WAY TO BE RACHEL! (and other random thoughts of basketball, pictures and Bon Jovi)

Some random thoughts I thought I'd mention...

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Due to a computer malfunction, I wasn't able to post the Golden Globe running diary like I always do.  So, I posted it today, with some links and such... you can either scroll down to read it (or if you read this column several months from when it was written, 1/23/11, then just click here to read it...)

THE LOVELY STEPH LEANN'S BAD MEDICINE
The Lovely Steph Leann and I are having dinner at CiCi’s Pizza. It’s a local pizza buffet, and you can even order the pizza you want at the buffet counter. They’ll bring you several slices of it, and its pretty awesome for a $7 meal. I tend to eat more than my $7 would normally buy.

Sitting on the couch, she decided she didn’t want a burger, or tacos, or a sub sandwich, and I didn’t have have a hankerin’ for Chicken Fillet, so I piped up with “CiCi’s Pizza?” It’s a question that I ask and get not just a no, but sometimes a “Aw, haylz to tha’ no”, when The Lovely Steph Leann is feeling especially gangsta, but this night, I got a “Yeah, that’s fine.”



I will take a “that’s fine” any day. So we went to CiCi’s. We are sitting there, she with her cheesesticks and me with my black olives, pepperoni and mushrooms, and she perks up suddenly. She looks towards the ceiling, as do I, and we both hear the same thing… “…and as my broken heart lies bleeding… you say true love is suicide… you say you cried a thousand rivers… and now you’re headed for the shore…”

We then get onto a lengthy conversation about Bon Jovi lyrics, and in that conversation, The Lovely Steph Leann actually gets giddy.  She starts giggling while remembering old Bon Jovi songs, and Jon Bon Jovi himself.  It would be the same for me if the Debbie Gibson "Foolish Beat" video or Alyssa Milano circa 1992 "Who's The Boss" just appeared.

So, later that night, we are both laying in bed about to fall asleep, and I randomly start singing "I'll Be There For You", which results in another long conversation about the differences in that song and "Never Say Goodbye", how Bon Jovi songs tend to reference the bottle as a solution to the pain, how all of his videos are just the band in concert with no story line, and an iPhone interweb search for lyrics to "Blaze of Glory".

Jon Bon Jovi was the stuff back in the late 80s and early 90s, and let me tell ya, every girl I knew loved Bon Jovi.  The band escaped what plagued New Kids on the Block, that being the sissy-boy image that forced all dudes to denounce any sense of enjoyment, whether you liked them or not.  Truthfully, I kinda like a few New Kids songs, including "Tonight", "Step by Steph" and "Please Don't Go Girl", but there's no way I'd say that around the likes of Daniel Stephenson, Shane Gillis or even Greg Avant... but seriously, it was senseless being an open Michael Bolton fan and verbally denouncing Joey, Jordan, Jonathan, Danny and Donnie.

Anyway, it was cool to like Bon Jovi.  "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Bad Medicine", "Livin' on a Prayer" and of course, my favorite, "Blaze of Glory" were songs on the soundtrack to my high school life.  Somewhere around the mid-90s, Bon Jovi kinda feel out of favor overall, his songs no longer hitting the charts on a regular basis, but they are still going strong.  Jon has short hair now, though. 

And The Lovely Steph Leann still gets giddy thinking about it.

SEARCHING FOR BIG BIRD
Another night, we were eating at Mt. Fuji with DeNick and DeLisa, and they had brought Baby George with them.  The food was pretty good and reasonably priced--we had coupons, which is why we went.  The Lovely Steph Leann and I are hibachi fans, but we chose to sit at the regular table, instead of one or the four or five grills they have set up.  The plan was actually to get some sushi, but we all ended up with entree platters. so the hibachi would have been better--though we weren't sure how Baby George would have handled the fire and the rice rice baby and the woo woo choo choo.

We are sitting there, catching up, having a good time, and DeLisa shares that she didn't know what channel Sesame Street came on... until a friend of hers was visiting, and using the remote, went straight to it on the TV.

DeLisa:  I had no idea where it was, and she found it!
Me: You know another way you could have found out?  Just call the cable company.
DeLisa:  Call the cable company?
Me:  Yeah.  Just call them and say, "Hey, can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?"

Ba dum dum

OLD PHOTOS, NEW SOLUTIONS
When The Lovely Steph Leann and I went to Samson a few weeks ago, for Christmas Eve, I had already decided on a plan for something.  In my parents house were about nine photo albums, filled with pictures from the last, oh, I dunno, 30 years and more of my own life, plus the life of my cousins, aunts, uncles, sisters, extended family, friends and the like.

Here's my mom and my late father, taken probably '81 or
'82... that shirt was my favorite shirt, and I wore it daily.

The problem?  Well, as its been documented on this here very site, I grew up in a smokers home, so all the albums are full of that stale cigarette smoke that they've been sitting in for two or three decades.  My master plan is to get all the albums, remove every single picture from those albums, air them out, scan them, burn all pictures onto a CD, then send that CD to all the cousins, so they will have all the photos. 

I started almost immediately when I got back.  I've probably scanned over a hundred pics so far, but there are several hundred more to go--each photograph is in an old photo album, where the plastic has to be peeled back, and the photo has to be carefully removed from the adhesive that has held it in place for all that time.   I'll tell you I've accidentally torn a few of them, but nothing disastrous. 

Another problem is in the scanning, as most of the pics were taken with 70s and 80s era cameras, which in my family meant nothing too expensive.  I have a dozen or more pics taken from a visit to the beach at Chesapeake Bay in Virginia taken with a disc camera.   Like, the the camera was a thin square, and the film was a disc that looked like a ViewMaster disc with the white cover removed.  And it had a little slot on the top where you bought and inserted a flash that could be used six times. 

Nowadays, we don't like the picture, one that we take and immediately look at to see its quality, we just delete and retake it.  Back then?  You used your flash only when needed, and wasting a photo was too expensive. 

WAY TO BE RACHEL
Melanie invited myself and The Lovely Steph Leann to watch her daughter, Special K, play some girls basketball.  The team are St. Rose Academy Knights, playing in a Catholic School League, and they were playing the St. Aloysius Somethingorothers...

The Lovely Steph Leann couldn't come, due to a Creative Memories event, but I was all about rooting on young Special K to victory.  The game was an away game for the Lady Knights, coached by Special K's father, Daddy Z himself, so we all rode out to Bessemer, Alabama, to the Catholic Church gym. 

One side of the gymnasium had two rows of chairs, where the teams were warming up, the other side had a small set of bleachers, about six rows, running down the side.  Melanie, Yours Truly, The Zack Attack and Jay-Z walked to the middle, where Knights fans bled into the other fans (and by fans I mean "parents" and random people like me who thought it would be fun to watch), and sat down.  Jay-Z, being of a young teen age, quickly split to go find friends much cooler than his mom and her friend. 

In a pic taken a few weeks before this particular game day, here's
Melanie smothering The Zack Attack and Special K with motherly
love and embarrassing affection.  Cause thats what cool moms do.

The girls who played are all 13 and under, so the game was a low scoring one.  The quarters are 7 minutes each, and by halftime, it was something like 8-0, with The Lady Knights burning it up.  Special K and her teammate, Chase Lake, were rock stars, running that ball through the crowds, getting the fast breaks, and making the plays. 

There was a girl named Rachel, however, on the other team that we all noticed.  Well, there were a couple that caught my attention, one of which I called Tank Girl, cause she was a beast.  Rachel was the other one.  The reason I noticed her?

WAY TO BE RACHEL!!!!!!

I looked at Melanie, she looked at me, we looked around, and there was a large father sitting up by the wall on the top row.  Clapping vigorously, he screamed, "WAY TO GO RACHEL!!"

We both looked back out at the girls teams, and Rachel was giving it her all. 

DON'T LET THEM COME INTO OUR HOUSE RACHEL!!!

Melanie looked at me then cracked up.  "Don't let them come into our house?" she mouthed to me.  "What does that even mean?"

What was even better was by 3rd quarter, The Lady Knights were up something like 10-2. In a game full of pre-teen offense and grade school defense, an 8 point deficit was a heckuva lot to overcome.  Melanie warned me that The Lady Knights always start fast, then have to hold off comebacks, but there wasn't to be much of a comeback today.

MAKE EM EARN IT RACHEL!!!

Which I found to be funny, because The Lady Knights were earning everything, and dominating.  I whispered to Melanie, "Don't eat the ball, Rachel", to which she almost lost it.

THROW IT TO RACHEL!!!!!

