The Best Things In Life Are Free… Especially When Its Rock N Roll

Its Sunday. The day I usually spend in a coma after the 10-hour church day. Maybe a nap, some Small Group, go to bed early. But not tonight. No amount of tiredness could keep me away from Amos’ South End, where one of my all-time favorite bands was not only playing, but playing for free. For some reason, tonight the stars aligned in Charlotte, and Jimmy Eat World, in front of a packed house, blistered through an hour+ set of new jams (’Big Casino’, ‘Dizzy’, ‘Here It Goes’), old favorites (’Crush’, ‘Your New Aesthetic’, ‘For Me This Is Heaven’) and everything in between - and I didn’t have to pay a dime (though I’d like for it to be known that I would have paid a potentially un-Godly amount for these tickets…).  Wade and I got some free tickets from Alltel and 106.5 and stood in line for an hour in the very un-April-like cold to make sure we got in. And we did. And there were free nachos and free hot dogs. And free rock n’ roll. And really loud guitars. Only five rows deep, dead center. Sweet dreams aren’t this good. And now my right ear is popping like it’s in the mountains. I’m going to sleep like an infant tonight. Go ahead, bask in your jealousy.  You’re allowed.

March Badness ‘08*

Yep. It’s that time of year. And my bracket is in relative shambles. One of these days I won’t let my dumb loyalties pick Winthrop into the Sweet 16, but I just don’t see that day in the near future. And of course there is the usual office bracket pool (I’m in a not-so-distant 4th place… I’ve got them right where I want them). But by now you’ve realized that we’re not your typical office. We can’t just leave it at that. Nope. Enter the first annual March Badness 2-on-2 Basketball Tournament - a brutal struggle between good (mine and Larry’s team, The Paper Tigers) and evil (everyone else). We started off strong, landing the #1 seed by winning the free-throw contest and getting a first round bye. And when we started our first game against Mack “Grant Hill” Brock and Chris “Rebecca Lobo” Brown, we went on a NBA Jam-like tear, scoring 5 of the first 7 points. Cue the downward spiral. And the subsequent controversial foul call to end the game. And the stunning first round loss. And then the even more controversial (and still pending investigation) championship game featuring a questionable “take-back” by Chunks “The Walking Asterik” Corbett. Only the best tournaments are shrouded in this type of scandal. But for now, we’ll let Chunks and John keep their Championship crown - a hot new pair of Starburys from Steve & Barrys (retail $8.98). Start the slideshow…

The Paper Tigers - We’ve stolen cars and burned down multiple buildings.

We may not have won, but we sure did look good losing - thanks to L Star for the headgear and official NBA wrist band and shooting sleeve.

Wes was lights-out in Game 1, single-handedly bringing his team back from 10 down just to lose in the final seconds. But Wes can’t dunk. Twice.

They call me the Iron Curtain.

Chunks spells win c-h-e-a-t.

The winners*

And on a related side track, check out this NC local news stations highlights from the Duke-Belmont game. Brilliant.

ps. Thanks to Candice for the sweet photo work. While she may be the mortal enemy of CS4, she holds it down.

10K… They Grow Up So Fast…

I know, I know - there’s a lot going on right now - March Madness is off and running, Easter is in 3 days & we had a wicked 2-on-2 basketball tournament at work today. I’m going to cover all of that shortly - as soon as Candice sends me some of her hot photo work from today. But first, I have to toot my horn a little. And what better way to celebrate a new domain name that crossing the 10,000 blog views milestone.

Don’t worry, I don’t think I’m some sort of dorky blog celebrity or anything - I’m not even some C-list Surreal Life blog celebrity - but I do think it’s pretty cool - especially considering that for the first year of this thing, I only had 2, 200 views, most of which were my mom or some other relative. For those non-math fans like myself, that means there were 7,800 in the past 8 months. Wicked. So here’s to you, bored/procrastinating blog reader, I owe it all to you.

Taking Off the Training Wheels

Guess who just got a big-boy blog today? Yep, me. Bingo.

Beginning today, you can now get here on the information super-highway at www.ryansworth.com  - so update your favorite bookmarks list.

What’s that? You want something more?  How about some trivia.  How about where does ‘Ryan Sworth’ come from?  Well, I owe it all to Mike.  Mike and I used to work together at Chick-fil-a in high school.  We did all sorts of awesome stuff that should have got us fired.  Actually, I think Mike did get fired.  But not before he decided that ‘Hollingsworth’ wasn’t a cool enough last name for me - so he shortened it to Sworth; the ‘Holling’ is silent.  Apparently he was right because it caught on and soon my nametag even said Ryan S.  And when Ryan Smith started working there later that summer, he wasn’t Ryan S. - he was just Ryan.  And when my sister started working there the next spring and she became Katie S.  And so the Sworth’s were born.  So there it is. Trivia done.

