We had a fun Holloween weekend. The kids had a parade at their school on Friday and below you'll see a picture of a friend of ours, Sheri, who happens to be a teacher at the school as well.

On Saturday, Cathie and I got together with a bunch of friends (including Sheri, sans costume) to watch the MSU vs. UofM game. It was a heartbreaker. It was back and forth, up and down, and I was physically exhausted by the end.

On Sunday we had a bunch of friends and family over for trick-or-treating. Kevin, Will and I took Nate and my newphew Gabe out. The best house in our neighborhood had an area setup with a keg of beer, a fire and benches for the parents to hang out while the kids trick-or-treated the cul-de-sac. You can see more of our Holloween Pictures here.

I don't always agree with the things Tony Campolo says, but his stuff always challanges me to take a hard look at what I easily believe and why I belive it. This article 'Evangelical Christianity Has Been Hijacked': An Interview with Tony Campolo looks the religious right's blanket support of the republican party:

Evangelicals need to take a good look at what their issues are. Are they
really being faithful to Jesus? Are they being faithful to the Bible? Are they
adhering to the kinds of teachings that Christ made clear?

I walked into Office Depot with a pile of dirty laundry. Between my ripped pants and lack of clothes, I had to go shopping and I couldn't get everything into my suitcase. Rather than try and carry everything else in a plastic bag, I walked into the store asking to ship this stuff. They looked at me kind of strange and pointed me towards aisle four where the boxes are. I grabbed a big cardboard box, stuffed my dirty laundry in it and shipped it home, second day delivery, for $9. What a bargain.

I played at The National golf course in Kansas City yesterday as a part of an outing that my company sponsored. The course was designed by Tom Watson, and the private course is impossible to get onto (check out the 9th hole - it's about 100 foot drop from the tee down to the pin). The course was amazing. I've never played a course this nice. The golf carts had computer systems in them that mapped out the hole, the course, the distance to the pin - everything except the ability to call the beer cart. It was a beautiful day - 70 degrees and the colors are in full bloom down here. I played with three other co-workers, and we did a lot of laughing throughout it. We didn't win (8 under) in part because I played so horribly for the first 9 holes. I couldn't hit a ball more than 10 feet to save my life. Half way through, things clicked and I begin playing moderately well. I had had some great drives, great chips, but my putting never improved.

I was planning on flying out today, but ended up staying over and flying straight to Birmingham tomorrow. I need to get more underwear.....

I played at The National golf course in Kansas City yesterday as a part of an outing that my company sponsored. The course was designed by Tom Watson, and the private course is impossible to get onto (check out the 9th hole - it's about 100 foot drop from the tee down to the pin). The course was amazing. I've never played a course this nice. The golf carts had computer systems in them that mapped out the hole, the course, the distance to the pin - everything except the ability to call the beer cart. It was a beautiful day - 70 degrees and the colors are in full bloom down here. I played with three other co-workers, and we did a lot of laughing throughout it. We didn't win (8 under) in part because I played so horribly for the first 9 holes. I couldn't hit a ball more than 10 feet to save my life. Half way through, things clicked and I begin playing moderately well. I had had some great drives, great chips, but my putting never improved.

I was planning on flying out today, but ended up staying over and flying straight to Birmingham tomorrow. I need to get more underwear.....

Okay - here's one of the coolest applications for my Treo phone. Using the PDANet software, I can hook my phone to my laptop and have a wireless internet connection where ever I'm at, without having to pay ridiculous airport wireless internet access fees. The connection is slower (145Kbps as opposed to 10Mbps), but it sure beats nothing - or god forbid, being disconnected.

I'm sititng in the airport. It's sunday night. I hate flying on Sunday nights. It kills my whole Sunday for me. I'm heading to Kansas City for a customer golf outing at The National golf course. About half way to the airport, I noticed I'd forgotten to stop by Ted's to borrow his golf club travel case. I was too far out to head back and make it so I tried to stop at Wal-Mart and pick up a cheap one. When I asked the guys behind the desk (all dressed in hunting gear) for one, they looked at me like I had two heads. I get to the airport (leaving my clubs in the trunk) and get to my gate, finding out my flight's an hour delayed. Sad thing is, the notice about the delay was sent to my phone while I was on the way to the airport, but I ignored it, figuring it was just another notice telling me when my flight was departing, which I already knew. I'm back Tuesday night, flying back out on Wednesday afternoon to Birmingham, AL and then back on Thursday. I'm in New York next Monday/Tuesday and then home for the week.

