Chicken and Dunkin

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Days off are nice.  Today was President's Day, and as a result, I have three days off from The Happiest Place in the Mall, yesterday being Day One, today being Day Two and Wednesday being Day Three (I was scheduled for work today, and being off tomorrow, but a Magical Higher Up is taking a Magic Carpet to The Happiest Place in the Mall, and I needed to be there and... well, doesn't matter...)

Days off are nice. 

This morning, I did have to spend the first five hours of my days at Starbucks, slingin' some coffee and makin' some caffeine dreams come true, but after 10am, I came home, did some stuff around The Cabana, and by 1130, I finally made my way upstairs.  My intent was to take a shower, then get dressed, maybe watch a movie.  I just purchased "Rather Unimpressive Illegitimate Children" and "The Hangover" on Blu-Ray (neither are Emmy Turnbow safe, so beware), so I could watch either of them... or I could watch the two episodes of WWE: Raw on DVR, including the one after the Royal Rumble... or I could read some of the book I'm trying to dive into, and have made it to page 11 in a week...  and what did I do?

I took a nap.  I don't think I meant to, but I laid down on my comfy bed, with absolutely nowhere to be today and closed my eyes and... when I opened them again, it was a few minutes after 2pm.  And I felt wonderful.

See, days off are nice.  But, Wednesdays aren't as nice to have off as Mondays.  On Wednesdays, even if I have off, many times I have to be at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) for KidStuf practice or for any number of things.  Sometimes I'm not working at The Happiest Place in the Mall, but have to be at Starbucks at 5p or 6p or whatever, so while its a day off, I still have somewhere to be.  Not today.

Around 2pm, I finally threw the blanket back (I don't even think I moved from the position I laid down in, but I did emit a strong stench of Caffe Verona and Zen loose leaf tea) and finally got a shower, and finally got dressed and realized... wow, I'm hungry. 

The Lovely Steph Leann and I had lunch yesterday (Sunday) with St'ray and C'ray after church, visiting O'Chuck's in Alabaster, and... well, we probably ate too much.  It wasn't too much at O'Chuck's, but adding on the Coldstone Creamery dessert probably did it.  As a result, by 8pm last night while The Lovely Steph Leann was mesmerized by the Olympic Icy Gay Dancing on TV, I blogged a bit, even nodding off a few times.   Admittedly, I was talking to Amarilys by Morning (up from San Antone) on Facebook, comparing "wipe out" notes on the moguls going on, but beyond that, I tuned out.  The point is, we weren't hungry.  By the time we were a little hungry, it was kinda too late to eat anything, so we both went to bed without supper.

And my whole point is that I've gone from 1pm Sunday afternoon to about Monday at 230p with no food, save for a Panera bagel that I had at Starbucks... so I'm hungry.  What to eat?  Well... I heard there was a brand new Bojangles Chicken Establishment in Pelham, a nearby suburb of The Ham, so I thought, "Hey, that sounds good.  I'll try it out!"  As I drove that way, I thought about the Dunkin' Donuts that I'd pass on the way, and thought on the way back, I'd stop in there as well.

By 3pm, I pulled into the mostly empty Bojangles parking lot.  Understand, I'm a big fan of Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, not to mention Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits is a mere five miles from The Cabana, so for me to want to haul my happy tail 12 miles through Birmingham traffic, Bojangles is going to have to be some good eatin'... and I had my hopes high.  My best mate Wookiee even mentioned once that he heard they would have Cheerwine in the fountain as a drink option... life could not be better if that were in fact the case.  In fact, if this restaurant served Cheerwine out of the fountain, I might actually have come home and began open discussions with The Lovely Steph Leann about how The Cabana isn't what we want, and how we should consider making a move out to the Pelham/Alabaster area... but alas, I can already tell you that I won't be calling our real estate agent anytime soon.

I walk in, and the place looks clean... and new.  Which it is.  The drink fountain is on the far end, and there is even a red label on one of the drinks.  Cheerwine?  Maybe?  Maybe?!   They've got a food bar there at the counter, where you order and they serve your food right in front of you.  I stand back for a minute to study the menu, one I've never seen, to decide what I want to eat.  I'm hungry, but don't want to overdo it, saving room for Dunkin' later. 

The girl behind the counter is named Jamerica, she looks to be about 16 or 17, and behind her, doing the serving is another guy with dreadlocks under his Bojangles cap, sans name tag.   Here's the conversation:

Jamerica:  Can I help you?
d$:  Yes, I don't see it on the menu (I point to the big sign close to the front door) but I do want to get the combo there on the sign, the first one.  The 2pc leg & thigh meal.  I'll get macaroni and cheese as my "fixin", please.

Jamerica is at the register, but Dreads is right behind her, poking at her or something.  She turns around, pushes him away, and playfully says, "Stop it now!  I'm trying to take his order!"  She turns back to me.

Jamerica:  Yeah, I'm sorry, he won't quit messing with me!  Now, sorry, I didn't get anything you just said.  What did you want now?
d$: (I point again to the sign) I'd like to get the 2pc leg & thigh meal, with macaroni and cheese, please.
Jamerica, to Dreads: Stop it now!  (back to me) Okay, so you got the leg and thigh meal... and what you say you fixin' was?
d$: The macaroni and cheese.

