife...a church...someone named "Johnny_love"... He looked around and realized he was in a room. "It's cold in here," he thought. In front of him was the still black monitor. A PC...not a tank's tactical display.

He looked around the room and heard...a baby toy? Puzzled, he looked down to see this beautiful little girl kneeling next to the PC tower. Immediately, he recognized her as his daughter. And in a rush, the reality of what he has just experienced became clear. For next to him, this beautiful girl was smiling up at her dad...

...with her hand firmly planted on the PC's "power" button.

"D'oh," he thought to himself.

It be cold...

I think with the cold air came the realization that Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away. Supwifdat??? It seems like just yesterday we were sweating our butts off in the summertime air. Wait...we were...'cause it was 80 in November. Really, as you know, I like the cold air...I just like a little smoother transition to winter. Last night it felt like fall/winter/whatever came with a bang...lots of rain and very high winds...and today, it is incredibly windy...one of those "who's garbage can is that in the street?" kind of days.

Anyhoo...I'll leave amateur-meteorology for a sec. Yesterday was a fun-filled day of chores, working on music, errands, and band practice. All went well, but no one wanted to eat after church. Guess that's a good thing, but I do like the social dimension of hanging out at Applebee's.... OH NO! I've caught Root-plague...get it off, get it off, get it off!!!!

Picked up some new threads from Goody's yesterday. I'll give them free advertising here just by saying why would you buy clothes at the mall? Everything's so much more expensive there. I don't buy clothes that often, but when I do, they usually have what I want. Now I'm ready for winter. And...according to Kyle's blog, since I'm 32 and I have the maturity level of a 21-year-old girl, then I can dress as young as I want (a little extrapolated logic there).

KEY PHRASES OF RECENT EVENTS: "Johnny's cheating? I knew it!" (J/k). "It's ironic that your last name is "moral." (again, j/k). Amber: "It's 'pukey-hell' over here." "Sometimes, I LIKE the fact that I can't hear my doorbell in the bonus room." "I can't feel my fingers." "Want me to feel them for you?"

A PHAT Tuesday

Enjoyed the fact that Stacey was off work today. So, we slept a little later than normal, then got up...dawdled around the house for a while, until we called Elizabeth and met up with her, her mom, Emma, and Meredith at Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. All in all a good time, except that Emma was in a little bit of "rare form," with a little fussiness and the occasional loud shriek. But Eli laid down the law with her. Man, I hope I never make Eli mad ;-)

Afterwards, we headed to a thrift store. Yeah...I know... They've got a LOT of just good old fashioned junk. Lots of junk.

Came home, put Kailyn down for a nap, went for a brief walk, then headed back out to Wal-mart for some shopping. Then came home...blah blah...headed back out and brought J-mo my copy of Halo to try out.

Now...I'm here...

Hmm...my day seemed busy, but now that I'm typing all this, it seems like it was busy, but boring at the same time. So...I apologize for boring you with my details...

Maybe I should talk about boring things with more dramatic "flair." EXAMPLE: "And as soon as the spoon hit the ground, Emma could tell that she'd finally crossed THE line with her mother... Silence fell over the table as Eli stood up, placed Emma's small hand in her iron grip, and marched her to the bathroom...but for Emma, it's not a bathroom...it's her own personal purgatory."

Hmmm...maybe not. Instead, maybe I should get philosophical and spiritual. EXAMPLE: "Ah...the memories in all the items of junk at the thrift store. When you see the oak grain table with the chairs and the orange cushions that scream "I love the 70s," you can't help but drift back to memories of Starsky and Hutch and Columbo. On that note, why does "style" change so much? Why can't people stick with something? Why does everything have to be 'new?'"

Hmmm...maybe not that, either. Oh, well...maybe my blog doesn't need a "character" or an "indentity." Maybe this is, after all, just a safe place to rant about...whatever...

KEY PHRASES: "Wow...I think Eli just had a coniption." "Stacey...look! A LaserDisc player, and it's only $42." (LOL). "Hmm..I thought J-mo and Eric were going to play online tonight." "Kevin, it IS almost 11:30." D'OH! "Great, the 'smell' is gone."

Good food and sick kids...WOOOOO!

Yesterday was a lot of fun...got Stacey PC up and running finally. No explosions, everything's working....so far ;-)

Went to the Guad last night...good crowd...Stacey, Me, Kailyn, Eli, Emma, J-mo, Eric, Wendy and kids... Then we strolled down to EBgames and Sears where we bought...NOTHING! (WOOHOO).

Eric's fam, Jeremy, Allison, and us went back to my house to watch the video of the service from Sunday.