So here's the downsides to owning an iPod (or any device that allows you to put 40GB/10,000 songs) in one place:
1. You have to keep the MP3's meticulously tagged and organized.
2. There's so much music there that it's tough to figure out what to listen to or what you have out there.

I love my church. I love that I could teach our congregation a portion of the lyrics to Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice:

To the extreme, I rock the mic like a vandal
Light up the stage and wax a chump like a candle

Before you brand me heritical, let me explain. I was talking about what we want our church to be known as in our community, and one suggestion I had was that we be known as a church that knows all of the lyrics to a great rap song. I proceeded to teach the song and had everyone recite it. I contrasted this with how much cooler it would be to be known as a church that loves really well and have learned how to really live life, based on what Jesus has taught us about living. The latter seems a little more compelling. But I still think my church is cool - because it loves well.

I just heard something that thrilled me from two people who don't go to my church. Both commented on how many people within our community had heard about all the crap (Pastor infidelity) that happened at Crossroads in the past however many months its been. Both people also commented on how we've been handling it as a church - one that we've handled it differently than any church he'd seen, the other that we handled it so well, he started coming to Crossroads.

When we started going down this road, one of our goals was that we be known for exactly these things - a church that loves well, even in the face of turmoil. We haven't done it perfectly, but I think we've done just that, handled it differently and loved well. This really offsets the angst I get from all of the giant crap-weasels who left as a result of this instead of sticking it out. (I even love giant crap-weasels).

As I walked up to the check-out at Circuit City yesterday, one cashier said to the other, "Our new UPS guy must be retarded." Not missing the chance, I told him that I was the new UPS guy. He replied that "I wasn't wearing my brown uniform". I told him that even though my mother used to tell me that I was retarded, I'd always thought that was because she didn't like me. It created a nice akward moment that I decided we both needed to stay in. He looked at me, not quite sure if I was serious or not. As I left, I told him I'd try and do a better job from now on.

Last night while watching Survivor, the topic of Jamie Lee Curtis came up and the rumor of her being born a hermaphrodite (odd conversation, I know). Like all good urban legends, we had all heard this one as fact. Turns out, it may not be true, per this.

I took the day off today and let Cathie sleep in while I got the kids ready for school. Cathie was telling me that as she lay in bed she overheard Madeline complaining about not being able to do her hair (because she knows I don't have a clue). Nathan came in and volunteered that he could do her hair. She asked him if he knew how, and he said he did.

Emily and I hung out the rest of the morning watching Dora and an animal show on the Discovery Channel-HD. She just digs animals in all shapes and sizes. Cathie, Emily and I are getting ready to head out to lunch in a little bit.

We had a big group of people over last night to watch Survivor. We ended up hanging out aftewards watching The Daily Show, which just kills me. If you haven't seen John Stewart on CNN's crossfire yet, you have to check this out, particularly the part where he calls one of the hosts a dick. (Thanks to Noel for the link)

A number of people have asked me my opinions on our church and one of the people we're looking at as a candidate. Here are my random thoughts on a what Crossroads needs in a pastor. I’ve spent the past six weeks really seeking God on this stuff and trying to really listen to what he has to say. This is a combination of what God’s been telling me and my own opinion, but I’m not sure how to differentiate the two. Disclaimer: This are my opinions in part, I don't know much and I could very well be completely wrong. There's nothing here that I haven't shared with people who've asked. My opinion is a work in progress, open to what God's telling me, open to feedback and this is my first pass at putting it all in one place. This isn't well written and probably not even well thought out.

