Something funny for your Friday

The Spears sisters – the newly-pregnant 16-year-old Jamie Lynn and older sis Britney – caught on tape ....

Thursday Thing-along

I tried singing along with this DMX piece and hurt my throat...
But I can dance my ass off to it...



Here is the wikipedia page for DMX.

Way Back When-sday

This is a picture of Mama from the late 70s with Christmas bows stuck all over her. She's also crossing her eyes and just looking downright goofy.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Here comes Santa Claus

Merry Christmas Eve....

Click here to track Santa's progress through the day and night.

Something funny for your Friday

Thursday thing-along

Something different... Many of you may have never even heard this. And after hearing it, may wish you never do again. It's a novelty song from the mid-70s.

Way Back When-sday

Way Back When-sday takes a slightly different turn.
Hope you enjoy this pre-Christmas presentation .....




Merry Christmas..
By the way, if you like Christmas music, be sure to check out the postings by Leather Canary ..... He has created six, yes 6, mix tapes of Christmas music.
Download the zip files here.

A few Christmas questions answered ....

1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Are you celebrating with your family or are you traveling?
Yes, I celebrate Christmas.....
Christmas is celebrated at more than one house and on more than one day in our families. For example, I am working Christmas Day so I will try to have my brothers and parents over on Christmas Eve for a bit. With three brothers that all work very different schedules, it's hard to do things like we used to. I know that still bothers my mom. Every year I find myself longing even more for the days of waking up with my brothers and running to the den to find our piles from Santa. I am a very immature 41 .... or at least a very honest 41.

2. Do you know what presents to get and have you already done some shopping?
Sort of. Some people have given me lists. I like ideas and general suggestions... I don't like lists of specifics... That -- at least to me -- ruins it. Yes, it makes for easy shopping, but .... that shouldn't be the point.

3. Do you already know what to have for the Christmas meal?
chicken wings and Jim Beam and Diet Coke would suit me just fine. BUT... there are plenty of cooks and chefs in this extended family so I leave it to them. Crown roast, hams, turkeys, prime ribs, pork loins ... it's all been enjoyed in the past.

4. Do you have a Christmas tree? When do you decorate it and when does it come down again? How do you like it to look?
Yes, there is a tree in the house (pictured at right)... and one on the front porch. The trees go up shortly after
Thanksgiving and don't come down until after the new year. Eclectic with an eye toward tradition is how I'd describe the tree. The new addition this year is something from the past – bubble lights.

Here is a link to a video of this year's tree. The song is Purple Snowflakes from Marvin Gaye. Like the song? Download it here from Aquarium Drunkard while the post lasts.

5. Are you going to church?
I do not attend church. I believe in God or a higher power .. I don't believe you have to go somewhere specific for her or him or them to hear you. I also don't knock those who like to gather together as a group to do it. More power to you. Whatever works.

6. Do you think you will be having a white Christmas?
Unlikely, but it could happen. It's cold enough this time of year, generally, but we usually don't have anything around Christmas where the temps and precip match up.

And a question added by Kim and Victoria:

7. What was your strangest Christmas?
Last year ... 2006 ... Last Christmas is sort of the demarcation of the B.C. and A.D. of my life .. and a year later, I'm still trying to figure out everything that happened.

Here are some links to others who answered similar questions. Please check their blogs for their answers. Seeing how others think and live is the kind of thing that makes blogging so interesting ... at least for me it does.

• Kim and Victoria
• BEK ... scroll down for English
• Mara at Whole Lots o' Nothin'
• Lacey

Looking for some Christmas songs to download ... shhhhhh... Then check out the daily posting at Hello Vegetables.

Something funny for your Friday

WARNING: This video may not be suitable for minors
... but it is damn funny.

Thursday Thing-along

Something a little different ... but I think worth it.



Here's a bit of info about Rockapella.

Way Back When-sday

What is the worst gift you've ever given your dad for Christmas?
Seriously. Dads are impossible to buy for. This was something one of us gave Pops for Christmas sometime in the mid '80s called a TV Duck. It sat on the arm of the chair and held the remote control and the TV Guide. I don't think I ever saw it used to do that. Pops sure looks happy to be getting it from one of us, though. Now we just try to give him things we've borrowed over the years and never given back.

