The Lakers Killer Instinct Returns

The Lakers were not looking so hot for the first few games of the season. While they were winning games, they just didn't look like they had it all together. Then they dropped to a disappointing 7-3 record and Kobe's goal of beating the Bulls' record for most wins in a season (72-10) looked like a long, long, long shot. Pau Gasol was still out with his injury. Andrew Bynum was trying to come back from his injury. It just didn't look good.

Then...Pau Gasol comes back to the line-up and it looks like the Lakers have found their Championship swagger again. Since his return, they've won six straight. They even buried a couple of teams by 20 or more. I like the way they look now that everyone is healthy (except Luke Walton, of course) and that they have that killer instinct again. Before that, they just looked lost. It's good to finally be looking like the championship team that they are. As of today, they are holding onto a decent 13-3 record. We are one game behind Phoenix for the best record in the western conference. Not too shabby. I'm just thankful they are back! I was a little worried for a few games there.

Garrison and The Beatles

I'm not exactly sure when it started. I didn't make a big production out of playing the Beatles for my sons. I just played them whenever I got the fancy to. The boys would listen, but I wasn't sure they were really paying attention. Garrison was. Garrison started asking me questions about them. He would recognize them on posters and ask me which ones were still alive. One day, he asked me to play them in the car. We talked about the Beatles and their music. He asked me more questions. He was really interested in them. The other day, he asked me why I didn't put Beatles songs on his iPod. I told him that I didn't know he would want them, but promised him that I would.

The other night, there was a program on the History channel called "The Beatles: On Record". It was a synopsis of all 14 of the Beatles albums with narration from the Beatles and George Martin (all taken from interviews). It sounded interesting and I asked my wife to DVR it for me. The night it aired, I told Garrison about it and he said he wanted to watch it with me. So, we all sat down and watched it together. Gage and Gavin were interested for about 10 minutes and then they moved on to other things. Garrison stuck it out. He watched the entire thing with me and asked intelligent questions about them. It was fun and nice to share that with my oldest son. Last night, Garrison and his brothers were at the Ferris' house for a sleepover. Joi went to sleep early because she was getting up at 4am to do some black Friday shopping. While she was sleeping, there was a concert on television with Paul McCartney performing at the spot where Shea Stadium used to stand in New York and where the Beatles had played back in 1963. It was a good concert with lots of well known Beatles songs and some interview clips and footage of the early Beatles performance at Shea Stadium. I taped it for Garrison. I'll probably watch it with him this weekend. It's fun to share music with my sons and it's amazing to me that the Beatles can write music that many different generations can enjoy together. During the concert footage, Paul remarked that he enjoys watching the crowds at his concerts because he sees 7 year olds, 17 year olds, 37 year olds, 50, 60, 70 year olds all enjoying his music together and he says it's a special thing.

It is. It is a very special thing.

The Muppets Do Bohemian Rhapsody

It's Thanksgiving...and nothing says Thanksgiving like the Muppets and Queen. The Muppets and Queen are a couple of my favorite things (besides pumpkin pie with cool whip and stuffing). So, for your holiday enjoyment, I have decided to post the Muppets doing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Enjoy...and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Vice Presidental Dreams and Child Eating Bears

Last night I had a strange dream. Something happened to Vice President Joe Biden and he was unable to perform the duties of vice president. President Obama decided to replace him with a republican to make his platform more party friendly. He chose me. I know that Vice President's don't live in the White House, but for some reason Obama decided to move my entire family into the White House. I was excited about my new home and my new role as vice president. However, in my dream, I was concerned about a couple of things. How am I going to raise my son's to be responsible young men in a house where there are employees who do all the chores? Also, I wanted to blog about my new experiences at the White House, but I was concerned that being a Vice President would dictate that I was not allowed to blog. Then, I woke up. Weird, huh?

On another topic, my wife did something funny last night. I'm not sure how funny Garrison thought it was...but it struck us as funny. Around 10pm, Garrison came into our room and said that he was having trouble sleeping because he kept thinking about alligators who wanted to eat his brothers...including their bones. He was truly upset about it. Joi responded in a sweet, caring tone..."Oh honey, there's no chance of alligators eating your brothers in Colorado. They are more likely to get eaten by bears!" We both laughed and then realized that Garrison was serious and that he wasn't laughing. So, we apologized and consoled him for real. Poor kid. Sometimes what is funny to a parent isn't always funny to a child. Someday, he'll laugh at this story, though.

