The Potential Awesomeness of Death By Misadventure

Aaaaaand.... we're back.
Been a somewhat relaxing weekend, taking a break from most things computer and interwebby, and though I probably could have blogged about four times, I thought I'd leave it til today... watched a ton of movies this weekend, both at the theater, on television, on DVR and on DVD/Blu-Ray, so I'll do my best to shoot through that soon enough.

What else have we got to talk about?  Well, for starters, there's the remaining 40 Coolest Things of 2010, and now that it's almost August, meaning the year is about 60% over, I'm running a bit late on that.  I blame Idol.  Typically, the goal is to have all 100 listed in January, but with American Idol coverage, that's 2 to 3 posts per week, and its just exhausting.  And if I miss one single Idol update, I automatically hear from Brad Latta, the Clouds in My Coffee Ombudsman, with great vengeance and furious anger. 

And there is not only one Disney trip to deal with, from February, there is a Disneyland trip!  And a billion people... okay, maybe not a billion, maybe more like six.  Or eight... have asked me "which do you like better, World or Land?" and its a question that definitely deserves an answer.

Of course, Amy Winehouse died.  Is it sad that... well, I don't really care that much.  I guess I should--perhaps apathy is more dangerous than a hatred, but I'm just being honest.  Wasn't a fan of her music, really, and its to no one's surprise that Amy was found dead.  At 27.  Though, and please excuse me if I cross the "too soon" line, but I'm not sure she deserves to be added to the infamous 27 Club, along side Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, Morrison and Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones.   We still remember those names decades later... in fifteen years, I doubt anyone will remember Winehouse with the same kind of reverence... perhaps she'll be listed alongside those other other names that died at 27, like Fat Pat the rapper and Kristen Pfaff from Hole. 

Not to diminish Amy Winehouse's death... its a tragic thing.  And I'm... well, I could say fearful, but that's not the right word... maybe more of "concerned" or "curious" that someone like Lindsay Lohan is headed down the same path. 

By the way, Brian Jones died in 1969 of drowning in a swimming pool.  His coroner's report literally stated, "cause of death by misadventure".  I have no idea if drugs were involved for sure, though the report went on to say that his liver and heart were enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse.  But take the drugs and booze part out, how great would it be to live a full life, then die at 82 with your coroner's report saying, "Death by misadventure"?   Awesome. 

Three potentially awesome ways to die by misadventure... (1) Not securing your lap bar on a coaster, one that flies off the track when coming down the steepest hill... (2) Texting and driving around Talladega Motor Speedway at 188 miles per hour... (3) Simply participating in The Running of the Bulls.

Didn't say any of them were smart.  Just misadventurous.

And as the fall goes on, I guess there will be more and more mentions of Campbell's or Lorelei's impending arrival.  The Lovely Steph Leann is just over 20 weeks, and that constant state of nausea has gone away just to be replaced with a constant state of heartburn.  I feel bad for her, as I sit and watch "A Fistful of Dollars" on The Movie Channel (like I'm doing now). 

Randomly, we sometimes look at each other and I'll say, "Holy crap.  There's going to be a person who calls you mommy and me daddy.  Dear God, how frightening is that?" and she hangs her head in acknowledgement and shame.  I mean, I can barely be responsible for my own self, much less some runt that is depending on me for food and shelter and clothes.  But man, the tax breaks!   When I suggested holding that kid in until January 1st, so I'd be able to get through the holidays without missing work, she said, "No way!  We need it for the tax write off for 2011!"  That's her, always thinking.

Speaking of "A Fistful of Dollars", its been on my DVR for something like, six months.  Its part of the "Dollars Trilogy" from the 60s, which also contains "For A Few Dollars More" and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", all starring Clint Eastwood, and all considered the most popular of the "Spaghetti Westerns"--essentially, westerns made by Italians back in the day, known for their music and style and such... check out the Wiki page on it if you want more.

Anyway, the movie isn't bad.  Don't misunderstand me--its not for everyone... if you don't like westerns, and certainly if you don't like Clint, you won't like this at all. 

That being said, Clint Eastwood is as cool as a cucumber, with his poncho and his low hat and his cheap rolled cigar in his mouth, as he plays "The Stranger", or "The Man With No Name"--he is actually called "Joe" late in the film, in a pay-attention-or-you-will-miss-it moment.  The Stranger rides into San Miguel, this little Mexican border town, and ends up in the middle of a gang war over ownership of the town.  Because he's apparently a capitalist, he actually ends up playing both sides against each other, taking money from each for various reasons and tasks.  Of course, the good guy in The Stranger ends up taking over for the greedy guy in The Stranger, and a pretty intense duel happens between he and the bad guys. 

What sets this movie apart from most of those 60s westerns is the music, which is full of flutes and violins and catchy riffs, the style, which is everything from the color to the scenery to the script, and the story itself... the bad guys are only bad because they don't like each other, while the good guy isn't all that great... 

This isn't a film I'll watch over and over, or maybe not even again, and I don't know that I would consider this in my Top 500 films of all time--and yes, that list does exist--but I'm glad I watched it.  Its enough to make me check out the next two in the trilogy.

Boy, that post went everywhere, didn't it?

The Summer of Blogging Day Forty Four

The Ballad of HomeSlice (the story of Steph's stalker)

The following events happend last weekend, as they are written, with very few embellishments.  Some stuff you can't make up.

FRIDAY NIGHT

So, The Lovely Steph Leann and I are having dinner downtown, right?  We were sitting with MZ and her family having some food at Chris Z's... its this restaurant down by St. Vincent's, and was recently voted to have the best burgers in the city by Birmingham Metro Magazine.  And the Chris in Chris Z is the hubby of the Melanie in the MZ.  And the burgers are outstanding.

First Friday of every month is Middle Eastern night, where you can get fish and kibbie and hummus and all kinds of other stuff that I usually don't eat much of.   

Anyway, we are sitting at the table, about to enjoy our food, when The Lovely Steph Leann's phone rings.  She answers, has a confused look on her face, then hangs up.  Apparently, whoever they wanted wasn't The Lovely Steph Leann, and she couldn't hear them.  Rings again, she tries to listen, and I hear her say, "I think you have the wrong number," and she hangs up.

The phone rang again, so she gets up and takes it outside.  A minute or two later, she comes back to the table with a weird look on her face.  I ask her who it was, and she just shakes her head like she doesn't know.  She tells me it was a little weird.  The phone rings again, and she picks it up and shows it to me.  The screen says, "PRIVATE NUMBER."

The Lovely Steph Leann hands me the phone and asks me to please talk to whoever it is.  I take it and flip it open and say, "Hello?"  There is a gruff voice on the other end, probably ethnic (for all you libs, that's my politically incorrect way of saying though I cannot be sure, I'm strongly believing the guy was black based on his speech patterns, tones and voice influction) who says, "Yeah, I wanna speak to Stephanie."

I reply, "Well, she's not available right now.  Can I ask who this is?"
Suddenly, the voice on the other end begins to yell at me, using foul language and such, calling me a few names, and tell me I'm not her G-D answering machine.  I ask again who this might be, and again, I get called a few choice names and such.  I hang up.

MZ is looking at me funny, The Lovely Steph Leann is shrugging to me "I dunno..." and I just put the phone down.  The phone rings again, so I grab it and walk outside.  I answer with a "Hello?" and again, HomeSlice on the other end asks me for Stephanie, not calling her Lovely nor using "Leann".  Or "The" for that matter.  I ask "Stephanie who?", hoping against hope that perhaps he's looking for a Stephanie Jackson or a Stephanie Wayans or a Stephanie Winan... but no, he asks for her by full name.  I'm a little concerned by this turn of events in the conversation.

I hang up and immediately call AT&T, our service provider.  I get someone on the phone soon, and ask about how to block a call, or how to unmask a private number.  I am told that if the number itself is private, they cannot block it.  And they are not able to unmask it, and I'd have to go to a third party to do so.  I ask if they can recommend a third party that would be reputable, and she suggests "TrapCall".

In the meantime, HomeSlice has called The Lovely Steph Leann's phone two more times.  I go back inside and sit down, asking The Lovely Steph Leann to send it to voicemail if HomeSlice called again.  He does and she sends it on to voicemail.  And that's it for the night.