This was said several times when anyone other than Rachel had the ball.   Remember, we are in a small gym, so everything echoes in there.  His voice, while loud, was considerably amplified through the walls of the building.

WAY TO GO RACHEL!!!!!
YOU SHOW EM RACHEL!!!!!
EVERYONE ELSE ON THAT FLOOR SUCKS RACHEL, EXCEPT FOR YOU!!!  YOU RULE!!!

I made that last one up. 

Melanie had already warned me that were he to make a bad remark on Special K, she, Melanie, would in fact come unglued.  However, Melanie's glue stayed together, as Loud Father never did such a thing.  To his credit, he never disparaged any other player, he never mocked any other player or either team and he was never insulting to any girl on the floor, or their playing ability. 

I told her that Loud Father was the kind of guy who would be all up in the coaches face if dear Rachel, heading no doubt for the WNBA right out of 6th grade, was benched for any reason, even if it was for an injury.  When Rachel did in fact sit down, which wasn't long, I half expected Loud Father to still yell "THROW IT TO RACHEL!  SHE CAN DO MORE ON THE BENCH THAN YOU CAN ON THE FLOOR!!!" But he didn't, which was probably a good thing.

All in all, it was an enjoyable game, with The Lady Knights scoring the winning basket with less than a minute left, making it 12-4, and putting the game all but out of reach.  So, when the game was over, The Lady Knights victorious, Melanie and I met the others on the court, and I shouted, "WAY TO BE, SPECIAL K!" to which I got prodded by Melanie. 

"What?" I looked at her.  She smirked.  Then laughed.  Cause I'm awesome.

QUICK THOUGHTS
**Went to the Waffle House this morning for breakfast.  The one on 280 has a health rating score of something like, 85.  Normally, this would dissuade me from going to a particular restaurant, but Waffle House is in a class all its own.  Its my theory that at Waffle House, the higher the health score, the worse and more bland the food will be.  Waffle House health rating of 96?  Clean restaurant, sure, but its missing all the stuff that makes the food good.  Waffle House health rating of 85?  Now THAT is a restaurant with secret ingredients to make those hash browns perfect.  Sold.

**The Lovely Steph Leann and I enjoy watching television shows on DVD, mostly because we can knock out an entire season in a week or two... we just finished CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's tenth season--I think I've actually watched less than five episodes when they actually came on television.  Other shows we catch on DVD include Grey's Anatomy, and the last two seasons of LOST.  Now?  We are diving headfirst into Mad Men.  So far, its pretty awesome... especially the authenticity--like the pregnant woman smoking (everyone smokes on this show, probably like they did in real life) and the kids playing while wearing big plastic bags over their heads.

**Just finished Walt Disney's biography.  Going to try to work a review in soon... its a massive book that was massively entertaining.

**Yes, yes, I know its the middle to late part of January, and still not a 100 Coolest list.  I have it, but I just haven't written it out yet.  Its coming, I promise.  Soon.

**Speaking of Disney, I'm so flipping excited about going in February.  We leave for Walt Disney World on February 3rd, and don't return until February 13th... here is what we are doing while we are there:  The new Wild Africa Trek... Hoop-de-doo-Revue... La Nouba... the Epcot Segway Tour... eating at Kouzzina... eating at Rose & Crown... eating at Via Napoli... eating at Le Cellier... and, the reason we are going actually, an all day Disney World Trading Pin Event at Epcot on January 5th.  We've already got a lot of pins reserved for purchase, so we are pumped that we get exclusive merchandise. 

**Oh, and lest I forget, we are meeting some very dear friends while we are there, and going together to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventures. 

In 12 days!

Birthday Paintings (and other thoughts)

Everyone had their favorite cereals growing up.  I loved several, though, including Cookie Crisp, Count Chocula and Frankenberry, Pebbles of all types, be it Fruity or Cocoa, and Lucky Charms.  When I ate Lucky Charms, I always at all the pieces that were not marshmallows, then at the end, had like, one or two huge scoopfuls of nothing but 'mallow.  It was awesome.

My cereal tastes really haven't gotten all that refined as an adult, though I steer more towards the less sugary, less cartoony kind.  Don't get me wrong, I still like a bowl full of Fruity Pebbles, but I do enjoy Corn Chex (or Kellogg's Crispex, which is essentially the same thing) or some Rice Krispies.

But two I usually have, or at least rotate through are Frosted Mini Wheats and Kellogg's Raisin Bran.  I have the latter in my house at this moment, though I do dig on the former a little more.  Problem is, its so cotton' pickin' expensive.  A good box of Frosted Mini-Wheats will cost you upwards of 4, maybe even 5 dollars. 

Sure, I could go to Wal-Mart, where many times items are a bit cheaper... however, Wal-Mart doesn't carry the Mini-Wheats I want.  I want the Mini-Wheats in the red box.  I want the Mini-Wheats that are frosted, they are about two inches long per... well, the box says "biscuit", but I'd just call it a "mini-wheat"... anyway, I want the regular Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Worked at Starbucks tonight, and after work, I stopped by Wal-Mart to get some milk...

...is there anything worse than having like, a half-inch of milk when you really want some cereal?  Like, just enough milk to wet whatever you pour in a bowl, but if you pour more than a half-inch of cereal, you have dry cereal... its dreadful... where was I?

...and some cereal.  Checked out the cereal aisle, and studied the mini-wheat selection.  I'd been here in this very aisle before, with the same results.  There are Frosted Mini-Wheat Little Bites, Chocolate Mini-Wheat Little Bites, Cinnamon Streusel Bite Size, Cinnamon Streusel Regular, Blueberry Muffin Bite Size, Strawberry Delight Bite Size, Maple and Brown Sugar Bite Size and Maple and Brown Sugar Regular Mini-Wheats.

But no Regular Sized Frosted Mini-Wheats.  Can't a guy get some Frosted, regular size Mini-Wheats?  I don't ask for much, really.  I did end up buying some Eggo Waffle Cereal, because it was only $2.00 and it looked like it might be good and not good for me.  Always a plus. 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This past Saturday was The Lovely Steph Leann's birthday celebration.  Her birthday is actually next Saturday, but she'll be out of town, so we celebrated a little early.  I had to work Saturday morning, but still had our friend Cah-Lah Rah pick her up at 11a, take her to lunch to meet her (our) friends DeLisa, The Dainty Steph Halpert and Emmy Turnbow, then off to Painted By U, owned and operated by Amarylis By Morning (up from san antone) to meet up Mama Ruthless and The Lovely Steph Leann's sister and kids for a big pottery paintin' party.




Here's Cahlah Rah, The Lovely Steph Leann, DeLisa and The Dainty Steph Halpert

 Had to do a bit of rushing around after I got off work, though.  Had to pick up dessert (chocolate covered strawberries), had to run into Wal-Mart (somehow I always do), and I had to go into The Dollar Tree for a couple of gift bags.

While I was in Wal-Mart, I picked up a few things needed for The Lovely Steph Leann's big day, and also a bottle of water, because I was thirsty as all get out.  So, when I walked into The Dollar Tree, I didn't think anything about taking my water with me, sipping/gulping as I did my quick shopping.  I ended up with two gift bags and, did you know they do Mylar Balloons there?  I got two of those.

I bought these at Edible Arrangements.  They are very
pricey, but extremely tasty.

The girl ringing me up just did not enjoy her job.  Don't know if it was that she was in her mid-30s, maybe 40s, and was working retail at The Dollar Tree, don't know if she had a personal issue in her life that was just keeping her from enjoying her day, but she didn't want to be there.  I was bothering her with my gift bag and my balloons and my smile and my "how are you today?" and my easy-to-please purchases. 

"That's $4.38" she says.
"Alrighty," I replied cheerfully, running my card through the swiper.  She put my bags into a plastic bag, then glanced down at my half-full bottle of water.

"Did you get that here?" she said suspiciously.
"Nope, bought it at Wal-Mart a few minutes ago.  Didn't even know you sold Dasani water."
"We do," she said, smirking at me, glancing at my water, and back up at me again.

"I got it at Wal-Mart," I said again.  I paused, and then added, "I have the receipt in my car.  I'll be happy to get it for you."

She smirked again, not believing anything  a word I said.

The rest of the day was just smashing, however.

You can contact Amarylis by Morning (up from san antone) at Painted By U by calling 205-988-8933, visiting their website at www.paintedbyu.com, or find them on Twitter and Facebook by looking for "Painted By U"

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

So, as I said before, I worked Starbucks tonight, which means after the visit to Wal-Mart, I got home around 11p.  And I fired up the DVR and watched this week's episode of WWE: Raw, and when it was over, I scrolled to Hawaii Five-O.  Watching it now, and it's awesome.

