Standing Still Is Slowly Dying

Carson

2010-03-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

Tonight I was trying out the new video recording capabilities on my Palm Pre (new operating system was released Saturday giving my phone the capability to record video). As soon as I pulled the phone out, Carson immediately began saying that he wanted to see himself. So when you struggle to understand him, that’s what he’s saying, “Wanna see Tarson (Carson).” Hard to believe he’s talking now as good as he is and that he’s going to be 2 in nine days Time sure does fly.

Causing Trouble at Chik-fil-a

2010-03-01T22:04:00.002-05:00

You wouldn’t probably ever peg me as someone causing a ruckus at Chik-fil-a on a Saturday night but I did just that Saturday night.

We went as a family to the Woodruff Road restaurant at Garrett’s request. Carson is still too short to climb on the play set by himself so I gave him a boost to help him climb up and followed up the structure behind him helping him as he climbed. For the first 15 minutes or so, he’d go down the slide and I’d head back down and help him back up after Laura helped him at the bottom.

From there, Carson headed up to the very top of the play set and we talked with a little girl and her little brother who very closely resembled a girl due to hair length. I was quickly corrected when I called him a girl. Anyway, we stopped talking to them and I heard someone say, “Ma’am, is your husband up in the play set?” Laura replied that I was.I was expecting to be reprimanded for being too big or maybe that I shouldn’t have my shoes on when I hear, “We have received several complaints from a gentleman who is quite irate that your husband is blocking the slide and not letting his child go down.” I immediately headed down to the bottom thinking, ‘Who is the LUNATIC saying these ridiculous things?!?!?!?’

Long story short, this guy was absolutely furious (like fighting mad) and reported multiple times that I was up there blocking the slide and not letting his kid slide. So furious in fact that the manager felt the need to come talk to us even though he didn’t think we were doing anything to placate the guy. I told the manager, “Why on EARTH would I go up there and block the slide and not let kids slide down??!!? All I’m doing is helping my kid whose not yet 2-years-old play.” Laura said that she figured out who the guy was (some old guy who I assume was there with his granddaughter) and that she had noticed him causing a stir in the restaurant, but had no idea he was angry and me. The only thing I can possibly figure is that the little girl had to wait a second or two for me to help Carson down and then extricate myself from the slide area and she took exception to that extra second or two. I do know that after Laura told me which kid belonged to the guy, I remember her shoving Carson out of the way as he was trying to climb into the slide so she could go ahead of him. I am still completely dumbfounded as to how he possibly could have gotten so mad at me. He wasn’t even out there in the play area as we were the only parents even watching our kids out there. If anything, he should have been thanking me because some other stupid parents brought a bunch of 10 & 11 year-olds for a birthday celebration and those boys were playing tag out there and knocking the little kids down. I told them to cut it out thus helping his precious granddaughter out. Some people really amaze me.

The manager talked to the guy after talking to us and said that the guy cooled down after he talked to him. Not sure if he just told us that or if he really did get his senses about him. Either way, I’ll go ahead and deem him a lunatic.

Sons of Bill – The Rain

2010-02-26T22:11:00.002-05:00

These guys just make good music. I’ve posted other acoustic performances from them before, but here’s another one from MusicFest back in January. This one is recorded by the fine folks at MusicFog. Great song. If you like this, check out their album, One Town Away, available for download on your favorite music site. This album was #2 on my top 10 albums of 2009.

A Musical Pat on the Back For Me

2010-02-23T22:26:00.002-05:00

Back in December, I posted my top 10 albums of 2009. Included in that list was Lucero’s newest album, 1372 Overton Park. In my comments about the Lucero album, I wrote:

There won't be too many people that understand this reference, but this album reminds me a bit of Rocket from the Crypt from the 90's.

Tonight, I was looking around the internet for information to write my post about the Lucero show I just went to, when I saw an article about Lucero from an Upstate website. I clicked on it and found the following quote from Brian Venable, Lucero’s guitarist:

I had been listening to a lot of Rocket from the Crypt and a band from Denver (Colo.) that's now broken up called Hearts of Palm. Those bands had horns but not in a traditional way. So, I brought up the idea for (Lucero) to try using horns on a song.

Wow! Could my comments have been any more dead on!!

Lucero, The Handlebar, February 17, 2010

2010-02-23T22:19:00.002-05:00

The kind of music I like generally doesn’t make stops in Greenville, SC (unfortunately), so I spend most of my time going to see live music driving to Charlotte, Asheville, Athens, etc. So it was quite the rare occurrence that I was able to see a second band I really like at The Handlebar within a six day span. Lucero stopped in for their first ever show in Greenville. They played an awesome set and in typical Lucero fashion conversed with the crowd throughout. I know that the owners of The Handlebar thought they were taking a bit of a risk trying to bring in a band like Lucero mid-week. I’m not sure how finances turned out for them but the are right around the stage was packed with a lot of diehard fans and the house was maybe half full. Hopefully, it was worth the risk for the owners because I’d love to be able to bring Lucero back for a second stop in Greenville. Here’s the set list from the night.

1. Sounds of the City
2. That Much Further West
3. Can't Feel a Thing
4. Nights Like These
5. The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo
6. Kiss the Bottle
7. I'll Just Fall
8. Joining the Army
9. Last Night in Town
10. Sixes and Sevens
11. Goodbye Again
12. Watch It All Burn (not sure of the title of this one. didn’t know off the top of my head and can’t find it in their discography)
13. Slow Dancing
Wish the band would play all night
15. Sweet Little Thing
16. Ain’t So Lonely
17. The War
18. The Last Pale Light in the West
19. Mom
20. Smoke
21. I Can Get Us Out of Here Tonight
22. What Else Would You Have Me Be?
23. Darken My Door
24. Tears Don't Matter Much
25. Nobody’s Darlings
26. All Sewn Up
27. Drink ‘Til We're Gone
28. Not sure of the title of this one but Ben said they didn’t have room on 1372 Overton Park for it. Maybe 100 Miles or Lonesome Dark Town Nights
29. Please Darlin’ Don't Cry

Snow Day

2010-02-21T22:33:00.001-05:00

Snow doesn’t come along that often in Upstate South Carolina, especially a snow as perfect as our last one. Last Friday, it started snowing about 3 pm and we got about 4” of snow by late that night. Perfect because we didn’t have to worry about getting to work or school and I could go out and play in the snow with the kids the next morning. Saturday morning, we went out for a little while making some snowballs, snow angels and a very small snowman before Garrett and I headed to Bells Crossing Elementary for some sledding. In typical Southern fashion, the great sledding hill we heard about was red clay underneath. Between the crowd and the above freezing temperatures, there weren’t many runs left in the hill for us. By the time we left, everyone was basically sliding down red clay mud. That isn’t exactly my idea of fun so we didn’t stay too long. We did get several pretty good slides in together. I wound up having to stay on the sled with him because my weight providing the stability needed going down the bumpy hill so he didn’t wind up crashing into the mud.

Here are a few pictures of the kids (and Riley) from our snow day.

Garrett hanging out trying to catch snow on his gloves and on his tongue.

Two pictures of Carson with his classic, cute grin. That’s Tommy in the background of the first one.

I love this picture that Laura caught with her new camera. It’s really hard to get Riley out in snow or even wet grass, but I finally coaxed him out for a few dashes around the back yard and Laura caught him in mid-jump.

Drive-by Truckers – The Handlebar – February 11, 2010

2010-02-15T21:04:00.002-05:00

This was the second time I was able to see the incomparable Drive-by Truckers, this time in my own hometown of Greenville, SC. The Handlebar is what I’d guess to be a small room for a band the size of the Drive-by Truckers and Greenville sold it out. When I was buying my tickets, I heard one of the owners tell someone else that the room holds 526. I don’t know exactly how large the other clubs are that DBT normally plays, but I would definitely say that DBT’s drummer, Brad Morgan, hailing from Greenville goes a long way towards us being able to bring the Truckers to town. The Handlebar is a club that is full of character and atmosphere. If you ever find yourself in Greenville be sure to stop by and do yourself a favor. We are very lucky to have The Handlebar and the unique acts it brings to town.

Similar to the last time I saw the Truckers, they have a new album getting ready to hit the shelves (The Big To-Do release March 16 – preorder). They led out much of the beginning of the show with new songs sprinkled in with a few classic DBT songs. Probably one of the most classic moments I’ve ever seen during a show was when Cooley was singing a slower song (Love Like This) and some guy right in front of him did something that Patterson did not like. He shot over and got up in the guy’s face and before you knew it, there was a flashlight shining from behind the stage and the guitar tech came out of nowhere and unceremoniously dragged the guy out of the show. I never quite figured out what happened, but that moment alone was worth the price of admission. After the song, Patterson called out the guy for being a jerk and decided that they would play the most rocking song requested by the crowd to make the jerk totally regret being a jerk and getting booted from the show. Someone up front requested Too Much Sex, Too Little Jesus, an older song that I didn’t know, but after saying they really didn’t play it much, they decided to go for it – mission accomplished!! From there, DBT wrapped up the show with what has become standard fare out of them – high energy songs that just leaves you speechless that they could put so much into a song. You can download the show for yourself here. I highly recommend doing so just to get some of the newer songs along with some older songs they don’t play much such as Too Much Sex and Steve McQueen. Here’s a full set list:

1. Daddy Learned to Fly (Track 1 from the new album)
2. Marry Me
3. Fourth Night of my Drinking (Track 2 from the new album)
4. Birthday Boy (Track 3 from the new album – you can currently download this song from the band’s website by signing up for the mailing list)
5. Girls Who Smoke (Vinyl-only bonus track on the new album)
6. Home Field Advantage
7. Tornadoes
8. Ghost to Most
9. I’m Sorry Huston
10. Sinkhole
11. Love Like This (this is the song when the guy made Patterson mad – from DBT’s sophomore album in 1999)
12. Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus) (from DBT’s sophomore album )
13. Steve McQueen (from DBT’s debut album in 1998. Funny story from Patterson about the Alec Baldwin references in the song)
14. Three Dimes Down
15. After the Scene Died (Track 9 from the new album)
16. Hell No, I Ain’t Happy
17. Lookout Mountain (so glad they played this one – my favorite DBT song)
18. Flying Wallendas (Track 12 from the new album)

Encore:

19. Get Downtown (Track 8 from the new album)
20. (It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So (Track 10 from the new album)
21. This Job (Track 7 from the new album)
22. Zip City
23. Let There Be Rock
24. Rockin’ in the Free World (Neil Young Cover)

Few shots from the show:

Patterson

Stroker Ace (Mike Cooley)

Next up for is Lucero, again at the The Handlebar, this Wednesday night. Can’t wait!!

My Favorite Parts of Today

2010-02-09T20:06:00.002-05:00

It was quite a long day at work today, but kids just have a way of brightening your day and mine did that for me a couple of times.

I left work today to meet Garrett and Laura at the eye doctor because I had to pick out some new specs. We were looking at frames and Garrett walked up to me and said, “I LOVE you, Daddy!!” and gave me a big hug. Special moment.

Just about every night there’s another special part of my day. I always put Carson to bed and I always tell him that I love him right before I put him in the bed. Most nights he replies, “Wuv ooh.” It’s not at all pronounced perfect, but it is perfect - the perfect way to end a day.

Funny aside on the eye doctor visit. I went to the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago and was going to pick out some frames. At this visit, they had dilated my eyes, so I was wearing my glasses. I took off my glasses, tried on the first frames and looked in the mirror. I immediately realized that I had a problem. Between my terrible vision killing my far vision and the dilation killing my close up vision, I couldn’t see well enough to make a commitment to something I’d be wearing for years!! I felt like Velma on Scooby Doo. Rather sheepishly, I had to tell the lady that I would have to come back later because I simply couldn’t even see to make a decision!

Rock Springs to Cheyenne

2010-01-31T22:45:00.003-05:00

This was the very first Micky & the Motorcars song I ever heard. This live version was captured at MusicFest in January and features three of the four Braun brothers (Micky - lead vocals/guitar, Willy - guitar and Cody - fiddle). The song was also written by a guy named Kip Attaway. It's always strange to run across another Attaway in the "wild".