So, what's the worst gift you've ever given your dad?

Congratulations to John

UPDATED WITH PICTURES
My friend John Pierce ran in and completed his first marathon this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., in the Thunder Road Marathon. At top is a picture of him from the back crossing the finish line. His daughter and her friend ran the last few yards of it with him. At right is a picture of John during the marathon -- I think he knew we would want proof. He is the one at the far right in sunglasses.

He finished 563rd overall out of 1018 total entrants. He was 71st in his division and finished in 4:27:48 (chip time) for an average of 10:19 per mile.

Here are the complete results. You can see John's split times by looking under the marathon results.

Congratulations John.

Fitness challenge

We're starting this fitness thing at work and three guys are going to go up against three of the women in a challenge. I'm one of the guys along with Andre (left) and Leon (right). It's all part of a bigger 12 week program the newspaper's health section is doing as a way to get all our readers thinking about health and fitness. Although it officially starts the first week in January, the six of us in the public challenge -- public because we'll be blogging and writing about our successes and failures along the way -- are getting our fitness assessments done now. We meet with a dietitian and then we get our love handles pinched with some pinch thingy. I can't wait for that.

As part of the meeting with the dietitian, we're supposed to give them a written list of what we ate for three days and how much of it. The problem is I work nights and that has really messed up what I eat. Breakfast food is pretty much a non-existent part of my diet anymore. I don't know how to explain that I ate leftover ribs for breakfast and had wings and a beer at four in the morning for dinner.

Anyway, once this starts, I'll put up links to the homepage for this challenge if you want to follow along with us and see how we do. Here's a little intro video I made to put with my first blog post on the site.

Something funny for your Friday

Monty Python skits crack me up.

Thursday Thing-along

My friend John (left) is running his first marathon this Saturday and wanted a little thing-along that would get his feet moving. Hope these help, John.

Want more inspiration?
I've posted different versions of this before.

Good luck. I'll be thinking of you as I sleep in.

Snowy Way Back When-sday

It's snowing here today. Not much (top picture), but it's the first time this season that it's actually going to accumulate on the ground. Right now it looks sort of like the snow we would get all excited about growing up in eastern North Carolina. A dusting would be enough to cause school to be called off. There were no snow plows. They used road graders (like this one) to move the snow where we grew up. The older picture to the right is Stephen and me in January 1970. Stephen was 3 and I was about 4 and a half.

Rainy day in Philly

We went to Sunday's Eagles game in Philadelphia against the Seattle Seahawks. The forecast called for ice, freezing rain and then rain. For once, the forecast was on the money. Luckily for me, I paid attention to it and went to the Super Walmart after work Saturday night/Sunday morning and picked up this sweet rain gear (at right). Made for fishermen, it worked perfect for tailgating and game watching. I was bone-dry at the end of the day.

Something funny (or gross) for your Friday

Thursday Thing-along

The lyrics from this Kenny Chesney diddy are worth paying attention to.

Way Back When-sday

This is a picture of my youngest brother, Brandon, from about 10 years ago. I don't remember exactly but I'm sure Mama or someone can put in a comment when it was. The cuts and stitches on Brandon's head and face in the picture are from when his head put that hole in the windshield on his truck. What may have saved his life is the extra strong bumper that had been added to the front of it ... that, and the powers above. I remember seeing Mama's face when she was standing beside Brandon's bed in the emergency room and she looked up at me when I came in. I don't know what she would have done if things hadn't turned out the way they did. I post this Way Back picture now at the start of this holiday season to remind us all how important we are to someone out there. Brandon has had a couple of these close call accidents and I'm sure some of you have had friends or family who weren't as lucky as Brandon was. Please remember during this season how important it is to get where you are going -- alive ... and how just as important it is for the people sharing the roads with you to get where they are going.

What a handsome picture ...

I was off from work for a few days and I returned to find my screensaver on my Mac had mysteriously switched from a Big Boy bobblehead to a picture of a co-worker by a waterfall.

