It's Been a While

It was brought to my attention that I had not created a "Best of " album list in a while, so to make up for my transgression, I created a list of my favorite albums for each year 2000-2011. I figured it was easiest to do on Amazon this time.

Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/byauthor/A355RDH3XR2GGK/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_athr?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

My Top 5 Albums of 2009

Okay, so we're still in the first month of 2010, so I think this list is still appropriate to be released. Now, please understand. I am by no means a professional music critic, so I've just picked my 5 favorites and made a comment or two where I had one.

5.) Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons - Death Won't Send a Letter:
I claimed on Facebook that this one should make my top 5 of the year and I stuck by it. I went on a CRAZED search for this thing (just ask Livvy) after listening to it on iTunes, but I couldn't remember the name of the band for the life of me - I could just remember the cover. It struck me as so unique...definitely wins the album cover award for 2009. I eventually saw the cover again in a random retail store and was blown away by the album itself. I had recalled my iTunes 30-sec taste-tests (as I call them) reminding me of a mellow Bruce Springsteen.


4.) Owl City - Ocean Eyes:
And the guilty pleasure award for 2009 goes to...
Um...yeah, I'm almost ashamed that this one made the list. Usually I attempt to stray as far as I can from the "mainstream" in music. I couldn't resist this Postal Service clone, no matter how popular they eventually became. I swore when I first heard them that it was Ben Gibbard singing. I actually had to look up information about the band (including photos of the lead singer) to disprove it in my head. I was lucky enough to catch their show when they played at Harding in October. My cousin Austen, who went with me, commented that the lead singer looked like the angry, embittered-by-the-world son in Wedding Crashers, and I wholeheartedly agree.



3.) Iron & Wine - Around the Well:
I was extremely close to not letting this one make the list because it consists mostly of songs composed prior to 2009, however, I talked myself into it as most of them have not been widely released to the masses...until now. ...and what a collection it is. I'm a bit prejudiced because I'm an avid Iron & Wine fan, but these songs rank up there amongst their best - not to mention that there are 23 tracks. Go buy this now at Target for $9.99. You won't regret it...unless you're the type that listens exclusively to Christian Heavy Metal or something.



2.) Muse - The Resistance:
To me, this is the most under-rated album of the year by one of the more under-rated bands in the music industry today. My friend Jimmy said that some of the tracks on the album reminded him of Queen and that I should give it a listen. I was far from disappointed. It alone persuaded me to go out and purchase 2 additional Muse albums...which were also quite enjoyable. I honestly don't know how this album isn't the most critically-acclaimed of 2009. It is simply epic.



1.) The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You:
Hands down my favorite album of the year. I think one sign of a truly great album is the desire it incubates within you for more of the same. I absolutely cannot wait for the next Avett Brothers album. I originally saw it in Target and Best Buy as I was doing my ritual perusing of the music section and noticed the striking cover. As I do with many albums, I jotted down the name of the band in my phone and did my little iTunes taste-test to see if I was interested. I was captivated by the first track from which the album takes its name. My friend Christina also recommended that I give it a listen, so I bought it at the next opportunity. Rick Rubin definitely picks winners for the albums that he produces. I'm glad they were able to spread this one to the masses. I just wish more people would give it a try. It is incredible. And if you do give it a try, and enjoy it, go buy their The Gleam EPs and Emotionalism - also awesome.




HONORABLE MENTION:
Blind Pilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound:
recent Barnes & Noble random taste-test and purchase - definitely a winner



Elizabeth & the Catapaults:
Saw this band's "Taller Children" video on Subterranean on MTV2 (a great show if you like discovering new indie music). I was honestly shocked to find that "Taller Children" was only mediocre in comparison to some of the other songs.


Pearl Jam - Backspacer:
definitely the best Pearl Jam since Ten...maybe even better than Ten


The Low Anthem - Oh My G, Charlie Darwin
very unique lead singer; very mellow album


White Rabbits - It's Frightening
reminiscent of Spoon; accidentally bought this thinking it was Frightened Rabbit (my brain during the work week in Little Rock is mush) and was not too disappointed


Fanfarlo - Reservoir
another Barnes & Noble/iTunes taste-test & purchase


Slow Club - Yeah So:
another band Jimmy pointed out to me. quite good. very under-the-radar.


Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing
one of my favorites early on in the year. it might have made the top 5 if I had discovered it later in the year.


Monsters of Folk - (self-titled)
there's no way I could put this one on this list. it's almost unfair considering the all-star indie music super team that they've put together on this band.


Stuff I haven't listened to yet, but want to...
Girls - Album
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
Akon/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

My Man Room

Let me just get this post started off by saying that I have the BEST WIFE EVER!

When we were looking for a house, I knew that I had so much crap that she wouldn't want visible to any visitors, so I aimed to get a house with enough bedrooms that I could convert one into a Man Room. After much negotiation, I convinced her that it would be okay. I'm pretty sure she was primarily worried that I'd spend all of my time in there and not with her. As you can see from this picture, I haven't spent much time in there AT ALL since moving in...




I fully intend to get it into a more organized state. It's just taking longer than I had originally planned due to life being pretty much nonstop since our engagement.

Two of my favorite features of the room are:
1.) My dad's La-Z-Boy recliner that is older than I am







2.) Smiley...




I'm primarily posting this for Andy's enjoyment, but I'm sure any others that view this will either A) Cringe in terror (*ahem* Sally), or B) Be fascinated by the fact that a woman would love me enough to let me do this in our home.

Anyways, I am really hoping for a weekend (or five) someday soon in which I can buckle down and get it presentable.

Have a good one!

WHAT?!?!

So I'm a husband now. How weird is that?

Massive Playlist

Wow. One post in 2008. Sad. Anyways... to make up for it, I'm going to gift any readers with this massive playlist that I put together thanks to an old college buddy's facebook post. I don't claim to have an expert opinion on music and this list contains a ton of guilty pleasures, but it also contains some nifty treasures. (like the wordplay?). I'm not really into playing it in any particular order or anything. I would probably just put it on random/shuffle and hit play. Enjoy.

The National - Mistaken For Strangers
Duncan Sheik - Fake Plastic Trees (blasphemy, i know)
William Fitzsimmons - Funeral Dress
Snow Patrol - Crack the Shutters
Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams (especially the last couple of minutes)
The Killers - Human
Sigur Ros - Vid spilum endalaust
Okkervil River - On Tour With Zykos
Frightened Rabbit - Backwards Walk
She & Him - Sentimental Heart
Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me
Jakob Dylan - Something Good This Way Comes
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Fortune Teller
Iron & Wine - Resurrection Fern
Sea Wolf - Leaves in the River
Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost
Ashton Allen - Silent Way
Cake - Is This Love?
Nada Surf - The Fox
Sonic Youth - Superstar
The Swell Season - Falling Slowly
Decemberists - The Crane Wife 3
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell
TV on the Radio - Golden Age
Bon Iver - Flume
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Radiohead - House of Cards
Modest Mouse - Fire It Up
The Shins - Sea Legs
Foo Fighters - Home
Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
Beck - Gamma Ray
MIA - Paper Planes
Belle & Sebastian - If She Wants Me
Blink 182 - I Miss You
Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You into the Dark
Postal Service - Nothing Better
Echo & the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
Eels - Hey Man
Frou Frou - Let Go
Guster - Happier
The Slip - Even Rats
Johnny Cash - In My Life
Joseph Arthur - In the Sun
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
Magnetic Fields - Absolutely Cuckoo
Travis - Flowers in the Wind
Rogue Waves - Eyes
Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful
Audioslave - Cochise
U2 - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Beach Boys - God Only Knows
Ben Folds - The Luckiest
Better Than Ezra - This Time of Year
Blue October - Clumsy Card House
Colin Hay - Waiting For My Real Life to Begin
David Gray - This Year's Love
Fountains of Wayne - Hackensack
Joshua Radin - Star Mile
Keane - Somewhere Only We Know
Kings of Convenience - Winning a Battle, Losing the War
Matchbox 20 - 3AM
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am
Maps - So Low, So High
Oasis - Wonderwall
Presidents of the United States of America - Dune Buggy
REM - Nightswimming
Shout Out Louds - The Comeback
Simon & Garfunkel - Cecilia
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979
Stranglers - Golden Brown
Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
The Cure - Lovesong
The Doors - Hello, I Love You
The Weepies - Gotta Have You
Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance
The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
Stone Temple Pilots - Art School Girl
Jason Wade - You Belong to Me
The Panda Band - Ghosts Have the Best Time
Benji Hughes - Waiting for an Invitation
Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Part 1
David Ford - Cheer Up
Weezer - Always
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Badly Drawn Boy - Easy Love
Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready
Billy Joel - You May Be Right
Rilo Kiley - Does He Love You?
Elliott Smith - Angeles
Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
Damien Rice - Blower's Daughter
Dashboard Confessional (feat. Michael Stipe) - Hands Down
Eve 6 - Here's to the Night
Finn Brothers - Won't Give In
Green Day - Basket Case
Something Corporate - Konstantine
Linkin Park - Points of Authority
Rhett Miller - Question
Beatles - Eleanor Rigby
Gary Jules - Mad World
John Vanderslice - Karma Police
Over the Rhine - I Want You to Be My Love
Panic! at the Disco - Lying is the Most Fun...
Pete Yorn - Crystal Village
Red Hot Chili Peppers - If
Relient K - Deathbed
Spoon - Sister Jack
Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Drive-By
Tom Waits - Better Off Without a Wife
Tonic - Lemon Parade
Built to Spill - Liar
Gomez - How We Operate
Jack Johnson - Taylor
Cat Stevens - Moonshadow
Sister Hazel - Concede
Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman...
Live - Lightning Crashes