You Tube Link

CJ Spiller

2010-01-30T20:28:00.002-05:00

C.J. Spiller graduated from Clemson this year. I don't know if I'll ever see another player of his caliber during my lifetime at Clemson. Players like him just don't come along that often. I still remember the day he signed with Clemson. I don't follow recruiting much until signing day. The day C.J. signed I remember hearing that we were in the running for a great running back out of Florida. Supposedly, we didn't have much of a shot because Florida and Florida State were both heavily in the picture. Someone sent me the link, and I actually listened to his press conference at his high school. When he said, "In the fall of 2006, I will enroll at Clemson University", it was almost as exciting as winning a game on a last second 60-yard bomb. As exhilarating as that moment was, it wasn't exhilarating enough for what C.J. was to give us for four years as a player at Clemson. Even better, as great a player as he was, he was just as great an individual. Below is a very well done tribute to C.J. If you're a Clemson fan, watch and reminisce. If you're not, just watch and appreciate the true athletic talent this guy has. Good luck in the NFL, C.J. All of us Tigers are behind you and wish many years of success whether it be in the NFL or other ventures. Thanks for all you gave us.

Andre Bauer and South Carolina

2010-01-27T00:13:00.003-05:00

Ironically, the same day I heard about this story, I attended a luncheon and one of the attendees was Andre Bauer. Never got the chance to ask him about his comments though :)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Thank You, South Carolina - Andre Bauer

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Chris Knight

2010-01-26T23:02:00.005-05:00

I went to Charlotte on January 23 to see Chris Knight at Puckett's in Charlotte. I have had several opportunities to see Chris over the past four or five years that I've known his music, but every time something happened, so I couldn't make it; therefore, I was really excited to get to finally see him.

The show was opened by Monte Dutton whose primary occupation is writing about NASCAR for NASCAR this week and the Gaston Gazette. When I got there the place was PACKED. Almost as soon as I walked in, I saw Kyle Petty who I have learned is good friends with Monte. He apparently has quite a few friends who came out to see him as you can see from this post. I can't really tell you a lot about his music, but I do remember him covering a George Jones song.

Chris Knight then took the stage. He played acoustic with another guy who I think is named Colby Miller. Chris is a simple guy probably ingrained in him from his rural Kentucky roots. He doesn't bring a big light show to the table. He doesn't bring a fantastic voice. He has a Southern drawl that even this lifelong Southerner has to really pay attention to in order to understand him. He doesn't deliver eloquent stories and even seems a bit uncomfortable on stage to me. What he does bring to the table though are fantastically crafted stories, sometimes a bit dark, molded into a song. As I heard him say one time on a live bootleg, "This next song is a love song. Figured I needed to write one after I scared everyone writing songs about people dying." He is truly one of the great singer/songwriters around now. You may not know his name, but most probably know some of his songs. He wrote "Cry Lonely" recorded by Cross Canadian Ragweed and "She Couldn't Change Me" recorded by Montgomery Gentry.

Here's where the weird part of the night comes in. Part of the way through Chris' set some of the crowd started leaving. I guess maybe it's a testament to how many of Monte's friends the bill drew, but I just can't imagine not sticking around for Chris. On top of people leaving, there was a pretty constant, annoying buzz of people talking further away from the stage. That never goes well with an acoustic show. I even heard one guy behind me saying that he was expecting to see Peter Brady on stage (the actor that played Peter Brady is Christopher Knight in case you didn't make that connection - I never had until I heard the guy say that).

All in all though, Chris delivered exactly what I expected. A couple of hours of his songs which is all in the world I needed. Not only that, but he played all three of my favorite songs: Down the River, Crooked Road and Becky's Bible. Here's the set list from the show:

It Ain't Easy Being Me
House and 90 Acres
Love and a .45
Enough Rope
Another Dollar
Hell Ain't Half Full
Crooked Road
Oil Patch Town (Funny moment during the song was when Chris sang the second verse twice and after finishing it for the second time said, "I really like that verse a lot.")
Down the River
Old Man
Move On (I think Chris got a little irritated with the crowd at this point. During this song there's a line about telling a guy to take his earring and go back to the big city and Chris said, "This song went over better in New York City than it did here. You guys ought to be ashamed.")
Pretty Good Guy
North Dakota
If I Were You
Danville
Becky's Bible
Rural Route
Heart of Stone
Framed

Cry Lonely
To Get Back Home

If you don't know Chris' music, here's a sample for you. This was the song that first introduced me to Chris and one that is still my favorite.

The Confluence

2010-01-26T22:35:00.007-05:00

A confluence is defined as a place where things flow together. It is typically used to describe rivers, but in this instance I'll use it to describe a series of great things which by chance all came together for me on the same day. My confluence occurred January 23, 2010.

There are two major purchases which we have needed to make, but I have been putting off taking the time to do the necessary research and save the necessary money: 1) a new to me car (read: used) and 2) a new computer. Both the car and the computer we had were slowing down, running ragged and shutting down unexpectedly - who knew you could describe a car and computer using the exact same words?

I finally sat down early in 2010 and knocked out the research on the new computer. Ultimately, I decided to go with a laptop and get a Dell Studio 17. It gives us everything we need in a computer, especially additional hard drive space which had nearly been completely used up on our 5 year-old Dell desktop between music and pictures of the kids (OK mostly music). It was scheduled to arrive on February 4th. I was a bit disappointed in how long it was going to take (several weeks), but I could wait a few more days if I'd already waited as long as I had.

On MLK Day, I made a last minute decision to get out of the house and actually go look at the cars I'd been stalking on the internet for a week or so. I drove a bunch of different cars and visited several dealerships in a whirlwind of half a day, but ultimately decided on buying a 2006 Nissan Maxima. It is gold with tan leather interior, sunroof, GPS navigation, bluetooth integration, heated seats and steering wheel, etc. All the things that make a gadget/techie guy like me smile at a price I can afford.

The local CarMax didn't have a Maxima I wanted, so I hit the internet again and had them transfer one from the Gastonia store which took until Friday of that week. In the meantime, I arranged a sweet financing deal with the great folks over at South Carolina Bank & Trus t and figured out what I was going to do with my car. I finally had to leave behind a really busy day at work on Friday about 2 pm to make all the final arrangements as the car had arrived from Gastonia. As I was getting the last bit of paperwork from CarMax, so I could then go to the bank to pick up the check to close the transaction the following morning, an e-mail arrived on my phone from Dell. They were notifying me that the laptop had been shipped. I scrolled down to find the scheduled delivery date - Eureka! Tomorrow - the same day I'd be buying the car.

Here's where my confluence comes together. Saturday morning, I purchased the Maxima. Saturday afternoon, the laptop arrived. Saturday night, I got to go do one of my favorite hobbies in the world: see live music in the form of Chris Knight. A great confluence of events that weren't planned to come together, but thankfully did. All on a day that will go down as one of my favorites of all time!

Sean McConnell

2010-01-21T21:57:00.004-05:00

I really like this song. Wade Bowen also recorded this song, but Sean wrote it. Here he performs it for the Music Fog crew during Steamboat's MusicFest earlier this month.

YouTube Link

Little Girl

2010-01-19T20:03:00.003-05:00

I always love a funny status update. Facebook doesn't really have the retweet feature. Twitter doesn't have enough characters. So here's a funny one on my blog from Amy Brandon (two mentions of her in two days!). As background she works for an insurance company and insured is referring to a customer:

So I've just told an insured for about the 10th time that we don't have a credit card machine, and she said, "Where's Mark? I don't think you know what you are talking about little girl." AARRGGHH! Sexism lives.

Riley Is a Great Dog

2010-01-18T21:18:00.007-05:00

Nearly every night before bed, Garrett wants to play on the bed with me. His favorite game has somehow become me covering him in a bunch of pillows and then me pretending to let him knock me off and all the pillows fall on me. Well, during this game every night, Riley jumps up there to be hang out with us and probably more importantly because he's not allowed to sleep on the bed but he knows he can get away with it for these few moments. Well, tonight I looked over and Riley was laying over there nearly completely covered with the pillows. I had to take this picture.

After that I was joking around with Garrett and stuck my hat on Riley. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because Riley puts up with everything, but he just sat there with it on. Awesome picture.

MLK Day

2010-01-18T20:46:00.006-05:00

Today we celebrated the life and accomplishments of a great man who stood up and fought for a noble and just cause. It's sad that in this great country we needed someone to come along and demand change, but I'm certainly glad that Martin Luther King, Jr. was there to make our country a better place. My friend, Amy Brandon, posted this on Facebook today. These are words to read, ponder and live by.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

And below is the original full version of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. This was the first time I have heard it all the way through. It's about 17 minutes. Take some time and listen to it. Sadly, when I was searching to find this, nearly everyone that had posted video of MLK on YouTube said they had disabled comments on their videos because of the hateful and racist things people were saying. We've come a long way as a country, but there are certain people who sadly STILL harbor racism. There still is work to do.

You Tube Link to Video

Ryan Bingham Wins a Golden Globe

2010-01-17T21:37:00.004-05:00

Ryan Bingham was nominated for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for his song Weary Kind from the movie Crazy Heart. He was up against U2 & Paul McCartney for the award, so my first thought was that he probably doesn't have much of a chance. I think the strength of the song spoke for itself and he came home a winner!! Ryan is one of my favorite artists, so I'm extremely happy for Ryan and love the fact that others are starting to notice!! Here is Ryan performing the song for some event for the movie.

Gaines Adams

2010-01-17T21:20:00.004-05:00

I was absolutely shocked today when I heard the news that Gaines Adams had passed away. I had the privilege of watching him play at Clemson for four years where he wound up being one of only three unanimous first team all-American selections. This was from a kid that played 8-man football in Greenwood, SC until he transferred his senior year in high school to Fork Union to gain the necessary experience with a full 11-man team. After being named ACC Defensive Player of the Year in addition to unanimous first team All-American his senior year at Clemson, he was the fourth pick overall by my Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A tremendous athlete and fine young man by all accounts I've read. His life ended much too early, but he did leave behind some great moments I've posted below. The first is short and probably his most famous play at Clemson single-handedly turning around a game against Wake Forest which turned into a Tiger victory over the eventual ACC champs. The second is a bit longer and shows the tremendous athlete Gaines was. Rest in peace, Gaines.

Garrett's Voice Mail

2010-01-16T13:06:00.004-05:00

Garrett called and left me this voice mail. This is what being a dad is all about!

Embedded player, so click link if viewing in a reader.

My Top 10 of 2009

2009-12-31T21:09:00.022-05:00

If you know me well, then you know that one of the most important things in my life is my music. I enjoy finding new music, listening to that music A LOT and sharing it with others. So in the interest of sharing, here's my top 10 albums from 2009.

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Self-titled: I got this album part of the way through the year and it absolutely blew me away. I would go on binges listening to this album and Jason's first release for weeks on end. Jason's amicable parting from the Drive-by Truckers has not been a negative as his songwriting talents have been showcased and DBT are still putting out good music. Favorite tracks are Sunstroke, The Blue and The Last Song I Will Write. Very cool artwork on the cover as well.

Sons of Bill - One Town Away: These guys are out of Charlottesville, VA and this was their sophomore album. I picked this one up honestly not expecting much from it, but I was very wrong. It definitely has some twang to it, especially the vocals, but I wouldn't call it a country album. The album also has one of the best lyrics of the year in Broken Bottles: "Hank Williams might've been a lovesick drinker, but being a lovesick drunk don't make you Hank." Favorite tracks are Broken Bottles, Going Home and Charleston.

Ryan Bingham - Roadhouse Sun: Ryan is one of my favorite artists, so anything he puts out is going to make a list. But this album is a fantastic follow-up to Mescalito. Ryan's distinctive, gravelly voice and blend of rock & country with upbeat catchy beats works perfectly. He can play a mean guitar too. Favorite tracks are Dylan's Hard Rain, Hey Hey Hurray and Tell My Mother I Miss Her So.

Lucero - 1372 Overton Park: I just started listening to Ben Nichols and the rest of the band in the last year or so. Really dug their sound and then they threw me a curve ball adding horns to this release - and it works! I had the pleasure of seeing them and they thankfully toured with the horns. Great show and album. There won't be too many people that understand this reference, but this album reminds me a bit of Rocket from the Crypt from the 90's. Favorite tracks are Smoke, Sound of the City and The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo.

Cross Canadian Ragweed - Happiness & All the Other Things: Again, one of my favorite artists, so anything they do, I'm probably going to like. They recorded this album with Stephanie Briggs adding piano to the mix and it's a great album. One of my favorite parts of the album is when Dierks, Cody's 4-year-old son, introduces the song, Blue Bonnets. This album would probably be higher if they hadn't put a live version of Soul Agent on it. I just don't like that song. Favorite tracks are 51 Pieces, Blue Bonnets and Burn Like the Sun.