Note to Justin....
The secret might be out.

Nothing gold can stay

They were beautiful in the trees, now they are turning out to be work.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-- Robert Frost

Sad news, good memories

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kevin Dubrow, lead singer for the 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot that scored a hit with "Cum on Feel the Noize," was found dead in a Las Vegas home. He was 52. The cause was not immediately known.
Read more here.

I wasn't much of a fan of metal bands growing up, but who didn't like this song. It must have been played hundreds of times while friends and I hung out in my parents' basement.

Eagles vs. Patriots ..... oh shit

The Eagles take on the undefeated New England Patriots tonight in New England and Eagles QB Donovan McNabb is hurt and will not play. I'm not sure how good this game will be, so I'm trying to make sure the food is good. So I started the chili late last night/early this morning and I put the ribs on about an hour ago. I take the ribs and move them into a pan after searing them. There's also plenty of beer and plenty of Jim Beam. Win or lose, I'm going to enjoy myself.

Camping photos ... finally

This is a bunch of photos from camping strung together in video form.

To see many of these photos in a slower-paced slideshow, click here.
To see the photos on a page to click on each one individually, click here.

Thanksgiving Clip

This is a couple of clips from Thanksgiving Day at Mama and Pops house. It was low key this year ... not everyone in our family was there this time.
In these clips, Pops cuts the bird, Emily rolls the crescent rolls, Mama dishes out some desserts, Brandon dozes off and Toby snores ....

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

If any of you are like me and need to be reminded every now and then of the many things you have to be thankful for, the piece at the right is from an Ann Landers column a few years back.

Just click on it to see it bigger or click here to download it as a pdf.

Something funny for your Friday

Thursday thing-along

Chilliwack ... what a great name for a band. Get the history of the band and the name here on wikipedia.

Rock em Sock em

So now we can find all of our favorite games from the 70s today at K-Mart ... And they are all ON SALE. Get "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" for just $7.77.

Check out today's K-Mart ad in your local paper...


That's just plain awesome .... Now I want a Pound Puppy....

Way Back When-sday

This Way Back goes with the season....
As the back of the picture says, this is me gnawing down on a turkey drumstick. This picture is from November 1966 and it was the first Thanksgiving turkey Mama and Daddy cooked as a married couple. I'm not sure if 6-month-old babies should be gnawing on turkey legs, but I turned out OK.

P.S. Check out my chromed out ride. That is one sweet-ass stroller, y'all.

Who says guys can't cook in an oven?

During this year's camping trip, we figured out a way to slow cook a beef brisket by building a stone oven. Check out the rocks used as the front and top to keep in the heat. It worked to perfection.



More camping videos and pictures are on their way.

Feeling right at home

When there are no seats left on the couch or they just don't feel like stretching across the back of the couch, the animals love to stretch across me. In the below picture, Parker (left) and Toby are stretched out across my stomach and one of my legs.

I guess they will find a way to comfortably survive, no matter what the situation.

Lazy, rainy kind of day

It's been a lazy day around the house. Toby (left) and Parker have been asleep on the couch for most of the day while Maybelline has been upstairs somewhere. Notice how Toby creates a throne of a bed for himself.

I should try to teach Toby to do some of these things.

Having a lazy day of your own? Why not try this game.

Autumn's beauty

The trees in the corner of the yard looked especially colorful a couple of days ago. I set my camera down and just let it record.

Something funny for your Friday

I like chick flicks. This scene is from The Sweetest Thing.

More on the Brunswick Stew ....

We used to have a big party when we cooked a Brunswick stew (see video above) and much of the stew -- but not all of it -- got eaten that day. This year there was no party and Mama and Daddy had decided to can most of it (at right).

Don't know what canning is? Learn more here.

For the original Brunswick stew post, click here.

Thursday Thing-along

This one's from the 80s.... Crank it up and dance ...