Jamerica is slowly punching this in her register... it reminds me of Sinbad's old joke about how fast food employees are not the brightest cookies in the Oreo pack, and how nowadays the registers just have picture of the food on the keys, and they just push that button.  While she pushed buttons slowly, Dreads stood there, looking at her slowly punching the buttons.

Jamerica:  Ain't you gonna fix his order?
Dreads: I was waitin' for you to ask (ax?) him whether he was taking it to go or dining in!
d$, without being asked:  I'm dining in.
Dreads:  Oh, okay!

Jamerica swipes my card, which I take back as quick as possible for fear that she swipes it a few times any my $5.40 meal becomes $37.83.  Dreads, to his credit, selected two large pieces of chicken amongst some of the smaller pieces, then looked confused.  Apparently there were two receipts to be given... one to me, showing my purchase, and one to Dreads, showing the actual order.  Mind you, this was pretty simple.  He'd already put the correct pieces of chicken on the plate, so the work was 75% over at this point, he just needed the mac and cheese.

Dreads, looking back at Jamerica:  Hey, 'merica!  Where that receipt at?
Jamerica:  I gave (gay?) you that receipt!
Dreads: No you didn't!  I didn't get no receipt!
d$: Um, I can tell you what I had. 
Dreads: Okay, what you have?
d$: Mac and cheese.  Please.
Dreads:  Oh, that's right!

Dreads would never, ever, never make it at Starbucks.  The first moment that he stood there at the espresso bar, cup in hand, wondering what he was supposed to make would the be the first moment MZ would punt him out the drive thru window.  Actually, I have worked with baristas like that... they don't last long.

Dreads picked up the scooper (!) for the mac and cheese, scoops some out for my plate, then tosses the scooper down, saying, "Man!  That's so hot!  That thing is hot, man!"  I sigh, and finally get my plate of food.  I would have paid an extra $2 to come back there and serve myself, even on the understanding that I could only get the proper amount given.

I was handed my cup, and turned toward the drink fountain.  They've got the regular Pepsi products like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper and... Cheerwine?  No.  The red label reads "Patio Red Cherry Soda".  Patio?  What the Ellen DeGeneres is a Patio Red Cherry Soda?  Seriously?  Well, what the heck, maybe I'll discover something awesome here.  I fill up my cup with Patio Red Cherry Soda and ice, and take a drink and immediately dump it out.  It was absolutely disgusting.  I look over and see the big vat of tea, that reads "BOJANGLES LEGENDARY SWEET TEA"... well, heck, if its legendary, let's try it.  I would be good to know how it stacks up against Milo's and Zaxby's, two of my favorite sweet teas in town. 

Empty.  The vat was completely empty.  Not even a droplet.  I do that thing where I rinse my cup using the water tab that is attached to the lemonade, and I just fill it up with Mountain Dew.  By the way, I just Googled "patio red cherry soda" and I got nothing.  Like, pictures of tomato cherries came up, along with a few pictures of old bottles and bottlecaps that have Patio Diet Cola and Sun Crest Cherry Soda on it. 

As for the meal, it was okay.  The chicken was pretty good, but not brilliant, and it had big clumps of spice in various places, like it was sitting on the bottom of the pan soaking up the spice powder.  Using the spork wasn't much fun either.  The mac and cheese was nothing special, it was like any other place that does semi-fast food mac & cheese, so while it wasn't great, it was decent.  I liked it better than some other places, but it didn't beat Kraft homemade by any stretch.   The biscuit was hot, but again, not great.  Just good.  Popeye's biscuits beat it hands down... and for that matter, Bojangles was on par with Popeyes, maybe a little under, and definitely not worth the long drive to get there, passing a Popeye's on the way.

I left Bojangles, headed back up Highway 31 with a semi-full stomach, turned onto Highway 119 and pulled into Dunkin' Donuts.

Let's be honest... yes, I work at Starbucks.  And despite the efforts by Dunkin' Donuts to make themselves into this coffee entity, they and Starbucks are two different products.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that many of you like Dunkin' coffee, sometimes even better than Starbucks...

Sidebar... okay, what is it about our nature that makes us want to tell people that while we enjoy the fruits of their labor, we like other fruits as well and sometimes better?  Not only that, every time anybody gets a Starbucks rumor, they like to email it to me with the note "I can't believe Starbucks would do this!" (Kathy Compton, I'm talking to you), and I've had people actually tell me, "Man, I love Starbucks, but I went to Dunkin' Donuts, and their coffee is so good!  They put the cream in it for you--you know, Starbucks doesn't do that--and they know just how to do it and..."

What would Amarilys by Morning (up from San Antone), who runs a small pottery business, think if I told her, "You know, I like your shop, Painted By U, but I went into Sips n Strokes and they have this deal that you don't have, and they know just how to kiln that pottery and..."  That would make me a dorky dorkface.   Just sayin'.