SATURDAY

The next day, I've got my first Saturday at home since like, late April or early May, and The Lovely Steph Leann and I head to a double feature... being avid movie goers, we were interested in "The Social Network" and "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", so we got tickets for both, and had a good ol' time being together for the day.  It was the first full Saturday I had off, and was able to spend at home (and by "Home", I mean just around here, not out of town somewhere) and frankly, I really enjoyed it.

We arrived home late afternoon, and I plopped in my customary recliner, turned on the 47" Big Screen Television, and then turned on what I knew would be the debacle of a football game, aka, Florida at Alabama.  The Lovely Steph Leann was unloading her purse, and she glanced at her phone.  She looked up at me, held up her phone, frowned and said, "Another one."

"What?" I asked, incredulously.  "HomeSlice called you again?"
"Yep."
"Did he just call?"
"Well..." she said slowly, "...they... they actually called twice in the movies and again a few minutes ago."
"Were you not going to tell me this?"
"I..." she stammered, "I... was going to tell you..."
"Alright, we are getting online, and we are going to block this call, and we are going to find out who this cat is."

I logged onto the website recommended by the spokeschick from AT&T, and looked around.  TrapCall is a site that will allow you, for $4.95, to hook up with a system to "unmask"--that is, find out who private numbers are--and then you can turn around and block that number from calling you.  According to the website, they call once, you send them to voice mail.  They call twice, their number shows up on your phone as "unmasked". 

Log on, block their number and if and when they call back, they get a message that your number has been disconnected.  I entered the information, did what I needed to do, sat back and though I didn't want HomeSlice to call again, I kinda wanted HomeSlice to call again, so I could learn the identity of a one Mr. Slice.

Not that I would know what to do if I did learn any numbers or names, but at least I'd know if my $4.95 investment paid off.

SUNDAY

Sleepy
Sleepy
Sleepysleepysleepysleepy (noise) sleepysleepysleepy (what's that noise?) sleepy sleep sleep drowsy drowsy (why is that noise noisy?) drowsy drowsy waking waking waking wake awake

"Wha..." I mumbled, eyes half open, arm hanging off the side of the bed.
"hmphpaahhaaaa..." came the voice of The Sleepy Steph Leann a foot or so away from me. 

The clock said 5:29am, and since my clock is ten minutes fast (yes, I'm one of those people), its five twenty o'clock in the blessed blue morning.  I sense movement, sluggish and slow, but movement nonethless.  The Groggy Steph Leann reaches for her phone, which is going off. 

I am only slightly aware of it when the phone rings again, but become more alert as The Drowsy Steph Leann says, "Its our friend..."  I lay there wondering who in the world would call at 5am.  Is this a running joke?  Is it some get-high weekend where you have to prank call pasty white chicks a dozen times with tales of lurid fantasies and delusions of grandeur?  Would this guy even know what "granduer" meant?  Probably not.

Either way, I was slightly worried.  A little while went by before I could fall asleep again, and it felt all too soon when the alarm went off at 730.  The Lovely Steph Leann was already up and moving around--I had KidStuff at 830, and she was coming along.  She went to the bathroom to get into the shower, and I reached over for the iPhone.

I pulled up TrapCall on the mobile interweb and saw one name and number...

ANDREA WEATHERS (205) 567-0471

I pulled up the Blocked Number tag and set it up.

SUNDAY NIGHT

One of our baristas and his boo are having a baby.

So, Sunday night The Lovely Steph Leann and I are sitting in the home of MZ and her family, having some good laughs, eating some good food and just having those party, baby shower type conversations that you have at parties and baby showers. 

The Lovely Steph Leann's phone rings.  She reaches down amongst all the loud chatter, looks at it, frowns and hands it to me.  "PRIVATE NUMBER."  I just snatch it out of her hand, walk out of the room and answer it.

"Hello?"
"Yeah, I need to talk to Stephanay..."
"She is unavailable.  Can I ask who is calling?"
"Naw, I need me some Stephanay..."

When I ask again who it is, he says his name is "Dang-a-lang".  He asks who I am.  I let him know that he's talking to "Stephanay's" husband, to which he says, "Aw, you the one she be callin' when she done with me..."

Then he proceeds to fill in the next minute or so with a Cinemax'esque type description of how he and my own wife spend their time together.  I say Cinemax, but at least Cinemax has the decency to pipe in Herman Beeftink music while the goings-on are going on. 

Rather than the belligerent tone that HomeSlice had carried in earlier conversations, he was actually rather pleasant... well, his voice was, discounting the vulgarity of every word.  Out of nowhere, there was a female voice in the background.

"Hey, HomeSlice... is that Andrea in the background?  Andrea Weathers?"  I asked politely.
"Uh..." for the first time, he stammered a bit, seemingly a bit off guard. "Is that... Andrea?  Uh... naw, that ain't no Andrea..."
"And is this (205) 567-0741 you are calling from?"
"Um, naw, this is... this is a pre-payin' phone..." HomeSlice said. 
"Tell you what, HomeSlice, since you obviously think that Stephanie and yourself have some sort of relationship, then she probably has your phone number.  Which means, if she likes you, and wants to, she'll call you, okay?"
"Uh..."
"Give Andrea my best.  Have a great evening, HomeSlice."

I hung up, a little worried and nervous.  I mean, seriously, this guy knows The Lovely Steph Leann's full name, and hopefully that's all--but what else might he know?  I hopped on the iPhone and texted my buddy Moderate Brad, the Official Clouds in My Coffee Ombudsman.  We chatted for a few minutes about legalities, what is considered harassement, and what can be done.

And if it happens again, we'll deal with it.

Five days later, it hasn't happened.  And I figured I would write about it, as the more time passes, it becomes more humorous than anything. 

So, HomeSlice, if you are out there, please don't call again.  And Andrea Weathers, phone number 205-567-0474, please tell your brother/father/son/cousin/baby daddy/etc to not call.  Thanks.

...And Lee is None DeWyzer (Idol IX Finale 2)

So here's last night's recap show...

And here we are.  Seven hours of fluff to give us 12 seconds of news.  Rock on.

THIS IS THE AMERICAN

IDOL

FINALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Sez Amarylis By Morning (up from san antone):  American Idol 10 (its Season 9-d$) is the biggest snoozer since Jordan Sparks won it. There is zero anticipation for me.

8p... Yes, this show started at 7pm tonight, and yes, its 8pm, and we just started.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I decided on dinner first, and we headed to The Purple Onion over here on 280.  The owner of our favorite location on Hwy 31 is apparently owning this one too, because he was sitting there in the cafe.  And it was awesome.  I love me some Purp'O, and I'm happy a great location has opened up less than 3 miles from The Cabana, instead of the 10+ mile trek we have to usually make.

The judges are introduced, and The Lovely Steph Leann's first question:  "What in the bejeebers is Randy Jackson wearing??"

8:04p... The finalists come down the steps, and we both notice that Lee and Crystal are all wearing Preparatory Outfits.  We are confused, until the Top 12 are introduced and I realize they are doing "School's Out" by Alice Cooper.  Glee this ain't.

About to fast forward through the group song when I notice none other than Alice Cooper himself, Christ Follower (no, seriously) and staunch Republican, come out.

Fast Forward through Commercials

8:08p... About to fast forward through Kris Allen and The Lovely Steph Leann tells me to put down the remote as he is about to sing his new single, "The Truth".  As Seacrest sends it to Kris, and Kris begins, we still hear Seacrest and some backstage chick talking.  Really, Fox?  Your the biggest show in the country for what, 7 years running?  Get this right.

8:11p... A montage of Simon Cowell clips, as this is his final Idol.  Many of these audition clips I actually remember.  A great appearance of Paula the Flake... I miss Paula. 

8:13p... Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly.  Doing us the Bee Gees. 

8:13p... The Lovely Steph Leann tells me I can fast forward, but I'm intrigued by the fact that Siobhan and Aaron are singing "How Deep Is Your Love"... and then , the curtain rises, and out comes Barry Gibb, and another guy I can only assume is another Gee.   The last time Barry Gibb was on this show was really, really bad... a few seasons back, they did Bee Gees week, and Barry performed "To Love Somebody", and it was so bad, so terribly bad, that years later, I still randomly break out with a "there's a.light.  some kinda light." in mockery--and it still sounds better than that night.

8:16p... Barry Gibb sounds marginally better

8:16p... The camera pans to David Hasselhoff in the audience.  The Lovely Steph Leann pipes up, "There's The Hoff!  He's in every one of these finales!  The camera just finds him!"

