Brad Paisley's "Ticks" - instant classic (country song)

It isn't every day that you hear a new song and know pretty much right from the get-go that it's going to be a classic. The first time you hear this new single from country artist Brad Paisley, you'll probably laugh. But it's hard to deny that this is a classic in the making. Here are the lyrics:

Every time you take a sip
In this smoky atmosphere
You press that bottle to your lips
And I wish I was your beer
In the small there of your back
Your jeans are playing peek-a-boo
I'd like to see the other half
Of your butterfly tattoo

Hey that gives me an idea
Let's get out of this bar
Drive out into the country
And find a place to park.

'Cause I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

I know the perfect little path
Out in these woods I used to hunt
Don't worry babe I've got your back
And I've also got your front
I'd hate to waste a night like this
I'll keep you safe you wait and see
The only thing allowed to crawl all over you when we get there is me.

You know every guy in here tonight
Would like to take you home
But I've got way more class than them
Babe that ain't what I want.

'Cause I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

You never know where one might be
There's lots of places that are hard to reach
(I gotcha.)

I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you baby way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks.

I'd sure like to check you for ticks...
(Come on!)

Blogger's code of conduct?

The other day I was asking myself, "What is blogging, exactly?" See, I just use it as a way to type, practice my writing, so to speak. Whether I need the practice is another matter entirely, but I do enjoy writing, so I do. As I was reading, mostly on Wikipedia (amazing site), I found this:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

OK, so let me see here...

1. I don't get a lot of comments (only 1, from a family member, so far) so I'll have to wait on that one.

2. Label? Huh? If by label they mean disclose, I hereby state that any derogatory, sexist, racist, or otherwise offensive comments will be deleted. I do realize that saying so invites such comments, but whatever. From here on out any comment which is meant to offend will be deleted. If you'd like to debate something, I invite that, but keep the peace.

3. Hmm... No, I don't think so. Unless I start getting a lot of comments, I'm not going to be picky about who can and who cannot comment. My blog is not popular enough for me to expect people to register with Blogger or Blogspot just to comment on it.

4. Ignoring trolls is more easily said than done, but doesn't this fall under the first two? If someone's trolling, those comments are going to be deleted. As a forum admin, I had to deal with a few trolls, so that's nothing new.

5. Take it offline? Well, I'm much more adept with words online, when I can think of the best word or the best way to word something, so calling someone up and discussing something "offline" would hurt my position, if it were a debate. If it's someone I know in person, local - that's one thing, but otherwise I disagree with this one as I understand it.

6. Tell them? As opposed to deleting their comment? Isn't this contradictory? In my experience, adults behaving badly know they're doing it and they have a purpose. Telling them shows you're two steps behind them, and good luck being taken seriously after that.

7. This is the important one here, and I really have to watch what I say, because I could be more controversial than Howard Stern if I didn't care for consequences. If the blog were anonymous, I wouldn't worry, but I used my real name as sort of a check and balance for myself. You know, everything I say up here I'm putting my name on, and if you can't put your real name on something, how much do you really believe it? I try to avoid the really controversial stuff, but I have opinions on most controversial topics. When I do make those posts, I will be very careful about what I say while trying my best to stay true with my position.

Just a little quickie I wanted to put up.

Rollin' in new movies (and tips on buying them)

As anyone who knows me personally can tell you, I love watching movies, and I am very proud of my DVD collection. As well I should be, having over 300 titles. I don't collect Criterions (high-dollar remasters) or Superbits (extras-free high quality masters) or anything, but I do insist on widescreen, primarily to preserve the director's vision, and secondly because we now have a widescreen TV and want to make the most of it. (Actually, many widescreen titles still show the black bars on our TV, because a widescreen TV is the aspect ratio of the widest widescreen format, and some are even wider - hence the need for the black bars. But at least it looks better than on an analog set - to make a long story short, DVD is a digital format and therefore pixel-based, with square pixels, and analog TVs (anything that isn't HD) have round or hexagonal pixels. VHS might have looked fine on your SDTV (what they call non-HDTVs now) because the signal was analog. Your DVDs might even look fine, but trust me, you're losing quality.


Our DVD collection. Most of it, anyway. We have a lot in a binder, too, and that hexagonal .hack//SIGN case has five of the six volumes of the epic anime series about a gamer unable to log out of a popular MMORPG (what World of Warcraft is). Oh, Jen and I need to watch that again. Anyway, click the image to make it grow.

