Ew...that's not supposed to ooze like that...

Ah, Alabama...land of allergens - Allergens that must include some sort of exotic pollen that ONLY grows in bermuda grass in suburband decatur. If you mow your lawn, these allergens get all stirred up and invade your sinus cavity as you do that normal, necessary activity called breathing. Then...the runny nose, the sinus pressure, an ensuing headache...then, finally your neck starts to hurt when you keep 'sniffing' and those muscles get used a lot...

Ah...that was yesterday for me. No, in spite of the title of this blog entry there were no mucous-like substances oozing anywhere from my body. Still, there was a lot of sinus pressure and an ensuing headache - right down to the neck tension.

I hated that, 'cause yesterday otherwise was a pretty good day, as was Sunday. Crowd was still up around (or over) 70 on Sunday, Steven played guitar with us again, and small group Sunday night was a lot of fun. Jeremy and Allison made it out Sunday night, too, which was very cool since his work schedule doesn't allow him to really do much else. Ben, a friend of Eli, also showed up...he demonstrated the proper way to play a guitar through my new amp, too. Lot of talent, there...

Last night, headache intact, we did the usual Guad thing. Kyle made it out, which is amazing since no one has bothered to tell him the time change...hehe. Then I headed to the church for a prayer meeting about the youth group (don't worry...it was a meeting, there was prayer, but it wasn't a cheesy thing...it was, in fact, pretty cool).

In other news, Chad is now the proud owner of a 2001 Mustang. Of course, to complete the picture, he needs one of those airbrushed liscense plates on the front that says, "Mustang Chaddy" or "Chad-n-Liz 4EVer" or just simply, "Chattin," which would certainly throw people off. Better yet, get a sticker for the top of the front window that reads "Chattizzle."

KEY PHRASES: "Never confuse the word clam with glam." "Yeah, but does your mustang have super-Duper-huge rear tires??" "CPR? I don't even know what that means. What?"

Eli: "He's been through some tough times."
J-mo: "Was there a woman involved?"
(An irritated, but lighthearted expression comes over Eli's face)
Eli: "Haha, very funny..."
J-mo: "Well, was there?"
Eli: (pause) Well, yes...but...
(laughter erupts)

Struck by lightning...(in your face)

Ah...the healthy debate. This one took place at McDonald's yesterday during the middle of a thunderstorm, and somehow we started talking about how to calculate lightning's distance by counting the number of seconds until you heard the thunder.

Candidate #1: Me. Having just read this information in a magazine while I was in the waiting room of the eye doctor, I confidently said, "Count the seconds, then divide by 5. That's roughly how many miles away lightning is." So, 5 seconds = 1 mile away; 15 seconds = 3 miles away.

You'd thought I'd just sinned by the responses I got. Stacey and J-mo both retorted, "No, that's not it."

Candidate #2: J-mo. He argued that thunder travels about a mile a second, so...5 seconds = 5 miles away; 15 seconds = 15 miles away.

Candidate #3: Stacey. She argued that thunder travels 5 miles per second, too, but INSISTED that you multiplied the seconds by 5. So, 5 seconds = 25 miles away. 15 seconds = 75 miles away.

So, in spite of my best attempts to argue the contrary, finding myself outnumbered I mumbled something like, "Whatever," and went back to enjoying my cheeseburger and fries and laughing at Jordan's reluctance to try out the personality-testing machine. So, what's the truth in all of this? Well, I did some research, and here's what I found...

"Count or time with a watch the number of seconds between seeing a lightning flashing and hearing thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five to get the number of miles away the lightning is." - (http://www.northcoast.com/~discover/kids_invent_ex7.html)

"If 15 seconds elapse between seeing a lightning bolt and hearing its thunder, the lightning was about three miles away." - (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wlight1.htm)

So, who was right? Me. Yes, me. That pudgy guy eating the 2 cheeseburger value meal. Count the seconds and divide by 5...yes, Stacey, DIVIDE.

So, in a lightning storm, who (of those at Mickey D's yesterday) would have the best chance of survival?

ME - WOULD SURVIVE: I would have the best chance of taking cover and saving my life, since I was right.

J-MO - WOULD SURVIVE: J-mo would probably also survive, since at least his theory would have him seeking shelter before Stacey.

STACEY - GET ZOCKED! Hmm...maybe I'll need to consult with her about the value of her life insurance policy, since that lightning she thought to be 15 miles away was only 1 mile away. LOL.

