Top 10 Albums of 2008

Bout that time of year again. My favorites of this year listed in no particular order....

1. The Offspring, "Rise & Fall, Rage & Grace"

2. Hayes Carll, "Trouble in Mind"

3. The Fratellis, "Here We Stand"

4. Hank III, "Damn Right, Rebel Proud"

5. Cowboy Mouth, "Fearless"

6. Ludo, "You're Awful, I Love You"

7. Scott Miller & The Commonwealth, "For Crying Out Loud"

8. Shurman, "Waiting for the Sunset"

9. Superuckers, "Get It Together"

10. Theory of a Deadman, "Scars & Souvenirs"

I'd throw in the local boys' releases this year from Ragweed, Mac, and the Stragglers, but I'm biased on those.

Ad agencies missing the point.

So you mean I smoke pot and get this job? Tell me where to sign. Seriously. It says there aren't too many jobs for potheads. Well, looks like all you need is one. And this will do.

New McClure Merch

Fall/Winter Line. Printing them this week. Check out mccluremerch.com to order yours for Christmas. Full zip hoody, regular hoody, and long sleeve tee. Just as good if not better than a lump of coal.

No news is good news.

I don't like news. Cuz when I usually hear any, its bad. On our drive home from work Wednesday, Melisa's check engine light came on. I hate idiot lights. There are a million things that one little shining beacon can mean. So, we take it into the dealership the next morning to have it looked at. Before we left work yesterday, I asked Melisa if she had heard anything about her car. "Yes. Yikes. I'll tell you about it when you pick me up." Great. I pick her up and she says, "Well, two things. They said my catalytic converter is going out. It will cost around $800 to fix." I guess they had asked her if her car was running bad. Bad how? "When you go down the highway, does your car ever cut out or ever feel like you're pulling a trailer?" Uh, no. Its been fine. I think we'll pass on getting it fixed for now. I hate catalytic converters. They started putting those on cars in the mid-70's during the gas crisis. All that emissions bullshit. I'm for cleaner running cars but I'm not fan of sticking something else on a car that it doesn't technically need to run. Its another "something" that can go wrong. I just want to tear it out and run straight pipes on all the cars I get... with a muffler of course.

Now, for the "Number Two" thing. Let me preface this. A month ago, I took our daughter, Averly, to the doctor. She was coughing a lot and generally just not being as happy as she should. We figure its allergies/ ear infection. Well it was sort of. She had an x-ray done then and she had congestion in her left lung. They prescribed her on and anti-biotic for the infection and a steroid for her lungs. Along with a nebulizer so we could do breathing treatments with albuterol we she would be wheezing. Wow, isn't that the stuff asthmatics use? Huh. They said they were going to treat this like pneumonia but it really wasn't. OK? So, for 14 days everything went well and we took her back for her checkup and she got a clean bill of health. Well, two days later, she started coughing again. Melisa scheduled and took Averly to the doctor this time. Another x-ray. She had congestion in her left lung now. and a different anti-biotic and steroid this time. I guess they were saying it is pneumonia now. Now, don't get me wrong. Averly acts like she feels fine. Plays and laughs and we all have a grand old time. She just coughs a lot. She'll wake up maybe a couple times a night having a coughing fit. So, here we are on day three of the new prescriptions. Melisa gets a call yesterday from the doctor's office. Said they were scheduling a sweat chloride test. Did you look at the link yet? See what sticks out? Cystic fucking Fibrosis. The nurse said its just a precautionary measure because the pneumonia came back and switched to the other lung. Recurring Pneumonia they called it. Great. They didn't see any abnormalities in the x-rays and if it was a very big concern we would've been talking to the doctor directly and not the nurse. So, Averly is having this test done at the Children's Center at OU Health Science in OKC. She's not seeing a "specialist" or anything. They're just doing the test. We have no CF in our family history and we both had pneumonia at a early age. Not six months "early" but early enough. And Averly has no other symptoms of CF. But you can still imagine our concern just when those words pop up. Oh, and they better schedule this "test" before the end of the year. We've already met our deductible for this year. Wish us luck.

Pownce... pwned

Got an email this morning saying that as of December 15, 2008, Pownce will basically no loner exist. I didn't use it that much. I posted a file or song every now and then. But I know people who used it a lot. Looks like they were acquired by Six Apart. I've never even heard of them. Oh well, another acquisition of the economy.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We had fried turkey for the first time. That's the only way to go if you can avoid any fiery mishaps. All survived the initial insertion. My brother-in-law and I got a hall pass on Friday night so we went to go see the Stragglers play at Cain's while our wives stayed home with the kids. First time to see Jason sing since his throat surgery. He sounded great. I know the guys have been anxious to get back on the road. No Road = No Money. Stop by the merch booth next time you see them and pick you up a couple new designs. Guaranteed to satisfy. After the show, we knew some folks headed over to the Mercury Lounge. Yeah, that's just what we needed after we tried to drink Cain's out of alcohol... one more beer and a shot. It was a blast though. Took off back to Owasso and decided to hit IHOP. I guess we were the only two guys awake and a little inebriated in town. Good times were had. Don't get to party much with Rob. That basically rounds up my holiday other than the Pokes getting beat by those cheating Sooners. Going to Fayetteville this weekend to see Red & Carrie. Probably be the last we see them before they have their baby.