...and so in that, I like Dunkin' Donuts.  They've been known to wear shirts that say "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks", which I think is kinda unclassy... but their donuts are great.  As soon as I walked in, there was a line ahead of me.  The little cafe was full of people, many of them sitting around the tables with a box of half-dozen donuts between them.

There's a big cooler there with Coke products (which I'm in favor of at Starbucks... not fountains, but serving them in the bottles), and the place is full of color and life.  There were little stands around the cafe featuring the "Box O'Joe" coffee boxes, some featuring the bags of coffee and other treats and such.  The line moved rather quickly, and when I got to the front, I immediately chose a manager's special (a chocolate covered, vanilla cream filled donut) and then a Bavarian cream filled donut.  FYI, if you are ever wanting to get into the great graces of d$, and are choosing donuts as your weapon of choice, Bavarian cream works.  Every time.  Every.  Time.

For fun, I added four more, making it a half-dozen for $4.49... a dozen was $7.99, but that was too many.  No, silly, I didn't eat them all myself... I stopped by the office of a buddy of mine to say hello, as I was in the area, and dropped them off.   Well, truthbetold, I also had a conversation with another friend of mine about a possible job opening at said office, but that's all I will say about that...

So, to sum up, Bojangles is worth the trip if the trip means you really, really, really want fried chicken and Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits is nowhere to be found.  Dunkin' Donuts is worth the trip if you want donuts and a Krispy Kreme is nowhere to be found.  Between the two, though, its a toss-up. 

But let's be real.  Starbucks has better coffee. 

If only we had Cheerwine.  If only.

The Prayer of Chantal

Another entry into d$'s Random Emails of Encouragement Series...

This morning at KidStuf, my character (Marshall) was learning how to say "Merry Christmas" in different languages... this included Milad Majid (Arabic). Feliz Navidad (Argentine). God Jul (Norwegian). Bo Nada (Galician). Sretan Bozic (Croatian)... and it made me think about God's love, and how it translates to all languages... which made me think about this, written on June 11th, 2002.  Chantal is gone, I haven’t heard nary a word from her since she left for Pretoria, South Africa, a few years back. That makes me sad, because her accent… whew.

The Prayer of Chantal

It never sunk in how much I Americanized my God until last night.

Chantal Els is an au pair (fancy word for Nanny) from Pretoria, South Africa. She's been in this country since last summer, and though I haven't spent as much time with her as I would have liked to, I've gotten to talk to her a lot in the last 12 months. For that, I'm thankful. She's 20, maybe 21, short blond hair, big smile, and of course, an accent that can make you swoon. And her love of Christ and how much it’s grown in the last year is so evident... this isn't an email to glorify Chantal, though, this is an email to glorify God in what He's doing in her. Meeting her back then and talking to her now, there is a huge difference.

Many, many months ago, Chantal and I were having a conversation about prayer, and she mentioned how she really wanted to pray in her language, which is Afrikaan. I asked her why she hadn't done it, and she said she didn't know how anyone would feel about it. I told her I thought the group would be totally receptive, plus, she wasn't speaking to us anyway, so what did it matter what we thought? God would know.

So, last night at Sybil's, during prayer, I hear Amy Vos pray... and Sarah Hasha pray... and Drew Morris pray... and out of nowhere, is this accented voice in the back. And she's saying things that I would have no idea how to even repeat, much less understand. It was Chantal, praying in her native language. Apparently, she prayed for friends, because I managed to pick out "Josh", "James", "Meredith" and "Jimmy", with dialect in between. I didn't understand a word of it. But it hit me... God did. And He loved every word.

Then I began to think about how Americanized my God is to me. My God knows English. My God lives here in town. My God knows words like "y'all", "Coke", "possum", "sweet tea" and "Peachtree Street". At least He'd better know them... I've used all of these terms in conversation, sometimes in prayer. Though it seems like common sense, really, I never thought about the fact that my God also knows French. And Filipino Sign Language. And Bengali. And Sanskrit. And Portuguese. And Russian. And Zulu. And, of course, Afrikaan.

Even more than that... He SPEAKS these languages. He's not flipping through an "English to Whatever Language" dictionary to reveal Himself to people around the world... He's not speaking extra slow so that kid in Nigeria who barely knows English will understand Him. He is powerful enough to hear and speak the words of His children, from all races, from all countries. Heck, American English isn't even the original language of the Bible, and yet sometimes in my small mind, all I know is a Savior who speaks only southern dialect. Thank God He's bigger than that.

You and I hear God saying, "I love you".
The French hear God saying, "Je t'aime".
The Saudis hear God saying, “I love you”
The Icelanders hear God saying, "Eg elskta thig."
The Navaho hear God saying, "Ayor anosh'ni"
The Welsh hear God saying, "Rwy'n dy garu di."
The Malaysian hear God saying, "Saya cintamu".
And Chantal hears God saying, "Ek's lief vir jou."