Pomplamoose - Beat It

Don't ask me how I find this stuff. I just do, okay? I found an indie band doing a cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat it". The version was pretty good. I actually understood some of the lyrics during this version. I had no idea that Michael was singing "Show them how funky strong is your fight!". Anyway, also, I was intrigued by the use of a xylophone and a kids toy piano during the making of the tune. And the lead singers "deer in a headlight" look during the singing of the song was strangely mesmerizing. Upon further investigation, I found out that this group is called Pomplamoose (which is french for grapefruit, by the way). They have other songs and a good sound. You can download many songs for free from their site - here. Among the free songs you can download are covers of "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes, and "Single Ladies" by Beyonce...among others. Anyway, check out the video and visit their site. If you enjoy indie/alternative/folksy music like I do, you'll be glad you did.

Lesson Learned: Living in the Snow

I recently learned a new lesson about living in the snow. Whenever there is a hard snow, our neighbor always goes out and shovels his patio completely clear of the snow. I didn't think too much about it. He must really like to have a clear patio. During the last snow, as usual, I shoveled a path from our gate across our patio to our front door. But, I left snow on either side of the path. I was thinking that the boys would enjoy playing with it and that I would leave it there for them. As long as we have a safe path to and from our front door, all is well. What I didn't count on was this. The week following our heavy snow (where we got 12-15 inches of snow) it dropped to freezing every night and got up to 50 degrees every day. So, the snow would melt a little and then freeze....melt a little and then freeze. Basically, this process made solid ice on either side of my patio. So, now I have about 8 inches of solid ice on either side of my patio and it's not melting away. It's dangerous for the kiddos who like to play on our patio. Gage already fell once and bruised his butt-bone (although, I don't think he fell on the patio, but outside our gate). In order to get rid of this solid ice, I either need to pray for some warm days and non-freezing nights, or go out there with some ice salt and salt everything down to aid in the melting process...and then find a tool or a shovel that I can use to chunk away at the ice, break it up, and move it outside our patio. To make matters worse, our patio faces north. Which means that the sun very rarely shines on our patio because the sun is more due south and runs east to west from the south side of us. Oh well, lesson learned. I guess the next time it snows, I'll shovel our entire patio. The boys will have to play outside our fence to play in the snow. At least we'll have a safe patio without 8 inches of ice to contend with.

I prefer...

I like Picard better than Kirk.
I prefer Windows OS to Mac.
I prefer Apple iPod over other MP3 Players.
I prefer the Beatles over the Rolling Stones.
I think Tom Baker was the best Doctor Who.
I'd choose Coke over Pepsi...but I'd take Dr. Pepper over both.
I liked Van Halen better with David Lee Roth than I did with Sammy Hagar.
I prefer Boysenberry Jam to other flavors.
My favorite Ice Cream is Vanilla with Chocolate Syrup.
I prefer wheat to white bread.
I prefer Wii to Playstation or XBox.
I prefer books to movies (the books are usually better than their movie counterpart).
I like Credit Unions over banks.
I prefer Enya over Lorenna McKennitt (but both are good).
I liked the Lord of the Rings better than The Chronicles of Narnia (but again, both are good).
I liked the Country Bear Jamboree better than the Winnie the Pooh ride they replaced it with at Disneyland.
While I still miss the ride, I think Star Tours is better than the Adventures thru Inner Space.
The smell of Roses is one of the sexiest scents in the world.
Scaterd Few was, hands down, the best Christian punk band ever.
Cash is better than credit cards.
Snickers is better than Almond Joy, but I'd take a Kit Kat over both.
Thanksgiving isn't Thanksgiving without stuffing.
I prefer cell phones over house phones.
Secure Digital (SD) Cards are better than Memory Stick.
While I own a Palm Pilot, I'd probably prefer an iPhone.
Poltergeist scared the crap out of me when I was young. Friday the 13th just made me laugh.
The Marx Brothers or the Smothers Brothers? Hmmm...now that's a hard one.
Monty Python or Flight of the Conchords? Wow...another hard one.
I prefer any other music style to Country-Western. But, I do like Bluegrass.
I prefer Blogging to Facebook.
I prefer winter to summer.
I prefer Cafe Mocha's over plain coffee.
I like night better than day.
I like my Oreo's frozen rather than thawed.
I like the mountains better than the beach.
Embarrassing fact - I think Xanadu was a great 80's movie.
I prefer Fall Back over Spring forward.
I like Peter Gabriel better as a solo act than part of Genesis.
I liked Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka over Johnny Depp's.
But, NO ONE, could have played Captain Jack Sparrow better than Johnny Depp.
I prefer wood fire places over gas.
I prefer turkey bologna over any other kind.
I like Alice Cooper better than Marilyn Manson.
The Muppet's haven't been the same since Jim Henson died.
I prefer my wife.
I prefer comments rather than lurkers. ;-)