Fast Forward through Commercials

8:18p... Big Mike comes out, singing a song that I cannot place... I don't know the lyrics, but I know the music... what is it... what is it....

8:19p... "Takin' It to the Streets"!  And here comes Michael McDonald!  The Lovely Steph Leann says, "I still have a hard time realizing this guy is white..."

8:20p... Michael McDonald is awesome.  "Sweet Freedom" from the '86 Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines piece of crap "Running Scared" was awesome.  "Keep Forgettin'" was awesome.  His lead on "What a Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers.  Awesome. 

8:22p... I have a hard time disliking Dane Cook.  I only say that because he's now onstage singing a comedic song dedicated to Simon.  Most people I know aren't Dane Cook fans, and certainly, if you've ever seen "Good Luck Chuck", you'll know why.  However, his movie "Employee of the Month", as terrible as it is, I'll watch it everytime its on, and laugh all the same.  Anyway, this Dane Cook bit tonight?  Pretty crappy.

Fast forward through commercials

8:25p... Lacey Brown singing Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful".  In the first five notes, we are reminded why she was kicked out in Week 12.  We fast forward through, til we see Xtina herself appear, leading the group in "Stronger"

8:26p... Christina Aguilera sings a new song.  We fast forward.

8:27p... Ricky Gervais appears via satellite to say goodbye to Simon the Cowell. 

Fast Forward through Commercials

8:29p... Lee DeWyze is on stage to sing Hall & Oates "I Can't Go For That (no can do)", which sounds really, really good.  It sounded great til Andrew Garcia joined him.  Casey James then leads us to "Maneater".  Now I'm wondering if Hall & Oates will make an appearance.  That would rule.

8:30p... Aaron Kelly singing this song is funny, because you know he has no concept of what this song even is, and who the artists are.  And he wouldn't even get the joke 'Ah, its Jeffrey Dahmer's theme song'. 

8:31p... HALL AND OATES!!!!!  I just told The Lovely Steph Leann that if they came anywhere near here, I'd totally go see them.  And they start singing "You Make My Dreams Come True".  About three lines in, The Lovely Steph Leann pipes up and says, "Dude.  Darryl Hall.  You are obviously too old for this."

8:32p... Law #8,878 I'm forcing through when I become president in 2028... John Oates is required to sport his 80s 'stache at all times.  At all times.  Shaving it is a punishable fine of $100,000 and/or up to ten years in maximum security prison.  Just sayin'.

8:34p... Crystal Bowersox comes out and sings "Ironic".   And then, as now expected, Alanis Morrisette herself comes out, starting out with "You Oughta Know".  How can I fast forward through this darn show when I actually want to watch the performances!?   Crystal changes a key line in the song, "Would she go down with you to the theater".  You know your old when you see that line, and immediately know what the original line is.  Hey, "Jagged Little Pill" was a college icon album for me, one of those "what CDs would you take with you to a deserted island" kind of albums.  Even The Lovely Steph Leann likes this CD, which is saying something, because a rocker chick she ain't.

8:36p... Alanis/Crystal duet.  AWESOME.  The Lovely Steph Leann is even singing along to "You Oughta Know".

Fast Forward through Commercials

8:42p... The Lovely Steph Leann and I have this quick, spirited discussion about whether "Jagged Little Pill" was a rock album or not.  I say yes, she says it was more alternative, to which I say, "Yes, alt rock."  I'm right.  Again

8:42p... Carrie Underwood comes out.  She's singing "Undo", a song I'm not a huge fan of.  I like Carrie, though, because she really shows how appreciative of Idol--she comes back all the time, and shows her gratitude frequently.  Unlike Kelly Clarkson, who seems like she wants to forget Idol is the reason she has a career.

8:44p... Typing that last paragraph, almost missed fast forwarding through the Ford Commercial.  Made it, though!

8:45p... Casey James introduced singing "Every Rose Has its Thorn", which makes me throw my hands up, saying "Bret Michaels is coming out!  Yeah!!"  How can you not like this guy, and this song?  Seriously.

8:47p... Okay, so Bret Michaels is having the best year ever.  I mean, "Rock of Love", "Rock of Love 2", "Skank of Love", "Rock of Love Bus", "Venereal Disease of Love 5" and all those shows, while it make him a punchline of sorts, made him relevant again.  And then, with the Celebrity Apprentice having such a great season this year (and it was awesome) and him doing so well, plus his medical issues--don't get me wrong, I don't wish ill on him at all, but everyone has felt for him, and learned to love him... he can do just about anything right now.

8:50p... Lee DeWyze is out now, joining the band Chicago for a medley of hits.  If I were to even think about fast forwarding, The Lovely Steph Leann would be on the phone with Brad J. Latta, Atty at Law, discussing divorce.  She loves loves loves her some Chicago.  Even the old crap. 

8:52p... Reality hits bigtime, as they start "If You Leave Me Now", and I say, "They sound unfortunate".  The Lovely Steph Leann pipes up, "Yeah, they sound a little like Hall & Oates.  Maybe Lee should sing the whole time..."

8:54p... Another Simon montage.  Then Seacrest says the magic words... "Pants On The Ground".  The Lovely Steph Leann pipes up, "Ohmigosh... they are actually doing this song on the stage?  Oh dear..."  They bring out the barely alive Bee Gees, then redeem themselves with Alanis, then a little off-key Hall & Oates, which I still love, and then they go all awesome with Michael McDonald and Bret Michaels.  And now?  The Pants guy... and William Hung.  No joke.

Fast Forward through Commercials

8:59p... Remember, we started this at 8pm, and we've got 30 minutes left to get through.  Another Simon montage... and here's Paula the Flake herself, looking absolutely gorgeous for the first time since, I dunno, 1994 and the "Rush Rush" video...

9:02... And now that she's talking, and I remember why I call her "Paula the Flake".  I'd like to think she's stumbling and bumbling because she's not reading from a prompter, but I can almost guarentee that she IS reading from a prompter... and she still sounds like this. 

9:05p... So, I guess the producers said, "Hey, Lee and Crystal can sing... but they have no personality... lucky for us we can concentrate on Simon's leaving and make the finale about that!   Hey, someone call Shady Oakes Retirement Village in Irvine and see if Barry Gibbs and John Oates and that singer from Chicago are available next week!"

9:07p... Here comes Kelly Clarkson!  And then Ruuuuuuben!  And Fantasia!  And then Carrie!  And then Taylor!  And now Jordin!  And now Kris!   Where's David Cook?? 

9:08p... They are doing a song that's something about "look what we've become..." or something.  I'm happy to see Kelly Clarkson here, though she looks like "I really don't want to do this..."  Anyway, the Idol winners are dressed in black, and out walks, in white, a ton of former Idol standouts, like Blake Lewis, David Archuleta, Ace Young, Mikaylah Gordon (okay, I said standout, but I guess anyone can come), Jason Castro, and.... PICKLES!!!  I love Pickles.

9:11p.... "Hey, fellow producer, let's remind America that this show CAN be great!  Let's get a whole bunch of former Idols up there to remind America what we've done!" 

9:12p... Simon gets up, says a few words, and gets misty eyed

Fast forward through commercials

9:13p... The Top 12 start out with "Again" by Janet Jackson, a lovely little ditty that I have on cassette singles.  And of course, here comes Janet... I do love this song.  My favorite Janet songs, starting with 5, is "Escapade"... 4) "Again"... 3) "The Best Things in Life Are Free", a duet with the late, great Luther Vandross from The Dave100 movie "Mo' Money"... 2) "Miss You Much"... and my favorite Janet song is "Love Will Never Do (without you)".  I love that tune.

9:15p... As Janet Jackson sings solo, we have this exchange:
Me: Ya know, she sounds a lot like Michael did towards his end there
The Lovely Steph Leann:  That's exactly what I was thinking!!!  I almost wonder if maybe she was doing his singing...

9:17p... I fast forward for just about 4 seconds before I stop it, realizing she's going to another song... and when I realize its "Nasty", I just set the remote down.  That's right.  Don't call me baby.  Its Janet, Jackson, if you're nasty.

9:20p... Seacrest:  Tonight... its about Lee and Crystal
Me:  No, no its not.  Its about Simon
The Lovely Steph Leann:  Lee who?  Who's Crystal?