Anyway, I scored some new DVDs over the last couple months. The links go to IMDb, which has a ton more information on these movies, if you're interested.

Asylum - This came with Hannibal Rising (see below). I have no idea what this was. A TV movie, with Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek VII: Generations) and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Marine). McDowell's cool, but Patrick is hit-and-miss. I'll check it out sometime but I am in no hurry.

First Blood - As much as I consider myself a film buff, I haven't seen some key 1980s movies. Indiana Jones, Rambo, Rocky, Jaws - I have seen none of them. First Blood is the first Rambo movie, so I'll see what I think of them. Funny thing is I actually like Stallone in what I've seen him in (I'm thinkin' of Demolition Man, where he starred opposite Wesley Snipes in the future) but I haven't seen anything from his two main franchises.

Free Enterprise - All the hype about this movie is around two nerds meeting their idol, Star Trek star William Shatner, but this is really a movie about these two guys nearing the big 3-0 and their romantic lives. If you've seen Kevin Smith's masterpiece Clerks., or his follow-up Mallrats, and enjoyed those, this is right up your alley. Two buddies who know everything about a particular niche of pop culture. With Kevin Smith it was superheroes, here it's Star Trek. I found this movie to be about 20 minutes too long, but it was enjoyable.

Friends - The One With All the Parties - Jen wanted a specific Friends episode, and she's pretty sure it's "The one with all the resolutions" on this collection of 7 episodes from the popular show. But either way she'll enjoy it. I don't much care for this. Or Melrose Place. And especially not F'in 90210 - words cannot describe my dislike for these stupid shows. They call Star Trek fantasy, but future tech aside, I consider the diversity of Star Trek casts to be far more realistic than these "everbody's a supermodel" shows. By far.

Hannibal Rising - I've always been a fan of Hannibal Lecter movies, from Silence of the Lambs to Hannibal, even Red Dragon. I didn't check out the first one without Anthony Hopkins, Manhunter (which is the same story as Red Dragon anyway, just with different people - yawn) and this one doesn't have Hopkins either, but can't because Hannibal is much younger - no more than 20, I think. Well, it starts out with him as a kid, and cuts short of showing us what made Hannibal so crazy, which is revealed slowly throughout the film. I read Hannbal, the book, and it explained that already, but wasn't in that movie, so I kind of knew this was going to be made at some point. Anthony Hopkins is the definitive (if not first) Hannibal Lecter, but this new guy does alright, too.

Jurassic Park - You get a big-screen TV, this is one of the first movies you get after the Star Wars movies, the better Star Trek movies (2-4, 6, 8-10), Independence Day... basically you get the ones that were just made for the theater. I haven't watched it on the big screen yet (well, since I saw it in the theater in Petaluma, CA, before they closed that one) but Jen and I will, soon.

Meet the Fockers - Meet the Parents was the only thing I liked Ben Stiller in until this came out. The sparring between Stiller and Robert DeNiro is great. As a sequel this is more of the same, but still fun and very much worth watching if you want a laugh.

U-571 - I used to not like "sub movies" but after this, Hunt for Red October, and Crimson Tide, I can't really say I don't like them, although I still maintain that, in general, I don't care for war movies (Braveheart being one notable exception). I can't remember what this one was about, but I know I liked it, and I got it for $4, so I couldn't lose there.

WrestleMania 23 - I just had to get this. The WWE usually (though not always) saves their best matches for the pay-per-view, and they try to get the best contests happening around March-April to culminate at WrestleMania, the company's flagship PPV. This one had some decent matches, but sorely missed a Mick Foley match to compete with Edge spearing him into a flaming table in WM22. Chris Benoit is one of the most talented people up there, but relative newcomer MVP gave him a decent challenge. The monster and diva matches were pretty much filler. The ECW match, the "Originals" vs. the "New Breed" had me divided. The originals have some legends - Sabu and Tommy Dreamer - but New Breed's Marcus Cor Von and Elijah Burke are two of the most exciting performers on the ECW brand. Money in the Bank III was amazing - eight guys, every man for himself, the objective being to take a ladder, bring it into the ring, set it up, climb to the top, and retrieve a briefcase hanging high above the center of the ring. (The value of the briefcase is the right to challenge any solo title holder for their belt at any time - it's usually cashed in at the end of a match when said champ is beaten bloody.) Battle of the Billionaires was a joke, but fun - McMahon and Trump putting their hair on the line with representatives (Umaga for McMahon, and Bobby Lashley for Trump) fighting it out and future hall of famer Stone Cold Steve Austin as the ref. This match had a couple surprises, too. (Shane helps his dad cheat.) The two championship matches - Batista vs. Undertaker and John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels - were pretty much the usual, excpet for Cena's entrance, driving a brand-new Mustang GT (cuz the match was at Ford Field) through town and eventually crashing into the arena, which was real cool. If you're not into wrestling and want a start, grab this and watch the Money in the Bank match - it's this collection's best offering.

