Well thanksgiving has come and gone, man what a wonderful day this was and always is. I was thinking about it and realized that this holiday very well may be my most relaxing day of the year. Sure I love Christmas the meaning behind the day and all of the holiday spirit, but in terms of pure laziness and do nothing relaxation, thanksgiving takes the cake.



























This year was spent as most every other year. Tiff and I take turns with Holidays splitting them between our families. One year we spend Christmas here and turkey day with her family in Lamar, and the next we switch it up. Well this year was spent here in Denver with the Thomas family and as is usally the case, I was tasked with the enormous responsiblity of cooking the bird. Why would they dare trust this crucial task to me? Good question, I have never thought about that but am happy to help out. So back to last Thursday. As stated in a previous post, thanks to Tiffany's southern roots we fry our turkeys instead of baking. Frying a turkey is definately quicker in terms of sheer cooking time but alot goes into the preperation. Once the day finally rolled around Josh met me about 9:30 in the morning in my back yard to help out and kick back while we watched carefully and made sure the fryer didn't cause a fire and give us a repeat of a small and accidental fire that happened behind my house earlier this summer (hoshi and sean, I was cleaning out my closet this last week and found the evidence you so hastily hid). All in all it went according to plan. Josh and I were lazy, we threw horseshoes, he widdled wood and enjoyed a cigar and a beverage, at the dinner the food was great and a stellar time was had by all. Hope yours was great as well!

Smoke em if you got em

It is no secret that I am a huge cigar fan. I love all of the aspects that come with cigars, collecting and searching for rare sticks, the nuances of setting up a new humidor and most of all sharing a fine cigar with friends and family. The actual process of smoking cigar however; to me this is the pinnacle of relaxation although it may seem dramatically simple. It is like a reward, difficult to explain but somewhat like meditation. Sitting silently in the garage or on the deck or enjoying a poker game with friends and watching the smoke billow into the air is to me one of lifes simple wonderful pleasures.

Here is an article that I found from our very own Dennis Prager in which he discusses his love for a fine smoke. link here

"A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry to a woman."
-- E.G. Bulwer-Lytton Darnley, 1845

Recently Mark Josh and I had our first writing session since the transition. I walked away feeling very refreshed and almost re-energize. We come together with no pressure, no deadlines, no preconceived notions of what should be or has to be, rather the lofty dream of creating amazing notes and melodies once again. It is a wonderful feeling to not be set in a genre and to just be open to any and every idea that comes up. We sat there for several minutes just tossing out ideas of different sounds and instruments that we could use to create. We daily surf craigslist looking for xylophones, percussion, bells, whatever we can imagine we will use. Artistic freedom seems like a generic term, but finding it once again is a terrific feeling.

The other day my wife randomly asked, "what are your dreams, your goals?". Honestly I did not know how to reply. The classics came to mind, be financially secure, raise good kids who love God, etc, and while those are very important and I would never discount them, there was more to be said. I just didn't have the answers. Perhaps this transition in my spiritual life, my ministry life, and everything else has caused my long-term focus to blur. I turn to God for clarity and guidance and know that serving him can only lead to the good life. I pray for the ability to dream but refuse to question the unknown for no other reason then just to question.

I don't even know what to say or how to intro this post. Over the past couple of years I have slowly stopped reading the news because of all the death and senseless tragedy. Maybe I have a soft heart, maybe it is impossible not to be affected my the endless stories of human pain. I read this story the other day and I was appalled, saddened and deeply hurt. I immediately thanked God for my children and prayed for their protection. Today they posted an update to this story which included pictures of the family. I scrolled through the slideshow and saw pictures that were full of life, hope and love. I sat in front of my laptop tonight and just cried thinking about those kids and how innocent and beautiful they are. My heart aches for the husband and father who must face life without everything. I can't help but imagine what last Friday was like for them. I am sure they woke up and went to work and about their day. They all made it home and decided to go downtown and enjoy some time together. None of them knew when they stepped out of bed that day that it would be their last together. How can people not believe in God? I guess some might ask if there is a god why he would let something like this happen. Of course he didn't "let" this happen but questions like that are hard to answer none-the-less. If you are reading this I ask that you take just a moment and pray for this man, Frank Bingham. Pray that he finds peace and comfort from the God that we selfishly ask so much from every day. Pray that if he doesn't know God that somehow through all of this he find Him. Goodnight.

