Movie Madness

So, the wife did one of these, and I thought it would be fun.

1. Name a movie(s) that you have seen more than 10 times.

10 Things I Hate About You

Dave

Major League

Major League 2

The Replacements

Love Actually

Serenity

The Last Castle

Man on Fire

Sum of All Fears

Remember the Titans

The Italian Job

The Recruit

Walking Tall

Paycheck

The Whole Nine Yards

Black Hawk Down

V for Vendetta

Shaun of the Dead

Enemy at the Gate

Barbershop

Hitch!!!!

2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.

2012 (same night)

Eagle Eye

3. Name an actor/actress that would make you more inclined to see a movie.

Will Smith

Don Cheadle

Chiwetel Ejiofor (!!!!)

Liev Schreiber

Ben Affleck

Greg Kinnear

Nathan Fillion

Anyone else from Firefly/Serenity, especially Alan Tudyk

Adam Sandler

Jim Carey

Steve Carrell

Morgan Freeman

Denzel Washington

Jon Cusak

Bradley Cooper

Ed Helms (at least I think, because love him so far in everything)

Idris Elba

Michael Ealy

Zooey Deschanel

Bruce Willis

Will Smith

Shia LaBeouf

Amanda Peet

Tommy Lee Jones

Dwayne Johnson (The Rock)

Simon Pegg

Oh...and Will Smith

4. Name an actor/actress that would make you less likely to see a movie.

Damon Wayans

Kevin Bacon (though his commercial is hilarious!!)

Glenn Close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billy Bob Thorton

5. Name a movie that you can and do quote from.

Hmm...not many. Probably just Serenity, 10 Things I Hate About You, Dave, and Hitch ("Locked Dooowwwnn.")

6. Name a movie musical that you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs

Pirates of Penzance! That's probably it though...Doo Dah's don't count as words. Maybe Oklahoma too.

7. Name a movie that you have been known to sing along with

Love Actually

8. Name a movie that you would recommend everyone see.

Fireproof, Dave, and The Blind Side. Oh, and Hitch!

9. Name a movie that you own.

See answer #1 (except Shaun of the Dead, oddly. Can't watch it with Kacey, so no reason in owning it. It comes on Comedy Central enough anyway.)

10. Name an actor that launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.

Obviously, Will Smith

11. Name a movie that you keep meaning to see but just haven’t yet gotten around to.

Wide Awake

12. Ever walked out of a movie?

Not sure, but my parents made my friend Jonathan and I leave Austin Powers at the Calvert City Drive-In.

13. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.

Good Will Hunting, Seven Pounds, The Blind Side

14. Popcorn?

Buttery please!

15. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)?

We used to go every weekend, but that was before my husband worked at Family Video and could rent for free. (I'm the husband, copied from my wife's blog.)

16. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?

The Tourist. Big mistake. (again, copied from my wife. But, really, it should have been much better.)

17. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?

Sports or Comedy. Or Action Thriller

18. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?

Short Circuit 2 (I think that's earliest, didn't check the date against others). I remember this one vividly because the movie theater guy directed my grandma and me to the wrong place. We walked in and sat down through 10-15 minutes of a movie before we realized we were in the wrong place. The curse words tipped us off.

19. What movie do you wish you had never seen?

Titanic, Burn After Reading (Seriously, I call this one “Burn After Watching,” but you should just burn it before watching it.). The Tourist (mainly because I thought it'd be good.)

20. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?

Inglorious Bastards (the newer one), Love Actually

21. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?

White Noise or 28 Days Later

22. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?

HITCH!

2 Years and Counting...U.S. History, Left/Right, and Baby Names

So, as many of you know (meaning the few people who actually will read this), this Past Sunday, August 8, was our 2nd anniversary. My Facebook status appropriately read:

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my beautiful wife, Kacey Anderson. Thank you for always being God's grace to me.

It's pretty crazy to think it's been 2 years since my nose got red, and my eyes got watery watching my wife-to-be enter the room...many of the people didn't see that, since it was for pictures before the wedding, although I have heard rumblings of people spying through the doors.

Memories of that day vary:

Dad playing the old "switch his pants with his mother's" trick on me. Why? Because I apparently was TOO CALM, and he said, "No one should be that calm on his wedding day!" Thanks Dad!