To understand what I’m thinking about a pastor, I think I first need to understand who we’re called to reach and THEN how we plan on reaching them. If Crossroads is going to be like every other church in the community, I believe we might as well close up shop. It’s going to be too hard of a road ahead for us to be just another church that targets the 40 to 60 year olds of South Lyon in the same old way everyone else does it. I want to be a part of a church that understands the world around it and leverages that to create disciples of Jesus. I want to be a part of a church that focuses on young people (15 – 35) yet has an older generation with a mission mindset for the youth and as a church body is known for loving people well. If there’s an older generation that enjoys that, they are welcome to the community, but I believe too much of the Church as a whole focuses on the old and not the young. I don’t believe that we as a church can just focus on people as a whole and be extremely effective. It doesn’t work in business and it doesn’t work in churches. You have to pick a focus and do it well. I’ve always loved the fact that I could invite my neighbors and know that they wouldn’t feel awkward, but that they would see that the church is different than the stuffy, irrelevant church they may have experienced in the past.

In a pastor, I want someone with mindset for outreach, who values deep, authentic community and who can communicate with the target audience that I’ve referenced above. That’s way more than just speaking biblical messages. They need to understand how people with modern and post-modern mindsets process information, process their faith, and process Truth. They need to be a student of the culture and a student of the word – and have the ability to relate one to the other. We need to have someone who loves others well – no matter what they look like, what kind of sin they bring to the table or where they’re at in their spiritual journey. Beyond that, of course they need to fit into all of the biblical guidelines laid out for a pastor – that’s a given. Ideally, I’d like to see someone with a Youth Pastor background and all that brings to the table in terms of understanding the world, communicating that to our focal point, relating to tough to love people and possessing a relevance - all while not taking themselves too seriously.

I think the current candidate is a great person with a passion, a heart for the unlovable and the lost and an understanding of the world around him. He seems like he’d be a good traditional Shepard for this church and where it’s at, because of who's left. His teachings don’t seem relevant or effective at communicating in a way that post-moderns can hear them. I’ve talked to a number of people who’ve actually been offended at some of HOW he presents his perspectives and HOW he’s shared them; things about women, paraplegics and children. I’ve talked to probably 20 different people about their opinions of him and their seems to be a dividing line after age 40 or so on who connects with him and who doesn’t. When I hear a teaching, I like it to stick with me for the following week as I gnaw on it and process it. His’s teachings haven’t done that.

The gaps: To be fair to him, I haven't heard all of his teaching and I've only spent about 90 minutes with the guy.I haven't seen him in a leadership capacity or a sheparding capacity, I really have very little to go on in all of this.

Again, I could be way off base. These thoughts are a work in progress.

Nate and I stacked two face cords of firewood together. We had a great time doing it and had a great conversation about everything from how tall it would go if we stacked the wood one on top of the other to how much many pieces we could carry at a time.

The message from Mars Hill on Mastering the Art of living that I referenced earlier continues to be stirring inside of me in a way that things haven't in a while. It's causing me to look at how I talk to people in person and on the phone, how I spend time with my wife and kids and how I enjoy what I have and where I'm at today and in the moment. Probably not a big deal for other people, but I seem to be so focused on what's coming next or where i'm going that I have a tough time time just existing in the present moment - no matter what it is.

It really hit me yesterday when I tried a practical application. I was meeting with Mark, one of the guys on my team at a local coffee shop. Typically when I show up I'm armed with my cell phone and laptop delivering instant message conversations, e-mails and phone calls as we talk. This time, I sat there with my notebook and pen and talked and listened. I was amazed at how I processed where we were at and what we were talking about and was in that moment instead of de-focused on everything. Same thing when I travel, typically when I call home and talk to Cathie I've got the TV on in my hotel room and my laptop in front of me - checking e-mail, IMing all while talking to my wife. I've started just shutting down and listening and focusing.

I went to the prayer meeting last night. We prayed individually for about 30 minutes and then the five of us prayed together for a half hour. It was an amazing time that refreshed and reconnected me to God in a way that my quiet time in the morning hasn't.

I thought this was funny. Cathie went to the store today to go grocery shopping. It turns out today was Old People Flu Shot day (pobably not the official name for it). Cathie explained to me that old people were everywhere in the store, camped out in lawn chairs and office chairs that they'd brought. You couldn't get to the groceries on the shelves, because there were old people in chairs lining the aisles in front of the stuff. Maybe it's just me, but I laughed my head off when Cathie told me about this.