Though it is a little weird to have Jin from LOST speak English.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Two restaurants I've visited recently... one is Flip Burger.  Located at The Summit, its the "burger boutique", two words that may or may not ever belong together.  The atmosphere is modern, a little quirky and kind of fun.  The booth I sat in, as are all the booths, have backs that go all the way to the ceiling, almost like you are sitting in this little alcove in the wall, with a window.

The food is a bit pricey.  I ordered the burger combo with the fries and a milkshake ($12), and they delivered it fairly soon.  The burger reminded me of the overpriced sized burger you'd find at Hamburger Heaven or The Varsity in Atlanta, but was pretty good.  The fries were tasty, but the real treat was the milkshake. 

They serve some of the milkshakes with nitrogen on the top, so they are still smoking when they bring it to you, cold as they can possibly get without freezing.  I had the famous "Krispy Kreme Milkshake" and while it was good, and MZ, who I had met for lunch (I love Starbucks meetings on my day off... at least I got lunch) had the "Creme Brulee Milkshake", and that one was exceptional.  As always, I want the thing I didn't order.

Overall, it was a good dining experience, but my bill, with tip, came out to be about $16.  Considering I can get a huge meal at Milo's for about $6, and if I'm really wanting a milkshake bad enough, I can go over to Zaxbys and get a fantastic shake for $3, I'd probably do that.  Meaning I probably won't go to Flip again unless I'm with a group I want to be with and they all go, or someone else is buying, though I'd take The Lovely Steph Leann if she wanted to go.

Also recently, on a whim because I was hungry, I visited Chuy's (pronounced "Chewie's), again at The Summit.  The atmosphere was cool, with Mexican license plates all over the walls, a south of the border motif, and even stuff hanging from the ceiling everywhere.

I went around 11am, and a good thing too, because by 1130, people were starting to line up in the front to get in.  The menu is quite extensive, as you'd expect.  I ended up with the Baja Tacos, with no jalapeno sauce and light cilantro (its funny, because I asked for light cilantro and they put one small, single leaf on each of the two tacos I got.)

The plates were huge, and my tacos were essentially two pieces of fried shrimp wrapped in a tortilla... and surprisingly, it was great.  What wasn't all that great was the cheese dip.  Its slightly spicy, and for anyone who knows me, you know I'm not digging on spice, but even then, it was a little too thin and not nearly as good as you'd get from Pablo's around the corner.

The chips were excellent, though.  When the basket was emptied, the waitress came around with a huge scoop, and poured new chips into the basket--and they were warm, almost like she dipped them straight out of the fryer, shook off the grease and came to my table.

I feel like I paid about the same for my lunch as I did at Flip Burger, but Chuy's was a better value for the amount of food I recieved.    I'd go to Chuy's again, but like Flip, I'd probably go with people or if someone else was buying (hello business lunch!)... or, of course, if The Lovely Steph Leann wanted to go.

Make sure you visit Chuy's at off-hours though, like before or an hour or two after lunch, or before and after the dinner time hours.  Friday and Saturday evenings are probably impossible.  I've heard horror stories about the wait time there.

The 100 Coolest Things of 2009... #10 thru 6

We inch closer to telling you the things of all of 2009...

The 10th Coolest Thing of 2009... "Bombs Over Baghdad" by OutKast
Sometimes I come a little late to the party when it comes to pop culture--especially music... in fact, I heard my first Lady GaGa song the other night.  "Alejandro"... it was so-so.  I think I fast forwarded through the last half of it.

So, since 2009 was the end of the decade, we had loads of "End of..." and "Best of the 2000s" lists, much of which included music.  I'm goofing around on Google, and I ran across Pitchfork Media online, which had a list of the Top 100 Songs of the Decade.  #2 was "Hey Ya" by OutKast... and #1 was "B.O.B. (bombs over baghdad)" by OutKast, as featured on the 2000 album "Stankonia".  I was like, "What the hey is B.O.B.?", so I went onto YouTube and found the video and watched it.  And was hooked instantly.


This is a PG-13 rated video... there are wiggly booties and an N-word in here somewhere, just so you know.  Beware.

You know those songs that, no matter how loud the radio or your iPod is turned up, you need to edge up the volume just a little more when they come on?  "La Grange" by ZZ Top, "Loungin" by LL Cool J, "Crazy on You" by Heart and "Everything Zen" by Bush are songs like that.   And just with one single "don't need to bang less you plan to hit something..." this song was added to the rotation.

Here's what Pitchfork Media had to say about it:  I'm not even covering all of its turf when I list that it contains: the reverbed drums of first-wave hip-hop (played at the tempo of booty hip-hop), organs suggesting "The House of the Rising Sun", futro blips, George Clinton freakouts, choral gospel, rave-up drum-n-bass, Prince funk-metal, speed-scratching, and an extended roller-rink outro. I tell curious people who have never heard it to imagine that Public Enemy handed Side 2 of Fear of a Black Planet over to Southerners.

And yes, Andre 3000 and Big Boi... I do believe a pimp can rock a microphone.

The 9th Coolest Thing of 2009... "Up"
From July 9th, 2009... If there is any issue with Pixar movies, it is this… one day, they are going to make a bad movie. One day, they are going to release flick that is just… well, not good at all. So far, we’ve been entertained by the 9th Coolest Thing of 2008, a friendship between a cowboy and a Space Ranger, a bunch of ants with four legs, some monsters in the closet, talking cars, cooking rats, a lost fish and ranking 20th on TheDave 100, a family of superheroes. So, could this be it? A movie about an old man and a Wilderness Scout who fly in a house to South America? Could this be the inevitable misstep?


No.

“Up” is magnificent in every way possible. The story is fun and sweet, and somehow, the theater gets a little dusty after the first fifteen minutes. The music is fantastic, especially in that first fifteen minutes. The characters are likable, even lovable, from a dorky Scout who is deeper than a dork, to a goofy talking dog, who doesn’t talk by normal Disney standards, but through an inventive collar. Perhaps the least likable character is the actual bad guy, who is really only unlikable because you don’t see much of who he is, other than a jerkface. The main character though, is Carl, who seems cantankerous and miserly, but you’ll discover has his reasons.
 

How can an animated film make you feel so emotional?  That's the power of this early scene right here.
 
The color is marvelous. The scene when the roof comes off and the balloons fill the sky is incredible, a feast of color and animation brilliance. My recommendation is see this movie in 2-D, not 3-D. The 3-D glasses tend to dim the color slightly, and you don’t want that diminished in any way.


Enjoy the splendor, enjoy the color, enjoy the story, grab a hanky for the first few minutes of exposition between Carl & Ellie, and start worrying that maybe the next Pixar movie—Toy Story 3 in 3-D—will be the misstep.  (ps... I heard that last week, Toy Story 3 is completely finished and in the can.  And the early buzz on it is fantastic)

The 8th Coolest Thing of 2009... The Lovely Steph Leann's Class Reunion
Excerpts from September 1st, 2009...  One of the best (or worst, depending on who you are) parts about a class reunion, be it five, ten, fifteen or beyond, is seeing people that you hadn't seen in a long, long time. Friends you had, chicks you crushed on, people you didn't care for (but can't remember quite why), people you just knew and were used to seeing every day for years and years and suddenly, strangely, they are completely out of your life in every way possible.

When it comes to my own reunion back in 2002, for my 10th year anniversary of the Class of 1993, I saw some faces I welcomed like Chris McCall, Tonya Windham, Greg Avant, Stephanie Phillips, Tammy Thomas... now, I can keep up with them via Facebook. Some people, like my 4th grade crush Misty Kimble, I haven't actually seen since we walked off the football field around 8:30pm graduation night.

I think anyone who had been to a high school reunion will relate to some of this... just like The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa, who were attending their 15th anniversary of the Baker High School (Mobile, AL) Class of 1994.

The reunion was held at The Blue Gill Restaurant over in nearby Spanish Fort, out on the patio. While DeLisa had scrounged around for her 1994 Senior Yearbook, "The Novis", The Lovely Steph Leann had dug in the archives to find a ton of pictures, spirit ribbons, buttons and all sorts of nostalgic memorabilia. We walked through the restaurant to find a girl named Lynn Sprouse (now Kilgore), who quickly became one of my favorites of the night. It seemed that DeLisa and Lynn were part of a larger committee to help plan this shindig, but over time, it became ONLY DeLisa and Lynn planning this shindig, so while friendly enough, Lynn was quick to point out the failings of some other people. And it made me laugh.

