My Evergreen

Well, we are in Edmonds, WA and I am sitting in my new office, which is smaller than my old office, but has large windows in front of the computer desk.  There are boxes all around me, but the house, for the most part, is almost unpacked.  We had a little craziness from the get-go, and along the way, but for the most part, the trip went very well.

The first hiccup was that the ryder truck we rented was too small for all of our stuff.  It was my fault.  I really felt that after getting rid of as much as we did a 17-foot truck would be enough.  We spent most of the morning the Saturday we were scheduled to leave finding a solution.  David, Rachel, and my family all helped pack and a big thanks goes to them.  We finally had to take the 2-wheeled dolly thing that we were going to haul the Vibe on back and rent a trailer.  That meant that Shannon had to drive the Vibe, Dad the truck, and me the Rio (with the cats).  It also meant that our plan to drive through the night was shot.

We drove until around midnight and stopped in a town in Iowa to spend the night.  The cats were actually pretty good.  I bought this net to keep them in the hatch, but Winston quickly found a hole he could fit through.  About 5 hours into the trip he felt sorry for Gizmo and went back to show him how to get out.

Those two spent most of the trip in the passenger seat.  Maeby was scared to death for a long time.  She cringed down in the litter box until I got so concerned that I put the cat carrier back there with the door off for her to hide in.  By the end of the trip she was up and about.

The second day was a long one and we were all looking forward to stopping at Mt. Rushmore.  That is where the first disaster of the trip took place.  First, I had misspoke when I told everyone that Mt. Rushmore was right off 90.  It was actually more like 40 miles off 90.  We looked for a place to leave the truck, but couldn’t find one.  So, we all in separate vehicles when we pulled up to the monstrosity that Mt. Rushmore has become.

I have been there before.  In 97′ with the band.  There was a few signs and we drove up to find a nice large parking lot and a steady stream of people.  I should have known that something was up when every sign on 90 said “Come see Mt. Rushmore - featured in National Treasure 2.”  Since when did a national monument of this size need to mention a movie tie-in?  Or when we passed the old entrance, which was all blocked off.

When we finally got to site, we were greeted by a 5 story parking garage and manned gates asking for a $10 a car parking fee.  Shannon and I turned around, but we couldn’t get a hold of dad in time. The kid at my gate told me people turn around all the time.  I would hope so.  Rushmore used to be a national treasure.  Now, it’s just another chance for someone to make money - complete with a town of touristy shops that I don’t remember being there ten years ago.

We finally got a hold of dad and told him to stay and check the place out, but he was already driving back down.  Maybe we should have paid the money, but in the heat of the moment it was just too upsetting.  We had already spent tons of extra money on the trailer and the gas to get there.

We drove on in silence until we hit Buffalo, WY and our next hotel.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful till we made it past Spokane and started coming down from the Cascades.  The cats were all up in the passenger seat freaking out.  Every once in a while, Gizmo would jump into my lap thinking that would help him cope, but forcing me to deal with him while I sped down the mountains and around the curves.

We made it into Edmonds around 1am on Tuesday.  Not a bad trip, but certainly not an amazing one.  When is moving ever grand.  Shannon’s brother’s family had set up air mattresses for us to sleep on.  We unloaded on Tuesday.  I had called a guy from our new church who used to live in Carbondale.  I had never met the guy before, but he was kind enough to come by and help us with the big stuff on Tuesday.

I’ll continue with more news a little later.  There are more pics of the move HERE.

Another mash-up for Pulp’s amazing song, “Common People” (the Shatner version). This one using the wonderfully crazy old Star Trek cartoon.

During our last few days in Carbondale we are attending a conference at our church.  I was a little wary of this, since we should have a million things to do, but it actually has really helped with the boredom and the feeling that we are stuck between two places.  It also helps that the pastor (and some of the congregation), from the church we will be attending in Seattle, is at the conference and the more I hear him speak, the more I love him.

The morning session yesterday (Wednesday) was started with a fun little contest of “If you…” a game that consists of everyone standing and the leader asking questions like “Stay standing if you have ever been yelled at in a foreign language,” and so on, until only one person is up.

I was knocked down in the second round “Stay standing if you are wearing flip-flops.”  Now, you would have thought that this would have eliminated most of the 250 + people in attendance, but no.  Only about half of us sat down.

It was a next challenge that intrigued me the most.  “Stay standing if you have ever eaten off of a stranger’s plate.”  This took the people standing down to about 5 and started the crowd gasping in shock.

One of those shocked people was my wife, when I announced that I have eaten off stranger’s plates all the time.

The most memorable is once while traveling in Michigan with the band.

Now, I have a long history of naming something that I want before the days out and getting it.  This has happened with garage sales (the time I claimed that I would find a parka and snagged it an hour later), or the time that I stated I would find an under $5 pair of shoes in a Nashville mall only to leave the Gap later that day with a two pair of canvas slip-ons at $3 each.

Well, Michigan (and a few other states, I believe) have a restaurant chain named The Iron Skillet.  The Skillet has the most amazing Chicken-fried Steak and gravy that I have ever had.  So, as soon as we pulled into town I stated that I was going to have a Chicken-fried steak that night, even if I didn’t have the cash to buy it.

After the show, we drove over to the Iron Skillet for a late night dinner (our usual ritual).  As we walked in, we saw a huge table of kids that had seen the show.  We started talking to them and one of the guys had a chicken-fired steak.  I mentioned that it was my favorite Iron Skillet meal of all time.  He looked down at the plate and then back at me.  “Yeah, I got it and asked for my shake first.  Now, I’m too stuffed to eat it.  You want it?”

I looked down at the less than half eaten plate and got a huge smile on my face.  “You bet,” I told him.  He handed it over and I took it with me to our table.  It was the best chicken-fried steak I have ever had.  and, I still had the cash for a shake.

