Today...is a great day!!!

For the past 12 years or so, I have been on the contact list for a research group that finds people for focus groups. In the past, I've been on studies for Klondike bars, gatorade gum, and cell phones.

So, earlier this week, I get this email from Flagship Research looking for people to participate in a golf study for $50. There are 2 focus groups that I have been dying to get on: a Beer focus group and a Golf focus group. This one is like the holy grail of focus groups.

I didn't know what I'd be doing at this group but it didn't matter because it was free golf at a country club. And they'd be paying me a $50 cash incentive for my time.

So, I show up early and check in. They give me a free Titleist hat and 2 sleeves of golf balls that they insist I use for my round (at about $4 a ball, the value of my "incentives" started adding up). They say we will be getting filmed answering questions about our equipment and golf in general.

The first group goes out around 9:45am. There were a lot of no shows so they put me in the second group. We waited for about an hour to tee off and they still wouldn't let us off. They said they wanted to leave at least 2 holes in between groups. Not a problem. I was still going to play golf for free AND get $50 for it. I didn't quite understand why they needed so much room in between groups.

So we go through the first 2 holes playing terrible and then get to the third hole. As we were walking up to the tee box, a cart pulls up. Who's driving, you ask? None other than Phil Mickelson, the #2 golfer in the world. He gets out and says, "Hey guys, I'm here to help out your game!"



As he's walking up, we go through the introductions, shake his hand and then he calls down his cameraman, Ron. We look behind us and some guy in camouflage comes out of the bushes on the hill (pretty cool!) Anyway, we hit a drive with our driver and he has us hit one with a new Callaway driver. The first guy hits his ball great and then screws up his shot with the Callaway. Mickelson takes the driver back and says, "We can't help you out today."

My turn. I hit my drive pretty well but in a bunker. I then hit the Callaway pretty good but it hits the trees overhanging the fairway. The next two guys are older guys who hit the Callaway driver much better than their own. As they were walking back to the cart, Mickelson hands each of them a driver and says, "You try this out for the rest of the round, and if you like it, keep it." Me and the other guy were a pretty bummed we blew it.

We drove up to our second shot, and realized there were about 10 people there hiding behind trees (producers, ball spotters, GPS distance markers, etc.) They tell us our balls would be waiting for us when we came back down the next hole. Mickelson comes up behind us and asks me and the other sap who didn't get a club to try out this other club. He says he thinks it will help better than the one he had us hit before. I hit mine perfectly down the fairway. The other guy screws up his shot again. As I walk back to the cart, I was told the same wonderful words, "You try this out for the rest of the round, and if you like it, keep it." YES!!!!!!!!!!!



Not only do I get to play at a country club for free, I get paid $50 for it, get a free hat, $25 in free golf balls, get to meet Phil Mickelson, and get a $425 driver FREE...from Phil Mickelson.

To top it off, before my boss went home for the night, he offered to buy me breakfast tomorrow at the Family House of Pancakes. Today was great!!!!!!!!

Perhaps...the best food ever

Megan made a chicken broccoli braid tonight that she has made in the past, but tonight I think I realized it is one of my favorite dishes EVER!!!!

Drop her a line if you want the recipe.

Fantasy Christmas List

Here's a Christmas list for those of you with boatloads of cash to spare on ME.

GUITAR STUFF
Dr. Z Maz 18 1x12 red combo amp w/reverb
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Freakshow Brown Rabbit distortion pedal
Xotic Effects RC booster pedal
Line 6 DL4 delay modeler pedal
Line 6 MM4 modulation modeler pedal
MXR Dynacomp compressor pedal
Ernie Ball Volume pedal
Jettergear Gain Stage Red overdrive pedal


OTHER STUFF
Trip to Nashville
Keith Urban w/Carrie Underwood concert tickets
A new job for Megan in Chula Vista that appreciates her

Monday, December 17th

My mother's birthday...

My friend, Mark's, birthday...

My friend, Darren's, birthday...

THE DAY WE FIND OUT THE SEX OF BABY #2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Weekend

This weekend was well overdo. Megan and I had a great time on Saturday. We started off the day by going to the zoo at noon (that's as early as we can get out of the house these days). We hung out for a few hours and it was by far the best time I've had at the zoo. Ryan is old enough now that he sees the animals and will try to interact with them. It is so great. Anyway, we rode the skyfari, ate a churro, watched an elephant poop, you know, normal zoo stuff.

Afterward, we went to "December Nights." Megan insists on calling it "Christmas on the Prado" which was its previous moniker, but I insist on calling it "December Nights", especially in light of one of the attractions that were performing that night...The Gay Men Chorus of San Diego!!! I'm pretty sure that group would probably be discouraged from performing at a Christian festival. We did have a great time for the couple of hours that we spent there. It was kind of cold and a little rainy, but it just made the atmosphere more festive. We ate a lot of little stuff and checked out the San Diego Hall of Champions. By the time we left, it was only about 6pm and Ryan was beat.

When we got home, we decided to go out to the movies. Ryan was asleep so we figured he'd be fine on his own...just kidding. Donna was kind enough to watch him. We saw "Enchanted." It was a pretty good movie and I'd recommend it to just about anybody but some high school boys. Speaking of...there were 3 guys, looked to be around 17, in the theater and they only lasted about 5 minutes after the animated Giselle started singing a song about cleaning up the house. All in the all, the movie was really corny but very appropriately corny. Also, there was an older guy sitting at the end of our row who was asleep when the movie started, woke up for about 2 or 3 minutes in the middle, then fell asleep until the end.

After the movie, I obliged to Megan's desire to go to Macy's and look for a certain pair of shoes. Unfortunately, they weren't there but we ended up with a new pillow (SCORE!!!)

We finished off the night going to get ice cream, and ending up getting Jamba Juice smoothies. At least I know there is a minuscule amount of self restraint in there!

On Sunday, we went to go get a tree after church. I had the Chargers game Tivo'd so I made sure nobody at church would give me any updates. Much to my dismay, Megan watched the start of the game, listened to the game in the car on the way to church, and on the way home, then opened up the laptop and got updates on the game until the end (of regulation). She hinted at the goings of the game and basically just spoiled the experience of watching the game. Since Ryan wouldn't go down for a nap, we went to Home Depot to get a tree. Megan spilled the beans on the way and said the game was tied at the end of the game. I was a little mad but at least didn't know the final score. As we were paying for the tree, the radio happened to be on. As we walked up, I hear "The Chargers pull to 8-5 and the Titans drop to 7-6." RUINED!!!

At least I got to go home and watch the game without getting a heart attack during the 4th quarter. I made my super-hot chili that turned out to be mildly hot. After I cut up the habanero chili, I must have rubbed my nose or something because I have never felt that much pain on my upper lip/nose in my life. I didn't know what to do. I tried rinsing it off, but it just spread the pain. I read up on what to do about the pain and some suggestions said milk or bleach. I tried soaking a towel in milk and holding it on my lip. That didn't help. I skipped the bleach idea, but tried putting canola oil on my lip and in my nose (in most circumstances, I wouldn't try this but if you ever get habanero chili oil anywhere on your body, drench yourself in some kind of vegetable oil). I smelled really bad and felt funny but did the trick. I celebrated the relief from pain by having a few beers.

To top off the weekend, I strung some lights on the tree and was told that the tree wasn't covered well. I took all the lights off and added another strand to the mix. When I was done, the lights didn't come on. I gave up for the night. I jumped on the computer before I went to bed just in time for the tree to fall on me. Luckily Home Depot opened up early this morning so I could get another stand.

That's all. If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading.