Band of Heathens - One Foot in the Ether: These guys bring a mix of blues, country and rock to the table. Throw in three guys that can REALLY sing and play their instruments well and you've got a great album. My favorite tracks are Shine a Light, and Look at Miss Ohio and Talking Out Loud.

Drive-by Truckers - The Fine Print: It could be argued this isn't really a release in 2009 because it's a collection of songs recorded long ago that never made it to an album, but I'll include it anyway because it's good. Favorite tracks are Play It All Night Long, Like a Rolling Stone and When the Well Runs Dry. The album even includes two Jason Isbell songs, TVA and When the Well Runs Dry.

Will Hoge - The Wreckage: Will has been one of those artists that I've always meant to buy his music. However, that never happened. I kept reading how great this album was in the blogosphere and I FINALLY bought it this week and it made my top 10. It's that good. Will has a soulful style to his music that you can tell comes from the soul. Favorite tracks are Hard to Love, Goodnight/Goodbye and Even If It Breaks Your Heart.

Walt Wilkins - Vigil: Walt is just a fantastic singer/songwriter. His songs are beautiful and well-crafted. I have an admission to make on this one. I didn't listen to this album as much as I should have. Favorite tracks are Trains I Missed, This Is All I Know and Grace is Sleeping.

Steve Earle - Townes: How can Steve Earle doing Townes Van Zandt songs not be great? Steve's take on one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever is an album worth having. Favorite tracks are Colorado Girl, Lungs and Marie.

My song of the year is Cry Pretty by Jason Eady from the album When the Money's All Gone. I first heard this song live during Music Fest '09 at Steamboat and immediately knew it was one of the best songs I had ever heard. Oddly enough, I really like Eady's past work (my blog name is taken from one of his songs) and love this song, but the album overall just didn't do it for me.

Other albums that get an honorable mention are: Todd Snider The Excitement Plan, Justin Townes Earle Midnight at the Movies, Betty Soo Heat Sin Water Skin, Truckstop Coffee For Dear Life, Bobby Duncan Faith, Hope and Everything Else and Seth James That Kind of Man.

I have probably forgotten an album that I will be embarrassed I forgot. Hopefully not. 2009 was a great year for music. Hopefully 2010 is just as good.

What a Week!

2009-12-19T20:30:00.002-05:00

It started out last Friday. I thought that I ate some bad food. I wound up vomiting and feeling just awful Friday night. I didn't really feel much like eating until Monday, and I kind of felt like I'd been hit by a truck, but I was back up and going Saturday morning by 9 am.

Tuesday, Carson woke up with a fever of 103. He wouldn't eat or drink. He wound up at the doctor Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday, he was supposed to go back because they were watching him closely for dehydration, but he started drinking again, so we didn't take him back.

Thursday evening when I got home from work, Laura said she wasn't feeling good. Before the kids made it upstairs for the bath, she was throwing up. I called work and told them I wouldn't be there on Friday and put the kids to bed.

Friday morning, Laura was still out of commission, and I carried Garrett to school. As we started to walk into the school, he started throwing up too. After I got him settled, I commandeered a trash bag and immediately took him back home. The remainder of the day was spent watching Christmas videos in between cleaning up after Garrett threw up.

Garrett bounced back pretty quickly and was back to normal this morning. Laura still says she doesn't feel very good but she's back up. Carson had a fever of 102-103 most of the week and still had a 99 degree fever before going to be tonight and just acts like he feels bad: whining and crying a lot. It seems though that we've got the worst behind us. Friday certainly would rank in my top 5 worst days of parenting ever though. Not a fun day. Not a fun week.

Update on Gary

2009-12-16T22:23:00.002-05:00

Laura's dad, Gary, has been going through chemo treatments over the past few months for his lung cancer which had spread to his ribs. He went for his re-scan last week and met with the doctors today. Thankfully, the news was FANTASTIC!

Both spots on the ribs had shrunk in size, one had very little activity and the other had no activity! Leading up to the scan, Gary had been having a lot of pain, so we feared the worst. That makes the news even more fantastic! The doctors believe the pain he's been experiencing is a result of nerve damage from having the lung removed. He has another round or two of the hardcore chemo he's been doing, but he's going to move in the near future to more of a maintenance chemo. This is also wonderful news because the chemo treatment he's been on has been extremely hard on him. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers! We are very encouraged!!

30 Gifts in 30 Days - Results

2009-11-29T23:37:00.004-05:00

Here are the results of my 30 Gifts in 30 Days challenge which was begun November 29.

Ordered a DVD of the thrashing my Tigers took at the hands of the Gamecocks for my father-in-law. - November 29
I noticed that the single mom that lives next to us had a light bulb out on her garage door opener, so when you opened the door to pull in there was no light. I offered to change it which she took me up on because she said she wasn't real sure how do get to the bulb. - November 30

Alright.....So I've been doing good with doing good things. It's the time at night, sitting down to the computer so I can blog part that I'm bad at. I can't tell you everything I've done or what day I did it on, but here are a few things.

Gave our old Christmas tree to a friend of my neighbor's that needed one.
Bought a friend lunch one day.
Donated some money to a pet rescue organization at PetsMart.
Donate some old linens and old baby things we had to a local children's shelter.
Bought some supplies for a Christmas party that is being given by some people at work for a local children's shelter.
Got the name of a family in our church that has four girls under the age of 6 and the parents have been out of work. We got our families together to give them some extra cash for the Holidays.
Did two Meals on Wheels routes.
Used my excel skills to help a group of music bloggers put together a year-end top 20 albums of 2009 list that was published across the web.
Rolled my neighbors trash cans (single mother) up to her house one night when it was nasty and raining outside so she wouldn't have to.
Did work several days for the children's shelter that I serve on the board.

Well that's all I can think of in the few minutes that I have here tonight. There were probably some other little things. It's amazing how easy it is to give someone a gift yet how little time we have in our lives to actually think of a time to do them. I know I find myself struggling with it because I get to work before it's light outside, leave at 5 and come straight home many days having eaten lunch at my desk. Really leaves few opportunities to see someone else, much less do something for someone.

One big idea I came up with that I need to find the time to get the ball rolling on.....Our 20 year high school reunion is coming up. I would love to be able to set up a scholarship fund in memory of a classmate of ours that passed away the year after our graduation, so we can begin giving a scholarship each year to a kid graduating from our high school. Just need to find the time to put together board members, track down her parents and make sure they are OK with the idea and then figure out how to create the organization, file for tax exempt status and get the administrative and fund raising ball rolling. As I type this I realize why I keep procrastinating on it, but hopefully this will give the push I need.

This will probably be the only further update I do on it, unless I add a few more little things to the list. Try the idea for yourself. It's a very rewarding thing to know that you make a difference in someone's life.

30 Gifts in 30 Days

2009-11-29T22:12:00.001-05:00

At church today, the sermon was called 30 Gifts in 30 Days. The basic premise of the sermon was that Christmas has lost its original meaning, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy with the birth of Jesus, and has become a commercialized holiday with more focus on the GDP than the real reason for the season - a holiday that's more about getting than giving.

The pastor told the story about a lady that was on the Today Show recently. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and began going downhill quickly losing the use of one hand, sight in one eye and even the ability to walk without aid. A friend, which she quickly corrects as a spirtual advisor in the video below, suggested that too much of her focus was on her struggles and that she should turn her focus outward to others by giving 29 gifts in 29 days. By the end of her giving, her change in focus completely changed her condition to the point that she regained her sight, use of her hand and even was able to walk unaided.

This was just the perfect topic for what I'd had going through my mind. I'm going to accept the challenge proposed by Charlie and I'm going to try and give 30 Gifts in 30 Days. I can't say they'll all be fabulous or imaginative or that I'll even remember to do one every day, but I'm going to try my best. You can follow my results here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

True Life

2009-11-29T21:28:00.001-05:00

The past few days, Laura and I watched two episodes of MTV True Life. The first was about families who had lost jobs and were struggling to stay in their homes and get by. The second was about people who were homeless. Listening to them talk about their daily struggles really made me think about how blessed I am.

One family was evicted from their house after the mother lost her survivor social security benefits when her daughter turned 16. She could not work because of medical issues, they had no family to help, and the daughter would lose her survivor benefits if she became employed, not to mention a 16-year-old salary potential isn't enough to support two people. They wound up having to live in their car. During the episode, they mentioned at one point that they had enough money to buy a loaf of bread and a box of pop tarts for both of them to eat for a week!!

I went to church with Garrett this morning and was just thinking about the plight of the people documented in these episodes. I just had an overwhelming thought: I need to do something to help people like that. That leads me to my next post - 30 Gifts in 30 Days.

Clemson vs. South Carolina

2009-11-29T21:15:00.001-05:00

Well, we played our big rival, South Carolina, this weekend and lost. You know what though? I don't care. I'm kind of glad we lost. That's not something you'd probably ever hear me say. However, I came to realize this weekend that some things are much more important than sports.

Laura told me that she had not seen her dad, who is battling lung cancer and a big Gamecock fan, so happy in a long time. That sealed it for me. We lost? Who cares? There's a lot more important things in life. As a matter of fact, I tracked down someone who is going to make a copy of that game for me, so I can give it to him and he can watch us get waxed again and again.

Here's the Best Commercial for Satellite Radio Ever....

2009-11-15T23:56:00.001-05:00

Christmas music started last week on the terrestrial channels around here. The week of November 8th!!!! That is just WAAAAAAAAY too long to be playing Christmas music.

Caine Halter Lungs4Life

2009-11-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

On November 14, 2009, my family and I participated in the Caine Halter Lungs4Life 5k. The money raised from this event benefits Uniting Against Lung Cancer which is an organization committed to finding a cure for lung cancer by funding innovative research into improved diagnosis and treatment. Laura's father, Gary Burch, is battling lung cancer which makes this a cause that is very near and dear to our hearts.

We didn't know much about this event until Tuesday night. We quickly put together our team which we initially thought would be Laura, her sisters, Mom and each of their families. Laura asked how much we should choose for our fundraising goal with only three days left until the event. She was thinking $250. I told her that I thought people would be generous, and we should go as high as $500. Boy, did I ever underestimate the generosity of our family and friends. As of right now, we have raised exactly $3,000!!! That's $3,000 in only 3 days!! I would like to wish everyone who contributed a sincere thank you. You don't know how much it means to have people support those you love and respect in that way. If you still wish to donate you can do so at this link. A special thanks as well to those that came out and ran/walked with our team: the Herron family, the Usry family and Lori McPeak. Have to give a big pat on the back to 10-year-old Benjamin Usry who ran with our team. That kid finished that 5k in 23:36! He won his age class.

On a personal note, one of my donors challenged me to beat his time in the Susan G. Komen 5k which was 32:50. I went into the run having not run in over a year and I have never run consistently since high school, so running a 10 minute mile pace over a 3.1 mile course would be tough. I definitely felt at times like walking, but I kept at it and finished in 31:09 I'm proud to say.

Some of my favorite things about the weekend are in some of the pictures below: 1) the sign Garrett made to wear on his back; 2) watching Garrett round the corner and start running for the finish line - I had to go back out on the course and finish with him (I later heard that he was a real trooper and walked/ran most of the course); 3) Gary, Carson and I before the race; and 4) Garrett walking up to his Papa after it was over and saying, "Papa, we walked and ran for you!". Yes, we sure did, Buddy. Go Gary!

A Reminder on Veterans Day

2009-11-11T07:07:00.001-05:00

WHAT IS A VET?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She or he—is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another—or didn’t come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat—but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.

He is the parade—riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket—palsied now and aggravatingly slow—who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being—a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, “THANK YOU.”

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day.

My Very First 5k

2009-11-10T20:47:00.002-05:00

*DONATE*

I have always wanted to be able to say I've run a 5k. I've just never really gotten around to doing it. Plus, I hate running. And I haven't run even a tenth of a mile in over a year.

But.......I'm running in the Caine Halter Lungs for Life which is an organization dedicate to helping raise money for research for lung cancer, particularly those afflicted who have never smoked. My father-in-law, Gary Burch, was diagnosed earlier this year with lung cancer having never smoked and leading a very healthy lifestyle. Laura just found out about this event, this week, so we are quickly putting together our team to participate in the event and help raise money.

