Persons Of Interest

*I don't know when I originally wrote this, but it was found in draft form and would seem that it was some time ago as the names mentioned belong exclusively to my schooling in Texas. Reggie Moore is an addition to the original post.

For some reason I believe the phrase "person of interest" to have great comedic value depending on how it is said. With that in mind, it was recently mentioned to me that my blogs have become relatively quiet, which is pretty quiet since they weren't ever that loud to begin with. So here are some persons of interest. I am going to to ATTEMPT to present the top 5 professors of my academic career..... IN ORDER! That's right folks, ranked. Given this information, this blog post reserves the right to be edited and amended as many times as the author sees fit.

In descending order:

5) Dr. Rainey is possibly the kindest and most sincere man I have ever known. Catch phrases like "It may be Greek to you, but its life to me" are phrases I would have no qualms about being written on my tombstone. Though your time with us was short Dr. Rainey, your legacy continues.

4) Dr. Arterbury makes this list in unique fashion. My primary categories for consideration are personal character and academic prowess. To make the list you typically must excel at one of these. Dr. Arterbury is a rare breed of individual who casually and soft-spokenly achieves both. While Dr. Arterbury makes mysteries of New Testament scholarship seem as simple as matters of simple text study, he also does so in a way that transcends academia and is personal and welcoming.

3) Reggie Moore taught, not as much through the sharing of information, but rather the cultivation and sharing of a moment. Reggie, charged with the task of helping young counseling students grow into healers, possessed an unrivaled ability to simultaneously create both comfort and intimacy in a moment as well as invite the adventure and risk of self exploration. I don't know if the word "courage" was ever spoken in any of my classes with Reggie, but it was generally the primary lesson.

2) Dr. Gramling comes in at second with very mixed emotions. Dr. Gramling is perhaps one of the finest educators I have ever known. Dr. Gramling managed to teach me, an admittedly terrible and lazy student, more about Biblical Greek than many people manage to learn over years and years of study. Beyond this, Dr. Gramling managed to challenge me as well as any other student in his classes to recognize the sanctity and importance of each moment while also managing to keep life in perspective of the long haul.

1) There can be only one, and this highlander is none other than Dr. Wallace Roark. Everything I know about thinking I learned from Dr. Roark.

In Review

Having rediscovered this dusty old collection of thoughts from yesteryear, I am compelled to revise and improve several of the lists. Notably those with reference to beer, whisky, and music.

Best Bands, including solo artist, in loose order.

1. Arcade Fire
2. Gregory Alan Isakov
3. Radiohead
4. Ray Lamontagne
5. Kings of Leon
6. Weezer
7. Counting Crows
8. Jackson Browne
9. Ryan Bingham
10. Robert Earl Keen

Whisky, both Bourbon and Scotch (with admitted narrow familiarity to the breadth of this category at large)

1. Ardbeg 10 yr (Isla)
2. Bookers
3. Talisker 18 yr (Isla)
4. Balvenie 12 yr Doublewood (Highland)
5. Bakers

Beer, considering accessibility and "drinkability" (which the tour guide at Budweiser's Ft. Collins brewery describes as "the ability to drink 5-6 of said beer in a single sitting".)

1. Chin Wag, Hogs Head Brewery, cask conditioned and dry hopped with Simcoe
2. Righteous, Renegade, Rye IPA
3. Narhwal, Imperial Stout, Sierra Nevada
4. Rolling Rock (super cold, in a bottle)
5. Arrogant Bastard, Stone, Strong Ale
6. Boulevard Wheat
7. Dale's Pale, Pale Ale, Oskar Blues
8. Black Butte, Porter, Deschutes

Weezer Songs

This is a list of the best of the best of Weezer songs. I have tried to place them in order, but honestly, that's not really possible.

1) In The Garage. This song held the top spot in my mind for a long time. It's got all the components that are distinctively Weezer, from the grungy chord riffs to the geek soaked lyrics.

2) Tired of Sex. This is another classically Weez song. Full of that signature Rivers angst.

3) Pink Triangle. What this song offers is some of the melodic side of Weezer.

4) Say It Aint So. What a great song. Kind of the Weezer anthem.

5) Mykel & Carli. This is a killer song that really grabs you when you first hear it. It is a b side so its rarity is a plus as well.

6) Devotion. Another less heralded, but awesome nonetheless, Weezer song.

7) My Name Is Jonas. This song has everything needed to kick off an awesome session of jamming to Weezer. It is most enjoyable when the goal is to listen through the entire album. So Next time you're on a road trip and need a mid drive pick me up. Blue album, started off right with some Jonas.

8) Pork & Beans. I don't necessarily think this song would make this list had it been written a decade earlier, but it rings true to the Weezer of old. Now don't get me wrong, Weezer's new stuff is good, but alot of stuff is good. Nothing has the distinction though of some old school blue and pinkerton. Pork & Beans took me right back there though.

NFL Players who are awesome.

Adrian Peterson
Marion "The Barbarian" Barber
Jason Witten
Ed Reed
Troy Polamalu
Jeff Garcia (for putting up with so much)
Osi Umenyiori
Hines Ward
Tom Brady

Best Concerts

Ok, several aspects are involved in what makes a concert great. Obviously, the band is essential. But the venue and the company make a large impact, as well as when the concert occurs in the span of your life. With all these elements in mind, here are some of the best I've been to. In order:

1) Weezer, Cain's Ballroom, 09/2000. This is probably the smallest place Weezer has played in a very long time. The crowd was packed so thick you literally could not move. I remember getting my arm stuck between some people and have to wait for the crowd to shift to get it back. That's pretty damn packed. People were puking from the heat close to the stage and bouncers were pouring bottles of water over the crowd. Awesome.