KYLE - GET ZOCKED! Well, he didn't engage the debate at all (nor seemed to care), so he'd probably walk outside and his last word on this earth would probably be a shouted right as the lightning struck the top of his head: "What??"

JORDAN - WOULD SURVIVE: She tended to side with Stacey's logic, but for some reason, I don't think lightning would waste its time on her.

Now, has it been an act of Christian love and fellowship to talk about this and shout, "Ooh, I was right! I was right!"?? Well, maybe not...well, definitely not. But being around someone with the correct information might just save your life, you argumentative boobs. Hehe...

Don't flame me.

We are the band of bling

I don't know how you guys feel after making large internet purchases, but I feel a bit squeamish every time. Maybe there's still some doubt as to the security of shopping online. Maybe it's the fear factor - my heart starts racing and my hands start shaking even before I click the dreaded "Add to Cart" button. Maybe it's a spousal fear - "Did she REALLY mean it was okay for me to spend that now?"

Hehe...whatever the case, I get nervous every time I spend a lot of money on anything. In this case, however, I think it was worth it.

For years, I've been playing that beat-up old Crate 2x12 amp that Ben G. bought for Fusion (old church plant). Calling it "beat up" is no lie. It's literally held together with glue, since - when we bought it - it looked like it had been run over by a truck. Still, Ben tested it, and it sounded okay...and for the price (nearly 1/4 of its original price of $450), we figured we could make it work. And it has worked, though one of the speakers had to be replaced back in the day, and Mars replaced it with a genuine P.O.C. (piece of crap - meaning I could never turn it up past 5 without the P.O.C. "farting" at me). After the demise of Fusion (a good thing), I bought the amp from the church for a measly $100, and I've played it ever sense.

Sure, I took the occasional jab from people who own less 'redneck' amps (except for Kyle...I won't take crap from someone who plays through an old Peavey that has some electrical shorts when he's got a 'fly' Mesa Boogie rig at home but never brings it out...hehe). I just jabbed back with some crap about how "thrifty" I was in my music equipment purchases.

But, as the church grows, and the band matures, it is time to retire the Piece 0' Crate. I replaced it this week with a Vox Valvetronix 120watt head, 2x12 cab, and control pedal. Much mo betta. I'll be eating Ramen for a while, but I have a new setup. I can't believe the difference in the quality of sound, either. Amazing.

So, with Eric's new cab and my new rig, sound should be much improved tonally. Now, if we can only get Mesa B. boy to lug more than a guitar to church...LOL.

Had band practice last night, so I got to test it out in the room. Good sound...can be very, VERY loud if I want it to be.

After band practice, we headed to O'Charley's. Steven joined the regular crew of Stacey, J-mo, and I. Eric and Wendy made it out, too.


In other news, I actually have a copy of Half-Life 2 sitting on my PC. Yes, the most anticipated game since the original came out in 1998 (?). The sequel to the best game of all time. Of course, I'm not the only one who has it. Valve software released it via their Steam download service, so thousands of people have it now, though none of us can play it until its 'officially' released and they send you an activation key. :-
KEY PHRASES:

Eric: (talking about our waitress) "There goes a living reason why you should not do drugs."

Kyle: "I don't know the songs."
Me: "That's okay. It took me years of playing them week after week to learn them, too." (hehe...j/k).

Me: "J-mo, go talk to that girl." J-mo, on the phone, starts to 'strut' over there, then turns around, not being serious.
Kyle: "No, really, you know her. It's okay."

More bacon bits...

A couple of cool things to report:

First, Dave had an outing with some youth last night at Camino Real (Mexican restaurant). He actually had 11 teenagers show up. Wow...I can almost remember the church being that size. To go from 1 youth to 11 in just a couple of weeks is pretty cool.

Second, J-mo reminded me (in his blog) about Kailyn getting to pet the horses pulling the carriages in the streets in Nashville. She LOVED it. The kid has her mother's fondness for animals...dogs, cats, horses, etc. I hope that means we're not going to get more dogs and cats than we can handle again...

Oh, and yes...Scott's dropping a $1000 Telecaster was pretty funny, since it wasn't damaged. After it happened, he was like, "I just bought that, didn't I??" The salesman said, "Nah...it looks like it's okay." Whew....

Kailyn, can you say, "Cha-ching??"

A weekend wrapped in bacon...