Retrojunk has a nice long article about the Masters of the Universe toy line and all its spin-offs.  Damn, I wish I still had my toys.  I had a ton of them growing up.  I woke up one Christmas to see Castle Greyskull set up near our tree with He-Man and Skeletor fighting inside.  It is my favorite childhood Christmas memory of all time.  I’ll have to post the picture some time.

When I was in my late teens, my mom gave my He-Men to my little cousin.  He quickly tore off all their limbs and buried them throughout his yard.  For years, every time I went to his house the different colored arms of He-Man, BeastMan,  and all the others grabbed my shoestrings hoping I would resue them from the unforgiving earth and their new cruel master.

I thought about buying the re-issues a few years ago, but they were so expensive.  I’m glad I passed since I sold most of my action figures at the Super Awesome Sales we have had leading up to the move.

Mighty God King has a great breakdown of superhero alignments.

The Fobidden Planet Blog has a interview with the great Alan Moore.

John Byrne is writing a Farscape comic for Boom Studios.

Dean Koontz is working with Australian cartoonist Queenie Chan to bring us a manga style comic of Odd Thomas adventures called, In Odd We Trust.

All last week I was negotiating with a company that owed us some money, hoping to get it from them before we moved.  Near the end of the day on Thursday they passed me a check.  That night, Shannon and I went for a run.  I usually leave my car unlocked in the drive way, so that we can use the garage door opener to get back in the house.

After the run, I popped the garage from the car and noticed that the check was in the console between the seats.  I thought about picking it up or locking the car, but I wondered for a moment where I had left my keys.  I left the car unlocked and with the full intention of returning once I had found my keys, headed inside.

As you may have already deduced, I never made it back out to lock the car.

I went out at 7am the next morning to get the check and it was gone.  I freaked.  This was a big money item and I had lost it.  My first thought was that someone had stolen it, but who would steal a check?  What could you even do with it?

Plus, all the change and a few bills that were in my ashtray were still there.  My FM turner for my MP3 player was still there.  I searched the car thoroughly, knowing how easily fate could have blown the check between the seats just to mess with me.  Nothing… I got out and went to Shannon’s car.  Her doors opened right up.  She hadn’t locked her’s either.

Sitting right there in front of me was our XM radio.  There was no way that someone stopped by to steal my check and had left this gem still hanging from the dash.  I headed inside and told Shannon what was going on.  Her advice was simple.  Tear everything apart until I found that check.

After she went to work, I dug through every place that I could have ever left that check, but it was no where to be found.  Around 9am, after searching the car for a 3rd time, I called the business and asked them to cancel the check and write me a new one.

I told them that the check was stolen.  It had to be stolen.  As crazy as that sounds.  Someone had to have stopped by my car and taken only the check, even though there were things around he or she could actually get money from.  It was a hard pill to swallow, but I knew I was right.

It took all day, but the business finally got me a new check.  I took it straight to the bank and dropped it in the deposit box.

The old check was gone, but no thief would ever be able to get the cash.

Three days go by, we head up north to a family reunion and then to Cape Girardeau for a wedding reception.  Then, a few hours after getting home Sunday night, I get a call.  It’s the Herrin Police department.

They arrested a mail thief in Herrin on Saturday.  In his possession was a check with my name on it.  “Really,” I tell the officer.  “But, that check wasn’t in the mail.  It was in my car.”

The officer then tells me that the theif’s charges just went from a small misdemeanor to a felony due to stealing my check.

I meet the cop at in the parking lot of the local bowling alley and, like a reverse drug deal, he traded me the check for a written statement.

At the end, I asked the cop how he tracked me down.  He only had my name and he got my cell phone number.  I couldn’t remember ever registering it with the police.

“Actually,” he said.  “I went to school with a guy that works for the business in question.  I called him up and he helped me get your number.”  He smiled: “It would have been easier if you had a criminal record.”

“Yeah,” I replied.  “You would have found my name in your database eventually and then my dad could have helped track me down.  He was the criminal in the family.”

“I myself…” I slapped on my Caruso shades, “like to keep them in check….”

YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been researching the Seattle music scene on blogs like Sound on the Sound (give me some recs if you have any) and none have impressed me more than Thee Emergency.  Their soulful rock hit me from everywhere and Dita Vox’s amazing voice grabbed me from the first song.  Heartbreaker is a standout!  I can’t wait to see these guys live, which, from all reports, is where the action is.

I had high hopes that The Happening would bing M. Night Shyamalan back to the glory days of his first three major films (Actually, I am one of those rare few that even loves The Village despite its flaws).

Sadly, The Happening is a mess.  The actors have nothing to work with, the violence is slow, sad, and not worth the R rating, and the plot (which could have been interesting) was horrible.

What happened to Shymalan’s writing?  He used to be the king of understated emotional response.  Now we get jokes about being attracted to a girl at the pharmacy.  Come on!

I left this movie with three positive things

1. Hope that Shymalan is finally taking my advice and working with a already created property (yes, I’m a glutton for punishment).  His next feature is a live action movie of the anime - Avatar: The Last Airbender.
2. Excitement that a feature film of Stephen King’s The Cell can get right what Shymalan got so wrong.
3. A longing to see The Day of the Triffids again.

I was saddened to hear that one of the greatest monster makers of all time passed away today.

Stan Winston was the visual effects genius behind almost every one of my favorite movies, from Aliens to Monster Squad, Lake Placid to Galaxy Quest.

My friend Brent says the most amazing things.  In the past I have collected a few of them into motivational style photos.  He dropped another one at the game the other night.  The guy wearing the Dynamite outfit was feeling a little down until one of the slutty looking dancers that Brent was so fond of came dancing around.