I was wrong...

Friday can be just as blah as Thursday. Oh, well...today it's a combination of things: Kailyn seems to not be feeling well and is sluggish/sleepy, the weather is gloomy, and I've not gotten much sleep the past couple of nights.

Oh, well...life goes on.

One thing that did strike me funny today: I looked out the window a little bit ago and saw Dave across the street. He had apparently just gotten home (he'd ridden to work with his bro). But what was funny is the whole image: Dave - in shorts, a t-shirt, and a hat, carrying a bag, standing in front of the front door waiting for someone to come unlock it so he could go inside. He looked like a big, deranged kid who'd just gotten home from school :-)

Heheh...well, I thought it was a funny image, anyway.

-Sigh- Am I that blah today?

KEY PHRASES: "For anyone who’s sensitive to this type of thing, the Heaven vs. Hell theme in "Painkiller" incorporates gratuitous use of traditionally satanic symbols such as the pentagram, uses well known biblical characters in roles that might not be easily accepted in Christendom, has enemies that are demonic representations of theologians, and presents its own theology. If these things will bother you or someone in your household, you’re going to want to steer clear of this title." - From the Avault.com review of Painkiller. (I just thought this quote relevant given the fact that the content of the game shocks some yet appeals to others in our group. My view? It's just a game...hehehe).

Thursday...

Say the word 'thursday' really slow, and you'll get a feel for the 'blahness' of the day. Honestly, Thursday is my least favorite day of the week. It's the work week equivalent of stage 4 sleep, I think: When you're experiencing Thursday, you're in the absolute pit of the week. Even the Friday that follows is not always enough to release you from the depression that is Thursday.

Funny, the German word for Thursday is Donnerstag, which literally translates, "Thunder Day." Supwifdat? It's as if even the ancient derivative for the word suggests people wanted to name it something exciting to try to elevate that day of the week out of the pit of the work week blah. We have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and now (drum roll)...Thunder Day!! How can you not like Thunder Day? It's thunder...you know, boom, boom...

Well, that's sounds as gay to me as Wonderful Wednesday or Fabulous Friday.

But I digress...

I spent a good portion of the morning talking on and off with our realtor in Birmingham to try to come up with a house-selling strategy. Big fun. On the bright side, the house should sell for nearly 40% more than we paid for it 5 years ago, so that rocks. At least we've made one good investment over the years.

Spent a lot of time today with Kailyn...playing with her, since she seems a bit attention-starved lately. As J-mo put it, she's become loud, as if she's always trying to get our attention. So, from 12-3 today, that was "Kailyn time." I think she appreciated it, though she has no way of telling me. Still, she laughed a lot and ran around the living room/dining room a lot. Wow, when did she learn to actually run?

Band practice last night went good. Went to Cracker Barrel afterwards, then went home. Nothing spectacular, but good, nonetheless.

Well, have to make some phone calls...peace out.

Note to self: Never call Eric when he's asleep. :-)

KEY PHRASES: "Oh, you can't reach Kailyn to wipe her chin? I can fix that." (instead of wiping her chin myself, I scoot the highchair around to Stacey so she could do it...hehe). "Kevin, I hope you have a futon or sleeper sofa you can sleep on tonight."

I'm feeling crabby...

The week's gotten off to a good start so far. Monday went well, though somehow I messed up the weekly music giveaway to the band and left Heavy E out. It was an honest mistake, though I'm sure he felt...annoyed :-). Wound up - as usual - at the Guad monday night with Stacey, Eli, J-mo, Kyle, Chuck, and David. Fun crowd. We prowled the mall and - like we do every week - sighed frequently at the number of stores closing down. It's pretty depressing. Even EBgames...one of our 4 stops (Sears, Dillards, Parisian, and EBgames) will be closing down soon (as they open another location in Decatur). It's like that mall in the movie "Eight Legged Freaks" that no one went to. Okay, since I can assume NONE of you actually stooped to the pathetic level I did by watching that movie, that reference probably isn't as humorous to you as it is to me. Oh, well...

While we were out, we picked up yet another round of clothes at Dillards in the clearance section...now, everything on the racks was $6.99...period...didn't matter what it originally cost. $72 shirts? Now $6.99. Not too shabby, eh?

