Archive for the ‘fun’ Category

Daring Ravine Driving – our first day in Colorado

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

It was our first day in Colorado. We arrived in Colorado Springs to play in the Glen Eyrie Castle. The only trouble was getting our trailer and equipment TO the castle.

Turns out, they don’t make castles for easy trailer-access.

The helpful castle residents informed us we would need to take our trailer out a trail they called the “Fire Road”. It would lead us up a steep mountain overtop the castle, and finally to the castle’s back door.  And half-way through, we would need to reverse the car and trailer, and take the whole contraption backwards to the entrance.

Video can’t really capture the fact that a huge ravine lies directly to your side. But here is our attempt:

 
Daring Navigational Feat by The Redding Brothers at Pike’s Peak

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Posted in adventure, brakes, cars, concert, entertainment, fun, funny, humor, rock and roll, rock band, touring, travel | No Comments »

A trick this gas station used

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

When I was driving through the country-side, looking for the opportunity to refuel, I came upon a gas station selling fuel for $3.19. Or so I thought. Since gas prices had just been over $4.00, this was an amazingly low price. But as I got closer, I could see that gas was actually being sold for $3.39. Clever sign.

Clever and evil.

gas for $3.19, or is it?

Gas is $3.19. Or is it?

gas is REALLY $3.39!

Gas is $3.39!

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Posted in cars, fun, funny, humor, photos, touring, travel | No Comments »

The Rules of Pull-Throughs

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008

To the uninitiated, the term “pull-through” may not mean much. But it is a term ripe with meaning. Sometimes it masquerades as “pull-thru” or “pll-thrgh”, but the latter is only prevalent among people who hate vowels, and presumably they will have stopped reading after the second character of this article.

“Pull-Through”, or “Pull-Thru”; noun:
An empty parking space, which has an empty parking space directly in front of it, so that instead of stopping in the parking space one has chosen, one feels compelled to pull forward into the next parking space, thus completing the pull-through.

A pull-through serves the useful function of allowing the driver to entirely avoid backing in or out of a parking space.

A couple of terms need to be defined in relation to the Pull-Through:

  • The Initiator: the first parking spot one pulls into, directly attached to another empty spot.
  • The Closer: the final parking spot of the pull-through, directly in front of the Initiator.
  • Taking The Pull-Through: going through with the action, moving all the way from the Initiator to the Closer before stopping.
  • Pull-Through Interruptus: when someone pulls into the Initiator, but refuses to pull forward into the Closer, thus avoiding Taking The Pull-Through, and ruining the Pull-Through for everyone.

Unbeknownst to the average driver, there are a complex series of rules that govern the manner in which pull-throughs may be treated. These rules are similar in nature to the rules for “Calling Shotgun”, having accumulated over time, developing in native societies for ages before modern civilization discovered them.

Pull-Through Rule #1: IF A DRIVER PULLS INTO A PARKING SPACE WHICH IS AN INITIATOR, SAID DRIVER MUST TAKE THE PULL-THROUGH. IT IS A CARDINAL OFFENSE TO STOP SHORT OF THE FULL PULL-THROUGH!

“Are there any exceptions?” an insightful reader may ask. Well yes, there are. But we are not considering exceptions, we are considering rules. So let’s consider some commonly-given excuses that are not exceptions.

1. “Pulling through takes me farther away from the door!” Suck it up, fella. The pull-through is its own reason and justification. You must pull-through because it is a pull-through. That’s just common sense. It doesn’t get any more logical than that.

2. “If everyone did a pull-through, there would be no pull-throughs left”.
That’s just not using simple reasoning. Think about it: if everyone completed the pull-through when given the chance, they would tend to leave their parking space more quickly once done, thus freeing up more parking that could potentially become a pull-through.

3. “But this Pull-Through leaves me going the wrong way in a one-way lane!” Someone should have thought of that before creating the Pull-Through. It is not your fault that the Pull-Through is facing the wrong direction. You still must Take The Pull-Through.

To be continued…

Posted in adventure, entertainment, fun, how+to, humor, travel | No Comments »

Kings among Stars

Monday, September 24th, 2007

This weekend, I was in Iowa City, Iowa for a conference in which hundreds of college students from tons of colleges gather to find entertainment to bring to their campuses. For the entire weekend, performers of all kinds would showcase their talents in the hope of being chosen. A select few (such as myself) would be allowed to play a concert in front of these students.

