KFC Commercial

Oh Peter Serafinowics, you did it again. Place on plate. Enjoy.

Michael Jackson A Capella Cover - P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing) - Mike Tomp...

I put up this guys cover of Katy Perry's "Firework". I love that I can forget about the visual aspect of the thing. Check this out. It's ridiculous.

Dead Hoodoo Blues Men:

That's what I read about during my vacation.  I knew I had a serious car ride with my family coming up and I decided the best thing I could do to make the trip enjoyable for all would be to lose myself in a book. My brother-in-law offered me up a book of his called Bone Music by Alan Rodgers.  "It's about all of the old blues musicians being magical and stuff." is what he said.

The book jumps around in time and place.  The story bounces between a couple different characters, some the old blues men, living in different parts of the United States.  Heaven and Hell are even locals in the book, mostly Hell.  While I don't agree with the theology of the book, some of the insights about spirituality were poignant.  I wanted to recommend the book.  Lot's of fun name dropping throughout the book.

Also, when the bottom drops out at the end of the book you'll wish that this could be made into a movie.  But, alas, I doubt that it could be pulled off.

One caveat, it's not a Christian story and it's populated by people making sinful choices.  The language is occasionally vulgar.  Although when a character does act like a Christian it's not looked down on, it's definitely described as a virtue.

Bone Music, check it out.  It saved me and my family from a long painful car ride.  Although, if you're looking for something more obviously edifying I've been reading Radical by David Platt and it has been wrecking me.  So, both are good, but Radical will blow your mind in all the right ways.

Cute Penguin Story:

I have a pretty good feeling that the title of this post will push it's status straight to mega-"It's Friday" status.  And, then people will read it.  But, I've got pictures!  Also, there is actually a cute story about penguins being cute.  So . . . read on.

Have you been to the Ripley's Aquarium in Pigeon Forge, TN?  It's pretty cool.  I say this having a bit of aquarium pride because of the Atlanta Aquarium.  I don't want it to feel like I'm cheating.  But, I do feel like the penguins are given a little more room to achieve their full adorableness.

If this was a story about beluga whales or gigantic whale sharks, then hands down this would be Atlanta's fight.  But, it's not, it's an adorable penguin story.  So, let's all put on our finest tuxedo and eat some sardine's.  It's time to embrace the adorable.

Let's start with a picture.

You got any fish?

That little guy hung-out around me for about 10 minutes.  He may have been aggressive and gotten his fish early, or just realized that I'm pretty good company and wanted to spend some time with me.  Either way, while all those little dudes in the background where making fools of them begging for fish, homeboy just chilled with me.  Which sets the stage for the real story, this is all about those penguins in the background.  This is the story of one in particular, the most adorable penguin of all.

He is the one with the black back and white front.

There they were, a huddled black mass of fish hungry sea birds.  A faceless mass writhing and grunting at the women with the orange overalls.  One of those women, the one on the left in the above picture, has a bucket full of sardines.  She gives them one at a time to the penguins and calls out their name to the woman on the left.  How do they know their names?  They each have a name band, boys on the right fin, girls on the left and color coded to boot.  The woman on the left then gives a tick next to the penguins name to gauge how well they are eating.  That's the feeding process and it goes really well until one of the penguins is done eating, and needs to get his adorable on.

One of these penguins is about to steal your heart.

So there I was, big hoss standing in front of me wowing the crowd around me when I noticed a penguin climb up and stand next to one of the women.  I thought, "That's cute, I wonder if anyone else noticed that."  It seemed as if no one really did.  All I heard were people cooing over the cute penguins eating and coming up to the glass.  Not, me though, I couldn't take my eyes off the penguin next to the lady.  I wasn't even sure if she had noticed him yet.

It must have been five minutes of the penguin just chilling out beside the lady.  I was getting to wonder if this was all that was going to happen.  Maybe this penguin wasn't being cute but mounting a perch with which to watch over the sad supplicating horde.  This penguin was a mad overlord!  This penguin looked down on all the other penguin, silently judging them.  I began to look away and focus on my buddy who was hanging out by the window.