And all was well...UNTIL...

Heidi, who'd been asleep on the couch in our "dining" room, sat up and threw up all over the carpet. EEEEYYYYYYUUUUUUUUCK! So Eric, Wendy, and I spent the rest of the time cleaning up. Even ran a carpet deep cleaning machine. But, since it's still stained, I have to get Jeremy's dad out here to clean it up on Thurs. At least the smell and the immediate mess are gone. I just feel bad for Heidi...who still didn't feel well after that, and who was obviously embarrassed. Heck, it happens...

Hopped on the Battlefield for a little Desert Combat last night. Played (briefly) with Eric, and got my butt kicked. Played another round later and came in a very close 3rd (1st had 14, 2nd had 13, I had 12 points).

KEY PHRASES: "Monday Night Monkey Love." "Ewww...you can still see tomatoes." "I'll give you 15 minutes of free babysitting, courtesy of J-mo."

For submission into the English language:

THIS WEEK: Some Dave-speak

"Impenatratable" - (adj.) even stronger than "impenetrable;" "Super-impenetrable."

Usage: "The walls of Babylon were IMPENETRATABLE." (from the original Hebrew)...

;-)


Previous submissions:

"Undevoted attention."

Mmm...chicken...

Not much bloggin' lately...been a farily busy weekend. Spent Saturday cleaning up some, then started on my first attempt at building Stacey's PC. I've never done that before, so it was a little challenging, but once I figured out where all the plugs went (esp. those wacked case front USB plugs), it was pretty easy. I closed the case, turned it on...WOOHOO! It worked! Until...(yes, with me, there's always an "until")...my Windows XP installation CD product key wouldn't work... -A BIG SIGH- "Not again," I thought...

Oh, well...I let go of my worries and jumped online with J-mo for a little B1942 action. First game, I was getting slaughtered. Second game, though, I played more up to par (though I've done better).

Church this morning went great! We played "Open Up Your Eyes," by Tonic. It was rockin'. I watched the video of the service this afternoon, at it looked a lot better, too. We were definitely a little more "animated" as a band onstage. Anyway - back to the service...Dave preached well, we had a decent crowd, and there were no technology glitches this week. I really hope God used the program to touch people's hearts...however they needed to be touched.

I spent ALL afternoon cleaning my house prepping for our gathering tonight. But, wow - it looks great now. Clean kitchen, clean living room, clean dining room, clean bonus room - it's nice to feel "clean." Now, onto the bedrooms and the garage...yikes.

Tonight was a LOT of fun. Had a big crowd over to the house for a little cooking out and hanging out: Me, Stacey, Elizabeth, Danielle (Eli's friend from Montgomery), Amber, Brian, and all our "young-uns." Cooking out was fun...feel like I did a pretty good job. Elizabeth brought potatoes au gratin...we had barbeque chicken and marinated chicken...brown rice casserole...grilled veggies...and cookies and caramel cake for dessert. Mmmm....caramel cake.

Seriously, it was great to have everyone over. There's nothing like hanging out with a group of friends, especially when you're still really in a "get to know" phase with some of them. I felt like we all loosened up pretty well... We watched some TV...one funny moment was watching Eli and Danielle practically LEAP off the couch during a scary scene from "Signs." Wow, they're jumpy. I could go on and on about the night, but...I'll stop...there's just too much good stuff...

Now, I'm thinking...About tonight, isn't that one dimension of what it's all about? ("It" being our driving purpose as Christians). Connecting with other people? On that note, I really want this sunday night to become a regular thing...and we can be as playful (cards, PC games) or as serious (guitars/music or - cough - prayer/Bible study...whatever) as WE want to be. Right now, it's just fun to hang out and see where the group leads.

Well, it's now 12:30 a.m. I'm still kinda wired after tonight, since everyone (but J-mo) stayed relatively late (Eli and Danielle just left). So, off to bed...

KEY PHRASES: "I thought Logan was sick." "He is." (D'OH!). "Yada, yada, yada." "Here comes Emma...quick...hide the cats." "Is Emma 'hitting on' Noah?" "NO! I said, Emma's HITTING Noah." "You see? The Simpsons DON'T suck." "Why, do you have webcam?" "Jonathan, do you know how to flip chicken on the grill?" "WHAT????" "I'll just play online when Amber's not home." "Get behind me Satan..." Satan (hypothetical response): "But I can't see around him." (hehe, you had to be there).

Held back...