My, My, How Things Change

Wow, I don't even know where to begin. Life for me has changed immensely since my last post. The "progress" that I referred to was the beginnings of a relationship with a lady I had admired for quite some time. Our relationship started in late November... perhaps even the day of that posting, maybe later. I can't quite remember and neither can she. Anyways, over the next few months, we grew closer and closer while I took trips to Denton/Fort Worth in order to see her every couple of weeks or so. She even came and visited me in Little Rock a couple of times. Once was after a family vacation, which if you ask me, was quite daring on her part to attend.

So obviously things progressed and in June, I moved here to Fort Worth. I now work most of each month from home (still for Alltel). Working from home is the greatest. Spending more time with the lovely lady is also quite glorious. Now that I'm here, I can't imagine my life any differently.

Hope those of you out in Blog-o-Land are doing nifty yourselves. Have a good one!

Misc Post #1

So apparently that last post is now null and void. ...and further progress has been made that of which has started to make me a lot happier than I've been in quite some time.

Anyways, here is a random link of the day. Don't ask me how I found it. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzniut

Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn't've Fallen In Love With?

One of my favorite comic pages of all time...

37 Favorite Albums of All Time

I was talking to someone online who asked me what my favorite albums were. I started going through my music library on my computer and just couldn't stop. Before I knew it I had 37 on the list. So without further adieu, my 37 favorites (top 3 are in order, but after that it's a crapshoot)...

37.) Shins - Oh, Inverted World
36.) William Fitzsimmons - Goodnight
35.) Beck - Sea Change
34.) Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
33.) Presidents of the United States of America - (self-titled)
32.) Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
31.) John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt
30.) Killers - Hot Fuss
29.) Sister Hazel - Somewhere More Familiar
28.) Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
27.) Snow Patrol - Final Straw
26.) Spoon - Gimme Fiction
25.) The Weepies - Say I Am You
24.) Third Eye Blind - (self-titled)
23.) Travis - The Invisible Band
22.) Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site
21.) Weezer - (self-titled blue album)
20.) Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
19.) Pearl Jam - Ten
18.) Guster - Lost and Gone Forever
17.) Live - Throwing Copper
16.) Matchbox 20 - Yourself or Someone Like You
15.) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Airplane Over the Sea
14.) Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
13.) Over the Rhine - Drunkard's Prayer
12.) Death Cab For Cutie - Plans
11.) Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers
10.) William Fitzsimmons - Until When We Are Ghosts
09.) Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud
08.) Eels - Blinking Lights & Other Revelations
07.) Beatles - Rubber Soul
06.) Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs
05.) Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
04.) Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
03.) Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
02.) Postal Service - Give Up
01.) Cake - Fashion Nugget

1 Corinthians 13

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Sloths!!!

Watch this and your day will improve at least tenfold (but don't watch it if you have a delicate sense of humor)...