I would like your help in raising money to help fund this research and support my goal to finish this run for Gary. If you would like to help, please click this link and follow the instructions to donate for our team. You donation will be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. We are hoping to raise $500 before our run on Saturday, so please help spread the word by forwarding the link. Thanks so much!!

*DONATE*

Some Music I Couldn't Live Without

2009-10-30T20:35:00.002-04:00

Most of the music I listen to is a little out of the ordinary. I got thinking tonight about the list of songs I couldn't do without which would be a little outside the realm of my "normal" music. Here's what I came up with. They are listed in no particular order. Hope you enjoy and/or like some of these songs yourself. Click the links individually below or play them all in the widget below.

Dave Matthews Band Lover Lay Down
Van Morrison Moondance
Mazzy Star Fade Into You
Peter Gabriel In Your Eyes
Grateful Dead Touch of Grey
Maxi Priest Close to You
Don Henley The Boys of Summer
Dire Straits Sultans of Swing
Cracker Big Dipper
Dave Matthews #41

How's that for a diverse bunch of greatness?

Betty Soo

2009-10-20T22:02:00.001-04:00

A few months ago I found the blog, A Truer Sound. I have really enjoyed his excellent posts and some of the music he has turned me on to. I have to share a song that I'm really loving right now that is included as track 1 from the Fall Truesounds Sampler which you can download here. I'm not usually a fan of female singers. I'm not real sure why, but that's just the way it is. But I love this song. This is Betty Soo from her latest album Heat Sin Water Skin. Take a listen for yourself.

&amp;amp;lt;a href="http://bettysoo.bandcamp.com/track/who-knows"&amp;amp;gt;Who Knows by BettySoo&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;

LIttle more DBT

2009-09-01T22:21:00.002-04:00

The only song I really wished DBT had played but they didn't was Lookout Mountain. Apparently, they played it the night before at the Visulite but not the night I was there. Because I don't want you to suffer the same fate, here is a performance of one great song.....

Are You Kidding?

2009-09-01T20:57:00.001-04:00

My tweet:

Been having lots of issues with my AT&T internet service. Now it's down completely. So guess it's bed time.

And a reply:

ATTNatasha@attawadc I'm with AT&T and saw your tweet. Please DM me your account number and contact number for you and I will try to help.

OK. My first thought was: Why don't I go ahead and send you my credit card and bank information along with my user ID's and passwords for all my internet sites? Then, I actually did look at this person's page and it actually LOOKS legitimate. So, AT&T, if you really are trying to help people out on twitter, try a bit different tack. Total sketch the way you're going about it now.

Drive-by Truckers, August 29, Visulite Theater, Charlotte, NC

2009-08-30T13:35:00.002-04:00

Got to see my first DBT show in Charlotte at the Visulite Theater last night. This was the 2nd of back-to-back nights at the venue. Both shows were sold out and it was a crowd that obviously loved DBT.

The beginning of the show I have to say was a little slow for me. I generally like shows MUCH better when I know all the music the band is playing and DBT started the set with a bunch of new stuff or really older stuff that I didn't know. That said, the last 3/4 of the show MORE than made up for it. They were on stage for 2 hours and 45 minutes - by far the longest set I've ever seen a band do. The end of the show was simply incredible. High energy with up close and personal crowd interaction from Patterson Hood. Really one of the best live shows I've ever seen. Here is the set list and a few pictures I got during the show.

After the Scene Dies (Patterson said this was a new one, which should be on the album to be released in 2010).
Zip City
The Company I Keep
Get Downtown (another new song sung by Mike Cooley)
George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues (originally recorded in 2003 but finally released on the Fine Print album which came out today)
The Great Car Dealer War (new song On Fine Print)
A Ghost to Most
I'm Sorry Huston
Santa Fe (another new song. During this song the lights started messing up and the house lights started shining in their faces and they were about as bright as the sun. Patterson threatened to come back there and kill the light guy if he didn't turn them off not realizing it wasn't intentional. After the next song, they wound up taking a 5 minute break to get the lights fixed.)
The Flying Wallendas (another new one sung by Jay Gonzales, the keyboard player)
Three Dimes Down
I Told You So (another new song sung by Shonna)
Puttin' People on the Moon (Patterson introduced this song by talking about Ted Kennedy)
Self-Destructive Zones
This Job (another new song sung by Cooley)
Hell No, I Ain't Happy
Marry Me
Ronnie and Neil
Love Like This (another new song sung by Cooley - slow one)
A World of Hurt
Let There Be Rock - this was absolutely INCREDIBLE

Encore

Strutter - cover of the Kiss song
Home Field Advantage
Play It All Night Long - Warren Zevon tune
Shut Up and Get on the Plane
Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young cover
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Van Halen cover
People Who Died - cover of the Jim Carroll Band song and this was one of the best songs I've ever seen live. INCREDIBLE and UNFORGETTABLE

That is 28 songs. Performed in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Here are a few pictures from the show.

Patterson raising the mic stand above his head during Let There Be Rock.

Patterson singing right down near the crowd during People Who Died.

This image says it all. This was near the end of People Who Died and Patterson really did put that much energy into that song!!

This show ranks right up there as one of my top concerts ever. If DBT is ever at a venue anywhere near you, definitely go out and see them. Go out and buy The Fine Print which hit stores today!!

And for those of you who have made it all the way to the bottom of this post, you can download this show for your very own collection to enjoy again and again!! Get it. It's great!!

Laura's Dad

2009-08-19T21:29:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, Laura's dad, Gary Burch, went for another body scan because he was still having pain after his surgery to remove his lung due to a cancerous tumor. The scan revealed two spots on the chest wall where they had removed the lung. They did a biopsy on the mass, but unfortunately, the news today wasn't good. Please keep Gary in your thoughts and prayers along with Laura, her mom and sisters as they deal with all the emotion and stress involved with something like this. The following is an excerpt from an e-mail that describes what will happen from here.
----
As for my dad, as we thought the news was not good. He has two new cancerous tumors in his chest cavity. They are small right now. He went this afternoon to get new markings for a 2 week round of radiation that will start sometime by the beginning of next week. Once that is complete, they will begin chemo every 3 weeks until further notice. He is in extreme pain because one of the tumors is resting on a nerve in his back, so they have upped his pain medications and also given him a patch to wear on his back that will make the medicine seep through his skin to the spot that hurts. I’m just hoping that they can get the pain under control soon. He’s not himself at all – I’m sure the stress isn’t helping, but I think it’s mostly the pain. Please keep him in your prayers (and me too). We have quite a fight ahead of us. The surgeon said that cancer can spread through the bloodstream as well as the lymph nodes. They checked the lymph nodes when they removed the lung, and they were clear so we thought we were okay. But apparently you can’t check the bloodstream, so this was always a possibility. The oncologist doesn’t know what kind of chemo he’ll do yet – he’s considering an experimental drug that he said might work for him, but he has to get approval to use it.

Sons of Bill

2009-08-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

When I find a new band that I like, I try to get the word out. I've been listening to the latest album from Sons of Bill, One Town Away, a lot recently. It is GREAT. Take a listen to this song off that album, Broken Bottles. Many thanks to my good friend, Chuck, and Von at AmericanaRoots.com for the introduction.

Garrett and the Corporate World

2009-08-04T20:31:00.000-04:00

Tonight, Garrett got all of his animals and put them into a pretend pen. They were all jammed into the tiny pen, and Laura asked him what his animals were doing. He said that his animals were having a meeting (how he knows about meetings, neither of us have any idea). Laura asked him what the animals were meeting about. His answer was, "Nothing." And just like that, Garrett proved he has already learned lesson one in the corporate world: When all else fails, have a meeting about nothing.

Into the Mystic

2009-08-01T22:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight was a night of unexpected fun. We went to our normal Saturday night family dinner. This week we went to Happy Pie for some pizza. Near the end of the meal I decided it would be fun to go get some ice cream. Garrett had a rough day on Friday which culminated with him falling face first into the corner of a door frame. The result of that was a busted lip, lots of blood and a trip to the doctor. He had a really good day up until that point, and I thought he deserved a treat.

Giving him clues to figure out a special treat is just so much fun. The pure look of joy on your child's face when he figured out that going for ice cream was the special treat makes all the hard times involved with parenting worth it instantly.

We went to Coldstone Creamery at The Shops at Greenridge. After ice cream the boys always love to go over to a common area where there is a fountain. On our way, Garrett heard the sounds of a guitar player warming up. Being my child, he loves live music, so he got excited. They have a free live band on Saturday nights there which tends to attract a bunch of people with young kids. This particular band was called the Hipshakers and they played a bluesy style of music. We ran into a family that lives across the street from us and while the band set up, the kids all played together. Once they started playing, Garrett sat and was engrossed with watching the guys play while Carson threw bits of mulch into the bushes (can you tell he's only 17 months old?). We listened to 4 or 5 songs before we had to go home and the last one they played was a cover on Van Morrison's Into the Mystic. It was also covered by Mike McClure Band, and it is one of my all-time favorites. So great to get to hang with the family and hear some live music.

We left right after they finished that song and Garrett being the one that always has to "mess" his exit path led right through the middle of the band, hopping over each cord he encountered. They started making jokes about him bringing his "axe" next time to which he was oblivious. We gathered him up to laughs from the crowd and as we were leaving, the band got off one additional zinger about Garrett being a "union guy" and having to pack it up for home. Funny stuff.

The Very Nice Ice Cream Man

2009-07-30T14:44:00.000-04:00

I gave Garrett $5 so he and Laura could walk out and buy ice cream from the ice cream truck. He came back in with his push-up and gave me the change saying, "The ice cream man gave me some money so next time he's here, you'll have money to buy me more ice cream, Daddy." Ah, if only the world really did work that way.

Todd Snider - Orange Peel, July 18, 2009

2009-07-20T21:28:00.001-04:00

I have to confession to make. I had never really been able to get into Todd Snider until a few months ago. I had heard a song here and there on Sirius Outlaw Country. Then a few months ago a friend let me borrow his greatest hits collection of his early stuff, That Was Me. And that was IT for me. I'm now the proud owner of six Todd Snider albums and I listen to them.....a lot. For the four or five of you that will actually read this, here's a fantastic live Todd Snider performance from February of this year to add to your own collection.

Todd grew on me so much that he had crept his very near to if not all the way to the top of my must see live list. For those of you that are still reading this and don't know Todd's music, he has a folksy sound and is a brilliant lyricist - sometimes serious, sometimes opinionated and often HILARIOUS. His live show delivers on all aspects and then some. A Todd Snider show is something that everyone must see, and I was lucky enough to check that off my list.

Todd is a musician that isn't all about the production. He's about the artistry defines his music. That is a very good thing in this day of overproduced crap coming out of Todd's hometown of Nashville, TN. In keeping with that, the show was just Todd and his guitar (and of course his trademark stories). His road manager, Elvis, occasionally switched his guitars for him (I think he only had two). I parked right in front of his ride - a non-descript van with a trailer. I'd venture to guess Todd and Elvis switch off driving between gigs. He's that kind of simple musician.

I arrived just as Todd struck the first note of Slim Chance. The place was packed and I could get nowhere near the stage, but even from where I was, you could tell that Todd was having fun. His beaming smiles to the audience after he'd crack a joke were just absolutely genuine. He even cracked up laughing (as did I) when the crowd began a mass whistle-along during Sunshine. If you've never heard a mass whistle along before you just don't understand how funny it sounds.

I am glad to say that I've marked a Todd Snider show off my list. It was a GREAT show. But I do have a new must-see show on my list now - a second Todd Snider show! He's simply that great and fun to see. If Todd comes anywhere near your town...Go...

Here's the full set list:

Slim Chance
Horseshoe Lake
Ballad of the Kingsmen
Greencastle Blues
Tillamook County Jail
Corpus Christi Bay (Robert Earl Keen cover)
Sunshine (with Can't Get No Satisfaction interlude)
Unorganized Crime
Stuck on a Corner (with a funny intro which is included in the above download as well)
DB Cooper
America's Favorite Pastime (probably better known as the Dock Ellis story)
Easy Money
Alright Guy
Doublewide Blues
Play a Train Song
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)
Sideshow Blues
Tension
Conservative Christian, Right-Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males
Story about how Tony Bennett once stole $65 from Todd at a carwash in East Nashville - Hilarious
The Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern
Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (he sang this acapella before leaving the stage)
Beer Run (encore)
The Last Laugh (encore)

Josh Grider Trio

2009-06-27T21:21:00.002-04:00

Went to The Handlebar last night to see the Josh Grider Trio. They have been supporting the band, Yarn, on a swing through the Southeast. I'm a fan of JG3, so I was pumped when I found out about the show only 2 nights before it happened.