Now THIS was the kind of weekend worth reporting about. Here are the relevant highlights:

FRIDAY - Met up with 'the crowd' at Jemison's around 7:30. It was our largest crowd yet: Stacey, me, Kailyn, Eric, Wendy, Scott, Derek, J-mo, John, Joe, and 3 other people I didn't get to know well. Honestly, it's a lot of fun hanging out there on Fridays. Very relaxed, very funny...good food and fellowship. Quote of the night came from Scott: "He lives with his parents? How old is he? Wait, I know I live with my dad, but that's different." (LOL)

SATURDAY - Packed 8 people (Kailyn, Stacey, Scott, Eric, Wendy, Derek, J-mo, and myself) into the Expedition and headed to Nashville for the day. First stop: Joe's Crab Shack. Note to self: Soft-shell crab fried IN the shell is very good. After lunch, we headed to Korner Music and Fork's Drum Closet. Eric and J-mo picked up a few things, but Scott and I resisted the temptation to spontaneously buy stuff on the spot. Then we headed downtown and wandered around various places. I don't know if it's funny or sad (actually, both)...but there was this homeless guy on 2nd ave. singing "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys and begging for donations. Ouch...my ears are still hurting, though I hurt for that guy's situation even more. Oh, great...now that I've blogged about it, I have that song running through my head... After having our fill of wandering in and out of various places and checking out the sights, we headed back to the metropolis of Decatur where we joined up with a BUNCH of church folks over at Dave's house for BBQ and a lot of time spent playing games and just doing a lot of talking.

SUNDAY - Church attendance hit a record high. At last count, there were 75 people there (which is very good if you're a new church plant, like us). We're running out of places for people to sit. Everything went pretty well. Afterwards, we headed to Applebee's, then BACK to the church to practice for Riverfest. Scott practiced with us, and he added some great guitar/vocal talent to the mix (and a fresh perspective on some directions to go with our music). It's amazing how the addition of one musician can totally revitalize the band experience. Anytime we've added an additional person with some talent (Scott, Steven, even Tania), the resulting energy is pretty cool. Anyway, raced to the grocery store after band practice to pick up "grillin' goods," then raced home to prep for small group (if you call 15 minutes of frantic cleaning "prepping"). Small group itself went very well, too. In addition to the regulars (Stacey, me, Eli, J-mo, Eric, Wendy, and Scott), we were also joined by the Spooners, which was very cool.


These are the kinds of weekends I like having...not just because they're fun, but because in the midst of it all I can tell God's doing some amazing things.

• I can see a maturity of faith developing in a lot of us.
• I can see God doing that God-thing he does where a lot of conversations/events, etc. indicate that God has been planting the same ideas/thoughts into people's heads, though they've not shared that with each other...but when they do, it's obvious what's happening.
• The YOUTH - this fervor of youth ministry is becoming a reality very, very fast. Seeing 6-8 high school students show up at church yesterday (up from the usual 1-2) was an amazing thing. And they WANTED to be there. Chad, you want to move up here and help with youth ministry for free?? LOL! Anyway, a bunch of them got together last night for Mexican food. It's starting...

Anyway, that's the main points. Good stuff...

KEY PHRASES: "Ask me what 'wrap those boys in bacon' really means sometimes...let's just say it has to do more with grilling out than anything really vulgar...well, at least it used to." "Next time, open the box to make sure that LARGE amount of money you spent actually bought you what you paid for...hehe." "He doesn't even do his own laundry." "I smell a VOX in my future...soon..."

Things that are stupid:

Things not to do (from recent observations/conversations):

1. Spilling your drink in a public restaurant. I did it Sunday. Wendy did it tonight. Stacey created a monsoon at Logan's once. J-mo started building an ark out of french fries when that happened. But when you do such a thing, usually a dozen or so people look at you and their stares just scream, "Look at that stupid person."

2. Falling asleep while playing guitar. Does not instill confidence in fellow band members ;-). Well, hitting a crapload of wrong notes doesn't help, either...LOL. (relax, we're all guilty at some point...)

3. Mixing dating and evangelistic/ministerial effort. Never a good thing. It's like packaging potential awkwardness with altrusm. (Wait..."I don't even know what that means"). It's like, "Jesus loves you, and so do I. But if I dump you...or you dump me...Jesus still loves you, so we can still go to church together."

4. Thinking that the life you lead with your fiance before you get married will be much different after you get married.

5. Turning your back on your child in a booster seat at a restaurant. Let's just say Kailyn discovered (again) that the law of gravity is not a law you can break.