And then this happened...

All my watching paid off!  Now everyone around me had moved their attention to the adorable penguin sitting in a lady's lap.  Maybe it was still a power thing, but what a cute power thing.  That penguin sat in a ladies lap!  She still had to do her job of ticking off fish dinners with one of natures most precious creatures.  So, did he just hang out and let her do her job or did he ramp up the cuteness to levels near catastrophic?

IT LAID DOWN IN HER LAP!

Penguins don't cuddle, do they?  I mean, I got a minor nose bleed when I was hit with the wave of adorable.  That has to be the cutest thing ever, anything else and there is no way the woman could do her job.

She quit working.

I'm glad that she doesn't read this blog because this is the single most unflattering picture she's ever taken I'd imagine.  But, that penguin is nuzzling her.  I repeat . . . there is a penguin gently nuzzling the chin of the woman who takes care of him.  I'm writing the screen play right now.  He didn't stop there, he continued to steal her pin and move her hand onto his head.  It was the cute-a-geddon.  

I leave you with two videos of unrelenting preciousity (blogger says that's a new word).  Both are a nice mishmash of Lappy and Fronty.  So, enjoy and be watching for some more from my summer trip.

What My Youth Did During VBS:

They made this video. They came up with all the scenes. They picked the music. They even thought of the dominoes. I'm really proud of them.

I did edit the footage. So, if you don't like the pacing or something that's on me. But, the content is all my kids. I'm super proud of them. Check it out!

Hot Chip - I Feel Better (Official Music Video)

I've watched this about a dozen times and still am not 100% sure I get it. But, it's so weird and fun. Also it's directed by the amply talented Peter Serafinowicz who none of you will recognize from his role as Fa'ad on the criminally cut short "Running Wilde". Seriously, he was hilarious on that show. I would really recommend following him on twitter, @serafinowicz.

Check out the video. I've never heard of the band. It is a catchy song though.

Three Years:

I just wanted to get down some thoughts on the fact that I've been married for three years today.  Mainly I want to address the rumor that we've hit the three year "everything sucks" period.  From what I hear the honeymoon ends once you are married for three years.  I have no idea what any one of those people are talking about.  Garbage in, garbage out is a pretty solid philosophy when it come to most things and I'm applying it to my marriage.

We keep working and getting stronger.  I'm not perfect, but I'm growing.  There are a lot of haters who have told us marriage becomes a chore eventually.  But, I'm sticking to garbage in, garbage out.  These last three years have been solid gold.  So...haters....

Stop This Crazy Thing:

It has been a month so far.  I've been away from home more than I've been home and while I've loved every moment of every day I've been away, it's catching up.  I went to Mississippi for a week and then to my sister-in-law's house.  I slept in my bed one night and then left for vacation in the Smokey Mountains got back from that and went to a lock-in until Saturday morning when I then drove to my sister-in-law's again to pick up my sorely missed dog, Matilda.  It was at this point that I fell asleep, at my sister-in-law's, for nine hours.  From eight AM until five PM I slept, long and hard.  Last night I finally made it home to sleep in my bed again.  It was lovely.

I was still exhausted this morning, and I have a week of Vacation Bible School coming up.  So, I'll be leading the music for about 100 kids today.  Hopefully the numbers will be good and I'll not pass out.  Immediately following VBS I will be going back to Mississippi with my family for our first family vacation since I became married.  I'm hoping that we can all get along, because I need a rest right now and am hoping a large part of our vacation is napping.  And we round out the last of the month with a tubing trip to Helen, GA with the youth group.

Luckily, July is significantly less hectic.  I only have one weekend trip with the students and one week long service project.  Of course, there are little one of pool parties and bible studies that I'll participate in, but I'm looking forward to June drawing to a close.  It's been a long one.