The Prosperity Doctrine Under Fire (Finally!)

So, I read an article today on TIME online titled "What Would Jesus Buy?" It's a small article referencing a larger article in The Atlantic that asks the question, Did Christianity Cause the Real Estate Market Crash?

I have written many blogs about stupid Christians and how they give normal, bible believing Christians a bad name in the world. To me, prosperity doctrine Christians are among the worst (almost as bad as those "God Hates Fags" folks from Westboro Baptist). There are a lot of people who are misrepresenting what it is to be a Christian. They get all the press, of course, and it makes Christians on the whole look stupid, self-centered, and pious. As a Christian who considers myself none of those things, it hurts me to know that people are turning away from God because of this misrepresentation. Anyway...back to the article.

Blaming the real estate market crash on the prosperity doctrine is a stretch, as the article points out. But, it brings up a good point. Prosperity doctrine preachers have been telling their congregations that God wants them to be rich and to "reward them with all the material possessions they desire....and if you're a good enough Christian, God will give you whatever you seek, so long as you believe." I'm sorry...but what a load of steaming crap. Let's do a little bible reflection. God financially blessed a select few in the Old Testament. He made them promises and fulfilled them. Soloman, David, and Job come to mind. But, this was the exception, not the norm for believers. In the New Testament, Jesus promises that Christians will be despised, tortured, and probably poor. Does this sound like prosperity to you? Here are some biblical quotes that seem to argue against prosperity.

Matthew 19:21 - "Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

Matthew 6:19-21 and Luke 16:13 - "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

1 Timothy 6: 7 -11 - "For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief's. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness."

I could go on, but you get the point. Prosperity doctrine is wrong. God loves us, yes. But, he doesn't give us everything we want when we ask for it. What kind of a Father would give his son everything he asked for, knowing that he'd be raising a spoiled, self-centered, brat? No, God loves us too much to do that to us. Now, do I believe that God blesses some people financially? Yes, I do. But, not so that they can get whatever earthly possessions they desire. He blesses them so that they are in a position to give. To give to missionaries who are working hard to get orphaned children out of the slums of Kenya and into caring homes. To give to families who are struggling by buying them groceries or paying their rent when they are unemployed. This is why God blesses us...so that we can share that blessing with others.

The prosperity doctrine is just another "get rich quick" scheme under the guise of Christianity. It's wrong. It's misleading. And, it's hurting our reputation as Christians to an unbelieving world.

Franz Liszt: The Eddie Van Halen of the Piano

As most of you know, I am a classical music fan. Well, I'm a fan of most music, but that is besides the point. One of my favorite composers/pianists is Franz Liszt. Franz lived between 1811 and 1886. He was a piano virtuoso and was praised for his brilliant concerts throughout Europe. Women fought over his silk handkerchiefs and velvet gloves which they ripped to shreds as souvenirs. Audiences were mesmerized by his stage presence. The reception he received was described by hysterical. Picture Elvis or the Beatles and the reaction they had on their audiences. Franz list was one of the first rock stars.

Franz loved to write piano pieces where his skill, speed, and flexibility on the piano could be showcased. He was amazing. One of my favorite pieces from Franz is the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. The things he did in this piece makes you believe that it was written for four hands and not just two. You will recognize this piece of music if you ever saw any Looney Toons or Tom and Jerry Cartoon's from back in the day. Cartoonists realized just what fun you could have with this piece of music. It is truly amazing. For your viewing pleasure, I have posted a video of a Taiwanese Piano Virtuoso named Jung Lin performing this very piece. Enjoy.