Story Here

November 13th

I love this time of year. First the weather; I am not a fan of high temps and sunshine, I much prefer clouds and precipitation. It's weird but when I wake up on a cloudy morning I am pumped, unlike most people who feel gloomy.



So this time of year, the weather, the holidays, friends, food, family, all great things. I just realized that Thanksgiving is next week, man it came fast! I always look forward to it because I get to fry a couple of turkeys while enjoying a cigar and watching football (have you ever had fried turkey? It may be Gods perfect food, I am not kidding). This may be the most relaxing day of the year. Yeah we have to do a bunch of cooking and preparing but somehow it is still relaxing because you know how it all ends. On the couch, pants undone about to burst while watching football and thinking about desert.

Stay tuned for a detailed post with pictures called "How to deep fry a cajun turkey and not burn your house down".

PGP STOP

I am not sure why this erks me so bad but it just does. "Irregardless". People this is not a freaking word. When you say it you are actually saying the opposite of what you mean! Please for the love of everything holy stop and start using REGARDLESS! It's a shorter word so you should have no problem remembering it, and it actually means something. Yes I am obsessed and neurotic for posting this but so be it. Here is an interesting explanation I found, and yes I guess I am a pompous, rude ahole. xoxo

1. irregardless

Used by people who ignorantly mean to say regardless. According to webster, it is a word, but since the prefix "ir" and the suffx "less" both mean "not or with" they cancel each other out, so what you end up with is regard. When you use this to try to say you don't care about something, you end up saying that you do. Of course everyone knows what you mean to say and only a pompous,rude asshole will correct you.

Basketball with the wedding singer???

So I was in LA on business all week and I stayed at the LA Athletic Club. It's a beautiful facility that has been around since 1880. They have a small amount of rooms as well as a members only athletic club, restaurant and bar.

Well long story short, last Thursday night a group of us who were staying there decided to play a little basketball. We started out with some 3 on 3 half court (a bunch of out of shape sales guys) which we played for about an hour until none other then Adam Sandler walked in. We all kinda did a double take and as he and another guy went to the other end of the court and played one on one. After a while they asked if they could join our game and sure enough Happy Gilmore is pretty darn good. I spent much of the night getting picked and watching him drain 18 footers. He was amazingly down to earth and didn't at all act like he was some celeb. Turns out he is a regular at the club and plays there quite a bit. It was a very cool experience.

no spellcheck today

So let's see how this works. I am sitting in a meeting in downtown LA and posting from my blizackberry. Awwww the wonder that is technology.

Yesterday I was late for my flight so I ran through the airport, to the check in then security and so on only to get to my gate just as they announce a 2 hour delay due to "mechanical problems". Great, just what every passenger wants to hear, the landing gear wasn't working. I however didn't mind as I was hungry and wanted a beer. I settled into the little lounge next to my gate and had 2 seasonal brews and a basket of cheese fries. The flight went off without a hitch soon after, although there were several people at risk of missing their connecting flights due to the delay. Have you ever noticed that airlines will sometimes play some music once you land and are waiting to get to the gate? I noticed this a while back and found that it is usually some light jazz or something relaxing. I wonder if this is their way to calm peoples nerves. We hit the ground yesterday and with or without soon began to play lightly over the speakers. Awww the calm and contentment that I have always been able to find in this band.

So off I go through the airport and to the rental car shuttle. Get to the Hertz location and vwallla, they lost my reservation. No problem I will just stand in line and get a car. I finally get to the front of the line and explain my situation and the guy actually found my reservation but explained they are out of cars. This made me think of a Seinfeld episode where the exact same thing happens to Jerry. For a moment I think about saying "See anyone can just take reservations, the key is to hold the reservation. See, that's the point of the reservation." Just then the guy asked "would you like a free upgrade to a Silver Ford F-150?". I actually laughed out loud and wondered if I was being typecast. Ok,I thought, me in downtown LA in a 4X4 truck. I went to the ATM and withdrew 40$ and prepared to be mugged.

mindless fun soothes the mind

On a lighter note, The Hosh just informed me that he put a few videos we made this summer up on youtube.com. Here is one from our fourth of July weekend.