What Would Jesus' Lawyers Do?

Regarding the firing of Dr. Foster, a popular founding pastor at Bellevue Community Church.

Such a move was one of the things church elders wanted to prevent by including a one-year non-compete clause in the severance package they offered him, he said.

Is it just me, or is it a bit abrasive to read about a non-compete clause in connection with a church? WWJD, indeed.

And here's the link to NiT's summary of events.

That's The Ticket

Click here to make your own.

I Am A Hot Date

What lucky girl wouldn't want to see a movie about global warming? My wife is the envy of all of her friends, I'm sure.

An Inconvenient Truth, here we come.

And thanks to Brittany at NiT for the heads up on tickets.

Sad Faces

From Deep Within The Hard Drive

(click to enlarge)


 

And The Sign Says...

Billy's Mini Market in Decatur, Alabama asks that you dress appropriately when stopping in for your convenient purchases. After seeing way too much underwear, they simply posted a sign:

STOP & READ

Males: Pull up your pants where we do not see your underwear. Must have on shoes and shirt. No stomach showing or bad language.

Females: Pull your shirts down and cover your stomach. Must have shoes on and cover for bathing suits. No bad language.

We appreciate your cooperation and business. Thank you, Joann McNutt, owner.

I don't see any mention about long-haired freaky people, though. So the good boys from Five Man Electrical Band should be welcome. Or make that Tesla for you younger folks.

Rock on.

Where In The World Is Happiness?

Q: Why is this fish smiling?

A: Because he's a lucky Finn.

According to the map in this link to The World Map of Happiness, the US ranks 23rd among the countries in the world. My Finnish friend at work moved here from a #6 ranking. And maybe nothing is rotten in Denmark afterall, as it resides at the top of the list.

With respect to the citizens who live near the bottom of this list, we need to remember that Hotel Rwanda was a great and important film, and while it was celebrated and awarded for its merits, people still suffer greatly in places like Rwanda and Burundi and most certainly Darfur. At the very least, we need to read about what is going on where people are mistreated. We need to keep ourselves informed, and that is the very least, indeed. We start by reading, and we then we write about what we read, and then we talk about what we learn. It is our responsibility to care about those who live a life seemingly without hope or help.

We can always start at home, too. Nashville Rescue Mission could always use volunteers or donations. Unlike in Las Vegas (Thanks, Sam), it's still legal to feed the homeless of Nashville. Before compassion is outlawed everywhere, let's do our part. The 23rd happiest nation may as well care.

Apartment Living Suits Us Just Fine

On my first day off in nine days, the kids and I walked to the apartment pool to play. At our apartments, there is a beautiful pond which is quite large. Much to the delight of the children, there are a lot of ducks around the pond. Much to the delight of the ducks, we have a lot of bread that we will be happy to share.





This, of course, would be our little samurai swimmer. We're still teaching her how to swim. She's got the kicking part down but she thinks that the rest of it is just about looking cool and fierce.





This young man is all over the place. As long as he has his big green vest, he's got all of the confidence in the world. And this father loves to see both confidence and big fun working together for his cherub.

At our old house, we had no pool, we had no pond, and we had no ducks. We had unpaved streets and a backyard where no grass would grow. The grass in the front yard grew just fine and I got to cut it from time to time. I hate yard work. I don't understand those guys who look forward to the weekends so that they can manicure their lawns.

Here, I mow nothing. On a day off, I take a leisurely stroll down to the pool and have fun with my kids. There is a health club with a sauna and a jacuzzi as well. The smile on my face indicates simply that life is good here.

Now if we could just get a freaking break on the sale of our house.

For Better Pics And Pixels

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal's Blog Watch column, I have three new favorite photo tip blogs:

Photojojo

Camera On The Road

Digital Photography School

Rockin' With Dokken

OK, the pic has nothing to do with Dokken, but it just seems to fit for the moment. I've come home from yet another night of working for a pittance and I have left all of my "indier than thou" musical tastes somewhere in the parking lot. I walked into my apartment, changed into lounge pants and an old ripped up Peter Himmelman t-shirt that I just bet my wife wants like anything to burn, and fired up the laptop to feed this late night surfing addiction of mine.

Plugging in my new headphones, I logged onto Rhapsody and wondered what I was in the mood to hear. Two Tom Waits tunes and a couple of Steve Martin bits down, I saw some product placement for some Dokken album I had never heard of. I immediately thought of "Mr. Scary" from 1987's Back For The Attack and away I went into the wayback machine.

An hour later, I am still listening to it and I can still see my old buds from high school, Brandon and Chris, headbanging with muscle shirts (no muscles required) in the back row of photography class to the amusement of the preppier students of the class. I hope those guys are doing well now. Listening to heavy metal with my friends back then was about as good as it got.

It was that same year that my best friend and I saw Judas Priest at Starwood. How naive we were at the time. Rob Halford in leather chaps and biker hat? Who knew that there was a message behind those duds and studs? Kicking back on the grass, and with the grass, if you know what I mean, we rocked out to "Living After Midnight," while knowing full well that our curfew was not one minute later than midnight itself. At concert's end, Chris and I were back to his '64 1/2 Mustang and on our way back to our respective homes with our bedrooms, wallpapered with cut out pages from the rock stars of Hit Parader magazine.