Looking for a Church

We have been in Lakewood, CO since late July and we still haven't found a church to call home. Part of that was that for two whole months, someone was sick in our family and we did the right thing and stayed home (to not infect anyone at the church). But, during the weeks that we were able to go, we just haven't found the fight fit. We found two decent churches. One was just starting out, an offshoot of a larger church nearby. The other was the larger church, which was okay but still didn't seem like home. A few other churches we tried were definitely not for us. One church we attended, we didn't even get past the parking lot because everyone entering was dressed in full suits, ties, and Easter dresses. We were dressed in buttoned up dress shirts and jeans, and felt completely out of place. Other churches were too old (with the smell of a convalescent home and all worship played on an organ with hymnals). Other churches had poor children's programs. We've scoured the internet looking for churches to try. Some websites scare us away. Some church websites speak of claiming this or that and speaking in tongues during the service....nope, a little to charismatic for us. Other churches just don't list what they believe on their website or even what denomination they are...so those make us wary. We're stuck. Anyone know of any good churches in and or around Lakewood?

Here is what we are looking for...
1) A good, bible believing, Christian church.
2) A good Children's program, where the kids are taught solid biblical concepts with an exciting and interactive atmosphere.
3) A church that is outward focused rather than inward. A church that wants to help and reach out to their community. A church that has a good missionary support platform. A church that wants to help others more than it wants to build a bigger building.
4) A church that we are able to invite our unsaved friends and family to without being embarrassed or nervous they might do something that will turn them off and cause them to turn away from Christianity.
5) A church where dressing up is not an issue and everyone is welcome in whatever fashion they feel comfortable in (within modest boundaries, of course).
6) A church that does not become fanatical about spiritual gifts, claiming miracles, speaking in tongues, wrestling demons during the service, etc.
7) A church whose pastoral staff are above reproach and accountable to a group of elders. If anything fishy is going on, they have no business leading a church.
8) A church that has a good racial/ethnic/social mix. I want to attend a church where there are whites, blacks, Mexicans, Asians, and everything in between. A place where an upper class business man will feel comfortable sitting next to a tattooed punk rocker. After all, we are all God's family.
9) A church where the sermons are solid biblical teachings with application for our lives.
10) A church where there is a progressive, contemporary worship style with guitars, drums, bass, keyboards, etc. But, if they are too showy...that turns us off too. We want to worship, not attend a concert.
11) A church that is not too big, but not too small either.

There might be more things that we look for, but these are the top eleven. So far, we haven't found a church that meets all of these categories. We're still looking and running out of options. We even started looking in other towns where we'd have to drive 30+ minutes to get there. But, this is not feasible during the winter when snow causes everyone to drive slowly due to hazardous conditions. A 30+ minute drive can quickly turn into a 2 hour drive in the right (or wrong) conditions. So, for now, we are still looking.

New Blog Features

I just wanted to take this posting to point out some new blog features that some readers might have missed.

One new thing that I started doing is matching the blog title background picture with the blog title quote, the favorite quote, and the picture on the right hand bar. Today, the theme is Enya. So, I have music notes as the background picture in the title and a quote from an Enya song in the blog title and the favorite quote area. I will change these periodically depending on my mood or when something is on my mind.

The next feature I added is the "Quick Comments from Chris" section in the right-hand bar. I put this there so that I can make quick comments of things I am thinking, feeling, or observing. These are mostly things that I want to share but that don't require an entire blog post. Check back daily to see my new comments (even when I haven't posted a new blog post - for those who use RSS to subscribe to my blog).

I have added a "Subscribe to Me" function on the right-hand bar. This is to make it easy to subcribe to my blog using your favorite method. I recommend RSS. You can create a nice folder in your favorites and it will check to see if there is a new post for you. Makes it easy to check lots of blogs. But, don't forget, it will not tell you when I have changed the theme, quotes, or quick comments.

I have a links section that will give you links to other blogs that I follow from family and friends. Also, I included other links like my Youtube page, my Amazon.com wish-list, and my 43 Things page.