**Let me "geek out" a bit...since my PC woes continue...(normal blog entry below)**

Nothing like having a fast PC that's limited by bad graphics drivers. The new NVIDIA video drivers pretty much suck. Yeah, that sums it up. Well, they work great in Call of Duty and greatly improved Halo's performance. However, they make Desert Combat unstable, visually "weird," and, ultimately, unplayable on a lot of the good maps. Tonight, I experienced a MASSIVE system crash on my PC...not just a crash to the desktop, but a system-wide "whoa-my-pc-just-shut-itself-off" kind of crash. Took a few tries to get the system to re-start, too.

I thought maybe my CPU was overheating (especially after thurs. night's goofups)...but after scanning the 'net for information, my temps are still well within normal operating limits for a 3.0 Ghz P4. After one more (less panicky) call to J-mo, I decided to open up the PC and check everything out. Everything looked good. And I think some major system slowdown I experienced had more to do with the Windows "serious error" than the hardware. Several forum entries from other users talked about a similar crash playing Desert Combat.

Oh, well...could be anything. All I know now is that everything's stable again (knock on wood), the temps are cool enough, and I CAN still play a couple of my favorite maps in DC. I'll just have to rollback my drivers if I want to play a lot. Yo, NVIDIA...how about a fix?

**Okay...geeking out complete.**

Volleyball practice tonight was a lot of fun. It was good to get out, exercise, and do more than just watch "Trek Uncut" on Spike TV. Practiced a while. Wow, my serve was really "on" tonight. Hope I can keep that up through the season.

Afterwards, Stacey, me, Kailyn, Eric, Wendy, Jack, Pam, Eli, her mom, and Emma all headed to Logan's for some grub. Good night of laughs, good conversation, etc. Hope this social dimension of our group continues to grow.

Well, off to bed. Going to work with J-mo tomorrow on building up Stacey's "new" PC.

KEY PHRASES: "Wow, look what happens when you give a kid a bright orange marker in a public place with no supervision. D'oh!" "Look, it's 'Sky Burns.'" Me: "Dang, Wendy...you fall on the ground a lot." Dave: "She's just closer to it than we are." (LOL) "A life with you, I can never imagine." (yes, the phrase came up again, and it was good for another round of laughter).

Finally, it's autumn...WOOHOO

I have to disagree with some of you who've really liked the 80+ degree weather. That's great in September, but in November I want cold. I want leaves falling off the trees and people bundled up like some snapshot from an insurance or beer commercial. I like the air when it's crisp (yes, usually only old people use that word). I even like the overcast day we had today. It looked and felt like fall, and that's fine with me. Now all I need is a cup of hot chocolate with those little marshmallow things in them...or a cup of soup so I can relive my favorite Campbell's commercial...and now that I'm a dad, it all kinda "fits." Maybe a fire in the fireplace, our golden retriever laying at my feet, maybe a football game on TV...

In real life, I'm probably less like that and more like this: walking around in an un-ironed shirt I picked up off the floor, drinking a can of warm Mountain Dew, mumbling something about something Kailyn needs, then disappearing to "retreat" from real life into the world of Battlefield 1942.

Ah, I love fall...

In his blog, Chad brought up the Oregon Trail...and how there used to be one computer per grade, and it was an Apple II at that. I miss those days. I also remember that if you could draw a straight line on an Apple using hlin and vlin commands and could plot dots by typing "plot 23,24", you were the shizzle (though they didn't say shizzle back then...you were just "cool."). You felt like a programmer. And you were totally bummed when you saw those first IBM's that had MSPaint, and thought that kind of computer drawing was for wimps. "But, that kinda looks like the sun." "Kevin, it's a yellow square....now you were supposed to be off the PC and let Thomas have a turn." Ah, memories.

On the subject of elementary school...I miss those little ice creams that came in those small, aluminum cups with the paper lid you peeled back, then ate it with a small wooden spoon, which looked like a small version of those things the doctor would put down your throat. Wow...it was a good day when you had ice cream for lunch. And pizza...I think the best pizza I had in my whole life was in 4th grade on Fridays. Maybe it wasn't so good, but compared to all the other lunchlady "creations" we ate, that was heaven.

Tonight? Volleyball practice. Lord knows we need it. Note to all people playing volleyball: If you want to play, DO NOT be afraid of the ball. Wow...last year, it seemed some members of the team would actually run away from the ball coming at them...costing us a serve or a point. -sigh- Also, I wonder if Elizabeth will not over-compensate for our weaknesses this year...LOL. Last year, her "spot" on the court was a circle about 20 feet across...and if you were bordered against it and a ball was heading your way, you found yourself ducking for cover as a blonde blur jumped in front of you screaming, "I got it." Scary thing was, she usually did get it, kinda embarrassing the rest of the team who had a hard time covering their respective 3 foot circles.