Afterwards, Chantal and I sat and talked on the Common Ground couch, and she told me she'd been wanting to pray out loud like that for so long, but she never could... but finally, the words just came. Not only did God understand what she was saying, He was longing for her to say it to Him! He was urging her to speak, to call out to Him, until finally, she couldn't hold it in anymore, and not only was God pleased as His daughter spoke to Him in love, the rest of the room was totally encouraged and blessed.

Anyway, this whole email is just to remind you of how big our God is... how awesome He is... and how much He understands that we never will. Thank you God for a friend like Chantal, and using her to remind me of your wisdom over everything, every language, every voice. The next time you think God does not understand you, know that He not only understands what you are saying, He understands what everyone is saying.

Romeine 3:23... Almal het gesondig en is ver van God af kyk na uself aanmoedig,

ps... I used an English/Afrikaan translator, so there is no need to email me back and tell me how I goofed up in spelling and writing. =)

A Chick Flick Double Feature

In celebrating our 5th anniversary, The Lovely Steph Leann and I decided to do two things we dearly love to do... eat great food and watch a movie.

After pulling a long, magical day at The Happiest Place in the Mall on Saturday, we went to PF Changs for a great dinner... it was a little tough at first, because after I dropped her off at the front door, I drove around looking for a parking spot. After driving around the lot for about five or six minutes, making one big circle, I found one, halfway between PF Changs and The Macaroni Grill (they share a lot, with each restaurant on each end) and patiently waited for a small Mercedes to pass by so I could swing into the spot. I even turned on the blinker, a customary way of saying "Hey man, I earned this spot, this one is mine".

Imagine my surprise when the little Mercedes pulled into the spot. I pulled up a little bit, and parked right behind him. I sat there for a minute, really unsure of exactly what I'd say to him when he got out, but he didn't. He stayed in his car. Finally, I drove off, out of the parking lot, and ended up parking half another lot over in the Barnes & Noble parking area. Then, I walked through the drizzling rain. When I found The Lovely Steph Leann, she was in line to claim our reservations we'd made, and I loudly told her, "I would have been here sooner, as I had found a great spot and was waiting on it. But some jerk in a Mercedes actually stole my spot."

The lady ahead of me turned around, smirking, and said, "Don't you wish you could just ram some people?" I replied, again loudly, "Yeah. But I'll get over it. If you do something like that, that must mean you're a jerk and not many people like you." Then I turned my head around a little, and said, "And if you're listen Mr. Mercedes, you're a jerk." Somehow that made me feel a little better.

After dinner, we walked over to the Barnes & Noble, since I was practically parked there, and browsed a bit... our plan was to go to a late movie, either "He's Just Not That Into You" or "Confessions of a Shopaholic", but considering I had KidStuf (our church's children's program) early Sunday morning, and both of us would have to be at church at 730am, and I still had a few lines to learn, we figured we'd get home a little earlier.

The reason we both had to be at church at 730am, and she couldn't meet me there later, considering she wasn't in KidStuf this morning? Because Toni Rocki Honda decided not to start yesterday, so she's got to go in for a check up.

But, it was a moot point anyway, because I received a call at 645am from our KidStuf director Tamara to say because of the Blizzard of 2009, KidStuf was cancelled. So, "see ya at church at 930!". For me, it wasn't that big of a deal, cause I was asleep when she called, and I could go back to sleep. Of course, before I went back to sleep, I had to get up to tell The Lovely Steph Leann we didn't have to be at church until 930. She was in the shower. She then had about 2+ hours to get ready for church. Not a happy wife.

All that is to say, since The Blizzard of 2009, most afternoon activities at church were cancelled, opening up the afternoon for The Lovely Steph Leann to go check out both of the movies we wanted to see.

First up was "He's Just Not That Into You", an ensemble comedy starring, among others, Drew Barrymore, Justin "I'm a Mac!" Long, Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck. Ensemble movies are always tricky, only because when you have just a few stars in the show, you probably have just a single plot, perhaps a subplot (unless its "Spiderman 3", in which you've got 34 subplots). With an ensemble cast, you have many plots that somehow all need to tie together.


The addition of "Friday, I'm In Love" by The Cure definately adds to the whole trailer

"He's Just Not That Into You" is a relationship comedy based on the self-help book that was based on a line from an episode of "Sex & the City", the episode called "Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little", and is a book about relationships, break-ups, hook-ups and so on. I've never actually read the book, but I might pick it up sooner or later.

The star of the movie is Ginnifer Goodwin, who absolutely looks radiant as Gigi, a girl who just wants a guy to like her, and is continually embarrassed as she continually misreads signals about all the guys who won't call her back. You might know her from "Big Love", the Mormony drama on HBO, and especially from "Walk the Line" as Vivian Cash, Johnny's first wife.

The movie moves from character to character, each with their own lives issues and problems. Gigi can't get Connor (Kevin Connolly) to call her back after their first date, so she ends up leaning on womanizer Alex (Justin Long) for advice, but also on her co-workers Janine (Jennifer Connelly) and Beth (Jennifer Aniston). Beth has her own problems with her boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck), because they've been dating for 7 years, but he won't marry her. Janine has it even worse, as her husband Ben (Bradley Cooper) has begun to take an interest in another girl, Anna (Scarlett Johansson), who happens to be in an on again/off again relationship with Connor, and is best friends with Mary (Drew Barrymore). You got all that?


