that boy plays a mean triangle. (and by “mean” i mean “holy crap, he’s an amazing triangle player”)

it’s that special time of year again…when you get to go around saying “happy VD” to everyone you see. (the quizzical looks you get when you say that statement outloud…priceless entertainment for the easily entertained.)

went out on a “date” last night. 6 non-romantically-involved single friends in our “city clothes.” dinner was 110% fabulous. we ate at soby’s in downtown g’ville. highly recommended. (although our hostess had apparently never discovered an invention called a bra…and she wanted everyone to know it so she chose a shirt with a neckline that ended somewhere around her belly button…i don’t mean to soapbox, but why do women dress like…yep, im gonna say it….whores, and then get suprised or offended when guys treat them like they look? i am not by any means advocating male behavior in these instances, but you don’t have to dress that way to get a decent guy’s attention. in fact, if you do dress that way, there are a lot of guys who will try their best not to look at you. trust me, a little mystery and confidence is much more attractive than clevage…no matter how much clevage you put out there for the world to see.) our waitress was awesome though and when one of the girls asked her about a particular mustard on one of the entrees she replied “it…rocks.” yeah…she had me at “it rocks.” me and a big tip.

moving on, i had a $25 ribeye…and it was worth every mooing penny. the evening also consisted of dessert followed by some very public guitar-and-triangle-powered serenading for the ladies. the result? they swooned…how could they not? with choice musical selections like elvis’ suspicious minds (not a love song) and in the ghetto (definately not a love song) we were destined for swoonage. yeah, we crack us up.

happy VD.

nothing.

new news…josh byrd is playing at that 02.23 show with me and barnes now too. i met byrd last time i was in nashville, and he’s a super kid with great songs. looks like that show is shaping up to be a real winner. you should probably come. yes you should.

*after hours addition*

run along and pre-order barnes’ new deal at the aware store. good songs, good packaging (yep, pixelgrazer…again. all my friends make cool stuff), good grief, what are you waiting for? it’ll treat you right.

gov’t mule, you ask? yes…that was one big, nasty rock and roll show. and i had a well-planned half-day off today, so sleeping in rocked as well. i’d show you some pictures…but the pesky venue wouldn’t allow cameras. now, the hippie hoards could bring in their bootlegging gear (nothing like 10′ tall mic stands to ruin somebody’s view)…but i couldn’t snap some pics. which is a shame, because the lighting design for the show was freakishly good. also a shame, because i would have loved to take some video of the “that guy” (you know…there’s always “that guy”) who was in front of us. i’ve seen some jam-banders get their groove-thing on dancing at a show…but this guy was unique to say the least. he caused a solid ten minutes of snickering from my crew…i wonder if he gives lessons?

i have nothing else of value to add to your life today. apologies abound. go read some of tim‘s stuff instead. he has cool pictures from australia.

ok…the cooler is now officially on my must-see list.

“you look in the mirror, you don’t like what you see, look in my eyes, i am the only mirror you’re ever gonna need.”

i mean…that’s just too good. we need more real romantic fables. (note to self…you have to finally see lost in translation)

um…what the crap? this guy is amazing.

tonight? we rock out with the very loud dirt rock stylings of gov’t mule. lucky for us…this is not one of the unfortunate shows on this tour where they’re playing with kid rock. just the mule…quite possibly the best live guitar tone i’ll hear anytime soon. joy.

last night i ruled the scrabble board (yeah, i’m bragging about it. and what?) while we watched a bit of the unc/tech b-ball game. i haven’t watched tv in so long…i just stare at it when i’m at someone’s house…like i’ve never seen it before. luckily, i kept my wits about me enough to leave all scrabble challengers in my wake. lee mcd also broke a glass light fixture during an impromptu pillow fight…how much fun are those? seriously? (pillow fights, not broken light fixtures)

two friends of mine, liz and ada, are doing an internship this semester at the focus on the family deal in colorado springs. just got an email from ada….they’re learning good stuff. questions like “what do you believe to be true?” “Why do you believe it to be true?” “How did you come to believe it to be true?” wow…i spent four years as a “religion” major and never got asked those questions. that really makes up how you see the world, that’s your worldview…and most of us never stop to think about it (or anything else for that matter.) they also had to study the roles of husbands and wives (as defined by scripture) in their marriage and family class…and then write out their wedding vows. ada put it best when she said, “a very interesting excercise…when you have no one in mind.”

true. true.

true.

We have this local grocery store called Ingles. The Ingles sign is always massively messed up. They misspell words, use wrong letters, have no respect for grammar, etc. I’m starting to think it’s an elaborate conspiracy marketing ploy to get you to actually look at the sign, but i’m not sure if they’re really quite that brilliant. However, the line between brilliance and stupidity can be a fine one, to say the least.

