Tag / Funny Stories

by Greg

Interesting…

I was chatting with a friend today about some updates I am doing to his website, and in talking about our July 4th activities, we got talking about family. We’re both from the same area originally… so we were chatting a bit about our various family members, seeing if there were any connections. (He’s actually a college classmate’s dad, so he was asking about my parents generation…)

After a few questions, we found out that my Mom’s Dad’s family have the same last name as some of his relatives from the same area. This is not a common name. In fact, have never met another who wasn’t related. And that they are from the same area…

Very crazy.

So, I may have just found out that somewhere way back when, my ancestors and our college friend’s ancestors are kin!

Howdy, cousin! 🙂

by Greg

Smoke On The Water… Sort Of.

Tonight on the way home from our Wal-Mart Supercenter, there was the normal amount of noise coming from our very full back seats, but I noticed a recognizable melody rising over the din. It was our one-year old, singing the famous guitar riff to “Smoke On The Water”, correct rhythm and melody!

A little background.

During the hockey playoffs, there was an automobile commercial that featured that song, and the boys picked up on it and really liked it. So I bought it for them from iTunes, and they always love when it comes up in the shuffle of the day.

Well, recently, after a picnic lunch outside, we were cleaning up and heard Ian singing the tune with a variation on the name of a friend of ours:

Mis-sus Shimp, Mis-sus uh-Shimp…
Mis-sus Shimp, Mis-sus…

Of course we were laughing, and then complimented our boys on their creativity, and then e-mailed our friend to let her know she was the source of inspiration for a new song. She loved it!

Well the song has not stopped. A few other people have crept into the lyrics…

Mis-ter Tones, Mis-ter uh-Tones….
Mis-ter Tones, Mis-ter…

But the melody remains the same.

Fast forward again to the ride home tonight. All the kids are talking, singing, playing in the back. Jen and I are talking in the front. In the middle of a conversation with Jen I clearly hear, “Uh, uh, UH-uh…” FROM OUR ONE-YEAR-OLD! I immediately interrupted Jen and said, “Did she just sing Smoke On The Water??!?!” Jen asked her to sing it again, and sure enough… SHE DID!

HILARIOUS!!!!

So, as the bedtime routine has been underway tonight, every once in a while, Julia busts out that famous riff, in her cutest one-year-old voice…

“Uh, uh, uhhh… uh, uh, UH-uh…” 🙂

SHE CAN’T EVEN TALK YET!

Oh my goodness. Had to share that one!
Friends coming to spend the day with us tomorrow… eating chicken wings, hamburgers, lots of sweet tea, and even making home made ice cream! Should be a blast!

Wonder if Joodles will sing her song? 🙂

by Greg

Report From The Home Office…

I absolutely love that I can work from home. It’s fantastic. I can regularly see my kiddos… take breaks and be with my family… I have access to everything I need at home (or at the office, I suppose)…

But man are there days it’s hard to get stuff done!!!

Today I have:

  • played basketball (that was before office hours)
  • read the Bible with the boys
  • started dinner (in the crockpot)
  • helped the window/door installer guy a bit
  • made a trip to the post office, and later, a second trip to the bank
  • made lunch for la familia (jen was not feeling up to it today… usually that’s her gig)
  • tried to arrange a birthday dinner/party for a friend
  • and oh yeah… did complete one graphic design job today, and delivered the final product to my client

But man is it hard to stay focused sometimes!! 🙂

I’m back in the office, and trying to get a few more projects completed today. But it’s already 4:09!!! Where do the days go???

(Oh yeah… read above…) 🙂

by Greg

Musicality

Greg & Jen - basic - Making MusicIt’s been a long time since we have done a “real” basic gig. Well, we did do one retreat weekend in early February, and before that we did 8 or 9 Christmas concerts… but I can’t actually remember the last time we just did a concert of our music.