9:22p... Lee and Crystal come out together to sing "A Little Help from My Friends", as made famous by The Beatles, but popularized by Joe Cocker on my #2 favorite tv show of all time, "The Wonder Years", recently supplanted from the top spot by "LOST".  And on cue, Joe Cocker comes out to sing a little.  And I think he just missed a line.  But man, he can still wail, even at the ripe old age of 104.

9:25p... After a brief debate on The Beatles version vs Joe Cocker's version, I go to the source.  Wikipedia.  Lennon and McCartney did it in 1967, but Cocker did a radically different version in '68, one that he performed at Woodstock, and it went on to be the version used by "The Wonder Years". 

Fast forward through commercials

Its 9:25p.  There is about 6 minutes left recorded on the show.  We are now concerned that we will miss the winner, unless Seacrest gets to it.

Its 9:27p... Dim the lights!  After the nationwide vote... the winner and new American Idol is...

...is...

...is...

...Lee DeWyze.

Okay, so there's that.

Lee is emotional, and its kinda sweet to see him almost speechless.  They pan to the judges and Simon looks bored, like he knows the wrong person won (and really... after last night, Crystal should have won this)  The Lovely Steph Leann says, "He should be bored and ready to leave.  Lee shouldn't have won... that should have been Crystal."

The Lovely Steph Leann is not upset at Lee's win because she doesn't think he's good enough, she's upset at Lee's win because "We needed a female to win.  Suck it." 

And what a fitting phrase to end a disappointing season of Idol.  Suck it.  Well said, The Lovely Steph Leann, well said.

The 100 Coolest Things of 2009... 40 thru 31

Welcome back!  We are slowly but surely making our way through the Coolest 100 Things of 2009... let's continue with #s 40 to 31...

The 40th Coolest Thing of 2009... "Sweet Thing" by Keith Urban
"When I picked you up for our first date baby, well your pretty blue eyes they were driving me crazy, and that tiny little thought they were so amazing they were looking at me.."



The above video is taken from a AOL Live Session... who even uses AOL anymore?  Anyway, its a great song... got a fever pitch, fast paced, and its the first single from Keith Urban's 5th album, "Defying Gravity".  The lyrics discuss "kissing on the porch swing" and having his woman "exit through the bedroom window while the whole world's sleeping"... of course, according to his Wiki, the lyrics were inspired by Urban's relationship with his Ford Mustang.   But hey, this is the 2000s... who are we to tell him who to love? 

The 39th Coolest Thing of 2009... "Taken"
What do you get when you put the smokin' hotness of Famke Janssen together with the good-lookedness of Maggie Grace, then pour in a heapin' helpin' of Liam Neeson as a bad mofo father who is hellbent on getting his daughter back, no matter what?

You get "Taken".  Liam Neeson plays Ben, a divorced guy who is just trying to get along with his daughter, and his ex-wife, and is forced to allow his daughter to go overseas.  When he gets a disturbing phone call from his daughter, who is then kidnapped, he becomes a Super Pimpdaddy and goes nuts on everyone to get her back.  Its one of those kind of "I hope that I would do as much for Lorelei Addison as he does for his kid" kind of films. 



"I don't know who you are.  I don't know what you want.  If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money.  But what I do have is a very particular set of skills... skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."   YEAH!!!

The 38th Coolest Thing of 2009... "John Adams"
From June 5th of last year... ...I wanted to talk about "John Adams", the HBO Mini-series that The Lovely Steph Leann and I have been watching. We finished part 2 of 7, and already, its magnificent. Its just a wonderful piece of film thusfar, with Paul Giamatti as the title character doing a great job. It might just stolen out from under him, though, with Tom Wilkinson as Benjamin Franklin, who is hilarious and perfect at the same time. The big surprise? How much I love the character of Abigail Adams. I already dig on Laura Linney anyway, one of my favorite actresses, but her take on the strained and sacrificial wife of John Adams is nearly flawless.

Anyway, to follow up, we did finish it.  And it was amazing, from start to finish.  The miniseries is in 7 parts, and it takes you through the early days of Adams' political career, through his presidency and battles with fellow patriots, and through the end of his life.  Laura Linney is amazing, Paul Giamatti is solid and even the bit players, like That Guy David Morse as General, then President, Washington, are great.

Even though it is a Hollywood production (from HBO), its pretty much unbiased in its telling of the American founding and its founders.  Its remarkable to watch a group of men so passionate about what they believe to be right, so willing to give up everything they have for a country to be free of tyranny and rule from a land far away... and its important to remember that not everyone was for succession.  Not everyone wanted to be free--many people wanted to stay right where they were, under rule, as it was comfortable and predictable. 

I'll stop before I get on a rant, but here's some recommended reading from Rush Limbaugh Jr, the father of the talk show host.  Its called "Americans Who Risked Everything."  Yes we can!

The 37th Coolest Thing of 2009... The Video for "Fallin' For You" by Colbie Caillet
Here's what I wrote on October 29th, in a post called "Music and Magic"... 
Here's what I love about this video... its just fun. And sweet. And nice. She's pretty, he's a nerd, yet she totally digs him. Its like The Lovely Steph Leann falling for me all over again, only without the surfing and the trailer. And the ending of the video is just precious. Yep, I said precious



My 20th favorite video of the first decade of the century, and the 37th coolest thing of all last year.

The 36th Coolest Thing of 2009... Debating Brad Latta
Everyone needs an antithesis.  I'm not sure that Brad is mine, cause I am not really sure what my antithesis would even be, but perhaps he'll fit.

I believe what I believe, and I know why I believe it, but the good (and bad) thing about my friend Brad is he asks--nay, demands--that you know why you believe it.  "Gut feeling" doesn't work with this guy... being the lawyer that he is, he asks you give the facts.  Be it sources, facts, data, stats or whatever. 

Though we are mainly on the same page about most things, we do differ in many ways, and sometimes our late night Gmail or Facebook chats/debates/wars can be heated... probably the biggest battle was recently, when our Congress passed the healthcare bill, and He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected signed off on it (not that He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected actually knew what was in the bill... nor most of our other Congressmen, one of which stated that they didn't have time to read any of it... but another discussion for another day).

But at the end of the day, I think we both have a mutual respect for each other, he for my passion on what I believe, me for his challenging me (and others) to have a reason to believe it.   He thinks he's right and I'm wrong, I know I'm right and he's wrong, and we'll continue our banter up until and past the November election.  My hats off to you, Brad. 

The 35th Coolest Thing of 2009... This Picture
Taken at our few days in Walt Disney World, here's a snapshot of Amy McL, Tommy Mac, The Good Rev'rn Ty Sharpton Coffey and Yours Truly...

This picture cracks me up every single time I look at it.

The 34th Coolest Thing of 2009... "Star Trek"
From the Clouds review on May 7th, 2009:

I loved this movie. I loved how it started, I loved the story, I loved the effects, I loved how it ended, I just thought this flick was absolutely worth the wait and just awesome. I really enjoyed how JJ Abrams didn't take the movie soooo seriously... there are a lot of Trek fans out there, so he had to walk a fine line between telling a story that people who aren't necessarily Trekkies will enjoy and want to see, and not angering or upsetting those very Trekkies who, despite the fact some of them have never kissed a girl (by the way, I looked for that Shatner SNL skit, and couldn't find it anywhere...), have basically kept the franchise alive for forty years.

Abrams does a great job at walking that line... I think anyone who isn't familiar with Star Trek will just enjoy a good science fiction story, and anyone who knows the story will recognize some of the little salutes to the original that have found its way into the film. The officer who goes with Sulu and Kirk down to the alien planet--you know he's not coming back. We know this because we've seen the show. Bones yelling, "Dammit, I'm a doctor!" and Scotty yelling, "We're giving it all she's got cap-pin!" were lines that I cracked up on, as did many other people in the theater. Even the Kobayashi Maru training scene is a throwback to the original cast, and there's a slight shout-out to the interracial barrier broken by the original series (when Kirk and Uhura kissed on television. Gasp.)

Anyway, I can highly recommend this film to anyone who's ever had a remote interest in Star Trek, be it the Original Series, or the Next Generation, or Deep Space Nine or Voyager or Enterprise or Tribbletown or Space Babylon or Battleship Starlactica or whatever they've called the 87 spin off shoes... for any die-hard Trekkies, loosen up a little. JJ Abrams made his film in love. Its great.

The 33rd Coolest Thing of 2009... PTI

Most mornings, I shower with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornhieser.  Okay, not actually with Wilbon and TK, but I download the podcast every day, and on mornings when The Lovely Steph Leann is not around when its showertime, ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" is on my iPod.

