O, Canada

So not 10 minutes after I blogged yesterday, we finished loading up the car and when I went to start it, nothing, just clicking. Seems some idiot (me) had left the dome light on after he got done setting up the GPS the night before. I pulled our other car alongside and tried to jump start, but nothing, still just clicking. I was convinced it was the starter and so I proceeded to do what all mature, grown men do it that situation. I threw a tantrum :D. I called my good friends at Ameritech Tire and Auto and they said if I could get the battery up there they would test it and see if it was the battery or something else. I grabbed some tools and before I got started Ameritech called back and said the owner, Newman, was headed down with a HotShot to try to give the battery a boost. Well he got there, the hotshot worked and after a quick stop at AutoZone for a new battery, we were on our way.

By the way, if you're looking for quality work from good people, take your car to Ameritech. I really can't say enough about them.

I really have to thank Randy for letting us use his GPS. It kept us off the major interstates for the most part, we got to see some beautiful scenery driving through PA and NY and we avoided most of the tolls we would have paid if we had used the directions I printed from the internet.

Our room, is well awesome, we have had top notch service since we pulled in. Valet parking, the bell hop turned us on to some local restaurants and the internet techs were here within 5 minutes when I called about not being able to connect. The view is not the ideal one of the Falls but just being able to see them from our room is awesome. The pic below was taken from our room window.

I haven't been to Canada since the mid-90's and things are way more pricey then they were on my last visit. An example would be the two 1 litre bottles of Aquafina water sitting on the desk here that have a tag which says "Make Your Body Happy $9.95 + tax." I'm sure there's some fine print that says "And piss your wallet off." I just haven't found it yet.

That's it for now, I'll post more pics in another post.

Road Trip!!!

So in just a few minutes, Muffin and I will be headed to Canada for the weekend. Our very good friend Mamen hooked us up with 2 nights in Niagara Falls and we have been excitedly looking forward to it for the past 2 weeks. It has been a long time since we've had the chance to get away by ourselves and with the craziness of the past several months it is much needed. So the GPS is ready, we have a full compliment of MP3's and I am ready for a good ole fashioned road trip with the most beautiful woman in the world!!!

70 x 7

Part of me wants to understand why you do what you do
Part of me doesn't give a rat's ass
Part of me has to forgive you, every time
Part of me wishes it was optional and wants to punch you in the mouth, every time
Part of me cares about you and hurts for what you go through
Part of me hurts more for the people I see you hurt
Part of me wants you to see and understand exactly what grace is
All of me lives in and needs that same grace every day

Song Lyric Sunday

To stand in the pouring rain and believe the sun will shine again
To know that the grave is not the end
To feel the embrace of grace and cross the line where real life begins
And know in your heart you've found the missing part

There is a hope, there is a peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy, and girl

Happy (belated) Birthday, ya redneck!!!

Yesterday was my brother Dana's birthday. Dana is only 18 months younger than me so I don't remember a time when he wasn't part of my life. At times he's been a bit annoying and he's always, well, loud :D but if I could have picked a brother I don't think I would have changed him much at all. He's very quick with a remark and hilariously funny at times. He loves to hunt and fish and is handy with cars (all traits the skipped right over his big bro). He and his family moved to Tennessee about 5 years ago and have made quite the life for themselves. Since that move I have seen his faith grow in leaps and bounds and I know both Mom and Dad are very pleased with the man of God he's turned into. If you would have told me 5 years ago that Dana would be asking me about going to Promise Keepers with him I would have just chuckled at you, but we are planning just that for this August. The pic below is of him and my sister-in-law Sherry and does a great job of capturing his personality. So happy b-day BRO!!! You know I love you!