Also picked up a canister vac at Sears to replace our ailing vacuum cleaner. Big John hooked us up big time and marked down a clearance item to a ridiculously low price (what used to be a top of the line canister vac was - in the end - marked down cheaper than their cheapest entry-level canister vac...too cool). Yikes...I'm excited about buying a vacuum. What's...wrong...with...me? :-/. Parenthood and home owner responsibilities tend to take any 'coolness' I had left and have turned me into a suburbanite...yikes. Next thing you know I'll be invading the Klopeck's home looking for dead bodies... (Sorry, random "The Burbs" reference...great old Tom Hanks film).

Being a good suburbanite, I did more yard work today. I pulled up a lot of weeds in my front yard and mowed down the ridiculously tall weeds near my back fence.

Tonight, J-mo and his parents came over and we had some crab legs. It was pretty nice to hang out with him and his family. They're very friendly. The food was good, too. We'll have to do that again sometimes, and get Dave/Dana to participate, too.

KEY PHRASES: "Are we going to laugh at the pink shirt/white pants combination EVERY time we go to Dillard's?" "Yes." "John, we're here to give you your weekly guilt trip."

Highlights...

FRIDAY:

Drove the Baer (with Amber) to Hunstville Hospital for his foot surgery. From what I hear, much pain, grogginess, and young children vomiting followed.

Met J-mo at the church to pick up my new Shure ULXP4 wireless transmitter and Beta 87A microphone. It is just too cool, and was extremly cheap...so cheap, that I almost wonder exactly where Jesus (Hay-zoos) gets the goods :-). Heh...just kidding. I guess being employed by a manufacturer of high quality audio equipment has its rewards (and better than that 10% discount Stacey had working for Wal-mart...d'oh). It's very cool that he's helped us out.

SATURDAY:

Spent pretty much the ENTIRE day working with the pressure washer on the back patio. Cleaned everything up nice, and even got Stacey's swing hung up (after a great deal of 'mis-drilling' into what used to be a nice smooth area covered in vinyl siding...-sigh-

Kailyn hung out with me outside all day. Stacey came home with some Alice Springs Chicken from Outback Steakhouse (mmmm...), then we headed to Lowe's for some hardware.

Note to self: When working in your attic, never crawl into a tight space close to the underside of the roof, or you find LOTS of sharp nails the hard way. Ow.

SUNDAY:

Church went awesome. The music was good. It was nice to have Amber and Jeremy join us with their respective talents. LOTS of guests today. Attendance was up around 70, I think.

Went to Logan's for lunch. In spite of the fear of a long wait, we walked right in, sat down, ordered, ate, and beat another party home that had eaten at Cracker Barrel. (Cracker Barrel? On a Sunday? hehehe).

Spent all afternoon cleaning house (like we do EVERY Sunday afternoon).

Good crowd for small group: Me, Stacey, Eli, Amber, Brian, David, Chuck, Eric, Wendy, and Kyle (and all the respective young-uns). Took it easy tonight...ate pizza, watched an episode of the Simpsons (with a point to the whole thing)...

Thought I had another PC glitch going...the computer just would NOT boot up tonight, until a bunch of random presses of the 'reset' button must've finally reset whatever power malfunction I was having.

A toilet overflowed...that is ALWAYS fun to deal with.

That's pretty much it...the weekend went by so fast...as always, I'm sure there's more to tell, but...zzzzzzz...must....zzzzzz....go to...zzzz...sleep....zzzzz.

KEY PHRASES: "You could tell there was a pretty girl in the room the way Kyle weaved his way around her location with a 25ft. minimum safe distance." -or- "Kyle reacts to pretty women the way Kailyn reacts to crutches." (hehe...j/k, man). "Two measley stinking grapes." "That's the closest thing he's had to a hug in a while." "

"Is it a.m. or p.m.?" "A.m. Very, very a.m."

Ah...that movie line from Apollo 13 resonates with how I feel right now. Yes, it's 7:20 a.m., and that's not early by any standards for those of you who commute to Huntsville to work and have to be there at like 6 a.m. However, when you don't sleep well, ANY time in the a.m. is too early. Note to self: Whatever it is I'm eating for dinner, stop.

The week's been a good one so far. Recap:

Tuesday - Spent pretty much the ENTIRE day working with Stacey and Dana in cleaning out our garage. Still a way to go, but got a LOT accomplished. The goal: To get both Stacey's car and the Mustang INSIDE the garage soon (Amen to our anti-redneck efforts, eh, Dave?)

Wednesday - Band practice started rough, but went pretty well overall as everything came together (the mix, the music, etc.). Adding Jeremy and Amber to the mix this week. Allison also shocked all of us by showing us how well she could sing. Amazing...

