smish. smash. smush.

If you need a time-waster game... here's one. Smash the beans!

stache it away.


I keep up with trends. I feel like I'm "in the know" at least half of the time, but this mustache trend bugs me a bit. Maybe I'm not into it because it went so trendy, so fast. Every where you turn, there was a bridal party or kids with fake mustaches. There were necklaces, t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. I don't dig the "stache" to say the least.

Kris tried to bug me one weekend by keeping a pencil thin stache after shaving. Yuck! I think staches, like cats they have an agenda. No good can from a mustache. It seems creepy in a way. Remember the Guess Who? game? I would always ask "Does your person have a mustache?" Try to eliminate all of those creepy guys first. Some trends I can get behind, but this one needs to be stached away. This poster is the only thing that I can condone since it involves font-related humor.

Man in the Mirror

How cool is this Los Angeles street performer? I bet it hurts to sit down.

Home of the Brave

I love the spirit of this video. It was captured by Richard Sullivan's father 65 years ago. His Dad shot this film along Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. It is shot on Kodachrome 16mm film. I love all of the celebrations it captures. Kris and I watched Pearl Harbor the other day and I have been having weird dreams about this era lately. This video reminds me of what I have been hazily seeing in my strange dreams. Can't you feel the excitement? The pride? God Bless American troops!

Ring of People

Johnny Cash’s final studio album "Ain't No Grave" and its title track is a soul touching farewell song from a music legend. The Johnny Cash Project is an interactive website where participants drew their own portrait of Johnny Cash that was later integrated into a collaborative music video. The video is the collective effort that includes a number of drawings, each done by a different person. Then the drawings were traced over simple frames that were strung together and relayed in sequence. It has become a living, moving, and ever changing portrait of the legendary Man in Black. The music video below is a very unique and probably one of the best ways to pay tribute to a legend. If you go to the website, click on the Explore tab. You are able to explore frame by frame and view who the frame artist is and how they submitted their drawing or painting.

What's in a Name?

1. Did you know the Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons has a name? It’s Jeff Albertson. But that wasn’t the decision of creator Matt Groening. “I was out of the room when [the writers] named him,” he told MTV in 2007. “In my mind, ‘Louis Lane’ was his name, and he was obsessed and tormented by Lois Lane.”

2. Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (Ken’s last name is Carson.)

3. Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch

4. Snuffleupagus has a first name—Aloysius.

5. The true identity of The Lone Ranger was John Reid.

6. The Wizard of Oz rolls off the tongue a lot easier than his full name, Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs. From Frank Baum’s Dorothy And the Wizard in Oz:“It was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled ‘pinhead,’ which was a reflection on my intelligence.”

7. Mr. Clean has a seldom-used first name—”Veritably.” The name came from a “Give Mr. Clean a First Name” promotion in 1962.

8. In a deleted scene in the 2006 Curious George movie, The Man With the Yellow Hat’s name was revealed as Ted Shackleford. (Since the scene was deleted, perhaps this doesn’t count.)

9. The real name of Monopoly mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags is Milburn Pennybags.

10. The policeman in Monopoly has a name, too. You can thank Officer Edgar Mallory the next time he sends you to jail.

11. On Night Court, Nostradamus Shannon was better known as Bull.

12. On Entourage, Turtle’s real name is Salvatore Assante.

13. Sesame Street’s resident game show host Guy Smiley was using a pseudonym all these years. He was born Bernie Liederkrantz.

14. The Michelin Man’s name is Bibendum.

15. On Gilligan’s Island, Jonas Grumby was simply called The Skipper.

16. The unkempt Shaggy of Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name—Norville Rogers.

17. The Pillsbury Doughboy’s name is Poppin’ Fresh. He has a wife, Poppie Fresh, and two kids, Popper and Bun Bun.

18. Staying on Gilligan’s Island, The Professor was Roy Hinkley.

19. The patient in the classic game Operation is Cavity Sam.

20. In the Peanuts comic strip, Peppermint Patty’s real name is Patricia Reichardt.

Do You Lilac It?

I'm not one to get my nails done. The reasons are simple: time, money, and computer work. I don't give myself that much time to spend on myself. I rather spend the money on something else and in the end I'm always working on the computer and nails would get in the way. Painted nails would distract me too much. I could count on two hands how many times I have had my fingernails and toenails painted. It's not that I'm against it. I think they always look nice when they are done, but again for me it's... time, money, computer work.