Ipod :(

Unfortunately, last week I misplaced my Ipod. I'm about 80% sure it was stolen from my office but I may have left it somewhere. If anybody happens to run across a white 30GB Ipod (since everybody finds those on the street corners) hit me up.

Yeah!!!

Family's back!!!! I swear Ryan is so much older now.

Home Alone

Megan and Ryan are in Philly while Badger and I are living the life of bachelorhood. Tonight I played a little basketball, went down to Chad and Kylie's for some lasagna, then went with Chad and David to watch a horror flick, 30 Days of Night (by the way, read Phillipians 4:8 . . . these movies are bad for me and you). We also had a little rum and coke at the theater (they'll let you take anything into the movies now).

Anyway, tomorrow will be a little different. In the morning, I'm going to hit the driving range, then it's back to the house to start cleaning. Then I work until 10pm and have to take over for one of my staff who allegedly is suffering from asthma and his doctor told him he couldn't work. He has had more excuses than anyone in the history of our department, and that is saying A LOT!!!! Needless to say, I don't trust him or believe him but I'm working tomorrow anyway.

Saturday, a little more cleaning, then some afternoon golf at Torrey Pines (I love cheap golf at great courses). I may go up to Barona to watch one of our church drummers play in the casino but unless I find somebody to cruise up with me, I'll probably just go home and watch a DVD or something.

Sunday, a little church then a lot of football. Chargers - Vikings, Colts - Patriots, Cowboys - Eagles!!!! That's a fun lineup.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...work :(

Wednesday night, my beautiful wife and wonderful son come home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a Roll!!!!!

How 'bout them Chargers??? Another butt-whoopin' to get them over .500 on the season. Let's face it...Houston is terrible but a convincing win like this is good for the team morale. The only bright spot for Houston came when Joel Dreessen (cousin of our friend, Angi Velasquez) caught a touchdown pass on garbage time in the 4th quarter.

As we were watching the game, Angi's husband, David, says, "I didn't know they were playing in San Diego. I would've called Joel and he could have probably got us tickets." David calls Joel during the game and leaves him a message letting him know he is watching him on TV and that he didn't know he was in town. After the game, Joel sends David a text saying he thought David was in Texas and if he knew he was in town, he would've gotten him tickets...

Yes, we could've got tickets for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, well. The nice leather seats and HD television at Chad's house worked just fine.

So, Minnesota next week (an NFC team that we should walk all over) then time to take on Indy. I'm hoping Indy wins against New England so the talk about them going 16-0 (including me) stops. The attention will shift over to Indy and hopefully they can come in here and get their first loss.

We'll see.

Good News

Ryan today is finally walking more than just a few steps. He is now walking back and forth between Megan on the couch, and me on the chair. He is just loving it and so are we.

Fire Update

Once we heard that our neighboring community was under mandatory evacuation last night, we decided that we should pack up some stuff. Initially, I told Megan she should go to her mom's house but we decided that we'd wait until there was more immediate danger.

I ended up having to go into work at around 9pm to help run a shelter across town and when I was leaving, I drove about a mile towards where the fire was coming from. All across the hillside directly east of us, the flames were jutting above the houses. Since there were quite a few houses between where the flames were and our house, I felt fairly safe leaving Megan and Ryan.

At the shelter I was working at, there was a TV on with coverage of the fire and they mentioned that the fire was coming from Sweetwater Reservoir up to Chula Vista. The thing about our place is that directly across the street, there is a hillside that goes right down to Sweetwater Reservoir. I decided it was time to go pick up Megan.

For some reason, there weren't mandatory evacuations for this area but the flames were directly across the street. Before I picked up Megan, I drove all around the mountain that had the fire to see how far from our place it was. It was probably less than 100 yards so I thought it necessary to grab the family and take them to Donna's.

I went back to the shelter and a lot of the people who were evacuated from Bonita and Sunnyside started coming in so we had to set up another shelter. I got back around 1am and was off at 4am so I wasn't gone too long. On the way home, I drove by our place again and the flames were closer but were definitely spreading away from us. It was eerie watching the flames whip up and spread along the top of the mountain.

I finally got to bed around 5:30am but didn't sleep too well. I woke up tons of times needing water but too lazy to get some, plus a few phone calls didn't help. When I woke around 11:00am, Rolling Hills Ranch (north side of Proctor Valley Road) was under mandatory evacuation. Basically, right across the street from us was being ordered out. The flames seemed to be MUCH further away from the homes this time but I think because they were flying the helicopters with the fire retardant, plus the wind was starting to blow back towards us, they wanted to be on the safe side....

Actually, watching the news right now, they said they were on the ground in Rolling Hills Ranch and the flames were very close to the homes. They showed coverage where there were flames just southwest of the Auld Golf Course (basically a few hundred feet from our pastor's home - he's evacuated). So, apparently, I was a little too optimistic about the situation but they did say it seems to be heading away from Chula Vista. Yeah!!!

We decided to head back to our place around 1pm. We just needed the comfort of our own home. Everybody on our side of the complex seems to be gone. It's like a ghost town here. The flames still seem well out of reach but all of our stuff is still packed just in case.

I got to get some rest right now. I go back into work tonight from 8pm-4am. I'll try to keep updated.

Somebody help....

my wife!!!!

She has cried three days in a row while watching her soap opera. I'm not sure if I should be completely worried yet about her emotional state, but I'm awfully close to calling a shrink.

If someone could give her a call and invite her over for anything other than watching soaps, I'd greatly appreciate it. Or, even better yet, come over to our house and delete all 4 soaps that are recorded each day. Yes, FOUR STINKING SOAPS A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On second thought, somebody help ME.

It's About Time!!!!!!!

41 Chargers - 3 Broncos

I'm still a little nervous about this team. There were so many defensive breakdowns that resulted in big plays it's a little scary. And the offensive line was inconsistent. Fortunately, we don't have a real tough schedule for the next month so we can work out the kinks and become the team we should be. Come November 11th, we got Indy at the Q. The only saving grace is Indy has to play New England the week before.

Let's hope we win against da Raiders, Texans, and Vikings and bring on the Colts at 5-3. We'll see. Until then........


GO CHARGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. The Toreros won big again. Catch the fever.

Chargers losing....on purpose???

Here's my theory (the only plausible one considering the talent on this team):

The Spanos' family has been fooling the community of San Diego, Chula Vista, and Oceanside into believing there is a possibility that the Chargers can work something out and stay in this county. They have showcased Mark Fabiani, Special Counsel for the Chargers, around to city council meetings, special events, and radio appearances trying to convince everyone that the Chargers are doing everything they can to stay in town; however, the Spanos family knows there is a lot of money to be had in bigger markets and they want their take.

I was actually buying into what they were selling until recently, when a key piece in their puzzle of deception has been glaringly obvious in trying to change the mindset of the Chargers' fans. That piece is Norv Turner. And unfortunately for him, I don't think he even knows what his purpose is for.




Norv was brought into San Diego to change the momentum of this team from stellar to pretty good over the course of a few years. Much to the dismay of the Spanos family, Norv has brought this team to its knees over the course of a few weeks.

Since the Chargers have all their home games sold out this year, the Spanos' still get the big payout. If the Chargers were to barely miss the playoffs, or get to the playoffs and lose before the AFC Championship game, the fans would still snatch up tickets like crazy next year buying some time for good-ol' Dean and Alex to find an alternate site for the Chargers (say, Los Angeles or Anaheim???) Granted, fans would be upset, but come next season, would forget about it until Norv started tearing down the team some more. Say this goes on for 3 years. Norv becomes the scapegoat for a team who is loaded with talent and nobody to coach them, but in reality, the Chargers organization gets what they want in the long-run: fair weather fans turning on the beloved Chargers, making it much easier to move out of town.