Yesterday’s entry was “TOMESTONE PLZZAS”. So… very… ghetto. Last week they had some other brand of pizza on sale… but both of the “Z”s were backwards. Their set of letters also seems to be missing periods, so all the prices read something along the lines of “599.” What? A $599 pizza? No, actually it’s a $599 PLZZA, silly.

The highlight of all time for that particular sign was “POND CAKE.” And it wasn’t like the “U” in “POUND CAKE” had fallen down or wandered off on its own… there just wasn’t a space for it. Someone honestly thought that was how you spelled the delectable dessert’s name. Pond cake sounds not-so-tasty. Their sign is like ever-increasing hilarity that I don’t have to pay for.

I don’t know why any of this is suprising though; SC is somewhere around 48/49/50th in literacy and education every year. Sidenote: I just misspelled “literacy” and had to re-type it. Who said we aren’t products of our environment?

Liars.

going home. but, before i do…i like the way this kid thinks. he’s my journal hero for the day. (i’m sorry…i just can’t refer to them as…well…you know… ok…bottom line? “journal” just sounds better than “blog.” and i stand by my decision.)

this afternoon…i re-discover charlie hunter is the best jazz guitar player i’ve ever seen. period. i mean…i first heard him a few years ago and went “WHO is that guitar player?” word…charlie hunter. i listen for a little bit and went…”o dang, the bass player is B.A. too…who is that?” um…charlie hunter. oh wait…and it’s a live recording…

he’s from planet i’m-charlie-hunter-and-you-don’t-know-crap-about-music.

lots of free mp3-age at his site, as well as some videos. (grr…but why won’t he ever come play in the south? so sad.) all his song titles crack my junk up too…“do that then”, “aunt jemima’s revenge”…right now i’m listening to “mitch better have my bunny”…that’s the freaking funniest thing i’ve heard all day.

exhale…i need a vacation. i simply have to get out of town for a few days. any of the typical favorites would do…atlanta, nashville, charleston, etc. (…i hear etc. is nice this time of year) just away from here and away from the office and…away for awhile. no schedule, no calander, no work. i…must… make…this…happen …soon. because seriously, while there are nice trips to colorado and minneapolis coming in may…it is decidedly not may. i have a new theory. vacation schedules should be totally sabbath-based (not black sabbath-based…though that would be interesting). every 7 days…one day off. every 7 weeks…one weekend off. every 7 months…one week off. every 7 years…one month off. i think i could jive on a schedule like that. (making it actually work in the real world might be a hassle…but i’m gonna give it a try.)

countdown until the move into a house to call my own….20 days. anticipation is a nice feeling. (although maybe i’m due for a good crush…now that’s a great, albeit completely illogical, feeling)…

by the way…

the aforementioned blather has this swank little mixtape music player. it’s on the right side under, what else, “mixtape.” check it out. i’m definately getting my head bob on to some RATM right now. in my office. in my church office. what? but my favorite one is buzzard’s jazz mix. mingus, marsalis, a little charlie hunter, and, of course, miles davis. jazz is mmm, mmm, good.

also…i’m wearing flips flops today. not an unusual phrase for me to say….but it is 40 degrees outside. still…my feet have been closed off from the world for too long…and i felt the need to free them today. i now dread going outside again…as it is quite chilly and my feet hate me at this particular moment. sigh.

the quote of the day? michael buzzard.

“Do I complain a lot? It’s come to my attention (finally) that I mainly use blather to…moan about one thing or another. Maybe I should drink more?”

for whatever reasons…that made me laugh out loud when i got to work today.

right now? listening to queens of the stoneage bootlegs…loudly. you know…rekindling that love for metal just needs to happen from time to time. one can only listen to singer/songwriters for so long…then the metal must rule itunes for a bit…it’s a cycle. prior to my discovery of the acoustic guitar, when i was a “total metal kid,” i had a college roommate who was completely “into” phish and the dead and numerous other bands (who sounded like phish and the dead). he would regularly walk into our dorm while i was rocking to slayer or pantera (or some such ridiculous metal band) and just start going “SATAN, SATAN, SATAN” over and over again. it’s was, admittedly, very funny. sadly, i could never think of anything witty with which to mock his music. a shame, really…his music really did deserve to be mocked.

crazy weekend. crazy weekend. crazy weekend.

where to begin?

first…i just drove by stewart’s…which is our local pseudo-waffle house-esque-ish-y establishment, only with a thick layer of nicotine and grease on everything in the place…even the employees. their sign reads “now serving breakfast bowls” and the thought that came to mind was “you know, if they’d just put an “e” after the “w”…they’d be so right.”

moving on. the south kills me. this is such a unique place. example, you ask? ok. funerals. a funeral procession drives by, everyone in oncoming traffic politely pulls to the side of the road and stops, turns down their radios, takes off their hats, etc. does this happen in jersey? or chicago? or new york? something tells me no. i always wondered who the respect was for though. (not knocking it, just trying to understand it) the deceased? the family? everything gets so….weird….when it comes to death and the ideas about what happens after. it’s like there’s this unspoken reverence for the entire process/situation.