But that's not all! I have a few on the way from Amazon.com:

A Time to Kill - The film adaptation of John Grisham's debut novel, and one of his best movies. I do prefer Runaway Jury (which I also have) and The Rainmaker (see below) is also good. This one is up there for sure. It starts out with the brutal rape of an 8-year-old black girl by two white men (it's an American film - you don't see anything, just hear screams... as opposed to the book which gave just a little too much information) and is shortly followed by their murder by the girl's father, played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson, who winds up on trial for it. Great courtroom action, great drama, good movie about race relations, too. The subject matter is a little offensive, but it's not that hard to watch.

Good Will Hunting - I never saw this when it was out. I didn't take it seriously. But Kevin Smith, a new favorite director of mine and Jen's longtime favorite, seems to like it, and I think he had a part in it (producer?) so we're checking it out. I want to say Robin Williams is in it, too - another point for it - but I don't know for sure. I want to see this, in any case.

The Rainmaker - Another good legal thriller by John Grisham made successfully into a good movie. Matt Damon plays a rookie lawyer going after an insurance company, and Danny DeVito (always entertaining - that reminds me, I need to get Twins) is his mentor, despite failing the bar exam about 15 times. Normally he'd be called a paralegal, but he calls himself a "paralawyer" because he knows more about the law than anyone, just can't pass the test to become a bona-fide attorney-at-law.

Speed - File this under necessary big-screen TV viewing. Though they'd both done other stuff before, this is really what got both Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock started. Dennis Hopper plays a wicked bomber. You all know the story - the bus goes over 55, the bomb is armed, but once it falls below, the bomb is detonated. Good stuff.

Swordfish - If you've heard people talking about this movie, they were probably talking about the famous scene in which Halle Berry bares her breasts on-camera. That's all well and good, but this John Travolta action film has more than that to offer. I just haven't seen it in so long, and wanted to see it again. (And I won't deny seeing Halle Berry on the big screen plays some part. I am a man, after all.)

Looking at this list you might think I'm spending too much on movies, that I don't have my priorities in order, but that isn't the case. I've built a massive DVD library, but I haven't paid nearly as much as you might think. I'll share three of my biggest secrets. Some secrets are just not meant to be shared, but here's the three best ones:

Avoid buying new movies. They cost more, of course, and there are undoubtedly plenty of better movies you've missed over the last few years. Hit up your town's pawn shops and other such secondhand stores. Check flea markets (although NEVER buy a DVD that's been sitting in the sun, even if it's in the case). Movie rental places (e.g. Hollywood, Blockbuster, even some independents) sell used movies. They buy too many copies of popular movies and sell them when the demand goes down. The biggest thing about buying DVDs secondhand is quality. Ask to inspect the disc. Make sure the bottom is free from scratches. Some can be fixed, but if it goes through the label or the label is dinged, the DVD will not play correctly. Insist on quality - if it isn't like-new, reject it. We just got 3 movies for $12 at a pawn shop. Movie rental places like to do 3/$20, 4/$30. If you can pay around $10 for a DVD, that's alright if it's good. If you can pay less, that's good. If you can pay under $5, that's great and ideal. Usually you have to buy in quantity, but that's fine.

Second, buy online. Brick-and-mortar places mark movies up too high. They're fair on new releases, but if you look at what Amazon wants for movies that are just a few years old (around $10) you can see how badly places like Best Buy and Walmart mark up their movies (although both are the best the first week a movie's out). There are places besides Amazon, but they're who I have an account with. I feel comfortable shopping with them, and they've always been good to me. Plus, their site is very fun to browse. In fact Amazon and Google are my two favorite online companies.

