The Sullying of a Classic

Well, last year I was able to watch the atrocious 2001 sequel to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.

This year, I followed it up with another studio decision to trash one of my fondest childhood memories, The Year Without a Santa Clause.

Alternate title: What Happens When Chris Kattan, Eddie Griffin, Ethan Suplee, John Goodman, Carol Kane, Michael McKean and Delta Burke All Lose a Bet?

I guess it's technically not a re-make, both being based on a 1956 book, but there's enough in there to recall the wonderful 1974 TV special.

This version, however, is horrible. It gets increasingly difficult in a movie like this to point out what was bad. Poor writing, over-acting, bad directing. You name it, this film fails on every level. I'm wondering what could have convinced some of these actors (particularly the ones who are working now) to be involved in this. Maybe blackmail was involved.

Plus, I don't know if my Comcast ratings were off, but it's listed as "TV G". But this movie is so bad, I can't see it geared toward adults. On the other hand, some references should have pulled it out of "G". I thought a reference to South Park was odd, but it was just a reference. But then Jingle accuses Jangle of attempting a "booty call" and Heat Miser calls Snow Miser a "kiss ass". Is that "G"-rated stuff? Not to mention the sexy female dancers that back up the Miser Brothers. Or the clips of violent video games that are billed as the cool new Christmas presents. Whoever gives these programs their ratings must be sleeping on the job.

Don't see this film. Even for free (it was recently televised). I feel really bad for all the folks who rented this. I was at the movie store last weekend, and all the copies of this film were gone. It's not worth $3.75 plus the time wasted in viewing.

Talent, or Technology?

Probably both. Even if you're not a fan of stop motion, check out this amazing video.

Higher Grounds Comedy

Last night was another night of Higher Grounds at Crosspoint Church. Some amazing music - I'll have to get names of some of the performers. Singing. Guitars. Violins, even. Meredith Wallace sang an amazing rendition of Gordon Lightfoot's Song for a Winter's Night.

What was different last night was that Jerry Ross did some stand up comedy.

And it was hilarious. Talking about Christmas, taking kids to public bathrooms, Hot Pockets. I about fell out of my chair laughing. Looking forward to more next time.

Commentary

Part of the reason this blog is named what it is, is that Krista says I've got a commentary on everything.

Well, here goes (please let me warn you that this is rated N for Negative).

What is this, the new El Camino? The Subaru Baja wins the ugliest car of the year award.

File under: Wouldn't Have Believed It If I Hadn't Seen It With My Own Two Eyes. It's a Hummer actually doing something. I didn't think they were allowed to haul anything but one or two people at a time.

Is this something you're supposed to get? If so, I don't think I do. (Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.)

And do not try this. I loved their Halloween Candy Corn Soda, but their Christmas Candy Cane Soda taste like Peppermint Schnapps without the Peppermint. Blecch.

And, finally, the obligatory church sign. "Contentment is a pearl of great price." If you don't know the context (one of the parables of Jesus), it looks like they're saying Contentment Is Great Wealth. I think they're actually trying to say that Contentment is Finding God, but that's not real obvious.

There, maybe I got that out of my system. Thanks for listening.

Merry Christmas to Me

If anyone out there is still trying to find me the perfect Christmas present, here's something I found on eBay that you can get me:

Superman III Evil Superman Costume

Into the Fog

Quote of the Day
"The greater the trust, the greater the betrayal."
-Lex Luthor, Smallville

Signs of What?

So I've been holding out on the pictures. I guess I've just been a little too busy to upload. Or something. Here's some I took a few weeks ago.



Saw this ladder (I think it's a ladder) on the way home the other night. It took me a while to figure out what it said. I think it's much easier with a little computer magic.

Not for humans? Does that mean it's for something else? Maybe it's an alien ladder? Weird. I keep thinking about that old Twilight Zone, To Serve Man. (You know, the one with the cookbook?)

Saw this interesting juxtaposition, too.

Just so you know Jimmy's is a "Gentlemen's Club" (though, from what I hear, that's quite generous; not that I have any first-hand knowledge). I thought it interesting to find the church sign right outside. I wonder if it's made anyone think twice about walking in...

And then finally, more signs of the end of the world? Another night driving into the darkness. (This was before the time change.)

I thought I was in Denver driving into the mountains.

That night this flock of birds was flying back and forth over the road in Athens. It was all pretty creepy.