Apparently bad-mouthing the Apple comunity is the equivalent to bad-mouthing Pat Robertson - you're going to get lots of e-mail after Pat (Noel) sics them on you . I made some observations about Apple users, iPod people specifically to which Noel responded. As you'll see, I've received a number of responses, per Pat's - I mean Noel's request. Apparently, Apple users are very succeptible to suggestion.

Let me clarify my position. I believe the Mac OS is far superior to Windows XP. The Mach kernel that OS X uses has been around for a long time (I worked on it on the NeXT OS 15 years ago in college) and the interface that it uses is phenomenal. Their software integrates in very tightly and being tied to Unix, there are minimal security issues. The chipset that the Mac is designed around is better and the cases look cooler. I don't disagree with any of that.

I do believe that Mac users have a certain arrogance and self-righeousness about them. Kinda like University of Michigan grads. You don't have to ask them if they're one because they'll tell you. Over and over. Is there such a need to be counter cultural about something that they jump on to the Mac bandwagon? I'm okay if people want to use Mac's - just don't try and hold it over people's heads that it somehow defines who you are and makes you better than everyone else, or that you know more than everyone else (except for Noel, who really does know more than everyone else. <--Noel, that was put out there to appease your followers.)

Dodgeball was great last night, until about 9:15 PM. I was actually playing half-way decent, until about 9:15 PM. Part way through the first match my back started huritng a little bit, but i figured I play through it. During one of the games, I chucked a ball and had a nasty spasm go through my back that hurt really, really badly, to the point that I couldn't really stand up, sit down or move without a lot of pain. I called Kirk Vickers, he told me to ice it and come in in the morning.

Kirk is a good friend of mine who owns Triad Health and Fitness, a performance training center in Novi. He works with pro-athletes and guys like me. Kirk knew what the problem was (something to do with having twisted my spine weird and having my hips out of whack). He put me in some strange positions that I'm not sure they even do in prison, stretching and pushing my thighs in a way that hurt worse than the original back pain. I stood up and amazingly enough, most of the pain was gone.

I guess this means I'm getting old. I don't remember having back problems in 5th grade when I played dodge ball.

I'm now officially in last place in BOTH of my fantasy football leagues!

"The press has bravely and nobly eroded the public trust. What I'm advocating is the media come back and work for us again. ... The bias of the media is not liberal. It's lazy and sensationalist."

-- comedian JON STEWART, star Comedy Central's late-night sendup of television news, criticizing the mainstream media's coverage of politics.

Television Sends Out Distress Signal

This is a really interesting article from Howstuffworks.com on How Hangovers Work

I've been listening to messages from Rob Bell, the pastor of Mars Hills church in Grand Rapids, MI where my brother Jon goes to church. Rob and I both went to Okemos High School, he grew up right down the street from me. I saw him teach a couple of years ago at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Conference and was blown away by him. I've been listening to his stuff in my car and while exercising. I started listening to a series called Mastering the Art of Living. The first message deals with living in the present moment and I've come to realize how baldy I'm setup to do that. Between my treo with it's IM and E-Mail capabilities, my iPod, my car stereo, my TiVo, my cell phone I have a tough time taking 5 minutes of quiet in my day. Each morning, I take 15 - 30 minutes of quiet time, but even that, I have a tough time being in that moment and not thinking about the day before, the next day, or even my day that's going to start in another 30 minutes.

You can download mp3's of the last 12 weeks of messages here.

You can browse and download my personal collection of sermon MP3's from Mars Hill, Crossroads and Riverview here.

At the top of the list of blog's I will never read:
1. Barbara Streisand

I finally did it. I bought an iPod. In case you've been living in a cave, an iPod is a portable MP3 music player. Aside from playing music, it's also a social statement. Best I can tell, people who own iPod's are better than EVERYONE else in the world. The white headphones apparently are a statement in and of themselves that you are smarter, better, richer and have know more than the rest of the world. All very typical characteristics of an apple owner. I'm waiting to learn the secret handshake - and I've started giving the knowing head-nod to other iPod owners as I pass them in the airport. My Mac friend Noel believes that Jesus would own a Mac because they are both counter-cultural. On that note, so is smoking crack.

