If a thousand dollar car was truly worth a damn, then why would anybody ever spend ten grand?

Today's title/lyric comes from the only song I know of from the band The Bottle Rockets, a song called Thousand Dollar Car. To see what the band has done besides this song check their myspace page out by clicking the title.

Well I am in a mechanics shop.
Because "The Ghetto Sled" as I affectionately call my car is temprairly dead.
That alone is bad enough, but here are the other factors determining my mood at the present hour:

This morning, for no good reason, my cable went out and then I realized (the hard way) that I was out of toilet paper. After a neccessary shower I took off for Wal-mart to get The Ghetto Sled's oil changed. I pulled into Tire and Lube Express and shut my car off, got to the door and realized I didn't have my debit card or any cash. So I went to start my car again and it wouldn't turn over. Diagnosis after two consultants and towing: dead battery!

I had to have a friend pick me up and take me home to get my debit card, then I had my car towed to a garage (because we thought it was the starter), where I was ushered into the waiting room where Spiderman 2 is playing. Many of you know how I feel about that and for those of you who don't...ever had your fingers smashed by a heavy mallet? That's what watching this schlock is like for me. Intensely painful in waves followed by questions of why between bursts.

Anyway, tomorrow I leave for San Diego for a convention, which was gonna be awesome, but I'll have spent most of my budget for that trip by the time I leave here today, because even though it's just a battery I'll have to pay for the towing, labor, battery, oil change, and transmission flush they've hooked me up with; estimated to be $375 in all at this point.

When I leave here I have at least 3 hours of work to do in the hour I will have available, this infernal movie will be trapped in my head for the rest of the day, and I need to do laundry still and clean my apartment in the remainder of a day which has gotten away from me. I fly out at noon tomorrow, but need another day. Is that possible?

Anyway, it is times like this that I think of my Uncle Dan's love of the song It's A Great Day To Whoop Somebody's Ass by Paul Thorn. Here are the lyrics.

It's A Great Day To Whoop Somebody's Ass

Have you ever had
One of those days
When nothing goes right?
You're wife starts bitching about
Whatever it was
She was bitching about
Last night.
So you escape into the bathroom
Just to sit there on your throne,
But after you finish your business
The toilet paper's gone.
Well it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass
It's a bad day
So you better get off my back
You might get cold-cocked
If you cross my path
Cause it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass
Well I was running late for work
So I poured me some coffee to go
And just before I had a flat tire
I spilled it all over my clothes
When the highway patrolman pulled up
I thought that help was on the way
But when he saw the tire tool in my hand
He shot me with pepper spray
Well it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass
It's a bad day
So you better get off my back
You might get cold-cocked
If you cross my path
Cause it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass.
When I finally made it to work
I was 15 minutes late
I told my boss about the flat tire
But he fired me anyway.
So here I am out in the parking lot
Just waiting by his Corvette,
I'm gonna' give him a goodbye present
That he never will forget.
Well it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass
It's a bad day
So you better get off my back
You might get cold-cocked
If you cross my path
Cause it's a great day
For me to whoop somebody's ass

So glad there's a redneck side of me...
it helps me cope.

I said my piece. Said my peace. I am part of a large family.

The title/lyric is a line from I Am Part of a Large Family, a song by Great Lake Swimmers, a Canadian folk group I listen to almost exclusively in the mornings because it's so mellow. Check their site out by clicking the title.

Did anyone else see this????

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There's no sign of a family reunion planned, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins.

So says the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois.

The two men could hardly be more different. Cheney is an advocate for pursuing the war in Iraq to try to stabilize the country, while Obama wants to get U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Mrs. Cheney told MSNBC on Tuesday that it was "an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."

The common ancestor was Mareen Devall, who the Chicago Sun-Times said was a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mrs. Cheney said she discovered the link through family research for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," about growing up in Wyoming.

Here's a pic of one of their shared ancestors from Long, Long Ago...


Notice some similarities to both descendants:

Deep wellspoken African influenced voice, slick threads, atheltic prowess.

