Last Long Weekend

We're heading into the last long weekend of summer. What are you doing as your last hurrah of summer? I've got a pretty busy weekend ahead. Tomorrow I'm taking Snax to the cottage so my parents can look after her while Crystal and I are away. Where are we going? O-Town baby! Going to see Phantom Of The Opera Sunday night in the nation's capital. I'm pretty stoked, mainly because Crystal hasn't seen it before and I loved it when I saw it. So we're taking in some culture on Sunday night and then driving home on Monday. Did I mention our hotel has a water slide? It's gonna be AWESOME!

Skimboarding

This morning I got up early, now I'm talking SUPER early. Only a couple of things can make me get up that early, golf, hockey, baseball or skimboarding. This morning it was skimboarding. My buddy Kent and I made the trip up to a beach in Tiny Township to get in a skim session before heading to work in the afternoon. Can I just say it was AWESOME! There's this stream that ran into the bay, so we'd ride the stream, and then hit the waves head on... or at least that was the plan. I struggled a little at first, barely making it 15 feet, but by the end we had some longer rides going and the sun even came out. Considering it's only about a 30 minute drive from my place, you might see me up there 3 or 4 mornings a week in September! Whoop Whoop!

Where'd Summer Go?

Seriously! I remember in May I had plans for all the stuff I wanted to do this summer; spend lots of time at the beach, go to a couple ball games, golf lots and maybe even take some time off and go somewhere nice. Now here we are, a couple days away from the end of summer, and I haven't done any of that. I guess I just got busy working and missed out on summer. Kinda makes me sad, but I guess that's what happens once you start working. So enjoy your summers while you're in school, enjoy those 3 months off when you don't have to worry about work. Sure you may have a summer job, but enjoy your high-school years. It might seem like they suck right now, but you'll look back and remember how good it was.

Must See Videos

This is a classic example of a beauty queen!

And to think he used to be a big name in Hollywood!

Sometimes I think the creators of children's show have to be on something... Who in their right mind would think of this kind of stuff?

Karaoke Superstar!

Last night at the Orillia Opera House we crowned our third Karaoke Superstar... Congrats to Andy Taylor for taking home the crown. As the night progressed 2 things came to mind...
1- We've come a long way baby
2- I like Andy.

I remember the first Karaoke Superstar Finals... at Wasaga Waterworld. Not ideal for a singing contest. Then last year it was at the Barrie Fair. Again a less than desirable venue for a singing contest. But then this year the finals were at the ultra-classy Orillia Opera House! Complete with professional stage lighting and a professional sound guy! It was just such a special night. I hope we do it up big-time again next year.

And Andy! I love the way he sings. He puts everything he's got into the song, and he rocks it out with a little growl at times. I was totally impressed by the guy. I'm glad he stepped up his game and brought the title home, because he's such a genuine, humble guy. Congrats Andy!

Random Thought

I'm filling in on the "Steve Jones Experience" this week cause Steve's on vacation. Junky will be filling in on the Slam... I'm back on Monday!

Here's a random thought to get you trough the week: "Drivers are safer when highways are dry, and highways are safer when drivers are dry."

Puppy Trouble

Over the last couple days/weeks I've woken up each morning with a surprise from Snax waiting for me. Some days there's puke (or "vomit" for you stuffy English types) on the carpet, some days it's a book she's found torn to shreds, one day it was Crystal's diary chewed into pieces on the floor. Now usually I just clean up the mess and tell her that she's been bad... but today was a different story.

I woke up and scanned the floor... nothing. No clothes, vomit or paper. I was a little hesitant to give praise though... Something didn't feel right. I saw your chewing something so I decided to investigate further. I picked her up and reached inside her mouth, what was this new found chew-toy? The answer made me cringe. It was a piece of my glasses! She had pulled them off my night-table and decided they'd be a good midnight snack. So half of my glasses was in her mouth, where was the rest? I looked in her bed and found the answer. She had broken/eaten/ruined my glasses! I was a little bit upset (as you might imagine) and so I put her in her crate. (More for her safety than for punishment). Will she ever behave? I think the obedience school decision was made for us this morning. Snax is going, and she's going to like it!

Here's the photo evidence.

Happy Birthday

Today marks the 8 year anniversary since Life 100.3 signed on in their studios at 14 High street in Barrie. It funny looking back at the Slammin' Top50 charts on the website. In 1999 you find names like Chris Rice and Steven Curtis Chapman on the chart. 2001 has the likes of Plus One, Swish and LaRue. Christian music sure has come a long way in the past 8 years. I remember being in school and listening online to Mike C host the Slam... telling myself that one day I'd like to do that. Now here I am, hosting the Slam and maybe my replacement is listening online somewhere and saying the same thing. 8 years ago I'm sure the staff had no idea they'd be adding repeaters in Peterborough, Owen Sound and Huntsville. Maybe in 7 more years we'll look back and say "Wow! look at far far we've come in the last 15 years." Maybe we'll become Canada's Christian Superstation?

Strike That Chord

If you were to go to my car at any point over the past couple weeks you would likely find the new disc from the Rocket Summer in the CD player. (Yeah I'm a high roller... I have a CD player in my car) Well today I was driving and this song came on that made me stop and say "Heck Yeah! That's totally where I'm at." The song? "Run To You" Check it out.