Vacation Day One:

Holy smokes, have you been to Dollywood?  I went with my family like 20 years ago.  It was a log flume and a general store.  That place has done come up.  (That's the Tennessee local flavor.)  They have, straight up some of the best rides I've ridden ever.  Maybe I'm exaggerating because of sun stroke or maybe it's because there were no lines at any of the rides.

Probably the lines thing.   There were boat loads of people there.  I have no idea what they did because they certainly weren't riding anything.  I felt like a kid again and wanting to run right around to ride again.  But, I didn't because I'm here with an awesome couple and got to switch out and watch their adorable daughters while someone else rode.

That was the pattern all day. Two ride, two watch and then you swap.  If the kids were miserable, it would have been awful.  But, they rule.

So a long day of scorching heat and Dolly Patron music ended with us eating at Logan's roadhouse.  So good.  Then a dip in the hot tub.  My body is even more useless than normal now.  So, tomorrow we chill. 

For those of you keeping me in your prayers as I try to kick my addiction to soda.  Today was trying.  Coke was everywhere and I wanted one bad.  Like defcon 4 (it only goes to 5, right?)  My mouth was dry and parched and I was imagining the sting of an ice cold coke washing it away.  But, I found the strength to resist.  I did have to fight of a face ripping-off frenzy as I nearly devolved into a angry silverback gorilla.

Seven days in and no major mood swings.  But, be forewarned, I may not always be able to control my inner gorilla.  I think being super active has kept my mind off of it.

One more note.  Dollywood should be cheaper.  It's like $57 dollars a person.  If there had been crazy lines the tone of this post would have been much more fussy.  Perhaps some people would have lost their faces today as well.  Thankfully, no lies and a really good time though.  I guess if I have to pay a little extra for unimpeded joy it's worth it.

Man vs. Nature:

Today I returned home from Children's Camp and then a quick trip to the Sister-in-law's house to visit with my dog.  That trip lasted an extra day because I didn't want to leave my dog after a day.  But, now I'm home.  You may have noticed this recent running around has broken my consecutive days blogging streak and I've come to terms with it.  I'd also like to thank the either of the people who read my blog that noticed I had a consecutive days blogged streak going.

I'll be leaving again Sunday for actual vacation with my oldest friend, but by no means my most aged.  The wife and I will be traveling to Gatlinburg, TN to hang out with He, His wife and their two beautiful daughters.  We'll be staying in a place with a view like this:

That's a crap ton of trees.

That image is taken from the back porch of the cabin we'll be staying in.  Did I mention that this cabin also has a hot tub (to help you cool off during those 100 degree days), a pool, a putt-putt course, and four fishing ponds.  So, this is going to be a pretty sweet week spent with people I love in a place that is pretty cool.

But, Chris, what about a picture taken from the front porch?  Oh, I have one of those, it was taken tonight.   

I can't caption this because I can't think of anything to say that isn't an expletive.  If you know me, then you know I'm no rugged outdoorsman.  I have no doubt in my mind that raccoon has rabies and is going to crawl into my bed in the middle of the night.  I have no doubt that it is going to lay it's devil raccoon eggs in my stomach and then in nine months little awful raccoons are going to burrow from beneath my skin.  I have no doubt that I may have confused some of how raccoons make babies out of pure terror.

Pray for me.  I might have to kick a raccoon.

June Fast:

This month I will be letting go of my addiction to soda.  I'm not cutting out all caffeine or sugar, just soda.  Why am I doing this?  Glad you asked.  I decided that I have some bad habits and I am genuinely addicted to soda.  So, I'm taking this month and kicking the habit, pray for me.

Then every month I'm going to fast from something else that I've decided is not helping me out.  When I get the tickle for a Coke I'm going to pray, so I'll need stuff to pray for.  I've got enough going on right now to keep me busy, but let me pray for you.  I'll give some updates on how things are going during the fast.  So far . . . so good.