Every time I drive down Spy Run Avenue Extended I encounter a police car. This has to be one of the safest or most dangerous strips of road in the city!

Baby let’s cruise, away from here
Don’t be confused, the way is clear

One of my favorite comedy films becomes a TV series this week. Sordid Lives makes the jump from stage to film to the small screen with most of the film’s zany cast intact with the addition of former Golden Girl Rue McClanahan as the family matriarch.

Tammy Wynette’s daughter makes a guest appearance as her mother’s ghost, a fitting companion to Leslie Jordan’s “Brother Boy” character, a lovable but misguided misfit who’s life’s ambition is to carry on the legacy of his beloved dead singing idol.

I’m still getting over how Rue looks these days … “Blanche” would have never left the house looking like that! Yikes!

Now it’s easy for the pot to call the kettle black
They’re just jealous of the hot and lusty sordid lives they lack

Thanks for showing us how fun and rowdy getting old can be.

Actress Estelle Getty has died … but we’ll always have Sophia Petrillo.

Dorothy: Hi, Ma. Where are you going?

Sophia: To the boardwalk. I like to watch the old guys rearrange themselves when they come out of the water.

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true, you’re a pal and a confidant.

I love salsa!

Especially Henry’s salsa!

I love jalapeños. On almost anything except ice cream. Now the FDA is saying it wasn’t tomatoes after all that caused the salmonella outbreak .. it was the jalapeños. I bet there are a lot of tomato growers out there not too happy with the FDA right now.

So … speaking of salsa … when this current scare is over and it’s safe to dig back in with a big serving of chips, who, in your opinion, has the best salsa in Fort Wayne?

[EDIT - poll results] It looks like El Azteca ranks #1 with 30% of the vote:

Ah, the mission bells told me that I must not stay
South of the border down Mexico way

This past weekend the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, continued to add to it’s record breaking release, setting a new opening-weekend box office record of $155 million. It’s still a long way from the top of the domestic box office champions list where Titanic finally came to rest, but it will no doubt continue ascending the list as the days pass.

But what sets Titanic apart from it’s competitors? Most film historiographers agree: What kept Titanic buoyed at the top was quite simply, return business. The film benefited from multiple visits, especially from its core constituency - young girls who made Leonardo DiCaprio a superstar.

If you review the history of film releases, you will find the Titanic phenomenon was not a first. In 1939 the repeat business from starry eyed teenage girls did the same thing for Gone With The Wind and Clark Gable, so much so, that when ticket prices are adjusted for inflation, GWTW tops all lists, doing almost twice as well as Titanic.

Batman may indeed have a long way to go before he catches up with a doomed ocean liner and Rhett and Scarlett, but he’s off to good start!

I use Twitter to manage my status updates. A quick text message alerts anyone who’s tagged me on Twitter and it also automatically updates my FaceBook status as well as my Stalk Me page here at my blog.

I got a response to one status update, “Joe thinks Tupperware is sexy!”, asking what about Tupperware I thought was sexy. Have you seen Tupperware lately?

If you’ve got unlimited text messages and like to be informed, as well as entertained, about your friends current activities, moods and adventures, status updates can be fun. I subscribe to a select few, including Everett, who along with me, utilizes status updates the way the programmers must have envisioned!

You can read them, reply to them or just ignore them. I do all. If you Twitter (or use the FaceBook status app) let me know, I may just want to follow you!

Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me

I upgraded my WordPress to version 2.6 tonight using the nifty automatic update plugin found at techie-buzz. The only glitch was not with the plugin but with the WordPress login application - if you upgrade and then find you have trouble logging back in to your account, just delete the WP cookie(s). Works like a charm.

I found that if Mitch mentions you over at Fort Wayne Observed, you get a helluva lot more hits (in regard to the Everett White copyright scandal). The day after Mitch’s mention, my stats more than doubled. I hope some of those visitors keep coming back!

Lastly, my digital world just got 24″ bigger and brighter with thice as much RAM:

Beauty. Brains. And now more brawn.

I could have a three way
Chat with two women at one time
I’m so much cooler online
Yeah, I’m cooler online

I met up with Josh and Amanda briefly Thursday night and happened to notice this Miller Lite ad:

Are they aiming for product recognition, clientele or both?

Oh, and by the way, clientele is one of those words that I have always found to sound nice … pretty.

I like beer.
It makes me a jolly good fellow
I like beer.
It helps me unwind and sometimes it makes me feel mellow

I came up with another custom t-shirt: The Everett White t-shirt:

This is to commemorate Everett becoming a recent victim of copyright infringement!

“They made more money off my artwork than I ever have, without compensating me or even asking. That’s what I find supremely disappointing.” - Everett White

Check out Everett’s blog for the details. It’s a good tale of internet-highway robbery!