2) Robert Earl Keen, Stubb's BBQ, 05/2006. What a great night altogether. This was a cool concert for sure, my introductory experience with PBR, and CCR opening was a great surprise as well. Mostly this concert was about the entirety of the night though. Outdoor concert in downtown Austin, free access to roam from concert to bar back to concert, Jeattle Sean being a jackass all night... Great memories.

3) Flaming Lips, Red Rocks, 08/2009. This was like two days ago. The only reason this one isn't number two is due to the "company" criteria. But the story is cool. Scored a backstage pass from an old friend who was running sound for the opening act. Going to a concert alone is not ideal, but this did give me the opportunity to branch out and make some friends, which I did in the parking lot after the show. Also worth mentioning is that Explosions In The Sky also played and were one of the most compelling acts I've seen yet.

4) Death Cab For Cutie, Red Rocks, 07/2009. This concert meets all of the necessary criteria and just barely gets edged out by No.'s 2 and 3. The seats at Red Rocks this time were not near as close as for the Lips, but had their own charm in that you could see the entire city from them.

5) John Mayer, Smirnoff Amphitheater, 07/2007. This was actually Ben Folds and John Mayer, so that's a double whammy. But really Mayer stole the show. If you are a fan of good guitar playing, particularly blues guitar, then this was a night not to miss.

Some great moments from OU Football

Here are some awesome things that happened while Oklahoma's football team has taken the field:

1) Ok, this one is bitter sweet. OU-Texas. Oklahoma turns the ball over and UT linebacker Roger Killabrew (who is a total bastard, BTW) is returning the repossessed ball. Our one saving grace is the fact that Adrien Peterson is not only the best RB in the world, he's probably simply the best physical entity in the world. With his cheetah like speed he tracks down Killabrew, comes to a near complete stop, plants both feet deep in the earth and then explodes directly into the Roger's face, blowing his helmet into orbit and delivering the most staggering hit of the linebacker's life, which he ironically received rather than gave.

2) Who can forget this? It's been dubbed "The Superman". OU-UT. OU leads by a narrow margin. We've got the longhorns backed up deep in their own territory. Chris Simms is seeping with toolishness and assholery. The ball is snapped and the real Roy Williams defies gravity, leaping over the genetically enhanced, Harrison Bergeron-like O-line from Texas. He gets a hand on the ball which sends it Merry Christmas style into the hands of Teddy Lehman who easily strides in for 6. Count 'em baby, that's another W.

3) This one has a special relevance to me because it is one of the only OU moments of greatness that I have personally been involved in. Big 12 Title Game, 2007. OU vs. Missouri. The Tigers are like a young boy who has just shaved his peach fuzz mustache for the first time and now believes he is a man just like his daddy. But he's not, is he? And much like the young boy who attempts to prove his suddenly discovered supremacy and challenge his father, Missouri received the beat down of a lifetime. Not only physically, and not only on the scoreboard, but in the depths of their soul and to the core of their being. Every last ounce of dignity was knocked out of them and left to soak in the field of their disgrace.

4) Another great moment also comes from a Big 12 title game, the first of the OU's threepeat. This circumstances were not dire and the outcome of the game fairly predictable. Really what made this moment more than anything was the camera angle. It is Nebraska vs. Oklahoma. This Nebraska is a mere vestige of the programs touted legacy but a title game nonetheless. Nebraska is not winning but managing to stay competitive and keeping the Sooners out of "send-in-the-cheerleaders-this-could-end-up-like-A&M-ala-2003" comfort zone. Nebraska fights towards the endzone. The ball is snapped and in view is a WR wide open with the ball headed right for his numbers with not a defender in sight. That's a guaranteed touchdown right? Wrong. Nic Harris is suddenly seen flying in, completely parallel to the ground, from the left of the camera frame, grabbing the ball from the fingertips of the Nebraska WR. He can hardly believe it, and is seen simply staring at this hands. Sooner's ball, touchback, a 3-peat begins.

5) This last moment was a wonderful, wonderful moment that was ruined by something super stupid. As I recall it now, I will actually retell the story with no small amount of fiction added to the end so I can enjoy it more. The Sooner's have nixed their starting QB. The fill-in guy is an old back-up who has been playing reciever and hasn't thrown a ball in nearly a year. Early season expectations of failure are overcome and things are looking up. Another hit. One of the grossest acts of negligence in officiating history occurs and OU is robbed of a victory, make the light pointing towards a BCS shot very dim. The Sooners maintain their stride though and keep huffing towards the goal. Fast forward 3 months. OU vs. Boise State. A big game for the Sooners and the BIGGEST GAME EVER for the Idahoans. It's a slugging match. The Sooners don't look sharp and the potato farmers look better than ever. There's less than a minute left. The game is on the line. Zabransky has been a terror all night. He kicks out, throws left, BAM! Marcus Walker reels it in and sees nothing but daylight. It's just him and open turf. But wait, why is he stopping? With only seconds left and the game on the line, he takes a knee on the 1 inch line. He's thinking to himself, better leave all the endzone stuff up to the man they invented the endzone for - Adrien Peterson. In an act of sheer brilliance, Marcus Walker not only brings the ball within certain victory distance of paydirt, he also manages to eliminate any chance of a remarkable, 30 second drive, involving crazy ass trick plays they only call in Pop Warner girls intramural games, that could put the win in jeopardy. AD pounds the ball in, managing to dislocate the jaws, shoulders, and knee caps of 8 of the 11 defenders on the field and the Sooners go home victorious.

installment 2

"just do the steps that you've been shown
by everyone you've ever known
until the dance becomes your very own
and no matter how close to yours another's steps have grown
in the end there is one dance you'll do alone..."