In the library, appropriately reserved for the more inteligent side of the bridal party, there were two male group prayer huddles. The first one happened as my best man, Billy Smith, and future brother-in-law, Kevin Reynolds, were moved to pray over me. The second was when the minister, Mike Darling, and the assistant photographer, Philip "The 3rd Darling" Matheny, entered the room and told us we must. We replied, "We just did..." They said we had to again, for the picture. I'm sure God understands.

Lots of fun pictures with the bridal party. The ones with me not in them are the best. The ones with Kacey, but not me are better than the best. The ones with Kacey and me are tolerable...she evens me out.

My cousin-in-law's (or is it cousin's-in-law?) dress breaking. Lindsay took it all in stride, with which my sister was thoroughly impressed. (Because you don't end a sentence with a preposition.)

Kevin with his white socks...seriously man, white socks?! I'm sure it doesn't take either of our Grammar Nazi mothers to figure that one out.

Greg, my future Father-in-Law, with his cowboy hat. Nothing to say here, he wouldn't have listened to anyone on this anyway.

New Found Glory: Hold My Hand. Still, one of our favorite songs.

I'm pretty sure all 4 parents cried, though I was only worried with not blurring my own vision. (You would have been too, she was absolutely beautiful.)

We, meaning everyone at the wedding, sang Had It Not Been the Lord. Amazing. Simply Amazing.

Clearly, not all the memories, but you get the idea.



(If you were wondering, I misspelled "intelligent." With the purpose of irony??? I think so.)



Also, on a totally different note, I'm still annoyed with "How did Bush beat Gore (related to the overall popular vote)?" references.

Number 1, learn your Pledge of Allegiance. We are not a pure democracy. Truly, we're not a democracy at all. So, the whole, "and to the republic, for which it stands..." actually is accurate.

Number 2, learn your U.S. history. I hear we've been doing this whole "only electoral votes matter" for a few years.

Put together, who should be blamed by Democrats for the loss??? Easy, Winona LaDuke! That's who cost Gore 97,488 votes in Florida, easily more than the 500 vote difference between Bush and Gore. (well, kinda.)

(In all seriousness...aren't we ALL glad that the "Inventor of the Internet" didn't become President???)





Also #3, Glenn Beck: Seriously. I consider myself probably more Republican than Democrat (and DEFINITELY a follower of The Way above both of those). And I know that you and Fox News have to put such a strong right spin on the ball (read: news) JUST TO MAKE UP FOR the left spin served by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and NBS. But you really make "The Right," and yourself, look pretty ignorant. Just saying.




Also #4, our baby-to-be Mayah "Something" Anderson is due September 14. At this point, we are not sure we will make it to that day. The little one has been working her way down for a little while, so we think any time after the next 2 weeks is possible. As long as it isn't September 11.

Oh, and if you curious what Mayah means, you might not want to google (also known as "search for") it. The reason is that many sites do not list it. Well, they list it, but many list it as "a variant of Maya" and put Hindi, Greek, or Latin as the origin. And as much as I like the meanings of Maya in those languages (God's creative power, mother/grandmother, and great, respectively), that's not it. Mayah is actually Hebrew for "close to God," which we pray will be true. Now just for the middle name.............


As you can see, my brain bounces around a lot. Good times, good times.

Father's Day?

So, today, my beautiful, pregnant wife woke me up, which was a feat considering how out of it I was. But when I managed to drag myself toward the shower, I heard music. My wife had set up my iPod to play some Shane & Shane, one of the best duo's to ever sing in the shower to when waking up.
When I got in the bathroom, there was an envelope sitting on the toilet with my name on it, with a letter inside from my beautiful wifey. (Where else would she put it that she'd guarantee I would see it!) It contained lots of sweet things, encouraging words about the kind of daddy she thinks I'll be in a few months. Of course, she thinks I'll be a great, awesome, amazing, sweetastic dad. I'm hoping maybe I can manage just one of those (maybe the last one, as awesome and amazing seem a little too diety-esque for my reach.)
But it is pretty cool being married to such a loving wife who believes in me. And it's pretty cool being married to a woman who is so excited to meet her baby daughter, even though I'd consider your bladder being her soccer ball and your intestines being her running track to be a pretty deep relationship, but maybe that's just me.
I'm rather sleepy, so I'd say this is a sub-par blog. But I felt the urge to blog for no reason, so I figured I would. I'll blog again soon to talk about some of our changes recently. Thanks Beautiful!

