Complete Starbucks US Store Closure List

Corrected at 11:27 MST. Thanks to my unnamed Starbucks sources.

A few observations:

• Only one store in Arizona is closing.
• Eighty-eight stores in California are closing!
• Ten Tennessee Starbucks stores are closing (including the "Dirty Dexter").

For a complete list, click here. Click here to read my Open Letter to Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz.

Blondes 'to die out in 200 years'

Blondes to die out in 200 years, insert joke here.

Real Christians of Genius

Elk Burgers!

Take 1 pound of ground elk and place in a bowl. Coat thoroughly with lemon pepper and onion salt. Lightly top with chili powder, form into patties and smoke over hickory chips at medium heat for 20 minutes, turning only once at 10 minutes. After turning, brush lightly with your favorite sauce or melted butter. Enjoy!

Wildfire from our window

With the rain comes lighting, and with lighting comes wildfires.

Here's what the wildfire in the West Valley looks like from Mullin and Lincoln's bedroom window in the East Valley. Don't worry. The orange in the corner is just the sunset. The cloud is from the fire.

Finally...RAIN!

Firefox 3 is here (sort of)

Well, it looks like the world's enthusiasm for Firefox has crippled Mozilla's website. I guess the powers that be underestimated our adoration for the "little browser that could." I could be imagining things, but the Internet in general has seemed a little sluggish today.

The first few times I tried to get Firefox 3, I'd get the download page with a version 3 download button, only to push it and have version 2 start downloading onto my machine. Then, for quite a while, the site wouldn't load at all. But after many patient attempts, I finally met with success at about 12:15pm, MST.

And there was much rejoicing.

Memory Lane: The Converse Weapon

The Converse Weapon is my favorite basketball shoe of all time, even if they did weigh 14.5 pounds each.



What's really amazing is that, in its day, this commercial was considered clever and hip.

Marketing gold!

Tesreau Baseball: Then and Now

A mom on Mullin's Little League team took some awesome pictures of each of the kids and gave them to the parents at the end of the season. She did an excellent job. Here's one of the shots.

Kinda reminds me of another famous Tesreau hurler.

1. Jeff Tesreau's Wiki
2. A good bio on Jeff Tesreau
3. Learn more about Charles Monroe "Jeff" Tesreau on this Google book search.

Interesting facts about Jeff Tesreau:

• As a rookie, led the league in ERA (1.92, some records state 1.96), along with the legendary Walter Johnson, the first year it became an official statistic
• Threw a no-hitter on September 6, 1912 vs. the Philadelphia Phillies
• 2.43 lifetime ERA, 880 strikeouts
• 115 (some records say 119) wins in less than 6 seasons
• Started three games in the 1912 World Series
  
• Known for having the best spitball in the majors
• Dartmouth baseball's all-time winningest coach
  

Young Hillary Clinton

Bad day at the office?

So, I blew off a little steam. What's the big deal?



What do you think? Is this worker freak-out caught on tape real or staged?

Welcome to my neighborhood!

• Hundreds of bales of hay burn
• 11,000 gallons of sewage spills
• Serial child molester chased though neighborhood and captured

It's still nowhere near as exciting as my beloved Memphis! I haven't watched any Arizona local news since I moved here almost two years ago, but I have to confess I can't go too many days without checking up on Cameron and Dee, T-Bates, Brian Teigland, Joe, Donna, Dave, Rockin' Ronnie, "fear-monger" Tim, Jim "Mick" Jagger(s), Tinkerbell, and Mayberry's own town drunk, Otis Campbell.




(A special thank you to my brother who tuned me into this very entertaining addition to the Fox13 team.)

For an inside look at the local news business in Memphis, check out Joe Larkins' new and old blogs.

Memorial Day Fun

There's no such thing as barbecue in this part of the world, so this Memorial Day, I decided to smoke my own shoulder. Well, it wasn't my shoulder. It originally belonged to a pig.

I used Dad's special dry rub and smoking instructions, but unfortunately, I haven't found an authentic sauce out here yet. May just have to make my own. I rounded out our cookout menu with a new coleslaw recipe I concocted, baked beans, and Grandma's hot fudge cake. Yum.



While tending to the fire, I even managed to snap a photo of the elusive Mullin. The older he gets, the harder it is to get any cooperation out of him when a camera's in my hand.



His 8 Year Old pics were a fight from start to finish.