BTW, the new release of the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 is AWESOME! (if you're a gamer, that is).

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "Jonathan, shoot the guys on the OTHER team." "Hmm...$30 rebate = buy it now." Chad (from his bloggin' about the Oregon Trail game): "Normally we got to about Utah before we all died. I mean we all died fat because we had so much venison, but I don't think venison could cure malaria."

Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh....

Well, my PC is upgraded...and I handled the entire project with much poise and grace...

Um...not exactly. After I installed the processor and the new RAM, I turned the PC back on and... it wouldn't boot...hmm..."not this again!" I screamed aloud. "Wait, I'll call J-mo...yeah, he'll know what to do...if he can't help, no one can..." I dial... "What do you want now?" he asks. "It won't boot," I said in a panic. He replies, "It worked before you upgraded it, you hose-monkey." I say, "But..." "Shut up and listen," he interrupts, "Take it apart, put your old stuff back in one thing at a time, and isolate your problem." "Yes, O great one..." I reply.

So I do...turns out I simply hadn't seated my P4 as "snug" as it needed to be. D'OH!!! It fit MUCH more snug in the slot than the old processor, which just "fell" into place... The new one needed a little push... I'm such an idiot. Or maybe I just got overly impatient in all the excitement of the upgrade...

"All right!" I exclaim. Now, time to reboot. The PC whirs to life, with all its reassuring beeps...UNTIL...

"What's that screen mean?" Ominously, the screen reads "Overclocking failed." Overclocking, had I overclocked anything? The phone rings again at J-mo's house. He answers not with words but with a sigh, followed by, "This is why I don't do computer work after 9:00. You get into a panic...well, YOU, Kevin, get into a panic." I think, "well, pardon moi, but I want my PC to work, Mr. 'My PC did NOT suffer a major malfunction 2 weeks ago and it was a headache.'" Annoyed, he states, "Your PC is probably trying to revert to its prior settings...wait, I'm not going to explain it...just hit "use default settings" and leave me alone." "Okay...wow, that worked." "Of course it worked, you dufus," he proclaims (with a hint of satisfaction at my stupidity...or sheer annoyance).

WOOHOO! PC up and running...cool, now I can...oh, no...NOW WHAT???? "FOUND NEW HARDWARE...WHAT NEW HARDWARE? NOTHING I INSTALLED SHOULD CAUSE THAT!!! New audio device...WHAAAAAA????

J-mo, peacefully sitting in front of his brand new, fully-functioning PC, hears the phone ring yet again. It rings...he ponders not answering it. "No," he thinks, "He'll just keep calling and calling...man, I need new friends..." Reluctantly, he picks up the phone. I swear I hear faint teeth-gritting mumbling as I hear him pick up the receiver.

"What?" Hearing the annoyance in his tone, I ponder leaving him alone, and think..."nah." "It's bringing up a new hardware wizard." He replies, "Will you just go to bed and deal with this in the morning?" "But I want it working NOW!" I whine. Suddenly, as J-mo reminds me to stay calm, a solution clicks in my own head...and I realize that setting the motherboard back to its defaults caused the onboard audio to re-initialize... "Oh," I say, "I know what it is...need to go back into the BIOS and disable the audio." "Good," he replies. "Now, leave me alone, or I'm going to shove your PC up your..." I hang up quickly...

Absurd? Not really...I was a big freakin' baby trying to get my PC working tonight. Each solution was simple, and could've been easily figured out if I wasn't in a "I want it now!" mood and hadn't lost patience with technology and human error. Funny, in the long run, technology inevitably leads to human error...especially when you "rush" it, then don't try to solve the problem yourself with a little patience.

Anyway, after the upgrade fiasco, the PC is functioning VERY well. Feels new all over again...WOOHOO! I jumped online for a little B-1942 action and made peace with J-mo by sitting in the machine gun seat on the tank he was driving, protecting him from those lousy 'brits who kept trying to blow the tank up. It worked well, until he tried to take on about 4 tanks at once in the middle of an enemy base...wow...that was smart... ;-)

KEY PHRASES OF THE NIGHT: "Leave me alone." "Again, leave me alone." Stacey: "Kevin, I don't care about computer stuff." Me: "Whaaaaaat?" Stacey: "Good night...I'm going to bed."