Way Back When-sday

This Way Back When-sday is dedicated more to an event than a group of photos. This past weekend, my parents cooked a Brunswick Stew at the house. The stew is a family tradition we brought up here with us when we moved from North Carolina. If you click on the picture of the article at the top, you can read a piece the paper I now work for did on this tradition in 1992. The picture in the article is of Granddaddy and Mama. Granddaddy is stirring the stew while Mama adds some ingredients. At right is a picture of Mama dipping out the remainder of the stew this year.

We haven't done a stew in a while. After Granddaddy died, I know it was tough for Mama to even think about having a stew. After all, Granddaddy carved the hickory paddle we still use. I remember when he cut down the wood he used to make it. I watched as he whittled away at it with an ax before switching to his knife for a final touch here and there. He'd come up from North Carolina to help with the stew every year. Sharpening the knives, cutting the onions and potatoes, picking through the chicken to get the bones. And of course, stirring with the paddle he made. I think he enjoyed seeing the tradition get carried on ... and being such a big part of it.

NOTE: I'll add to this later... I need to get ready for work.

My, what a big worm you have ....

hmmmmmmm

Keep on rocking me baby

The clock in the video above is at my parents' house. It came from Mammy and Granddaddy's house and is just like this clock. When Mammy and Granddaddy first bought the clock, it probably cost somewhere around $18.
Here's an early ad for the same clock. The house-shaped clock features a woman rocking in a rocking chair in front of a fireplace on one half and the clock face on the other half.

• If you like the Cuban version of Coldplay's "Clocks," get it here, for now.
• Here's another version of the song.

Boy Wonder goes to the Eagles game

... and the beat goes on ....

Something funny for your Friday

I'm not sure what's funnier.... the fact that the kid is singing a Britney Spears song and doing the dance moves or the ending when his Mom scares him.

Thursday Thing-along

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat.

For the rest of the lyrics, go here.

For some information about Al Stewart, check this Wikipedia page.

Way Back When-sday

This picture is from the early 80's and is of one of our kittens climbing across my ass. If you can take your eyes off my big ass, you'll see a tail of hair hanging over the collar of my shirt. Yes .... I had a tail, rat tail, whatever. That was the period before I got my mohawk.

Getting all crazy about his Robin doll

I went in to the office today for a meeting even though I was taking a couple days off. It gave me a chance to see first hand what Esteban at Parra Grafs did to my desk.




Some of his anger is misplaced. He should be getting back at Natalie for letting the dog play with Batman.

Robin survives one adventure...

Robin enjoyed himself, despite the little incidents with the knife and the fire. Did he survive the Eagles game? Find out soon. For a look at what Robin's owner has done as payback for the kidnapping, check this post at Parra Grafs.

For all my friends who were backpacking with me -- and those just interested in seeing the pictures and video of it -- I'm working on the non-Robin video and pictures and will post it this week.

Holy hot feet Robin

It was a little cold up on the mountain during our backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. But I made sure we kept the kidnapped Robin warm, despite the mayhem being engineered against me back at work.
More photos and videos to come -- with and without Robin. Stay tuned, Bat friends.

Take a hike ....

I'm off to the Appalachian Trail for a backpacking trip with friends -- and I kidnapped a co-worker's Batman and Robin figurines to go along for the ride. Watch for video and photos of all their doings next week.

It should be fun.

UPDATE: [Nov. 5] I have returned from backpacking and Robin is with me. Unfortunately, Robin may have to take a sound beating for what has happened to my desk at work.

Watch for photos and video of the backpacking adventure soon.

Thursday Thing-along

Listen to the ground:
There is movement all around.
There is something goin down
And I can feel it.

On the waves of the air,
There is dancin out there.
If it's somethin we can share,
We can steal it.

....

So sue me ..... I love me some Bee Gees every now and then.

Way Back When-sday

These photos are from after a heavy rainstorm at the house I grew up in in Grifton, N.C. My brothers, some friends and I took a canoe and were using it to go back and forth in the ditch in front of the house. In the photo at right, I'm obviously providing center balance. If I had moved to either end, I would have tipped us. In the photo at top starting furthest from the camera it's Billy Wiggins standing outside of the canoe, then my brothers Brandon and Russell, then Ben and Gretchen Gaskins, then David Wiggins, and my brother Stephen is standing outside the closest end. I'm walking off to the right. In this picture, Stephen looks just like his son Trevor does now. We got a lot of good use out of that ditch. I already showed you the waterslide in a previous Way Back. We also slid down it on cardboard boxes and played king of the hill on it.