Empire insider, warmonger, torturer, recluse, 2nd most pwerful, yet most feared man in the Empire.

See another pic of same relative and you'll see different similarities to the two:

On the one hand; warm, selfless, thinking of bigger picture, looking out for young soldier(s).

On the other; white, bloated, scarred, near expiration, gay blondeheaded child.

Having posted that much I remembered this scene from Kevin Smith's movie Chasing Amy:
WARNING, this is from a Kevin Smith movie and so not for the faint of heart!


What an hysterical place we live in; America. Where these two come from the same ancestor, where movies can make fun of real civil struggles by making fun of a movie, and where such a movie can be the touchstone for half the conversations dorks like me have in a day.

There's more love somewhere. And there's more peace somewhere. I ain't gonna rest until I find it. There's a bright side somewhere.

The title/lyric comes from There's a Bright Side Somewhere by Ry Cooder off of his beautiful (if a bit odd) album My Name is Buddy, a concept album about the friendship between a cat and mouse. I find this song to be a hopeful one at the end of a long week.

In a few places this week I have found some hopeful thoughts from other folks. I am preaching this Sunday, so I've needed the encouragement of fellow believers (in the broadest sense). Here are my two favorites.

Last week was World Communion Sunday and I found this and made a slide of it for our worship design. I dig this message and like that it's on a globe.



The second thing I found was this quote. I hope it moves you like it did me. I hope your week winds down in a blessed way and your weekend is restful or fun.

"There is in each of us, no matter how humble, a capacity for love. Even if our lives have not taken the course we had envisioned, even if we are less than the shape of our dreams, we are part of the human family. Somewhere, in the most inconsequential corners of our lives, is the opportunity for love.

If I am blind, I can run my hand across the back of a shell and celebrate beauty. If I have no legs, I can sit in quiet wonder before the restless murmurs of the sea. If I am wounded in spirit, I can reach out my hand to those who are hurting. If I am lonely, I can go among those who are desperate for love. There is no tragedy or injustice so great, no life so small and inconsequential, that we cannot bear witness to the light in the quiet acts and hidden moments of our days.

And who can say which of these acts and moments will make a difference? The universe is a vast and magical membrane of meaning, stretching across time and space, and it is not given to us to know her secrets and her ways. Perhaps we were placed here to meet the challenge of a single moment; perhaps the touch we give will cause the touch that will change the world."

unknown

Perhaps...

Hey ho how ya doin, where ya been? Prolly doin ho stuff cuz there you ho again!

This title is a lyric from the hilarious song by (my secret favorite rapper) Ludacris' song Ho. Clicking the title will take you see the also very funny video he made with it. Warning-Not for use in Bible Study, even when telling the story of Rahab.

This sign wasn't on a church, but on the outskirts of both ends of a town. I saw it when driving a van load of kids to a leadership church camp this summer. I pulled over so one of them could take this pic.

All the same, here's
THE WEEKLY INAPPROPRIATE CHURCH SIGN

What kind of festival could this possibly be?

And do they have one in Summer, Fall, and Winter too?

I don't know what it is about you that makes me wanna run and jump inside you.

The lyric comes from the subject of today's blog, a song called Tonight. Click the title to visit the website of my latest muse.

Boys and girls, it is time for another installment of a Thorns series.
Today I present...
WOMEN I AM IN LOVE WITH Part 2
KATE WALSH

Ofcourse it's a musician, a 24 year old British one whom I am falling madly for just hearing, let alone seeing, sing. Here is a group of Miss Walsh's videos. First a live performance caught on tape.



If that doesn't turn your crank then here is a music video she shot for her song Don't Break My Heart



If you only watch one of these, make it this one!!!
Here she is with her song Your Song, which highlights the beauty of both the singer and the work. Of this song on her bio it suggests that if you aren't moved on it, you may need to "check your pulse". I agree...


What else should I say. I am ofen smitten by talented musicians. And that I find her music and videotaped person so warm only makes it that much easier to admit Kate Walsh is
A WOMAN I AM IN LOVE WITH!