THE "MORAL" OF THIS STORY: Be patient with projects of any kind. Rush, and mistakes are inevitable, and having to backtrack your steps is very frustrating. Besides, throwing an adult "temper tantrum" is not a pretty sight. -sigh-

Thursday...almost there...

Today was rather productive. (Don't laugh, J-mo). Got a lot done at the house this morning, then ran a few errands. After that, I dropped Stacey at the church to paint while I went over to Eric's mom's house to assemble a futon she bought from us last month. I kinda freaked out at "Catzilla," though. Holy crap, they have the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life...22 lbs., and not fat (that's what Kailyn weighs!) Don't they call cats that big bobcats? At least it was very friendly...if it hadn't been, I'd almost be afraid...

Nah.

Tonight, I had some left over Jim-n-Nick's for dinner. Yum. Now I'm too full (again).

Dropped by J-mo's a couple of times today...got computer envy seeing his new setup. Well, at least my processor and RAM will be up to spec in a little bit...since I'm about to yank everything out and drop the new hardware in. If I don't blog for a while, you know I screwed something up...LOL.

Sunday at church ought to be pretty interesting. Dealing with the "handwriting on the wall" story in Daniel is always a challenging one, and I think Dave's going to make some challenging points.

KEY PHRASES: "I've got plenty of food, central heat, and a fast PC...I'll be okay." (yelling from my upstairs window): "Jordan, call your mom." "Shouldn't that belong in a zoo???" (j/k)

On mudslides and mood swings...

Ah..Jim N' Nick's for lunch...I was in culinary heaven. Cool thing is, they now sell their honey mustard in bottles...WOOHOO! Okay, if you've never had their honey mustard, don't laugh...it's the shizzle. Culinary salvation in a bottle...mmmmm....mustard...honey...(insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here)

Today was going good... but around 5:30, Stacey settled into a pretty foul mood...of course, she had very little sleep last night, had to drive to Birmingham and back today, and she was dealing with a fussy toddler. Oh, well...off to band practice I went, obvioulsy not in the best mood myself. And I'm not proud of that. I loathe bad moods, especially in myself. They feel like contradictions to a walk with Christ. No, I certainly don't want to be one of those "artificial-smile-no-matter-what-happiness-wannabes" that some Christians strive to be. I think we should feel free to express our emotions and be honest about how we feel. But not to the point that I hurt others or cease being a light for others just so I can let the world know what kind of a mood I'm in. But I should keep things in perspective...and weigh the frustrations of the day against the truth of my salvation. Again, if you think I'm sappy about this, realize that I spend a lot of time trying to find the truth behind what's become almost "cliche" in our faith. What value did some of our beliefs/values have before we turned the truth into bumper sticker cliches? In this case...I want to find the way to experience God's joy and a peace the "passes understanding" when circumstances are tough. As a cliche, being joyful in times of trouble is a copout. But as a learned truth - by finding joy amidst sorrow, that truth is a source of hope. Yes, it's a deep thought...and a rough one at that.

Anyway, after a short time of worship and rockin' out to a Tonic song, I felt much better. Amber practiced with us again, and...holy cow...she can harmonize to anything and it sounds freakin' awesome... It was very good having her at rehearsal again.

Afterwards, we went to Applebee's...Eric, Wendy (and co.), J-mo, Eli, and me... I just had a mud slide and a Coke. Woohoo... Another night of good times, talking about everything from Kyle (strangely absent from Applebee's) to stressful days to the Simpsons.

When I came home, Stacey was in a much better mood (thank God), and we watched the end of "Serendipity" together...that's a pretty cool movie. She went to bed early...God knows she needed to...but I've still been up wasting a little time listening to some .mp3s.

But no more....must...get sleep...

PHRASES OF THE EVENING: "No, I just LOOK like I want to kill somebody." "My dog gives me good "fur." (J-mo - supwifdat?). "I will never call my wife stupid...she's smart like me...S-M-R-T. (Chad).

Waiting for lunch...

Stacey's driving home right now from Birmingham with a hot bag of Jim N' Nick's chicken fingers, fries, and onion rings. I'm drooling on my keyboard. As Eric has said, some food is good, but Jim N' Nicks' is what GOD eats! Um...I'm the perfect illustration of a Pavlovian response: Think about food, commence drooling.

KEY PHRASES: "Captain HTML's work is through here." "[CENSORED]," by Homer Simpson...laugh J-mo. "But Stacey, it's a REALLY nice fan."

It's all gravy....