It's a man's world

Our annual backpacking/camping trip on the Appalachian Trail is coming up this weekend (starting Friday)... These are a few scenes from last year's trip. My friends, a couple of my brothers (also my friends) and I have been doing this for almost 20 years now. We set it up to always be the first full weekend in November. That way we don't have to wonder. We just show up. Some of us only see each other on this weekend now. But five minutes after saying hi, it's like we were right back to the best of friends who see each other every day.

Something sort of funny for Friday

Thursday Thing-along

Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, one of the founding members of The Intruders, was born in the town of Kinston, N.C., 11 miles from where I grew up. Learn a little more about the group here.

That girl's got pipes ....

Way Back When-sday

This is from Feb. 23, 1969. It's a picture of me (left) and Stephen in a makeshift sandbox in the back yard of our home in Grifton, N.C. I was a few months shy of 3 years old here and Stephen was about 1 and a half. I know we had a regular sandbox when we were a bit older than this because I have pictures of it. But for some reason, this looks like it's just a pile of sand. And instead of the trucks we usually had, here we are playing with a pot and what looks like some cooking utensils. The wagon is cool ... and I bet it's all metal ... and covered in lead paint.

Love this ...

Need a good chuckle?

Check out the video on this post over at Our Life in Idaho from Kim and Victoria.

Head in the clouds

I think a lot ... I probably think too much.

Frisbee Dogs in action

We went to the Eagles game on Sunday against the Bears .... It was a disappointing ending, to say the least, if you were an Eagles fan. More on that in a different post, this is for happier news. The halftime show were some dogs catching Frisbees, including what looks like a little Jack Russell. Here's some of the action.

Haircuts make the world look better

I went and got my hair cut today. The barber I go to has a sign-in sheet. She lets people come in and sign in for a haircut and then leave. If they aren't back in time, the next person on the list goes. This, however, royally pisses off people who come in when it's empty except for the person getting a haircut only to have to wait an hour as the signees show up just as she finishes cutting the hair of the person in front of them on the sign-in sheet. I think it's great. I like to sign in and still sit there through the wait to watch people get pissy.



Here's the joke she told me today (WARNING... She doesn't hold back) .....

Why do witches prefer not to wear any panties?

So they can grip their broomsticks better......

Something funny for your Friday

My mama said I could.

Thursday Thing-along

Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo,
No don't tell me... I've got nothing to do...

Check this site for more on The Statler Brothers.

Many of you may only know this song from it being on the soundtrack for this movie.

Way Back When-sday

These are pictures of a water slide my brothers and I built on the hill -- I remembered it as being much bigger -- that led to the ditch in front of the house in which we lived in Grifton, N.C. We took a big roll of plastic sheeting, secured the top edge at the top of the hill and then used a hose to run water down it. We eventually dammed it up at the bottom so that you basically slid down the hill into a nasty pool of dirty, grassy, yucky water. It was awesome. We had a neighborhood pool -- the neighborhood was built around a small golf course and swimming pool -- but the ingenuity is what made this so special for us. We thought we were something for coming up with this. And it was a great way to get girls in bikinis to come over to the house.

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting ...

I love this song. It's so happy sounding that I felt had to stick some old video clips to it -- and speed them up a bit -- to share it.

My kind of truck

This truck was in front of me on my way to work. Although it got my attention, I discovered the reality of what was in it was not as fun as what I was thinking.

Something funny for your friday

How can anyone ever forget the first time they bought condoms? Did anyone else throw in a bunch of other stuff with them or was that just me?
Let's see... I'll fill this grocery cart with a bunch of things I don't really need right now so I can sneak this box of condoms in the middle. Maybe they'll go relatively unnoticed by the 63-year-old cashier lady if I put them right here between the Hungry Man dinners and the Frosted Flakes cereal and just beneath the loaf of bread and bag of Doritos. Yeah... right. When she finally gets to them and pulls them over the scanner, I swear she looked up at me and sort of chuckled ....