Thursday - Stacey was off yesterday, so we wound up running a BUNCH of errands we needed to get done. Went by Wally World (Wal-mart, not the 'Wally world' convenience store) to pick up Stacey's last paycheck from them. Went by Decatur Utilities to pay the power bill - which, thanks to some oversight on my part - had not been paid, even though I'd paid the other utility bill to Joe Wheeler (London Place residents unite so we can get DU to cover ALL our utilities so oversights like this are less prone to happening!). Usually, I pay them together online, so I dunno what happened. I probably sat down to pay the bill, then some Asian guy started razzing me for just sitting around doing 'stuff,' so I got distracted and watched TV or something. Maybe that's it...

Anyway, also picked up a new lawnmower yesterday with a bagger on it. Yipee. Buying new things when needed can be a satisfying thing; however, every time I look at the new mower I think, "That's nice, but it just symbolizes those moments of intense sweating when you go to mow your lawn in the summer." Well, I don't think EXACTLY that same thought every time, but you get the idea.

My surround sound speakers should've arrived yesterday, but the UPS guy chose not to leave them on the front porch. No, he couldn't have done that. No, before Christmas, they leave my VERY EXPENSIVE Roland Fantom keyboard sitting by the front door for hours before Christmas, but you can't leave speakers out there for anyone to grab. No siree. So, I wound up trekking to the distribution center AFTER they were closed ('cause that's when they told me to be there) and just stood in a doorway to an office the size of my bathroom while a woman went to find my package and about a dozen UPS drivers just stared at me thinking, "Who the [bleep] are you?" Ah, I love awkward moments like that. Still, I got my surround speakers and they work/sound great.

KEY PHRASES: "Kyle, you're allowed to make your own baby...just not with her." "The smell in the bathroom was so bad that it stained my teeth."

Kailyn, can you say "Guad?"

Yes, she can. Last night in the car, I told her we were going to the Guad, and she said (in her best 21 month old voice), "The Guad." Hehe. She's catching on. Not bad for a baby, eh?

The Guad was fun, but the crowd was not quite the Guad platoon we had last week. It was just me, Stacey, Kailyn, Kyle, and J-mo. Eli gave us some line about having to study or something ( :-/ )...hehe.

Afterwards, we headed over to Books-A-Million, where I picked up a couple of basic reference guides about mixing live sound, hoping that some hard references will help us overcome a lot of the disagreements we're having about our mix on Sunday morning. It might not be too loud, but the mix either sounds good or very crappy literally depending on where you sit. We've GOT to figure out a way to get our equalization right (something I read in one of the books pointed out that sometimes a bad EQ mix can make peope think it's a volume issue). Stacey picked up a couple of more novels to read, but we couldn't talk Kyle into picking up a copy of "An Idiot's Guide to Starting a Band."

Anyway, as we were leaving BAM, it appeared that a couple of teenagers were standing by a pickup and using the dark parking lot (the lights were all out due to some malfunction) to mask their saliva sharing experience...about 10 feet from where we were all parked. And, in typical redneck fashion, they didn't stop the tongue-sharing when we got close to them. I thought it was pretty insensitive of them to be doing that, given the fact that single guys were present in our group...hehehe. Really, though, THAT much PDA can be a bit annoying. The classic phrase "Get a room!" comes to mind. J-mo made some comment about "truck love" that was funny at the time...all I could think was, "Thank God THAT'S not going on while we're out here. This IS Decatur, after all..."

KEY PHRASES: "Hard tacos or soft tacos?" "She'll just get what she's used to." (Touche, you totino's pizza roll freak). "Want a nacho?"

"Green Acres is the place to be...da da da da da dee...what are the words?"

As I walked out to get my mail a little while ago, I heard a cow. Yes, a cow. "Mooooo." And, in that moment, I had a harsh realization about the changes that have taken place in my life. I'm a city-boy. I grew up in Atlanta, and nearly freaked out while I was in the speck of a town called Macon, GA for 4 years while I was in college. Then I lived in Birmingham...not a huge city, but still a city. Now I'm in...Decatur. It's like Macon...part 2.