The full story of the weekend can be found here... first, a post where DeNick and I went treasure hunting, and a photo essay on all the great finds we came upon... and secondly, the reunion overall, including my photography impersonation of Lesley Foley of Foley Photography, serving the Florida Panhandle and Southern Alabama, contact 850-543-7407, the porn star next door and these things being spoken:

"Those aren't real."

"I checked her photo. She's pretty hot now, especially since she got her eyebrows under control."

"Time has not been good to him."

"Time has not been good to her."

"Wow... time has been that guy's friend, I think."

"Dude, time has been very, very good to her."

And my favorite exchange of the night:

DeNick: That chick's top... not many people can do a top like that, but she managed to pull it off.
Me: I'm sure a few more beers and that's exactly what she'll do
DeNick (leaning over, trying not to choke on his $3 brew)

The 7th Coolest Thing of 2009... Disney with The Rays
The 6th Coolest Thing of 2009... Steven & Calah Ray
These two can be combined into one spot... we were setting up our trip to Disney World for June 2009 early in the year, and actually had a couple that had discussed going with us.  That fell through, and The Lovely Steph Leann and I discussed the idea of inviting these two people we'd just met, that being Steven Ray and his wife Calah.

They were fairly new in our Sunday School Life Connection class at Valleydale Baptist Church (an sbc fellowship), and our brief interactions had been... well, pleasant, but brief.  We knew he was close to 30, maybe 30ish, she was around 24 or 25... 23?  Who knows.  Anyway, we had enjoyed chatting with them...

So on a Sunday morning, I sat next to Calah and said, "Hey, you wanna go to Disney World with me and The Lovely Steph Leann?   In June.  It will be on the cheap..." and her eyes lit up and she said, "Uh... yeah... definitely.  Let me talk to Steven, but I think we can do this." 

And so we met up a few times, and each time we did we learned more and more about the Rays--and liked them more and more as well--as we planned our trip.  We stayed at All Star Music, and the Rays did the right thing... they trusted us and followed our lead in an effort to do as much as possible over the few days we were there.  It was go go go for three solid days, much of the time spent with Steven and Calah, and we had a few times apart from them so we could do our own thing.   I tell ya, if you want to get to know someone well, spend 10 hours in a Trailblazer, spend a weekend at The Most Magical Place on Earth, and spend another 10 hours in that same Trailblazer...

We got to know them well, and loved them greatly.  Steven is a former music minister, so The Lovely Steph Leann relates to him easy because she is a child of music as well... I relate to him because he's a guy my age.  Calah is a bit younger, an optometry student, but sometimes more mature that both of us guys... and since our friendship has lasted over a year now, with frequent lunches, frequent dinners and frequent game nights...

...and you know what else we love about Steven and Calah Ray?  They call us. 

See, The Lovely Steph Leann and I love socializing... we love being around people, we love dinners and having people over and such... but in our busy lives, we don't have time to call people alot.  Its nice when people call us every now and then, and to the Rays credit, they've done just that... randomly, I'll get a text that says, "BUFFALO WINGS DINNER?" or "YOU GUYS BUSY?  CARDS?" and we'll say "YEAH!" or "YEAH!"

Their marriage is sweet, you can tell just being around them that he adores her and dotes on her constantly, and you can tell that she not only loves him, but admires and respects him as well.  I hope that people see that between The Lovely Steph Leann and I when we are together.

Anyway, we loved our weekend vacation with The Rays and we love our friendship with them as well.  We think both are extremely cool.

Coming up... what IS the coolest thing of 2009?  Is it Disney again?  Is it another piece of technology?  Is it an unlikely starlet with a catchy tune?  Its all Up in the Air... this week, the Top Five Coolest Things of 2009.

My Lesley Foley Impersonation (Reunion II)

One of the best (or worst, depending on who you are) parts about a class reunion, be it five, ten, fifteen or beyond, is seeing people that you hadn't seen in a long, long time. Friends you had, chicks you crushed on, people you didn't care for (but can't remember quite why), people you just knew and were used to seeing every day for years and years and suddenly, strangely, they are completely out of your life in every way possible.

When it comes to my own reunion back in 2002, for my 10th year anniversary of the Class of 1993, I saw some faces I welcomed like Chris McCall, Tonya Windham, Greg Avant, Stephanie Phillips, Tammy Thomas... now, with the except of Greg, I can keep up with them via Facebook. Some people, like my 4th grade crush Misty Kimble, I haven't actually seen since we walked off the football field around 8:30pm graduation night.

I think anyone who had been to a high school reunion will relate to some of this... just like The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa, who were attending their 15th anniversary of the Baker High School (Mobile, AL) Class of 1994.

After the treasure hunting that DeNick and I went on Saturday morning, as reported in my previous post, we all met back at the house for lunch at Baudean's Seafood. After lunch, I took a short nap, The Lovely Steph Leann took an unfortunately-for-her shorter nap, and DeLisa and DeNick did stuff there at DeLisa's DeParents house. He probably went fishing for a little while, and she just took it easy, being what, four months pregnant or something.

Around 445p or so, we were ready to leave. I won't be revealing any espionage type secrets in saying that DeNick wasn't thrilled about going, as he could care less about going to his own reunion, while I had mixed feelings about it myself. A whole room of people I had never seen nor heard of, in a class large enough to have people that DeLisa and The Lovely Steph Leann, actual members of this class, had never met or heard of.


Yours Truly and The Lovely Steph Leann at her high school reunion. Gosh, we're cute.

But, DeNick is a loving husband and supportive of his wonderful wife, who actually helped put it together, and was going for her. I had dragged The Close Friend Steph Campbell to my aforementioned reunion years and years ago, and like DeNick, was willing to support my wife in her ventures, so away the four of us went.

The reunion was held at The Blue Gill Restaurant over in nearby Spanish Fort, out on the patio. While DeLisa had scrounged around for her 1994 Senior Yearbook, "The Novis", The Lovely Steph Leann had dug in the archives to find a ton of pictures, spirit ribbons, buttons and all sorts of nostalgic memorabilia. We walked through the restaurant to find a girl named Lynn Sprouse (now Kilgore), who quickly became one of my favorites of the night. It seemed that DeLisa and Lynn were part of a larger committee to help plan this shindig, but over time, it became ONLY DeLisa and Lynn planning this shindig, so while friendly enough, Lynn was quick to point out the failings of some other people. And it made me laugh.


DeNick's expression tells of his joy at being at a high school reunion

We spread the memory junk on the table for all to see, along with a guest book for people to write their current information, plus a space to put "feedback for a possible 20th year reunion". To this, I later looked and found someone had simply written "yes".

The food was heavy hors d'oeurvres, which was veggies, chicken fingers and peel-n-eat shrimp. DeLisa had mentioned this earlier, so I was fairly excited because I'm not talented in very many areas, but one thing I can do very well is eat shrimp. Imagine my disappointment when a tray was brought out full of shrimp, covered in what looked like cajun spices. I am NOT a spice person... enough spice to make a young Dakota Fanning go, "Hmm, that is a little spicy" is probably enough to make me say, "Holy crap, that's friggin' hot!"

DeNick and I sat and chatted for a few, while The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa began making rounds with people as the Class of 94 slowly trickled in. We eventually ventured out of the patio, down a ramp and to the backside where a small boat and an air boat sat floating in dirty water next to the dock. We walked around for a moment, then shrugged and walked back to the covered patio with everyone.

The patio was really divided into two parts, the first under the cover was the reunion party, with a small bar in the corner and chick bartenders that looked barely old enough to drive, much less serve alcohol. There was a rope splitting the patio, with the other side being an open dining area for the regular patrons, and a small stage where a band called... "The DTs"? "The Deets"?... played. If you or your husband is 30+ and feels the need to play guitar on the weekends with some other dudes and sing cover songs at a bar for tips, then you could have been in the DTs. First song they played? "Hard to Handle" by The Black Crowes.

DeLisa was having trouble with the laptop she brought, as it was supposed to loop a long video showing high school pictures and such, so DeNick saved the day and got it working. Meanwhile, I sat at the table, free Coke in hand (soft drinks were free, beer was $3 a pop, mixed drinks were at least $5), when I looked over and saw The Lovely Steph Leann's camera. I looked around and saw her talking to someone I obviously didn't know, so I opened up her camera case and took a few shots. I put the camera strap around my neck, and took a few more.

And thus, it began.