Stranger Than Will Ferrell

Actually got to go to the movies over the holiday weekend. Go see Stranger Than Fiction. It's excellent. It's a lot of fun. It's hilarious. It's intelligent. It's the kind of movie you want to see again to see what you've missed. Ferrell plays against type. His belly doesn't hang out, he doesn't run around in his underwear. He doesn't have a cowbell. So don't go expecting to see that. Just go see it.

On the other hand, don't go see Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. If I remember correctly, I laughed a lot more in RV. Which is saying a lot.

Expensive Jewelry

I never thought I'd be going jewelry shopping with my daughter, but I'd been wanting to get a beaded bracelet ever since the one broke that Krista brought me back from Mexico. And Julianna, well, she likes girly stuff. We both picked out something we liked yesterday when we were out shopping.


Well, not so much "picked", as "had to take what came out of the machine" after we put in our fifty cents. But I thought it turned out pretty well.

Are You From Michigan?

Ok; I almost never take these internet quizzes, and I never post them, but this one was so dead on, it was freaky. So I figured I had to. Plus, it'd be interesting to see how all my southern friends score.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I am from Michigan (in the midst of the Great Lakes, of course), and the only reason I don't call it "pop" (anymore) is because I've spent nearly half my life outside of Michigan learning to call it "soda" (Baltimore) or "coke" (the South).

Plus, I do think my English is pretty darn good...

*sigh*

I think I better have a talk with Krista about what kind of talks she's been having with our four-year-old, Julianna.

With that, I'll leave you with a quote that I overheard tonight as we were decorating the tree.

Quote of the Day

Mommy, is Wonder Woman a hoochie mama? Look how she's dressed.

-Julianna

Cultural Death

Tonight was Higher Grounds (that's #4, I believe) at Crosspoint Church. It's nights like this that put my faith back in people of faith that we haven't completely lost all culture. Another night of live music - local talent, Crosspoint talent, even Famous People. Brad Crisler started by singing a song with his wife, Dawn, and followed it up with Hillbilly Deluxe - the new song he wrote on the Brooks & Dunn album of the same name, and everyone's favorite, Sweet Southern Comfort.

But headlining tonight was Amy Stroup. She's simply amazing. Unfortunately, I haven't listened to any of the CDs that Krista has - I guess I'll have to put them on my mp3 player and listen to them in the car. Amy is coming out with a new album in a couple of weeks - Chasing Greenlights; she sang the title song from it and I was blown away. She's very talented. This is also the only decent picture I was able to get tonight.

You can check out her current albums on iTunes (as this cool mint advertises); her new album will be released there, too. Check her out.

But back to what I started on about losing culture. It seems that lately, we don't seem to have our own culture. Everything I see has been commandeered from the "world outside". It's almost like we don't have any creativity. Of course, if we were created in the Creator's image that makes no sense.

I look around everywhere and I see people wresting bits and pieces of the surrounding world in an attempt to be cool or relevant. Here are a couple pictures I took on the way home the last few weeks. The one on the right should be legible: Body Piercing Saved My Life. The other one attests to my photography skills. It's a bumper sticker that says CSI: Christ Saves Individuals.

At least Christian music is finally coming into its own, slowly but surely. But, have we spent so long "trying to be different" that we've included in it our ability to create? I know some amazingly creative people, but much of their creativity is all but forced out of their spiritual lives. Is it the concern that if we combine creativity and spirituality that, all of a sudden, we're trying to entertain instead of follow God? I guess only the 3-point sermon is God's way to get a message across on Sunday morning.

We took Julianna to Mars Hill Bible School's Pumpkin Day the Saturday before Halloween. (People aren't allowed to call it Halloween anymore - I think because it's a Catholic holiday.) I found a card game that was so silly I had to buy it. It's called Betrayal, and it's based on Old Maid. Except in this version the cards are the apostles of Jesus, and it's not the Old Maid you don't want to get stuck with, it's Judas, who betrayed Jesus. The funny thing was, it cost me $5 (on special from the regular $5.99), and 45 minutes later, I found the same cards in the school's bookstore, buried in the back clearance room, going for $4.12.

Another fascinating item I found in the bookstore was the Evangecube. You don't have to actually say anything when you can use this nifty puzzle to Bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Life.

But my favorite were the Holy Folks dolls. They're "Always Faithful! Always Smiling!". Because, as you know, if you're not always happy, you're not really following God.

Just looking at my bookshelves, I even have a copy of C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. But this is the comic book version put out by Marvel Comics and Nelson Publishers. I was just thinking the other day - what's happened to all the amazing writers? Who has made a worldwide impact since C.S. Lewis? Not to say there aren't creative people of faith today, but it just seems to me that people who follow Jesus just aren't the creative force they that have been in the past.