The Labels section helps to categorize my blog posts by subject. If you wanted to see all blogs that I labeled as "Observations", you can simply click on this link and it will give you all the blog posts on that subject....all the way back to December of 2004 when I began blogging.

At the very bottom of my blog, I have posted a maploco.com map to trace where my readers are coming from. It simply reads your IP address and tells the map where your basic location is. It's interesting to see where my readers come from. I have people looking at my blog from as far away as Amsterdam, Great Britain, and Singapore (among others). Some of the locations are obvious and I know who it is. But, others are a little more obscure. For instance, who do I know in Norfolk, VA or Ozark, MO? No idea. But, they read my blog. It's a nice reminder that people are actually reading my blog besides me, my wife, and immediate family and friends. Plus, it helps to let me see who is lurking. I just wish it could give names besides locations. Oh well....big brother isn't quite there yet.

Also, there is a function near the bottom of my blog where you can become a follower of my blog. So far, I have three followers...my Mom, my friend Joe, and my friend Kim. I know there are other regular readers out there. Be sure to become a follower so that I know you care. ;-)

Other additions include the occasional photo slideshow that I create using Google's Picassa. Feel free to click on the photo slide-show to get to the full size pictures and view/download them. Lastly, I will occasionally post a video from Youtube using their blogging function. I like to be able to share interesting things that I find on Youtube. And that's it. I like to change things up and make things more interesting for my readers. If you like anything...or want something that isn't here, let me know. A blog without comments is like an actor without an audience.

Interesting Combos

I thought it was weird when fast food restaurants started merging. When you could go to an A&W Rootbeer/Kentucky Fried Chicken. Or a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut. I mean, what does Pizza have in common with Taco's? It was just strange to me. I understood the business aspect of it. These combo's were owned by the same company and it just made business sense to mash them together. But, it just didn't sit right with me. Well, the combination stores don't just end with fast food. In driving around the Denver area lately, I noticed another couple interesting combos.

First, I found a store that had a Saloon and a Tattoo Parlor. You can get your hair and nails done, and get that dragon on your shoulder finally colored in. This one I can almost understand...since they are both related to beauty enhancement services. It just struck me as odd.

Here's another one I found. A Barbershop/Bail Bonds store. Change your hair style while bailing a friend out of jail. Interesting. I almost pulled over and took a picture of the sign...but, I was in the wrong lane and didn't want to cause an unnecessary accident (as opposed to a necessary accident? What am I talking about?).

Anyway, have you seen any interesting combo's in your town? If so, post them in comments. I'd love to hear them.

Pandora Update: Artists I Have Found

I have been using Pandora for the better part of a month now. I am still loving it. I have found many new artists that I had never heard of before. Also, I have found a new appreciation for some artists that I had heard of before but never really stopped to listen to their music. Here is a sampling of some artists that I have found that I am really enjoying and some of the songs that I really liked. When available, I am linking the songs to the official music video on youtube (or least the song with some sort of video or slideshow), so that you can listen to it, too.

Emmy Rossum - Slow Me Down
Jem - They 
Kate Nash - Merry Happy
Yael Naim - New Soul
Kate Havnevik - New Day
Caroline Lufkin - Where's My Love 
The Wailin' Jennys - The Parting Glass
Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me
Lenka - Skipalong
Owl City - Fireflies
Hayley Westenra - Dark Waltz
Jaymay - Blue Skies
Priscilla Ahn - Dream
Lily Allen - Him
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Ben Harper - The Three of Us
A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover
Lisa Gerrard - Elysium

Here is just a sampling of the music that I have been discovering or rediscovering...thanks to my new best friend, Pandora. For those keeping track I now have 13,462 songs on my iPod. I could listen to music continuously (without repeating a song) for 36.1 days. And...I still haven't imported all of my CD's. To make matters worse (or better), I discovered the local library and I realized that you can get CD's for free from them. Yesterday, I checked out The Cure's "4:13 Dream", Lisa Gerrard's "The Silver Tree", She & Him's "Volume One", Cyndi Lauper's "The Body Accoustic", and Jan and Dean's "Best of". I'm in music heaven.

Quartet Does Phantom

I am a fan of Phantom of the Opera and vocal groups and the other day I came across this rendition of a couple songs from Phantom performed by the UnderAge Quartet. I was impressed. It was beautiful and an interesting arrangement. I have posted it here for your enjoyment.