I got there about 10 minutes before showtime. I figured there probably wouldn't be a full house because JG3 and Yarn aren't exactly household names around these parts. However, I certainly didn't expect to walk in the hall and find NOBODY there but me. A few minutes after I got there, I saw the door open on the side and Josh stuck his head in. I said hey to him and he came in and sat down. We talked for a few minutes until the owner of the club came up to discuss delaying the show to get a few more people in the house. Josh is a super-nice guy and before he left promised that even if I was the only person there, they'd play for me.

They went on and it was me, one other guy and Yarn watching the show. People in Greenville just don't know what they're missing because JG3 makes some great music and puts on a great live show. They seem to be getting along really well with the guys in Yarn because the mandolin player came up and played the last three songs with them and the lead singer and guitarist joined them for the final song.

A few stragglers showed up through the show and I'd say there were 10-15 people there by the end of the show. Josh told me that his music dream started when he saw Pat Green in a situation just like this with maybe 10 or 15 other people, so Josh I hope that your career takes the same path his did and you can come back and play to a sold out house. I'll be able to say, I was there when...... Josh gave out CD's to everyone at the show so hopefully they'll grow to appreciate his talent as I have.

I didn't really know the guys in Yarn. I had heard of them on the Americana Roots podcast series and knew they were from Brooklyn. Had heard a song of theirs but couldn't really remember it, but I enjoyed their set. Alt-country sound with a mandolin player that I really liked watching. He can flat play. They also asked the guys in JG3 to come back out and jam on the last few songs. The guys in Yarn also gave free copies of their CD, so I'm looking forward to getting more acquainted with it here in the coming days.

Just Say No

2009-06-27T09:23:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've seen people driving around with their initials "monogrammed" on their back windshield. It's become quite the rage around here. This lady seems to have all the popular stickers on her rear glass: Palmetto tree soccer ball, favorite vacation destination letters, SC Native. But when she went to the store to buy the monogram sticker, she should've thought back to the third grade, when they taught you to "Just Say No." When she said, "I'll need the letters 'LSD', it didn't trigger anything in her mind??

Click to enlarge so you can see it. I got a pretty cool shot of the South Carolina sky at sunset as an added bonus.

Embarrassing songs

2009-06-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

Do you ever find yourdelf driving down the road listening to the radio and suddenly you're singing along to music that's just embarrassing? Yesterday, I was with my boys and terrestrial radio was my only option. I'm driving along and realize I've just been singing:

"You'll be the prince
And I'll be the princess"

Embarrassing even though I'm pretty much alone because a) it's Taylor Swift, aka awful music and b) well the obvious - I am far from a princess.

Being from small town

2009-05-24T20:25:00.000-04:00

I went back home this past weekend - home being Elkin, NC population about 4,100. For the first time in many years, I actually got a chance to go back into town and spend a little time driving around, remembering how it used to be and of course, just thinking about being from a small town and how different it is from being in a bigger city. And yes, I do realize that Greenville, SC, where I live now, isn't the biggest city in the world.

Friday night, my sister and I took all our kids to the local burger joint/hangout, Speedy Chef. I spent many a Friday night hanging out at this place. On our way in, my sister called and said that they only accepted cash. I stopped at a bank and circled the bank twice looking for the ATM. Finally, I figured out that they still had the walk-up variety only. There was a girl that was already getting cash, so I waited for her. I got my cash and went on to Speedy Chef and sure enough that same girl was in front of me in line to order food. Only in a small town.

As I was nearing Speedy Chef, I passed an Edwards Jones Investments branch. The thought ran through my head, 'I wonder who works there?' While at Speedy Chef, a guy walked up to us and introduced himself. Turns out it was one of the assistant football coaches from my high school team. Great guy and it was really good to see him. I asked him where he was working now. Only in a small town would the answer be, "Edward Jones - right down the street." Now what are the chances that you'll get an answer to a random thought like I'd just had outside of a small town like Elkin?

My sister and I had four kids with us: Garrett (4) and Carson (14 months) are my two and Ethan (5 months younger than Garrett) and Ayla (just turned 2). As we were finishing up our meal, I joked with Lisa saying, "I bet people in this place are wondering how in the heck we had so many kids so close to each other." While our kids don't look too far apart in age, it's obvious they aren't exactly the same age, nor do they really look alike. Well, as we were packing up the two ladies in the back corner called me over and said, "Are any of your children twins???" Wouldn't you know it!! I explained that they were all cousins and she was my sister and they got a good laugh about it.

And one last story. I need a little background for this one. One night in Greenville, my family ate at a sports bar and grill called Indigo Joe's in Greenville. Garrett wanted to sit on the bar side of the place but they of course sat us on the other side. Laura explained to him that the other side was a bar and only for grown ups. This happened probably 2 months ago now and we haven't talked about it since. Speedy Chef has a side of the restaurant that has video games and is more for kids and a side that has a TV and I guess is more for adults. You can probably see where this is going, but as we were leaving, Garrett asks, "Daddy, is this side over here the bar?" It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about and while I was thinking Ethan asked, "What's a bar, Garrett?" Garrett answers, "It's a part of a restaurant where only grown-ups can go." And that's when it all clicked. I have no idea how he remembers this stuff and stores it away until the perfect moment, but he does.

Update on my dad

2009-05-20T20:47:00.000-04:00

On Monday, my dad had Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery to eliminate arthritis that had built up in the two years since he shattered the hip in a mountain bike crash. The surgery went quite well. His recovery was going so well in fact that they sent him home late Tuesday when they initially said it would be Wednesday or Thursday before he went home.

My folks live about 45 minutes from Winston-Salem which is where the hospital where his surgery was. On the way home, Dad threw up all over himself. He gave no warning and after it was over, no complaints. He just sat there looking at his hands. Some of the medicine they had given him had a side effect of nausea, so my mom finished the drive him home, cleaned him and the car up and he slept since it was already about 10 pm. However, when he arrived he told my sister that there must be a bug going around. No mention that the surgery or medicines might be a culprit.

About 4:30 am the next morning, my dad woke my mom making noise. He didn't have the pillow between his legs like he was supposed to and asked her why he needed it there when she told him to put it back. Then he refused to believe he had surgery. Not only did he refuse to believe that, he wouldn't believe he'd ever had a bike crash and didn't remember the last two years of agonizing pain he's been in as the arthritis set in. He seemed like he was in another world - very quiet, lethargic and confused. He was also twitching a lot, grabbing at things in the air that weren't there and randomly saying weird stuff. My mom took him to the ER at this point.

They did CAT scans to rule out a stroke or other complications from the surgery. The blood panel came back showing that he had low sodium levels. While mom and my sister waited for the doctors to tell them more, I discovered on the internet that this condition is called hyponatremia. This rapid drop in sodium results in brain swelling. Typical symptoms include nausea, vomiting, headache and malaise. As the hyponatremia worsens, confusion, diminished reflexes, convulsions, seizures, stupor or coma may occur. Ultimately, I pieced together through research on the internet and talking to my mom and sis that he had basically drank too much water. He was extremely thirsty after the surgery and kept drinking and drinking. The water gets taken in quicker than you can get rid of it and the sodium in your body gets diluted. The same problem happens most often with marathon runners.

They admitted him. Through the day, he started remembering more things, but he also asked questions more than once and said weird things. He had the revelation twice that his sore throat must've been caused by being intubated during the surgery he just discovered he'd had - but he wasn't intubated and knew this going into the surgery because he told me Sunday that he wouldn't be intubated. He also asked two or three times how he got to the hospital, and said he didn't remember the drive home Tuesday night at all. I also saw him at one point trying to change the channel on the TV which was across the room by turning a 70's style invisible TV dial in the air. He would realize what he was doing and quit - looking around to see if anyone had seen him doing it. From his description, it sounded like he felt like he was in that state of being half asleep and half awake and you realize you're doing something stupid but you can't stop. It must be really weird.

They expect a full recovery as they are giving him a saline drip to bring his levels up. He'll probably be in the hospital for a couple more days and hopefully be in time for me and the boys to head up to Elkin to visit Friday and Saturday. I will update the blog as I find out more. Keep in him your thoughts and prayers and thanks for all the well wishes I've already gotten.

UPDATE: My mom just called and his levels are now at 123. Normal is between 136 & 146. Dangerous is below 125. He started at 114. The docs concern now is that it's coming up too fast because you can cause other issues by raising it too fast. They are now going to slow down the treatment and give him a little water before trying to bring it up more. Amazing the balance our bodies must have to function properly.

UPDATE2: 5/21. My dad came home. All his levels are back to normal and he doesn't remember anything between leaving the hospital and going back (other than some obscure dream-like memories) but all his other memory is back and all the tremors and twitching is gone. His hip recover is going quite well. He's walking a bunch and dead areas on his leg where nerves had never regenerated well after his crash/surgery have feeling coming back into them. Great news!!

Heading to the vet

2009-05-01T21:52:00.000-04:00

Today was my dogs' annual checkup. Taking both of them to the vet at the same time usually is a chore. Riley, the younger one, wigs out when he's in public because he thinks everyone is there for his own personal benefit and wants to shower affection on him. Tommy, my older dog, suffers from little dog syndrome. Throw in the fact that he's got that feisty terrier streak in him, and it can be trouble. He's about 20 pounds, but he's gone after a Great Pyrenees, a Rottweiler, a pack of Greyhounds and just tonight a 75 pound Lab. He ain't skeert - but you do have to question his smarts. All things considered, you can probably understand how walking in a room full of other dogs can be a bit of a circus with these two.

This time around, I came home from work to take them, and Garrett started jumping for joy asking if he could go with me. Probably not a good idea to add another being to watch after, but he was so excited I couldn't say no. So we struck off with me hoping the whole way that we'd be the only ones in the waiting area.

My hopes were dashed when I opened the door and saw two large labs and what appeared be a Jack Russell/Dachshund mix. I closed the door back and shortened up the leashes for a little more control, took a deep breath and headed in. Well, the first thing that happened was the Jack Russell started barking. Not good. Then I notice a pile of dog poop along the path I need to take to check-in and avoid all the other dogs. I navigate that way and get the dogs and myself around it and then begin telling Garrett to avoid the pile as well. I'm not sure if it was the commotion, the excitement of being in a new place or just general 4-year-old lack of ability to hear parents' commands but whatever the case, he kept walking towards it. I kept telling him to watch out - even the peanut gallery watching me trying to guide my army through this minefield started shouting warnings. But Garrett was oblivious. When he took that last step, an audible gasp went up from the waiting room. It was very similar to the gasp that happens when the home team's quarterback gets sacked from the blind side. Garrett looks down and screams, "I stepped in dog poop!!!" which turns those gasps into laughter. So now I have to get his shoe off and finish checking in. As I'm telling the lady who I am and why I'm there, I'm laughing in my head at the absurdity of what's happening. Garrett is standing there with one shoe trying to talk to me about stepping in poop, I'm holding the leashes of two dogs freaking out about being around all these other dogs, and I'm holding this shoe covered in dog poop and suddenly realize that this stuff is not that far from my face and it REEEEEEKS!!

I gathered everyone up and went outside and scraped the shoe off in the grass. The very nice receptionist came out with some wipes and actually wiped the bottom of his shoe clean - I'm doubting this was in the job description when she interviewed - scraping poop out of the tread of a 4 year-old's shoe.

We got all cleaned up and went back in. They got the poop all cleaned up and the area mopped and wouldn't you know it? Garrett goes to look at something across the room and before I can stop him, he slips and falls in the wet floor. You know the other people waiting were just laughing at me. I'd be laughing at me. He wasn't hurt thankfully. Other than the hour-long wait, the rest of the visit went quite splendidly.

One of the ladies that got to witness our calamity, had a lab that weighed in at 116 pounds. This dog was so fat that it was having trouble getting around. After the weigh, the lady says to the dog, "I have a feeling mama's gonna get in trouble during this visit." Ya think? You feed that thing what? a 40 pound bag a day or so?

I even got to see a woman walk in pushing her toy poodle in a bright green & pink stroller. Really?????