This brings me to this year. A record of 1-3 puts the Chargers below the Raiders in the division standings (I'm on suicide watch for the next week). The NFL's MVP last year is finally getting room to run, and the team changes its play calling in the second half basically eliminating Tomlinson's effectiveness. The defense can do two things: get burned and/or miss a tackle. Norv was supposed to take this team's ability down a notch or so, but no one, especially the Spanos', suspected he would tear apart this team so quickly. Now, they have a choice to make. Do they axe Norv for another sub-par coach that can lose the close games, but still win a few? Do they ride out the next few seasons with Norv hoping the players can overcome the coaching idiocy to become an average team? Time will only tell...

So, even though the Chargers are losing in terrible ways, I should enjoy watching the Chargers while they are still in San Diego.

Go Toreros!!!!!

Since the Chargers are sucking it up...

And the Padres are sucking it up...

And the Aztecs are sucking it up...

I'm now all about the USD Torero Football team!!!! They are 4-0 and are beating opponents by an average of 28.5 points per game. Their QB is likely a first day pick in next year's draft. And to top it off, I went to that school!!!! Even though it was only for a year, I'm still paying for it so I might as well claim them as my own.

Nothing beats hitching your wagon to a Division 1AA football team but it beats the alternatives these days.

Thoughts of the day (actually night)

I was looking at the picture collage on Megan's blog for Ryan's birthday and it got me thinking about a lot of things.

I've been so fortunate to be able to spend every morning with Ryan, watching him grow and become the amazing child he is. So fortunate because that is a time in his life that I will never get back. There has been so much change that I have been able to see first hand what a lot of fathers don't get to see. It's sad because I don't get to see Megan nearly as much as I would like but I'm sure there are plenty of sick days to be spent on family time!!!

This brings me to my first real uneasiness about our second child on the way. . . how can I love a child as much as I love Ryan? Now, don't freak out!!! This is a just a thought for the day and by no means will this be the case when #2 arrives. I'm just wondering how to balance the love and attention for a 1 year old as well as love and care for a newborn.

And, now that Ryan's first year is over, will I become more sentimentally attached to every little thing that the second baby does because I know how much I'll miss that time when he/she gets older?

It seems too complicated having multiple children. Oh, by the way, I'm also very uneasy about our space situation: 2 bedrooms + 1 1/2 baths + 3 stories + 2 adults + 2 babies + 1 dog = mayhem??? We'll see shortly, won't we???



Ryan and his new axe!!!!!

Quiz Update

I have to change some answers to my quiz...

1) I think steak is my favorite food, and

2) I finally saw Alice In Chains in concert.

1st Worship Confessional (text)

Steve took a well deserved week of vacation so I stepped in and took over worship leading duties. I was pretty stressed out all week not having a chance to rehearse with the band (thanks Bobby for taking our babysitter all week!!!) but everything worked out great. We had everybody show up, and for the most part, on time. Unfortunately, I was running around all morning and we didn't get started until 8:30am. Service starts at 9:00am!!!!!

We get through most of the songs pretty smoothly and then go into our "special music" song and then everything seems to fall apart. The song is very straightforward with the exception of 1 part that has 2 stops. For some reason, we had the hardest time coming together and hitting those stops. We spent about 5 minutes working on one line in the song while the singers didn't even get a chance to practice the song. By the time we worked out the song, we had to start. Two songs we didn't even get to in rehearsal. But...

Everything seemed to come together. It always does. The congregation last week was pretty lifeless but this week, it seemed a little more upbeat. Maybe they all had their Starbucks. Anyway, here are the songs we did:

Salvation is Here
Majestic
Your Love Oh Lord
You Are The One
My Desire
Everlasting God
Your Grace Is Enough

Peace. Check out Steve's blog next week for his confessional (he has video...oooohhhh!!!!)

Ouch!!!

38 Pats - 14 Chargers

I swear they cheated

14-3 and still no respect

I really dislike the football commentator "team" of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Every time these two clowns come to San Diego to do a Charger's game, they always talk up the other team like they should be playing in the Super Bowl right now. No mention of the Chargers at all, unless there is close no-call against the Chargers and the commentators won't shut up about how the Chargers got away with one. I don't like it, or them for that matter.

I guess it doesn't matter in the end....

14-3

CHARGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The season is on!!! Let's hope they stomp the Bears.

Full to the brim

We went to Barona's buffet today for brunch. I ate too much. I hate food.


...and eat a buttload a food.

Rock'd to sleep

I was cruising YouTube after the marathon of watching Bobby's blog posts today and came across this video. I like Pillar quite a bit but Megan not so much. Anyway, we were at a concert where Pillar was playing and Megan actually fell asleep on the asphalt during this song. The ground was shaking from the kick drum and bass which she thinks soothed her to sleep. So if you're having trouble sleeping, pump this video as loud as you can and you should be snoozing in no time!!!

Quiz Bandwagon

Ok, I've jumped on the quiz bandwagon. Obviously, Megan has the best advantage here but I think it'll be difficult for anyone to get 100%. You have been officially challenged.

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

Washington Trip

Last weekend, my brother and I went up to Washington to visit my mom and spend a little time fishing and hiking. Here are some pictures of the fun.


This was the biggest guy I caught (I know...HUGE!!!!!!)


Caught a few here.


Church and guns...are we in Alabama???




My mom's house on the lake (P.S., hardwood floors and no beds. Not ideal sleep conditions)

nath

You might be a redneck if you use a lawnmower to pull your family around like a Disney ride.

All in all, I had a great time. It's good to spend a little time with my brother, mom, and Steve. Oh, the best part about the trip...fresh blackberry pie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mmmmm
Here I am picking blackberries.

Borat

I'm fairly behind the times but...

Borat sucks. It is crude, non-nonsensical, and mostly just crude. There are a few funny parts but that's about it.

Definitely not recommended.

Tainted

756*

Wet Willy

Ryan gave me his first wet willy on Sunday. Perfect form...finger in his mouth straight to my ear. He even laughed about it.

Just my random post to keep the masses (hah!!!) happy.

Booooo for Baroid Bonds!!!!

I don't like this guy. I keep telling Megan they should bean him every time he's up to bat. Apparently, the Padres would rather walk him or serve him up #755.

Ryan and his walker

Ryan seems to be more interested in spinning the toy on top of the walker than actually walking.

Behind Bars

Ryan's First Day at the Park

Thanks to Tiffany's birthday, we got tickets to the Padres game tonight against the Phillies (have I told you I hate Philadelphia?) We decided we would take Ryan for the first time and let him enjoy the game. For the most part, he did absolutely great. He normally goes to bed around 7:00 or 7:30pm so we didn't keep him out too late (end of 5th inning, to be exact). It was ok, because the Phillies were smacking David Wells out of the park...12-4 final :(

Tonight was also the celebration for Tony Gwynn's Hall of Fame Induction next week. With everybody around him clapping, Ryan thought it was fitting for him to clap, too. So every time people would clap, Ryan would clap. It was the cutest thing.

Megan tried to put Ryan to sleep around the middle of the 3rd inning but he wasn't having it. All in all, it was really cool to be able to take Ryan to the game. It made me excited for when Ryan is about 3 or 4 and I could take a day off of work and take him to a game. A good boys day out. Here are a few pics of the night.

Ryan's New Toy

4th of July

This is out of order but I'm posting anyway.