which brings me to this morning. church continues to grow. madness. 3150ish folks this morning…in the middle of no where SC. oh…but the point? somewhere around 75 of those people jumped out on faith publicly today and said “ok jesus…i think you’re real.” no worries about the after-death theories. some rock and roll…some community…some drastic life change. not a bad sunday. i spent the majority of yesterday building an 8′ tall, 300 lb. castle door that we used as a stage prop…time well spent i’d say…even if i still can’t get some of this stupid stone textured paint off my hands. (if you dig on listening to good communicators, you can download the mp3 of today’s message…it’ll probably get uploaded to the site tomorrow morning.) just further proof in my mind and heart that people can try all the self-help they want (or “external fix-it remedies” as wertz so aptly called them)…but self help is no help at all…and we can’t change jack about our lives on our own. thank God (literally) for hope. sigh….i love this place.

mmm…crazy weekend.

and now? sunday afternoon nappage.

(by the way…spell check’s closest match to “nappage?” navajo. hmm…yes, but completely not.)

do yourself a flava…go get jonny lang‘s new album, long time coming. just go…just go. ain’t no woman like the one i’ve got? for-get-about-it. crazy good.

i absolutely love my new camera. many thank you’s to designer/photographer/friend/all-around man of awesome (who’s work kicks your work’s butt) jeremy cowart at pixelgrazer for talking up the canon G5.

i would probably date this camera if it wasn’t an inanimate object. seriously…it’s…just…that…hot…

a huge shout out to lorissa shepstone over at apparently nothing. i scammed a bit of her code to get started here and she was kind enough to lend me the rest. she has awesome pictures. go buy some prints. your walls are ugly…you know they are…they’re like “put some artwrk on me…i’m ugly”…and really, who wants that? insecure walls? support your (not-so) local artists.

wow…links for days and days and days…

i give you this. an awesome list (and concept, really…via the always challenging mr. mike cina) of various designer’s top 5 resource sites they use in the day to day and top 5 design-related sites of work they admire. it’s a huge amount of info…it might take awhile to sift through all this stuff.

i shouldn’t have to post any links for like…a year. (unlikely…but i’m-just-sayin’…i’m-just-sayin’…)

ok. so you’ve heard all these chatty music snobs go on and on about damien rice…damien rice…damien rice. well…that’s because he’s really freaking good.

if you haven’t checked him out yet, this site will let you listen to the whole “o” album and watch a few videos (the one for volcano just knocks me out…) as well as see a hysterical little short movie.

(further proof that lowdens are some of the best sounding acoustic guitars in the world.)

ah…enjoy the irish goodness of mr. rice and his guitar (and lisa hannigan? don’t get me started…)

…yep…still raining…

“bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. when you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. for these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life…”

hmm…solomon’s thoughts on commands from this morning’s little lovefest with proverbs. i doubt i ever really think of commands as “the way to life…” but i guess i’m wrong pretty much all the time, so it doesn’t surprise me that i’m off on this either. i want the clear, marked out path…and God both does and does not work that way. it’s like the way is there…i just don’t want the “corrections of discipline” to be the way. but i don’t get to vote, do i?

discipline…you and i are going to have us a little tussle, aren’t we? yeah…that’s what i thought.

by the way…i saw big bounce last night. i figure…it’s an elmore leonard book…i like his stuff…and ok, it looks pretty stupid…but heist movie’s usually either rock completely or don’t so…………………….we’ll give it a try.

bad call. not even owen wilson and his always entertaining dialouge can save this one. and i guess i’m a bit prudish…but i felt like i was watching a late-night cinemax movie half the time. i know the thing is set in hawaii…but c’mon…they wear clothes….sometimes?

oh, and charlie sheen?…can’t act anymore. it’s like…POOF!…no more acting chops.

the highlight of the movie was the starsky & hutch trailer. let’s hope that doesn’t lack merit too. snoop dogg? as huggy bear? i’m not sold yet.

in other news: lee mcd got a new tattoo today…and i am ink jealous. bad news….for my wallet.

today’s lunch break uncovered…

* jinky art‘s photography rules you. australian goodness.

* ashley wood? what? especially this one and this one. (some of his stuff is a little on the sexist “i’m-a-male-comic-book-artist” side…but his technique is so good, it’s almost forgivable) hmm…he’s from australia too…odd.

* peter funch has crazy good photos too.

* threadless is having a big sale. their t-shirts are swank. (this is my fav.)

* oh, and this? what can you say about this? too funny for words.

enjoy.

…still…raining…

however, it is my afternoon off and thrift store shopping waits on the horizon. said shopping will go something like this:

shopper friend: “what do you think of this?”

me: “HAHAHAHAHA…”

yes. just like that.