Somehow, over the course of the evening, I unofficially became the official photographer. Heck, it occupied my time and kept me busy. I would take candid shots of people at tables, snapshots of people looking at the memorabilia, the food, the bar, the ramp to the dock which somehow became the smoker's paradise cancer ward of the reunion, people drinking, people hugging, people dancing and everything in between. I had on a name tag that said "d$" in large print, and under it, it said (The Lovely Stephanie Campbell), so everyone who know who I belonged to, so I didn't think anything about it.

That is, until DeLisa came up to me and told me people were asking about my photography. Nervous that perhaps I had invaded someone's space, I asked what she was talking about, and DeLisa laughed that some people thought that perhaps I was hired for the night, and many were wondering when and how they would get to see all the pictures I was taking. I kinda smiled, a little bewildered and... well, just kept on taking pictures.

Lynn came to me and asked me about a group shot, and if we should do it in the band's next break, or wait a little longer for more people to arrive (by now it was a good 90 minutes or more into the festivities).

"Well, I would do it the next band break. Most people are here already, and those who aren't should be--their loss. The big problem is, if you wait much later, you're going to lose people who will start leaving early." She asked me, as if I was a professional photographer, where we should take it. Really, I had no clue which area would be the best--do we take it with the sunset in the background, but run the risk of it washing out the faces? Or do we move it to the other side, and run the risk of being too dark? I mean, who am I, Lesley Foley of Lesley Foley Photography? Finally, I pointed out a clear area next to the railing, by the bar. "Move that table, and everyone can gather there."

The band took a break, and Lynn and I started gathering people up. We herded everyone together, and though significant others and spouses all had cameras ready to take group pictures, I stood atop a bar stool with the camera. DeNick and I shouted out instructions... "move in a little more!"... "you, in the blue shirt, move over a little bit"... "need the front row to kneel a little bit!"... "I'm going to take three pictures, starting on the count of three!"

Somehow, it worked.


The Baker High School Class of 1994... or some of them, anyway...

Later in the evening, I sat down for a small plate of cold chicken fingers and lukewarm ranch dressing, and not too long after, was Baker Class of 94 member Cameron Lee joining me, with his pretty--and very pregnant wife--Amanda (I think?). Cameron asked me, "You done taking pictures already?"

"Nah, I'll probably take a few more. Just taking them for my wife, figured she's too busy to do it." I replied.

"Well," Cameron said, "I call your bluff on that one. You've been busy with that camera all night. Aren't you a photographer?"

"Ha!" I laughed. "I mean, who am I, Lesley Foley of Foley Photography, serving the Florida Panhandle and Southern Alabama, contact 850-543-7407? No, I'm just taking them for my wife The Lovely Steph Leann."

We chatted for a little while longer, then I got up and did what I was doing best for the evening--took more pictures. I was in line getting The Lovely Steph Leann a drink, and two girls turned around and said, "Oh, get our picture!", so I took it. This sort of happened all evening, as I would lift the camera, some, if not all, of my intended targets would pose, or smile or whatever.


The Lovely Steph Leann, DeLisa and a few others laugh up the old days.

Met a guy named Shannon, later, as he talked to The Lovely Steph Leann. They were friends in high school, along with a chick named Tina, and I guess another girl named Raina, and Shannon told me he thought I was the photographer, and was surprised to find I was merely Stephanie's husband.


This chick gets the award for "Most Perky Beer Koozy of the Night"

Now, while all the photo-snapping was going on, lest you think I abandoned DeNick. Quite the opposite, actually... he was my go-to guy for one liners and cracks. We had developed a habit of observing people as they came in, and going to the yearbook and seeing how much they changed... the following is a few things we observed over the course of the night:

"Those aren't real."
"I checked her photo. She's pretty hot now, especially since she got her eyebrows under control."
"Time has not been good to him."
"Time has not been good to her."
"Wow... time has been that guy's friend, I think."
"Dude, time has been very, very good to her."

And my favorite exchange of the night:

DeNick: That chick's top... not many people can do a top like that, but she managed to pull it off.
Me: I'm sure a few more beers and thats exactly what she'll do
DeNick (leaning over, trying not to choke on his $3 brew)

A few more observations from the night...

**Christy Turner gets the "Most Improved Award", tied with Ashley Sossaman. Both went from cute in their yearbook pics to hot 15 years later.

**At least at the beginning, the group covered the room like this... the really attractive girls and guys were over on one side in a huddle. The not quite as attractive girls and guys were on the other side. The black couple sat alone at a table. Ahhh, just like high school.

**The lone black couple were very, very nice. They sat for the entire evening, just enjoying the food and conversing with whoever sat down with them for however long they were sitting, but they were really great to talk to.

**Talked to one girl--and I'll be vague--and she was telling me, "See this chick walking in right now? Let me tell you..." and she proceeded to tell me some of the unnice things that had happened. When the offending chick walked in, she and the girl hugged tightly, squealed each others names, and hugged again. When offensive chick walked away, the girl came back to me, and said, "...like I was saying...". I don't get you women.

**I was trying to take a picture through the crowd of a chick named Shelly. I had the perfect shot, and right as I snapped the button, she picked her fork up with a big chunk of food on it. The flash went off, she looked up and gave me the stink eye. I held my hands up and mouthed "sorry!" No more pictures of Shelly for the night.

**As in most reunions, there is at least one that didn't make it for other reasons than "didn't want to come". Such was the case with Chris Mason, who apparently lost his life in military service. They had a small table set up with his picture, a letter from Dubya and some other small items. Made me smile when DeNick looked at it, had a disgusted look on his face, then picked up an empty beer bottle from sitting on the table. "They can leave it next to the cake, but don't leave your trash on this table. That's not right."

**Random observation... no matter the length of time, sometimes bitterness doesn't die. Just sayin'.

**There was one guy not in the Class of 94 that made me grab DeNick and say, "Check this out! Ron Jeremy is here!" He wasn't Ron Jeremy, but he had a 70s porn fro' and a great 70s porn 'stache if I ever saw one... not that I really ever have, mind you, but the stereotype is there for a reason.


This pic doesn't do it justice.

We were set to leave, it was late, most had already gone and as we meandered out the door, I had a few people ask me how to find the pictures. I told them they needed to be The Lovely Steph Leann's friend on Facebook.

Mandy Blansett sat on a bench near the front of the restaurant, and as we were working our way through, she said, "Thank you for taking pictures tonight!" I had already been hugged for such activities by a girl named Raina, who was very pleased to also have met me, though I cannot remember at any time talking to her before she hugged me. I smiled at Mandy and said, "You're welcome. It was fun."

"How much are they paying you?" she asked.

I looked at The Lovely Steph Leann, who just smiled. "They didn't pay me," I replied. "I'm just taking pictures for Stephanie, because she was too busy to do it."

"Really? Wow! I thought surely they had hired someone like you to do it!"

"I mean, who am I, Lesley Foley of Foley Photography, who's website can be found here?" I asked. "Nope, just taking some pictures at will."

Then a discussion opened up between Mandy and The Lovely Steph Leann, who is a Creative Memories Consultant and can be found here online.

So that's the Baker High School Class of 94 Reunion in a nutshell. Met some fun people that won't remember me tomorrow, took some pictures, ate some cold chicken fingers and had a great weekend with The Lovely Steph Leann, hanging out with DeNick and DeLisa... two truly wonderful people that we don't see enough of.

FYI... Lesley Foley is a friend of The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa, and by extension, a friend of mine and DeNick's, and runs a very successful photography business, and I joked about how I was afraid for Lesley to see my pictures as I am not a good photographer, nor do I use a Nikon... so I thought I would throw some shout-outs to her and her business for fun. If you are in the panhandle, check her site out--she's pretty good.


Lesley the Photographer

FYII... If you are on Facebook and reading this, search "Clouds in My Coffee" and join the fanpage. I'm on my way to 100, and I want to see how many people I can get before The Lovely Steph Leann actually joins. DeLisa is a member, as is Lesley Foley of Foley Photography, which you can email at lesley@foleyphotography.com... and if you email her at the site, make sure you answer the question "how did you find me?" with "I had some dreams, they were Clouds In My Coffee, Clouds In My Coffee..." My advice is to stop the song there, though. Keep going and she might not call you back.

Dave & DeNick's Treasure Hunting (Reunion I)

This is the first part of a few posts chronicling my weekend in Mobile, Alabama...

As reported before, I headed to Mobile this past weekend with The Lovely Steph Leann, and our friends DeNick and DeLisa. It seems that somehow, someway, we always end up spending the weekend with them out of town, be it a friends gathering a few years ago, a Disney World trip last fall, and now this, but it always works out.