After I heard the cow, I stood there pondering my situation. I look around and realize that Decatur is kind of a conundrum. To say that Decatur is geo-economically diverse is an understatement. To my left and right, there are cows in their respective fields. Behind my house is a corn field. But...behind the corn field are 2 massive 4-lane highways and there are massive factories just beyond them. Nestled amidst the cow pastures are new houses and a new apartment complex. On the other hand, at the entrance to our neighborhood there is - in fact - a small trailer park and what appears to be some odd place that must only exist to store busted farm equipment. In contrast, a Logan's steakhouse and a nice Hampton Inn hotel are not far away. But, there is also a junkyard within one mile. Even my house exhibits this now: My brand new 3 bedroom + bonus room house...with it's nice brick face and fenced in backyard...now has a window AC unit poking out of the side dormer window. And there is a 30-year-old car parked in my driveway with faded paint. Could it be that having lived here has made me into a walking talking symbol of my community? Am I just a redneck in a suit? (Wait...I don't wear suits...yikes...). It's like the Beverly Hillbillies, but instead of absorbing the ways of city life, it's the opposite...more and more of my life reflects the small town that I live in. Next thing you know, I'll be driving a conversion van and wearing loud shirts (LOL...oh, come on, it's funny).

Really, I like it here. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I've just been drinking too much of the water. Or maybe it's the close proximity to the nuclear plant. Could be any number of things, but I like it here. There's less traffic than Atlanta or Birmingham, but I still have cable TV and cable internet. Real estate is cheaper here (again, that might be the nuclear plant...I'm checking on that). So, whether I've come to enjoy life in a small town out of my own free will or having been brainwashed by countless cow pastures and billboards advertising bail bonds, I'm glad to live in a place that's not so big but basically has the conveniences I need.

Now...if I could just do something about the people who live here...(relax, Crosspoint-ers are in the clear...hehe). Again...I'm just kidding, so laugh.

Oh...in real news...Small group went well. We ate, yapped, talked about forgiveness and learning how to seriously wrestle with the sin in our lives, then had a cake for dessert that was so good it pretty much made the whole sin conversation more relevant than we thought.

KEY PHRASES: "Oooh...that's the hot dog with special seasong." "Play that funky music white boy." "Maybe they think that when we say 'turn up the bass' they think we're talking about something weird involving a fish." "J-mo...could you go back inside and get Kailyn's sippy cup?" (LOL...what an image). "Dave really shouldn't be posting his locker combination in his blog." Jeremy: "My wife's in Kentucky." Me: "Oh, so THAT'S why you made it to church today." (LOL). "He's the Asian Cajun...and he likes Kung Pao Catfish."

Road Trip!

Instead of spending another day cleaning and...wait, who am I kidding? Instead of spending another Saturday staring at the cows in the fields near our house, I decided to head to Nashville with J-mo while Stacey spent the day with Dana in B'ham.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for a trip...but beautiful days can't possibly make up for the wonderful traffic jam we got in just south of Nashville. Ah...construction...
Still, we made it up there in a pretty timely manner and ate lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Had the $10.99 33 shrimp special. Mmm...coconut shrimp...mmmm. Then, we headed to Fork's Drum Closet, Corner Music, then up to the northside of Nashville to check out Sam Ash Music. At Corner Music, I picked up some extra earpieces for my Shure E5's, a light for the sound board, and a cable with a switch on it that will allow me to unplug my acoustic at church without every speaker in the house popping. Woot.

Came home, at some Jim N' Nick's chicken fingers Stacey picked up from B'ham, and now I'm...you guessed it...blogging. Stomach...too...full...to...move...

KEY PHRASES: "5 miles of backed up traffic so a few guys can pave 500 feet of highway...-sigh-." "As you always tell me...'just buy it.'" "She's a granola-girl." "Wow...there's a big price difference between PRS and POS guitars." "Let's have a moment of silence for Heavy E." "Harris Teeter...it's STILL funny."

Drowning in Normalcy...

Today was a perfectly normal day. Stacey worked, I watched Kailyn all day and engaged in the ongoing project that is the 'house,' and that's about it. But, amidst the normalcy, there were some moments worth noting.

First, I don't know what to think of buy.com. Last week, I ordered a pair of surround speakers (after cancelling an order with ecost.com) and a DVD. The DVD arrived the next day. But...2 glitches followed. First, I could not log into the buy.com website to track my order. I dunno why. I reset my password, and...to this day...have not received any of the 4 e-mails they sent me to correct the problem. -Sigh- So, after tracking down a very difficult to find phone number (it's not posted on their website), I managed to finally call them...only to find that my speakers were on backorder (though they said they were in stock). -Sigh-

Anyway, the story gets worse. When I called today, they could give me no information on when the speakers would be in stock (same old song I heard from ecost). He had no information when the items would be re-stocked...like at Ecost, the issue was one from the manufacturer...not buy.com. So, I cancelled my order for the black set of speakers and changed to the maple set, which were showing to be in stock. The salesman told me it would take up to 24 hours for my order to officially be cancelled, but I could go ahead and order the alternate speaker set, which I did (which were also, almost 1/2 the price, ironically...weird).