Happy Father's Day to All
And to All a Good Night

Peace.

De-Institutionalization

October 2009, that's the last time I blogged. I worked 6 days this week, somewhere between 60-70 hours, which isn't an atypical work-week for me. But definitely doesn't leave much time for blogging. Plus, when I work a lot, it's on my mind a lot, but you'd probably rather not read some of those things. And honestly, some of it probably is not HR-savvy.

But at my wife's request, I blog today.

You've probably noticed through facebook updates and such that we are expecting a little girl sometime around September 14. This isn't exactly anything that was planned, but as I tell most people, it's the most logical, God-planned consequence of the acts we take as married people (SEX!). But with the date getting closer and closer, we started analyzing everything from budgets to birthing statistics.

Budget-wise, we are cutting back out cable. No more sports in HD or MLB Network (which is probably why we've been on that channel for the past 6 hours). I also traded in Carlos, my '07 Mazda 3, for an '05 Mazda 6 with more miles. Cuts over a year off the loan, and saves us money monthly. We're making other cuts here and there, but these two show my dedication to the cause. :)

As for the birthing stuff...If you follow Kacey's blog (she's listed appropriately as "Beautiful" on my links, as she still is), you probably already know that we met with a mid-wife last week. I know that I have a pretty institutionalized thinking of many things, including births happening in hospital. It just makes sense, right? That's where we've been told since we were kids babies came from, hospitals. How can you bring a baby home if you stay home???
But the more my wife read, the more we talked to our doctor (who we like, nothing against her), the more uncomfortable she became with the idea of the hospital birth. So, she started looking into midwives and homebirths. At first, I had a very Scooby Doo-like, "hmmmMMMM???" But, as the wonderful, caring husband that I am, I listened. Everytime she had new info for me, I listened.
So, after emailing and talking to a few people, we were referred to one midwife. As I am a baseball fan, I love statistics and quick headlines. Here's the most interesting statistic I've learned:

1. Average hospital C-Section rate: 46%
2. C-Section rate for this midwife: 4%

You can see how that one can kinda jump out at you. I'll give the midwife credit, as she answered my "what if something goes wrong" and "what's the cost" questions well. Now, as this lady is a midwife, it makes sense that she has a hippie feel to her. But, when you give me statistics, my head can get around that. And if you give me straight answers, I can appreciate that too.

And here's a quick tidbit for you: It's ok in the State of Indiana to have your baby at home. However, you aren't supposed to hire an expert in that arena to help... (Again, Scooby Doo.)

What I do know is that my wife was truly about to come out of her chair with excitement at the end of this "interview." Kacey looking at me saying, "You good? I'm good. Let's do this," isn't usually the way you offer a "job," but that's probably the institutionalized manager coming out in me.

Probably not the best blog ever, but I've had my beautiful wife (and puppies) interrupting me throughout. :) Happy Mother's Day!



(I would also like to point out that this blog did not mention anywhere that the Tampa Bay Rays had a Perfect Game thrown against them today by the Oakland Athletics.)

Long Time No Post & Long weekend

So, Hi. It's been a while. It's not because I don't love you and think good things about you. It's not about you at all. It's not you, it's me...

(Don't ask, I don't know...was just the first thing that came to my head.)

So, Kacey made the right move by going to the Zoe Conference, then to Paducah, this weekend. Although it would have been nice to come home to my beautiful wife Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. But I didn't come home Saturday night. I went into work Saturday around 12 noon, and came home sometime after 1pm Sunday. There was a large amount of business downtown all weekend, so my presence was need pretty much the entire time. Other than being called many different names, none of which are very nice, things were not as bad as they could have been. But after absorbing abusive language, running cars, and trying to control our drive, for 25 hours, I finally came home. I don't think I've been that tired before. Can't remember having bags under my eyes before, but I looked ROUGH! So, yeah, Kacey made the right decision, especially in listening to me when I said she should go to Paducah.