New goal = be in bed before midnight every night that precedes a weekday

It's 11:44 PM and tonight looks like a winner. Maybe I'm finally on my way to escaping "college mode".

Have a good one!

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My Death in a Midsummer Night's Dream

So last night I had the oddest dream. I can't remember the last time I dreamt and actually remembered the dream. Anyone who knows me knows of my love for movies. Well, this dream was exactly like a movie. It was like I was watching it unfold on-screen. Earlier in the evening, I had said goodbye for what will hopefully be the last time to my once-upon-a-time "dreamgirl". Funny how it would cause this reaction...

*Begin dream sequence...that which I remembered at 6:00AM to jot down anyways*
Some time had passed and I had met and become re-acquainted with an old friend from high school named Ingrid. It was so weird because I never had any sort of feelings for her, but I guess my loneliness and spite for the dreamgirl drove me to ask her to be my wife. For some odd reason, she suddenly turned into the CFO of the company I work for. Next thing I know, I'm telling her that I can't marry her because I don't want to ruin her marriage and her family. (so weird).
The next part of the dream was in slow-motion with some song I have never heard playing as a sort of soundtrack. I was in some sort of open-air marketplace that struck me as being in Italy or somewhere actually cultured. There were a lot of people around sitting at tables & others walking around the market. I am carrying an art print I had just purchased to give to the CFO as a token of appreciation I guess? Anyways, I'm walking and I see the dreamgirl and her roommate sitting across the way. I go to walk along the side of the open-air area, near the wall. I walk slowly behind a pillar and the dreamgirl's roommate comes slowly into view and then the dreamgirl, herself. She looks up from what she's reading and we make eye contact. At that moment, it's like my heart just finally gives out and I crumple to the floor with my arms outstretched. The camera just kinda catches the top half of me as I fall and falls along with me as it pans to just capture the art print and my empty, outstretched hand lying on the floor. Then it fades to black. Finally, the scene ends with a caffeine warning message about how at that point in my life I was drinking 4 energy drinks and taking a caffeine pill each day.
*End dream sequence*

Anyways, so yeah. That was definitely one of the strangest dreams I've ever had. I'm not gonna lie, it kinda made me feel like a lunatic. Have a good one!

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Nice Little Weekend

Welp, had a nice little weekend this past one. Went down to Big D and the Worth that is Forted to spend some time with Jimmy & the Mosses as well as catch a concert performed by "My Favorite Artist That No One Knows About" of the moment.

I got there around midnight on Thursday night. The concert was on Friday, so I wanted to get down there a bit early so I could be sure and catch it. Of course it rained on the way, because that's one of the Rules of Nature -- that if Josh is driving to the DFW area, it must rain somewhere along the way. Thankfully it wasn't too much. Although it was when I was on 121, which has to be one of the more confusing roads I've ever had the privilege to drive on. I was highly impressed by Jimmy's apartment. It was a LOT cleaner than mine. Apparently he was the first person to ever live there. It was all new and had awesome appliances and what-not. I also got to meet Mortie, his red husky. He was quite hairy, but good fun nonetheless.