But I think, and I hope, and I pray, that's changing.

Pure Religion

It's funny how widespread The Call comes from.

Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
-James (the brother of Jesus)

So the next time a bum tries to cadge a buck out of you, at least have the courtesy to pull the earbuds out and engage him as a fellow human being.
-Tony Long, Oh, the (Lack of) Humanity, Wired Magazine

On Thin Ice

The Thin Ice

If you should go skating,

On the thin ice of modern life,

Draggin' behind you,

The silent reproach,

Of a million tear-stained eyes,

Don't be surprised

When a crack in the ice

Appears

Under your feet.

You slip out of your depth,

And out of your mind,

With your fear flowing out behind you,

As you claw the thin ice.

-Rogers Waters, Pink Floyd: The Wall

Cool Internet Stuff

I thought this was pretty cool.

And it works just as well on Firefox.

I Told You Not to Ask Dad For a Car

Remember when I talked about (some) college football fans going overboard. This story takes it to a whole new level.

Man charged with attempted murder

PINSON, Ala. -- A Pinson man was charged with attempted murder for holding a gun to his son's head and pulling the trigger in the midst of a tantrum after Alabama's double overtime loss to Arkansas Saturday.

The bullet narrowly missed 20-year-old Seth Logan, who said he picked the wrong time to ask his dad for a car, sheriff's spokesman Deputy Randy Christian said Monday.

Joseph Alan Logan, 46, surrendered to police Saturday and was charged with attempted murder and domestic violence. He was released from the Jefferson County jail Sunday on $7,500 bond.

"I know we take football serious in the South," Christian told The Birmingham News for a Tuesday story, "but that's crossing the line." [This is my favorite line. --Jim]

The request upset Joseph Logan because his son has already wrecked several vehicles, Logan told investigators.

"He claimed he was just trying to scare his son," Christian said.

According to the police report, Joseph Logan had been drinking alcohol and began slamming doors, tossing boxes and throwing dishes in the sink after the Crimson Tide lost its football game to Arkansas 34-31 in double overtime Saturday.

While Joseph Logan was throwing the tantrum, Seth Logan asked for a new car.

Joseph Logan then retrieved a 9 mm pistol from his car, grabbed his son by the collar and pressed the gun to his son's forehead, the report said.

Logan threatened to shoot his son in the head, then pulled the trigger.

Seth Logan moved his head just as his father fired and the bullet whizzed past him, the report said.

Seth Logan fled to a neighbor's house to call police. He told police his ear was numb and his head ringing, but he was OK.

Sheriff's authorities called the SWAT team after discovering the armed father still had a 13-year-old son in the house with him.

Joseph Alan Logan walked out of the house with the other son and turned himself in to police just before the SWAT team arrived, Christian said.

Ok, so what if the story is 3 years old? I just heard about it on the radio on Friday. This story made it around the world - I found it in an Alaska and a New Zealand paper.

"Some", Mark, "some". I put that in there for you - you know I don't think all fans are like this...

The Ugly White Underbelly of North Alabama Politics

Good grief, the ads are getting old. I'll be glad to see Election Day come and go. Interesting that it seems like every single candidate is a white, middle-aged man. Well, I guess except for the one white, middle-aged woman.

This time around the mudslinging has gotten way out of hand. You know things can't get much worse when you see mudslinging about mudslinging.

Don't vote for this candidate - all he does is bad-mouth everyone he's running against; he's a no-good, lying, cheating rat-bastard whose only platform is to insult his opponents.

And how about this trade-off? Alabama State Senate Candidate #1 (Bobby Day) suggests that Alabama State Senate Candidate #2 (Arthur Orr) may have caused cancer in a little girl due to leaky tanks at gas stations he owns (or something to that effect). Candidate #2 (Orr) responds that Candidate #1 (Day) is exploiting cancer for the sake of the election (or, actually, the young-sounding female cancer survivor on the radio ad I heard today said that Day was exploiting her cancer). The irony is that, now, Candidate #2 is exploiting a cancer survivor to return the favor.

My favorite, though was the radio spot I heard on the way to work this morning. I almost ran off the road, I was laughing so hard (not really - that's just a little hyperbole).

Speaker: If you want to know the truth about Bobby Denton, just ask the people who know.
Person Who Knows with an accent about as Southern as you can imagine: He's born 'bout 5-6 miles from Coon Dog Cemetery. That area don't turn out anyone bad.