Its an irreverent sports talk show that has two hosts--usually Wilbon and TK, but sometimes sportswriters Dan LeBatard or Bob Ryan or a few others jumps in to substitute.  Usually they go through the big sports topics of the day, including doing various segments with titles like "Oddsmakers" and "Email" and "Role Play" (which cracks me up).  Its remarkable, though... I've never actually seen a full episode of the show.  I actually try not to watch it when its on TV, because I know I'll be listening to it on the iPod the next day. 

The 32nd Coolest Thing of 2009... "Avatar"
I did my Clouds review on January 4th, 2010, but I did see the movie in 2009... and here's a summary of that review:

"Avatar" was the absolute best use of 3-D I've ever seen in my complete, whole, entire life. The spectacle, the color and the use of 3-D was marvelous, the depth of the picture was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The movie simply comes alive as the picture goes on, and while you forget you are even watching it in 3-D, somehow you know it wouldn't be the same in 2-D.

The story was average. I mean, it was a good story, it wasn't boring, a few people died that you didn't expect to die, but you kinda knew how the ending would end. The acting is average, no one really jumps out, though I will admit that both Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana do a stellar job all dressed in the blue of the Na'vi.

By and large, "Avatar" is a magnificent film, if only for what your eyes will feast upon in every second. And to see it, do it justice and see it in 3-D. Don't wait for the dollar theater or do the "I'll see it on DVD" or catch a 2D show... this is a movie you just simply need to see in 3-D to understand. And to fully appreciate.

And now that its been a few months since I've seen it, I look forward to seeing it again, to see if I still feel the same about it.  It lost the big prize at the Academy Awards to "The Hurt Locker", and I'm curious to see, after all the hype and the fact that its now the biggest movie in American film history, does it still hold up? 

The 31st Coolest Thing of 2009... Ruminations
There was an email that went around that caught everyone's attention, and made me laugh so hard, I posted it in September.  It had hilarious little bites like "I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die." and "Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do in fact know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?"

Well, Krista, fellow coffee drinker, informed me that the site belonged to comedian Aaron Karo, and the site was called "Ruminations".  And its awesome.  Its now a site I check three or four times a week, sometimes daily, depending on how busy I am.   Saying then, "I will tell you that the site itself is not a bad site... it does have some Not Emmy Turnbow Safe language, but its very rarely anything than just worldy conversation, nothing dirty. Now, I could tell you to go on over to that site and have fun reading, and you might do that, but let's be real... I want you to stay here. Heck, I'm about half-a-thousand away from 30K, so I'd like to keep you on this very site..."  Proud to say I'm about two half-a-thousands away from 40K now, so there!

Anyway, to end this, I'd like to give you some recent ruminations, including some I wrote (and were published):

**Only two things become important when stuck in traffic: a full tank and an empty bladder.

**Getting into a heated political debate with a casual acquaintance on Facebook is a great way to make things really awkward the next time you actually see each other

**When I drop my food, it isn't about how many seconds it was on the ground. It's about who's around me to see me pick it up and eat it.

**Hey customer service call center... at what point does your "higher call volume than normal" actually become normal enough that you will hire more people and not make me wait 40 minutes to talk to you?

**The fact that the recommendations for me in the my iTunes store include Debbie Gibson, the cast of High School Musical AND Nirvana makes me wonder who I even am anymore

**I'll go to great lengths to scavenge other devices for batteries, long before I'll even consider going out to actually buy new ones.

**How do I not know you, if we have more than 100 friends in common on facebook?

**A college diploma is just a big fancy receipt

**Maybe I need to set my alarm clock to go off before I go to bed and shut it off. This seems to be the only way I can fall fast asleep

**Some songs are impossible to describe over the Internet. Like that one that goes ooohh oh oooohhooh ooohh oh oooohhhooo ouoo

Alright... 30 to go before the Coolest Thing of 2009 is announced.  If I'm lucky, I'll get to that before I give you the 100th coolest thing of 2010....  coming up... The Tucks... MZ & Starbucks... and later, a Barnett meal that sucks.  Went with the rhyme scheme.

September 11th, 2001 As It Happened

Facebook users... this post is heavy on video, which you will not see if you are viewing this in Facebook. Please click over to http://broadwaydave.blogspot.com to see the entire blogpost.

To see previous thoughts, essays and recommended September 11th material, click here (or scroll down a few posts)

And friends of the blog and/or mine--The Official Clouds In My Coffee Ombudsman Brad Latta, Erin the Marine Wife and Kris "Buble" Dekker--gave me their thoughts and experiences on 9/11, so scroll to the next post, or click here, to read those. My intent was to inter-sparse their writings with what I was doing here on this column, but it didn't flow well, and I didn't want to edit what they had to say, so I made them their own post.

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Alright, after a week or so of trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do with today's post, because I knew I wanted to do something for today (September 11th) and the 8th anniversary of the attacks, I thought the best thing to do was just... well, go through the morning. I hate using the phrase "the best thing to do" because really, its not pleasant. Its not comfortable. It's really not fun. But its is important.

I'm steering clear of any political rhetoric (and I ask you do the same) and I'm hoping you don't find this particular blog as an exploitative veering towards such a thing--its not intended to be. Its just intending to give you--and me--a reminder of what happened that morning, as it happened.

None of the videos that have been posted are set to music, or have encouraging and faith filled songs in the background--I've disabled the music playlist (you're welcome, Lily) and only put Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" on the list itself--you'll have to scroll down and click to hear it. Why? Because I like that song, that's why.

Don't worry, I'm not becoming all serious and such--on Monday, the regular Clouds banner will return, and I'll probably have a Billy Ocean/Billie Jean/Corey Squared-less playlist to post (sorry, Lily) but for the weekend, this is my nod and paid respects to everything that happened.

Some of the video you'll see is hard to watch, so use your best judgement. Also, just a note, all times mentioned are Eastern times, and much of the text is taken from CNN's timeline.

Tuesday September 11th.

8:45am...


9:03 a.m.:

The video at the 6:29 mark is incomprehensible and will give you goosebumps. Next, at the 6:51 mark. Jean Cochran is speaking for NPR in a typical NPR monotone, unemotional voice. When the second plane hits, she screams and suddenly becomes filled with the emotional we all shared at that very second.

Also, this very moment is the moment when four words come to mind... "This is no accident"

9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.

9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.

Sometime during the morning


9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.

9:43 a.m.:


9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

10:05 a.m.:

Peter Jennings asks, “We now have… what do we have?” He has to ask several times about whats going on, even though the reporter is speaking very plainly... Jennings, like us, cannot even fathom the idea that the entire building... just came down.


A view from the street

10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.

10:10 a.m.:


10:10 a.m.:



10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs.

10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank.

10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m.:


10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.

10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.

10.48 a.m.:


10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, are postponed.

10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed.

11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.

11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175.

12:04 p.m.: Los Angeles International Airport, the destination of three of the crashed airplanes, is evacuated.

12:15 p.m: San Francisco International Airport is evacuated and shut down. The airport was the destination of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.

12:30 p.m.: The FAA says 50 flights are in U.S. airspace, but none are reporting any problems.

1:04 p.m.: Bush, speaking from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, says that all appropriate security measures are being taken, including putting the U.S. military on high alert worldwide. He asks for prayers for those killed or wounded in the attacks and says, "Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."

1:27 p.m.: A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington.

1:44 p.m.: The Pentagon says five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack and to reduce the number of ships in port. The two carriers, the USS George Washington and the USS John F. Kennedy, are headed for the New York coast. The other ships headed to sea are frigates and guided missile destroyers capable of shooting down aircraft.

1:48 p.m.: Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base aboard Air Force One and flies to an Air Force base in Nebraska.

2:30 p.m.: The FAA announces there will be no U.S. commercial air traffic until noon EDT Wednesday at the earliest.

2:49 p.m.: At a news conference, Giuliani says that subway and bus service are partially restored in New York City. Asked about the number of people killed, Giuliani says, "I don't think we want to speculate about that -- more than any of us can bear."

4:10 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex is reported on fire.

5:20 p.m.:


7:02 p.m.: CNN's Paula Zahn reports the Marriott Hotel near the World Trade Center is on the verge of collapse and says some New York bridges are now open to outbound traffic.