Third, save your coins. Use a mayonnaise jar or something. Not too big - ideally, I'd say, something around 1-2" wide and 4-5" tall. Ours is pictured below. Here's how I save mine: I put every quarter and every dime I get into the jar. I'll put some nickels in there, but I'll spend some, too. When purchasing items at the store, I only pay with paper cash and pennies (the occasional nickel) - or plastic. Like if the order is for $2.33, I'll put three pennies, a nickel, and then three ones in, and get 3 quarters back. When the jar is filled, I take it to the store, where they have a machine called Coinstar, at which most people pay 8.9¢ on the dollar for it to count their coins and give them a cash voucher. I pay no fee and instead get an Amazon.com gift code - a long alphanumeric code which Coinstar registers with Amazon for the exact value of my change. Look at the coin jar - that filled with 110 quarters, 122 dimes, 21 nickels, and 6 pennies (the Coinstar slip tells you exactly how many of each you had) got me $40.81. Amazon.com will ship for free on orders over $25. If I kept it under, I would have gotten four of those last five movies free, with shipping. But I went just $2.13 over, so that's all that I put on the card. Oh, and it only took me about 2-3 months to save that much. That's a movie every couple weeks - not bad if it were my only way of getting movies, but it isn't.


Our coin jar, to the right of the duct tape and to the left of the pez dispenser. I had to get Frank in there - the demonic bunny from Donnie Darko. So you can kind of see how big it was. That slam-packed with quarters and dimes was worth just under $41, just about enough to get me 5 movies on Amazon.com. Click the image to see it full-sized.

Funny church sign of the ... whenever

Putting God first
makes your marriage last.

I'm not into religion, but there are so many churches out here, most of them have signs, and they're pretty funny to read sometimes. But sometimes I just feel the need to say something about them. Like this one.

In my marriage, I put Jen first. Well, every now and then she catches me on a bad day or something's on my mind and I act like a jerk, but these are few and very far in between, but for the most part I put her first in just about everything I do. My take on religion is that it's in the category of hobbies. A Christian, for example, might say that they take their religion far more seriously than any hobby, but in doing so prove that they have not met any true hobbyists. Some of these people get really into their stuff. Like a hobbyist, the religious person dedicates time, money, and mental exercise (reading, learning, studying) to their hobby. And some of those fanatics really do worship Captain Kirk or Luke Skywalker or whomever.

Jen and I both have our hobbies. Nothing we're that serious about - speaking for myself, computers, movies, and driving - and we have a couple shared hobbies. She got me into wrestling (WWE) and I got her into Star Trek. I've always been of the understanding that putting any hobby, or even work, before your partner is bad for a marriage. Besides, not knocking religion too badly here, but most of them acknowledge that they have no proof of their god's existence. When asked about proof they tell you about faith - and that's fine. But putting something you can only have faith in over someone you know exists... or putting something that you can only hope cares about you over someone you know loves you... or even putting something whose actions you've only read about or been told about over someone who has said the vows, dedicated their life to you - it's just the pinnacle of absurdity.

I'm thinking - with my massive 11 months of experience as a married man - that the key to making a marriage last isn't focusing on how long it will last per se - because that's taking the person for granted - but doing things that will make it last today. I've made it a point to tell Jen I love her at least every day lest she forget. It's not that I suspect that she will; in fact, it's for myself as much as her. And it's not like I need a reminder, either, it's just... what I do, I guess.

We're in this "until death do us part" and we don't put anything first but one another. Furthermore, in the unfortunate incident in which I outlive her, I will still consider her my wife and be faithful until my time has come as well. With dedication like that, I don't need a mythical higher power. The strongest concentration of my love goes to someone who has been there for me and will continue to do so, which I know not because I read it in a book, but because she's proven it time and again.

The practice of water filtration

Now here's one from out in left field.

It's probably been 15 years since it started. No, not that long, but more than 10. I had just moved back in with my mother, maybe within a year or so. My dad's second wife was a health nut, for a while, and had a Brita filter - that's about when I started drinking water - like, often; like, daily; like, how some people drink soda, or beer.

Then I got back home staying with my mother, and started drinking tap water. I got sick, somehow something contaminated the city water and others got sick as well, not really an epidemic but kind of a big thing, I suppose. We got ourselves a contract, I guess it was, with Alhambra, for them to deliver 5-gallon bottles of water, and we leased a dispenser. (What my mom never knew, and I learned later, is you can get your own dispenser, even your own 5-gallon bottles, and doing either or both lowers the bill.) I would keep a gallon or two in the fridge to keep some cold, and more often than not fill my mug with a mixture of cold and warm, call it 40/60. But over the years it just kept getting more and more expensive. What started out as less than $20 a month became over $45 a month. So my mother asked me to find a more efficient solution. We got a Brita filter for around $30, and a 4-pack of filters for just under $20 at Costco, and that $50 investment let us make our own bottled water for close to a year, because a filter can last 2 or 3 months depending on use. (We replaced every 2 months.)