Here are some condom-buying tips for those still a bit shy about the subject.

Thursday Thing-along

I was reminded about this 80s group -- Roman Holliday -- after Wibe, a friend of mine, sent me a link to another video from them. I decided to post this one because the quality is a little higher. It's still got the fun, uptempo rockabilly beat the group was known for. Thanks for the flashback, Wibe.

Here is more on Roman Holliday.

Way Back When-sday

These pictures are from somewhere around 1979, I'm guessing. I was 13 or so years old and I was in the Pitt County Memorial Hospital to have my adenoids removed and tubes put in my ears. I had a lot of ear aches growing up and doctors thought this would help solve that problem.
I can remember my mom holding me some nights and rocking me to sleep because my ears were hurting so bad. It felt like I could hear the blood rushing in and out of my head. I can also remember a couple of times when our family doctor, Dr. Troutman, met us at his office late at night to have a look at me. There is nothing like a family doctor in a small southern town.

In the pictures at right you can see that I had a robe and pajamas. I can assure you that is the only time I ever wore a robe and pajamas. Ever.

I mean, what man really puts on a fresh set of clothes to go to bed?

Helicopter landing behind the house

The Maryland State Police helicopter uses the playground of the elementary school behind the house as a landing zone when it gets called here for emergencies. On Sunday night, it was called here to transport the victim of a motorcycle accident. Usually they take victims of serious accidents or assaults to the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Way Back Weekend remix

This is some of the past Way Back When-sday photos strung together. I hope to do this on a few weekends throughout the year. This is the first one.

What can I say.... I'm a big fan of old family photos.

More from our Eagles/Giants road trip

I've finally gotten around to uploading some of the video and photos from our road trip to see the Eagles take on the Giants at The Meadowlands in Jersey. I still have a few pieces of video that I want to post with natural sound instead of music over it. I'll do that later.

At right is a photo of John Pierce kissing my brother Stephen's head. I think he may have even used some tongue. Anyway .... To see a slideshow of more photos from our road trip experience, just click right here.

Something funny for your Friday

You may not think it's safe for work.... but your eyes can deceive you.



Credit for this goes to Kim and Victoria. I got this from them by e-mail and had to upload it to share.

Thursday Thing-along

So it's not quite the typical thing-along .... but I was in the mood for this world of pure imagination.

Way Back When-sday

This picture is from March 21, 1969, and is of me and Michelle Connolly, our next door neighbor, on our swing set. I was a couple months shy of 3 years old here. The way we are dressed it's like it was a date or something. I'm better dressed in this picture than when I go out now.

We will survive....

Four of us took a trip up to the Meadowlands to see our beloved Philadelphia Eagles get spanked by the New York Giants Sunday night. I'll post plenty of pictures and video later but the video above gives you an idea of how much fun it still was despite the loss. This is on our way home about 2:30 in the morning somewhere in New Jersey.

Something funny for your Friday

Thursday Thing-along

It's Glen Campbell singing Wichita Lineman.
The band playing with him in this is the Stone Temple Pilots.

By the way, Glen isn't always so put together. Click and scroll down just a little.

Way Back When-sday

At top is a picture of me watching Pops open the AM/FM portable radio he and Mama gave me for my 11th birthday in May of 1977.

At right is an advertisement for the Sears Free Spirit 10 speed I mounted that radio to the front of. It was a cruiser. I even had a whip antenna on the back of it. I'd ride around the neighborhood playing music and pretending I was a real something.


I loved it when this song would come on.
I also liked it when this one came on.

Horseshoes+beer+food+football=fun

Sorry TLC... No exercising lady so far this year at tailgating before the Eagles. But still plenty of fun. I didn't include any video of the game itself. That would be illegal.

But if you really wanted to see the exercising lady again...

Mullets are among us

The mullet is alive and well in Philadelphia. This one was sighted at Sunday's Philadelphia Eagles game.

Check out this great mullet site.

Here is Billy Ray Cyrus singing "I want my mullet back."