On the 4th, we won't over to Donna's to hang out for a while. I made some really tasty BBQ baked beans that I got a recipe online for (it has raisins in it...weird). Then we won't over to Chad and Kylie's house for a BBQ. As always, Chad had about 10 pounds too much meat. We ate and ate and ate and then he said, "Ok, now it's time to cook up the rest of the chicken." Needless to say, there were leftovers. Once it hit about 7:00pm, everybody started to leave to get ready to see fireworks. We were all going out to Eastlake to check out fireworks where Dave and Angi live. Apparently, it was supposed to be a great place to see the show. Before we leave, Chad convinces me and his buddy to go surfing real quick. Since he lives in IB, it only takes him 2 or 3 minutes to get to the beach. We strap the boards to his truck and head down there. I haven't been surfing in about 2 years, and I just worked out my triceps that morning. I paddled out past the breakers and then just sat there. There were a few waves I tried to catch but for the most part, I couldn't even paddle with the wave. I was dead tired. I almost caught a wave before heading in but once I popped, the wave was closing out and Chad's buddy John was right below me with the look of terror that I was going to spear him right in the chest. I pulled out. Since I expended all my energy trying to catch that wave, I just rode the next waves white wash into shore.

So we pick up Donna and head over to the park in Eastlake. Dave brings glowsticks and we start playing catch with them. We realize it's 9pm and start looking for the fireworks. The sky above the houses behind the park starts to change colors and, along with the hundreds of people at the park, realize that we aren't seeing the fireworks from where we're at. Another 4th of July without a complete fireworks show. I think next year, I'm going to try to convince Megan that we need to hang out at the 3rd green at Torrey Pines golf course. It overlooks La Jolla Cove where they shoot fireworks every year. We'll see.

Palm Desert

I think I'm stupid. Megan and I went with our friends Chad and Kylie (and their 9-month old Tyler) to spend a few days in Palm Desert for a golf trip. Not only is going on an unlimited golf vacation in 115 degree weather stupid, Palm Desert is only really good for golf and Megan and Kylie don't golf. I also decided that we would share a room to cut on the costs. So there are 2 couples, with 2 pack-n-plays in a hotel room. A little crowded. I won't even get into detail about Tyler and Kylie getting sick. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty guilty and I think I need to get a second job to pay for a trip to Hawaii for Megan.

To start the trip, I woke up at 3:45am on Thursday to go pick up Chad and head out to Palm Desert. We started the weekend at the Classic Club, a course where the PGA Tour plays. We got an unlimited golf deal and started at 7:00am. When we got there, it was only about 95 degrees. Pretty nice, huh? We played the first round in about 4 hours and 30 minutes. I was hoping to get finished earlier. We then jumped back on to play another round and got backed up a bit. We jumped over a few groups of people and noticed we wouldn't get away from everybody so after hole #9, we jumped back onto hole #1. This time there was nobody in front of us and we started moving along pretty well. We would have been moving a lot faster if I could actually hit a fairway. I hit at least 15 sand traps in that round. I also hit 7 balls into water. It was a terrible round and very tiresome considering by now, it was 118 degrees. We finished again and tried to go out for one more round. By hole #4, I had a terrible headache and couldn't hit the ball worth a darn, so we hung it up for the day.

The cool thing about the Classic Club is they give out unlimited bottles of water, apples, and granola bars. Chad and I each had over 60 bottles of water, 6 apples, and a lot of granola bars. I took 7 over the course of the day, and Chad took 12. I think the course lost money on us.

I played like crap every round except for the 9 hole round where we didn't even keep official score. I was only 4 over during that round. At least I can watch the PGA guys play on TV and see how they play the holes. All in all, it was a good time.

On Friday morning, we were at the hotel and played our first round. I shot an 85 and my golf game started to feel pretty good. I was extremely sore from working out a few days earlier and from the day before, so I could barely swing a golf club. I think being sore held me from swinging as hard as I can (my usual golf swing) and helped me out. Afterwards, Megan was supposed to get a massage with Kylie but Tyler was feeling really sick so Kylie and Chad took Tyler to the emergency room. Megan canceled her massage and hung out with me and Ryan by the pool and then went down to the exercise room to run and lift weights. Chad and Kylie got back while Megan was gone so Chad and I made our 4:30 tee time. I actually felt a lot looser than the morning, but played a lot worse.

Saturday morning, I decided that it would be my last round. I was feeling pretty loose again so of course, I didn't play very well. I had a lot of chances to score really low but couldn't make any putts. Once we got to hole #18, we had arrived to our 100th hole of golf on the weekend and there was not one birdie made between the two of us. I hit my ball left and was just on the edge of the lake but in ground under repair. I dropped my ball and hit my second shot over the lake into the sand right in front of the green. Then for my last shot of the weekend, I chipped the ball out of the sand right into the hole for the only birdie.

I think I'm going to take a little break from golf. My hands still hurt :(

Linda's Blog

For those of you who know Linda as the "commentor" only, she is now a blogger. Please frequent her site often and comment that she isn't posting enough if a day goes by without a new one.

Linda's blog

Welcome Linda!!!

Today, We Rock!!!

Today was quite a day. We had the Surfari's come play at our church. If you're wondering who the Surfari's are, they wrote Wipeout. I'm sure they did a few other songs too but it's 60's surf music, so they're pretty cool.

I wanted to help out Steve and get there as early as possible. But since we stayed out until 1:00am last night, I made it by 6:30am. The Surfari's played outside in the pavilion so there was a lot of setting up to do. I tried to help out Steve as much as I could but I was fairly worthless. I basically ended up looking for extension cords and finding out how many outlets we can plug into. I was also a little worried about where I would plug my stuff into and where I would set up but everything worked out great.

One thing about having a concert is it's LOUD. Since their set was loud, we got to play a lot louder than normal, too!!! I finally got to turn my amp up past "2" and hit "3". I'm hoping we can continue this trend for next week. Everything sounded great. I also had to sing this morning and being out late, while having a few beers, didn't help my voice. That coupled with not having any stage monitors made it a little difficult but it was all about just worshipping and rockin' out!!!

Anyway, it was fun. Here were the songs that we did this morning.

Majestic
Love The Lord
Everyday

I know this isn't much of an interesting post, but I'm not really that interesting.

Worship Guitarist Confessional - June 10

I'm not a worship leader, and this is not going to be a video confessional, but I wanted to give a little insight into my gear each week, as well as my thoughts on how the service went.

First off, I was a little late (as always), and noticed that our drummer wasn't there yet, either. I get everything set up (which is a lot of stuff this week), take a look at my phone to check the time, and realize it is 8:15am. We should be rehearsing by now and the drummer still isn't here. Steve tries to call him a few times and can't get a hold of him. Steve even spoke with him yesterday and confirmed that he'd be there. I tried to call him as well and just got voicemail. Another week without drums and without Steve getting advanced notice to program drums on his keyboard.

As we start playing, I realize that the bass guitar is slightly off the beat. He forgot to bring his headphones so he is trying to listen to the beat coming from the mains (pointing away from him) and seems to be picking up the slap back sound coming from the back of the room. Steve was playing with his new electric guitar and was excited to play it for the first time in service, but figured that his acoustic would be better for everyone to pick up the rhythm, so he changed guitars.

First service comes and goes, and we play pretty good and energetic considering the lack of drums. The second service gets ready to start and Steve picks up his acoustic guitar and nothing comes from it. His guitar is silent through the mixing board. So he puts on his electric and strums it once and realizes it is slightly out of tune. He doesn't have time to tune it so we just all come in together. Luckily, there were only 2 songs before the announcements so Steve had time to swap out batteries in his guitar and it worked the rest of the service.