Lincoln and Shiloh, however, still love having their pictures taken.

Meet Maria Sue

Steven Curtis Chapman has been such a blessing to so many for so long. Say a prayer today for him and his precious family as they grieve an incredible loss.

And hug your babies.

Three Things

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME:
01 | One-on-one conversations (especially with other men)
02 | Taking chances
03 | Becoming like my mother

THREE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH:
01 | Lincoln
02 | "The" Matt Davis
03 | Jerry Seinfeld

THREE THINGS I LOVE:
01 | Brandi
02 | Fatherhood
03 | Trees

THREE THINGS I HATE:
01 | Small groups
02 | Arm-twisting
03 | Conditional love

THREE THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND:
01 | The acceptance of paleoanthropology as science
02 | At least half of the Sermon on the Mount
03 | Atheists

THREE THINGS ON MY DESK:
01 | Helm's Deep Aragorn action figure
02 | Three tiny plastic green army men
03 | University of Memphis coffee mug

THREE THINGS I’M DOING RIGHT NOW:
01 | Wishing I was doing something else
02 | Listening to my iPod
03 | Fixating on the mountains just outside my window

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
01 | Visit Scotland, Ireland, and England
02 | Retrace the Lewis and Clark Trail
03 | See my children live lives filled with infectious joy, radical freedom, and surprising faithfulness

THREE THINGS I CAN DO:
01 | Carry a tune
02 | Strum a guitar
03 | Turn a clever phrase

THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY:
01 | Kind
02 | Guarded
03 | Shy

THREE THINGS I CAN’T DO:
01 | Measure and cut
02 | Say no
03 | What I really want to

THREE THINGS I THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO:
01 | A Liturgy, A Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band by Rich Mullins
02 | The demo version of Rich Mullins' song "Hard to Get" (Disk 1)
03 | Your children - Maybe more than anything else, it communicates to them that they are worth something

THREE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS:
01 | Dad's smoked pork shoulder
02 | Fried catfish fillets
03 | Sunday lunch at Paw Paw and Grandma's

THREE THINGS I’D LIKE TO LEARN:
01 | How to build my own log cabin
02 | Confidence
03 | How to make a living in jeans, flip-flops and a t-shirt

THREE BEVERAGES I DRINK REGULARLY:
01 | Coffee
02 | Root Beer
03 | Mountain Dew

THREE SHOWS I WATCHED WHEN I WAS A KID:
01 | Family Ties
02 | The A-Team
03 | Dukes of Hazzard

Jenga!

Shiloh Sings

No Love

"Your Mom Goes to College"

Is this what grace looks like?

It's not cool to cry in one's cubicle, but that's exactly what happened when I stumbled upon this post from a fellow ragamuffin. Trust me, it is completely "click-worthy".

And after you're done reading, click your "Back" button and tell me what you think. I'm moved on so many levels right now, it's hard for me to process it all. I'd love to know what you think.

Is this what grace looks like?

Blessings.

Bedtime Conversations: Shiloh Edition

The following conversation took place last night between me and my 2 year old princess.

Me: What are you getting Daddy for his birthday tomorrow?

Shiloh: Caffeine.

Sounds good to me!

For more bedtime conversations, click here.

King Willy Calls It Quits

So, King Willy is stepping down as Mayor of Memphis?! Guess that means we can move back now, right Babe?

It just occurred to me that with the "Honorable" Dr. W W calling it quits (allegedly...I'll believe it when I see it), I might never get a chance to use this clip again. Rats!

March Madness: My Bracket

My Bracket

Go Tigers Go!

My Son the Aspiring Dentist

A few days ago, Lincoln came up with what he considered a really cool way to pull his loose tooth, and he wanted it all caught on tape...



The tooth eventually came out, but by much more conventional methods.

David Crowder Lookalike

The other night, the kids at our church had Crazy Hair Night. What is Crazy Hair Night, you ask? Well, it's a night when all the kids to come to church with the craziest hair they can engineer.

Mullin has reached the age where it's not cool to participate in Crazy Hair Night (becoming self-conscious is such a bummer), but Lincoln still has very little shame, and therefore, decided to give his luscious locks the Crowder effect.

I must say, I was a little worried. That is a dangerously flammable hairstyle to be sporting. Plus, I was a little jealous. I mean, that is a 'do with which a fella could do some serious rockin'!

Lincoln


David Crowder