‘Lost’ Is A Gateway Drug

So, granted I’m about four years behind this fast train, but I started watching ‘Lost’ last week - my roommate got Season 1 from his boss - and since then I’ve watched 15 episodes. I would have watched more, but I probably would have lost my job. I’m beginning to realize what a heroine addiction must be like. I’ve never really gotten into these weekly cliffhanger shows like ‘24′ or ‘Heroes,’ but this has got to be one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Plus it makes me want to live on a tropical island. If you haven’t watched it before, do yourself a favor and start. If you’re saying ‘Dude, I’ve been watching this for years - you are so 2004 right now. Let me catch you up.’ I’ll break your legs.

Unleash ‘08: Moustache Bonanza

This past Thursday, we took the posse up to Newspring Church in Anderson, SC to attend their one day conference - Unleash. There were 150 of us (roughly 8% of the whole conference) and we rolled up there in style with matching teal t-shirts. I knew it was going to be a good day when we pulled out of the parking lot at 6 AM on a bus that looked a lot like the tour bus from Almost Famous and our bus driver, Mr. Graham, popped in Rambo: First Blood. That lasted about 5 minutes, but it set the stage for a great day. Here’s a few of the highlights, and some photo accompaniment.

- Perry did a great job. It’s amazing how God works though a bunch of rednecks on the outskirts of Greenville. That’s not an insult either. These guys are awesome and they love Jesus and they don’t claim to know everything - but they give what they have and it has helped a lot of churches, including Elevation.

- The first break out session I went to was with the flamboyant Tony Morgan, on Blogging and Communications (with help from Joshua Blankenship). I got singled out a few times - once as one of the few unmarried people in the session (for the purpose of giving out some pick-up line advice…) and the second for having an allegedly good blog (thanks Phillip…). Tony gave out some good blogging tips, as well as reasons why we shouldn’t own a Chevy Lumina if we have sexy wives.

- After some tasty Chick-fil-a for lunch, Larry and I hijacked the lunch tent sound system for some sweet Der Kommissar action and a good old fashion Rick Roll. Thats how we operate…

- Our second breakout session was with Ken Wilson, on Motion Graphics and Video. A bunch of helpful stuff - plus Larry, E to the P and I had more fun twittering on the big screen…. WIIIIIIIIZZZZARD!

- We finished up the day with the second main session - up in the balcony. Apparently, the Elevation crew is a little too boisterous to sit with the normal crowd. It might have be the teal explosion we had with our t shirts, or it might have been the 2 minute ovation we gave Pastor Steven during the middle of Perry’s first session, or it could have been the sweet moustaches we brought with us. Most of the Elevation staff, along with a few volunteers, sported some hot nose neighbors. Some of the moustacheos were awesome. Most were terrible. I present - the Dirty Dozen.

PS. You’d be amazed how much a pair of Blue Blockers just set off a moustache. Radiant.

Larry looks like a professional poker player and Jeremy is a cross between a freight trucker and the village people. I love my job.

Champs Again

I don’t write about sports much, but when it comes to a few select teams, I get a sparkle in my eye like a five year old and a fireworks finale. So I can’t help but brag on my Winthrop Eagles, who are headed to the Big Dance for the 4th year in a row, 8th in the last decade, after clobbering UNC Asheville 66-48 today in the Big South Championship game. We’ve pretty much defined dynasty in the Big South and I couldn’t be more proud. Lets hope they show out again, like they did last year against Notre Dame (sorry Phillip…).

And Then There Was Baumer. And It Was Good.

Baumer -Were It Not For You

A while back, I told everyone to go check out the new tracks from my good buddies in Baumer.  Well the time has finally come to hear the rest.  This past Tuesday, they released Were It Not For You on Eyeball Records.  You can stream it here or buy it here.  Or you can wander down to your local Best Buy and pick it up.  But if you care for your ears at all, you won’t deny them these sweet melodies.  It’s the best thing to come out of South Carolina since Cracked Rear View.  No, Seriously.

And for those who think that Baumer is just some jokers  jumping on the dance rock bandwagon, these guys have been doing the music thing a while.  Just look how far they’ve come… Here’s a few gems from the old time capsule [1] [2].  Enjoy.