A Halloween Murder In The City

Happy Halloween!

And by Halloween, I mean Happy-Avett-Brothers-show-in-Greensboro. I got all my dressing up out of the way at the Young Life Holla-ween War Games earlier this week, so that leaves a regret-free evening of messy bluegrass punk rock from a 5th row viewpoint.

And no, I’m not a Debbie downer for dipping out on all the candy and festivities. I have a long history of Halloween celebrations, so I’m taking the free pass this time. Please see Exhibit A through D for the win.

A) Russian gymnastics duo The Red Fever, B) Prize Patrol C) Sabotage Cop D) K. Fed.

And for your Halloween viewing pleasure… a little Avett goodness.

Hubatk-o-lantern

It’s that time of year again.
The leaves are changing.
The days are getting shorter.
You’ve pulled out that old hoodie and turned the heat on in the car.
And what’s the one last tell-tell sign that fall has arrived?
Why the Hubatk-o-lantern of course, a favorite of children throughout the world (though mostly concentrated in the Asian province of Korea…)

And even though I missed his birthday bash like a chump, he’s still the greatest boss in the world. Just one more reason why my job is better than yours. Happy Hubatkaween!

*note: the uncanny resemblance was aided by the artistic hand of my hot lady. She’s got more skills than a Swiss Army knife.

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors

These are all really funny.
For some reason.

None of them really sell me on the product. And I don’t even care. They don’t have to. I’m sold on solid, quirky, outside-the-box writing. Here’s how I imagine those creative meetings going:
“What if our candy was a total jerk but then says its sorry?”
or
“What if we created this goofy muppet-looking thing to sell suckers?”
or
“What’s Mrs. Butterworth up to these day? You think she’s hard up for work enough to sell some car insurance?”
And that’s enough to catch my attention, which is more than I can say for the other 90% of forgettable commercials. Way to go muchachos.

*p.s. Chupa Chup via Joe

Me and My Swing Vote

Two candidates. 11 days left. And I’m at a stalemate.

I follow politics. I read the news. I stay away from cable news. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on this election and the candidates. But I’m stuck. I even did one of those “Answer these 20 questions and we’ll match you with a Presidential Candidate” quizzes. Like online dating for politics. And these are the results I got – a statistical dead heat:

I go back and forth practically every day on why one is better than the other and what issues are more important to me, and what I think America needs. And sometimes I even get jaded and think “What the crap – it doesn’t matter who I vote for, because my state is the reddest state in the country.” But my vote does matter if for nothing else than because it’s my right as an American – so I’m not going to forfeit that just because I’m having trouble picking a candidate. But where is it going to go? As Shawn Wood said, why do morals and life belong to the republicans and social justice to the democrats? Because I’m Pro-Life, am I forced to vote for someone who may or may not be capable of recovering the image and integrity of America? And would Jesus agree with nationalized heath care? See, these are just a few of the questions I ask myself. And I still don’t have a clear answer. The only thing I do know is that God is supreme and Almighty and he’ll still work and move, no matter the political landscape. And I have comfort and hope in that.

Oh and I do know that whatever happens in the election, SNL owes these two guys and that Alaskan lady it’s life.

Goodbye Old Friend

Well my faithful Intrepid, Ron Burgundy, has finally kicked the bucket.  Here he is in an action shot. Sort of. He made it to a solid 150,001 miles before crossing the finish line of life. I even took a picture of the glorious departure – 150,000 miles and an engine light. Perfect.

Way to freakin’ go. Not to mention that this was no less than 10 days after I dropped 1200 buckeroos into it for some other unrelated ailments. Sigh.

So I went out to CarMax and dropped some coin on a new-in-2007 Honda Accord. Say hello to my new car (payment) – Wasabi. It’s no Delorean but I still like him. Here’s to a long life and good gas mileage.

Pepper!

In the shadow of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin, this gem slipped under the radar on SNL a few weeks ago. It might be because Michael Phelps may have been the worst SNL host since Walter Payton… that’s actually hypothetical – I’m just assuming he hosted and how bad that probably was. Or amazing if you think bad acting is hilarious. At any rate, here’s Mark Payne and his pepper…

A Week Worth Writing For

And I’m back. Just act like I was never gone and this will be a lot less painful and awkward. Moving on.

So there are some weeks in life where everything is pretty much same-old same-old and you go to work and you go home and things go well and you cut the grass and make your bed and you do it all again the next day.  And then there are those Hurricane Hugo/Terror Threat Red/F5 Tornado (what up Bill Paxton) type weeks where the stars align and everything falls into a four day whirlwind window.  Last week was one of those weeks. But in the best kind of way. The best. Here’s just a few of the highlights.

On Wednesday, we had a wicked sweet hoedown with some of the N Dub Young Life posse. Nothing beats a Wednesday night chock full of cricket spitting, bobbing for bass, EZ Cheez, moonpies and Cheerwine. And jorts. Plenty of jorts.

After that, I popped a few StayAwakeTM, brewed a pot of coffee and headed south for the red-eye drive to the ATL to attend the Catalyst Conference to watch some of the most inspiring Christian leaders and brilliant business minds in the country. The line-up read like a top 10 list for People I Want to Speak Into My Life Before I Die – Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Franklin Graham, Dave Ramsey,former Yahoo mastermind Tim Sanders, Jim Collins of Good to Great fame and marketing wiiizard Seth Godin, just to name a few. Oh and an up and coming Pastor from Moncks Corner, SC, that is making waves in the church world – Pastor Steven Furtick.  Seriously, Watching Pastor not only share the stage, but bring a crowd of 12,000 to their feet and to tears as he shared a God-annointed vision for their ministries was one of my most proud moments.  I am truly blessed to serve God at Elevation and am blown away by the way He has moved among a bunch of nobodies with an audacious faith and a courageous leader to reach a city far from Jesus.  It’s altogether fulfilling, humbling and exciting.

And following all of that fell one of my favorite days of the calendar year. That’s right folks – it’s birthday season for my hot lady. And man oh man does she deserve some special attention. She my favorite. For so many reasons. Happy Birthday Ashley Park – you have all my love. Forever.

Oh but that’s not where it ends. On Saturday one of my best friends for the past 2 decades and 3 years went and got married to a lady way out of his league. And I couldn’t be happier for him.  Matt Geib has been my amigo since we were 3 and, in the words of this guy, I’ve never seen him more happy than when he’s with Angela. Congratulations kids. I’m hoping he brings me a Jamacian bobsled souvenir from his honeymoon. But I’m not holding my breath.  Something tells me it may slip his mind.

And just for good measure, the Gamecocks won.

So there it is. One for the books. A freakin uber-week that no doubt I’ll tell my kids about. Whew.