Hanes or Fruit of the Loom be the
Name of my white tee
I gotta’ change man
It’s a stain on my white tee

Just in case anyone cares, I still want cut-and-paste capabilities on my iPhone. Even if Apple doesn’t think it’s a top priority.

“There’s nothing against cut-and-paste, it’s just that other features were determined to be more in demand.” - Apple VP Greg Joswiak

Maybe I should start a Facebook group, “Let’s petition Apple for Cut-And-Paste on iPhones!”

The first cut is the deepest, baby I know
The first cut is the deepest

I can’t seem to ever stop at zero.

It’s almost become a game when I get fuel … at today’s prices, I guess I am trying to transform my gas station experiences into some sort or recreation!

Hey I read a sign on the pump
At my favorite gas station yesterday
It said “He who expecteth nothin’
Ain’t gonna’ be deceived”
We got the crude oil blues.

I’ve had a lot of my friends ask me “Did you get the new iPhone?” after Friday’s somewhat problematic debut.

No, I did not upgrade … well, I didn’t upgrade my physical phone but I did upgrade to the new software which is itself, in my opinion, the biggest thing about iPhone 2!

The main reason I decided not to upgrade to the phone is unavailability of AT&T’s 3g network in the Fort Wayne area. If I lived in Indy, I would have been in line Friday but with AT&T identifying the delivery of this high speed network to northeastern Indiana “sometime this year”, I decided to sit tight for right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I could cave at any time, but for the moment I am enjoying the new App Store, the enhanced software, and a phone that has been fun and unproblematic for over a year now. I’m anxiously waiting for WordPress to finalize and release WordPress for iPhone app … and in the meantime, I’m finding a lot of fun stuff to fill my empty ones and zeros on my phone!

Call me (call me) on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime

After leaving a comment on a fellow blogger’s post regarding faith, I received an email from him and in replying I found myself referencing a line from one of my favorite country-gospel songs, Me and Jesus … which in turn got me to thinking about country songs of faith … and what I would consider to be the best - or the most important - songs released as singles in this genre.

I took into account sales, impact, message, chart positioning … and just a little person preference:

1. I Saw The Light - Hank Williams (1948) The only song on the list not to hit #1 ends up topping my list: The song, about looking eternity right in the face, was not a commercial success until after Williams died and then became the one most closely associated with his tragic life.
2. Why Me (Lord) - Kris Kristofferson (1973) A self-penned musical examination of self worth and grace from his critically acclaimed album, Jesus Was A Capricorn.
3. Believe - Brooks and Dunn (2005) The most awarded song on the list, it’s story is how one person’s life and beliefs can change your own.
4. One Day At A Time - Cristy Lane (1980) Also written by Kristofferson, it became the best selling song on the list thanks in great part to heavy TV advertising.
5. When I Get Where I’m Going - Brad Paisley with Dolly Parton (2005) With joyous harmony vocals the song lifted spirits as well as Parton to the status as the oldest woman to have a #1 country hit (at age 60).
6. Me & Jesus - Tom T. Hall (1972) An individualized spiritual relationship is the basis of this campfire revival type song.
7. Three Wooden Crosses - Randy Travis (2003) Sinners can be winners, including the surprise survivor of a bus crash told in Travis’ first #1 record in nearly a decade.
8. Peace In The Valley - Red Foley (1951) The first gospel song to sell a million copies and the first gospel song to be inlcuded in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
9. On The Wings Of A Dove - Ferlin Husky (1960) Of his 41 Top-40 hits, this became his biggest hit, remaining number one for ten weeks.
10. Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man - Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton (1970) The song that catapulted the duo to super-stardom was written by Parton about her grandfather.

Me and Jesus, got our own thing goin’.
We don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about.

Dan (and his other half, Ryan) came back to Fort Wayne for a brief visit Friday. A group of us gathered at Club Soda to catch up on each others lives. If one word had to be used to sum up the evening, it would have to be Tanyarita!

“As for the drink, in three equal parts add Cuervo Gold, Cointreau and Rose’s Lime Juice to the shaker and give it a go. Then pour the whole thing into a chilled, salt-rimmed, lime-garnished martini glass. It’s sweet, tart and a lovely, sparkling shade of green …” - Tanyrarita, Club Soda martini menu

So much laughter - the kind of stories and life experiences that an “our gang” can relate to. Good friends who already know the paths you’ve walked and have listened to the dreams you still have. A few tears - most from happiness combined with silliness but some from realizing how changes in time and distance affect relationships and those paths and dreams mentioned above.

… and did I mention our Tanyaritas? Cheers!

Good friends
Close together like they’re bookends
Feeling what the other one is feeling
They never seem to be without
Those little things to laugh about