I was dancing with Emily (my 3-year old) this evening when she wrapped her arms around my legs and said, "Daddy, I want to dance like this." I got down on my knees and we danced around the family room. Her response with a giant smile: "Daddy, I'm dancing just like a princess." Made my night.

We had a pretty laid back weekend. On Friday night, we had a family night. We hung out in our hot tub for a while and then came in and played a few rounds of the game Caboodle.

On Saturday, I went to the MSU vs. Minnesota football game. Will, Brad, Jim (Brad's son) and I went to the game. The football was amazing (MSU scored 51 points) but the weather blew. 20mph winds coupled with rain and 39 degree weather make for great football weather - if you're in a dome. We ended up taking off before the half and heading over to watch the rest of the game in a nice warm bar.

Saturday evening we went out with the Niemi's and Girard's for dinner and to a comedy club. We went to Pronto! in Royal Oak for dinner - which was great, but had to many freaking options to feel like you're making the right choice. We went to the Comedy Castle (which Cathie's uncle used to own) where I laughed for 90 minutes straight, all while inhaling the same amount of second-hand smoke that you'd get over a 3 year period. We went back to Pronto! for dessert and then headed home.

Today after church, we did a whole lot of nothing. I laid on the couch and in moments of conciousness (napping) I watched the Lions game. For dinner, Madeline made up menus for everyone and we had a "Fancy Dinner". The menu consisted of appetizers (bacon), a main course (5 different types of pancakes), and beverages. Madeline dressed up in her holloween costume, which is a 50's soda-clerk outfit (that incidentally can easily be mistaken for a french maid outfit). She went around and took orders from everyone while I was the short-order cook. She served the orders and loved every minute of it

Nate continues to sell popcorn for his cub-scout pack. I'm not a big fan of the whole "sell crap for your organization" thing, unless it supports the boy scouts or girl scouts (and sometimes a youth group). I figure I pay tax dollars, so why supplement schools with my money for cheap crap? The best part is listening to him go through his sales pitch - as he describes the goremet (gourmet) popcorn with pek-ins (pecans).

Cathie and I watched the movie Saved tonight. It's a satire about Christians and it was painful to watch. It was a well done movie, but it hit close to home. It made painfull clear how we as Christians try and make our faith overly cool and shove it down others throats. I watched it from the inside out, but I wonder how someone who isn't a Christian would see this movie. I'm not sure I know. Some hilarious stuff in this movie, if you can step back far enough and watch it.

My little sister Susan is pregnant with her third baby! Congratulations Boom!

Dwight L. Moody said, "Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian."
Brennan Manning said, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
Dave Burchett said, "Christians, like physicians, should vow to do no harm. But forgive us, Lord. Because we do."

Good article entitled I am a Christian, and I suck:

Let's face it—to paraphrase Relevant author Matthew P. Turner, we all suck. No way around it—we are all messed up in one way or another when it comes to our relationships with others and how we deal with them. We've all at one time said something utterly stupid, done something hurtful or thought something we know we shouldn't have about a fellow brother or sister in Christ

As I've said before, Kevin Smith is a genius! Click here to download and watch his latest Jay Leno Roadside Attraction. This one involves him going to a Vegas impersonator's convention. Click here to see more about them.

Cool site on building potato guns. This guy is nuts.

Humerous web-site full of found notes.

Emily, Madeline and I went to build-a-bear last week and she built a stuffed dog. Emily's either really good at naming things, or really bad - not quite sure which. Everytime I ask her what the dog's name is, she comes up with a really strange one - She-ri, Ki-da, Say-de, etc. Her latest name for the dog - so-gay.

Our meeting in D.C. finished early, so we had some time to kill walking around the the city. It's a cool place to sight see, but there's a LOT of walking invovled. Technology has fixed that. You can now take Segway tours of the Washington D.C. Segways are those motorized two-wheel stand up things. Look at me, using my legs like a sucker!