My Wife's Biscuits

Okay...so I know I've mentioned this before in a previous blog. But, this particular topic is worth two posts. I love my wife's biscuits. She recently started making them from scratch (flour, water, yeast, etc). They are so good. Previously, the best biscuits I ever had were from Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. They were so good. They melted in your mouth. Mmmmm....add a little boysenberry jam and they became the stuff dreams are made of. However, my wife's biscuits are better than Mrs. Knott's. They are so good in fact that I told her that she could just make me a dinner of her biscuits and nothing else...and I would be fine. Well, tonight she made a meal that my boys love but that is not my favorite. But, she made the biscuits knowing that I'd be fine. She was right. A little boysenberry jam, a little honey. Oh my! Soooooo good! I love that she is making things from scratch. They are so much better than the processed, boxed, and/or grocery store items. I am blessed! Thanks, wife!

They Might Be Giants at The Gothic in Englewood, CO

A couple weeks back, my friend, Jr, informed me that They Might Be Giants (TMBG) will be performing in Englewood, CO (about 15 minutes from my home). He wanted to go and wanted to know if I was interested. After carefully checking our budget, Joi and I agreed that I could go. I am so glad that I went. It was an amazing show. But, first, a little background.

I've been a fan of TMBG since the early 80's when I first heard "Don't Let's Start" on KROQ. I bought their self titled tape and immediately became an avid fan due to their quirky and intellectual...almost nerdy...lyrics and their child-like sense of fun and wonder. When TMBG started creating children's albums, I even started playing their songs for my boys. But, in the twenty-something years I've been a fan, I've never had the opportunity to see them live. I was missing out because they put on an awesome show.

When we arrived at the Gothic, I was pleasantly surprised that it was a pretty small venue. I'm guessing that this place only held a couple of hundred people. Jr and I walked in and went up to the balcony to find a couple of stools along the guard rail. We are both musicians and like to watch the band perform, study what they are doing, what instruments they are using, etc. So, we wanted a good seat. Unfortunately, there were no stools available. So, we continued our search. Almost immediately, Jr ran into a former high schooler from a church he used to be a leader at in San Dimas, CA who was working there as a cocktail waitress. They chatted for a minute and she was nice enough to give us access to the VIP seating near the soundboard, front and center of the stage. They were very good seats. And...she gave us free bottles of water to boot. Very nice!

We watched the opening band, Guggenheim Grotto, perform. They were a duo from Ireland. They started off their set with two voices and a ukulele....so I was already impressed. They had a nice sound. Gentle and easy to listen to...with rich vocal harmonies and poetic lyrics. They even gave out fliers promising a free download of the first song they did with the ukulele. Looking forward to downloading that.

Afterward, TMBG came out and blew us all away. Of course, the John's were both there (John Flansburgh and John Linnell) who were also joined by a capable backing band. The show was very entertaining. They performed some of my favorite songs like "Where Your Eyes Don't Go", "Dr. Worm", "Cow Town", and "Ana Ng". They also did a handful of songs from their children's albums "Here Come the ABC's", "Here Come the 123's" and "Here Comes Science". They even did two songs as the Avatars of They (sock puppets performed and voiced by the John's). That part cracked me up. As John said, "Where gonna rock out with our sock out!" Anyway, it was a brilliant show and was very entertaining. Sometimes at concerts I am ready for it to be done because of the late hour, the loud music, and the crowd. But, I was disappointed when they did their final encore and it was all over. I wanted more. The crowd was fun, too. Imagine a crowd of nerds ranging in age from 8-80. They were fun. I'm not sure how the kids got in. I thought it was an adult show (over 18). But, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. All in all, it was a very good show. I was impressed. I'd see them again in a second. Lots of good, clean fun.

I posted two videos I took from the concert on Youtube. First, TMBG performing "Dr. Worm" and the second is them doing their final encore where they performed the entire "Fingertips" album (which is an album consisting of  14 songs with an average length each of 10 seconds).

To summarize...all I have to say is Tempe! (probably only Jr will get that joke...and the other 200 people at the concert). 