7:45 p.m.: The New York Police Department says that at least 78 officers are missing. The city also says that as many as half of the first 400 firefighters on the scene were killed.

8:30 p.m.: President Bush addresses the nation, saying "thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil" and asks for prayers for the families and friends of Tuesday's victims. "These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve," he says. The president says the U.S. government will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed the acts and those who harbor them. He adds that government offices in Washington are reopening for essential personnel Tuesday night and for all workers Wednesday.

9:22 p.m.: CNN's McIntyre reports the fire at the Pentagon is still burning and is considered contained but not under control.

Thank you for indulging me. And here's how I want to end:

9/17/01


And part 2


Opening photo: "End of serenity." A plume of smoke rises from the crash site of United Air Flight 93 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Photo credit: Al Pacelli, presented by The September 11 Digital Archive.

Where They Were

As I've done in years past, I've asked a few readers and friends to chime in and tell me about their September 11th memory and experiences. With apologies to all three, I changed the format at the last minute.... I had intended on inserting these in the midst of the planned-9/11 column I was going to do (and will do next) but after reading these, I think they deserved their own column so they can remain uncut. Had they known that, they may have written more, so I hope they are okay with what will be.

The following is unedited, with the exception of the first non-essential sentence of the first write-up.

I was at Alabama on 9/11/01, rooming with Drew [Morris]. We had undoubtedly stayed up late the night before playing Ken Griffey Jr.'s baseball game (well, not HIS game, but the game he is featured on...) and so, as college students, the 8-9:00 hours were just not something we were terribly interested in. I remember my mom calling my cell and telling me to turn on the TV, that something was going on in New York. At that time, reports were coming in that a plane had hit one of the towers, and so everyone thought it was a tragic mistake, pilot error, one of those twin-props that fly around and hit stuff. I stood there for probably 30 minutes as me and the newscasters all started to realize that the flaming hole in the building was much larger than a twin-prop plane, and that no respectable commercial pilot could ever, or would ever, land a plane into an occupied building. I think it was at this point that I woke Drew up, and we stood in silence as we watched the second plane hit. We were still half-asleep and groggy, but just sort of looked at each other, silently understanding the magnitude of what we were seeing.

The rest of the day is a blur. Phone calls to family members, getting gas because of the shortage we thought would come, finding out if classes were canceled, making plans. I remember sitting on my apartment steps and talking to Matt, at Lee, and we compared stories and just were family for a while. I told him that I didn't want to go to war. The sun rose the next day and life went back to the new normal we were all subject to.

Eight years later, so much has changed, but one truth remains: America is a great place, and Americans endure. Through fire and death, torture and heartbreak, families missing parents, bodies never recovered, and flags on cars, we got through it, and every day forward is another step in the process of recovery. --Brad Latta

Brad is considered "the Ombudsman" of the Clouds in My Coffee website, usually offering up great counterpoints to my political ideology and opinions. A practicing attorney, you can find his information here.

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On the morning of 9/11/2001, I arrived as usual at Briarwood Christian School where I was a band director. I was there early enough that the events in Manhattan had not yet begun to unfold. I continued my prep and setup for my first class, pretty much sheltered off in the band room from news and information. As the first kids started filing in, a couple of them asked if I had heard the news about the airplane crashing into the World Trade Center. At the time, of course, it sounded like some bizarre accident from an old made for TV “Airport ‘77” kind of movie. The information had little context and came in the form of a fairly casual question from the student, so I assumed there was not much to it and proceeded to teach my class.

After that first class, I had time to go to my computer and try to get more information. By that time, two planes had crashed into the towers, and they were jet liners (not little private planes as I had assumed). “Terrorist attack” was now being bandied about as an explanation.

I had to commute to another campus for more classes, listening to the radio and stopping in the teachers’ lounge where a TV was on. I was now seeing actual video for the first time, and I think that is when it began to sink in. Still, it kind of felt a bit sterile to me, a little bit distant, a little bit forensic in all of its surrealism. The video was not yet personal, the news coverage seemed cautious, and it was something everyone seemed reluctant to process.

I think it finally hit home with me when they started showing video of people leaping from the towers, choosing to throw themselves to certain death rather than deal with the terror of the fires and the inescapability of their circumstance. I could not imagine the choice. I could not imagine the final calls home. It was then that I started putting actual people in the seats of those jets, actual people in the towers as they collapsed, actual people committing heinous acts so far outside of the realm of humanity that it could not be believed. It was no longer forensic and distant. It was real, and it grabbed me.

I have since been to the site of the WTC. New construction has begun; life has moved on – as it must and as it should. Still, I don’t think I can forget that day. I hope none of us do. -- Kris Dekker

Kris is the music minister at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) and choir director, and is skilled at over 153 different musical instruments. Or seems that way. His website is called The Left Brained Artist.

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There are a few moments in America’s history that I remember with vivid detail. I recall watching the Challenger explode on National TV at a babysitters home when I was a young girl. I remember hearing the news that the Gulf War had begun as my parents drove me home from taking high school band pictures. And even though it was 8 years ago, I will never be able to erase the memories from 9/11. It was the day that I can honestly say my role as a military wife changed forever. It was the day that I realized we were no longer just a family that would have to deal with training exercises, frequent moves and military protocol. We now would have to face the grim reality of war. A war that would induce stress and worry that none of the young military wives I knew had ever experienced. A war that would take our husbands away from our children, so they could fight a battle that none of us really understood, but feared with great intensity.

On September 11, 2001 my daughter was just 3 months old and we were in Alabama on her first vacation. That morning we left very early to go fishing at a remote location. It was a beautiful morning with Daddy, Mommy, Papa and Morgan on her very first fishing trip. After piling into the car, my husband turned on a CD and we began our travel down the dirt road to town. My father-in-law pulled us over frantically and implored us to please turn on the radio. What we heard was hard to comprehend as the news radio tried to explain to its listeners what the rest of the world was watching unfold on TV. Still in a state of confusion, none of the events really registered with me until we got to the house and joined the rest of the family watching those horrifying images on TV. I wept and shook as I watched the planes slam into the buildings over and over again. As I imagined the fate of those people on the planes and in the buildings I sobbed violently. And then as the initial shock wore off, I was crushed by what I knew this meant for our family. President Bush had not announced it yet, but I knew that America was going to fight back, and my husband would be going to war.

War. For the generation before 9/11 we didn’t really understand what that word meant. Sure, there was the Gulf War, but that was short compared to anything in our countries history. And we had all seen images of Vietnam, Pearl Harbor, World and Civil Wars. But in an age where Hollywood controlled most of those images, it was easy to let ourselves be lulled into a sense of security. Certainly those things were in our past, not our future. Even as a military wife, I never really thought twice about my husband’s safety because most of his job was spent in the states or on occasion in countries such as Spain where they simply participated in training exercises. But on September 11th I understood that war was in our future, and while I had no idea what to expect, I was scared out of my mind.

We returned to base after our period of leave and I was shocked at the changes at the Air Station. Our base housing was actually not on the physical base and therefore had never been guarded, but as we drove up to our neighborhood we noticed that the streets were barricaded and there were Marines carrying M-16’s at the newly erected gates that now safeguarded the families. Those kids didn’t look a day over 17. I was used to the image on young men in uniform, even to seeing weapons and tanks on base. But this show of force took my breath away. On base, you could no longer park your car anywhere near a building and it took forever to get through the gates. They stopped many cars, Marines, wives and children waiting while military police randomly searched their vehicles. Even though it was an adjustment and a shock, I was proud of The Marine Corps for making these changes in such a short period of time. It gave me a strange sense of comfort.

Friends who were actually on base when the country was attacked talk of being beside themselves as they rushed to remove children from schools. Living on base was terrifying because rumors were flying about military bases being the next to be attacked. Many Marines were not in contact with their families for hours as they were called upon to enact emergency security measures. Wives huddled together in each other’s living rooms, holding on to the only other people who could understand the chaos that was all around them. They struggled to explain what was happening to small children, and to ease the growing fears of older kids as they too realized the Nation would soon be involved in a fight that would certainly involve their beloved parent.

For months, no one knew what, when and where our military would be called into action but we all knew it was just a matter of time. Families did not have much communication with commands who were busy with the important task of preparing their Marines for battle. Rumors of chemical weapon attacks coupled with the new gear that was now sitting in our living room gave me a sense of dread I will never forget. We were told that when the Marines did deploy to never send them religious material, for if they were captured, being a Christian could be a death sentence. Every day that passed became more anxious as we awaited news of a now almost certain deployment to war. And when that phone call came, in the middle of a steak dinner, my husband was told to get his gear together, he would be leaving in days. As the steak sat uneaten on the table, we started the packing process. My daughter was just 7 months old.