Okay...enough stupid stuff.

Well, I lied...something else stupid happened today. Came home from getting lunch, and there was a car DOUBLE PARKED in my driveway. Turns it it was a DishTV installation guy. I was thinking, "I don't remember ordering DishTV." Anyway...I asked, "Can I help you?" He says, "I'm here to install your satellite." I say, "I didn't order satellite TV." He says, "Is this (insert my address here)?" I reply, "Yes, but I did NOT order satellite TV." He then...and I kid you not...asks me if my name was Toshiro Hori. And as he caught what he said, it was obvious that a light went off in his brain as he realized that such a name didn't match my Caucasian appearance, and he then quickly asked whether or not I knew where the person with that name lived. It's a shame he came to his senses, because I really wanted to ask, "Do I look like a Toshiro to you?" Anyway, I made an educated guess and pointed him in what proved to be the right direction.

Well, it was funny to me...

KEY PHRASES: "Man, you can play all that, but can't do something that simple?" "But $1300 is a relative steal for such quality guitar equipment." "It's not a 'fetish,' it's just that there's usually nothing else worth talking about." "

To blog or not to blog...

Okay, does anyone REALLY want to know what I did today? I doubt it.

So, I won't bore you with details anymore. But here's a thought for the day...

Blogs are now a source of disdain for several people. Why? Because people read too much into things...or because people WROTE too much into things...myself included. Specifically, something said about another person in a blog could could either (1) be misinterpreted or (2) be a flawed attempt at handling a situation correctly. Or, some of us only blogged when we were down...and that just brought others down.

For this reason (to make our blogs 'safer', for lack of a better term), our blogs have become pretty mundane reports of "guess what I did today."

So, I won't blog unless it's important or something worth sharing. That's it. If I feel like offering a mundane report, maybe I will. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel. Blogging gives me a chance to focus my thoughts and recount the ups and downs of my days. I think that can be a healthy exercise as long as a blog does not become a place where I bring others down, whether inadvertantly or on purpose.

I'll still keep this blog for lighthearted stuff. For deeper thoughts, check out my other blog: "Mind-isms," if you're ready for it.

Okay, maybe I should've put all this in the form of some legal mumbo/jumbo in fine print at the bottom of my blog page.

KEY PHRASES: "Joel has left the building." "I wouldn't diss you so much if you weren't my friend."


**Check out my other blog, "Mind-isms," for some thoughts about Doom3**

Use the force...

I wish the force was a real thing. Then I could just wave my hand and clean my house just by thinking about it. Believe me...I've tried. It just don't work. And it looks silly to stand there waving my hand at a pile of dirty clothes or at a vacuum cleaner. No matter how many times I think "Do, or do not...there is no try," nothing happens. Maybe I'm just too overweight to use the force effectively. I didn't see any fat jedi in any of the movies.

Or maybe it's simply that the force is fiction...hehe.

Yes, it seems we're always cleaning, I know. But we've been whittling down some big cleaning projects that just take a lot of time (and more than one person) to get done.

On the good side of things, Hurricane Charley missed Stacey's parents by turning to the east. It's tragic for Charlotte county, but good news for the Tampa area. If nothing else, this latest hurricane has proven once and for all that weather is anything but predictable, no matter how advanced all the computer models and storm tracking techniques get.

KEY PHRASES: "Don't forget about this little detail of our walk with Christ that necessitates good moral behavior...especially when confronted with 'booty.'" (LOL). "Oh, come on...just buy it." "Let me see...is it a wise thing to loan out a $2000 keyboard to a teenager?"

O'Charley

Hurricane Charley is a monster...and since Stacey's parents live in a suburb 20-25 minutes east of Tampa, that has us pretty concerned. Even if they're far enough away from the storm surge, I'm sure the winds will be intense, since Charley is forecasted to become a Category 3 by landfall.

It's amazing watching the photos and video of MILLIONS of people evacuating the coastal areas. Much worse than spring break traffic on the interstates. At least all we have to worry about here in Decatur are lightning, flash flooding, and tornadoes...er...wait... Seriously, though, keep Stacey's parents and the millions of their neighbors in prayers...

Decided to join the Andersons for their small group last night. That was worth going to. And not just because of the free food...

Today, I plan on enjoying the 75-degree August weather. I just hope this nice, cool weather is not a hint of some excessively cold winter on the horizon...