Chicks doing what chicks do when they are around other chicks... gossip and talk about boys. And feelings.

While Gigi is the character that gets the most face time in the flick, the film does bounce around from story to story, while intersecting their lives to make the transition a little easier. By no means will this film be up for any sort of award come 2010's award season, but at the same time, the film did what it was supposed to... it made me laugh. It made me smile. It made me like some of the characters, it made me dislike some of the characters, it made me remember that Scarlett Johansson is truly a member of my Angelina Jolie Club (chicks that the world tells me I should fawn over, but truly don't find all that attractive), and it made me dig Ginnifer Goodwin... Gigi is the type of girl you want to end up with.



If there was a lowpoint of the movie, it was the indictment on the failure of marriage. The entity of marriage isn't praised all that much, and only in one single scene towards the end is marriage even looked upon as a good idea... personally, I can dig marriage. But thus the difference in a Christ follower and the World.

After the credits rolled, we strode out of theater 10 and down to theater 12, with The Lovely Steph Leann making a restroom pit stop and me making a stop at the refreshment stand for a pack of Twizzlers, a Cocola and a movie combo.

Along the way, we saw the trailers for "Transformers 2", "Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince" and "Sunshine Cleaning", three movies I'm really looking forward too.

"Confessions of a Shopaholic" stars Isla (pronounces 'ay-la') Fisher, who'd you'd know from her best known role thusfar as the wacky sister Gloria in "The Wedding Crashers".

Fisher portrays Rebecca Bloomwood, a girl who shops all the time and practically goes into fits of ecstasy when she sees the name brands on the shelf, like Gucci, Prada, Yves St. Lauren and the like. She almost passes out when she finds out how much she has charged on her credit cards, and the problem is intensified when she loses her job at a gardening magazine.



Her dream job is being a journalist at the prestigious fashion magazine Alette, but to get there, she has to take a job working at a lower end magazine under the same company. The magazine? Successful Savings? The job? Writing a column about finance that the "common folk" can understand.

The movie then follows her escapades as she attempts to move in the company, impress her boss/love interest, magazine editor Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), compete with rival Alicia (Leslie Bibb-Ricky Bobby's wife in "Talladega Nights"), prepare for the wedding of her roommate Suze (Krysten Ritter) and, in the part that I found the most enjoyable, avoiding an insanely persistant debt collector (Robert Stanton).


Rebecca finds a pair of cashmere gloves perhaps too tough to pass up

I did find myself enjoying this film, though I noticed it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a slapstick comedy (mannequins coming to life, trying to talk her into buying things or random slipping and dropping food onto expensive dresses) or if it wanted to be taken seriously as a romantic comedy (the chemistry between Luke and Rebecca, the struggle of a single girl trying to make it, etc).

Another thing I couldn't get past was Joan Cusack playing Rebecca's mother, opposite John Goodman as her father. I grew up watching Joan and brother John in various movies, so I know she's not that old... as a matter of fact, Joan Cusack is 14 years older than Isla Fisher...

If anything, the entire movie speaks to the current obsession with credit cards, and how we are a spend-spend-spend-pay-for-it-later nation (a tradition proudly being observed by President B. Hussein Obama), and as the movie does point out, there are consequences to be had. Bills, debt collection, past due notices, credit card company's ridiculous APR policies and yes, shopping addictions are all taken on in this film...

...and while I've got the platform, it should be noted that the debt collector, Robert Smeath, not only shows up at Rebecca's work and causes a scene, he shows up at her door, he threatens her, he encourages his fellow collectors to use humiliation tactics if necessary and there's a scene toward the end where he tries to destroy Rebecca's entire career... this is all illegal under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, a law that protects those who owe money to companies. However, either most credit card debt collectors are literally too stupid to know this law, or they figure YOU are too stupid to know this law, so they break it routinely in real life every day. If you have had any of these things happen to you, or worse, you should know your rights.

I'm still trying to figure out to which level I like Isla Fisher. I cannot figure out if she's a poor man's Amy Adams, who I am in love with, or if Amy Adams is a poor man's Isla Fisher... either way, the fact that Isla shares a bed with Sacha Baron "Borat" Cohen doesn't lend itself to currying favor with me.

Final thoughts? I recommend "He's Just Not That Into You" as a theater movie, and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" as a rental, though with either one, I can't imagine needing all the amenities that a $9.25 ticket will buy you, so rent 'em both.

The 100 Coolest Things of 2008... 20 thru 11

The Super Bowl was awesome this year... scroll down or click here to read the annual running diary...

One more note... if you are on Facebook, the numerous videos are not going to show up. Click on over to Clouds in My Coffee, then bookmark the page. Then check it daily. You never know what might pop up.