However...-sigh- I check my e-mail tonight to find out that...because of some glitch in their system...they actually DID have the black speakers in stock, and they shipped out today. D'OH! So, now I have to try to cancel the other order BEFORE they ship, too. Good...freakin'...grief!

Technology will kill us all...

Second...on a happier note...We went to Princeton's tonight when Stacey got home...me, Stacey, Kailyn, and J-mo. We all split an order of chicken tenders and some fried mushrooms, so it was also a wallet-friendly visit to Princeton's. But, like always, now I smell like Princeton's. Do they just circulate grease through the ventilation system??

I missed being able to make it to the stamp giveaway today at the post office. I hated that, because I was able to make it last year, and it was pretty fun. Also, the weather was nice... So...crap!!

Hehe...on a funny note, Chad called me this morning, and all he said was "Kevin, call me back on my work phone." (I assume he wanted to save cellular minutes). But, since that's all he said, I go upstairs to get his work number...the whole time, I'm thinking, what's wrong? Bad news? What? I dial, he picks up, and says..."Man, have you heard about the new Transformers game?" I was a bit dumbfounded and relieved...all at the same time. "Quick...check out www.atari.com/transformers." So, I do. That whole conversation struck me pretty funny...but, being an avid gamer, I appreciated the heads-up about the game. However, -sigh- the concept of the game looked pretty cool (so did the website), so...now I'm faced with the financial dilemma of adding yet another must-have game to my collection. But...come on...it's a freakin' Transformers game...a game my soul has been crying out for since 1983. Woohoo!

Get your geek on.

KEY PHRASES: "But...come on...it's a freakin' Transformers game." "It's okay to eat at Princeton's since it's late in the day...that way, we won't stink ALL day." "J-mo's like a 'dealer' in technology. He's got his source, and he's always 'pushing' technology on us. And, being the addicts we are, have to get our fix." (My thoughts after splurging on a set of Shure E5's at a killer price). "J-mo...what else you got?"

KEY PHRASES:

Frostbite and "I've fallen and I can't get up."

Brrrrr....dang, yesterday was a brutally cold day for April. Sure, the weather can actually get much colder in Dec - March, but yesterday was startingly cold since it followed a chain of nice, warm days.

Yes, it's another weather gripe (but I'm in good company with other bloggers).

You don't want to read someone else's gripes, you say? Okay...well, let me think of something good to report.

Okay, here it is...the nearly disastrous but semi-funny moment of the week so far: Stacey and I were sitting in the PC room yesterday, while Kailyn was playing with a book on the floor. I left to seek some 'personal reading time,' and while doing that, I heard a tremendous crash (I mean, the whole house seemed to shake). Suddenly, Kailyn is screaming her head off, and Stacey's yelling "Come here, quick!" My first thoughts are random images of Kailyn underneath some large piece of furniture or something, so - in near panic - I leap up to find out what happened. I get to the bottom of the stairs to find Kailyn standing there looking at Stacey who is sitting on the floor with her hands on her head. She had slipped on the steps (socks can do that on carpet), and had fallen hard on her backside - while carrying Kailyn. While trying to make sure Kailyn did not get hurt, she held onto her and was not able to put her hands down to break her own fall. Turns out, Kailyn was only screaming because she knew something happened that was not supposed to happen. Stacey turned out to be okay, but has a nasty bruise on her back leg and her neck hurts.

Why is it semi-funny? Well, it certainly wasn't at the time, but Stacey and I were laughing last night about the fact that we - the grown-ups in the house - are not supposed to be the ones who risk falling down the stairs, but it's happened in one way or another to both of us since we've lived here. I was racing downstairs too fast last October, when I slipped. I caught myself before I took a real tumble, but I snagged my pinky finger on the rail, snapping it back (and possibly breaking it). This whole 'falling down the stairs' habit of Stacey and I makes us feel pretty stupid...so that's why it's funny.

KEY PHRASES: "It's more of a Guad Platoon this week than a Guad Squad." "You have a package from Jesus." "Welcome to Crosspoint. "(Uttered after people were staring at us in the Guad for being too loud). "Chad, I still think Liz smacked you for being on the cell phone while driving. Come on now, you can't let a woman treat you that way. Put the smackdown on her. You have got to...er, wait...gotta go, Stacey's coming." (hehe...j/k).