Wow. I woke up in a good mood this morning...that is, until I read Eli's blog. I was laughing up to a point, but then it "clicked" that, "wow, all this stuff really happened!" So now I don't know whether to laugh or feel really, really bad that her day was so bad. Side note to self: Do not laugh about Eli's bad day in her presence. Do not want to incur that wrath. ;-)

Stacey drove to Birmingham today to work at Walgreen's, to get in her "once a month" shift. She does this so that if she does go back to Walgreen's when they open a store up here next year, all her vacation, etc. will remain what they were before she worked at Wal-mart. 3 weeks of vacation, stuff like that. I just hate it when she has to get up at 6 a.m. and drives an hour and a half to Birmingham while fighting sleep the whole way. Not good.

Also, I'm wondering when my (and J-mo's) PC parts will arrive, although I doubt they shipped yesterday.

Hmmm...now, how do I get my good mood back? Maybe I should read my past blog entries...

Okay, some good stuff: Making real progress on the house clean up. Already working on the music for next week - it's good to be ahead, b/e it gives me some time to brainstorm/work on some other ideas.

KEY PHRASES OF THE MORNING: "Mmm...pop tarts." "Wake up, woman!" "Why does everyone log off when I IM them? (followed by excessive bawling). "Why does he want to know so much about 'Chutes and Ladders?'"

We found Nemo...

Just finished watching Finding Nemo...wow, that was a pretty funny movie...and truly good for all ages. A couple of really funny parts, and the animation was astounding in places...I give it a "thumbs up."

Grilled out on my grill tonight for the first time since I've lived here...ah, nice to have home-cooked food (cooked "manly" style with flame, not with magic [microwave]...grunt, grunt...)

Got my second entertainment center hooked up today in the bonus room (finally), so I can start cleaning boxes out of here now. It's now officially the music and gaming "pad," and will be even more so after the PC upgrades... Playstation 2, GameCube, 2 PCs, DVD player setup, a guitar amp, all my guitars...I think I'll just live up here. Eventually, I want to use it as a small, low-budget home studio. Woohoo!

I've got to figure out a cheap way to get to Atlanta and pick up some bedroom furniture and a piano. Or maybe just have it moved. I dunno...we need it, but it's going to be a headache to get it here.

BTW...For Wes...I'm not spewing anything!! LOL. System checks out clean.

KEY PHRASES OF THE EVENING: "Real man cook with fire." "D'oh."

Barking Burritos...

Woke up at 5:00 a.m...was it a burrito? Was it God? No, it was just my stupid dog barking. Why do dogs feel like they need to bark and play with each other at 5 a.m.? Anyway, shoes on, out the door, drag a dog into the garage, back to bed. No fun stacey story this time, though...

If you've read J-mo's PC parts order "delay," you know he's not happy about it. That makes ME not happy about it, since I've got some parts in that order coming my way. So...DANG IT! Oh, well...must remember the lines of one my favorite mentors who once said, "Patience, Daniel-son." Er...wait...um...

Trying to finish off the bonus room today...would be going quicker, except I think I'm going to re-arrange the whole room.

On another note, Chad made a reference in his blog (The Chattin Files - click the link) about something "an old administrator" used to say to him about "teachable moments." Sad thing is, HIS old administrator was also MY old administrator. Holy crap, thanks for the flashback. It truly is the noise of fingernails on a chalkboard. Man, I'm so glad I'm not in that environment anymore. I'm sure Chad is, too. At least so much time's past now, we can joke about it...when we're not still crying, that is...LOL

On yet another note, Joel saw the same woman who came by the church last week peddling for gas money to drive to Atlanta to see her father who'd been shot. She tried to pull the same "scam" with him, not knowing he recognized her. Fortunately, she didnt' recognize him, so he called her out on it. Oh, well, you win some, you lose some...but I still would've liked to have seen her face knowing she'd been "busted." All I'll say about the topic is that it's god's money, and, ultimately, she'll be accountable for it. But hopefully, our help (and prayers for her) will somehow plant a seed in her to stop this kind of crap and plug into what she really needs: God.

KEY PHRASES OF THE MORNING: "Why do we have 3 dogs again?" "Okay, fine...YOU can have the new PC case!" "I'll show you what you can do with YOUR PCI bus, you jerk." (just razzin' you) "We're spewing what?"

2 drink minimum...

Wow, another fun time tonight at the "guad." Good crowd with J-mo, Eric, Wendy, Stacey, Dave, Dana, Allison, Jeremy, and Eli...and all of our respective kids. Talked about everything from new PCs to unique ways of doing laundry to the battle of the bands. All in all, a good evening, except I think every waiter there hates us...or the language barrier frustrates them. I dunno...