"Run To You"

Turn, look, look out and see

Do you see me?

Because I think I see you.

I've been some other place

The wind that I chase, it all just leads back to you.

Oh how I'm still, so still, it's sobering, but still I ran.

I knew you when I was young

But where am I now that I'm a man?

Run to you, I will run, I will run.

I will move right on through

All of these things that I have done.

And you'll take me back, I don't know why.

I want to say I'll never do it again,

But I can't, but I will try.

Turn, look, look out and see

Do you see me?

Because I think I see you.

I've been some other place

The wind that I chase, it all just leads back to you.

Oh how I miss what you miss, but I will fall time and again.

And I will say that I'm true to you,

But I'm a cheat. I don't understand.

So I'll run to you, I will run, I will run.

I will move right on through

All of these things that I have done.

And you'll take me back, I don't know why.

I want to say I'll never do it again, but I can't

I want to say I'll never do it again, but I can't

I want to say I'll never do it again, but I can't

But I will try.

This song is so totally about me! I sing lies every Sunday in church. I sing about how much I love God, how I'd give anything for him, how I want to serve him daily. But then I cheat... I continually choose other things over God. I will choose to watch TV instead of spending time in my Bible, or I'll let the busyness of Life take over and throw my relationship with God on the back-burner. "I want to say I'll never do it again, But I can't, but I will try." I love that line... That's where I'm at. I think that's what makes a lot of Christian music so unappealing to me... It's too perfect. That's not my life. My life is messy, filled with mistakes, filled with conflicting desires. If artists like Chris Tomlin, MercyMe and Kutless can sing those kind of fluffy, lovey, silky songs and be truthful, more power to them. That's just not where I'm at, and I'm glad The Rocket Summer can identify with that.

Great Lakes Road Trip

This past weekend was one I had been looking forward to for quite some time. It was the weekend of baseball! On Friday, 2 of my buddies from baseball and I headed out for what was going to be a weekend full of good times.

We started off with a Friday night matchup between the Indian and Yankees. The game was sold out and even the scalpers didn't have tickets. We weren't sure we were even going to see a game! We walked up to the box office window and it turns out they had just released some $10 tickets in the upper level. We jumped on them faster than a fat kid on candy. Later we overheard people around us paid $30 for their tickets from a scalper... We scored big time! The game was alright, the Yankees won and we almost witnessed a fight between an Indians and Yankees fan. After the game they had a jaw-dropping fireworks display. Now this was no ordinary fireworks show. It was over 25 minutes long, set to music, with fireworks coming from all directions. AMAZING! It was bigger than Canada Day fireworks here, and it wasn't even a special occasion. Super cool!

Saturday we set out for Detroit, with a quick stop in Toledo. We visited Fifth/Third Field, home of the Toledo Mudhens in hopes of an afternoon game. No such luck. So we made our way down the street to the Toledo science center. That was (surprisingly) a lot of fun. After the pit-stop in Toledo we made our way to the Motor-City. I was kinda iffy on parking my car downtown for 3-4 hours in Detroit, but we managed to find a "guarded" lot and made our way to Comerica Park. We got to the box office and we had 2 ticket options. General admission or "on-deck circle." We took the ones with seats, and made our way to the section assigned on our tickets. Turns out we were 6 rows behind home plate! I was on TV for the entire game! They wouldn't allow us to take pictures, wave or talk on our cell phones because they wanted everyone in the camera shot to look like they were paying close attention to the game... I still managed to sneak a couple pics here and there. They also had fireworks after the game (I don't know why) and they were also pretty sweet. The drive home was long (got home around 4am Sunday) but it was totally worth it! An absolutely amazing weekend!

Jacobs Field, Cleveland, OH

The Fellas @ "The Jake"

Fireworks in Cleveland

More fireworks in Cleveland

Cloud machine at the Toledo Science Center




The Fellas @ Comerica in Detroit

Fireworks @ Comerica in Detroit

Tonight

I'm off to MBC for their big Book Sale Today... Junky is taking your votes and requests tonight. Make sure to be nice to him. Have a GREAT long weekend!

Looking Forward

I'm pretty stoked about this coming weekend. Not only is it a long weekend, (Woohoo 3 days off!) but it's also an eventful weekend for me. Saturday I'll be heading up to my buddies cottage in Port Carling to do some Cliff Jumping, Wakeboarding and overall cottage funning. Then Sunday, Crystal and I are heading to the Rogers Centre to take in the Jays vs Rangers, (we've got some sweet seats). And we cap off the weekend with Kempenfest Monday morning, then date night with Crystal. Yup, it's gonna be a sweet weekend. :-)

Scared Of That Ride?

Have you ever been on a ride (at Wonderland of Darien Lake) and felt like you were going to die? It's not uncommon for you to feel that way. It is, however, uncommon that you would actually die. Fatalities on amusement park rides are very low. That doesn't mean there aren't close calls though. Check out this video.

The worst part is the woman who keeps laughing at the kid... He almost falls out of the ride and she is busting a gut thinking it's the funniest thing in the world. The ride stops, the kid is in pain, and she keeps laughing. If I was that kid, as soon as they release my belt, I'm giving that woman a left hook to the jaw.

So if you're off to KingdomBound next week, go ahead and get on those rides. They are totally safe! ;-)