"It's just a little bunny rabbit..."

Well, no Monty Python-esque killer easter bunnies plagued our Easter holiday this weekend. In fact, this Easter was quite...dull (repent, Kevin, repent...). Really, it was a holiday that came out of nowhere, came too soon (now that we seem to measure time in weeks instead of days), and came without any of the 'hype' that follows other holidays. Or...maybe it was the fact that it really didn't feel like spring yesterday...cold, rainy, etc.

Whatever the case, the dullness could've led to a 'blah' holiday had it not been for the fact that the church crowd was really good, God's presence was easily felt, and the whole morning went well in spite of a cascade of glitches...

Glitch 1: In an attempt to turn down the reverb in a stage mic, my vocals get turned down in J-mo's in-ear monitors. According to spectators, J-mo looked extremely puzzled - almost panicky - during the first song.
Glitch 2: The video froze up again...second week in a row. John...just what did you sell us from the lot of Sears quality merchandise?
Glitch 3: "Pam, go ahead and do the welcome now." Hmm...dang it...there went my smooth instrument change transition...

Hehehe...and these all happened together. Still, it's funny to see the bewildered look on the faces of people (including new people) in the crowd when we're all acting like a bunch of boobs trying to correct or cover-up the weekly glitches. I guess we need to find a way to work on 'contingency' plans that would allow us to gracefully 'fake it' like everything's going according to plan.

Still, as I said, the morning went great. Dave's message was pretty powerful, the crowd engaged the music, and - all in all - I could tell God was moving in several people, including me. I love it when that happens...

Being the rainy afternoon it was yesterday, that did make it the perfect Sunday afternoon for one thing: Napping. So, we napped for about 2 hours after lunch.

Last night, we 'unofficially' had an open door to our house for anyone who wanted to hang out (officially, small group was not meeting...), but only Eli and J-mo showed up. Thought Wes and his clan might make it, but nada... J-mo brought his PC tower over, and we jumped on UT2004 and played a match or two before the pizza arrived. Then, after everyone left, I played a little more Splinter Cell...

Tonight is the Guad (or...Goo-odd, as Chad might say...LOL). Btw, Chad...what happened to your cell phone?

KEY PHRASES: "Church for the technologically challenged!" "What do you mean they make you sick? Is it the incessant groping?" "No, Eli...playing UT2004 online with a community of people you've never known is not necessarily anti-social." "Either he hung up on me, he lost a signal, or his battery went dead. Or Liz beat him with a stick for being on the phone while driving...yeah, that's probably it." SLANG 101: "Sad, but we all need to keep up with current uses of slang words. Just need to 'tighten' up our word usage." ROFL!!

O'Charley's to go...

Had O'Charley's to go last night. Yes, it was quite a risk given the fact that our recent O'Charley's experiences generally suck. Fortunately, the food was good and they got my order right. Of course, it was just Stacey, Kailyn, and I eating it. I'm certain that if J-mo or Eric had been present, the food would've been bad and the order would've been all wrong. For them, it's strange...it's like the O'Charley's building itself sees them coming and in sheer disgust groans, "You!" Then the whole experience for them goes downhill. So, for that reason, I support their boycott of O'Charley's, but I'm thankful it was good for Stacey and I last night.

Watched "The Matrix: Revolutions" last night. I thought it was good, but I'm still just walking around in a daze today thinking about the ending. Every five minutes I find myself just muttering "Huh?" to myself. I think I know what happened at the end, but it's a definite mind-twisting experience to really think about it.

KEY PHRASES: "So, will Neo and the machines now have some sort of robo-baby? Huh?" "I've got 'stuff' to do." "Call J-mo...just let him know that it's good, so we can get it on record."

"D**mit, Jim...I'm a doctor, not a carpenter..."

Well, in spite of my lack of experience at installing window AC units, it is now installed and keeping my bonus room cool...AND I don't have to crank down the thermostat for the main unit to like 68 degrees to keep it cool up here (you know, 72 upstairs...below freezing downstairs). I didn't drop it, it's mounted at the right angle, and nothing has exploded...yet.

Band practice went good last night. The songs were simple. Even the new song, "Caught in the Moment," sounded pretty good...not ready for this Sunday just yet, but good. I'm still loving the new Fender guitar...it plays so much better than the Epilady..um...Epiphone, and it sounds better, too. W00t.