So, if you were wondering why Steve didn't post his worship confessional this week, it probably was he just needed to let this week go (for good reason). Pray for Steve a lot. It seems like he has had a rough couple of months with Sunday morning worship and he needs to be lifted up. Pray for the drummer that has missed multiple times without notice that he can find what it is he is looking for in life, and in music. And finally, pray that more drummers find their way to our church.

Now onto my rig...

This week, I changed out my pickups in my Stratocaster. I got the Tex Mex pickup set and they sound great. So here is my chain:

Stratocaster (guitar) - Boss SD-1 Overdrive - HAO Rust Driver Distortion - Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Overdrive - Fender Tuner to 2 separate outs (1 out to PODxt Live direct to board; 1 out to Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp - speaker out to isolation cabinet with 1x12" speaker - mic'ed to mixing board)

I use the Boss SD-1 primarily as a boost for leads since I have the distortion level turned way down but it works well for some very slight overdrive sound. The HAO Rust Driver is a great high gain pedal that I used for Your Grace is Enough. The Fulldrive 2 is just about the perfect overdrive to keep on all the time.

Here was our setlist:

Love The Lord (With All My Heart)
King of Majesty
Only You
Before You
Only Grace
How Great is Our God
Your Grace is Enough

Next week, we have our fill-in drummer coming to play so that will be fun. Also, another guitarist who plays with us once a month will be playing, too. It's going to be a good time!!! I will try to take a picture of my rig next month so you can see how many power cords and cables there are. It's pretty impressive.

Fort Ryan

I love this guy!!!

Ryan, fetch me my beer

Ok, he's not quite fetching me beers yet, but...he can now climb up onto the Lovesac ottoman and get me a movie. I have him on video getting me Caddyshack off the DVD rack. Unfortunately, as you will read below as well, I have no clue how to put the footage on my computer. I think I may need to do a little research this week to show off this cool kid.

Here are few pics.

Ryan the Rock Star

Ryan and I were hanging out on Friday when he decides that he wants to start a KISS cover band.

I have him on video cruising through our living room and when I'd say to him "Ryan, show me your Gene Simmons" he would stop and drop the tongue like he's been rocking for years. Unfortunately, I'm too stupid to figure out how to get the video onto our computer.

I've been bumming lately because it seems like every kid around his age is doing tricks except for him BUT now, he is impersonating Gene Simmons on command, and showing off his intelligence (see post above!!!)

New Guitar

**WARNING** Technical talk advisory. For those of you quick to comment as "boring", this post may be uninteresting to you.

So, I wrote a while back that I had to send my new guitar back for a refund. I was pretty bummed since it looked so sweet and sounded fairly nice. My sadness is no more. I was at Guitar Center checking out the Epiphone Les Paul Juniors and realized I just had to have one. This is basically the most inexpensive guitar in the entire store, but there are a lot of positives about the guitar.

One, the quality of the body is pretty good. It is a laminated body (kind of like a firmer plywood - which is not ideal) but it is still really solid and has a great finish to it. Two, there is only 1 pickup. To some, that may be a negative, but when you're replacing the stock pickup with one that costs almost as much as the guitar, it's better to just have one. Also, the style I got this guitar for is for that one sound - ROCKIN'!!!!!! Besides, once I get my Strat all fixed up, this guitar will be the backup. Three, it's cheap.

So, after buying the guitar, putting in a new pickup, and changing out all the electronics, it came out to be cheaper than the previous guitar I bought (which I wasn't completely satisfied with the sound anyway). So here are some pics of my new baby.




Now, my only project left is changing out all the electronics in my Strat (new pickups should be in any day now).

I'm also working on another idea. I'm really starting to dig the sound of my POD running stereo without an amp in front of it, but there is still something to be said about a cranked tube amp and how it sounds. So, my next idea is running 3 inputs into the mixer (if Steve will let me - at least sometimes). 2 will be coming from my POD (stereo) and 1 will be coming from a mic in my speaker isolation cabinet with a tube amp cranked in front of it. Since my Fender amp weighs a ton and would be a pain bringing back and forth, I think I can sell off enough stuff to buy a Valve Junior Tube Amp Head. But before I get ahead of myself, I will see what it sounds like with my Fender for at least one week. Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks Steve and Bobby!!!

Blog Posting

Ok, I haven't posted in a while but I have a good excuse. Actually, I have no excuse. But seriously, you need to get your own blog Linda and Donna. You'd be amazed at how many people would read your blog.

Update on Food Control

I am a miserable failure. Trying to write down a diet, purchase the food, and get to cooking seems easy enough. Well, not for me. I had the first 3 days down perfectly. Megan ignored one of my items (ok, she doesn't like oatmeal...I'll find a substitute) but we stuck to the menu very well. Then Monday came. Monday's are always the killers. You get your momentum going on the weekend and then, slam....Monday happens.

So, we will begin again. Once I finish this post, I will be off to Microsoft Word-land writing out our menu starting on Tuesday afternoon (I can't get up at 5:30 with Megan...she's on her own tomorrow morning). We'll see how it goes from here.

One Month

I have been given one month CONTROL over the food that Megan and I consume. With that said, I need everybody's support in helping us eat what we set out to eat, and nothing more. I should be able to post about a week's worth of food starting on Saturday or Sunday.

Our goal is for Megan to lose a minimum of 7 lbs and for me to lose a minimum of 15 lbs. This, by June 4th. The official weigh-in is tomorrow...right before we go to dinner. I already have our meals picked out (shhh, don't tell Megan).

I will keep you posted.

Happy Anniversary

This posting is for my wonderful and beautiful wife!!! Thank you for putting up with me for the last 4 years and I thank God everyday for your love.

Happy Anniversary!!!

New Toy!!!

Badger has now decided that he needs a new bed. How do we know this? By ripping apart his old bed. So, for now, his bed is his favorite toy.
Surprise!!!!



Check out the damage!

No more chopping from this axe

I have to send back my Epi Les Paul. I went to play it real quick last night and the neck pickup stopped working. I couldn't believe it only lasted through one service. I had everything set up for church with the Les Paul and I had to tweak every setting so it would work with my Strat. It's not like I spent $50 for this guitar. It should have lasted MUCH longer than this. Anyway, I'm sending it back tomorrow or Tuesday.

So, now I'm onto finding a replacement for my backup. Steve is also looking for an electric guitar so hopefully I can help him find a good one through my mistakes. My top two choices are a Squier Telecaster or an Epiphone Les Paul Junior. They're both pretty cheap and I'd have to swap out the electronics and change the tuners. This way, at least I know what's inside of them when I do that. This guitar would primarily be a backup and also add a little different flavor.

I'm really digging on the Les Paul Junior. It's real simple (one pickup, one volume knob, one tone knob) but since I run through the PODxt, I have plenty of sound options. I've always wanted a guitar with a P90 pickup. Great snarl on them suckers. With this guitar, I could put one in since I have to junk the stock pickup. Just an option for me.

The Telecaster would be a little more expensive to buy, and to fix up. There are two pickups (maybe I wouldn't have to replace them) but the tuners have to be changed. They also look a little cheap...almost like Pine wood. You can get more sound variety out of them, but I think it is running in second place. Now, it's like what Steve said..."I need to get out and start playing some guitars."

I will keep you posted on my search.

Tagged Update

So I was posting my info from being tagged and get to the very last part of the post (which took me a good 20 minutes - thanks Bobby) and all of a sudden, a screen prompt quickly shows up and disappears. I don't know what it said, but it erased everything I was writing, so I'm not going to post about my birth date anymore. Instead of reading my post that I'm not going to write, you can go to Wikipedia yourselves and look up "March 8th."