I kid you not. I swear I heard that this morning, and that's a near-verbatim quote (as well as I can remember). Coon Dog Cemetary is a real place somewhere near Cherokee, AL that I've never heard before this commercial. This was nearly as funny as The Doll Named "Poopy". Come to find out, Bobby Denton is the Singing Senator. Good grief.

Batgirl

Since it's Halloween, I have to post this picture of my beautiful daughter and what she decided to be for Halloween. Honest - I didn't do anything to influence it. It just shows you how sweet and sensitive kids can be.

And that's her pose - I didn't tell her to stand like that. She looks so serious! She's growing up way too fast...

Our Consumer Responsibility

I haven't read The Onion in a while, being underwhelmed by the recent content of their articles. But, I just came across an article I had to share, since I've soapboxed about tipping here before:

10-Percent Tip Teaches Waitress Valuable Lesson

Riders on the Storm

I've got to share these pictures I took on the way home one night last week (I think it was Thursday).

First of all, this is what the sky looked like when I left work. Pretty amazing.

(click for wallpaper size)

But then, driving into Madison, things got weird. Look at this wall of clouds it looked like I was driving into. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't get any real good pictures driving beneath it while I was in Madison. It appeared to be a group of fast moving clouds (going south, maybe?) that were only about 20 or 30 feet above the ground. Bizarre.

Then I ran into a similar phenomenon driving into Athens, though, by this time, it was much darker. It looks like the evil clouds are reaching down from the heavens.

In that last picture, you can see what appears to be another wall of clouds off in the distance. What's going on here?

The Funniest Thing I've Ever Heard

I'm sorry, but I've got to tell this story.

Nana's in town, so the granddaughters are getting spoiled, which is to be expected. So, yesterday, we were at Target, waiting on everyone to check out, and Krista and I were sitting in the snack bar, across from Julianna and Josephine (my niece) who had just received new baby dolls courtesy of Nana. Krista asked Julianna what her baby's name was.

Julianna responded, "Gabriella Grace." (Which is the name Krista had been holding on to if we found out we were having a girl; to be honest, I'm still not convinced, but I think it's a moot point, now.)

Krista then asked Josephine what her baby's name was.

She replied, "Poopy."

I swear, if I wasn't holding a sleeping Ella (my other niece), I would have fallen out of my chair, I laughed so hard. It still cracks me up when I think about it...

Today's Confession

Well, in one more step toward transparency (in front of a faceless audience), it's confession time. I guess I’ve come to a place in my life where I realize God is a lot bigger than we make him, and I'm actually kind of snobby about it. I rest my laurels; on this realization that God is bigger than the box most people put Him in. I’m arrogant in that knowledge. I can sit back and say, you're full of it – God's not like that; I may not have all the answers, but at least I know yours are wrong.

And I've acted like knowledge of that is enough. I haven't done anything to try to get to know Him better. I haven't tried to figure out who He is. I'm content to know that He's not the God who hates gays, that He's not the God who wants to sponsor our wars, not the God who laid out a bunch of very specific rules but has disguised them just well enough that we can be arrogant and correct people. Not the God who can be defined by command, example, and necessary inference. Not the God that we can come to through a formula or set of easy steps.

And I think I've just now realized that to know that is not enough.

I think this has hindered my study of His word. In fact, just the word "study" bothers me. Not that there's anything wrong with that; it has it's place but shouldn't be the only means we come to know God. God is not a God to be dissected, to be put in a box and studied. I think we do a disservice when we forsake Bible reading for Bible study. We've made getting to know God an academic exercise. This has sat at the edge of my mind and eaten away at me for quite awhile now. There must be more to searching for God than that.

Don Miller suggests in Searching for God Know’s What that the only thing that truly changes a person is God’s truth, that is, His Word and His working in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

But by “His Word”, I don't think that just means the “study” of His Word – “study” of course meaning the dissection of the text into a list of do's and don'ts, pithy sayings, steps, and patterns. Getting to know God has to be so much more than the intellectual exercise which I have been guilty of. Sure the Word of God is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (Paul said that). But the Word of God is also transforming. It revives us (David), it gives us life (Jesus), hope, and comfort (Paul). We've let this modern, western world infiltrate our thinking. Logic has become the new god.

But I’m getting off topic. My point here is that I need to move forward. I need to move beyond this thought that I can only know God through academic study. It’s not enough to know what He isn’t. I need to understand Who He is. Through prayer, through more of the reading of His Word. Only through spending time with Him this way will I be able to do that.