Was hoping people would want to hang out afterwards, but everyone kinda went their separate ways. Oh, well...it's just me, my PC, and my blog. Oh...I...have...no...life... Have spent sometime talking to some old friends online, though. Whassup with old friends asking me advice about girls? Like I'm some kind of authority on the subject...LOL. Oh, well...anyone want to hang out tomorrow night so I can feel like I do more than...nothing? (on that note, does anyone read this?) - sigh -

Alrighty then, on with some quotes:

KEY PHRASES OF THE DAY: "I've got a smart-a$$ kid." (that was too funny in context) "I'm moving down here to see what you guys are talking about...I'm leaving the groper alone." "Don't I look 21?" "Holy crap, Eli REALLY hates the Simpsons...she does know I was kidding about watching them, right?" "Jordan was running 'recon' for us." Eli, upon seeing Eric's re-touched photo of 'mullet-kyle' in a sleeveless shirt: "Wow, that's funny...wait, I thought he worked out." LOL. From Chad's blog: "This weekend, I learned not to format my wife's hard drive without saving the Wedding and Honeymoon pictures first." Ouch.

"Monday, you can hold your head..."

tuesday wednesday stay in bed
or thursday watch the walls instead
it's friday i'm in love.." (the Cure)

Hmmm...sounds like Kyle's work week to me...

Hehe...I never did like the band "The Cure," since I always thought they were a bunch of sissies (wow, haven't used that word in a while) with cheesy music. But other lines in this song say, "monday you can fall apart" and "I don't care if Monday's black." Appropriate, considering that today's been the first "bad" monday I've had in a while. Stacey's had some frustrating issues at work, I've been engaged in the JOYOUS task of looking at bills/finances, and all this while it's an absolutely beautiful day outside. Normally, beautiful days are NOT depressing, but it IS November and I like cold weather...AND, dang it, if it's going to stubbornly stay like summer outside, I wish I had time to be out IN IT. So, maybe I want to get all "sissy" myself and "fall apart" on a depressing Monday like today...

...thinking about the amount of money we still owe...thinking about the absolutely IMMENSE struggles I know some of my friends are going through with everything from finances to family...thinking about the amount of work that needs to be done...thinking about how out of shape I am...thinking about how my spiritual life sometimes feels devoid of a real experience with God...

And what does this mood do to me? Nothing good. I wind up snapping more frequently at Stacey over stupid stuff, or I wind up losing patience with Kailyn simply because she's a toddler. Wow, that's not the kind of dad and husband I want to be. I also tend to isolate myself from others...not wanting to talk to anyone. Instead, it's tempting to just sit here and wallow in a foul mood "wasting my life away," as another noted in his blog today for probably different reasons.

However, I don't want to care if Monday's "black." Maybe I need to kick myself in my emotional (CENSORED) and realize that no matter what's going on, life is inherently good. I could say that it's good because of my beautiful daughter, or my beautiful wife, or having a roof over my head... Or because I'm watching our debt gradually get reduced, or seeing Crosspoint gain more and more momentum... Or because it IS just good to be alive on bad days, knowing they haven't killed me yet. ...or because I can look forward to hanging out with friends tonight at Guadelajara

But, as good as these things are (and it's healthy to remember these things), they're not the reason life is good in and of themselves. I think life is good simply because...God cares. When I'm fighting depression I can't help but feel (at least partly) ridiculous because, after all, I am a child of God, regardless of whether I "feel" His presence or not. And I wonder how I can be so depressed since I've experienced the GOOD NEWS...no, the BEST NEWS, in my life? The good news that God loves me...Is everything else too big that I forget that simple truth?

Am I a sap? Have I, as Sigmund Freud suggests, created an artificial religious belief to comfort me? (I've been guilty of that, too).

No, it's a simple truth. God loves me. God strengthens me. He only fails if I stubbornly refuse to acknowledge him...but, hmm...now that I think about it, he doesn't really fail then, either. Maybe some of the people who've professed "love" in his name have failed me...but God never really has.

So, I don't know who among you out there is having a rough week, month, or year...though I know some of you are. So, I'm breaking from tongue-in-cheek "jesting" in my blog for this entry just to encourage you guys in the hopes that you, too can find comfort in knowing that God loves all of us...even in a small town like Decatur where past discouragements can "haunt" you around every corner.

Is the good news of Christ's love for us "real" in our lives? I don't mean "real" to mean some emotional high or some intellectual certainty devoid of questions or even doubt. It's a simpler question than that...is it "real" to us? Does it give us hope when the bills pile up or when our jobs frustrate us or when...it's monday? Does that good news change us into better people? Do we want to share it?

