Gatlinburg, TN

The two most amazing places to see the culture and the people of the true south have to be Graceland and Gatlinburg.

We came up here to the mountains this weekend to escape the Nashville/Franklin heat. A balmy 88-90 degrees instead of 100+.

As always, we were amazed at the number of motorcycles, tattoos, mullets, tank-top tees, big hairdos, cigarette packs in tee shirts, cut-off jeans, skull caps, air-brushed art, pancake houses, wedding chapels, souvenir shops, old tyme photo places, taffy machines, Ty and Webkinz stuffed animals and Daisy Dukes.



We gave in and let the girls get an Old Tyme Photo. We fit right in. Scary.






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July 1993 Heat

Here in Nashville, like much of the south, the heat this week and last is unbearable. Consistently over 100 degrees, the oven is turned on full blast and we have had about enough of summer. Sure, those in Arizona and Nevada scoff at a mere 100-105 degree heat- they regularly endure 110-120 in the hottest days of summer. But I have been there on those days…and I would take 115 in Tucson over 105 in Nashville ANY day.

Michelle reminded me that she has much more experience dealing with intense heat without relief than I. In the summer of 1993 Michelle was near full term with our first child, K. I had to head out to a convention the first week of July and we reasoned that since she was not due for another couple weeks it would be ok for me to go.

My boss got me an open ended ticket and I could fly back from Atlanta on a moments notice if I needed to. I tried to get out of the trip altogether but my company wouldn’t allow it.

No sooner had I landed in Atlanta than my cell phone rang and Michelle informed me the air conditioner in our apartment had broken and the temps outside were well over 100 degrees. The thermostat in the apartment read 98 degrees and rising. The bad news? Our apartment complex told her it would be 4-5 days before they could fix it.

She spent that night alternating between bed with a couple fans pointed at her, and the bathtub with ice cubes poured in. The next day she had to check into a nearby hotel by herself. Her mom drove up from Gaithersburg MD to Allentown PA where we lived to keep my miserable wife company for the weekend.

I, on the other hand, enjoyed 24/7 air conditioning, fine dining, parties and events all that weekend and into the next week.






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After 300, These Are A Few Of My Favorite Posts

Today is post # 300 at DigitalRichDaily. For bloggers that have been at for awhile, or those that post multiple times a day, that is no great feat. However, as a once a day poster, it’s a pretty big deal for me.

I will take this occasion to remember a few past stories posted here that are my favorites. I think I was inspired by my post yesterday. In that spirit, I am pleased to announce to you that this blog has been voted the BEST BLOG on the internet (by me and my family). Here are my favorite dishes for your enjoyment (in no particular order):

Our Families Off-Road Adventure
Fly The Friendly Skies
Switchfoot And Stolen Cars
Rain In The Middle Of The Night
Follow The Leader
The Almost Great Leipers Fork Fire
Showdown At The Carmike Cinema Corral
The Love Letter
Unanswered Questions
Experminenting With Forms Of Government
My A-ha Moments
My Worst Presentation Ever
The Great Race
I Couldn’t Make This One Up







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Voted Best Restaurant!

That's the message on the highway billboard sign that convinced our family to exit and dine at a Knoxville restaraunt. As we arrived the message on the front door of the place almost drove us away- an Italian restaurant with southern roots. For a moment I thought perhaps they meant southern Italian, which is most decidedly different from the north of Italy.

Nope. They meant exactly what they said.

They are trying to be a fine dining establishment, but they blew it with the special. When the waiter showed up he told us about it – “a nicely baked scrod (Scrod is defined as any sort of ‘everyday’ white fish that is often unidentifiable) sprinkled with Ritz cracker crumbs and baked to perfection!”

I opted for the ‘Italian Sausage, Shrimp and Grits’ which the waiter assured me was his favorite. Michelle went the safer route taking the joint up on its Lasagna. My food was disgusting, consisting of de-tailed shrimp looking particles that probably came from the bulk frozen aisle at the local Costco, while Michelle’s looked almost exactly like a particularly gruesome possum road-kill plate.

‘Steve’ is the owner, the waiter told us, and my guess is that he and his family were the sum total electorate that voted on the best restaurant in Knoxville. As we got back on the highway we saw Macaroni Grill off the next exit. I had a fleeting thought of the ancient Romans and their vomitoriums. I sure could go for a nice Spaghetti Bolognese.






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Amazing Coincidence?

Last month I wrote about a film that impacted me personally (“Being Right” is the name of the post, not the name of the film). It really helped me see what the world sees in me when they find out I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. And its not pretty. The film has not been released yet- looks to come to theatres sometime in the first half of 2008.

Oh the world seems to gravitate to most of the teachings of Jesus, and many even think he was a pretty cool guy. But wrap American Christianity around someone, and they are seen as a pariah. So many outspoken and hurtful people have cloaked Christianity with a heavy coat of weights. Judgmental proclamations, pointed fingers, shouts of “hey- look at that sawdust in your eye!” (if you don’t get that last one, check this out).

So, anyways, yesterday I met up with a gent here in Franklin TN who runs a marketing consulting firm. As we started our pre-meeting chit-chat I told him how I’ve been (a response to the standard greeting of “how ya been?). If you know me personally, and you don’t feel like hearing me drone on for way too long, don’t ask me. I tend to really answer that question honestly.

In my response I mentioned this film and how I had the opportunity to screen it as part of my work for a client. He told me the filmmakers, Dan and Jeff from Portland OR, were across the street at a lunch meeting with someone from his staff. I couldn’t believe it. Neither could he.

After our meeting, at my friends recommendation, I wandered over to Puckett’s Restaurant and introduced myself to Dan and Jeff. I told them I had seen their film and was greatly impacted by it. I told them what a wonderful job they had done. They asked me how I had seen it and I told them I downloaded it from an illegal peer-to-peer file service. There was an instant there they believed me and they didn’t seem very thrilled.

How amazing. How weird. Yet again, something that in no way could be coincidence. Impossible. Here’s another one- one of my clients- a friend, was in Italy with his wife a couple weeks ago. While there, wandering the streets of Milan, he ran into a mutual friend and former co-worker Greg, his wife and two kids. They hung out a bit and remarked on what a coincidence it was that two people from the same small town in TN, friends, would run into each other in a city of 5 million, 5 thousand miles away.






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