One conversation I had stuck with me. “We all lead other lives,” a hypnotist told me, “we’re all just trying to stay in this one as long as possible”. By day, she was a therapist. By night, a hypnotic stage performer and magnificent entertainer.

When she said that, I looked around me, and what I saw reminded me of a line from the movie “Almost Famous”:

“This is the circus, everybody’s trying not to go home.”

She was right. Everyone did lead other lives. That weekend, I saw magicians who mystified and comedians who owned the stage; and as long as they’re there, they have the magic. But then they go home to their mother’s basement, and normal life.

It’s the same way for the college students who are there to book these acts. For that weekend only, rock stars and television celebrities would cater to these kids like no one else. At no other time in these kids lives will they feel so close to stardom.

On Monday, they’re back to dorm life and ramen noodles.

But for the weekend, they are kings in a world of entertainers.

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10 Steps to Enjoying Your Life

Sunday, April 29th, 2007

So I’ve been mulling over how it is that someone can make sure they enjoy their life. Here are my best guesses at the moment.

1. Learn to play an instrument. Guitar or piano always make great conversation starters, especially if you don’t come from a hugely music-saturated family like mine. There’s nothing quite like being able to pull out an acoustic guitar around a campfire, and sing a few songs.

2. Be outside. The air in the cubicles, cars, and buildings that make up your daily life doesn’t smell anywhere near as good as it does just a few feet past the doorway. And there’s no better way to break out of a daily routine than to take a short stroll. It opens your eyes to things.

3. Have friends. And while you’re at it, make them good ones. Not those fake, backstabbing, gossiping kind that a lot of people like to have. Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be better and enjoy yourself more.

4. Take photos. Grab a camera and a few friends, and go off on some adventure. This is how I spent many a Summer growing up.

5. Drive.

6. Listen to a different station.

7. Don’t take politics too seriously. I mean it.

8. Eat light and breezy. Eat a variety of things, don’t settle for eating garbage. Eat like you’re rich, or you’re visiting a new part of the world, and taste part of all the local specialties.

9. Forget the alarm clock. If you don’t have to live by an alarm, don’t.

10. Exercise. It makes you feel good on many different levels. For optimum results, get at least two other people to go with you at regular days and times. That way, you’ll stick with it, and enjoy it more.

Posted in 10 steps, exercise, fun, life, lifestyle | No Comments »

A New Kind of Jesus Billboard

Thursday, March 29th, 2007

Hmmmmmm…

-micah

(PS. Thanks to my friend Andy Ogle for pointing this out to me)

Posted in billboard, fun, god, humor, jesus | 4 Comments »

Farewell to the 8-foot poster of Miami Vice

Friday, December 22nd, 2006

Today it drove away. Away to a new home.

It was an 8-foot by 8-foot, self-supported, huge cardboard poster of the new Miami Vice movie. We got it from the Teays Valley Cinemas as a victory trophy after our last concert there.

Doretta had packed it into the back of her small car (it had to be taken apart BOLT by BOLT), and driven it over 300 miles to get it to us.

It stood up in our apartment as a beacon of awesomeness and an icon of cool. It inspired us to create our own 6-foot by 8-foot poster, hang it on the front of the Miami Vice structure, and then drive the whole thing several states away to display proudly in the midst of Birmingham, Alabama.

But taking it down and putting it back up was a monumental under-taking. It probably had 100 bolts, 50 flaps that had to be inserted, and 40 different parts that had to be kept track of.

And then we discovered that we could just hang our banner on some posts, and not carry the Miami Vice poster across the US. So the Miami Vice poster was relegated to being setup in our apartment, displaying its awesomeness out the front window, to the world below.

But, as all things do, this eventually caused us to run out of room. Between the TWO drumsets, the musical equipment, a dining room table, and something that Gabe created out of foam that looks like a skate-ramp, there was simply no space.

So it had to go.

Fortunately, we found a good home for it. A guy living in ultra-small-town Tennessee who loved the movie. (I haven’t even seen the movie; the poster was awesome enough for me).

So today it was packed up into the back of another small car, and driven across the country-side. It was only fitting that today on Myspace, we release a song commemorating its exodus.

Farewell, ultra-large Miami Vice poster.

-micah

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Posted in christmas, fun, movies, songs | No Comments »