I Heart Craigslist (Again)...

Our church community is in the process of renovating an old gym so that we can have more mtg space. As a result we've got all this old material that we're trying to recycle instead of dumping in the landfill.

Case in point, rolls of rubber flooring that used to sit under the free weights.


Yesterday I posted this stuff in the "Free" section of Craigslist. Within 30 mins I'd received 15 emails from interested folks. I told them to come and get it and by day's end it was gone.

I'm grateful that some folks got something they can use.

I'm excited that this won't take thousands of years to decompose in the earth. (At least not yet.)

And selfishly- I'm glad I won't have to lift this stuff into the dumpster.

Hooray Craigslist!

Colston's First Haircut

We'd been letting the boy's hair grow out. At first the curls were cute. Then he developed the "old man" wings over each ear and people began asking "how old is she?" That did it for me.

Grandma Judy provided the hair cutting skills. Jen kept throwing things in his hands to distract him so that he'd sit relatively still. We couldn't manage to get him to pause for pics tonight, however, but here area couple of shots:



And yes, those are socks on his hands in the first picture. Why, you ask?

They kept him busy and quiet for 15 mins. Enough said.

Vacation Recap- Summer 08

A few weeks back Jen and I were both dragging and finally agreed that we needed to take our first significant vacation in over a year. Although we LOVE getting out west, we chose to stay close and savor what our new home state has to offer. So we booked a great condo in the Echota development near Boone, NC.

We stayed 7 nights, which gave us lots of time to rest and enjoy the area. Some days we stayed close to home and took advantage of the amenities of the resort- swimming in the indoor pool and fishing in the stocked ponds. Between the three of us we caught 11 rainbow trout.

We also took in a couple of the big attractions in the area. We visited Grandfather Mountain- the highest point in the Blue Ridge range. All 4 of us walked across the mile high swinging bridge with 40 MPH winds blowing. We also spent some time hiking in the park.



We took the kids to Tweetsie Railroad, the High Country's attempt at an olde timey amusement park. Even though it was a bit overpriced and slightly cheesy, we all had a lot of fun on the rides. Addy even rode the tilt-a-whirl and Colston asked to go on the carousel again and again.




We also watched the Olympics every night, often staying up until 12:30 or 1am to cheer on Phelps and the gang. One of the best decision things I made on this trip was to unplug from the cell phone and internet. I went an entire week without answering calls or checking email. I think it enabled me to really decompress. And I really enjoyed the time to just be a dad and be with the kids. They're both growing so fast. Who wants to miss moments like this?


Not me. That's for sure.

Time To Recharge The Batteries

The Best Concert I've Seen In A While...

Last night I went to High Point, NC to catch Amos Lee in concert. I've been a fan of Amos' music for the past few years and have been looking forward to seeing him live. I wasn't disappointed. The show was held at the High Point Theater, an upscale venue that was clean, smoke free and decently intimate. I sat about 9 rows back.

I was curious to see what kind of crowd would show for Lee's mix of blues, soul and folk. There was a pretty wide range of ages, including a grey haired couple dead center in the front row and a 6 year old a couple of rows ahead of me who was taking in her first concert ever. There were plenty of couples on dates, and LOTS of single females. Apparently Amos' soulful crooning has quite a romantic effect on ladies of all ages. Note: If you are a single guy between 20-30 and want to meet some women who are in a good mood, get yourself to an Amos Lee show.

There was no opening act and the crowd was fairly quiet beforehand, but once Amos and his band took the stage the room came to life. People shouted, sang along, clapped when asked and spontaneously hooted and hollered. One lady next to me affirmed the start of her favorite songs with phrases like: "that's right", "hmmmmmm", and "go on Amos". And she wasn't the only one. I felt like I was at church.

Amos seemed to feel the vibe as well and got a little chatty with the audience. After a song about fighting, he offered, "You know what they say, if you can't do it- write about it." After another number about jealousy, Amos promised, "This is the last song I'm going to write about that particular situation." After doing a song off of the new album, Lee said, "I hope you already have it. If not, we're selling it tonight. Or you can find it somewhere on the Interweb. You can forage it." Amos had a nice dry wit and I left feeling like he appreciated our presence and was happy to engage us on at least a surface level.

Lee played both acoustic and electric guitar- and while he didn't seem to be a virtuoso on either, he held his own and played what was needed to get the songs across. He was backed by a 3 piece band of Keys/Hammond Organ, Drums and Bass. The guys played 23 songs in about two hours. Their set covered a good portion of each of Lee's 3 albums and included a couple of covers as well:

Keep It Loose
Supply And Demand
Truth
Careless
Freedom
Bottom Of The Barrel
Jails & Bombs
What's Been Going On
Street Corner Preacher
Listen
Lungs (orig by Townes Van Zandt)
Kid
Southern Girl
Won't Let Me Go
Sweet Pea
Seen It All Before
Black River
Arms Of A Woman
Shout Out Loud
Encore:
Better Days
Night Train
Colors
Fat Bottomed Girls (orig by Queen)

Lee and the players sounded good and didn't just play "what was on the record". True to their bluesy roots, they improvised on many songs. Lee even altered his delivery at times to more of a rap/melodic talk- which worked nicely. Unlike many artists who can only sing one way, Amos drifts effortlessly between an r/b falsetto, a gritty folk delivery and a bluesy growl.

Overall, I had a blast with just two minor disappointments. 1. Jen didn't get to come with me. I would have loved to share the night with her. She's DEFINITELY going next time. 2. I'm going to have to wait until Amos comes back through NC to see him again.

Check HERE to see if he's coming to your town anytime soon. And then go!

And The Woman Can Shop...

There are many, many things that I love and appreciate about my wife. Somewhere on that lengthy list is this:

"Jen is a great shopper. She loves to get a deal and HATES to pay full price."

Take this little combo for example:


When we set up camp in our new family room Jen told me that we'd need a sofa table and some "real" lamps to put on it. Given that most of our lamps came from Target and cost less than $20, I understood. the need for something more substantial. However, I wondered what these essential pieces of serenity and relaxation would cost us.

The table came to us courtesy of Craigslist and a $20 spot.

The lamps were picked off of the clearance rack at Pier 1 last night for $49 each. They originally retailed for $125.00 each.

Total cost for one sofa table and 2 grown up lamps: $127 tax included.

My wife is thrifty- and awesome!

Leaving No Stone Unturned...

A couple of years back I would sit on the couch in the evenings with my computer and Jen would wonder "what in the world I could possibly be looking at" online. (Yes, that's a direct quote.)

Now, she's got her own laptop and seems to find plenty of things to browse every night- like the latest news, Craigslist and Overstock.com.

Lest you think she's simply wasting time, here's the latest gem she turned up tonight.

This will probably pay off someday.

Hopefully some very distant day decades from now.