Even though I worked a lot, there were times in that 25 hours that were enjoyable. Sometime between 7:30am & 8am, one of my supervisors and I decided everything was funny. See, he had come in at 3pm Saturday, so he was about as tired as I was. And so, SLAP HAPPY set in. EVERYTHING was funny. One of my guys got frustrated trying to find something he was looking for (a car), and I still laughed. Even brought a tear to my eye. (I later apologized for this, he understood.) I finally told my supervisor, "We need to seperate ourselves, because this is NOT getting any better!"

So we did, about 20 feet apart. And then we made eye contact, and both lost it again. I guess it was kind of nice, actually. Laughing that much after being cussed out and called names, it was a nice difference. When I finally got home, I sat down on the couch. Maybe I was a bit delirious, but I actually thought I was going to mow my yard when I got home. Didn't happen. I fell asleep sitting up, with my head laying to the right on the back of the couch. I remember going and getting the pillow from upstairs. But I don't remember putting a blanket under where I was going to lay on the couch. I remember thinking that I SHOULD, but not actually doing it. Come to think of it, I don't remember driving home. I guess getting the pillow is the only thing I remember. Weird.

Today, Monday, I took the whole day off. Woke up quite a bit all night (apparently you're sore after being on your feet that long). After I woke up yesterday after my 4 hour pass-out, my boss called me. He had been out of town all weekend, but had heard about the work I and my colleagues had put in. So, he was cancelling our district meeting the next day (today), and instructed me to turn off my phone until Tuesday. He would go by my site and let my team know to call him if they needed anything. So, I stayed at home with my stay-at-home wife (ok, she's just working full-time from home, but she still "stays at home.") and hung out and relaxed.

Oh, and all that relaxing was done in our new house. I've promised some people we'll take pictures, but it's still full of boxes everywhere. In general, this house needs some lovin'. We've got all the paint on the walls (Thanks Lindsay for the painting weekend.), and a new couch. Even have cable tv (including the Sports Package with the MLB Network because my wife loves me), internet, and our wireless network. Just needs some organizing and other fun stuff. With getting old comes responsibility.

Kacey said, "You need to blog," so that was it. Peace.

A Walk Around the Block

So, I don't know that anyone even still checks to see if I blog (other than my wife)...but I think it still posts as a Note on Facebook. But, here's one for those who do:

So, today is Father's Day. So, naturally, the sermon at church was about fathers. I did appreciate the leaving out of the "Honor your Father" stuff. That's expected every Father's Day. And, while you can't get away with NOT doing a Father's Day message, this was at least a message to (and partially about) fathers.

Many different things jumped out at me: Cute stories, great statistics, those types of things. I like how Ryan, our lead minister, showed both sides. There was the letter he read from a 3rd grader to her daddy about how she loved him, thanked him for playing ball, games, and spending time with her. That was followed with a letter from another girl in the same school class 4 seats away, a letter who's author also told her daddy how much she loved him. But then she talked about how she missed him, wondered what his house looked like, if he had ever seen her house.

No sugar coating stories, just real life, real facts. I love how much REAL stories show truth and opportunity.

The part of the message that stuck with me the most was part about the track relay team who had difficulties handing off the baton, and how fathers hand the baton down, and it's passed down generation to generation. It brought back a memory to me:

Just before I went off to college at Abilene Christian University, only a week or two before leaving town to start my own life, my dad and I took a walk around the block on a warm August night.

Now, my memory isn't the greatest, but I think I remember Mom telling me Dad was taking a walk around the block. So, I waited at the door to see when he would pass by our house. When he did, I asked if he was going to keep going, and if I could join him.

So, we walked around the block talking, listening, enjoying the night. He talked of work. I remember it being a transition time, and Dad was searching for the right path to take. But it wasn't just a spilling of information. I was being considered "on level" for the conversation, not a father talking to his young son. Since I was only 18, I didn't really have much input. But I enjoyed the feeling, the atmosphere of the conversation.

I don't remember if it was near the beginning, middle, or end of the walk. But I remember Dad saying that he wasn't sure how good of a father he had been, but that, "when you were born, I decided that I wanted to do better than my dad did. My hope is that I did, and that you will do better than me, and that your son will do better than you. And, God willing, one of these days we will get it right."

(A great example of this is when Dad and I went out on our sailboat when I was in 7th grade. Out in the middle of Kentucky Lake, on a Saturday morning, Dad stopped the boat, brought down the sails, dropped anchor, and said, "Nathan, I don't want to do this, and I'm pretty sure you don't either. But all my dad did was throw books at me and say, 'Let me know if you have any questions,' and I want better than that for you. And I think from here," he looked out at the shore far away, "neither of us can swim that far." And we proceeded to have our Birds and the Bees talk!)