Old jokes

We are very blessed in that most of my grandparents are still alive. I've got both on my mom's side, and my Grandma on my dad's side. It's neat to see my little girl sit on her great grandmother's (her GG's) lap while she listens to the same songs my Grandma sang to me when I was four years old (Animal Crackers in My Soup, The Man in the Moon). If I'm remembering here correctly, all 3 of these grandparents were born on 1923, making them all 83 this year. And they never cease to surprise me.

I don't normally forward e-mail jokes, much less post them here, but I think this one is worth it by virtue of the fact that it was forwarded to me by my Grandpa (along with all the other family in their addressbook). Yes, all my grandparents have e-mail.

An old fellow was celebrating 92 years on this Earth. He spoke to his toes.

"Hello, toes!" he said. "How are you, toes? You know, you are 92 today. Oh, the times we've had! Remember we walked in the park in summer every Sunday afternoon? The times we waltzed on the dance floor? Happy Birthday, toes!"

"Hello, knees," he continued. "How are you, knees? You know you're 92 today. Oh, the times we've had! Remember when we marched in the parade? Oh the hurdles we've jumped together. Happy Birthday, knees!"

Then, he looked down at his crotch. "Hello, Willie, you little bugger! If you were alive today, you'd be 92."

I probably wouldn't think the joke was that funny, except for the fact that my Grandpa (who, have I mentioned, is 83 and gets e-mail) sent it to me. It made me laugh that much harder when I read the commentary he appended to the e-mail:

That's the way it goes.

Zoe Ramblings

It was another great weekend at the Zoe Conference in Nashville. Though, I'm glad to be back home with my daughter. And probably the most powerful part of this weekend are the personal epiphanies and the discussions they lead to on the way home.

We didn't get a chance to meet Lauren Winner, which Krista was really looking forward to, but we got her next book. We also found out someone on our staff at Crosspoint bought last year's Jeff Walling's The Gospel According to Matthew dramatization - which was pretty powerful in how it invoked images of time of Jesus and the early church, comparing them to the image of church today. (Can you imagine a church without thieves and prostitutes?!?) I can't wait to show this.

The funniest part of the whole weekend, I think, was when Mike Cope was talking about Jacob's ladder, and the whole story about what happened in Bethel (Jacob sees a ladder to Heaven with angels going up and down; he also wrestles - literally - with God; heavy stuff). Mike noted that "some [Bible] translations - and Led Zeppelin - refer to it as a stairway to Heaven."

I found out that people I hardly know read my blog. (Thanks, Matt and Lindsay!)

Another interesting thing I noted was that the First Unity Church in Nashville had a great sign out front this weekend. (I can't believe I didn't have my camera!)

I AM OPEN TO ACCEPTING

GOD'S GIFT OF PROSPERITY

Sign me up for that one!! They must subscribe to the Joel Olsteen brand of Christianity. (Follow Jesus, and all your earthly desires will come true!)

It's Good To Be Home

Been gone to the East Coast, and I'm finally back. It's good to be home with my wife and daughter. I was happy that I got to eat blue crabs while I was away (they were amazing at The Dancing Crab), but that only made being gone a little easier.

Although my daughter can be severely independent in wanting things her own way, I'm Sometimes awed by the fact that she can be so sensitive to other people. She wants to be Batgirl for Halloween. The thing that's odd about that is she's into Princesses and Dora and The Wizard of Oz and Kim Possible. I'm the one that's into Batman. If she chose for herself she'd probably be Ariel, or Kim, or Dorothy.

A number of weeks ago, I brought her back a necklace from California . Even though she loves jewelry, I think it's a bit heavy and "scratchy" so she hasn't worn it. We were talking about it the other day, and I was asking her about it. Well, in the discussion, I think she could tell I was disappointed she hadn't been wearing it, so, she decided to wear it that afternoon. She's four, but sensitive to other people's feelings.

Plus, Have I mentioned she's smart? I bought this shirt off eBay last week because, coincidentally, her soccer team this season is The Flash. She knew what it was when I asked her (she already knows her superheroes - that's even more important than the alphabet, isn't it?!) and she knew I bought it because of her team. Sometimes I don't know why I've been blessed in the ways that I have been.

Deliver Me

I was going to post the lyrics here, but I thought I'd just jump on the YouTube bandwagon.

The Week in Review

Good grief. What a long week.

Monday. Bad Memory.

To be honest, I really don't remember anything about Monday.

Tuesday. Signs.