This Swine Flu

2009-05-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

I don't normally cover very many serious topics but sometimes my inner nerd comes a callin'. I plan on a post about poop next, so all is not lost.

Let me start off by saying I'm not panicking about swine flu. However, I do believe it is cause for concern. I keep hearing people say, "It's no worse than the flu." Oh really? Last time I had the flu I felt like I was about to die for a week straight. No thanks. I'm not interested in getting just a little flu - swine, avian, human or otherwise. I get the flu vaccine like clockwork to avoid getting that mess again.

I hear people saying it's not a big deal because 38,000 people die every year from the regular flu. Well that's reassuring. 38,000 people die every year for a virus for which there IS a vaccine. We don't have a vaccine for this meaning there is nothing stopping its spread other than isolation of infected people. That argument is completely lost on me.

I also keep hearing people's claim that the media is blowing this way out of proportion and that we just need to wash our hands a little more often. I have two young kids so something like this immediately makes me worried for their well-being. I'm also a numbers guy and I believe in learning from history, so I did a little internet reading on swine flu or H1N1 as our pig farmer friends prefer it to be called. We have had two major swine flu threats that I saw referenced often: 1976 and 1918. [In full disclosure, I'm not a doctor, I could be wrong and these are just my personal thoughts on the subject although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.]

In 1976, a soldier at Fort Dix in New Jersey fell ill and quickly died. Other soldiers got sick as well and researchers determined that the influenza strain was similar to the one that caused the 1918 pandemic. President Ford ordered a campaign to vaccinate every American citizen to avoid a repeat of the 1918 pandemic. As it turned out, the virus never spread beyond Fort Dix and the hastily concocted vaccine caused some recipients to develop Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing neuromuscular disorder. This syndrome wound up killing many more people than the virus even infected. Here's a public service announcement from 1976 urging Americans to be vaccinated which i find pretty humorous - you have to love the 70's:

So far it doesn't sound bad does it? Well, now let's look at 1918, the repeat of which scared the pants off the US Government in 1976.

The 1918 pandemic was caused by virulent strain of H1N1. The same strain making the rounds today although probably not an exact match. This pandemic wound up killing somewhere between 20 and 100 million people worldwide. I've seen the counter-argument to this statement. Medicine is better than 1918. Very true and I have no doubts that we'll have nowhere near that number of deaths because of medical advances such as Tamiflu. However, much like in 1918, we have no vaccine. The 1918 virus infected 1 BILLION people it is estimated. That is 50% of the population of the world at the time, and the virus spread to remote Pacific islands and even the Arctic. Keep in mind this was BEFORE the growth of commercial airlines.

So what do we have to combat this virus that we didn't in 1918? We have mass media. Newspapers, TV, the Internet, Twitter, Facebook and the list goes on. Is our media over-hyping the danger of a full blown pandemic? I don't know but bravo if they are. This 24/7 news blitz certainly could be the "vaccine" we don't currently have that stops this from being a pandemic. Everyone knows about it and at the slightest hint of the flu, they seek treatment and get isolated stopping the spread. So read those swine flu articles, wash your hands and thank the author for possibly stopping a pandemic.

Awwwwkward!!!

2009-04-28T21:50:00.000-04:00

If you enjoy a pretty funny observation at completely the inappropriate moment...I present to you this jewel from the MLB Network

video platform
video management
video solutions
free video player

Stoney LaRue - Puckett's April 21, 2009

2009-04-22T20:39:00.001-04:00

I had the pleasure of seeing Stoney LaRue & the Arsenals last night at Puckett's Farm Equipment in Charlotte, NC. Puckett's is an intimate venue touted as a 21st Century Honkey Tonk, and it lives up to that description. The venue really does look like the former farm equipment supply store that it once was - lots of character. The first thing you notice is that there is no "backstage". The musicians leave their bus (if they have one) and enter through a door in front of the stage. So the guys came in and basically walked right in front of where I was planted to take the stage.

This was the first time I've gotten to see Stoney and his band The Arsenals. They don't make it to the East Coast very often so this was a huge treat! They started their set with several original favorites including Texas Moon, Down in Flames and One Chord Song. They then launched into several new songs or at least songs I didn't know. This is my only beef with Stoney. It's been so long since he's released an album (The Red Dirt Album (2005 - studio) & Live at Billy Bob's (2006), that he has a lot of new music that I just don't know and one thing I really like about live shows is knowing all the music. I know that new stuff he played was Make It to the Mountains and 'Til the Morning Comes but unfortunately I just didn't know the songs going in. That said, I really like the new stuff I heard and it should make for a great album which I keep hearing is in the works. The band played several covers over the course of the night including Merle Haggard's Ramblin' Fever, Willie Nelson's Blue Eyes Cryin', Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, Led Zeppelin's The Ocean and Norman Greenbaum's Spirit in the Sky, Tom Skinner's Blind Man and Mr. Blotto's 1977. When Stoney sang Blue Eyes Cryin' you really could have closed your eyes and believed Willie was there in tiny Puckett's playing. He sounded just like Willie.

In between, he played what seemed like a crowd favorite, In Oklahoma. Stoney co-wrote this song with his good buddy Cody Canada of Cross Canadian Ragweed and Ragweed's version is included on their last album Mission California. He mentioned that this song will soon be released as a single which I assume means it will also be on the new album. Really fun song. They also played originals including Idabel Blues, Feet Don't Touch the Ground and Shot Full of Holes (co-write with Jason Boland). The band returned for an encore one member at a time starting with drums/bass solo, adding guitar, keyboard and finally fiddle in a 10 minute plus jam. They then launched into my favorite song, Oklahoma Breakdown (which i just discovered is a song written by Mike Hosty).

Funniest moment of the night. My friend Chuck and I kept noticing this older blonde with pig tails who kept walking back and forth in front of us. Later in the set, the guy behind me tells me that she is Shawna Robinson, one of very few women to ever race in NASCAR's top racing series. Both of us being NASCAR fans realized after he told us that indeed it was her! Guess she's a Stoney fan - or if she wasn't before, I'm sure she is now.

All in all, a memorable night!! It's probably going to be a while before Stoney will make it back through here, so this one will have to stick with me for a while. I will leave you with the first song I ever heard from Stoney, One Chord Song:

Bingham

2009-04-17T22:12:00.002-04:00

Every blog needs a good Bingham video on it. Listen, enjoy, marvel.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T22:35:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a day today was!!

Everything started off pretty normally. I got up with the kids. We did the breakfast thing and played for a while until Laura got up. Then we headed off to get Carson's haircut. Normally, this might be a big event for a kid Carson's age. But this is Carson's second haircut at the "haircut store" as Garrett calls it, and Laura has cut on his hair numerous times. The kid has TONS of hair. Then it was off to Whole Foods to stock up on gobs of those tiny jars of baby food. Then home for some lunch!

Later in the afternoon, we went out and enjoyed the nice weather. Garrett got some of those "rocket balloons" (again, Garrett speak) from my mother for Easter. You know, those long balloons that come with the air pump. You pump them up and they go up in the air and make TONS of noise. About one out of every four actually inflates without exploding on the pump and about 90% of the ones that don't explode wind up on your roof or in a nearby tree. On one particular occasion, one of the balloons exploded. Garrett said, "Oh, that one had an hole." At that point, I felt a lesson on when to use "a" versus "an" was in order, so I replied, "A hole, not an hole." Garrett looked at me and asked, "What's an A-hole, Daddy?" Classic, just classic.

About this point, I decided to get the kid to parent ratio back to 1:1 and take both boys inside. Garrett wasn't yet ready and protested my decision, so I had to divert my attention from Carson for a bit. Once I got Garrett on board, I gathered up Carson and we headed inside. Once inside, the three of us were playing with a toy, and I looked over at Carson. It looks like he has a river of drool coming out of his mouth. When I looked at him, he grinned at me and I saw something white in his mouth. I asked Laura if she'd given him anything and she said no so I tried to see what it was. He clamped his mouth shut, so I pried his lips apart and reached in. I pulled out what was in there and dang if that kid wasn't sucking on a rock larger than a gobstopper. Absolutely disgusting but I guess it goes with the territory with a 13 month old. I would say that I'm thankful he didn't choke on it, but it was so large I don't think he possibly could have swallowed it. He sure did seem like he enjoyed it though. Maybe I shouldn't knock it until I try it...Nah....

Immediately after this we loaded up and headed to dinner. Garrett didn't eat much and kept saying his food tasted bad. He was laying all over me which made eating my dinner difficult and was a bit unusual for him. Once I finished eating, I took both boys to see the very brightly colored salt-water fish this restaurant had. We were standing there admiring the fish when all of a sudden, I felt something all over my leg and foot and heard a splash. I looked down and Garrett had thrown up. I got him cleaned up, Laura gathered up our things and we headed home. Immediately upon exiting the van, it happened again. We got him inside, through a bath and in the bed and once again, it happened. Thankfully, he is now sleeping and seems all right. Hopefully, that continues through tonight and tomorrow. Big question is: Who's next?

Finally, tomorrow's Easter. So once we got the kids to bed, we had to put the Easter baskets together. The Easter Bunny wrote a great letter to Garrett . He brought Garrett some train tracks which is what he's really into these days and built a truly incredible track for him on his train table (patting Laura and myself on the back for this).

Hopefully Easter itself is just as exciting maybe with a little less vomiting and rock sucking. Is that asking too much?

Carson's first birthday

2009-04-05T11:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm a little behind but better late than never.

We celebrated Carson's birthday over two different weekends because of Gary's surgery. Laura's family celebrated on March 7th while my family came down from North Carolina on March 14th. Carson didn't really care for the cake too much. The little bit he ate was off of Garrett's finger.

Best moment of the party was courtesy of Garrett who really doesn't like being called by any name other than his own.

Gary final update

2009-04-01T13:12:00.000-04:00

E-mail from Laura

Hey everyone. My dad had another doctor visit today, and we are thrilled to say that it is official that there was no lymph node involvement, and that the cancer was contained in the tumor that was removed. The pathology reports are still not fully complete because they are still saying they are inconclusive on exactly what kind of cancer it is. They said it is either a carcinoma or lung cancer, but they don’t know at this point. They will continue to study it. But they are certain that none of the lymph nodes were cancerous, and the rest of the lung that was removed was clear. They continue to do chest x-rays to watch the other lung and the cavity where there is no lung anymore, and so far everything looks good. The oncologist said that he would remove himself from the case at this point since there is no reason to do chemo (because the lymph nodes were clear).

He is continuing on now with radiation to target the area where the tumor had grown outside of his lung. He starts on the 13th, and he will have radiation treatments 5 days a week for 6 weeks. (That seems like a whole lot, but I don’t know anything about radiation) They said he should have little to no side effects from it since there is no lung there anymore that the radiation will be touching. He also starts oncology rehab in the next couple of weeks to help him get his pulmonary strength back up and his strength in general back up since he is still very weak.

He is still in a lot of pain, but the surgeon said that was to be expected at this point. He is still on his pain medicine (although he desperately wants to stop taking it), and the surgeon gave him a novacane patch to wear at the incision site which might help with some of it. I talked to him a little while ago, and he seemed very upbeat and happy with the results of his visit today. He doesn’t want to do radiation, but he agrees that it is necessary. The doctors (all 3 of them that he saw this morning) told him that this was the best possible outcome, and he should go home and celebrate. We are praising God for this great news!

Thanks to all of you for your continuing prayers and support.
Laura

The last.....

2009-03-28T12:17:00.000-04:00

Garrett is a competitive kid. Probably as a result of me using the "I'm going to beat you upstairs" trick to get him upstairs for baths. Regardless of why, he likes to be first and he likes to win. Just about every morning he wakes up well after Carson, and when we're making breakfast, he asks if he's first to eat. I always truthfully tell him, "No, Carson and I have already eaten because we got up first."

Well, today I once again told him that. He responded, "No, I'm first." I didn't want to argue the point so I stayed silent and after about 5 seconds, Garrett added, "God said I'm first b/c the last are first." Now THAT was certainly unexpected. Not what was intended in the Bible for sure, but good analogy. And to end with another biblical analogy....from the mouths of babes......

Home Again

2009-03-17T06:53:00.001-04:00

Gary finally got out of ICU yesterday. He could've left two days earlier but there were no rooms available. The docs think that he may be able to go home today. His epidural was removed on Saturday so he's going solely on morphine and Loritab though I think he's even cut out the morphine now. He's been up and about a little bit. Walking is painful but must be done. We're hoping that he gets home today. I know he's ready to get home.