As any son can say, we didn't have enough of these moments. But I can only say:

I hope that I can do better than my dad, and that my son will do better than me, and his son will do better than him. And, God-willing, one of these days, we will get it right.

Thanks Dad.








P.S. If you are a member of the Reidland Church family, and you missed Terrell's message (really, GOD'S message) last week, June 14, PLEASE get a copy. It was great...and more importantly, true! Thanks Terrell for being a willing messenger!

Hola from Indy

So...my last post says "May 10." Wow, so much has happened since that date.

I went from that date (or around there) until late September without internet where I lived...or cable (meaning no sports!)


I got married 08/08/08 at 8pm. We had an 8 second kiss (according to Terrell Lee). I've never seen someone look as beautiful and amazing as my wife did that day. Not possible...no way, no how. I know it's a little late, but thanks to EVERYONE who made that day happen the way it did.

I got to spend a few days with family and my friends. Having Billy and Pam down from Minnesota was awesome!

We went to St. Martin for our honeymoon and had a blast. Tiny little Hyundai to drive around on a little island, half Dutch owned, the other French. Kacey laughed at me a lot because I noticed all the cars that stuck out...expensive cars and SUV's stuck out GREATLY! We didn't do a lot on the island, choosing to relax and enjoy each other's company for the most part. We did, however, spend every night with Michael Phelps. Well, we watched him swim at least. Watching Kacey watch the races was my main enjoyment in that.


After we got back to Nashville, I started to be contacted about a manager's position in Indianapolis, IN. Actually, earlier in the summer (around late May), I had met with my District Manager and the District Manager over Memphis and Indy in two seperate interviews. I didn't really share that with many people. I hate looking like a failure, and had endured that feeling enough. So, if you don't tell people about opportunities you have, you can't fail. I just gave you a life lesson, free of charge.

(I realize that's a bad outlook, but it's the one I had at the time.)

In the first week of September, I drove to Indianapolis for my first interview. More of a "get-ta-know-ya" kind of thing, both for the current manager to get to know me and for me to get to know the hotel and city.

The second week of September, I was invited back for a second interview and to meet the General Manager of the hotel. I get there, and right before going to meet the GM, I get paint on my suit jacket. Nice.

Monday night, September 15, Kacey and I drive to Indy to look for apartments. I hadn't been offered the job yet, but I felt like this was the right thing to do. We spent the night in Indy, then most of Tuesday looking, driving back to Nashville that night.

Friday, September 19, I am offically offered the job.

Saturday, September 27, we pack up (with the help of my familia and Randy Bridges) and move into our new apartment in Indianapolis that night.

Tuesday, September 30, I have my first day as the Contract Manager at the Sheraton City Centre in downtown Indianapolis, IN.


It's been an interesting, yet fun, time so far. As far as the marriage goes, I've never had so much fun in my life. Between my many work hours, I've been able to enjoy the fact that my wife and I are rediculous, especially in the car where we sing and dance. (Side note: The reason why they put people on salary isn't to pay them more, but less. If I was making my old hourly wage, I'd be making a killing most weeks.)

This past Sunday night, we were invited to a couple's house with another couple for a game night. It was our second time to be invited. But this night was memorable. It mainly centered around the fact that I hadn't slept but 1 hour since Friday night. With those 4 other people there, I will likely be known for the word "Riverdance" in Catch Phrase for a while. They will likely forget the most important part (the fact that my team guessed my word) and just remember my little demonstration of the second part of "Riverdance." I don't think I realized I was with people that didn't know me (that whole lack of sleep thing), but I have no regrets...


Did I mention that I love my wife? If you haven't read her blog, her most recent post gives reason enough for me to. I am a blessed man, and already I forget that sometimes.



On a sad note, a brother of mine that I pledged at ACU passed away this past week. It really made me realize how crappy I am at keeping in contact with others. Hopefully I will get better at at that.



So, that's an very random update on my life. I work a lot, have a wonderful wife, and I learn something new everyday.




*Awake my soul and sing
The time for praise has come
The silence of the night has passed
The new day has begun*
-The Awakening