Friday, I woke up around eleven, I think. I didn't really want to make any sort of effort to venture out on my own. I was feeling rather lazy and rather unlike dealing with the Dallas suburb traffic. Jimmy came home for lunch and we went to Chipotle. Definitely couldn't finish my brick of a burrito. He went back to work and I went back to napping at the apartment. When he got home, we took Mortie for a walk and then headed off towards the House of Blues in downtown Dallas for the concert. We drove to the nearest train station and boarded the train for a $1.25 ride into the heart of Dallas. (Quite cheap compared to gas prices nowadays). It was pretty neat watching parts of Dallas I had never seen, fly by the windows of the passing train. It definitely reminded me of riding the Tube in London. One time I rode the Circle line the whole way around the city just because. Good times. We got to the House of Blues a bit too early and ended up 1) standing in line for a while and B) standing inside for a while, waiting for the concert to begin. I milked the merchandise table when I first went in. I had quite the internal debate about this going in because I didn't want to carry the stuff around during the whole concert, but also, I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to purchase some spectacular William Fitzsimmons merch. So, I decided the latter was worse than the former, seeing as how there's no telling when I'll be able to catch a WF concert again. Finally, ole William came out. His beard was significantly shorter than I remember it being on his Myspace page. His hair was also significantly longer. We were standing along the front row, which happened to be in front of the speakers, so the concert experience wasn't quite as grand as it could've been had we actually been able to hear him perform in all his glory. The coolest part of the concert though was when William called me out for wearing my Iron & Wine shirt. Said he had the same shirt and that everything he does is copied from them...jokingly. He played 6 or 7 songs, and those alone made the drive to Dallas and the vacation day very much worthwhile. One of the more random moments during the concert was his teaming with Cary Brothers for a cover of "King of Wishful Thinking". Good stuff, although I would've never in a million years guessed that that song would ever be covered by a modern artist, much less an acoustic folk singer. I really only cared to see him perform, so we moved from our places in the front row, hoping he'd come out and hang by the merch table. Stars of Track & Field was alright. They had a few songs that were great, but nothing really too spectacular. Fitz never came out from backstage, so we ended up leaving between the 2nd and 3rd sets. I purchased Cary Brothers' CD in lieu of actually watching him perform. It was alright. I was rather glad we left, because we ended up getting picked up by and hanging out with Jimmy's friend, Mel, who is one of the single coolest girls I've ever met. We went and got coffee at Cafe Brazil and just relaxed in conversation for a couple of hours.

Saturday, I woke up around noon. Jimmy and I went to see Superbad. It was filthy and hilarious and tragic (at the end). Afterwards, we went back to his apartment and I took off for Fort Worth. I stopped for gas at a 7-Eleven and picked up a couple six packs of Buzz Cola (Simpsons reference). I figure I'll sell one to the local comic book guy. He had asked me to pick some up for him. He's been selling the crap in his store for $5 a can. Insane. Anyways, ended up choosing a Venom shirt for the 80's party. I was really stretching there, but I didn't really have any 80's clothing, so that's what I resorted to. The party itself was relaxing. Just hung out and had some Guitar Hero fun with the Moss's & friends. Wish there were single girls there though. :( I'm still mad at the Moss's dog, Piper. The freakin' son of a bitch (literal - no curse) stole my Whattaburger Ranch House burger. I had dropped some onion rings on the floor and was trying to quickly pick them up before the dogs snatched them. In my haste, I had left the fully-wrapped burger on the floor behind me. I picked up the rings just in time and then turn around to see the unwrapped burger in Piper's mouth. He ate the thing in one bite. I was rather angry with him for the rest of the trip. We're usually best buds, but buds don't steal Whattaburger from each other.

Got up Sunday around 10 (astonishingly). Went to a random chicken dinner house in Roanoke, TX called Babe's. While waiting, we went across the street to this tiny shop advertising Dublin Dr. Pepper and Alex and I purchased some. That stuff is great. All coke should be made with pure cane sugar. The chicken dinner was glorious. It was probably the best fried chicken I've ever had. I'm hoping that we can go to their Ribeye steak house sometime. Pretty sure that the waitress was either flirting heavily with me, having fun with me because I was a Babe's rookie, working me for a better tip...or all of the above. She brought out these joke items that they have there. One was a box of baby rattlers (some kind of hissing noise-makers in a "dangerous" box; she was wearing "handling gloves") and the other was their pet Ground Hog (ground meat in a cage). Her manipulative ways of luring me into giving her a better tip worked. As we were leaving the restaurant, we saw a car that could be potentially be "Death Proof"ed. Sometimes I wish I knew more about restoring cars and that sort of thing. After lunch, we went back to the Moss's. I left for my traditional comic book run and came back to find Alex & Livvy had left, Andrew was playing Madden in preparation for our traditional team-up, and Sally & Kiedra were asleep. Moss finished his current game in progress, then we teamed up against Peyton Manning's Colts. We fell behind by 3 touchdowns, but made a tremendous comeback. We could've tied the game with an extra point, but I had to leave as soon as possible, so we went for 2. Unfortunately, we failed...and thus ended our run of spectacular comebacks.

