nickel neighbors

my sweet mother recently went on a trip to visit her family in carlsbad, ca, the home of taylor knox, alisa, and legoland. my mom's family has lived in carlsbad since the late 1950's and my aunt lives in an older portion of town, close to the beach. she has been in the particular neighborhood for about 5 years and my grandma recently moved in to the mother-in-law unit (one of the few mother-in-law units that i know of that is actually inhabited by a mother-in-law). many of the folks in the neighborhood have been there for many years and the neighbors all seem to be pretty close. my mom arrived a couple weekends ago and it happened to be the day that the neighborhood was throwing a going away party for one of the neighbors who had recently sold her house. also in attendance was the new owner, who figured it would be a good time to get acquainted with their new neighbors.

here is where it gets fun. in addition to being a wonderful seaside village, carlsbad also happens to be the origin of the excellent alt/bluegrass/whatever band nickel creek. and my aunt's new neighbor happens to be a member of said band and at their little neighborly get-together, a couple of the band members got together and sang some songs. my mom casually called to tell me all this and that she had a nice conversation with the band over barbeque and sodas. my little brother then proceeded to increase my jealousy by cruelly gloating over his brush with fame.

his body will never be found.

found?

in keeping with a theme started by brother matt over at 300 grams, i enter my submission for cool Christian tv shows:

'found'

an action/drama series where a group of missionaries stumble upon a group of people stranded on a mysterious tropical island in the plane wreck of adriatic flight 714. the missionaries would then be able to provide answers for the questions that the puzzled survivors have, such as:

-how did an iMac G5 get into the hutch and why is there only one button on the mouse?

- who are the "gentiles", a strange group of pagans who apparently already lived on the island?

- why did mr. ricola chop off two strands of his beard?

- is the mysterious black cloud actually a representaion of the Holy Spirit that is trying to lead the survivors to freedom?

the missionaries would also be able to explain the evils of "dharma and greg", which the survivors have been watching continuously on a projector since they crashed on the island. they would also make the women wear more modest clothing, put ex-rocker chuck into a Christ-centered drug recovery program and eventually commandeer flat-iron's (the crafty resident trader of the group) stash of goodies in the name of the Kingdom.

(if you have never watched the show 'lost', then this post will be absolutely buffoonery to you. so go watch it [yes, all 1.75 seasons] and come back when you are prepared)

it's only the first week...

the san diego padres are 1-4 and got absolutely worked by the colorado rockies in their latest series. there have been some bright spots, but overall it has been a rough week to be a padres fan.