Tonight we’re going to be doing that. I’ve actually had to practice a few songs this week… as some of them are beginning to escape my internal song bank. 🙂 We’re singing at Impact Theatre. It’s a free venue for Christian performers. Mostly music, but dance, drama, comedy also. Neat place… usually 75-100 people there? (I’m a bad crowd guesser, so… dunno…)

I decided last night that I should probably change the strings on my guitar. They were sounding really dull… not staying in tune very well. I think this pack of strings has more than done its job. Whereas I used to change strings at least twice a month (sometimes weekly), this pack has been on my guitar for WELL OVER A YEAR.

Now that’s longevity! 🙂

So, I broke out the tools this morning, and rummaged through my bag of strings, hoping to find a complete pack. I pulled out one that looked that way and began the process. I loosened and removed all six strings. Then got out a cloth and shined up my poor, neglected Taylor guitar. I started pulling the strings out of the pack – one at a time – and got to the 3rd string and… it was not there. 🙁

It’s not so good to start stringing a guitar – especially one that has not been restrung in over a year – and just abruptly stop, leaving it missing a string or two. The tension difference can play with your tuning after that…

So, I looked up a local music store, and decided to head out. I needed to get this fixed asap. I took the boys and we had fun checking out a new music store. It’s only about 5 or 6 miles from our house. That’s neat. We had fun, but I had a mission (and Mom needed the van…) so we headed back.

Now the craziest part was, once I restrung the guitar – well, even AS I was restringING the guitar – I was immediately blasted back to the past. I used to do this ALL THE TIME. It was a strangely cool (and strong) nostalgic experience. I don’t miss doing all the shows we used to do… but I don’t mind that we did that. They are (mostly) all good memories. So, it was crazy doing what I used to do for a morning.

And an evening. Tonight should be more of that same thing. I just hope I remember how the songs go… 😉

If you are free, and near Palmyra, NY… please join us tonight for what is now a quite rare occurance. 7:30pm till about 9:15pm. Stop by their website for details…

See ya out there!

by Greg

God Can Throw You Into Hill

Following our morning Bible reading time the other day, Jen was eating breakfast with the kids – may have been also reading a book to them – when Alex interrupts to inform her that, “God can throw people into Hill.” She was probably a bit curious as to where that originated… 🙂 Earlier that morning, the little story we read had Jesus reminding us that we don’t need to fear anybody because “once they kill you, they can’t do anything else to you.” (That was a loose quote…) “But,” he continues, “God is the one you should fear. Not only can he kill you, he can throw you into hell.”

As I finished saying that, both the boys looked at me wondering, and finally said outloud, “What’s ‘hell’, Dad?” Let me tell you… that’s not an easy thing to explain to an 8 year old and a 5 year old. 🙂 So, I think I kinda did… and they went on their way. But apparently, that little statement from Jesus made an impact on little Alex… who now knows that God can throw people into “Hill”.

There is never a shortage of entertaining moments around here… 🙂

by Greg

Another Example of My Weirdness

Earlier this week I got up early to go for a walk, as I have been doing since the beginning of 2007. But not long after I got up, I realized that I really don’t have to do this anymore. I forced myself through my routine, and even left the house. But my walk was just a brief trip out for errands, and was just not as enjoyable.

First, it was a lot hotter. I couldn’t even wear my cool, thick, hooded sweatshirt. Too hot! Then, there were tons more people! That was crazy. I had to watch for traffic! 🙂

When I got back home I realized that not only is it not as enjoyable as my walks earlier in the year, but really it’s less necessary. I started going for walks between 7 and 8:30 or so in the mornings because I felt like I wasn’t getting any exercise at all. Not even just exercise… I mean just… movement. 🙂 So, it seemed like a great way to do that. Slap on the iPod Shuffle, catch up on a podcast or two, and get about 2 miles of walking in.

And it definitely was!

But now, I play outside with our kids… and our family goes for walks nightly (last night I took the kids up to the park about a mile up the road. We walked along a wooded trail filled with all kinds of wild-life, played in a park, and walked back! Sore feet after that one!!!) So, walking in the mornings is no longer necessary.

So I’m not. 🙂

The funniest part is what I titled this entry… it’s just more proof of how different I am. Everyone else STARTS walking when it warms up. Not me! That’s when I stop. 🙂

Why am I so different? It’s very strange…

by Greg

What Color Are Yours?