I finally managed to pull out around 6:30. Surprisingly, traffic on the way back wasn't too bad. My first stop was at my traditional Fate, TX Exxon. This particular stop featured cops making an arrest in the parking lot and a waitress asking me if I'd "wear her ring" to which I replied, "I seriously doubt you want to move to Arkansas." About 30 minutes outside of New Boston, TX (one of my traditional stopping points), I started feeling the "Number 1" urge. This, however, suddenly was pushed from the forefront of my mind as I passed a cop who had someone else pulled over. I got over into the lefthand lane and slowed to 70mph. The police car turned its flashing lights off as I passed and then sped out from behind his stopped victim and quickly chased after me, lights flashing. I was not looking forward to this interaction since 1) I was driving a car with out-of-state plates and B) was going 5mph over the nighttime speed limit. I'm always extremely nervous when getting pulled over. As the cop came up to my window, I could've sworn I heard him whistling. He said he had pulled me over because I had a faulty license plate lamp. He asked for my license and insurance. I handed him my license and told him I had proof of insurance in the back if he wanted me to get it. He didn't say anything else about that, but said he'd be back. Before he left, he shined his flashlight in my floorboard at the energy drink cans. He also made casual conversation about where I was coming from, where I was headed, where I worked, and what I did. He took my license back to his car and did his little research & paperwork bit. He just gave me a warning and told me to get the lamp fixed. I quickly (65mph) left him parked on the side of the highway. I stopped in New Boston, bought a couple of energy drinks, the movie Deer Hunter, Led Zeppelin's greatest hits, and a replacement license plate bulbs. I debated attempting to change them, however, it was dark, and I figured the warning and the bulbs themselves would be sufficient effort were I to get pulled over again. My chicken dinner was starting to wear off, so I bought some low fat potato chips, a couple of energy drinks, and some smoked provolone cheese and had a decently meal. Headed on towards my next planned stop in Arkadelphia. Saw tons of college kids (keep in mind this is 1AM) at Walmart and bought some necessities (deodorant, vanilla coke) and moved on to the final leg of my journey, which was quite unadventurous. Overall, the trip was pretty boring, dark, & monotonous, but went by pretty quickly. Thanks to the massive amounts of energetic liquid consumed, there wasn't much fighting fatigue.

I eventually went to sleep around 3AM. This morning I woke up and started feeling like crap. I don't know what the deal is, but I think I may have either food poisoning from the chicken or some kind of stomach virus. I may even have a fever. So, I'm home from work, and had nothing better to do that write a blog that is about 4 times the length it really should be. If you've read to this point, I commend you. Heck, if you've even found this page I commend you. I'm wondering how many people actually have found this transition from the old Xanga page. I doubt many have, and I'm okay with that.

So, anyways, the real moral of this particular blog entry is that you should check out
and make sure you have functioning license plate lamps when driving near New Boston, TX.

Have a good one!

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 100% Spider-Man 65% Robin 62% Green Lantern 60% Supergirl 55% Batman 50% Hulk 50% Wonder Woman 45% Catwoman 45% The Flash 35% Iron Man 35%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Joe Johnson

Welp, knocked another item off the ole "Things I've always wanted to do, but would never in a million years think of off the top of my head" List. Tonight I met NBA superstar, Joe Johnson, of the Atlanta Hawks. I mean, this is a guy who averaged over 20 points a game the last 2 seasons. 25 ppg in his injury-shortened 2006-2007 campaign. That's within 3 points/game of Lebron James' average! One of the 3 people in my group went to high school with Joe. She told me a couple days ago that she was gonna see him tonight and she was gonna get his autograph for me. I went to Target yesterday and bought a new NBA ball and a sharpie. I gave them to her after work today. Around 7:30 she calls me and tells me that if I'm not doing anything, I can come up (to the Dunbar Center) and watch him play. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. Turns out it was in a bad part of town and I was amongst a 1% minority in the room. To be honest, that was a little daunting. He wasn't show-boating or turning on his game near as much as he could have been considering it was just a pick-up game in a city league, but he was still fun to watch. Afterwards, my co-worker and I got my ball & sharpie and she took me up and introduced me to him. I shook his hand and he signed my ball. Then her sister came up and suggested that I take a picture with him. I tried to convince her that it wasn't necessary, but she seemed a bit insistent. I think she just wanted a picture of him ;) Eventually we both posed for a shot. It was really cool seeing all the kids swarm him. I kinda felt like a dork though...being 9 days younger than him and getting him to sign a ball and take a picture. OH well, it was a neat experience.