The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa were graduates of Baker High School in 1994, and this was the 15th anniversary of that very same class. DeLisa had been heavily involved in planning this reunion, and The Lovely Steph Leann was along for the ride... which meant that spouses like myself and DeNick were also along for the ride.

We left Friday afternoon around 4pm, and had an uneventful ride down--I say "uneventful" because I slept for the first two hours of it. We did stop at Steak-n-Shake in Prattville, upon my suggestion because, really, I love some Steak-n-Shake. I wish there was one here in Birmingham, but part of me is glad, because some of the appeal might wear off--I've not been to Whataburger nearly as much as I thought I would now that they are in town.

But boy do I miss Denny's.

Anyway, we were staying at DeLisa's parents house to which we arrived around 9p or so, unloaded, and then had cake, chatted it up with DeMom and spent 45 minutes watching the sonogram video of DeNick & DeLisa's baby coming soon. She's due in January. I got to watch a little Dateline NBC, always a good time.

The reunion party wasn't until 6pm the next evening, so the subject of "What are we going to do tomorrow" came up, and DeLisa and The Lovely Steph Leann had their answer. They were going to go get chicked out with one of those mani-pedi type mornings at a place that does such things.

My version of a manicure is when I bite the fingernail of my index finger. Done. DeNick also had no desire for such things, so we chatted for a moment about what we could do for the morning. DeLisa said, "You should go to Hudson's." I looked at her, then to DeNick and asked, "What's Hudson's?"

A smile crept across DeNick's face. Essentially, he explained, its this big store that has tons and tons of random closeout things, of all types, sizes, prices and so on. Kind of like Big Lots, I say, and both DeNick and DeLisa shake their heads. No, better (worse?) that Big Lots.

"I'm in," I say immediately. You know you are a blogger when you look for opportunities to take pictures and discuss the strange places you go.

The next morning, The Lovely Steph Leann was already at breakfast, ready to get her chick on with DeLisa, before I was even fully awake. I figured I'd shower later (which I did), and was pleasantly surprised at what DeDad had cooked up... biscuits, eggs, bacon and cheese grits, which were delish to the core--I had two big helpings of such.

Finally, the girls were gone and the boys headed to Hudson's Treasure Hunt. And of course, I took some pictures...


Here's Hudson's, right off of... Schillengers? It was in a shopping center next to a Dollar General, which, let me tell ya, where EVA-REE-WHERE.


In case you want to look like Mary-Kate... or Ashley... whichever's which... you can buy their hair care products! Oh, and don't eat for three days and smoke like a chimney. That would do it.


I don't know that I can come up with a price that I wouldn't pay, or at least consider, to see The Lovely Steph Leann wear a pair of pants like these, even for a brief moment.


Don't be deceived by this aisle. Despite the fact there were a 1,000 DVDs here, there were many of the same ones, so you had about 15 titles to choose from. They were all $4.99 though, so it was tempting to purchase the entire first season of Gene Simmons Family Jewels.


Let me be clear... if this ever ends up on our shelves in The Cabana, call the police. Because if this is in our house, that means that The Lovely Steph Leann is dead, and if you didn't hear me talk about it, then I had something to do with her disappearance. Thats the only way this would ever make it in our home. And if you decide to give us this for a gift, even a gag gift, she WILL throw it away. Just sayin'.


So, if you are looking at your shopping list, and it says Advil, hair scrunchies, triple A batteries, Coca-cola flavored lip balm, gift wrap tape dispensers AND condoms, then not only can you get it all at Hudson's Treasure Hunt, you can get it all standing IN THE SAME SPOT! What convenience!!

We finished up our walking around at Hudson's, which also included tours of the hardware that featured $124 dollar hammers--why would you ever need a hammer that cost more than $20?--and axes that not only had the blade plastic cover missing, but were on the bottom shelf for your child's easy reaching and DeNick bought a few things and I bought a cheap flashlight for the car.

We were back in the truck we were riding in and were heading back to DeMom's house, when DeNick pipes up, "Hey! I just remembered... if you think that was bad, there's another place down the road called Hudson's Dirt Cheap."

First of all, any place with the words "Dirt" and "Cheap" in them--done. I'm all about it. I shared this sentiment with my riding buddy, and we turned the Trooper around and headed thataway.

I figured out that Hudson's Treasure Hunt was like Big Lots threw up. And if that place was Big Lots throwing up, then Hudson's Dirt Cheap was Big Lots squatting and take a huge crap. This place was reeeeeediculous... piles of junk everywhere. Anywhere. The shelves were dirty, the items were opened, broken, strewn about, the packages were sometimes empty, and there was the most random assortment of crap you could possibly imagine.



And the crazy thing was, the place was packed. There was a ton of people walking the aisles, picking stuff up, ready to purchase.

There was a lady near the front on the phone, sifting through a big cardboard bin of makeup supplies and such, and I heard her say, "Yeah, they've got dozens of shades here, like, 3 for a dollar! Would you like me to pick you up some?" And then she turned to the littler girl next to her, swatted the hand, and said, "Don't you dare put that anywhere near your mouth!"


They had plenty of toiletry items here, including a seat. And no, I didn't stage this picture by putting this on the shelf. DeNick saw me taking a picture of it, and said plainly, "Now THAT... I wouldn't touch." Touche.


This is one of my worst fears. I write a book that I'm very proud of, hopefully you will all buy and enjoy, and some years later, I find it on the shelves of Hudson's Dirt Cheap. I might have to walk into traffic.


A couple of things to notice about this picture... first, the yellow tag on the shelf. That would be a Wal Mart tag. And many of the shelves had Wal Mart yellow price stickers on them, as in, Hudson's Dirt Cheap hadn't even bothered to clean the shelves off. Secondly, notice the price tag actually on this box of crayons... it says $4.99. It was on a 50% off shelf, so for about $2.50, you are getting a rather attractive box of 120 Crayola Premium Crayons. Heck, it even says "Surprise Inside!" So open the box and...


...surprise! A bunch of used, broken and missing crayons! What a deal!


Be honest... if you are brave enough to buy the clothes, how many of you are brave enough to venture into the Changing Coops dressing rooms?

Finally, DeNick and I had about all the Hudson's Bargain hunting we could stand, and once again, was heading to DeLisa's parents home, when once again, DeNick piped up, "Hey, you know what else is around here? The flea market!"

So, off we went. It was nearing noon by this time, and we knew our respective chicks were probably close to being done with their chicked out morning, so we figured we would swing in and just take a look around.


Suffice to say, as far as hilarity ensuing, it was just eh. Actually, it was quite organized... while neither one of us found a whole lot we were interested in purchasing, we were quite impressed by the way it was laid out. It was clean, it had a wide variety of things for sale--movies, music, comics, clothes, knick knacks, paddywhacks, the dogs and the bones--and I even paid 50 cent for disc one of WWE Raw Is War 15th Anniversary Collection.

There were lots of animals here for sale including...


...chickens for $10. Seriously, it was almost worth ten dollars to see the look on The Lovely Steph Leann's face when I came back with a rooster in a cage. I didn't do it, however, because as priceless as that look might be, and as much enjoyment as DeNick would get out of it, I would then have a chicken I'd have to do something with, and I'd have a very annoyed wife to deal with later. Just not worth it. Almost, but not quite.

We finished up, and headed back to DeMom's house, and this time, DeNick had nothing else to toss in there. I took a shower when we arrived, DeNick headed out to the pier behind the house and we waiting for the chicks to come back, which they did.

We had lunch at Baudean's, a pretty decent if somewhat overpriced seafood joint down the road, and then just relaxed for the afternoon. The Lovely Steph Leann got in a nap, as did I, before we got up and prepared to face The Class of 1994.

The Top Five Coolest Things of 2008

FYI... For an American Idol recap, scroll to the next post... for Facebook users, click to Clouds in My Coffee to see videos...

Before we begin (finish?) here's a recap of The 100 Coolest Things of the Year, numbers 100 thru 6...

The Introduction and Recap
The 100th thru 91st Coolest Things of 2008
The 90th thru 81st Coolest Things of 2008
The 80th thru 71st Coolest Things of 2008
The 70th thru 61st Coolest Things of 2008
The 60th thru 51st Coolest Things of 2008
The 50th thru 41st Coolest Things of 2008
The 40th thru 31st Coolest Things of 2008
The 30th thru 21st Coolest Things of 2008
The 20th thru 11st Coolest Things of 2008
The 10th thru 6th Coolest Things of 2008

One of the best things about a blog site is that as things are more important and more cool throughout the year, chances are, you've already blogged about it. So much of this will be a recap of what has already been written, with bits and pieces, plus the link for the entire story...

So, finally...