Prince Caspian

So as I stated in my last post Muffin and I went to see Prince Caspian. Overall I think it's a fantastic film, I'll try to give a fair review without spoiling it for anyone. I have few complaints, none of which are major. My biggest is the choice of Ben Barnes to play Caspian. The book is pretty clear that Caspian was a pre-teen or in his early teens at the oldest and Barnes is obviously much older. However this is forgivable and Barnes actually does an adequate job with the part. And for some reason the producers felt the need to add some romantic tension between Caspian and Susan that the book makes no mention of and really does nothing for the story line. I could nit pick other things but for the most part the movie is a faithful representation of the book. As for what I liked, oh my. where to start. Visually the film is absolutely stunning, the scenery is gorgeous and the effects are even better than the first film. Where LWW had at least one scene where the CGI was obvious, there were no such scenes in Caspian. The CGI animals are even more impressive than they were in LWW. Aslan comes across as even more life like and Trufflehunter the badger is done incredibly well. Personally it was awesome to see one of my favorite literary characters, Reepicheep the mouse, brought to life with incredible realism and personality that matches the one I pictured when reading the book. Even at over 2 hours, it was the type of movie that I was disappointed to see end and will definitely see again.

At The Movies

If you know me at all, you know that I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis. I won't say I've read everything he's written, but I have read a substantial amount and The Chronicles of Narnia are high on my list of favorite reads. So when I heard that Walden Media and Disney had signed on to make all the books into movies I was cautiously optimistic. Well I loved The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and have been anxiously awaiting the release of Prince Caspian. Well tonight my wait ends, we have tickets to the 12:01 am showing that starts in just under 3 hours. It's ok, go ahead, envy me :D I'll let ya know how it is later.

Mothers Day

*NOTE: We're under construction, please excuse any messes!*

Today is the first mothers day in my life that Mom hasn't been here for. While I miss her and the day has had it's mixed emotions it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. Every time I want to allow myself to get down I'm reminded, in one way or the other, that mom is so much better off. I told my friend Sam this morning on the way out of church that's she's probably still saying "Watch this!" to my dad and taking off at a dead sprint across heaven, with Guilo right on her heels :D I had planned to take flowers to her grave today, but the weather turned rainy and I can just see her saying "I'm not going out in that mess!" and so I'll take some by later this week. Even after my father passed I never visited his grave much. Graves hold little symbolism for me as I know neither of them are actually at the graveyard and that I can talk to either of them whenever I want without going to their graves.


I have been blessed to have my mother-in-law Flo with us since the day after Moms funeral and it was a blessing to be able to celebrate with her. She got a dozen roses and corsage and we did lunch at Sonic. Now you have to understand that until recently the nearest Sonic was 3 hours away in Pennsylvania, well last month one opened in Winchester which is a mere 30 mins from here. So Muffin and Flo were more than eager to do lunch at Sonic. And above you will see a pic of our first meal there :D


And to all you mothers that frequent this blog. I hope your Momma Day has been everything you wanted and more. Happy Momma Day to Flo, Kate, Kirsten, Joanne, Becky H., Mara, Tina, Becky P., Angie and anyone else I've forgotten, charge the forgetfulness to my head and not my heart because I have much love for you all. Last but not least a special Happy Momma Day to Julie for spending her mothers day coming up with this great new template for my blog. Julie's a great friend who moved Texas a while back and I miss her a lot. If you don't already, be sure to check out her blog "The Clearing."

Congrats to Alex for getting last weeks lyric correct. I would have also accepted Larry Norman for the artist. Larry Norman wrote the song and is considered by many to be the "father" of Christian Rock. He went home to be with Jesus in February but left an incredible legacy that won't soon be forgotten. And here's this weeks lyric

Lovin you is like food to my soul
Youre always down for me
Have always been around for me even when I was bad
You showed me right from my wrong
Yes you did
And you took up for me
When everyone was downin me
You always did understand
You gave me strength to go on
There was so many times
Looking back when I was so afraid
And then you come to me
And say to me I can face anything
And no one else can do
What you have done for me
Youll always be
You will always be the girl in my life

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Six Word Memoir

So my wife and several others have done this six word memoir thing and I got tagged to do it to. It's not as easy as it sounds but after some thought I came up with...

A work in progress, almost done.