The Introduction and Recap
The 100th thru 91st Coolest Things of 2008
The 90th thru 81st Coolest Things of 2008
The 80th thru 71st Coolest Things of 2008
The 70th thru 61st Coolest Things of 2008
The 60th thru 51st Coolest Things of 2008
The 50th thru 41st Coolest Things of 2008
The 40th thru 31st Coolest Things of 2008
The 30th thru 21st Coolest Things of 2008

20. Rhett Barnette
He's this guy I know in KidStuf, the children's theater program at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship). He's married to Amarylis, he's got a daughter named Catalina, and Rhett, without going on and on, gets the title for Funniest. Guy. Of the Year.

He's dry, he's a hick kinda guy, he's just hilarious in a room. He's the kind of guy that, when watching The Jesus Painter, stood and made quiet jokes about the program while many were in deep worship. Seriously, funniest guy of the year.


And somehow, this picture fits him perfectly

19. ESPN's Pardon the Interruption Podcast
Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon... Tony... the Celtics just won the world champion over the Lakers! How hard did party and who did you party with?

Oh, I partied alone... unless you count that tryist with Bea Arthur!

So begins an episode of ESPN's PTI, via podcast. Typically, the hosts--Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser--start off bantering back and forth on the hot topics of the day, mostly sports but sometimes will dive off into other topics of the day. They will spend about 1:30 on each one, but may go over or under. The topics are listed on a scroll on the side of the screen.


Mike and Tony, discussing the woman who tried to use a fake One Million Dollar Bill at Wal-Mart

Next, they'll usually do "Five Good Minutes" with a guest, or they'll just keep talking sports, but in the middle of the show is my favorite. They'll do various bits weekly, sometimes Over/Under (they predict the over/under of a certain number like "Over/Under on the number of home runs Pujols will hit this season") or they'll do Oddsmakers (guessing the percentages of a certain event happening, like "chances that Roger Federer will win two or more Grand Slams before he retires") or my personal favorite, Role Play... they'll play a few beats of what can only be described as "porn music" and one will assume the role of a sports figure--Mike will "be Aaron Rodgers" and Tony will say, "Aaron, how mad are you that you were booed off the field this week at Lambeau?"

I downloaded it every day, missing very few episodes, and would sometimes go back and listen to a day or so old episode in case I missed something. You can get it on iTunes via a podcast... in fact, I very seldom every actually watch the show. Its always on iTunes.

18. "The Dark Knight"
Much to the dismay of my friend Lori Land, there are a couple of films I hold in higher regard than this one, but finishing the 18th coolest thing of 2008 is not too bad.

This was an amazing movie. You've heard the hype, you've heard about Heath Ledger's performance, and you've probably heard the mystique surrounding the film. And I am here to say... its all true and its all deserved.



"Batman Begins" was a re-start of the Batman franchise that succeeded on so many levels, and so the anticipation for "The Dark Knight" was only building to crazy heights. When Heath Ledger died in January of 2008, it only further fueled the anticipation for the movie. And the entire time, I was enthralled by what I was watching.

Ledger's portrayal of The Joker is absolutely brilliant. No attempt is made to really discover where he came from, he's just The Joker, a super villain to Batman. If I had any complaints about the movie at all, it is first that I think the Harvey Dent-into-Two-Face story was rushed... I think he would have been a great villain alone, but he did compliment The Joker well. Secondly, that Rachel Dawes met the fate she met. I mean, its Maggie Gyllenhaal... she's awesome!


Maggie rocks

Did you know that Katie Holmes was set to reprise the role of Rachel, a role she did well in in "Batman Begins"... but she dropped out to make... "Mad Money" with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah. Yes, Katie, how'd that work out for ya?

Anyway, I'm going on the assumption that just about everyone reading this has seen the movie, so I don't much to add to it, other than it was a slambang awesome film, and Ledger is an incredible Joker.

17. FaceBook Connections
I wrote about this not too long ago.. well, it was July of last year... and I said simply, "So, on Facebook, somehow I've managed to find almost everyone that I ever met. Well, actually, I've met a ton of people, so the 508 people whom I call friend on Facebook probably doesn't come close to the amount of people I've met in real life."

Well, since that time, 508 has turned into 774 friends, and just when I think that there can't be many more, another one sends me a friend request. I have now decided that I just don't send friend requests anymore, they can find me...

Over the year, as mentioned in the note from July, I've managed to find The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, The Angel (click to read The Angel Mud Boxer Story), Blair Andress, Dixon Brock, Dayla Ellison, Spring Tolson (also click to read The Spring Tolson Moment) and even more, and though the bigger "friend" news lately is the addition of The Official Clouds in My Coffee Samson High School Crush Julie Wise, that didn't happen until about a week or so ago, so it will be mentioned on The Coolest Things of 2009.

But there's more than that. This seemed to be the year Facebook just exploded, at least to me, from my perspective. More local friends joined--Cindy Warner, Melissa Clark, Emmy & Jason Turnbow--and more Troy friends joined--Amanda Hawkins Casey for one--and more Samson Friends joined--Claudia Sorrells, Jennifer Lambert... Jennifer Herdon--and then there was the Great Rejection of 2008, that being Angiejay, who told me after knowing me for 20 years, "I can't accept your friend request, because I don't know you very well". But I'm not bitter.