When I came out to North Carolina, the first visit in September 2004 (damn, it's almost been 3 years - and I'm married to her now), I knew I'd have to have filtered water, so I asked her if she had bottled or clean water. She told me about the well water (nasty stuff) so we stopped at Walmart and I bought a Brita filter (only about $20) and one filter. I tried but the water still smelled like crap. (Sorry Jen.) (She doesn't like it too much when I talk bad about the well water.) Now what we do is, we either get gallon jugs of water when we go to Wal-Mart, or we take empty jugs and fill them with tap water at Jen's sister's place. Chocowinity tap water isn't good, either, but at least it can be filtered to make good water. Well water from between Chocowinity and Grimesland - well, that's a different story.

I still buy bottled water, even when we can get it for free. I'll buy the 24-packs of half-liter bottles when they go on sale. Once the store had a deal, buy 1 get 2 free, and it was only about 5 bucks to start with. So you can't tell me you wouldn't take 72 bottles of good water for $5, if you weren't strapped for cash and you were inclined to drink it. (They had the same deal on the store brand ice cream, and pounds of strawberries, too. We took advantage of all three.)

WWE Draft and McMahon Appreciation Night

One aspect of myself I haven't gone into - one aspect of my relationship with my wife, actually - is that when we got together, we both fell hard for one another's favorite television programs. I've made a Trekkie out of Jen, and she's made a wrestling fan out of me. Before me, she never cared much about Star Trek, and before her, I never could dig wrestling. But what started as me keeping tabs on her favorite superstars became a fandom in its own right.

Tonight was the WWE Draft, which means that superstars tied to the WWE's three brands - Monday Night RAW, Friday Night SmackDown!, and ECW - are all up for trading. Each match was interbranded, and the winner would receive a draft pick - at "random" - for his or her brand. It started out weak - Great Khali going (back) to SmackDown, Boogeyman going to ECW... yawn, yawn. King Booker going to RAW would have been hot six months ago when he was the SmackDown champ, but now he's pretty much a nobody. Then Bobby Lashley was drafted to RAW (where he started, before going to SmackDown and then ECW) and therefore stripped of the ECW championship. (I'm sure that was Vince McMahon's doing, as Vince took the title a while ago and Lashley brutally won it back.) I was quite mad to find out the legendary Ric Flair was drafted to SmackDown, which I can't watch because of work. Also, Chris Benoit, one of the most talented guys up there, went from SmackDown to ECW, which I can watch (that, and RAW). So that's good. And the night ended with a 15-man battle royal, which means it's every man for himself, people are eliminated by being thrown out of the ring. A win for RAW's Randy Orton got RAW not 1 but two draft picks - ECW's Snitsky and SmackDown's Mr. Kennedy. So it was an OK night, perhaps one of the better RAW episodes lately. But maybe it didn't need to be 3 hours long. They made an animation for the Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night, which they showed no less than a dozen times. That could have been scrapped, and as always I felt they could have gotten on with some of the elaborate introductions and history lessons, but I know they need that time to set things up.

Now, just to be clear, I'm not exactly what they call a mark, in the industry. Yes, I suspend disbelief and enjoy the show as intended, but I'm also aware it's not all real, thank you very much. Fake isn't the right word - someone else put it better: "It's not fake, it's controlled." Indeed, many of the hazards are real. The matches are scripted and practiced, the outcomes all predetermined. Nothing at all up there is left to chance, nothing at all. The voting for the Cyber Sunday pay-per-view? All rigged and decided ahead of time. Same thing with the Diva Search voting. But for the record, American Idol is likely no different. Or Survivor. It's all television, and like other television programs, good or otherwise, it's for entertainment only. It only looks like a sport, emulates a real bona-fide sport. Some of those guys out there - Chris Benoit for one, Shelton Benjamin is another, Carlito, Randy Orton - they can actually wrestle as is done in bona-fide matches, but that doesn't change the fact that their matches' outcomes are predetermined.