Song Lyric Sunday

If you know anything about me, you know I love music. Music has been my confetti when I'm happy and my pillow when I'm sad. One of my biggest complaints about the church before I became a believer was that the music in church didn't appeal to me at all and if the church would get rockin then maybe I would be more inclined to go. Of course the way I phrase it at 38 is slightly different from the phrasing I used as 16 or 17. Well not long after my dad died in a car accident the president of our schools bible club brought me some cassettes by Amy Grant, Leslie Phillips and Mylon Lefevere and Broken Heart and not too long after that the schools metal head Tommy let me borrow a tape by the band Stryper. And I was honestly amazed, for a kid that had grown up with some very rigid rules of what Christian music could be I was a little overwhelmed and it actually took me several months to get my head around the fact that this music was "Christian." Well that music was instrumental in leading me to the Lord. It also lead to a friendship with Pete that is still strong to this day. I've mentioned in previous blogs that we actually had a pretty successful DJ service that provided a Christian alternative for those who wanted to dance without having to worry about what they were listening to. Well it's been several years since we have actually DJ'd together but several times a year my youth or a friend will ask me to do something and since I really do enjoy it I usually say yes if my schedule allows. Last night I got to do the local Home School Formal, which is basically a prom for the home school kids in the area. This is the second year I've done it and I really enjoyed myself. I was joking with my friend James that I have to be careful with what I play, because some of the stuff that I play 10-15 years ago that I like and is good music just doesn't appeal to today's teens.

I kind of wax nostalgic when I think about how far Christian music has come. Gone are the days of Pete and I traveling to the local Christian bookstores to stock up on all the latest music. Gone are the days of us filling up the back of his trooper with trays of CD's. I fit more music than we ever carried on a 150gb portable hard drive with tons of room to spare. And these days I buy more music at Wal-mart or off the internet and I honestly couldn't even tell you the last time I went to a bookstore. I miss the buy 5 get 1 free sticker promotions that gave an incentive to buy the music at a Christian bookstore. The fact was, before it became more mainstream, Christian music had sort of an underground feel to it and it was the neatest thing to be able to turn someone on to a band like The Prayer Chain, Sixpence None the Richer, P.O.D., Switchfoot and countless others and also get the chance to talk to them about Jesus. I'm not saying that the increased exposure for Christian music is a bad thing, it just makes me realize that things are different than they used to be and that time marches on. So in honor of that I'm gonna throw some retro Christian lyrics out there.

I ain't knocking the hymns,
Just give me a song that has a beat.
I ain't knocking the hymns,
Just give me a song that moves my feet.
I don't like none of those funeral marches
I ain't dead yet!

There will be another contest starting soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

I'm the birthday boy!!!

Today is Aslan's first birthday. A year ago today, this little guy had a rough start to his life. Because he was deprived of oxygen during birth, he was born blue and required CPR. He hasn't really shown any ill effects of this and just seems to take life as it comes. Aslan is all boy and loves to play, chew, bark and generally has a happy go lucky attitude toward life. He finally seems to be getting the whole potty training thing down and at least goes to the door when he needs to go out. Of course going out to him could mean just some time outside. Because, unlike Lilybet, he's just as happy to be outside as he is inside. He seems to fancy himself a watch dog, even to the point of barking at his own reflection in the living room window. He is very much a kisser and has learned to "lick Daddy's glasses" pretty much on cue from Momma, grrrr. He is also very content to cuddle up on the couch with momma or daddy and just be. So happy b-day lil man!!!

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Couple Quick Things

First, the Song Lyric for this week was from the song "So Wonderful" by the band Undercover, the lead singer wrote it after going to his grandmothers (if memory serves me) funeral. It's long been a favorite of mine and when my mom passed it was one of the first songs that came to mind.

With regards to David Cook being undiscovered; I was told tonight that he has released a single at some point? I can't find any verification of this anywhere so if anyone has anything on this let me know. Independent, myspace, youtube and American Idol iTunes downloads don't really count.

And I've already ranted enough in the past about my growing disdain for Paula that I'm just not even gonna comment about THIS MESS