I'm not sure if anyone here really believes this:

God is not a Republican
...or a Democrat

As corny as it is, this one got a chuckle out of me:

Wednesday. Weird Blog Stuff.

I'm a numbers fiend. When I was looking at the stats on my Museum of Pop Culture blog, I noticed something bizarre. On Friday, September 22, four different people found their way to the Museum via an MSN search on the words "pop", "culture", and "breakfast" (or some veriation thereof) all within an hour and a half of each other. The really odd thing is that, according to SiteMeter (the site that tracks the hits on my blogs), they came from four completely different places: Columbia, SC; West Lafayette, IN; Columbus, OH; Boston, MA. I'm still trying to figure this out. Then this past Tuesday, someone else in Memphis, TN did the same thing.

Weird.

Thursday. Emergency.

Well, Thursday night, Krista couldn't sleep. I woke up at 2 am (I guess that would have been Friday), to her coughing so hard she almost couldn't breathe (she's also pregnant, so add that to the mix). So we dropped Julianna at the house of some good friends (good enough to wake up at 2 am; thanks, Mark and Gena) and went to the ER where they listened to Krista's breathing and gave her a cough supressant.

*sigh*

She's better now, but I think I could have thought of that one.

Thursday night's sunset

Friday. This Is the End.

I was standing in line to buy coffee at Cowboy's on Cox Creek Parkway yesterday. The cashier asked the guy in front of me his birthday because he was buying some Marlboro Reds. He replied with my birthday. I guess statistically, that's not as fascinating as it could be. If there are 23 people in a room together there's about 50% chance that two of them will have the same birthday. If I was a bit more adventurous, and less tired, I could figure out how many people I'd have to meet for there to be a 50% chance for me to share a birthday with one of them. Hey, Mark, there's a math problem for you.

I listened to Sarah Brightman's Deliver Me a lot yesterday. I think it's going to be my new prayer. I wonder if they'll let us sing it at church.

Last night was also Higher Grounds at Crosspoint. It was a nice way to end the week. To sit and relax, with my arm around my girl, eyes closed, listening to some beautiful live music.

The only picture that really came out OK from last night.

Friday night's sunset with a stream of cars going to Brooks High School for a football game
It's been a long week. I'm glad it's over.

Is it football season, again?

Uh oh. Another controversial blog. It's Sunday afternoon, Krista's watching the premier of The Amazing Race, Julianna's playing, and I'm writing. I just don't get into the whole football thing some of the folks do around here. I mostly notice it because I've got to detour around Briley Stadium on my way home. If someone's got a game on, I'll sit down and watch it, and I know enough to be confused about the differences between pro and NCAA ball, but I don't get into this season like 95% of the population does around here. Call me a girl, call me a Yankee, whatever you want, I'm sure I've been through it already.

I get having a hobby; I get being a fan; but a lot of folks take it overboard. I've known grown men who act depressed for a week whenever their team loses. When we first moved here (from Baltimore), I don't know how many times we were asked, Are you Auburn or Alabama? Our usual reply was ummmm...do we have to pick now? Now whenever an SEC discussion comes up, I usually throw in a, Go Wolverines! Being from Michigan and all, you know. But that's about the extent of my knowledge of U of M. Sometimes I ask, What does the Securities Exchange Commission have to do with football? But then, I usually just get blank stares. Maybe I'd understand it a little better if some of the more intense fans actually went to school there.

All of the pictures below were taken on the way home Thursday night (including the church sign at the top). From Huntsville to Florence, from 4:20 to 5:50 pm. Not shown are the ones that I didn't see; the ones that I saw, but didn't snap a picture of; and ones that I did get a picture of, but didn't turn out well enough to post. I guess the flags are out of vogue now; I only saw one that Thursday, and didn't get the camera out quick enough to take a picture.

Auburn

(if you look hard, you can see the pom poms and other accessories in the rear window above)

Alabama

UNA

Of course, I guess I do live in a college town (sort of).

To be totally fair, these last two below were taken the next day (they are of the same tent): one on the way to work, one of the way home.

Open Skies and Sunsets

Just a few pictures from the last day or two.






Ouch. Rogersville, yesterday morning. No ambulances, and people standing around, so it appears no one was hurt.

Blue Skies

Bright, blue skies yesterday morning.



Even brighter skies yesterday afternoon, so I took a picture with my sunglasses to see how it would turn out.

I couldn't tell if this person was trying to block the sun while they were driving, or were just fascinated by this week's coupons. Either way, it looks dangerous (says the man taking pictures). I had to doctor this picture by reversing it since I took it through my rear-view mirror.