Some notable births are Hines Ward, Dawson, Freddie Prinze Jr., and some chick who "allegedly" hooked up with Nick Lachey while he was with Jessica Simpson. Good reading for you gossip hounds!!!

Lates.

SportsClips

Ok, so I've talked in the past about this new hair cut store for men in the shopping center below our complex. So today, I went to try it out. I needed a haircut, I had a coupon, and this place is supposed to be the place for guys to go to get a good cut, watch some sports, and have some cheerleader-type chick cut your hair.

I walk in and the guy at front gets my info and tells me a stylist will be with me in a moment. Next thing I know, I'm standing face to face with a black dude named Al who is escorting me back to my chair. Assuming, not expecting, that my "stylist" would be some petite blond wearing a skirt and showing off her pom-poms, I'm sure my look of surprise with "Al" probably made him feel uneasy. I don't know if I assumed he was gay, or that he was just misplaced considering this store is all about HAIRCUTS FOR GUYS (home away from home - all marketing materials show girls cutting hair). The last thing I wanted was to have this dude who looks like he should be starting for the Chargers waving some scissors around my neck while he's pissed off at me.

So, it takes me a few moments to figure out how this place went from the "Haircut Hooters" to "Brokeback Clips for Men". I sit in the chair and Al practically chokes me with the apron he puts on me. He asks me quite sternly, "Is this too tight for you?" Thinking I got to man-up (since this is the "Haircut Store for Men"), I tell him it's fine. Once I sit in the chair, everything starts to get better.

First off, every station has a TV playing sports, this morning it was the Nets/Raptors playoff game. I'm not a huge fan of the NBA, but what else am I going to watch at 10am on a Saturday morning whike getting my haircut by a guy? The TVs are a little off to the side but my chair gets pointed directly at the TV and doesn't move the entire time. This is a major plus. There is no conversation, just watching sports on TV while getting a cut. As the first quarter comes to an end, I realize that Al is scoping out my hair pretty closely.

The second quarter starts just as he begins to cut my hair to my liking. One thing I notice is that he is real precise and taking his time in everything. I'm not big on getting a haircut, and personally, I think I should have shaved my head again about a month ago, but this attention to detail is kind of impressive. I drift back into the NBA game and as my haircut is coming to an end, so is the second quarter. I've been in the chair for over 20 minutes, and I've said a total of about 10 words, and watched a quarter and a half of playoff basketball.

Then Al escorts me back to the dark room where all the wash bins are at. I take a seat and he tells me he is going to use some Tea Tree blah blah blah massaging shampoo and it will be available at the front desk if I want to buy some on the way out. I'm starting to feel uncomfortable for Al because he is now changed from a precision barber to a Salon product pimp. He runs the water and applies the shampoo to my head. Catching me by complete surprise, he starts massaging the front of my head. Then moves to different points on my head. Now before you all think he is hitting on me, this is part of the package deal I got with my coupon. I just didn't expect this. Once he is done massaging my head, he rinses out my hair and walks away for a few moments. He comes back and wraps a nice warm towel around my face and leaves me there for a bit. By now, I'm about ready to take a nap. He comes back, dries my hair and then takes me back to the chair. He then pimps out some Tea Tree Conditioner. Since the last time he told me about a product, I got a little massage out of it, this time I was listening. Anyway, he breaks out some massaging wand, and starts massaging my neck and shoulders. It felt great and really relaxing, so naturally I felt awkward that some guy was doing this all to me.

Once I was done, he walked me out front and I paid, gave Al a tip and headed home with an experience that I'm sure I'll never have again. I'm shaving my head next month and not letting any guy touch my head again.

His cheeks have to hurt

I swear this kid can't stop smiling. How did we get this lucky again?

New Axe!!!

Over the past month or so, my 1977 Fender Stratocaster has shown signs that it is going to need some well needed maintenance (it is older than me). So with that lurking issue, and the fact that it's my only electric guitar that is really playable, I had to fork over a few bucks and get a new guitar.

There are thousands of options for picking a new guitar but I wanted something that would stand up to playing everyday, getting great tone, and looking pretty sharp at the same time. I found the perfect match.

It is a Les Paul (an Epiphone, but still a Les Paul). We had rehearsal tonight and it sounded and played great!!! LET THERE BE ROCK!!!!!!!!!

It's coming...

The whole community of San Miguel Ranch waits with eager anticipation. We drive by late at night and peer into the depths of its being; we speak of it as if it will change our whole existence; it is the beacon that will draw us to itself day after day...and it is almost here!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, the San Miguel Ranch Albertson's grocery store is just days away from opening.

I normally wouldn't post about a store opening (well, not a grocery store), but the entire community is buzzing about it. I drove by after rehearsal tonight and as I was creeping by looking to see what has been stocked already, there was a car in front of me doing the same, a car coming the opposite direction doing the same, and car that had already passed by doing a u-turn to double back, and two ladies on foot with their faces against the glass. This grocery store has obtained cult-status!!! Now if it will only open its doors.

I Complain Too Much

I was reading some of my posts and I realize I complain too much...especially about our church. Just to clear things up, I love our church, our mission, our delivery, etc. There are a few things that I wouldn't mind changing, but that goes with just about everything.

So there.

Thank God It's Friday

After probably the toughest day at work ever last night, I'm so glad it's Friday.

After work, I went to VONS and grabbed a 22-ounce IPA, ate a nice salad for dinner and drank my beer while watching Everybody Loves Raymond until after midnight. Unfortunately, Megan was asleep when I got home so I didn't get to spend any time with her, but there's always...FRIDAY!!!!

Los Primos Mexican Food

Just an update...

I posted about the Shops at San Miguel Ranch opening up below our townhome complex and a few days ago, I went to try out the mexican food joint, Los Primos.

While standing in line, I run into a couple guys I went to high school with and it turns out, one of the guys owns Los Primos. I wish I saw him after I got the food. It's good, but the servings are small, and the prices are a little high. I guess that's what we get for living in a place that ends in "Ranch."

By the way, I'll probably go there more than I should. Please open up Sushi place!!!!

Comments

I figured out how to let everybody comment, so you don't have to be registered to comment!!! Work with me through these difficult times of figuring out a blog.

Loud Music in Church

This is more of a plea than a post.

There is a perception of "church music" that has been dubbed (rightfully so) to soft-contemporary artists that sound like they belong in elevators across the world. My main concern is we, as a church whole, are not encouraging non-Christian 20-somethings into coming to church services because they will be subject to "soft" music. I have a friend that I've invited to church a few times ask me, "Are you guys playing rocking music or are you playing "churchy" music?"

Mega-churches across the country are rocking the congregations with plenty of musical power, but are lacking close relationships and meaningful fellowship. I think the smaller churches are rocking the congregation with the closer relationships but are lacking in the music department. At least I believe our church is. Going along the lines of my last post, I think we need to change the way that we view our worship ministry in our church. Being a musician, I have different opinions about the way things should be run, in terms of sound, and whatever transpires, I will go along with it. But I think it is worth a try to try something new.

I think that having church sound like a "show" isn't all that bad. When most people go to a concert, you'll find them singing along to the band's songs. Musical worship is about trying to get the congregation to sing the songs of praise. In our church, it seems that a lot of people are just listening or following along with the words and not really engaging in what the song is about. When I had a week off, I felt uncomfortable in the congregation because it wasn't really loud enough for me to sing and not have EVERYBODY around me hear it. When I go to mega-churches where the music is loud, I have no problem singing and getting involved in the songs. So, my main concern is the loudness of the music and how we can try to solve that problem.