That said, Vince McMahon gets a lot of hell. The first thing most people who know about him say when asked about him is that he's a jerk, or some more colorful foul term. The thing he makes it so easy to forget is that like everybody up there, he's playing a character. Characters you may like may in fact turn out to be jerks in real life. I've never met Mr. McMahon, but according to Mick Foley's second biography, "Foley is Good", he's supposed to actually be very professional, soft-spoken and kind, only playing the evil dictator for the sake of the show. In any case, the guy's as much a legend in the entertainment industry as anyone similar you can think of. Directors, writers, concept creators, whatever. He's got to be at least as influential as Star Trek's own creator, Gene Roddenbery, easily. Roddenberry's creation was much more intelligent, but whose made more money, has more fans? Easily McMahon's. Well, Vince McMahon didn't create "Pro" Wrestling, nor did he create the WWE, or WWF as it used to be called - I believe that honor goes to his grandfather, who passed it down to his father, who in turn passed it to him. (His own son Shane is still the supervillain's sidekick, though.) But it was Vince who brought it where it is today, into the mainstream and on cable TV - when his father ran it, it was pay-per-view only, no cable TV show. So it's come a long way since. Like it or not, if you're a fan of his products, you have to at least acknowledge what he's done for you and your entertainment. Oh, and he's what the industry calls a Heel, which means he's supposed to make you dislike him. Vince McMahon is probably the best heel that's ever performed in the ring. So if you really hate him, you then have to acknowledge that he does his job at least as good as anyone up there.

Well, that's all today. Didn't shoot any pool, unfortunately, but I still got one more day off.

Jolly Family Country Mixes 2007

I am slowly coming to accept the quality and entertainment value of country music after years of disgust and ignorance of the genre. My mother always taught me to be more open when it comes to music, but when I lived with my Evil Stepmother (™), the house rule on music was either country or gospel. I counted myself lucky that I found a Christian hard rock band (Petra) that I dug at the time, but I know now I was really missing out on some great music.

While my mom's never admitted to liking country, she listens to much more of it than she's really aware. John Mellencamp, the Eagles, the Allman Brothers band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd aren't exactly country (some more so than others) but they all have something in common with what I believe country music is all about.

Rock - particularly classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, whose shirt I'm wearing now - will always be my first love, but country music is working its way into my life. My brother, Wayne, used to be real big on country back in the day. Back when I lived with his mom, I got hooked on my favorie country song, "Chatahoochie" by Alan Jackson. I loved it from the start and I still love it. But it was like a fluke then - I didn't explore more. When I got into country, the gateway drug, as it were, was actually Garth Brooks. Now, Garth Brooks is sitting right by the same fence John Mellencamp is. Mellencamp is as close to country as you can get while still being rock. Garth Brooks is as close to rock as you can get while still being country, so for a Mellenhead as I was, it was real easy to get into. I'd actually dug his song "Standing Outside the Fire" long before Wayne started on me, but again I didn't pursue it. Wayne had me use my online resources to track down a copy of the "Double Live" album, which I got him, and I dug it. I got a good deal on his box set, which contained his first six albums. I don't like every song, but I like most of the singles.

I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with Garth Brooks, or Wayne's recommendations, alone. I had to dip my feet in and discover what I liked. Sonoma County, California, had two main country stations. There was Froggy 92.9, which was OK, but played more of the older stuff, which I find harder to get into. I like the 90s and newer country, though some of the 80s stuff wasn't too bad. Then there was 104.9 Q105, and that was more my speed. I discovered "The Impossible" by Joe Nichols and "Riding With Private Malone" by David Ball up there, and I want to say a couple others that became favorites. After I moved to Eastern NC, I found one country station - Country 95.1 WRNS - and they're pretty good. But this new one, Thunder Country 103.7, has me hooked. So when I'm feeling country, I get caught up in the storm, as they say on there, first. But a country station plays less ads, it seems, than other stations, on both sides of the country, so I listen to more country on the radio than other genres.

The next big step came when we came into some country singles online. Jen knew much more about 90s country than I did, so I had her take her pick. We have tons now, way more than I knew what to do with. Where to start? So I asked Jen to make a country mix. I listened to it, and filtered what I liked from what I didn't like, and then made a mix of my own. I believe I'll get a second mix out of the songs we got, but for now, here's Nathan's Country Mix 2007. (Despite the year in the title, it doesn't mean the songs are recent, the year is just when the mix was compiled.) Here's the track list:

01. How Forever Feels (Kenny Chesney)
02. Goin' Through the Big D (Mark Chesnut)
03. Awful Beautiful Life (Darryl Worley)
04. Heads Carolina, Tails California (Jo Dee Messina)
05. Kiss This (Aaron Tippin)
06. Sold (John Michael Montgomery)
07. Small Town (John Mellencamp)
08. It's Five o'Clock Somewhere (Alan Jackson, featuring Jimmy Buffet)
09. The Gambler (Kenny Rogers)
10. The River (Garth Brooks)
11. Don't Take the Girl (Tim McGraw)
12. One Boy, One Girl (Collin Raye)
13. The Best Man (Blaine Larsen)
14. Riding With Private Malone (David Ball)
15. One More Day (Diamond Rio)
16. Ol' Red (Blake Shelton)
17. What Might Have Been (Little Texas)
18. The Impossible (Joe Nichols)
19. She Said Yes (Rhett Akins)
20. Concrete Angels (Martina McBride)
21. Bless the Broken Road (Rascal Flatts)

I started the mix with Kenny Chesney, who has become a favorite name among the songs I've heard. I also like "I Go Back", in part because it references a bunch of classic rock songs, starting with John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane". Pure class, and the song is great. But "How Forever Feels" is more appropriate for this mix, a good blend of catchy fun and sentiment, the two main ingredients for a good country song.

"Goin' Through the Big D" by Mark Chesnut is such a gimmick, but it's a sweet one. The kind of song that gets you humming its tune at work and laughing about the play on words in the chorus, "I'm goin' through the Big D and I don't mean Dallas ... I got the Jeep, she got the palace". I don't feel the divorce theme, but it's more of a fun song than anything. There's a song we have about a girl who tells the singer she'll be gone by lunch if he goes fishing, and he sings how he's gonna miss her. I think that one will be on the next country mix. "Awful Beautiful Life" is another one I discovered on the radio in California. Darryl Worley shamelessly rips off Alan Jackson's "Chatahoochie" with "Tennessee River Run", which is another favorite (gotta love the "Cajun sausage on a hotdog bun"). "Awful Beautiful Life" has a little too much religious-right stuff in it (going to church, supportive of the war) but it's done up in a good way, in a fun song.

"Heads Carolina, Tails California" by Jo Dee Messina appeals to us, naturally, because of how I moved to North Carolina from California. Heading to (North) Carolina, California to my back. The song itself is about driving, just wherever the road takes you, which I totally dig. Since the cross-country drive, I've been hot for road trips. To eastern Tennessee and back for the honeymoon and to Connecticut and back, twice, to see Jen's family up in Stamford - I love gettin' behind the wheel for a trip that'll take more than 8 hours, so I dig a good driving song.

Aaron Tippin's "Kiss This" is another fun-to-listen-to gimmick song that you'll love to sing along with. "Why don't you kiss, yeah kiss this, and I don't mean on my rosy red lips...". It's funny that a man's singing such a feminist song. It's about a woman saying that and more to a loser boyfriend, and the crowd getting into it. Still, a fun song to sing along with. "Sold" by Montgomery Gentry is another fun song. I don't get into it as much as the previous five, but it's a good tune.

Next we have John Mellencamp's "Small Town", pretty much as close to country as the Cougar's gotten. It doesn't have the twang, but the lyrics are in the right place. The next song, however, is all country. Alan Jackson singing "It's 5 o'Clock Somewhere", with Jimmy Buffet on guest vocals. This is another fun song, but it's more of a drinking song, and getting more serious as we move down the list. Country legend Kenny Rogers' hit "The Gambler" is next up. For old country, it's good. Heck, for any country it's real good. Rockers joke about Kenny Rogers (I did) but you know, the guy was at the Grammys, I think it was, in the front row in 1991 when Metallica played "Enter Sandman", and at the end of the performance, reportedly Rogers was one of the first to get up and applause. So you gotta hand it to the guy.

Now the list gets serious. There were a lot of great Garth Brooks songs I could have chosen, but I went with one I was just getting into, far from a favorite. "The River". It's a slow one, not so much fun, as just a good overall song. Another one with a lot of fun songs, Tim McGraw sings the next one, "Don't Take the Girl", a sort of tear-jerker. I guess you could take the ending either way, but the lyrics will have you waiting. Collin Raye's "One Boy, One Girl" is kind of in the same vein, but with a happier ending. Blaine Larsen's "The Best Man" is more upbeat, but follows this new trend of good from-the-heart lyrics, about a man whose stepfather became his role model. I heard this in the Texas steakhouse, for an Internet-invented "holiday" celebrated on March 20 (sometimes March 14) I'm not going to get into, but it involves a steak dinner. Kind of a man's holiday, if you follow.