Well, I talked about weather for almost an entire blog entry again... Told you guys I was a freak about that stuff...

KEY PHRASES: "But, Stacey, old people can be jolly, too." Following a conversation about J-mo's birthday: "How is it that J-mo is among the oldest (not significantly older) in our group, but still looks the youngest? He's like our own Dorian Gray."

Will my neighbors laugh if I build an ark?

Holy smoke, that was a lot of rain yesterday! Flash flood warnings...something about 1.5 inches of rain PER HOUR...and it rained for like 3 hours. Eric - who, thanks to his handy scanner, is all about community 'awareness' - even reported that cars were underwater downtown, trees were falling down in the high winds, some dufus slammed his car into the bridge over the river, and ...oh, yeah...there was a Mexican urinating against the side of a building somewhere (maybe thinking the rain would 'wash it away'??). Anyway, Eric said the cop just kept requesting someone onsite who spoke Spanish. Yes, I believe rain and storms do to Decatur residents what alcohol does to the human body...first, you simply lose good judgment. Then, stupid things start happening.

Anyway...after a soggy start, band practice went pretty well. While we practiced on stage (let's call this the 'testosterone half' of the room), several of the women-folk - Stacey, Wendy, and Mavis - were scrapbooking in the back of the room (let's call this the 'estrogen half' of the room). Afterwards we headed to Ruby Tuesdays, where we laughed about the mirror-effect on the salad bar that made people look like they could hold their salad plates upside down. We also laughed at the ultra long Kyle-ism uttered by Kyle after a comment he didn't understand (read key phrases below).

Maybe we need more things to laugh at.

KEY PHRASES: "A.J." "Gooooood Lord! Alrighty, then. What?! I don't even know what that means! What was that? What??" (I think I even left a couple out...) "Hey...putting my foot down worked, and I didn't step in anything, either."

Oh...my...Guad...

The weekend wrapped up pretty good... Our church crowd Sunday was over 70, which was awesome, but...as Kyle blogged...if just a few more people were there, we would've come up short on places to sit! If some of our regular people who have been playing 'time out' with God lately - hey, you guys know who you are ;-) - were there, we certainly would've had a packed house.

Fun moment of the morning: When my battery died in my in-ear monitor right in the middle of "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever." What fun...

Met up with a HUGE crowd after lunch over at Applebee's, then went home for some much needed 'nappage.'

Small group was cool Sunday night. Yapped, then grilled...the usual. Watched some of J-mo's new Matchbox 20 DVD. Then I realized I'd left one of my guitars at the building that morning, so I headed up there to get it. Wait...is such a detail even blog-worthy?

Good crowd at the Guad on Monday, too: Stacey, Kailyn, J-mo, Eli, Emma, Steven, Kyle, and Kate (friend of J-mo's from work). Did the usual mall-roaming thing before we wised up and headed over to my house for a round or two of Mario Kart. I'm still the reigning champion, even though the only time I ever play Mario Kart is when everyone comes over. Heh...maybe it's all those prior years of experience playing Mario Kart on the old N64 back in "the day" in Birmingham paying off now. I lost then...all the time...Sean or Melissa would start 'crapping' bananas out the back of their cart, and I would scream, "Stop crappin' bananas!" right before spinning out...heh...I usually wound up in 3rd or 4th place after spinning out repeatedly. But look at me now, you hosers!!! Re-match, anyone?

KEY PHRASES: "That's funny what Scott asked about Kyle." "Why do people freak out when you have one drink?" "Oh, she thought my tripping Emma was an accident??" (hehe...just kidding...it certainly was an accident). "At least the girl at Parisian was more your age." "Oh...um...I gotta go...I'm, uh...getting a picture made to send into a reality show..um...yeah, that's it." LOL.

Whoever said it wasn't hot...

Well, today WAS hot, especially if you spend the bulk of the day outdoors doing yard work.

-whining done-

This week has been pretty productive overall. In the past several days, we've secured new tenants (with intention to buy) for the house in B'ham, we've FINALLY found a new home for our golden retriever, got a crapload of yardwork done, and completed some overdue tasks (like assembling Kailyn's sand/water play table...at least she's too young to be pi$$ed about how long it took us to get around to that). I even spent Thursday evening making Stacey a brochure in Publisher for the new pharmacy she works at.