I have an idea. I call this the "4 part method to getting someone to think more like you" (book copyrights to come at a later point). First week, you start with the borderline extreme. In our case, we would turn the sound up quite loud (even louder than you want it), but still with a good mix (plenty of kick drum, bass, and guitar) and loud enough to draw comments. The second week you do the same, but this time, you will probably draw some complaints, rather than just comments. The 3rd week, you compromise a little (you turn down the music a little, noticeable enough but not loud enough to elicit the same number of complaints). The 4th week, you compromise even more but still have gained more direction towards your goal than the complaints would suggest (you turn down the music just enough where you may receive a few comments but not very many complaints [but is quite louder than services in the past], and after the previous 3 weeks, it seems like a reasonable level).

There is a slight chance for this process to backfire, but in this case, I think we would be fine. Besides, the next step up from elevator music is geriatric hospital music (then we go on to music heard in a Macy's - still way away from turning people away from our church). One of our older congregational members stated, "People think since I'm old, I don't like loud music. I grew up with the 'Stones. It can't get any louder." That's what I'm talking about.

That brings me to my next point...I think I want to run sound one week!!!

"Contemporary" Church

Since I quoted Mars Hill Church in my last blog, I googled it to see what came up. I came across a site that had people who reviewed the church. All but one of the reviews were 1 out of 5 stars with very negative comments, mainly towards the style (or content) of teaching and because it seemed like the church was mostly concerned about growing that specific church (which I get caught up a little in our own church). But one thing really caught my attention. They all had attended the first time because it seemed more like a "club" or "show" to them.

The negative comments were mainly because the sermon seemed conservative or legalistic. A few complained that it seemed anti-feminist. But, for this post, I'm concerned with what brought them in.

In essence, it was a celebration of "pop-culture." There is a free coffee bar, booming music, tattooed congregation, a "blogging pastor", and the like. Apparently, all of these people who are reviewing had some sort of attraction to this place. It was the loud music, the buzz factor that brought them to that place. I've always wanted our church to have that buzz factor, but it has never transpired. Revolution Church (Bobby's old church) had it, I'm sure his new church will probably have it in due time, but will Rancho Vista Church have the "it" that makes people want to attend? I don't know...but I don't know if that is the way to go.

What is it that makes people want to come to your church? At Rancho Vista, we choose the personal relationship route. It is a much more difficult way to get people to come to your church. Personally, I think louder music is a great start for any style of church (for a blog later tonight) to get people interested in a service. But, with the relationship form of evangelism, it tends to keep people around longer once they show up.

So, do we need the buzz factor, or do we (I) just need to be more diligent about inviting friends to our church? And I don't want to get caught up in inviting friends who are already Christians to come to our church, because getting the numbers up at our church isn't going to help the kingdom of God. I don't know but I'm pretty sure I'll always wish we had a hip church that people couldn't help but to go to.

Shops at San Miguel Ranch

Since I'm fully convinced I have nothing to write in my blog, I will talk about the new strip mall going in right below us.

We already have the Starbucks opened, but there are quite a few other interesting shops opening up soon.

Tomorrow morning, there is going to be the grand opening of the Sports Clips store. Megan likes to call it Hooter's Haircuts. It's a haircut place for men. Each stall is supposed to resemble a sports locker and there is a TV playing sports, or Sportscenter, and the whole place kind of looks like a locker room (I peeked inside tonight). By checking out the website, they'll hire good looking women that resemble cheerleaders wearing warm-up suits to cut your hair. Part of the package is they'll give you a "massaging shampoo" and wrap a warm towel around your face when they're done. Then they massage your neck and shoulders (albeit with a massage wand) and then on to the haircut. Now if it just included chicken wings, we'd be set!!!

Another new place that just opened up within the last few days is the Mexican food restaurant. This is our first fast food Mexican joint in the Eastlake area. I might just have to try it out in the next couple of days to see if it is worthy. There is also going to be a sushi place, a pizza joint, an Albertsons (can't wait for that!!!!), a nail salon, a cleaner, an Italian restaurant, a couple banks, and finally...

A SPORT'S BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really looking forward to this. I'm not a huge fan of bars, but a sport's bar is perfect! Beer and anything sports (soccer is communism, and I will watch Paper, Rock, Scissors if I have a good beer) is absolutely just what the Eastlake area needs.

Since I run sports leagues, I have a vested interest in sports, in general. I always have people asking me where they can go to have a beer after the game and I have to send them out of the area. Now, with this place opening up (actually called Time Out Sports Grille) I can tell them to just go down the street and I'll meet them there!!! I like to call it networking. Maybe I can convince my supervisors to let me knock a few back on the clock. Anyway, I hope it doesn't turn out to be a dump with terrible watered down beer only (or as Mars Hill church reps would call it...feminine beer).

All in all, I'm glad everything's starting to open up soon. I'll let you know how to the haircut goes!

Lord, please forgive me...

So, I'm up late again and watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour and Larry the Cable Guy says this line. Now even as I write this, I'm wiping away the tears from my eyes because it is so funny...anyway, I'm sure I will have to bring this up with God eventually (and Megan). But for now, it's really funny.

"That's funnier than midgets running track."

Larry the Cable Guy

Up all night...

I have a problem. I just can't go to bed early. Maybe I think I'm going to miss out on something, but I just end up regretting it about 11:30pm every night.

I'm looking up my Myspace friends to see what kind of action's going on in their world, then looking up their friends to see if I know any of them, then just end up on an endless cycle of wasting-my-time-when-I-should-be-in-bed.

So now, when I want to go to bed, can't because I need to wake up Ryan and feed him. Hopefully, this will help his new habit of waking up at 3am or 4am.

Top 5 update

Top 5 foods - (delete) salad, (add) fruit tart from Hans & Harry's

One word sums this up...AMAZING!!!

Ryan Pics

Not only is the comment moderation pissing off a few people, the lack of pictures of the cutest boy in the world is putting me on the hot seat, too. To please the masses, here are a few!!!

Bustin' a move on the floor!!!

He's available for modeling. $250 a session is a great deal for the "Cutest Baby on Earth." If you look at Megan's blog, she is giving a preview of his trans-gender baby modeling portfolio (see floppy hat pics - those are $500 a session.) Show me the money!!!

"Give it up for Lent"

I find it pretty funny that about 80% of the population are giving up something for Lent while a majority of them don't even go to church. Every year, I hear somebody new around the office that is giving up "candy...chocolate...weed" yet they fail to understand the meaning of giving up something as a sacrifice. They also forget to use the time of lent for prayer and fasting.

And yes, I really know somebody who gave up weed for lent (how many times a month do you think he goes to church?) Anyway, this year, instead of giving up something for lent, I'm going to "Give it up for Lent!!!!" (applause!!!) Thank you, it's here all month. Try the veal.

Comment Moderation

For those of you (Aunt Linda) that are really miffed about the comment moderation, it is now taken off. So comment away!!!!

Blog Dynamic

I really feel like a 14 year old girl with a diary. You always want your friends to read what's in there, but when they actually do, you're scared to death (I'm assuming that's what 14 year old girls think - I was never one).

When I first created this blog, I thought it would only be Megan reading it. Now that I know there are at least 3 others checking in every now and then, I'm a little nervous.

I want to entertain, so I put up postings that, initially, can cause a little laughter but in the long run are just wrong (or can get Bobby in trouble). So, for the most part, I've been deleting just as much as I've been writing. I think I'm starting to realize I'm more boring than I initially thought. I knew I had an uphill battle when it comes to writing down anything that people may be interested in reading, but I didn't think that I would have such a hard time coming up with intriguing thoughts or commentary. I will try real hard!!!!

