Critically Claimed

On Sunday before church, some friends and I were talking at Starbucks. Kelly McCown told me that him and his wife, Shawnee, were walking around Portland the day before and she said, “I’d like to hang out with Eric and have him tell me everything he notices, just because it would be very interesting.” I took this as a compliment. You see, one night when I was at the McCown residence, I noticed there was a small dent in the wall behind the front door where the doorknob was hitting it. I also noticed the same thing at Rob and Angela Green’s house. So when Christmas rolled around, I got them both the little doorstoppers that screw into the baseboard; naturally, I got them the proper finish that matched their doorknobs.

So apparently I notice things. I think it comes from my mom. One time she told us that when she goes to people’s houses, she looks around and thinks, “How would I clean that if this were my house?”

Anyway, the conversation shifted to the way I can find something wrong with just about everything. I know; I’m a critic. We talked about how Chris Greely—with his incredible ear for audio—can probably find a flaw with any song. I asked him if he had ever heard a song that has nothing wrong with it, and he actually said yes. Here are the songs:

Lost- Coldplay

Somewhere Only We Know- Keane

Blackbird- Paul McCartney

Yesterday- The Beatles

Where the Streets Have No Name- U2

Comfortably Numb- Pink Floyd

Good songs. He said he thinks just about every song could use improvement though. So we are critics. I think very logically, and I’m a perfectionist. So let’s recap: I’m a logical critic that wants everything perfect? Oh man… pray that Amber keeps her sanity.

As I was driving home from church, I was thinking about the earlier conversation. I began to realize that I am very blessed. I have two cars that currently work, a house, an amazing wife, amazing families, amazing friends, great music gear, a brain that works, other major organs that work (to my knowledge), talent, enough money to pay bills and eat, a bright orange Nessie light (google it), 5 heightened senses since the spider bite, new floors in part of the house, etc… Sure, I can be critical and find flaws in each thing I listed—except Amber, of course—but what good would it do me? The bottom line is that I am blessed, and I’m thankful for it.

Christmas Coincidences

Christmas was really good this year. We did a day with the Lemiere family (including some Nordstroms too), and a day with the Evald family. When it comes to Christmas lists, I give my parents one list, and Amber’s parents a different list, only duplicating things that I could use more than one of. This is apparently not a common practice. There were more duplicate gifts than normal this year, and some of them were just plain odd coincidences.

-My dad apparently gave everyone the same list, and it only had a couple things on it. He got three pairs of work gloves; one from us, one from Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Duane, and one from Nick and Tiff. He will use them all eventually I suppose.

-Amber got a curling iron from Tiff and her mom… both the same size and with all the same features.

-My mom got Tiff a book, and Tiff’s Grandma got her the same book on CD.

-Amber got The Proposal on DVD from Tiff and her mom.

-Andy and my Grandma got me the same book.

-My mom and Amber’s mom both got her a collection of make-up brushes, which Amber says she will use all of them because they are all different.

-Santa put little notepads with the letter A on them in Amber’s stocking at both houses as well… they even had the same exact design.

-I got Nick a little tiny flat iron, and so did Tiff… it wasn’t even on his list.

-And the final, and most bizarre gift coincidence: Dash got two Airzookas (google it)... one from Nick and Tiff, and one from Amber and I. These are not in your everyday stores, and we did not communicate what we were getting him. Nick kept saying all morning, “I’m so excited about Dash’s gift! I think I’m going to play with it more than he is!” When Dash opened it, Amber and I looked at each other with shock. But hey… having two Airzookas is always better than one. Andy and I took them next door to Don and Andrea’s later and air blasted the cousins.

Ok, here is a funny youtube video I found of an Airzooka blast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Gx9BAwuzU&feature=related

Now imagine that is my Grandma Gloria, and you have a pretty good idea of what our Christmas was like at the Lemiere house.

For New Years, I ran the light show for a Phil Wickham concert…

TIME OUT!

Amber is sitting next to me in bed with her computer as I type this, and she is looking on the American Apparel website. We were both quietly computing, when she breaks the silence by saying, “Stretch velvet tank thong?” Naturally, I had to see what this disturbance was about, and I couldn’t stop laughing… mainly because of the name. You can imagine what the article of clothing looks like. Back to the blog…

TIME IN.

Whoa. Did I just successfully do a Saved by the Bell time out, the way that Zack Morris used to do?

New years. Phil Wickham. Lights. It was really fun. Amber and I went down to Beaverton a day early to set up the lights, and program scenes. The church, Solid Rock, put us up in a hotel for two nights, which was great. So I spent a good 12 hours listening to Phil Wickham songs and making a light show for the concert. The church rented the intelligent lights that move and change colors and patterns and all that jazz, which is why the programming took so long. It turned out pretty cool though. Amber and I did manage to steal a kiss as the new year was rung in too. (This picture is from soundcheck)

We didn’t make any New Years resolutions, in case you were wondering. We are both attempting to read through the whole Bible this year though. After 5 days, we are on track. We shall see how well we can keep up with the plan…

We hope you all had a good holiday season. If you didn’t, go get yourself an Airzooka or a velvet stretch tank thong, and I’m sure your days will be brighter. Enjoy 2010.