After all, how many people do you know who have tough mondays and could use a little hope?

Maybe depression - sometimes - isn't a mood, but a choice... We choose to wallow in the things that discourage - or - we choose to celebrate the best news we could ever hope for...

Okay, done preaching...I'll leave that up to Dave from now on ;-).

Bloggin' in 5.1 surround sound...

Good weekend...if not a bit "packed" with things going on. Church Sunday went pretty well...it was very good to have most of the music committed to memory, so it freed us to engage the crowd and "feel" the music better. The feedback that I got was that everything was much better, including the mix. Thought Dave did a good job, too. A good morning, overall, and I think our guests enjoyed it.

I hope we keep the dialogue about developing "passion" onstage going...where does it come from? We don't want to "manufacture" it...instead, we want it to be something that genuinely overflows from inside us. Part of it, of course, should be passion for music and getting into the "groove," but as worship leaders, I think we should always realize that the best stage passion comes from allowing God to work in our lives. BAM! That's the ultimate bottom line. And that doesn't mean God's going to work the same way in each of us. Just as long as we let him work - I think that's the key. So that in some way we're connecting with him and carrying out his mission all the time...

Anyway, after church we (Me, Stacey, J-mo, Jord-o, and Kailyn) headed over to Huntsville for...well, most of the day. Ate lunch at Landry's (note to self: Lunch at Landry's, though good, is ridiculously expensive). I'm just glad we didn't order the king crab legs for $34.99 market price. SHEESH! Afterwards, went to Best Buy, where I got to watch J-mo start the process of plopping down a lot of coin on a new computer. He bought a cutting edge Radeon card. I wound up buying an Antec case for stacey so I can start the process of upgrading her PC...and mine, since the process was "accidentally" started a few weeks ago. Went to CompUSA later, where I wound up buying Stacey a new computer keyboard to replace the ancient one she's using now. After that we headed to PetSmart so Jonathan could find something to nurture his "work" fish back to life...LOL.

Went home, goofed off for a bit, then met up with Jack, Pam, and J-mo...we headed across the street to Dave's to present him with a present: A new Kenwood surround sound system. After everything Dave and his family have done for us (especially stacey and I), it was the BEGINNING of the very least we could do for them...

J-mo retreated after a bit to play some B-1942, then Eli FINALLY showed up to hang out with us. We watched import Video CD's of Friends episodes, yapped a bit more, than everyone went home and pretty much crashed. A good end to a good weekend.

KEY PHRASES FOR SUNDAY: "Give God your 'undevoted' attention." "Jordan, you DID tell your parents we were going to do more things in huntsville than just eat lunch, right?" "Um, yeah...I think I did." (sigh). "Sorry your $20 salad sucks." "I'm not sorry my $18 shrimp did not suck." "Did our hostess used to be a man?" "Why are there clothes in the pool?" "No, we still have one more worship song." "Why don't people update their blogs? Oh, wait...I don't...or, as Kyle would say..."Woooooooooooooooooo." What the heck does that mean, anyway?"

BEST THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If God gave you a chance to write less than 1 percent of the Bible, what would you say?"

Open 'til 2 a.m.

Wow, what a weekend so far. Hmm...let me be brief...

1. Battle of the Bands (Friday night) - lots of prep, loud music, 2 kinds of smoke, "never pull a girl onstage for an impromptu stage performance, no matter how good she looks," Jeremy is not a roadie, but he knows how to propose. "Oh, my gosh...that dude looks like Satan - in a choir robe, and he's playing on OUR stage!" All in all, a very good night...a lot of fun

2. Kailyn - looked cute in her Halloween giraffe costume. My personal highlight of the evening before we shuttle her off to Andy and Dixie's for the evening.

3. Cleanup (Saturday) - got it done, stage reset. Spent time discussing sound/stage/style issues. Once again, more ranting about rantable stuff...oh, well. We have so many musical tastes in our group. Get 3 people together, 3 different tastes. Important to raise the bar, but the reality of doing music of any style is that you cannot please everyone. On a related note, I realized Friday night that Chastity and Joel are really into hardcore music, and THEY like our church and music anyway....cool. Anyway, after cleanup, we went to Logan's. Mmmm...mushrooms.

4. Naptime...err...followed by a little Call of Duty.

5. A boring Saturday night...watching TV. Anyone ever seen "The Postman" with Kevin Costner? I know most people's opinion on that movie...but I liked it, just because it was different. So shoot me...

6. Now...time to sleep...the drive thru is now closed...

KEY PHRASE OF THE DAY: (sigh)