Afterwards, we headed to Casa del Kyle...I mean, Applebee's. Food was pretty good there, but we all overloaded on desserts. Wait, ...all of us meaning everyone but Eric, who - for either financial or fitness reasons - did the smart thing. I...must...repent....but chocolate is...so..good...

Today, it's supposed to rain...but where is it? The radar is clear...so maybe I'll work on my garage or yard some more...

KEY PHRASES: "Two years? I want all 5 of those years of my life back." "The cat's head just popped off...now why can't they show stuff like that on TV here...that's quality television!" "So...let me get this straight...you're working a 12-hour shift, making that much money an hour, and all you're doing is sitting around reading because you're bored. Wow."

Some assembly required...

Heh...funny episode of the Simpsons just popped into my head (yes, that happens all too often, I know). The Simpsons are trying to build a pool, but - misreading all the directions - have accidentally built a barn from the pool kit (and an Amish farmer just 'appears' from nowhere):

Homer: Alright, everybody in the pool.
Amish Farmer: 'Tis a fine barn, but sure 'tis no pool, English.
Homer: D'oh-eth!

Heh..."D'oh-eth!" Nothing like King James/Amish slang.

Anyway, my project is not building a pool, but trying to figure out how to mount this window AC unit into a vinyl window sill WITHOUT dropping the stupid thing out the window 15 feet to its doom (which wouldn't bother me so much if one of our cats was under it...okay, j/k). Still, my desire to turn my home into a redneck paradise (as a certain neighbor of mine thinks it would look with the AC unit hanging out of the side window) is being upheld by poorly written instructions and my lack of know-how in redneck installation projects. Heck, what am I saying...I'll just duct tape it to the window. Now, does anyone know where I can buy those pink flamingos you put in your yard? Or yard gnomes...those would be even cooler, I reckon (Southern drawl intentional), if I want to complete the image.

In other news...

This morning I talked to Amber on the phone. Funny, somehow the conversation turned into one where we were talking about how nasty public bathrooms can be. (She was talking about the ones where she works...it reminded me of the ones at a place where I used to work...and...ewwww...hung up the phone with some nasty images in my head). Note to self: If I need to go to the bathroom when at Stein Mart, just hold it in.

Still waiting on my rear surround speakers to ship out (they're STILL on backorder from Ecost.com). The only reason I've been so patient with it is because the price there is substantially lower than on other websites (a full 40% cheaper, in fact). Oh, well...one day soon, I hope. Right now, I'm still using some pretty big speakers for rear surrounds, and it looks pretty 1982.

Stacey's last day at Wal-mart was yesterday. Weird...didn't we just go through this job-change routine? Still, she already seems happier. At least for the past 11 months, she's been closer to home and hadn't had to commute to Huntsville. Hopefully, the job transition to her new job in June (I hope) will take place like she hopes it will.

KEY PHRASES: "The spacemonkey needs a banana...here, spacemonkey...blog...that's right...blog or no banana." (where did that come from?) "I've got the inside scoop on what bodily affliction Brian's next blog entry might be about...hint: They can be slimy or crusty." (easy, fellas...don't sin :-)). "Anyone know anyone (a boss, co-worker, etc.) you'd like to conveniently stand under my bonus room window while I install the AC unit?"

Weekend Update...or J-mo's Babysitting Service

Well, if Dennis Miller or Norm McDonald would do me the courtesy of reading my 'updates,' they might be more humorous. Man, I miss those golden days of SNL, particularly when Norm did the Weekend Update. I can't believe they let him go on the grounds he wasn't funny enough. What was up with that? Anyway, the skinny on J-mo's babysitting service is below...

Friday night, we headed to Golden Phoenix for the buffet. It was pretty good...

Saturday morning, we got up and headed to the church for our (apparently) annual clean-up day. People who attended helped with mowing, raking, sweeping, planting, cleaning, and even the assembly of a portable building. Had Whit's BBQ for lunch, then went home and began a spontaneous cleanup of our yard. Spent a couple of hours pulling weeds, pulling up and re-planting a 25-foot tree (ouch, my spine...), putting a planter and mulch around it once it was replanted, mowing, fertilizing, the...finally...watering the yard/plants. Needless to say, I woke up Sunday morning pretty sore.

Sunday went very well. After church, we headed to Logan's with the same old crowd plus 2 additions...all counted, it was me, Stacey, Kailyn, Eli, Emma, J-mo, Kyle, Chuck, and David.