EyeThis morning, I was brushing Kirsten’s hair, and I think I made some comment about how beautiful she is… because she is. 🙂

When I did, she said, “What color are yours?”

I actually didn’t know what she was talking about, but she was staring at my eyes, so I think I clarified, “My eyes?”

She nodded. Then she said, “Yours are black. Everybody’s are black.”

I just smiled and said, “Yes they are. You’re right. We’re all the same!”

Isn’t that cool? Kirstie doesn’t see the differences at age three… she sees the similarities. Not all the time, but this time, I think she got it right. We all have black.

And so, we’re the same. 🙂

by Greg

I Sleep Because I Have To

After watching the Ducks beat the Canucks (hey… that rhymed!) last night in the second game of the double-header on Versus, I decided to watch the NFL Lives I had TiVo-ed. It’s draft time, ya know! But when I started those, I remembered that I needed to clear space on the Mac Mini so that I could transfer about 30GB of video across our wireless network overnight, so we can watch those movies right from the Mini, and save some space upstairs. Well, that took about an hour, diggin through and finding what was expendable. So now it’s 2am.

And now I start NFL Live. 🙂 And there were two of them. 🙂

So, it’s just about 3am when I go upstairs to bed. I remember I needed something upstairs in my office. So I go to get it. Then I remember that we had been having e-mail issues today with one of my hosting providers. So I check email. It’s back up! So, I check my email. Read a couple blog posts, and then it’s 3:20.

I go to bed at 3:21. (Cool time.) And just lay there, thinking about 50 things I could be doing at that moment. Not really tired, I toy with the idea of getting up to do them… but it’s 3:30am!!!!

And that’s when I finally realized, I sleep because I have to. Not because I’m tired. Rarely, at least. There are some times when I go to sleep because I’m tired. There are also times I fall asleep on our super-comfy couch. But mostly, there are so many things that I can or want to do… I really only go to bed because I know I do NEED to sleep.

Why do I have so much to do?? 🙂 What in the world. (Thanks a lot, Dad!) 😉

So… I will continue to make myself go to sleep. The NHL playoffs won’t always have these cool late-night double-headers. That will help. But I guess that’s just who I am. Mr. Energy, with 1000 to-dos on his list.

At least I do get a lot done… 🙂

by Greg

The Definition of Insanity

Famous Quote - Definition of InsanityTwice now in the past 24 hours I have heard someone reiterate the famous quote, “The definition of insanity is to do something the same way and expect different results.” (Or something to that effect.) The best part about the quote is that I have heard it attributed to SO many different people! The past two times, it was attributed to Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.

Probably the funniest thing is that I think I first heard the quote attributed to that learned scholar, John Larroquette. 🙂 I’m pretty sure my brother in law mentioned him in a sermon one time, and gave him credit for that quote. Too funny.

So, not sure who said it, but whoever did, I think everyone agrees with it, because it has to be the MOST quoted phrase perhaps of all time!

by Greg

One More Alex Story

Alex reminded me before lunch today that I am the “Kingdom of the family. Because you’re the tallest.” He’s pretty sure I’m in charge. I told him that I am not… Jesus is the King of our family, and we listen to him. Then he told me, “Well, you’re the king of us, the kids.” And I said, “For a little while. I get to try and show you the best way to live, as best I know how.”

Then I continued, “But, later on, when you’re old like me, then you get to make your own decisions…”

“Yeah! I can do anything I want!” he interrupted.

“Yes, based on hopefully the good foundation that I have given you, so you can make wise choices.” I continued, “Then when you’re old, I won’t be your “king” anymore. But hopefully, you can be my friend.”

That made him smile. A few moments later he started dreaming about this adult relationship with Dad. He said, “Maybe I’ll get married… and we’ll live in the house next to the Toneses (our next door neighbors). And of course you’ll be my friend… cause I used to be your son!!!“

At that point, I assured him that he’ll still be my son, I just won’t be his “king”. 🙂

Then he concluded with, “And I’ll come visit you every day!”

Alex is too cute. 🙂