The 5th Coolest Thing of 2008. Toni Rocki Honda.
From the moment I picked up my new-to-me Honda Accord, I knew that my time with my 1999 Mercury Pezochit was limited. Yes, yes, this car caused me much grief, and yes, it wasn't exactly a "chick magnet" vehicle... but I had had it for about 8 years. I felt like I had paid car repair bills every single one of those years. You can read my car-ownership history here, a sad tale of lemons, wrecks and bad auto decisions...

Here's how I start the story...

I'm hanging out at The Happiest Place in the Mall the other day, and I get a text message. "Call me when you have a minute". The Lovely Steph Leann needs to converse with me for some reason, and I'm puzzled why.

Could she have discovered my hidden stash of Sweet Valley High novels? Did she find the full 3rd season of Manimal on my computer? Surely not... its well hidden. (I'm just kidding. I don't have Manimal on my computer... duh!). Or maybe she finally realized that she's so far out of my league, its funny, and she wants to negotiate a deal... who knows...

I call her back, and after the usual married pleasantries, she tells me, "Okay, so my cousin JoAnna is selling her car." Its a 95 Honda Accord, with 102K miles on it. The price is extremely cheap, and its in really good condition... do we want it? (I only say "extremely cheap" because I don't know if JoAnna offered it to anyone else and and what price, so I don't want to put her on the spot--if you really wanna know, just ask me)

We discuss it for a few days, consider the options, and decide its worth a look-see. But when to go? The car is in Gadsden, an hour up the road, I've got a very busy weekend, I'm at The Happiest Place in the Mall and The Most Caffeinated Place in Soho Monday and Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, but that night we need to pack, because on Thursday, we're going to The Happiest Place on Earth Not Next to The Lovely Steph Leann with our friends DeLisa and DeNick.



Do you want to know what happened? How the little Honda Accord came to be known as Toni Rocki Honda? Sure you do... click here for the full column from September 20th, 2008.

Movies I'm totally stoked for in 2009... "The Land of the Lost", starring Will Ferrell... "Star Trek", cause even though I'm not a Trekkie, I dig JJ Abrams... "GI Joe", which had the trailer premiere during the Super Bowl... "Transformers 2", cause how could you not be excited?... "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian", cause I loved the first one, and this one not only has all the major cast back, but also Amy Adams!...

And finally... these two...



And I think this will be just fantastic...


The 4th Coolest Thing of 2008. DeLisa & DeNick at The Happiest Place in the Earth.
One of the best things about my job as an assistant magic maker at The Happiest Place in the Mall is the fact that we are able to go to The Happiest Place on Earth more often, and with that, we are able to take friends and loved ones with us.

Our first excursion with this ability came last September, around the birthday of The Lovely Steph Leann, as we traveled down to Orlando, Florida. With us was The Lovely Steph Leann's BFF from high school, DeLisa, and her husband DeNick.


This is The Lovely Steph Leann and DeLisa being all BFFy on The People Mover in Tomorrowland

I know that The Lovely Steph Leann just loves DeLisa dearly, and because of the marriage, she in turn dearly loves DeNick... and personally... I do too. There are great people in this world, perhaps people you don't see often enough, but people that none the less will bend over backwards to help you in all manners that they can, expecting nothing in return, and both DeNick and DeLisa fall into this catagory. Heck, just last week, DeNick, handy manny that he is, came over and installed a shower curtain rod into The Cabana's guest bathroom, and... well, I was going to say "helped me", but truly, I followed his instructions in laying down carpet in our newly almost finished attic turned super duper closet area upstairs. Anyway, it was this type of affection and adoration that made The Lovely Steph Leann and I look forward to taking them with us to The Happiest Place on Earth.


Not sure which is more disturbing... the lion on my head, or the fact that DeNick wants to look growly with a flowery lei wrapped around his hand

Neither are Disney-philes like we are (yes, yes, someone out there just said aloud "well, who is?") but both do enjoy the parks and the splendor of it all. We even worked out a great deal where we flew down on Thursday night, stayed at All Star Sports Resort, hit the parks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, taking in some shopping on Monday. We had character meals together, and even dined extravagantly at Le Cellier in Epcot.

DeNick is one of those people that make me nervous when we go out to eat in a restaurant that has been chosen by The Lovely Steph Leann and I... he's such a cooking aficianado, you can only hope that whatever he tries, he likes... so when you hear him say, "Wow, that's really good" like we did at Le Cellier or in Animal Kingdom Lodge's Boma restaurant, you breath a sigh of relief.

Random The Happiest Place on Earth Story... DeLisa, DeNick, The Lovely Steph Leann and Yours Truly was coming out of Soarin', in The Land, headed back outside to presumably ride Test Track, when we saw a Cast Member with a lanyard. The Lovely Steph Leann and Yours Truly made a beeline for the guy, with DeLisa--newly indoctrinated pin collector that she was--following close behind.


DeNick likes to pose when he knows the camera is watching.

The Lovely Steph Leann notices a pin from Toy Story, a Woody pin, on the guy's lanyard, and exclaims, "Oh, you have a Woody! I want your Woody!" probably louder than she intended. I glanced over at DeNick, who was smirking, his left elbow in his right hand, his left index finger covering his twitching mouth. I shot a look at DeLisa who was also smirking. Finally, biting my own lip, I dared a glance at the Cast Member who looked at us, sighed, and with a half smile said, "Go ahead and laugh. I am not allowed to, but you can." DeLisa, DeNick and I began to laugh heartily, and a few seconds later when The Lovely Steph Leann understood her vocal folly, she half laughed, half gritted, "Shut up!" while smacking both me and DeNick. The Cast Member even enjoyed a laugh. Good times. Good times.


The four of us enjoying drinks and an African style buffet at Boma, located inside Animal Kingdom Lodge

By the way, if you want to read some early blogging stories, you can read the story of DeNick and DeLisa's wedding told in three parts...
Part 1: Its In the Shoes
Part 2: Its All Greek To Me
Part 3: Everybody Wang Chung Tonight... Everybody Go Greek Tonight

Some of the crappiest things, or biggest disappointments of 2008? In no particular order... Auburn firing Tubby... "Mamma Mia!" was a disaster on the big screen... "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was a huge blemish on the Indy Legacy... The New England Patriots lose the Super Bowl, thus ending their bid for undefeatedness... Being a Starbucks manager isn't everything I hoped it would be... and, of course, John McCain gets the Republican nomination, all but assuring that the most liberal, left-wing idealistic, socialistic minded (these aren't slanders--this is who he is. don't get offended. you elected the guy) Democrat in Congress would win the White House.

The 3rd Coolest Thing of 2008. The Happiest Place in the Mall.
Its interesting that I'm just now finishing this list at this point in March, though I said I would try to get it done by the beginning of February. Right, right... anyway, I was talking about "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" last night to a fellow Cast Member, about the final scene.

At the very end, when the credits are just starting, all the major players in the movie, that being Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Monica Coleman, The Junior Goddess, Corbin Bleu and that dude who plays Ryan Evans, are all standing there, taking a bow. They have these big grins on their faces, grins that read "Wow. We did it. The show is complete..." and they are smiles that only people who have been involved in drama can understand. That big exhuberance you feel when the show you've slaved over (or in this case, a movie trilogy) has finally come to a close, a smashing, wonderful, rousing, successful close, and its over, so your smile is part sadness that its over, part relief that its over, part excitement that its over, but all smiles because its over. Wendy Deckermiller... Erin the Marine Wife... you feel me. I know you do.

Anyway, I was trying to describe this feeling to my Fellow Cast Member, when she said, "How do you know?" I told her I'd been involved in student drama now at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) for almost 10 years, and before that, I was a drama minor in college. She said, "But you didn't finish, did you?" and I said, "Of course I finished. I have a degree in broadcast communications, with minors in theater and sign."

And she stammered for a second, then said, "Then why are you here? In retail?"

And I smiled, "Because... well, because I want to be."

And its the absolute truth. How many people are doing the jobs they want to do, or feel like they are in jobs that suit who they are almost to a tee? Granted, if offered a creative ministries position at a church, or full time with the All Things to All People drama team in Student Life ministries, or if The Happiest Place on Earth called up and said, "We want you in our creative department", I might have to take a gander... but for now? I work at The Disney Store. I'm an assistant manager. I'm paid pretty good jack (I'm not rich, President B. Hussein Obama, so please don't tax me yet) to demo toys. To discuss the new line of Power Rangers with a guest. To toss a ball filled with glitter swirling around a plastic Cinderella to a little girl who can barely catch it. To hand out free Jonas Brothers posters to a squealing pre-teen convinced she is not only the biggest Jo-Bro fan in the world, but the future Mrs. Joe. Or Kevin. Or Nick. To come up with ideas of how to get Pinocchio on DVD into the hands of more people. To help people plan their first Disney vacation by telling them the dos and don'ts of fast passes, Toy Story Mania, the dining plan and pin trading. To tell an unhappy guest that yes, Peter Pan just went back into the vault, but luckily, we have a few copies left.