Latest on Gary

2009-03-14T09:14:00.000-04:00

I went by the hospital yesterday during lunch to see Gary. He is definitely improved over the first day post-operation, but he's still in a lot of pain. Removal of the lung is a VERY painful surgery, so this was expected.

He was able to get out of the hospital bed and into the recliner in the room. He stayed there most of the day and said that being there relieved some of the pressure he was feeling in his chest. He was even able to watch most of the South Carolina basketball game.

It's possible that he'll be moved out of ICU and into a regular room this afternoon. We will have to wait on the surgeon's decision on that. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts and kind words.

Update on Gary

2009-03-12T09:50:00.000-04:00

Laura just called and they have come back and said that the lymph nodes are free of cancer!! What great news! They are proceeding with removing the mass and a portion or all of the lung now. Will give further update as available, and I have more time.

Click here for more detail on his situation

I just returned from the hospital. His surgery ended about 11 am (about 3 hours). They took his entire left lung. The mass took up almost the entire upper lobe of the lung and had begun spreading to the lower lobe. It had also spread out of his lung and was beginning to encroach on his aorta and windpipe. This was a surprise and when the surgeon first realized this, he didn't think he was going to be able to do anything. However, he was able to remove the tumor. They are going to send the tumor to pathology to determine what form of treatment comes next. The surgeon is now acting like it is cancer and is pretty certain that chemo or radiation treatment will be necessary. He is currently in recovery and will then move to ICU where he will hopefully be for one day. Then he will be in the hospital up to a week longer before being released. The doctors said that he'd pretty much been breathing with one lung because the lung with the tumor was probably pretty much useless. The main concern now is that no infection or fluid build-up gets started in his remaining lung since he only has one. Will update more as I hear.

Lessons???

2009-03-10T22:23:00.000-04:00

Tonight while drying Garrett off after bath time, Garrett shared his latest trick with me. He can count to 100. I hadn't heard him do it before, so I told him how great I thought it was and all that. Then I asked him how he learned to count so high. His reponse?: "I took counting lessons." The four-year old son of two accountants came up with counting lessons........Perfect!!

Gary update

2009-03-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago, we found out my father-in-law, Gary Burch had a mass in his lung. He went the the doctor because he'd had a persistent cough since October. They ordered some CAT scans and found this mass. A specialist met with him a week ago and preliminarily diagnosed it Stage 3 cancer. He had another round of tests and scans over the past week. We found out the information below copied from an e-mail yesterday. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the next week and during his recovery which will be long and painful.
-------
Gary and I met with Dr. Stephenson this morning to get the results from all the testing. What was supposed to be a four hour appointment turned out to be much shorter.

The PET scan and brain MRI showed no evidence of spreading. Of course, we were reminded that cancer cells are extremely small and these procedures are not microscopic. The lymph node that showed concern in the CT scan did not show up on the PET….praise GOD!!

The biopsy of the mass was termed “inconclusive” (could not be called malignant) but there were suspicious cells. Therefore, we go to the next step.

Surgery is scheduled for 8 am Thursday, March 12 and will proceed as follows:

Lymph nodes from the surrounding area will be taken and frozen for immediate biopsy. If these nodes are clear of cancer cells, they move on with the surgery and remove one lobe of the lung or the entire lung depending on the location of the mass.

If the lymph nodes are not clear then the surgery stops. Gary will then get chemotherapy for a period of time. Surgery will take place later if the chemo has done its job.
Dr. Gluck (Medical Oncologist) says that even if they go ahead and remove the mass some chemotherapy afterwards may be necessary. That will be determined later.

We will update after surgery.

Grace and peace,

Claire and Gary

My Kid's Got Game

2009-02-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

For Garrett's free gift from his optometrist visit, he got a deck of Christmas-themed Old Maid cards (in February, mind you). Laura taught him how to play, so over the last few evenings Old Maid has been on the agenda quite often (I know this makes my single friends jealous). I've noticed that I never seem to win this game. When we get to the end, and he has to choose between two cards, he always chooses the card that's not the Old Maid. I noticed this but chalked it up to beginner's luck (assuming there is such a thing in Old Maid???).

One time when he was dealing the cards, and I was unsuccessfully attempting to keep Carson from eating the cards as they were dealt, I heard Garrett say that I had received the Old Maid card. I proceeded to attempt to impress upon him that was must follow the rules and looking at the cards when handing them out was indeed cheating (and it could get you shot when playing high stakes poker later in life, son). He continued dealing and then began talking about a the Old Maid card being a "darker snowflake". I had no idea what this meant and didn't pay much attention to it until about the fifth time he said it. At that point, I realized that he was referring to the snowflake pattern on the back of the cards. I looked at the back of the Old Maid card and dang if it isn't a darker shade of blue than the rest. I asked Laura if she told him about this little trick, and she says she didn't. At least now the mystery of how Garrett always wins is solved. He had figured out that you look at the back of the cards and never pick the one with darker shade of blue. Mad props on figuring that out, kiddo.

The Inevitable

2009-02-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess we knew it would happen at some point. I have HORRIBLE eyesight and while Laura's is better, it's by no means perfect. Now Garrett has glasses. He was diagnosed as being farsighted and he has a stigmatism. He primarily wears the glasses for reading and up close things like that.

The fact that he needed glasses came as a total shock to me. He's never seemed to me at least to have any trouble seeing anything while reading, doing puzzles or anything else that required up close vision. Matter of fact, the night before he got his glasses, we were reading PD Eastman's classic Go, Dog. Go ! and we were on the page where all the dogs were driving in their cars and Garrett said, "The last dog is green." If you are familiar with this page, that last dog is green and it is VERY small. I guess our optometrist knows what he's talking about though.

Carson's walking

2009-02-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

Monday's officially the day. Carson adopted walking as his primary mode of transportation. He's been working on it over the past month or so since he took his first steps on his own, but Monday he decided that he was a walker. We've been lucky so far - only the "diaper-cushioned on the butt" falls. Of course, with Laura being here all day, there could've been and probably have been falls that I don't know about!!

Man's Best Friend

2009-02-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

The other night as we were getting ready for bed, Riley was laying asleep on Garrett's bed with his head propped up on the bed rail. Garrett walked over and looked into Riley's eyes and said, "I love you, Riley. You're my friend," and with that he gave Riley a hug and kiss. How sweet is that?

Great kid moment

2009-01-29T21:18:00.000-05:00

Tonight after dinner, I flipped on the Duke/Wake game from last night (instant classic on ESPN Classic) while Garrett and I played a little b'ball on his Little Tikes goal. A Wake player shot an airball which is Garrett's absolute favorite play in basketball. He started chanting AIIIIR-BALL, AIIIIR-BALL, AIIIIR-BALL, AIIIIR-BALL and laughing. Carson was watching us the whole time smiling.

Garrett got finished after about 10 AIIIIR-BALL's and it got quiet for a moment. Suddenly the quiet was filled with another AIIIIR-BALL....this time from CARSON!!!! I almost lost it!!!! A 10 1/2 month old chanting AIIIIR-BALL. He could tell it was a big hit with Mom and Dad because he would say it again and again and just grin as big as he could!!

Four-year Old Honesty

2009-01-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is my birthday. Last year, Laura got me one of those big cookies from the mall, so Garrett has decided that's now a tradition. If it's Daddy's birthday, a big cookie shall be enjoyed by all. So after dinner we had pieces of this big cookie. As we were eating, I told Garrett thank you for getting my big cookie. Then I added, "And thanks to Mommy!. And thanks to Carson!" Garrett looks at me with a very serious look and says, "Carson didn't go get your big cookie, Daddy." Apparently he'd stayed behind with Nana, and Garrett wanted to make sure he didn't get any undeserved praise!!

Later, Laura announces that I have to open my present. Garrett adds, "We got you a HAT!!" So much for the surprise!! Later Laura told me that she'd sworn him to secrecy when the hat was purchased and all through the mall he whispered everything because he knew he was supposed to be keeping such a huge secret. Then present opening time came.........

Kids sure do make life funny!!

Update on my "accident"

2009-01-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

Well, it's all behind me now. I went today and paid my $90 fine. Forget the court date. I called the summary court, and the nice lady that answered the phone said that the judge wouldn't reduce the points below 2. The court date I was given is s a very busy time at work, so I'm not spending half an afternoon in that "court" for whatever reduction in the fine I'd get. I use the term loosely b/c it's located in a strip mall and has a waiting area with a bunch of crappy chairs. Not your typical vision of court.

I called my insurance agent today just to see if the lady had filed the claim. Surely if this lady was so intent on calling the police that she'd make us sit outside in 30 degree weather for over an hour, she'd immediately file a claim. Nope! Ten days later and no claim filed. Maybe she started feeling bad about calling the cops over such a minor incident and never filed it? I doubt it, but maybe. Oh well, it's behind me. Not worrying about it anymore.

Have to share funny moment from when I called the insurance agent. Here's the conversation:

Me: Hi, my name is David Attaway and I was calling to see if a claim had been filed against my policy from an incident I was involved in.
Lady on phone: Ok. Do you have a policy with us?

Seriously, lady? No, I'm a Geico customer but I figured I'd call State Farm and see what you could do for me first.

Barack Obama

2009-01-20T22:45:00.000-05:00

Must say that today was a historic day in our country. The crowds in Washington were amazing. Seeing life come to a stop across the country as people watched the swearing in was unbelievable. The whole event makes me proud to be an American and hopeful for the future of our great country.

But the funniest part of the whole thing was the inaugural parade through Garrett's eyes. I get home here's the gist of the conversation we had:

Laura: Tell Daddy what you watched on TV today, Garrett. (I'm of course condensing and paraphrasing this to remove all the superfluous things said to get Garrett to remember the right things. You could probably throw in 3 or 4 "It is???"'s from Garrett here. His favorite way of saying, "Just tell me what you want me to say because I'm not real sure." - but I digress).
Garrett: I watched Barack Obama!
Me: You did? What was he doing?
Garrett: He was racing a bunch of police cars in his race car!!!
Me (laughing): He was?? Did he win?
Garrett: Yep. He did. He got to the checkered flag first!

I later saw the picture he must have seen during the day. Sure enough, it looks like the chaos of a NASCAR race - just about 200 mph slower!! God Bless America!!

Cross Canadian Ragweed

2009-01-20T22:17:00.001-05:00

I went and saw Cross Canadian Ragweed Saturday, Jan 17 at The Orange Peel in Asheville. [Oddly enough as I start typing this Ragweed starts playing on RadioFreeTexas which I'm streaming.]

First of all, the venue is awesome. Downtown Asheville in what looks to be an old warehouse. The inside is a large room with a high ceiling. It was PACKED. This was the first Ragweed show that I've been to (saw them in Atlanta, Charlotte and Athens) where I wasn't able to get pretty close to the stage. Maybe the Peel not being a theater with seating/balconies like the other venues had something to do with that. The crowd here was AWESOME. It was clear they were Ragweed fans during the sing-a-long parts and this was also the first show I didn't hear Cody ask if the crowd was with them.

Ragweed played an AWESOME show. I won't bother repeating all the stuff in this forum post but will add that I really enjoyed the cover of the Doors song, LA Woman, as the encore. They also threw a line or two in from a song by the Who which I'd never heard them do before in the middle of Anywhere but Here. I will correct one thing on the set list. Deal is listed twice. Alabama was one of those songs.

Mentioned in the thread is the new album which they will be recording in the Spring. So far, I have heard five songs at live shows off the new album which tentatlive is titled Beard: Kick in the Head, Ruby Ridge, Coming Back to Me, What Tomorrow Brings and Pretty Lady. (not positive about the song titles of the last three songs). I can't wait for this to come out. I've heard them metnion a couple of times they'd be recording in SoCal like they did for Mission California.

Awesome band, Awesome music, Awesome venue and ALWAYS good to get out and see some live music!!

Carson doing new things!!

2009-01-20T22:10:00.000-05:00

I went to the eye doctor on MLK Day. I got home and walked back in the door finding Carson and Laura in our study looking out the front window. Carson turned and saw me. Reaching for me, he said very clearly, "Daddy!"

It's those firsts that you want to just freeze in time and remember them forever. I'm writing about the moment to forever keep that memory in my head. I've found that over time with Garrett, I've forgotten the things I thought I would always remember. Amazing where the time goes and along with that time your memories.

