joshbyers

What to do and the September Shuffle

Mickie and Mia will be gone next week. Mickie is going on a girl trip to Indiana to visit friends and Mia is going to Grandma and Grandpas in Burlington. So that leaves me all by myself. The question is what should I do with all of this free time? The early votes are golfing, mowing the lawn, and snipe hunting. I need some good ideas - leave them in the comments section.
Here is September's Shuffle on my iPod. Remember the rules:

• Shuffle Your Songs
• Report the first 5 five - no cheating

1. Ending Credits from the Napoleon Dynamite Soudtrack - Sweet!
2. A Quiet Interlude by the David Crowder Band on the album A Collision
3. Valentine by Jim Brickman on the album Picture This
4. Trudog-the Return by TobyMac on the Welcome to Diverse City album
5. We Will See Him as He Is - 1998 FBBC Summer Ministry Teams - the one I wasn't on...

by joshbyers

True Patriots

This post is few days late as I intended to post it on 9/11 but better late than never. Like most people I was profoundly impacted by the events of that day. Growing up I and most of my friends could never really identify with what Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.” The World War II Generation was one of the most patriotic and heroic generations in American history. I have never really known what it means to love my countryand to sacrifice for my country. In fact patriotism was more like a subject in school than a deep emotion.

Even now most of us know little about true sacrifice. We are lucky to have not had to fight the majority of this war on terror on our soil. Unfortunately with the forgetful mindset of most American people I am afraid that day will eventually come. Until September 11th I never knew how it felt to have a deep emotional connection with my country. It was definitely something I took for granted. But everything changed that day. Through all of the horror that was September 11th I believe a new generation has learned in a small way what it is to be a patriot. I felt a common bond with my fellow countrymen that had never been there before.

And In the days that followed I can remember getting choked up at just the site of our flag. With that I wanted to share one of my favorite renditions of the Star Spangled Banner. It includes a dramatic reading of the story of the anthem and will give you chills.

by joshbyers

I Think I'm Getting Old

Friday night Mickie and I went on a date. We haven't been on too many since Mia was born and we really need to go on more, but that's not the point. We were walking around the mall going into the stores that we like, Gap, Baby Gap (where Mickie found a pair of pants for Mia for .47 - yes that decimal is not misplaced they were actually forty-seven cents...) the Apple Store, Pottery Barn and some others. I happened to be looking for some pants to wear to work - something very casual khakis or cargo pants. I normally buy most of those kind of things at the Gap but they had diddly so Mickie asked if I wanted to go into American Eagle.
Now, I'm not sure if there was a polar shift or other weirdness going on but we both kind of stopped and then had a conversation about whether or not we are still allowed to go into those kind of stores. When are you no longer supposed to go to American Eagle, Abercrombie, Hollister, The Buckle etc...? At what point do you look like a desperate loser trying to fit in with a generation younger than you? We must have passed this point because neither of us felt comfortable going in any of those places. Is it a certain age? Is it when you have kids? Is it a certain weight? Or are we just off our rocker? Maybe its when you start using phrases like "off your rocker."

Anyway help us out and let us know if we are still cool enough to shop where the cool kids shop.

by joshbyers

My New Name

The following is a conversation with Mia:
Mickie: How old are you?
Mia: I two.
Mickie: What's your name?
Mia: My name is Mia.
Mickie: Where's mommy?
Mia: Points to mommy.
Mickie: Where's daddy?
Mia: Points to me.
Mickie: What's mommy's name?
Mia: Mommy.
Mickie: What's daddy's name?
Mia: Snappy.

(Snappy is the name of a turtle we saw at a garage sale...6 weeks ago.)

And now presenting the winner of the Scripps Spelling Bee sometime in the future...

by joshbyers

It's Like Rain on Your Wedding Day

I was going to Walmart the other day to pick up some stuff I probably didn't need when my parking radar was activated. I always seem to get to Walmart about a minute after everyone else in Des Moines and am relegated to parking across the street or in some cases in Illinois. This particular day my senses were keen and I spotted what I thought was a front row spot. It turned out to be handicapped. Now don't tell me that you've never been tempted to park in one - just for a minute of course. What are the odds the entire handicapped population would show up in those few minutes?
Now I know what you're thinking, I parked in a handi spot and when I came out I saw some poor crippled person driving around aimlessly because they couldn't find a spot because some heartless "20 something year old" had taken what was rightfully theirs. I didn't do that.

What I did do was take another lap around and low and behold while I was at the bottom of the row I saw a car backing out. Could it be?? I strained my neck to check if the spot was legit and gunned the engine. It was, and I was off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another car who had apparently seen the spot open up and it was a race to see who could claim it first. Unfortunetly he had a slight lead coming from another row and just beat me to the spot.

As if losing that spot wasn't bad enough, I noticed something hanging from the rear view mirror as the driver hobbled into the store. A handicapped parking permit...

Shouldn't that be a $100 fine?

by joshbyers