This is what I get paid for. Yes, yes, it has its challenges, it has its difficult spots and there are things about the Disney Company that make me think, "What the crap? They are a bajillion billion dollar company, and they do it THIS way?" But I love my job. I love going to work. I love the people I work with. I feel valued there. I feel accepted there. I feel important there, something I felt somewhat at Parisian Corporate, something I felt at Cox Radio, but never, ever felt at NBC13, and only partly felt, some of the time, at Starbucks.

When I was trying to decide whether to leave Starbucks, an ordeal I wrote about in a piece called "Between a Mouse and a Bean Place" from last June, I was faced with a decision one should be so lucky to have... which great job to choose from? Stay where I am, be happy. Be okay. Take the new job. Be happy. Be okay. I followed the essay up with another column a few days later called "Taking the Mouse, Leaving the Bean Place". Anyway, you can read the full story there...

"Why are you still here?"

"Hmm. Because... because I want to be. That's why"

The 2nd Coolest Thing of 2008. The Cabana.
We spent much of 2007's latter half looking at houses. You know the routine, anyone who is married and has looked for a house... you lurv a house and your Significant Other merely likes it. They just adore the house you are looking at, but you are thinking it's just okay... which a house should never just be "okay".

We searched and searched... we saw a three story townhome next door to Mark & Cindy Warner that I absolutely loved... the basement was finished, it was like a mini-apartment, and I was already envisioning it as a Man Cave, with a big, fat tv on the wall and a ping-pong table in the corner. We don't drink, but I might even start collecting wine, who knows... The Lovely Steph Leann liked it. Just okay.


The Lovely Steph Leann, inspecting the drawers and sinks at The Cabana

We looked at another home that had this huge living room, with this huge stone fire place, large rafter filled ceilings and big bay windows. The Lovely Steph Leann loved it, or at least this part of the house... I slowly talked myself into it, but that time, she had soured on it. Something about the house needed a new roof soon, or whatever. Our real estate agent was Tanya Stephens, now... Mischa? Mescha? We're terrible friends having not kept up with her...

Tanya, The Lovely Steph Leann and I pulled up to one house, and my response was "Hmm". Immediately, Tanya turned around and said, "You don't like it, do you?" I looked at her, "I didn't say anything." She smiled at me and said, "Yes you did. You said 'Hmm', which tells me at first glance you don't like it, and if Stephanie likes it, you'll to be talked into it. And thats not a good sign."

We found another one down past Greystone, a home that I liked well enough, but The Lovely Steph Leann wasn't crazy about. Tanya nailed it perfectly, something like "Dave, you like this house because its new, and its fun, and Steph, you don't like this house because its so new that it doesn't have character." Righo, Tanya.

The funniest moments though were perhaps when we both didn't like the house, like one in Bluff Park that was nice enough, but you could tell the guy living it was either fresh out of college or still living like he was. The house smelled strongly of bad potpourri, and having grown up in a smoke-infested home, it took me about three seconds to inform The Lovely Steph Leann that the powerful fragrance is covering up the cigerette smoke in the house. Plus the small fridge with beer cans on top, sitting beside the bed in the bedroom didn't help any, and neither did the old Pepsi machine on the porch. We passed.


Our agent, Tanya, helping us get a measure of the bedroom

We had to sign another lease at The Casa de Pesos Apartment on December 31st, or go month to month, but since we weren't close to finding a house, we figured we'd just sign a 7 month lease and keep looking for houses. On the last day of the year, I signed the contractual lease locking us into The Park at the Galleria and its ever rising rent until August of 2008.

The next day, The Lovely Steph Leann and I were at Mikey's parents home for their annual New Year's Day gathering, when for whatever reason (I'm sure she remembers), The Lovely Steph Leann had to run an errand... and for whatever reason, Lil Sister Ashley goes with her. A little while later, I get a call on my celly from my dear wife, saying, "David, you HAVE to come look at this house! You have to come look! Ohmigosh! Hurry up!"

I hop in the car... maybe Lil Sister Ashley went with me... or maybe it was Rev'rn Ty... you know what, doesn't matter. Anyway, when I arrive in this newly built neighborhood of Beaumont, I see three or four houses that are built, the rest are just dirt plods awaiting a foundation, or foundations awaiting a frame, or frame awaiting a wall. The one in question rests on Laurens Street, numbered 1508. It's got a palm tree in front. No joke. All the houses down this street do. I'm diggin' it.


The Lovely Steph Leann, looking over the kitchen area

I walk in, and the first thing I say to The Lovely Steph Leann and Lil Sister Ashley is, "If we end up moving here, we're calling this place 'The Cabana'. We just are."

Its dusty with the smell of drywall, the paint cans are everywhere, the floor is half there, the stairs have plastic all over them... but it kinda hooks me. This place is kinda cool. The Lovely Steph Leann... well, you just have to understand her. She has levels of likes and dislikes. For instance, during Idol, I started a verse of "Hero" by Marc Antony, and she yelled at me because she so deeply despises this song. If I were to sing "I Hope You Dance", she'd just ask me to stop, because she just merely hates the song. Conversely, she has two positive emotions... like it and love it. You'll know like it, because she'll smile, or she'll agree, but you just get this hint that she's not crazy about it, but it'll do. When she loves it, you know it.

And she loved this house. She was clapping, pointing out random things in the home, like the fireplace and the attic and the counters and the sinks and so on and so forth. She loved this home. And you know what? I could see it... I didn't know if I was in love with it--yet--but I really, really liked it.

We contacted Tanya, and on a Sunday, she met up with us, telling us that she had this house in mind for us as well. She loved it too. The next few days were a whirlwind... we met with the realty company several days later for what I thought was an informational meeting... so when the lady said, "Oh it will be blah blah blah down to hold the home for 2 weeks, and closing costs will be blah blah blah..." I looked at The Lovely Steph Leann and said, "Do we need to discuss this?" and she nodded and said, "No, I have a check." What? I looked confused, and she said, "Didn't I tell you this was a meeting about reserving the house?" Uh... no... she looked, smiled sheepishly and said, "Oh... well, this is a meeting about reserving the house!"

A week or two later, we met with Gary "The Idol" Eubanks and signed the papers. We were officially homeowners. Thus began the homesteading saga you can read about in "The Glorious Road to Colombiana".


Life at The Cabana

Just two more quick notes... if you ever need someone to walk the house with you to determine what needs to be fixed before moving in, call Ruth Campbell, the mother of The Lovely Steph Leann. The woman is... well, ruthless. She walked in with her green dots and put them on every nick and cranny, every paint streak that was streaked, every nail that was a little bit crooked, every railing that considered shifting left 0.07 degrees... she was all over it. It was awesome. She and the Wonderful KT also are owed some props for helping us to get the place cleaned up in time for move-in, including one most-to-all-nighter on the eve before we moved. I also give props to J Rob for coming to the Casa de Pesos and helping me get done packing up... KT and Britlicious did a wonderful job that next day too. This gets a nod in "The Moving Diaries: 24" and "RIP Casa de Pesos"

And who'da thunk that a year later, we'd still be on Phase 4.

Before we finish... people/things that barely missed the cut that deserve a mention... in no particular order... Tanya Stephens... Sonic Cheesesticks... Dayla Ellison... Big Jon Taylor... Croyle... Britlicious... Jamie Cartledge... The Purple Onion... Scotty Latta... Pruitt Cool Award Nominee Tyler Campbell... Ashley Tisdale... Amy Valdmanis... Pruitt Cool Award Nominee Mikey... Dale's Southern Grill... KidStuf... Gainey Wins the DFC... JustFish... Pruitt Cool Award Nominess Lil Sister Ashley... Trey Cartledge... The Freckled Becca & Bobowen... Sammi Carby... Dixon Brock... Cristie Stephenson... The Dainty Steph Halpert... Andy Murry... Chipotle Mexician Grill... Wendi Deckermiller... Blair Andress... Kelly Karrell... and I'm sure I'll think of more when I finish this list...

THE COOLEST THING OF 2008

Three words:
1) I'm
2) Debt
3) Free

Read about Freedom here....

And now that this list is done, we'll continue with blogs about our real life...