Some random observations about D.C.:
1. The squirrels there have no fear. They will gang up on you and beat you down if they get you alone. No kidding.
2. It's a dull palce to people watch. The people are very plain and dull looking.
3. The E section of the yellow pages is about an inch thick. (hint: Escort services is under E)
4. Lots of people wear suits and ties there. Almost no one in the rest of the world still wear suits and ties
5. They have monuments there built for EVERYTHING imaginable.
6. Washington Dulles airport security is horribly slow and inefficient.
7. You can get great shell-fish in D.C. Especially at Ebbit's Grill during happy hour (4 - 6, 11pm-1am)
8. You can no longer tour the white house.



I drove past the CIA today,which was a big thrill for me for some reason.

I ran across this verse in 1 Timothy 1 this morning, which speaks to the contrasting views of of what outreach looks like in churches today:

The whole point of what we're urging is simply love - love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. ....Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip. They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they're holding forth with such imposing eloquence. It's true that moral guidance and counsel need to be given, but the way you say it and to whom you say it are as important as what you say.

I've been trying to figure out my own outreach philosophy. Here's what I've come up with so far:
1. I need to be understand what God's done in my life - what does my salvation really mean to me?
2. I need to pray hard and listen often to what God's telling me.
2. I need to be willing to build authentic, loving relationships irregardless of where the other person is at spiritually and is not dependant on whether they ever move from that spot.
3. I need to be humble with my beliefs - understanding where God's truth and my perspective intersect, but keeping in mind that I only see a part of God's Truth (1 Cor 13:12)
4. I need to be able to ask good questions
5. I need to be willing to listen well

I got into Washington D.C. last night around 8:30. The hotel conciegre pointed us to a great bar across from the treasury building. After getting lost a few times (it looked really easy to find on the map), we found the place. Happy hours starts again at 11:00 and includes 1 lb lobsters for $10. It made for a great dinner.

When I got off the plane, my phone's instant messenger blasted a bunch of messages that had come through while I was in the air, including this one from my son Nate:
Hi Dad it is nathan. Dad love you. You are the best dad. You shud have been there at basketball with me. Why did you have to leave dad?

My hotel is nice (staying at the Capital Hilton) but it has the oldest alarm clock known to man. It's called the Ameriphone Alertmaster with Bed Shaker AM-3000. I couldn't figure out to set it, let alone how to use the bed-shaker. What is a bed-shaker, anyways?

I went running this morning and I'm in all day meetings downtown with a customer. I fly back tonight out of Dulles.

The whole family (including Will) went to the Pumpkin Patch this afternoon to pick pumpkins and run the corn maze. We went to the one on Six Mile and Curtis. Don't bother. The pumpkins were nice, but it was expensive. They charged you $5 just to get out to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze, let alone $5 a head for the Corn Maze itself.

Every year we go to pick pumpkins and the kids want the biggest pumpkins possible and I get stuck trying to carry them. This year, I had the genius idea of telling the kids they could get the biggest pumpkin out there, as long as they could carry it back to the tractor. After about 30 minutes of searching, they finally found their pumpkins. Nate could of cared less about the quality of the pumpkin, just the size. He must of tried lifting 30 different pumpkins. He finally found a huge one and somehow carried it out on his own. He wanted it badly.


You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Afterwards, we hung around checking out the gords and the goats and then went for Ice Cream. Nate and I later went up to sell pop corn for his Cub Scout Den. Imagine 8 kids out in front of a video store and everytime someone comes through the doors, they're mobbed by all of the kids, kinda like little Hare Krishnas. I tried to teach them the art of the negative reversal, a great sales technique, by having them stand there looking dejected, saying "There's probably no way you could buy any popcorn from us, is there?". It was genius.

We finished the evening off by watching the movie Second Hand Lions, which was phenomenal. It stars Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment. It was a fantastic movie about a boy growing up with his two uncles, their understanding of their identities and the larger story they live in. It's worth buying. I want to watch it with Nate.

When I got home last night, we hung out together for a while, and then Cathie and I went on a date together to try and catch up. We had such a crazy week and weekend last week, that this was the first chance for us to be together in a while and have some quality time. We went out for coffee, went out to a movie and came home. We went to see The Forgotten. Good movie, pretty suspensful, mediocre ending.

Here's Me, Mark, Newton and Chris on our final night at the Peter's farm. I posted the pictures here, but they're probably only interesting to the four of us. Except for the picture of the bull and the really, really big spider, and the picture of me using the tractor for barn demolition... ok, maybe not that one.