So I'm really a jerk!!!!

I just finished deleting a posting that I regrettably put up a few days ago. In the posting, I singled out a "small" portion of the world's population and had a good laugh at their expense. This just before writing about how last week's sermon really convicted me about how my actions can affect the weak in spirit. So, for the sake of my credibility, and just for goodness' sake, I deleted the posting.

I also want to apologize to Bobby for saying I thought he was a jerk. I really just thought he was funny but I felt like a jerk for feeling that way, so I called him a jerk. I know...real mature.

Next posting:

I do something else stupid.

If only he could play guitar

This guy's pretty good. Mainly, I'm just playing around with what I can do on this blog-thing.

He can't sing either.

PJ brought his "A" game

John's sermon today (check out the podcast on Itunes - type in "Rancho Vista Church" in Itunes store) was a great discussion about what boundaries we, as Christians, should have in our actions and beliefs. He used the hedonistic Greeks and legalistic Jews from Corinth in the time of Paul to detail his points.

Although the sermon in its entirety was excellent, John summed it up in one phrase, "Let us not be a stumbling block to the weak." He also stated, "It's within your right to listen to whatever you want because Jesus died on the cross...but if you're acting in love, you don't do it because you don't want to cause divisions amongst Christians and in your church."

I took a great deal out of that and there are about 20 blog postings that I could do about where do we draw the line to "not cause divisions" but my main focus was to not be a stumbling block for the weak. I sometimes can consider myself a weak Christian as I tend to conform to the way people act around me as opposed to being the light and hoping people will act like me.

So, I went back and read through my post about my music and decided that it is unnecessary for me to keep the songs that could lead my thoughts away from Christ, and, just as importantly, mislead my friends and co-workers who know I am a Christian into thinking that listening to vulgar music is acceptable. Even though I don't necessarily listen to the lyrics, why not listen to great music that is worshipful (or at least acceptable to listen to around kids)? So, I'm in "delete" mode on Itunes. Hopefully, this is just a first step in becoming the beacon in a group.

By the way, if anybody has any suggestions for great Christian rock groups that I haven't heard of, please send them my way. I'm down to under 4500 songs now :(

Convicted

So, Megan was putting some songs on her Ipod and noticed a song from Pantera that I had on Itunes. The title was pretty profane and the lyrical content wasn't that of a Christian nature. Initially, I had a problem with her wanting me to take it off of Itunes because it was a style of music that I like and learned how to play guitar on, and it's a style that she can't stand. After thinking about it, I feel very convicted to delete it and others. My only problem is, where do I stop. Obviously, that song, with a title like "F'ing Hostile" and a few others that talk about getting stoned are clear choices to delete. But what about songs that talk about seduction (Britney Spears, Megan) and broken marriages (all country songs).

Funny thing is, I was going through my songs and saw a song called "I'm So Stoned." I know, instant trash, right? Well, I started listening to it and I remembered it had a great groove. Needless to say, it made me think about how I listen to music. I've had these discussions with Megan quite a few times about lyrical content versus musical arrangement and I've come up with this...I rarely listen to the lyrics on songs. The majority of the time, I'm listening to the musical arrangement, the guitar, the drums, and the melody. The lyrics seem to be secondary. When I'm listening to worship music, it's a little different. Depending on what song it is, I will either listen to the music or I will worship with the song. So essentially, I don't listen to the lyrics of any song.

But with that said, there are still some songs that must go and I'm all right with that...now.

The Reason

My favorite wife, Megan, and I were talking tonight and decided that I needed to start a blog. Now, some people start blogs to express random thoughts about politics, music, and the like. We decided that since I am not much of a talker, maybe Megan could learn a lot about me if I started a blog.

This all started because I have a birthday coming up soon (March 8th in case anybody wants to send gifts). Megan asked me what I wanted and, being fickle, indecisive, and not really wanting anything that we can afford, I said "I don't know." Then we started talking about my favorite things. At that point I realized that I am a Fickle Obsessor. I could go from "who cares" to "how can I get a Master's degree in that" in less than a minute. Off the top of my head, I had Dr. Pepper, Football, and Chargers as favorites. Everything else, I kind of made up. So, to kick things off, and to give my wife some more insight as to what type of man I am, here are some of my top favorites.

Favorite Movie - I don't know
Favorite Song - I don't know
Favorite Food - I don't know
Favorite Place - I don't know
etc.

Frankly, I don't do favorites. I do top fives. So, to be helpful this time around, here are some top fives and a real glimpse into my mind.

Top 5 bands - Alter Bridge, Lincoln Brewster, Building 429, Metallica (older stuff), Rascal Flatts
Top 5 movies - Old School, Willow, Happy Gilmore, Memento, Big Fish (bonus - Hotel Rwanda)
Top 5 hobbies - Golf, play guitar, play football, play basketball, fixing broke stuff
Top 5 foods - Steak, shrimp (preferably, with steak), broccoli madness (at Souplantation), teriyaki short ribs, avocado & tomato & sunflower seed & egg salad with Lite ranch (all are either in my fridge right now or have been eaten in the past week - these favorites could change beginning tomorrow)
Top 5 colors - Kelly green, forest green, maroon, powder blue, and red
Top 5 golf courses played - Torrey Pines South, Shadowridge, Del Mar Country Club, La Costa North, SilverRock
Top 5 golf courses wanting to play - Pebble Beach, Augusta National, Pinehurst #2, Couer D'Alene, Bandon Dunes
Top 5 things I should be doing - Not eating this cookie, working out, sleeping (it's midnight), reading my bible more, eating healthier
Top 5 football teams - Chargers, Toreros, Aztecs, Jaguars, Lancers
Top 5 fantasy guitar wish list - Gibson SG with P-90s, Gibson Les Paul Special, Taylor 414ce guitar, Marshall JCM 800 half stack, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier half stack
Top 5 fantasy golf wish list - Taylor Made Rac LT irons, Cleveland Hi Bore 8.5 degree driver, Cleveland Hi Bore fairway 3 wood, Titleist Vokey wedges (56 and 60 degree), Taylor Made TP Red golf balls
Top 5 beers - Stone Ruination IPA, Karl Strauss Amber Lager, Samuel Adams Light, my brother Chad's Blackberry home brew, Fat Tire
Top 5 sodas - Dr. Pepper in a bottle, Dr. Pepper in a can, Dr. Pepper in a glass over ice, Dr. Pepper out of a fountain dispenser, Diet Pepsi
Top 5 bible verses - 1 Timothy 6:6, John 2:14, James 4:6, Galatians 2:20, John 2:10
Top 5 TV shows - Studio 60, 24, The OC (sad that it's over), Everybody Loves Raymond, Crossroads
Top 5 obsessions - Anything golf, finding that get rich quick scheme that doesn't require a whole lot of time and energy and no upfront cost, checking my email (even if I just checked it at 11:00pm, there might be an email that was sent in the last hour), checking my myspace.com page every evening knowing that nobody has sent me a comment, did I say anything golf?
Top 5 things to be thankful for - Jesus, Megan, Ryan, my job, my townhome

I think this is the most I've actually thought about myself in a while. I might pick it up a little later but that should be a quick rundown of who I am (at least right now).

By the way, I just checked my email again and someone actually sent me a forwarded email!!!!! At 12:15pm nonetheless. I'll probably just delete it without reading it but at least I feel like I have accomplished something (in a non-productive, time-wasting, obsessive compulsive way).

So this is my first post. I'm sure I'll get used to posting little bits at a time without feeling like I need to get everything off my chest but, in due time.