However, therein lies the danger, as mentioned last week... I will have to make some slight changes to some previous posts, as now I'm aware of who's on the site.

Also have to say a big hello to Mindy D'A, this incredibly cute and at the time unapproachable Alpha Delta Pi at Troy State, who I had spoken about two words to ever... and now she's a Coffee Drinker. Who knew?

17A. The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott McCauley
She rocks. Through Facebook, not only have I been able to chat with The Official Clouds in My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, we were able to have lunch a couple of times as she came through town. She's just as short as I remember, just as cute as I remember, and just another reminder of Garth Brooks' "Unanswered Prayers" song. Anyway, she was worth mentioning. Hope to see you again soon, one day to meet The Lovely Steph Leann.


Found this adorable pic of The Official Clouds In My Coffee Troy State Crush Tiffany Abbott, though it was before I really knew her.

16. ESPN's College Football Podcast
Like the PTI podcast mentioned at #19, this was also one I listened to daily. A 30 minute show hosted by Andy Gresh, it gave a rundown of the college football headlines and news to know after a weekend's worth of games, and leading up to more games the next weekend.

The show would start with "The Playbook", which was a report from different ESPN bloggers, each giving news of the six major BCS conferences--SEC, Big XII, Big 10, Pac 10, Big East and ACC--and one blogger, Graham Watson, talking about The Independents & More, which mostly, at least this season, gave news on the sorry state of Notre Dame football and the rise of the Mountain West's Utah, BYU and TCU's programs.

Andy Gresh would have different guests on certain days, like Bruce Feldman on Mondays, Ivan Maisel on Tuesdays, Todd McShay on Thursdays and Mel Kiper Jr on Fridays. On Wednesdays, the show would be hosted by Ivan Maisel and would feature the Dean of College Football, Beano Cook. Personally, though I enjoy Ivan and Beano's take on the games and appreciate their love of the history of the games, I liked Andy hosting much better.

It makes me sad, though, that Andy Gresh left the podcast after this past season and will join Sirius Radio's NFL channel for a new show. You will be missed.

The podcast continues even in the off season--it is available for download every other Wednesday all the way through the spring and summer, to pick back up for daily podcasts in August--presumably with a new host. I'm rooting for Todd McShay.

15. Rush Limbaugh
Ya know, I'm not going to do into detail on this one. I don't feel like defending him. I know he's right, and I agree with about 98% of what he says. He's critical of just as many Republicans as he is Democrats. He plays the audio of who you need to hear, he gives you the resources to listen to the entire bite, and honestly, listening to three minutes of his show isn't enough. You've got to listen to it regularly. Only then will you get the humor, only then will you understand what conservatism is, only then will you figure out that really, liberalism fails.

And then you'll be free. You won't be a mind numbed, believe everything the media tells you, if its written in the NYTime or if Keith Olbermann says it it must be true, robot. You'll get it. And we need as many people to "get it" as possible.

14. WalkAbout Dinner Theater
During the 2006-2007 season, I was highly disappointed that the dinner theater we had planned for that June. I was losing talent like Courtney Maddox and Jess Heckman, and I felt not only defeated, but like a failure.

By that time, I had been doing middle school drama for about 8 years, and we had pulled off 5 dinner theater performances. The reason we didn't do the other 3 years is because either I couldn't, or was not doing drama that summer. Some of the kids grumbled, some of the kids understood, but either way, I had no confidence in our team. We cancelled it because really, many of the kids didn't learn their lines on time.

So, when the new team came around, my "seniors" this time were Hannah Robillard, J Pinky, Grace Mintz, Erin Taliaferro, Davis Reynolds, Grant Adams and Emily Griner... one of the strongest line ups we've had since the murderer's row of Scotty Latta, Jana Blackwell, Laura Posey and the like.

We had a great year, and planned for our dinner theater, entitled "By Faith", in July. And it was masterful. It was a one-night-only affair, done in our middle school area known as "the Big Room", and we had a completely sold out audience. Some of our drama moms, including WalkAbout Mom of the Year Melissa Robillard, helped put dinner together, while the WalkAbout Asst Director and Mom of the Year in 2007, Paula Maddox, helped get the show done.

Awesome. Grace Mintz did this monologue called "Unafraid", and brought the audience to tears, but strangely, I think the skit of the show was a little ditty called "Debbie Gibson & the Foolish Chick", based on the parable of building your house on rock and sand. Starring Kimmy Hasha, Hannah, Emily and a special appearance by Matt McG and Algore, it brought the house down.

14A. Paula Maddox
She's was given the 20th Coolest of 2007 rank last year, and I went back and forth as to whether have her appear on this list or not... after all, she did get a rank last year. She was on the list of possible nominees for a Hannah Pruitt Cool Award as well, but I went differently with that.


Here's Paula, singing with a very waxy Celine

Anyway, she's awesome. She was totally my lean-on during the WalkAbout season, and my venting post as well (as she vented to me her own thoughts). I'm proud to call Paula my friend and if WalkAbout opens up to high school as well, as we are discussing, I am excited that she'll be back to help out. Well, she and Melissa Robillard.