Considering Pomegranates

Lately, as I'm browsing the grocery store adverts, I've noticed lots of sales on pomegranates. This caused me to realize that I've never really eaten a pomegranate. So, the other day I was at Super-Walmart and I noticed that they had pomegranates for $1 each. So, I grabbed one and took it home to try. My anticipation was high. There is a lot of hype about pomegranates in the bible. Apparently, it was a very popular fruit of that day, age, and location. So, I cut it open. Inside a pomegranate is a lot of little seeds bundled up in small amounts of red fruit meat. Surrounding that is a tan flesh that protects the seeds...and it's not edible. So, I popped out a few seeds and tried one. I got a momentary splash of juice and a minuscule amount of meat before I reached the seed and had to spit it out. My boys tried it, too. They said it was good, but didn't really want seconds. Joi had already eaten pomegranates before...so this was nothing new to her. I was surprised at how much work it was to get just a little bit of juice and meat from each seed. My brother-in-law told me that pomegranates are a high-maintenance fruit. I now knew what he meant. So, for the next 20 minutes I painstakingly took out each little red covered seed, threw it in my mouth, ate the meat off of it, and spit the seed out onto a plate. When I was finished, I felt like I had barely eaten anything. Other than the faint taste of pomegranate juice in my mouth, I wasn't even slightly nourished. So, why was this fruit so popular? Anyone know? I'm thinking that perhaps in biblical times in a desert, these little juice covered seeds were probably pretty nice to slightly quench the thirst. Other than that, I'm at a loss.

Fast forward to the next day. I was driving home and I heard a commercial on the radio for pomegranate juice. Then I started thinking...how many millions of pomegranates would it have to take to make one carton of juice from them. Holy mackerel! If I had to make a liberal guess, I'd say that in the entire pomegranate that I ate, there was...maybe...about 2 teaspoons of juice. What would it take to make a jug of this stuff? I'm simply amazed. Does anyone know the nuances of making pomegranate juice? I'm really curious now.

Halloween Festivities

This year, we celebrated Halloween on Friday and Saturday night. On Friday, we went to a Trunk or Treat Event at a church in Arvada. Gavin was Venom from the Spiderman movies. Gage was a Ninja. Garrison wanted to be an army man, but we didn't have an army jacket for him (and couldn't find one)...so he decided to be a Laker. He dressed up in his Laker sweat pants, his Laker Jersey, and his Laker jacket. He even had a basketball to complete the outfit. It didn't occur to me that Garrison dressing up as a Laker would be an issue for the people of a town who are psycho for their sports. Plus, the Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs last year. So, the subject was a little sore for some Nuggets fans. From most of the people Garrison got boos, jeers, and "I'm not giving a Laker fan candy!" Of course, most were kidding and did eventually give up the candy. But, poor Garrison, who tends to be a little shy and doesn't like attention...got a LOT of negative attention from the Nuggets fans at the event. But, he took it all in stride. We did get one "Go Lakers!" from one fan (probably a California transplant like us). Also, on Friday, we stopped in to visit Steffanne who was working at Applebee's and had a nice dinner. She got to see her nephews all dressed up....and we got to visit her. She's been working so much lately, we hardly see her at all.

On Saturday, I finally carved my pumpkin. The boys had done theirs earlier in the week. Joi and I decided to wait to carve our pumpkins because Joi wanted to try to salvage the pumpkin meat, cook it, throw it in a blender, and freeze it...in order to make pumpkin bread and pie later on. So, I turned my pumpkin into Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas....still one of my favorite movies). Joi carved hers into chunks and threw it right into the blender. Mine got to be Jack until later that night when Joi cut him into pieces and eventually blended him. Later that night, we went to a Harvest Festival at another church in Littleton. The Ferris men joined us (Steff had to work again). There were bounce houses, carnival games, and contests. My boys decided to do a cakewalk in order to win some yummy baked goods. Wouldn't you know it, they each won within the first few turns. So, we had chocolate cake, cupcakes, and cookies to go with all that candy they had collected. The boys played for a while and then decided that we should go back home so that they could "Trick or Treat" around our neighborhood. So, Joi took them out while Russell and I stayed behind to nurse our colds in the warmth of our home. It was a good evening and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. By the way, Gavin was still Venom, Gage decided to be a Jedi Knight, and Garrison finally got to be an Army man after we talked him into just wearing his camouflage long-sleeve shirt instead of a jacket.