On the day that my husband boarded that bus, the families all gathered at the unit. None of us knew what to expect and not many of us could pry ourselves away from that parking lot until the buses were out of our sight. Small children cried and I remember a little boy clutching his father’s leg screaming “I don’t want my Daddy to die”! It was simply horrible. As we got in the car to leave, the radio was playing a song with the lyrics “I’m gonna get through this” but I honestly had no idea how. No war had started yet and no troops were in Iraq…my husband would be with the first group to enter the country.

I will not divulge the entire story of that deployment today, but will tell you that there were days when I was glued to the news hoping for any information about my husband’s unit because we had no contact with them for 40+ days. I will tell you that my sister Marine wives got me through that deployment which started out as a 3 month separation and turned into 8 very long and scary months. And I will tell you that when my husband got home he was safe, along with everyone else in his unit…even though they all were terribly thin, very tired and worn.

To date my husband’s unit has still not suffered any casualties, despite being the most deployed unit in the Marine Corps. And the conditions of deployment have improved greatly since that first time. But we will never again be able to go back to that feeling of security that we had on September 10, 2001. War is a harsh reality in my community now and is expected to be for many years to come. It is one that none of us like, but many of us realize as a necessity so that we will never have an attack on precious American soil…ever again. -- Erin Coates Whitehead

Erin, aka Erin the Marine Wife, is frequent mentioned on the Clouds site, and is a proud wife to a proud and brave Marine husband. Her site, Many Kind Regards, is one of my favorites, and she's also just started a website for The Brendon Scott Coates Foundation for children with cancer.

The Smurf Turf

I'm a happy man. The weather has been beautiful, my wife The Lovely Steph Leann is beautiful, I'm sitting in my comfy leather chair and on the screen is college football. Troy wasn't on the television--and if they were I didn't find them--and its okay I didn't see them, because apparently they got blasted by Bowling Green 31-14... I came in from an informal Bible study meeting with Jillip at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) and turned on the tv to see the latter part of South Carolina and NC State, which was won by the Gamecocks, alma mater of DeNick.

Now? Its Boise State and Oregon, and currently, the Broncos lead 10-0 on the Smurf Turf.

THE GO GATORS SCARY RANKING
That scares the be-williez out of me too. Do you know how many teams ranked #1 at the beginning of the season went wire-to-wire and won the title? Four. USC most recently did it in 2004.

The Go Gators were ranked #1 by the widest margin in history, with something like 48,000 votes, while Texas, #2, got what, 0.0005 or something? And that frightens me. This means that there is a good chance the Go Gators will get knocked off. My guess is the October 10th game versus LSU, at LSU, would be the most likely candidate. Hopefully, if they lose, that would the game so they'd have time to rebound and get back to the BCS Championship Game on January 7th.

They are bringing back, like, EVERYONE pretty much, so if they do repeat, it won't be a shock. However, its almost a "too good to be true".

Here's essentially why it scares me... remember the Georgia Bulldogs? They were a heavily hyped #1 in August of 2008. And they finished 13th at 10-3.

This Saturday, they are favored by 73... thats SEVENTY THREE over Charleston Southern. I would feel bad for Chuck South except for the fact they are getting something like $450K for the game, so bring it on.

THINGS I BELIEVE ABOUT TIM TEBOW
First, if Florida beats Ole Miss in 2008, instead of being stunned 31-30, then the Go Gators run the table all the way up to the SEC Championship game, where they get beaten by Alabama by 6. It was that loss to the Rebels that let the Go Gators know, "Hey, Tebow... you aren't invincible." And they go on to win the championship.

Next, if Tim Tebow goes to Alabama, Mike Shula stays the coach for another year or two. They finished 6-6 in 2006, after Tebow goes to Florida (and helps Chris Leak lead the team to the national title). If Tebow comes to Bama, I think the Tide finishes 8-4, maybe 9-3... they still lose the big games, but perhaps beat Arkansas, Mississippi State and possibly Tennessee.



That would be enough to keep Shula employed by the University of Alabama. Nick Saban, unhappy, still leaves Miami Dolphins and goes elsewhere... Notre Dame? Who knows?... but the Tide get someone else, perhaps not as good as Saban, and with Tebow, they continually win 9, 10, maybe 11 games per year--but no national title. Just my theory.

And finally, something someone else believes about Tim Tebow... my buddy Ryan Sherman said it best, spoken like a diehard Tide fan... "You know, I think Tim Tebow is a great guy. Man, you can't hate him, he's a solid guy, a solid Christ Follower, and I think its awesome he wants to do mission work with his life after football. But, you know, I hope in the first game he breaks his leg. Then he can get to mission work faster."

TROY BEING TROY
Ah, the faithful sounds of the T-R (whoop whoop) O-J (whoop whoop) AAAAAA EEENNNN EEESSSS (wooooo!) Trojans football. And tonight, they get blasted by Bowling Green. And next week, they play the Go Gators. People ask me who I root for, and I say, "Troy", mostly because I know there is more of a chance of He Who Must Not Be Re-Elected saying, "I want to give you all some tax cuts" than the Trojans beating the Gators.

MY FANTASY
So, I'm in a Fantasy Football League for the first time. Matta Latta invited me, and I joined up with The Official Clouds in My Coffee Ombudsman Brad Latta, Mikey, Scotty Latta, Drewski Morris and a few others, and we had our draft this past Sunday night.

My team, Manilow's Revenge, is QB'd by Tom Brady, so my season rests on his knees. I've also got DeAngelo Williams at RB, Brandon Marshall as a WR and Jason Elam as my kicker. And... I drafted Mike Vick as a backup QB. Yes, yes, he's not available until Week 3, but still, I think when McNabb goes down (and he will), Vick will come out and be great again. He's got nothing to lose.

How can I like Vick? I don't, necessarily. I thought when we with the Falcons, he was kind of a pud, but he was an amazing athlete. And no, I don't condone what he did. His dog fighting was horrific, and the things he did with those dogs is horrific... but he served his time. Whether I feel it was punishment enough (which I do) isn't the point... the point is, not only did he do his jail time, he's been crucified and hated in the public, and his career is very close to being as ruined as his reputation.

Besides... Plaxico Burress is spending what, a year or more in jail for shooting himself in the leg, something stupid he did to himself... but Donte Stallworth gets drunk, kills someone while driving and only gets 24 days? Don't tell me Vick didn't serve long enough.

RELAXATION, CORONA STYLE
I don't drink. But if I did, I'd want to drink Corona, but only if I'm sitting on a beach, next to The Lovely Steph Leann, in a lounge deck chair on a beach with a cool breeze blowing, small table between us with two long neck bottles filled with cool refreshment, topped with two perfectly sliced pieces of lime.

They make drinking seem nicer than Bud Light, Miller Lite, that German green bottled beer I can't spell and Pabst Blue Ribbon ever do.


This would be typical of The Lovely Steph Leann and I... if we were drinkers

Though Samuel Adams looks like a cool beer to drink. It looks like a beer that me, as a cultured intellectual would drink.

But I don't drink.

d$'s PREDICTIONS
The current AP Top 10 is as follows: 1) The Go Gators... 2) Texas... 3) Oklahoma... 4) USC... 5) Alabama... 6) Ohio State... 7) Virginia Tech... 8) Ole Miss... 9) Oklahoma State... 10) Penn State

Here's how yours truly, d$, predict the season will play out. The final AP top ten will be:
1) Texas (I predict they win the national title)
2) Penn State (I predict Texas blasts Penn State something like 54-10 in the BCS title game)
3) Florida
4) USC
5) Ohio State
6) Boise State
7) TCU
8) Alabama
9) Oklahoma
10) Georgia

Mark it down. Bet on it. I can see the future. Look at this post on January 8th and you'll see for yourself.

THE SMURF TURF (and colleen's song) REIGNS
I've been blogging all along during the game, chatting with The Lovely Steph Leann about who wants to go with us to The Happiest Place on Earth (can you believe we're actually having a little trouble filling that spot?), and doing some random surfing on the interweb.

Tomorrow night, we hang out with Croyle and his wife Britlicious, and new friends Phil & Colleen. Went into Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) Middle School Ministry...