So one last story about Newton. It turns out that back in '91, Newton was one of the few white rappers in the world, going by the name Rooster Hayes. He had a billboard top 10 song called Country is Cool, which you can download here. He toured and opened up for bands like Run D.M.C. Ya gotta listen to the song.

Noel put this online, and it's dead-on talking about the accent of someone from Michigan. Probably not worth reading unless you're from Michigan, but it's amazing how accurate it is.

We hung out last with Newton's family, who by their own admission are Southern Folks. One of the guys I met was Newton's brother-in-law, Jimmy, who's was exactly what you'd expect. I thought Newton had a thick southern accent but Jimmy would talk sometimes and I we'd just look at each other to see if anyone else understood it. Kinda like Hank's buddy in the show King of the Hill. He brought over some moonshine which he explained was "The kind that makes you slap yo momma". It was good, pretty smooth, direct from their neighbor's still. We also checked out one of his cotton fields and went and picked some cotton. Pretty cool for us city boys. We stopped into the local country store where we talked and joked with the locals for a while about us Yankees.

Newton, who's last name is Peters was telling us about his High School football career, which is a religion down here. The paper got wind that he wasn't going to play and had a headline "Wildcats to play with out peters" (which beats the headline "Wildcats to play with Peters out".

So more interesting stories on Newton. Newton is a tall, white, lanky southern fella who grew up in L.A. (Lower Alabama). Back in '91 he recorded a rap song called Country is Cool that actually got significant national airplay. You can download it here. He toured with the song, opening for groups like Run D.M.C. back in their heyday. He's a great guy with a great perspective on life and people. He can talk to absoloutely anyone and find some kind of common ground with them. He's got a million great stories and showed us amazing hospitality down South.

I'm in Florala, AL - the Crystal Meth capital of the world. I flew in to Fort Walton, FL last night and we stopped at the resturant Fudpuckers. Their big claim to fame is that you can feed live aligators. We walked in and were looking at all of these alligators, not sure if they were real. What's the logical thing to do? Throw pennies at them. Turns out, they were all real. We looked a couple feet away and there of course was a big sign that said "Reward for the arrest of people throwing foriegn objects or food at the alligators" with a suveillence camera right next to it. Oops.

I began this morning putting on make-up. Ok, I wasn't putting it on myself. I had a make-up artist caking on make-up before I was supposed to shoot my part of our commercial at a customer site here in Kansas City. After they did my make-up, they put my in front of lights and cameras for the taping. I had people constantly adjusting my clothes, my posture and make-up as we taped. I was interviewed and I would answer the question, kinda like the AT&T commecials with the talking heads. They're going to take my 30 minutes of video and probably use one minute out of it. It was horribly akward. I'm rarely at a loss for words, but this thing really threw me off. I felt like I had to come up with really meaningful, smart things to say, neither of which I normally have anyways, and even less so when I'm on camera.

I know I'm biased, but I think these pictures of the girls at the wedding are about as cute as it gets.

I'm heading out to Kansas City this morning. We're shooting a commercial for a customer today and tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm off to Florida, back friday evening. Our dodgeball team sucked last night, no thanks to me. I've learned that I'm not very good. Throwing the ball hard doesn't equate to accuracy, so just about everything I throw it I either miss, or have it get caught. I'm getting old. My arm was killing me by the end last night.

There was frost on my car this morning when I went to the gym at 5 freaking 30 this morning.

"You see this thing now where like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi -- like I love all these guys as musicians -- they're gonna raise money for John Kerry. God bless 'em. But, before you go and do that, why don't these motherf**kers go over there and play for our soldiers in Iraq? I'm not vocal about my views on the war. I'm just vocal about my views on the troops...I do not believe that artists or actors and people should be out there like voicing their full-blown opinions on politics because, let's face it, at the end of the day, I'm not that smart of a guy. I play rock 'n' roll, that's what I do. Who would you trust to make your decisions, (Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld or the Dixie Chicks?" --Kid Rock

"You see this thing now where like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi -- like
I love all these guys as musicians -- they're gonna raise money for John Kerry.
God bless 'em. But, before you go and do that, why don't these motherf**kers go
over there and play for our soldiers in Iraq? I'm not vocal about my views on
the war. I'm just vocal about my views on the troops...I do not believe that
artists or actors and people should be out there like voicing their full-blown
opinions on politics because, let's face it, at the end of the day, I'm not that
smart of a guy. I play rock 'n' roll, that's what I do. Who would you trust to
make your decisions, (Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld or the Dixie
Chicks?"

