Tennessee Titans MAKE the playoffs!!

Yes! The team I root for MADE THE PLAYOFFS! They play at San Diego next Sunday at 4:30 EST on CBS.

You know what I’ll be watching!!

Tennessee Titans battle for the playoffs

I’d love to rattle off some long, in depth insight into life right here, but I’m busy watching my favorite NFL team, the Tennessee Titans, battle against the Indianapolis Dummies for a spot in the playoffs.

Win and they’re in. Lose and go home.

Awww man, they just fumbled… Not good.

We’ll know more in the morning. What’s YOUR favorite NFL team?

Santa brought an iPhone!

Yes, I wanted an iPhone. Can you blame me?

So all I asked for Christmas was money so I could pool it all together, add it to some I’d been saving, and get an iPhone - maybe.

I wasn’t sure.

I had to talk to talk to an AT&T rep to see if I could adjust my plan, especially the data stuff. Turns out that in the wake of people texting me, I was racking up $15 - 20 worth of INCOMING texts!

I was paying for people who were too lazy to pick up the phone and call me (y’know, the thing a PHONE was MADE for!). At $0.15 per incoming text, we were racking up nearly $20 in incoming texts. And since that wasn’t going to change any time soon, I realized I could pay the same amount and take advantage of the features of the iPhone.

Pretty good logic, eh?

So save up your Christmas money, analyze your incoming texts, and enjoy your new iPhone too!

Redneck Rollercoaster (in Canada!)

This video is amazing - and no, I’m not talking about the less-than-stellar reporting from my hometown station.

It actually IS from my hometown of London, Ontario, AND the guy in the video, Dave Rock, has been fixing stuff for my parents for years. Dad says he’s brilliant and can fix anything!

Anyhoo - check out what he did to this 1991 Chevy Cavalier, and tell me you wouldn’t want one of these for some fun on the weekends…

Would YOU want one of these?

Michael Olson, Michael W. Smith and The Burbs

So we arrived at Ashley & Michael Olson’s today (Ashley’s my sister, and Mom & Dad are down from Canada). By the way, you’re gonna want to lick over to Michael’s site (new under Sites Galore!!)

And Ashley got Michael a Tom Hanks collection for Christmas, including the movie “The Burbs” (which I LOVE !!!!!)

So Michael plays drums for Michael W. Smith. Most of you know that. But here’s something I didn’t know…

Michael (W. Smith) has an annual “The Burbs” party!! People dress up as their favorite character and they watch the movie o a big screen on the front lawn. AHHH! Olson’s got to get me in next year!! He’s gonna go as Rumsfeld, and I’ve got to find a pair of liederhosen!!

What character would YOU go as?

Rock Star Ella

I love this picture of our 3 year old, Ella. 

But I don’t know if I should be excited  - or worried!? 

  

What do YOU think?  Excited or worried? 

Christmas Pictures…

A few Christmas pics for your holiday enjoyment. 

 

Ella puts out reindeer food and points to where they will be flying… 

Cooper’s enamored with his new toy lobster (hey, who wouldn’t be?). 

We had a great Christmas, and will continue it later this week with my family.   

How was your Christmas? 

Christmas Movie List

So Jennie & I just saw I Am Legend (we’ll dissect that later, ’cause I’ve got opinions!), but in searching for movie times, www.Moviefone.com had a list of top 25 Christmas movies of all time.

It’s a little controversial, since they included movies that I don’t think are official “Christmas” movies (see #21 ), but we can discuss…

Here they are in descending order (to add suspense, y’know…)