...okay, so "middle school" is the new norm? what was wrong with "junior high"? nothing! junior high ministry works just as well, perhaps better than middle school ministry. whoever changed that is probably responsible for dropping "junior college" from most junior colleges and turning them into "community college". you don't call junior varsity teams "middle varsity" or "community varsity", do you? not yet, anyway.

...and Colleen sang a song that she wrote. It was amazing. With apologies to Factor 7, I've only got one song written and sung by a friend that has anywhere over 2 plays on my iPod, and that's Joel Blount's song "Sunday Afternoon", which currently is in my Top 100 songs (11 plays). If I had Colleen's song, and I don't even know the title, on my iPod, it would rival it, easily. It was that good.

Finally... Go Gators.

The First 100 Days

Okay, so we are now past that mythical benchmark of success, "The First 100 Days" of the presidency of one B. Hussein Obama, leader of our country, the most powerful man in the free world. Many people like to look at this 100 days as a sign of things to come--after all, in those first 100 days, he can either accomplish many things, or nothing, and its sure to be an indicator of future successes?

And our leader, President B. Hussein Obama certainly has done alot in these first 100 days. Here's some highlights, in no particular order...

• Throw a couple of huge parties at the White House, serving Kobe Beef. Kobe Beef runs about 100 bucks a pound. Meanwhile, he's telling all to sacrifice and cutback in this, supposedly the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
• Bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia. Admittedly, I'm not sure how you greet officials in that culture... but if I'm the President, you'd better believe I'd find out before I went over there. Bowing is not acceptable.
• Sitting there, patiently, while Daniel Ortega, dictator of Nicaragua, goes on and on for almost an hour about the criminality and corruption of the United States. At no point during this "Summit of the Americas" does President B. Hussein Obama stand to defend his country, nor does he do such a thing when its his turn to speak. Instead, its just the last stop on...
• The Obama America Apology Tour of 2009. Running around the world, telling everyone how sorry we are for everything. How much we suck. How things are going to be different since The Great Unifier, President B. Hussein Obama is in power now, and that reckless fool of a cowboy, Dubya, is gone. (to be fair, at The Summit of the Americas, President B. Hussein Obama did say, "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." All about him.)
• Being "set straight" by Fidel Castro, who tells President B. Hussein Obama that despite how he might have taken his conversations with Raul Castro as "productive" and "possibly leading to a lesser embargo", that in fact, there will be no such productivity. Castro chastizes us about handling of political prisoners. We were chastized by Fidel Castro.
• The nomination of at least five people who have tax issues and back taxes due, one of which now heads the IRS.
• Insulting the British Prime Minister by sending back a statue of Winston Churchill, one that was given to America right after 9/11 as a gift of hope. Britain said to keep it, or even put it in a different room of the White House. President B. Hussein Obama said no thank you, we don't want it.
• This time, though, we got some gifts from Britain... The first of which is a pen holder fashioned from the oak timber of HMS Gannet, a Navy vessel that served on anti-slavery missions off Africa. President B. Hussein Obama also received a framed commissioning paper for the HMS Resolute, a Royal Navy ship that came to symbolize British-American goodwill when it was rescued by the U.S. from icebergs and given to Queen Victoria. It is the sister ship of the HMS Gannet. Finally, he got a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill, whose World War II partnership with President Franklin Roosevelt symbolized the U.S.-Anglo alliance. For the First Daughters, Sasha and Malia, Sarah Brown, the Prime Minister's wife, gave each an outfit from Topshop, a British chain of clothing stores, and selected six children's books by British authors which have yet to be published in the U.S.
• The First Lady gave Prime Minister Brown's two sons toy helicopters modeled after Marine One. Then President B. Hussein Obama gave his own historical, meaningful gifts to Prime Minister Brown. You know, like an iPod filled with his own speeches, and a collection of 25 DVDs of great American movies. Could you not spring for Blue-Ray, there Prez man?
• Taking the Census from an independent agency and moving it over to his own (democractic) commerce department. Meaning? If there are people there that aren't as honest as some can be, they can mold and shape the census data however they choose too, possibly leading to restructuring of districts to advantages of certain parties.
• Openly lying that the construction company Caterpillar would re-hire laid off workers with the passage of his stimilus bill, calling the company leaders liars when they said they would not be able to re-hire regardless of passage, then blaming business owners for our economic status when Caterpillar then laid off more workers after the bill passed.
• Making his supporters happy, he pledges to close Guantanamo Bay, then to keep the other side happy, keeps it open with no plan to close it soon. (personally, I support President B. Hussein Obama in this latter part!)
• Tries to nationalize the banking system in our country to prevent banks and financial institutions from paying back Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) money they either didn't need or want.
• French President Sarkozy ridicules and humiliates President B. Hussein Obama by telling him he's got a "Messiah Complex" and invites him to come to Normandy Beach and "walk on water". Ouch.
• After thousands of Americans decide to peacefully protest and demonstrate at "Tea Parties", something we'd seen dozens of times during President Dubya's administration (though not all were peaceful, and some were downright hateful), President B. Hussein Obama's Homeland Security agency labels such protesters--including returning veterans--as security risks, likening them to terrorists. As someone who loves this country, disagrees with President B. Hussein Obama's policies, is against terrorist, believes in and loves Jesus and God, and supports our military, aka, as someone who is a "Right Wing Extremist", I find this one funny.
• Admiral Dennis Blair, an appointee of President B. Hussein Obama to be the Director of National Intelligence, comes out and says that the CIA has in fact received high value, lifesaving information through captured terrorists, only to have President B. Hussein Obama rebuke him and say that those interrogations are immoral and counterproductive.
• President B. Hussein Obama's rhetoric against torture is so ridiculous that "face slapping" is considered torture, as well as "putting an insect in a small room with a detainee who might be afraid of insects". No, I'm not making this up. Abu Zabayda had a fear of insects. They put him in a tiny cell and told him that the insect they were placing in the cell with him was "a stinging insect". It was a caterpiller. This is considered torture, according to President B. Hussein Obama.

All of this in 100 days? How did he have time to breathe?

(pausing a moment while my soapbox is put into place. stepping onto said soapbox.)

For many months, I wrestled with whether President B. Hussein Obama was a bumbling incompetent goober who didn't know what he was doing or whether he actually knew exactly what he was doing. I think I've decided its a mixture of the two.

All of these things in his first 100 days doesn't tell us who he is, its a result of who he is. He is a man who thinks this country should change in a huge turnaround. He feels that for too long, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer--now this is an often used cliche that you may or may not agree with, and both sides of that argument could present proof for their case, but that statement's validity is not what I'm trying to say. Instead of using his power, his popularity, his charm to help the poor get richer... education, self-worth, job training, etc... he has now made it his mission to use the power of the United States government to help the rich get poorer.

Its just not fair. Its not fair that all these people have all this money, be it earned, inherited or gotten in an ill-conceived way, its all just not fair. What is fair, however, is to make those people who've enjoyed the lap of luxury for so long pay. When they pay, then the poor people will get some of that money. And the poor people will love the government for it, and viola! You've got a nation of people, equally poor and miserable, all depending on the government.

THIS IS WHO OBAMA IS. He is a strategist who wants our government to be in control of as much as possible... banks, the auto industry, the private sector, the schools... he is someone who isn't concerned with making our country safer, but more concerned with setting up the Bush Adminstration as who will take the blame if the country gets attacked again during the current administration, even though these things that President B. Hussein Obama is doing right now is leaving us open for such things.

The Tea Parties were fun. It showed that there are alot of like minded people out there, people who don't want this country to go in the direction that President B. Hussein Obama is ready to take us to. Unfortunately, unless a candidate who inspires and excites our side the way Obama did with the liberal left steps up, it will all be for naught. If another McCain is presented as our only option in 2012, then it will continue. Perhaps not Sarah Palin, but someone like her.

(steps off the soapbox)

So, I'll sit back and await the next 100 days, then the next, then the next, all sure to be as fun and scary as the first. Sort of like Everest at Disney World. Up, down, up, down, and suddenly, when you think you've finally hit the point where you are going to go faster, make more progress... you go backwards. Backwards fast. Really fast.

Oh yeah...

YES WE CAN!!!

ps... anyone who decides to respond is not allowed to invoke Dubya's name. This isn't about what Bush did. This is about what President B. Hussein Obama is doing.