13. "American Girl" by Estelle, feat. Kanye West
Take me on a trip I'd like to go someday... take me to New York I'd love to see LA... I really want to come kick it with you, you'll be my American Boy, American Boy.

I really don't care for Kanye West all that much... and whoever Estelle is, I'm not really sure I'll dig on her music all the much either. But this song? Love it? Got played a ton on my iPod this year, and its just cool. Here's the Wiki on it.

12. "Ironman"
Yes, yes, I thought "The Dark Knight" was great. But I am a Marvel fan through and through, so when I found out that Tony Stark would be played by Robert Downey Jr, I was sold. I was eagerly anticipating the film, and was not disappointed at all.

Its got a perfect mix of humor and action, with a great story and effects, and never gets dark and brooding like "The Dark Knight" was. As a matter of fact, I think I liked just about everything about this movie.


In case you didn't stick around after the credits, here's what you missed. Any comic book fan will be elated at this 35 second scene.

Haven't seen the movie? Here's the rundown...
Tony Stark gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father's friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) to accept a prestigious award for him. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, she is asked to leave by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark's personal assistant.

Stark flies off to Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), for a demonstration of Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho" cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. In the ensuing firefight, his escort is wiped out and Stark himself is knocked unconscious by one of his own company's bombs.

Waking up hours later in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub). It is powered by a car battery and keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader orders him to build a Jericho missile for him.

Instead, during the three months of his captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of power armor, powered by a miniature "arc reactor" invented by Tony's father, Howard. Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the armor isn't quite activated when the deadline expires, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, he comes across a dying Yinsen, who tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert. Stark survives, but his suit is in pieces. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark declares at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.

Stark focuses his energies on building an improved version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor encased in glass and bearing the inscription, "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart". (courtesy of the interweb)

See this movie!

11. Joining the VCM
Way back in the day, Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) had an awesome college ministry. It was called Common Ground, and there were, on any given Sunday morning or a typical Monday Bible study night, anywhere from 25 to 40, maybe more, college and career minded folks. This is the place where I met some of my best friends and most cherish people, like McQ, Valdmanis, Shawn Sharp, Jenn Adams, The Good Doctor Earl, Amy McL and so on...

But over time, and a few various events, things happened here, things happened there, and Common Ground was no more. The subsequent attempt at the college ministry following Common Ground wasn't successful, and for years, our church languished without it. You could go all the way through preschool, grade, middle and high school and have a ton of groups and activities to be involved in. When you are in your 20s and single, or "young married" or beyond, you have tons of things to do. But the gap between high school graduation and your single mid-20s, nothing.

So it was exciting when Philip and Jill Waters, Jillip, was going to re-start the college ministry. The Lovely Steph Leann and I had been reading in our church bulletin that it might be starting up, so in service, I looked over and asked her, "Do you want to help? Should we get involved?"

Sometimes, The Lovely Steph Leann gets excited, sometimes she doesn't, but usually when she is excited, it usually involves choir or singing. Imagine my surprise when she says, "Yes. I think we should go!"

We walked down to the new college ministry room, and were excited a few of the kids there already, along with Jillip, who expressed excitement that we were there.

The Lovely Steph Leann and I talked with the group, and just told how much the ministry had impacted our lives--heck, we met there--and how we wanted it to impact their lives too. Over Christmas, we saw attendence leap up to over 20 per Sunday, and the word was spreading of the fact that Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship) had invested in the college groups.

And so The Lovely Steph Leann and I are here now, in the VCM (Valleydale College Ministry). Its a little sad that we have left the Turnbow class on Sunday mornings, because of how many people there we just love, but we're happy to at least be helping in something that we know is going to grow and make a huge impact! Yay God!

So that leaves 10 more spots. And several events that rank among them... find out the Top 10 Coolest Things of 2008...

Less than 30 days....

Well... its coming.

On July 31st, we'll fly out to NYC for what will be my third mission trip to that city. The excitement is building inside of me, as more often than not, I think ahead to that trip. There are a total of 16 (maybe 17?) going on this trip, and I've not formally even met them all just yet.

I do know a few--Mark Warner, a buddy of mine from KidStuf (our children's ministry at Valleydale Church, an sbc fellowship); Natalie Valentine, also involved in Kidstuff; Lori Land, instrumentalist extraordinaire at the aformentioned Valleydale; Paula Mackey and her two kids, Brandon and Josh--Josh is involved in WalkAbout, the middle school drama team; Josh & Staci Caldwell, husband and wife duo at church, Josh being the recreation minister, Staci involved with the kids... as for the rest of the crew, I've only met them because of this trip. That includes team leader Philip Waters, a family called the Harringtons and someone named Colby. Larry Long has also joined last minute, as he's the father of former WalkAbout students Megan & Anna Long.

Either way, its the 4th of July today, and I've started this blog right here, right now. I'll be adding to it more and more leading up to the trip, and who knows, I might just keep it going afterwards...

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