Don't let David Ball's "Riding With Private Malone" fool you. It wasn't recorded in the 70s; it's actually fairly recent (late 90s), but it's that real natural, unsynthesized sound, sounds like he just got up there and sang and played, and it wasn't filtered digitally, so it has a more natural sound. Another good story, perhaps as supernatural as you're going to get in country. I remember hearing "One More Day" by Diamond Rio back around the time Dale Earnhardt Sr. died - I don't know if it was just the same time or if they put the song in a tribute video, or the music video was about Dale Sr., but I remember a connection. The lyrics don't exactly fit - about a husband who wants one more day with his late wife. Now there's a sweet song.

"Ol' Red" by Blake Shelton is a good story song, but it has a witty end. It's kind of similar to AC/DC's old single Jailbreak, twist and all, but where AC/DC's blues effort ends in tragedy, Shelton's tune ends in comedy. This is just a fun song to listen to. "What Might Have Been" is a good "breaking up/moving on" song with some good lyrics. Joe Nichols' "The Impossible" is yet another one I discovered on my own, out in California. It's the only song by him I like (I've heard a couple others), but it's a good one. Rhett Akins' "She Said Yes" is a good song about falling in love, and it was included on our wedding soundrack. Jen says it took her a couple years to find it on CD - she must have overlooked Amazon; they have everything.

"Concrete Angels" by Martina McBride is the saddest song on here - it's about a little girl who dies from child abuse. That subject just pisses me off like nothing else. Jen and I are trying for kids (preferrably girls), so the idea of people hating their kids that much to use them as punching bags (or sex objects) just makes me want to kill someone. There are so many would-be parents out there trying to adopt, they ought to just do the right thing and give the kids up. I really dig the song, though, but I can't listen to it too much. Lastly, Rascal Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road" is probably going to be the theme for our first anniversary. (The wedding theme was Nickelback's "Far Away".) It's about how all the bad relationships you've had on your way to the one that worked shaped you for success later, and that's exactly how I feel about Jen's previous boyfriends. I didn't have any romantic experience before Jen, but there were still people who shaped my romantic views to fit perfectly with Jen's.

Just as a final note, we are not selling copies of this mix, so please do not ask. We use this mix for private use only and are not looking to violate copyright law. But if you have iTunes or a similar legal downloading program, and have $20 to invest in a mix to get you into country (or you already dig it but are looking for a good collection), I have to recommend it. Or, if you'd like the original one Jen made for me, here's its listing. Folks we know and have played the mixes for tend to prefer hers. Note that it has a few of the same songs, but others as well.

01. Kiss This (Aaron Tippin)
02. Guys Do it All the Time (Mindy McCready)
03. What Might Have Been (Little Texas)
04. How Forever Feels (Kenny Chesney)
05. Heads Carolina, Tails California (Jo Dee Messina)
06. No News (Lonestar)
07. Speed (Montgomery Gentry)
08. She's Taking a Shine (John Berry)
09. Summertime (Kenny Chesney)
10. Be My Baby Tonight (John Michael Montgomery)
11. Goin' Through the Big D (Mark Chesnut)
12. Strawberry Wine (Deanna Carter)
13. Ol' Red (Blake Shelton)
14. I Can Love You Better (Dixie Chicks)
15. How Your Love Makes Me Feel (Diamond Rio)
16. Dust on the Bottle (David Lee Murphy)
17. I'm Gonna Miss Her (Brad Paisley) (this is the one I mentioned earlier, about fishing)
18. Rock My World/Little Country Girl (Brooks & Dunn)
19. Austin (Blake Shelton) (good one on par with "Ol' Red")
20. They Don't Make Them Like That Anymore (Boy Howdy)
21. Meet in the Middle (Diamond Rio)
22. Sold (John Michael Montgomery)
23. Old Enough to Know Better (Wade Hayes)

I know for damn sure that when we have kids, we won't force them to listen to music we like or even only approve of, but we will have country music playing. Maybe not as much as the rock, but there's something serene about country music playing, even loudly, throughout the house. Country personifies the slow and mellow life of the country, of lands far from metropolitan areas. Much of it has a lot of religion, but even as a sort of atheist/agnostic, most of it's appealing anyway - it's not usually very preachy. In general, I see country as lite rock that is more honest, more down-to-earth, more realistic, more personally identifiable. It's a more personal form of music, and if you don't know much about it, I advise giving it a chance.