But enough blogging for one night. This live Dio record that I am listening to now requires my full attention. And my sleeping family appreciates that I bought some cheap headphones tonight.

Long Live Rock 'N' Roll!

Nice Guys Finish...Where, Exactly?

Loyal readers will know the stresses associated with the intended sale of the house of Chez Bez. It remains an issue.

Our bad. We committed the cardinal sin of moving out and committing ourselves to another residence before the official closing of said house. Turns out that even though a closing date was scheduled, we were not assured of a smooth closing. The buyer has stuff on her credit report that keep complicating matters. We have rescheduled the closing date a couple of times, hoping for better results but getting the same. Wednesday was the latest date that came and went without the sale of the house. And here we sit in our apartment looking at the obligation of both rent here and mortgage there once again.

We are paycheck-to-paycheck people. We cannot dip into savings for this. Dave Ramsey I am not, much as I know I should be. I work long, crazy hours for a pittance. My wife works long and hard hours as well, making more money than me, but still not a lot. It tells a lot when a public school teacher is the breadwinner of the family. This blogger is still looking for his niches to riches. But all the while, this family of kind, well-intentioned members struggle and sink, struggle and sink.

Usually, I do my best to keep perspective about these things. As hard as things are for us, they are the stuff of fantasy for many people in Darfur. The Sudanese would love to have my problems, too. I can think of a few other nations in the news lately whose citizens would gladly trade their problems for mine. But that said, this time I find it hard to get that perspective in full focus. All I see is a beautiful wife who does nothing wrong. I see three children whose mouths, bodies, and brains depend on me being a better wage earner than I am now.

I look around and I wonder what I have done wrong. I put in the hours and I take the crap, and my reward is...well, not much when it comes to money. I've got a teenage son whose best chance at higher education is to join the Army because I never saved very well at all. It's a good thing that he wants to join anyway. But what about his two younger siblings? How will things be for us when they hit his age? And I am not anti-Army. It just hurts me that my oldest has no real shot at higher education than that. It's options in life that make for a comfortable life. He only has the one path, and it's a dangerous one.

Enough wallowing. I put it out there and I move on. But not before listening to Sheryl Crow sing "No One Said It Would Be Easy" from her debut, Tuesday Night Music Club. She's not singing about real estate, but I am thinking about real estate as she sings. Shame on her for treating her cowriters and bandmates so poorly. And shame on me for continuing to listen to that album and love it so much. But that is for another post.

All my best.

Things To Say To Concert Goers When They Are Jerks

Note to self: Don't shout out requests for "Missing You" at the upcoming Tom Waits concert. "Missing You", of course, is a John Waite song. Way different artist there.

I say that because I just laughed out loud reading NashGirl's blog about a similar faux pas at a Ryan Adams concert. And I like Ryan Adams much more now as a result of how he handled an obnoxious attendee.

Here's the link, and here's the excerpt:

Probably artists get rude people all the time and return to the same venue or city over and over nevertheless. Good artists probably don't let that stuff get to them.
Lonnie was telling me about how he saw Ryan Adams at the Ryman last year and there was some jerk in the front row shouting "Summer of 69" over and over.
That, of course, is a Bryan Adams song.
So after he had enough of this incredibly rude person who thought he was being funny, Ryan Adams jumped down off the stage, walked up to him and handed him a wad of cash from his pocket and said, "There's your money back, now go home."
That's a good way to deal with rude audience members. And Ryan Adams is playing next week, so he clearly didn't let that one guy sour his impression of the whole city.

"...full of sound and fury, signifying family."

Apologies to Shakespeare, but that is what came to mind this morning as I was awakened by the immediate presence of my two youngest children bouncing around on the bed. A boy, 3, and a girl, 1 1/2, doing what they do. The sun is up and they are ready to play. Mommy has been up and is seeking a nap. Daddy went to bed late and would do anything for another hour or two of golden slumber. But these parents' desires are recognized not one bit by the children for whom play is everything.

And I guess that's as it should be.

Anne Frank 2006: War Diaries Online

Anne Frank 2006: War Diaries Online

My most interesting read of the day.

Good Shots From Row P?

The research begins now. With 11 days between now and Tom Waits 16 lettered rows from me, I need to learn the best tips on how to take good concert photos with a Kodak Z740. Of course, I am assuming (hoping) that it will be allowed to accompany me into the beautiful auditorium called Ryman.

This camera has yet to take a good shot in low lighting, but maybe that's just the fault of this photographer. I need bravery and education. I need to move away from the "auto" setting, and get confident in the more manual ways of photographic manipulation. I know better than to rely on the flash in a concert setting, so I'll need a steady hand and a long exposure. But the setting numbers are greek to me. Time to surf the net for tips - or just welcome the input of readers...readers like you. ;)

By the way, my Chicago bro has turned me onto a band called The Bad Plus. Dig them up and give them a click. For those who pay attention to genres, Rhapsody.com categorizes them as such: Jazz > Bop > Post Bop > The Bad Plus. Interesting, indeed. While very fantastic in performing their own written stuff, they get my attention by putting their own spin on these three songs:

"Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin)
"Human Behavior" (Björk)
"We Are the Champions" (Queen)

Have a nice night. And listen to WRVU as often as possible.