25. Polar Express (I think this should be higher!)
24. We’re No Angels (nope, I haven’t heard of it either…)
23. The Muppet Christmas Carol
22. Joyeux Noel (another one from the land of obscurity)
21. Gremlins (??? What the heck???) 
20. The Santa Clause (ok, back on track…) 
19. Bad Santa (a little something for the grown-ups)
18. The Dead (???? I mean ?!?!?)
17. The Shop Around The Corner (J-J-J-immy Shtewart) 
16. Die Hard (SWEET! Out of the blue, but se-weet! Yippie-ki-yay!)
15. Love Actually (yeah, missed that one…)
14. The Bishop’s Wife (Carey Grant or Denzel Washington - who would you choose?) 
13. The Nightmare Before Christmas (I wanted to see this, but haven’t - yet!)
12. Holiday Inn (the movie that brought us White Christmas!! Why isn’t this higher?)
11. A Christmas Carol (1951) (yep, classic) 
10. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (WHY ISN’T THIS #1???? It’s the gift that keeps on giving, Clark!)
09. Babes In Toyland (Laurel & Hardy, kids!)
08. Home Alone (isn’t Macauly in jail or something?) 
07. Christmas In Connecticut (ummm, no.)
06. Elf (candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup)
05. White Christmas (need we say more?) 
04. Scrooged (I LOVE this movie!! And the classic 80’s soundtrack? Excellent!)
03. Miracle on 34th Street (personally,I likes the one on 35th street better)
02. It’s A Wonderful Life (yeah, I can buy that one)

and the top Christmas movies is:

01. A Christmas Story (you’re gonna shoot your eye out!) 

Well, what do you think? Do you agree with their list?

Where’s your favorite rank? My faves are #10, 4 and 6)

Christmas Services over…

 The Christmas services are over, and there’s nothing for the next week and a half except family, food and SANTA (I know him!  Wait - you’re not Santa. Yo smell of beef and cheese…)  He he - can you name the movie?

I’m so proud of everyone involved this morning!  All the musicians, the producers and all the production staff and volunteers. 

Big kudos to Dave Stagl and Luke Roetman and their audio volunteers for doing so much for those of us on stage.  We couldn’t do what we do well if it wasn’t for them, both at the monitor console and Front of House.

Tom, Llew, Jay, Jim, Clay, Chuck, Chris, Vance, Brian, Kevin, and all the audio volunteers - THANK SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK ALL YEAR LONG!!  

Who do you need to thank for their work this year?

Starbucks - kosher Christmas coffee

So we were in a Starbucks in an area of town with a high Jewish population. That obviously didn’t register until AFTER I made this discovery:

The store was decorated in its December usual (blatant) CHRISTmas colors, decorations, and verbage. Chistmas this, christmas that, Advent calendars, and, of course, the delectable Christmas Blend. Yummm.

KUDOS to St. Arbucks (Ragamuffin’s term - I just stole it ;). But then, what did we see? HOLIDAY BLEND!! Oooooh - was this something wonderful and new?

“No,” said the barista. “It’s the exact same as Christmas blend.” That was it - end of explanation. We were puzzled, until we studied the packaging. Blue. Silver. Hmmmmm.We looked around. Turns out Starbucks also sells Chhannnnukkaaahhhhh (sp?) merchandise as well! Menorahs, dradels, all the kosher trimmings.

So we thought about it, discussed it, and I pondered it. And my final thought is CONGRATULATIONS STARBUCKS! Thank you for not selling out to one, generic, “Holiday” or “Seasons’” blend, but for keeping Christ and his birth in your coffee.

Well, not IN your coffee, but you get the point.  Do YOU like Christmas Blend?

Guten Tag! (bless you…)

Alright Jennie - here it is.  My first blog.   I do want you to know I’m taking time out from playing Civilization IV to do this…There’s a lot I’ll share, but it all seems too important to waste on this first post, which (honestly) 1 person will see.

So I’ll address that one person…Jennie - I love you. I love you so much. I love who you are, day in and day out. The decisions you make regarding our relationship, our household and our children. I love the fact that you put the other 3 people in our house before yourself, and to remind you to not feel guilty when you feel you need some time to yourself. You, more than anyone I know, deserves some pampering (which is tough for me to figure out sometimes since you hate spas, etc.)

I love the fact that you (still) love me, even though you know who I am, and put up with me anyway :)And I want you to know that I think you are sexier today than you ever have been. And tomorrow, you’ll be even more so.

You make me laugh, challenge me, and lovingly encourage me to be a better man every day.I thank God for you, and for what you mean to me. Our kids are SO blessed to have you as their mom.

OK, so if you’re not Jennie and you’re reading this (shame on you for eavesdropping!), you must learn who Jennifer Elizabeth Greven is - the Kickboxing Mama!!