Nail polish will always remind me of my cousin Anna. Anytime, I see a bottle I think of her. Even at the ripe old age of eight, she had her "go to" bag of nail polishes. Not just any bag, this bag had every kind of nail polish out there, plus every tool you could use on your nails. Some tools, to this day, I have yet to figure out. She would spend hours on end painting all of her nails and anyone in arm's reach that would stay seated for her. She was a girly-girl through and through. When we stayed over at each other's houses, I would beg her to play restaurant or movie rental store instead of painting her nails or dress-up. Though sometimes I had to concede and we would end up playing beauty parlor and as always, I ended up with the neon orange or blue metallic nails.

So, this post is for my cousin Anna. OPI launched an interactive nail polish widget under the tab "Try On This Color." You can customize your nail length and skin color to your own, so you can find that perfect shade for your phalanges. I like innovation and I can appreciate this interactive selling tool even if it's pushing nail polish. I did mine hand, but they didn't have my translucent skin color loaded yet. I went with "Do You Lilac It?" The name grabbed me. I'm such a marketing push-over, but at least it isn't neon orange.

MIA.

How quickly a month can fly by without you noticing? We have been logging many hours with our company's site and will soon soft-launch for initial testing. Very exciting! There have been many happy happenings this past month, which I will update soon. I will get back on track starting tomorrow, but now back to the grind...

thank you. deanna.

My friend Deanna posted one of these "Thank you" notes today on her Facebook wall. It's from a clever blog called thxthxthx: a thank you a day. Enjoy!

Because we are Nashville.

I am speechless by the recent devastation of my home state. Tennessee has been flooded from the East to West. With the death toll rising and the rivers finally subsiding, the total destruction is just being realized. Even with all of this going on, you would think the National News would report on the story for more than 15 minutes or at least send one of their anchors to the area, but again I'm reminded why we are called the Volunteer State by Patten Fuqua's recent blog post (posted below) that captured what we are all feeling during this difficult time.


Allow me a moment to step away from the usual voice of this website. What I am about to write has absolutely nothing to do with hockey. If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days.
The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored. The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.

Does it really matter? Eventually, it will…as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite probably the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant beyond all reason to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.

Hey, Mr. Postman!

Mail is becoming slower and slower these days. With the exception of bills and mass-mailers, the post office is becoming close to obsolete in the residential segment. With workers being laid off and hours/days being cut, it isn't a surprise when they announce stamp price hikes every year it seems. I saw this on a site and can't remember where, but it is a neat concept of integrating Google maps and the snail mail. How awesome for the postman or postwoman? Get lost, look at the envelope for directions. I wonder if they would accept it now if I rigged my own version? May try it if I ever get to my 20th page of my To Do List.

Let.us

If lettuce was packaged more like these chips, then I would be more inclined to eating it. It's all in the packaging, folks!

Countdown Red Light. Yes, Please!

Why did it take someone so long to think of this? It is a stoplight that lets you know how much longer the light has until it turns green by the red light countdown around the actual stoplight. Brilliant! I much rather have these than those pesky ole red light cameras. I think I would be more incline to show patience if I knew it "knew" I was there waiting... to GO!

Joy. Day by Day.

Seconds are turning into minutes, minutes are turning into days... our days are flying by at warp speed it seems. I'm working around the clock to put the finishing touches on the web site. We can't wait until our launch. However, I was very fortunate to take a much needed break and have a faith renewal weekend in Louisville, KY along with roughly 14,000 other women. My mother, sister and I ventured up to Kentucky for The Women of Joy Conference back on the 16th thru 18th. It was a weekend filled with motivational and spirit-filled speakers.

Friday night kicked off with former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Regardless of your political affiliation, her story was touching and showed how we are able to have faith even during times of great stress with even greater humility. She is on her Tea Party run, so her talk tend to trail into rally-mode a few times which did get applause. Overall, she was inspiring through sharing her journey with us. She could have gone blind though, when she walked out onto the stage with all the flashes going off. Security was very tight that night. So tight we couldn't bring in our umbrellas from the downpour that we just walked through. They told us that you could either a) take it back to your car (which means walking back through the soaking rain without it) OR b) leave it by the front door and hope for the best at the end of the night. Glad to report we got both of our umbrellas back after conference was over that night and Sarah Palin was unharmed by any potential golf umbrella impalements.

Saturday morning, began with Becky Tirabassi and her energetic take on changing your life one day at a time. She has a powerful testimony of redemption and her sense of humor was peppered in at just right spots. It was truly inspiring and motivational. I have started her journal regiment and can already see where prayers are being answered. She is a power ball of energy and wisdom. If you ever have the chance to hear her speak, please do - you will not be disappointed. She prayed with many of women after her talk including my mom. She makes you want to be a better edition of yourself. No wonder she is a certified Life Coach, and here I thought those were just a made-up Hollywood trend.