Speaking of Stacey's new job, she likes it so far. Heck, I may even get paid to do a few things for them (data entry, a publication or two...like brochures). That would be cool. Went by there Friday to eat lunch with Stacey and to check out the new building. Very nice...a MUCH better working environment than the retail places she's used to. Well, there are purple, yellow, red, and blue cabinets everywhere, but that can be overlooked. The whole building's decked out in brick that's recycled from some demolished building that was built in the 1920s, so, though brand new, the building looks historic.

As I said, I put together Kailyn's new play table today. You fill one half with sand and the other with water, and the whole thing has a built-in umbrella. Kailyn spent HOURS outside today playing there. Nice to know we bought her a gift she likes.

Other stuff...Kyle apparently secured his job, but no women. Bought a gas blower today to simplify yardwork. J-mo's car looked so nice parked out front all day while he and Kyle 'window-shopped' in Huntsville :-). I hate wasps, since they're everywhere in my yard. Our neighbors killed a 3.5 foot copperhead in their yard today (pretty freaky, so I'll stick with the wasps). Dave's cat is still alive (ask me what that means sometime). Picked up Doom 3 this week, so much of my life has been spent combing a science facility on Mars fighting off hellspawn and zombie soldiers. Ahhh...hellspawn gaming goodness.

Peace.

KEY PHRASES: "He wouldn't know what to do with a girl if one fell out of the sky, landed on his face, and started to wiggle." "1-800-GET-JOEL is temporarily disconnected. Please try your call again later." "You think he'll ever actually take the cat? I mean...ever move out?" "No, Stacey, I thought you really wanted a surround system for your computer...oops."

Reality strikes...

Today's been a true day of good and bad...

First, the bad... The son of a local pastor (of a church many Crosspoint people used to go to) died today. No need for details here...it's just a very sad situation that must be very hard on his family. Most people at Crosspoint knew him pretty well over the years, thought I didn't, since I've only lived here a couple of years. Still, I feel for all those that are hurt by the loss. Stacey and I will certainly keep all of you/them in our prayers...

Now, the good...

Wait...is it possible to just 'skim' over something tragic and go on with the good stuff?

Well, that would probably be tasteless. So, I'll wait on that. Something like this kind of makes our normal Monday night at the Guad seem hardly worth mentioning. It was a fun night, of course, though much of our conversation centered around what happened.

In a community like Decatur, news like this impacts the WHOLE community. I just hope that God works through all this...comforts those hurting and draws the community together.

Peace.

Someone teach that kid...

...to not lean back on a stool without a chairback. A child at small group tonight (which will remain nameless, though her name rhymes with the 2nd and 3rd sylabbles of "dilemma"), leaned back on a piano bench not remembering it had no back, and plummeted to the ground, hitting the piano on the way down.

-Sigh-

Tonight was a mix of mellow music, good food (lasagna), good laughs, and a rather large group of toddlers and children of various ages running around. So, you can imagine - on the one hand, we had a good time celebrating Wendy's birthday (H.B., Wendy...), watching a pretty nifty Peter Gabriel music DVD, and scoring some free CD dupes from Scott. On the other hand, all the kids running around made the night feel a bit like a cross between the mellow atmosphere of Macaroni Grill combined with the chaos of any of those playgrounds in front of countless McDonald's.

Dang, we missed having Jordan's babysitting skilz tonight. J-mo bugged out early, apparently having his 'fill' of noisy toddlers.

Still, it was fun...and it's tough to blame kids for being kids, even if they tried to kill each other (accidentally) by wildly swinging Mardi Gras beads all over the place...

In other news...

Church this morning went well, too. We managed to capture a degree of energy in the room which can be elusive. Our number of guests outnumbered the number of regulars this morning, too, which, like most things today, is both cool and sad. Come on, people...where ya been??

After church, we headed to Logans...we being Stacey, myself, J-mo, Kyle, Eric, Wendy, the Spooner family, and a few other regular family members and young-uns.

Stacey starts her new job tomorrow...FINALLY!! She'll be working as a pharmacist at Personal Touch healthcare... It's the kind of job with the kind of hours she's been wanting for years, so that's very cool. She'll get to be home in the evenings and have weekends off.

REPEATABLE QUOTES:

"I can't go in the water or it drys out." (relax...it was a referal to a certain naval body piercing...but when overheard out of context, we were like..."what??")

J-mo: "Jack's daughter sings."
Jack: "And she harmonizes."
Me: "You sing?"
Her: "No."

"Dave, is it wise to hand out rocks to your congregation before you preach?"