Ah, now the humorous stuff begins. Stacey, J-mo, Kyle and I all decide to head to the mall (yes, a quick trip to pick up a game turned into another outing). See the Root's blog for some of the humor involving him and Kailyn - his 'pickup baby,' (hey, I don't mind since it's kinda like momentarily free babysitting). While we were at Dillard's, Stacey races up to me and says, "I have to leave...now." I was like, "They have a bathroom here, don't they?" She frowned, of course, and said, "No, the shower for Pam starts at 2:00, and it's 2:00...and I still have to wrap her gift and make the apple dip." And I'm quietly thinking, "Honey, your watch doesn't set itself when daylight savings time happens." After a few sarcastic remarks from her asking me to hurry up, we finally made it out of the mall. Unfortunately, we had to go by Logan's to pick up the second car. Anyway, by the time we got back to the house, she was not very happy. Mad at herself for being late. mad at me for...I dunno... But, it all ended good with her getting out the door and across the street not too late. And she was in a good mood when the thing got finished, too, which is good.

Small group wound up being a lot of fun, though it looked for a minute like it would just be me, Stacey, J-mo, and Eli again. But, Brian and Amber showed up for a little bit. They couldn't stay long, but it was good to see them. And Chuck and David also came to the group. It was very cool to see them starting to get involved in a few things.

The funniest thing, though, is that when Kailyn and Emma started to get loud, J-mo just grabbed both of them, and headed upstairs, where he wound up sitting with the two kids watching "Piglet's Big Movie." All I can say is that Stacey, Eli, and I just sat in the living room for about 2 minutes after he left with them with our jaws hanging open...too stupified by what just happened to speak or move. LOL.

KEY PHRASES: "So...what is it again...your first dog's name + your mom's maiden name? Yikes...that's just creepy." "I'm going to use that on the kids tomorrow, but I won't tell them what it means." (what?) "Relax...it's just apple dip." "J-mo didn't take any duct tape with him, did he?" "Well, it's hard to have a Butt Zits Anonymous meeting when it's one token member AND poster child is never there."

So...you come here often?

Friday!

Hmm...I don't know why I still get excited about Friday. It's not like a work a monday-friday 8-5 job. It's not like I'm in school. In fact, Sunday can be my busiest day of the week, so Friday is NOT the end of my work week. Well, maybe it's just that celebrating Friday is a hard habit to kick. Still, I can be happy for all you people out there who seem to smile a little more at the end of your work week, so I'll celebrate Friday for you guys.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful...and by 'uneventful,' I mean 'uneventful' even by Decatur standards. (I know...yikes).

However, today is beautiful outside again, so hopefully I can get started on some much-needed yard work.

KEY PHRASES: "What's another word for wuss?" "I'm just going to go to sleep all day Saturday, so I won't lose an hour....in fact, if I sleep all day and night, maybe I'll even gain a few hours. How's that?"

Early morning randomania...

Woke up pretty early today...energized. Hopefully this feeling will last a while. I've still got a lot to do.

Got a rebate check back for one of the monitors I bought a couple of months ago, so that's an extra $30 in my pocket. Er...well, not 'extra', since I had to buy the monitor in the first place...d'oh. But still...nice to actually get the rebate.

Had a very weird dream that I could talk to computers and other technological devices. I mean, I could understand what all the beeps/tones, etc. meant, and speak it back (not that computers beep the way they did in my dream). Very, very weird...woke up in the middle of the night after that dream to the tone of my cell phone giving me a 'low battery' warning. Bwahahahaha....

I hate having something to gripe about the restaurants we eat at. EVERY one we eat at as hosed us somehow recently. Dread Lobster keeps going downhill in terms of service and 'cleanliness.' Logan's hosed up my steak a couple of times. O'Charley's...well, it only sucks if we go with J-mo...weird coincidence there. Tuesdays...well, it's not so bad, but they're waitresses/waiters aren't nearly so friendly as other places. Princeton's...well, I guess it's okay if you like to bathe in grease. Applebee's...hmmm...nothing bad to report about them. Maybe that's why Kyle eats there and nowhere else (but, when I first moved here, Kyle was adamant that you do NOT eat the meat there...that was kind of a scary thing to hear).

I guess if you eat out enough, eventually every place you eat will disappoint you once or twice (or more). I'll just eat at home...if I screw up the food, it's my fault. No tip for me.

Too bad we did not get to test out the IEM's Kira left for us. Maybe we will soon.

KEY PHRASES: "If I buy you dessert, will that make this go away?"