Saturday continued on with Anita Renfroe and her songs, videos, and quick wit. She was a great break in the day. She gave levity to every women in the audience. Sometimes at women's conferences the speakers tend to speak to only one segment of their audience because they speak from their experiences. So, I tend to not reap what they are sowing in the older crowd. It doesn't help to have that Britney Spears tune playing in my head... "not a girl, not yet a woman." Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but I know I am a woman. Yet, I haven't been able to cross off a few of those life-changing events on my list... raising a family, owning a house or even a pet, going through menopause... there were a lot of those jokes. I can relate on the hormones level and the differences between my husband and I sometimes, but after that... all I can say is Go Fish! She was humorous though and had a great message through her jokes, even if I wasn't ready for some of them.

Then, Saturday night came and all the women were a howlin'. If you think for a moment that a Christian women's conference can't turn into a Poison concert back in the 80's, then think again. Just bring Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith out on stage. There were the criers, there were the whoo-girls, there were the dancin' in the aisle ladies, and my favorite of all - the pulling out the lighters women. There were all kinds and all praising Jesus in one fashion or another, but everyone really enjoyed the vessels He chose to lead the worshipping that night.

I have to admit I haven't kept SCC or MWS on my iPod playlists in the recent years, but I was moved by their new songs and when they both talked with the crowd about their struggles and journey with God. Particularly SCC's journey after his adopted daughter died in that tragic incident. There wasn't a dry eye in that room, but what brought tears to my eyes was the agape love spilling out of him while he told of her and how they will soon be rejoined in Heaven. If you haven't heard his song "Cinderella," please listen to it.

Sunday morning was started with Charles Billingsley leading the worship as he had done in the previous days, but he was able to talk this morning about the heart of worship from a different and amusing viewpoint as a worship leader. It was a wonderful way to start that session. The final speaker was Liz Curtis Higgs. Let me say, she is "all that and a bag of chips", well that's what I would say if I was old my '92 self.

She walked out on stage and I immediately felt my eyes beginning to roll. I didn't know anything about her and judged her on her appearance. I know that is wrong, but I thought to myself - "Yep, here comes the sledgehammer! The one they save for Sunday and she appears to be older so, this is going to be so un-relateable." I have never been so happy to been proven wrong. She was excellent! She had another powerful testimony that she wove in while entertaining us with her very quick wit and vernacular. She sees the world in a different way - my kinda of gal. I had no back story on her, so I didn't know she was an acclaimed author and speaker. I'm very glad I didn't because I was able to receive her message in a whole different way. She is a true Bible teacher, but the kind that gets you to think and laugh while you are doing it.

Just her take on the Bible alone is refreshing. She has written about the Bad Girls of the Bible. I'm half way through it. Yes, Kassie I'm reading again - if you see this. Her laughter was infectious and her kindred spirit was just what I needed on that Sunday. The biggest lesson of the weekend for me - and isn't it always - learning again to put my faith in God and remembering that He loves me dearly and wants nothing, but the best for me. Though, I may think I know the way - He holds the map! I have to listen to His will and He will show me the way. It was an amazing conference and can't wait until next year's.

She said Yes!

Colby asked and she said Yes! Tara and Colby are heading to the chapel next June. We are so happy that Tara will be joining our crazy little family. She has already been welcomed in, but now she can get the rights to the last name. Colby proposed Saturday April 24th around noon on a bench in Riverside Park (Memphis, TN). He made a book with photos and mementos of their time together thus far, starting with the day they met up to two weekends before the proposal. It had everything in there down to their date night movie stubs. It will be a treasured time capsule for them to reminisce for years to come.
Then, the few pages had a photo with his hands and then on another black page with the rose image and the words "Will you marry me?" in white cursive font. (pictures by his very awesome big sister... me!) The very last page was a black and white shot (image to the left) of the "proposal" bench with another rose image  with the ring and the date written in the sky. It was touch and go there due to the storms, if he could pull of the proposal. But God intervened and allowed a break in the weather so he could take her out there for some "kite flying." Little did she know!
The book was called the "Twelfth Rose" personifying that Colby is a cheap guy. No, but it did look that way at first. Actually, he told Tara early on in their dating days that he hasn't bought a girl a dozen roses and he wouldn't for her either. Instead, he would give her one rose at a time and when he gives his 12th rose it will be to the girl he marries... hence the name of the book. She was totally surprised and has enjoyed every minute of her proposal. We are very happy to see them already busy planning the big day. It's fun hearing your brother talk "girl." For those with brothers, you know what I'm talking about and it isn't often that you hear it. Congrats again to Colby and Tara! Future Mr. and Mrs. Clements!