-- Kid Rock

I hate it when this happens.

Cathie, Will and I just got done watching Jersey Girl, a Kevin Smith movie. I liked the movie. Pretty non-Kevin Smith, but a nice, funny, warm movie. Kevin is my all-time favorite director/writer out there. If you watch the DVD, be sure and check out the special features section which has a great 30 minute conversation about almost nothing, between Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith. It also has all of Kevin's road-side attractions on the DVD that he does for Leno. You can download all of them on the View Askew site here.

We went to the much heralded Pumpkinfest in town (yes, only in South Lyon). It starts on Saturday with a big parade that everyone in town is in. Nate, Madeline and Emily were all supposed to be there at 8am for the parade (as it poured down rain), but as luck would have it, we had to be at the wedding. Darn.

Today was a beautiful day, so we went to the event. They had lots of inflatable games for the kids, including this cool Euro-Bunjee jumping thing. On a funnier note, they had a dog show, where people got to dress up both themselves and their dog in a costume. Some hilarious stuff to see, but it was just Emily and I checking it out, and a three year old wouldn't of gotten why it was so funny. Take this ninja boy and ninja dog for example:

What kind of fair is complete without cotton candy. Emily downed hers in a matter of minutes and acted like it was heroin ("ooooh, mom, this is soooo good."). The face tells the story (well, part of the story. It doesn't show the sugar-crash that happened 60 minutes later):

The big event finally happened! Jason and Jess got married (and we got our basement back and Will got his back)

The rehersal dinner was Thursday night. Emily and Madeline were the flower girls and I was an usher. We had dinner over at the Shinn's house afterwards. Jason's parents are two of the coolest parents you'll ever meet. They both radiate such an inner joy and kindness to them, they just seem thrilled to talk to you and care deeply about the people around them. Kinda like I imagine Jesus being when he talked to people. They seem to be thrilled with adding Jess to their family. Jess inherited a great set of in-laws.


On Friday, we had Jason's bachelor party. We kidnapped him Old School style. All of the guys piled into a van with panty hose on our heads, pulled up to Jason's house, grabbed him, duct-taped him, and threw him in the back. We headed over to Brad's cottage where we went tubing, jet-skiing, grilled out and played some cards. Brad Reid bought the food from GFS, so we ended up the following ingredients:

• 15 Pounds of Frozen Hamburger
• A 5 Lb bag of shredded lettuce
• 15 Full tomatos
• Buns
• A 5 lb block of cheese.

We all kicked in and got Jason a whole set of manly tools - every too you could need as a newlywed. We watched old school twice and laughed just as hard the second time around.

The next morning was the wedding. Madeline and Emily were so cute as flower girls, and Buck, Will and I looked pretty snazzy as ushers. There were a couple things of interest as I walked around the church. One was a picture on the "Wall of Fame" of old pastors:

The other was the fact that Lisa Whelchel, Blair, of facts of life is coming to their church, and I'm all set to get an autographed picture.

Lastly, I got my picture taken with Kenny Rogers:

It was a great wedding, especially for being thrown together in seven weeks (no, they're not pregnant, they just didn't want to wait any longer to have sex). Jess looked beauitful and feminine, Jason was able to work Dave Matthews into the whole deal. They're on their way to Cancun this morning, there for an entire week.

Here are more pictures from the event.

I'm constantly reminded by what a long term deal evangelism really is. There's a single mom in our neighborhood who we've gotten to know over time and invited to church a while back. She didn't really seem interested. Yesterday when Cathie was talking to her, she shared with Cathie that she and her daughter are interested in coming to church with us.

"I'm drinking to get a hangover so I'll have something to do during my day off tomorrow." Fred L. 44, drinking for the future at the Lion's Lair."
Just some of the wisdom quoted at Modern Drunkard Magazine Online