Last night as we were getting ready for bath, I was holding Carson. He leaned towards Laura like he wanted her to take him but instead when she reached for him, he gave her a hug. He sat back up in my arms, turned and looked at me in the face, gave me the biggest smile, and gave me a hug too. Then, back to Laura. Then back to me. I bet we did this 10 times, but how special those first hugs are from our kids. Just awesome.

Kids say the funniest things

2009-01-16T20:27:00.000-05:00

I was getting Garrett ready for bed tonight, and we were on the floor beside his bed. Riley was laying on the bed behind us sleeping. I heard a weird sound and thought it was Riley making noise in his sleep, so I said to Garrett, "What was that noise??". Garrett replies, "Oh, that was my bottom, Daddy. It is growling." How do you not laugh????

When I Hate Following the Rules

2009-01-13T21:53:00.000-05:00

I was on my way to work this morning and stopped at a red light behind several cars. At the previous light, something had fallen into my passenger floorboard, so I figured that I'd pick it up so it wasn't rolling around. I leaned over, and I guess my foot came off the brake enough that the car started rolling. I didn't feel it because I was looking at the floor. I knew something was up when I heard someone hit the front of my car. Unfortunately it was actually me hitting the car in front of me.

She gets out of the car on the phone with the cops and saying she'd just gotten the car. Not good, but I'll talk to her. So we pull into the gas station beside us, and I tell her that we can just trade all information and I'll pay her cash to fix her car once she gets a quote. It's a SCRATCH. Absolutely no dents or anything. I tell her that I see no way it'll cost more than a couple hundred bucks to fix. We can be on our way, won't have deal with insurance and be done. She says, "My dad and brother are both cops, I have to follow the rules." Seriously? For a scratch on your bumper, we're going to stand outside in 30 degree weather waiting for a cop to come give me a ticket for this CRAP? She doesn't bend. We will have a policeman write up the "accident" report.

An hour later, the rookie state trooper arrives and takes our information. He goes back to his car for the paperwork. He comes back to us and when it's my turn hands me a $90, 2 point ticket. Until that point, it hadn't even occurred to me that I'd wind up with a fine and court date for something so minor when I was clearly doing nothing dangerous or illegal. But I did. And what was my wild, crazy, illegal act? Improper starting. According to WikiAnswers this might be the same charge I'd get if I dogged off in front of a cop. Why could I not have tapped someone who was a little more willing to be a rebel and not follow the rules?????

2008 Music

2009-01-11T22:27:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be cool to go back and see what I listened to in 2008. So here are the top 25 albums based on play from my Ipod. I shuffle mostly on songs and mostly in my Texas music so I'm guessing it will be most, if not all, from that scene. Here goes.

25. Cross Canadian Ragweed Soul Gravy
24. Cross Canadian Ragweed Garage
23. Reckless Kelly Bulletproof
22. Cross Canadian Ragweed Mission California
21. Reckless Kelly Reckless Kelly Was Here
20. Jason Boland & the Stragglers Somewhere in the Middle
19. Doc Marshalls Honest for Once
18. Loomer Songs of the Wild West Island
17. Bart Crow Band Desperate Hearts
16. Mike McClure Band Everything Upside Down
15. Randy Rogers Band Like It Used to Be
14. James McMurtry Just Us Kids
13. Micky & the Motorcars Naive
12. Mike McClure Band Did7
11. Cross Canadian Ragweed Back to Tulsa: Live and Loud At Cain's Ballroom
10. Wade Bowen Lost Hotel
9. Ryan Bingham Mescalito
8. Micky & the Motorcars Ain't in It for the Money
7. Randy Rogers Band Randy Rogers Band
6. Jason Boland & the Stragglers The Bourbon Legend
5. Chris Knight A Pretty Good Guy
4. Mike McClure Band Foam
3. Randy Rogers Band Roller Coaster
2. Micky & the Motorcars Careless
1. Randy Rogers Band Just a Matter of Time

Wade Bowen's If We Ever Make It Home and Bleu Edmondson's Lost Boy are two albums that I got late in the year that should be on here but aren't simply because they didn't have the time. I highly recommend both.

I have some moolah from Christmas to spend. Any must have stuff you see missing, comment and let me know I should buy it.

My Papa

2008-12-29T22:57:00.000-05:00

Today is the day that Papa would've been 88 years old. December 29, 1920 - October 25, 2008. Papa was a great man. He wasn't great in the sense of being famous or anything. He was a simple dairy farmer in Anderson, SC. He built the house he lived in until his last days with his own hands and some help from his dad and brothers. That house was across the road from the house he was born in and his farmland. So you couldn't call him a world traveler either (other than the time he spent in the South Pacific during WW II). But he was the type of man that demanded respect. Everyone who crossed his path knew that he was a good man. The type of man that everyone should strive to be. Though slight of frame, he had tremendous strength and work effort. Nobody could outwork that man. Most of all though he loved his family. Five kids, 14 grandkids, and 24 great-grandkids. Of course, he'd tell you he had 26 grandkids as he always considered spouses one of his own.

A few months before he passed on, I was visiting him in the hospital. Before I left, he took my hand and looked me in the eyes. He told me how proud he was of the man I'd become. Coming from Papa, that meant so much. I will never forget that moment.

We all miss you, Papa. You blazed a trail that I hope to follow closely.

All I Wanted for Christmas, I Got.

2008-12-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

Someone asked me what I got for Christmas the other day. I told them what they wanted to hear. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking that I got exactly what I wanted. No visits to the ER.

Christmas 2006. Garrett at the time had just turned two years old the previous October. He got a sinus infection and we took him to the doctor. He prescribed the old faithful: bubble gum-flavored Augmentin. He took it but kept holding the side of his face. We took him back to the doctor to have his ears checked. He said they were all clear. So we thought maybe he had something wrong with his teeth. We took him to the dentist. Nothing wrong there other than we hadn't started insuring him yet. This process happens over the course of a couple of weeks. Now we get to Christmas Eve and while we're at my grandfather's house, we notice that his eye looks a little swollen and red. We're thinking it's some kind of allergy, and we give him some Benadryl.

We get home and he goes to bed. We do the Santa thing and go to bed ourselves. About 12:30 am he woke up and Laura went upstairs to check on him. She calls me up and asks me to look at his eye. I take one look and say, "Let's go to the emergency room." His eye was completely swollen shut, red and that parental instinct just said that something was wrong.

We get to the emergency room and he is immediately whisked back into the back from triage, and the doctors are summoned which of course scares us. The doctors see him and diagnose him with periorbital cellulitis which is basically an infection of the skin around the eye or in the eye socket itself. They say that they are admitting him and hooking him up to an IV immediately to begin delivering strong anti-biotics. Up until this point, I figured they'd look at him and send us on our way with an anti-biotic and jokes about a sleepy Christmas morning. Now they're saying we're going to be in the hospital for several days and they have to do more tests to ensure the infection hasn't spread deep into the socket which could affect vision permanently. If it's in the eye socket, then they start worrying about spinal meningitis as the infection travels down the optic nerve. Luckily all those tests showed that we had made the right decision and gotten him in early enough that the infection was still on the skin and had most likely spread from the sinus infection that wasn't treated aggressively enough.

This picture was taken in the hospital on Christmas Day 2006. You can see how his eye was swollen shut and the IV in his arm which I thought for certain would be ripped out. He left it alone though. He is watching a DVD on my work laptop.

We realize that we will be spending Christmas in the hospital. Laura goes home to gather some clothes for all of us early the next morning. We have two dogs that are a part of our family (not just a backyard dog). She lets them out to go to the bathroom in our fenced backyard and she goes to get some clothes for us. She returns a few minutes later to let them back in only to find that they aren't there. For reasons still unknown to us, the gate was open and the dogs aren't in the backyard. She goes out and tries to find them but with no luck. She calls me in a panic. I tell her to call her dad and to come back and be with Garrett. Her dad and two of my brother-in-laws came over and looked for the dogs in a misty rain. Along the way, a few of my neighbors joined the search as well. But luck was not on their side.

Meanwhile, we are back at the hospital with our very sick little boy who was getting anti-biotics delivered every 6 hours through his IV day and night and his tempature was up above 104 at times. During the day a charitable group stopped by with toys for all the children on the pediatric ward. It just made Garrett so happy and gave us just an overwhelming sense of gratitude. It wasn't a Christmas in the truest sense on the word but it certainly showed me the power of a kind gesture from a stranger. Ironically, we had donated to that charity just weeks earlier having no idea that we'd recieve toys in the hospital ourselves.

About 2 pm, Laura convinced me to leave the hospital to look for our dogs. She was convinced that they'd left looking for me, and she thought that if they heard me calling, they'd come. I was about a mile from our house when my phone rang. It was the emergency vet clinic calling to tell me that our dog, Riley, had been brought him to the clinic. Our dogs don't wear collars in the house, so not knowing who to contact, they brought him there. He was identified by the microchip in him that we did when he was a puppy (DO this people; it's cheap and it works). They told me to come and they would update me on his status. I still had no idea where our other dog, Tommy, was.

I headed for the animal hospital and found out that Riley had been hit by a car in the face. He looked pitiful and I will never forget the look in his eyes that just said: "Please, help me, Dad." The doctor showed me how he could just move the upper jaw up and down - another image I will never forget that makes me cringe even now. He says that he needs more observation to check for brain damage and to decide on treatment for the smashed up jaw.

Now, I go back over to the people hospital and deliver this bad news. We still haven't found Tommy, Riley is lying in an animal hospital awaiting his fate and Garrett is very, very sick. I remember sitting in the hospital room very, very late Christmas night holding Garrett in one of those uncomfortable chairs just crying as silently as possible so the rest of my family could sleep. Crying because I was helpless to help those I loved and I was scared of the unknown.

The day after Christmas comes and Garrett begin improving. They decide against any eye surgery and the swelling starts to subside. That same morning, I visited Riley and the vet. He determined that he was OK neurologically and he thought that he could wire all the pieces of his jaw back together and it would grow back by itself avoiding serious surgery.

Early afternoon, I am getting read to leave to start searching the side of the road for Tommy as we've pretty much resigned ourselves to him being gone. My neighbors again proved just how caring humans can be. After taking time out of his Christmas with his family to search for our dogs, my neighbor, Frank, had me e-mail pictures of the dogs and put up flyers all around the neighborhood and surrounding stops signs, etc. Just as I was about to leave to look for Tommy, my phone rings and someone tells me that they have Tommy and that he is just fine. I later found at that she was the daughter of a lady that I worked with and that my mother-in-law had been her pre-school teacher years earlier and that she had gone back to where she found him looking for flyers and found the ones Frank made. So instead of leaving to search the ditches, I go over to her house and bring Tommy back home. She is surprised to find out about Riley telling me that she saw Riley get hit by the car and knocked into a puddle where he didn't move. She thought he was dead and though she was late for a Christmas party, she stopped to save Tommy from the same fate. Another good Samaritan came by later and found Riley having regained consciousness and took him to the clinic.

Meanwhile, Riley had his procedure to wire everything back together and he came home as well with orders to be on a liquid diet until Valentine's Day. Amazingly enough, his smashed up jaw healed itself.

Garrett returned home December 29th having spent 4 days in the hospital. Santa had left some really cool stuff for Garrett, and we opened our gifts and were just thankful to still all be together as a family. You just never really know how good people can be to you until something like this happens. An act of kindness from a stranger may not be much to them but the impact it has on you personally is tremendous. We, as a society, should try to do more random acts of kindness.

On to Christmas 2007. This one pales in comparison to 2006, but it continued our string of bad luck. We were at our annual family get together at my grandfather's house (it turned out to be our last as he passed away in October). My mother took Garrett and his cousin Ethan outside to play. They wound up playing around an old trailer. Unfortunately, Garrett slipped and fell at the wrong time and his chin came down on the teeth of the gear that is used to winch boats up on the trailer. OUCH, right??? So we loaded up and again headed off to the ER. This incident resulted in four stitches in the chin and a grandmother who felt simply terrible, but we understood how things happen with kids.

So did we have a good Christmas this year?? You bet! No ER visits despite having double the amount of kids! We'll chalk this Christmas up as a success!!

Let's get this thing started

2008-12-28T14:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been thinking about doing this for a while. I'm finally getting around to it. I don't really know what I'll talk about or how often I'll talk about it. I'll play it by ear. I'm sure there will be a post or two about music, life, my kids, funny stories. We'll see.