30 Day Photo Challenge – Day 21
Posted: December 22, 2010 Filed under: humor | Tags: grand ole opry hotel, nashville Leave a comment »Day 21 – A picture of something you wish you could forget
For oh so many reasons.
Year in Review (2009)
Posted: December 29, 2009 Filed under: friends, humor, movies | Tags: 2009, academy awards, american music theatre, amt, audition, avenue q, bill cosby, capital lights, coffee, dining in the dark, dj hero, fulton opera house, gotee records, hershey, hershey theatre, ireland, jim thorpe, john allen, john blowers, keller brothers, Lancaster, lost, michael jackson, midget, mitch mcvicker, nashville, national comedy theatre, new holland fair, new moon, new york city, nissley vineyard, nyc, oscar, oscars, pa, party, pennsylvania, review, saturday night live, snl, square one, the foreigner, twilight, year 1 Comment »2009 – YEAR IN REVIEW
- January 4 – I auditioned for The Foreigner at the Fulton Opera House. I didn’t get it or anything, but call me weird, I like auditioning. It’s just another excuse for me to get strangers to laugh. On purpose.
- January 11 – My pal John Allen was in town for a conference. I know John from my days working at Gotee Records in Nashville when I was in the Radio Promotions department and he was in Sales. Sarah and I met up with John in Hershey, PA. It was really nice to re-connect and introduce him to my better/crazier half.
- January 17 – I went hiking with my friend John Blowers in the Pennsylvania mountains. Somewhere. I actually don’t have any idea where we were, only about a half hour or so from Lancaster, so if he wanted to kill me and hide my body he very well could have. But he didn’t. I guess that means John’s my friend. :)
- February 3 – Sarah and I watched the touring production of Avenue Q at the Hershey Theater. There’s nothing quite as fun as introducing your wife to the world of foul-mouthed puppets. And Gary Coleman.
- February 22
- February 27
- March 17-24
- April 19 – My pal Mitch McVicker came to town and performed a concert at our church. Even better than watching him perform again was getting to catch up with a good friend.
- April 24 – Sarah and I went to a Capital Lights concert with our travel buddies Alyssa and Ashlea. Weeks later, the band announced they are breaking up. Coincidence?
- May 15 – Sarah and I traveled to New York City for the weekend. I rejoined my friends at the National Comedy Theater and jumped in the Friday night shows for a great night of improv. I am happy to report that JT, Chris, Paul, Dan, Cohen, Kevin, and Jason have not lost the funny.
- May 16 – Sarah and I hit some NYC tourist spots and that night we were in the live studio audience for the season finale of Saturday Night Live. It was everything we dreamed and more.
- June 23 – I broke a molar eating an ice cream sandwich.
- July 8 – After two weeks of temporary crowns, my molar was finally completely repaired.
- July 17 – Sarah and I attended a barbecue at Dustin and Janelle’s house. It was a great evening of friends and hangin’ out, capped off by an amazing Roman candle fight between Jeremy and Dustin.
- July 24-26 – Sarah and I returned to New York City and this time we brought our friends Ryan, Alyssa, and Ashlea with us. I performed at the National Comedy Theatre Friday and Saturday night and the rest of the time was spent giving them a whirlwind tour of the city.
- August 8 – Sarah and I went to Nissley Vineyard (the place I proposed to her two years earlier) with friends to enjoy a nice evening in the countryside.
- August 13
- August 28 – Posted my 200th doodle.
- September 12 – Sarah and I saw Bill Cosby perform live at the American Music Theatre. Despite the fact that he looks older, he’s still the same old Cos.
- September 18 – I had a voiceover audition at Max Films. Nothing has come of it (at least not yet) but again, it was something fun to do on a weekday afternoon.
- October 1 – I hung my doodles at a local coffee shop, Square One, as part of their monthly rotation of local artists. The theme for the month was Halloween, so I displayed my collection of doodles of movie villains
- October 3 – Sarah and I went to the New Holland Fair and were shocked to find they imported everyone who attends the county fair back home in Indiana to attend this one, too. Either that, or everyone who goes to fairs looks the same.
- October 7 – After months of hunting, Sarah and I picked up our new car, a Ford Focus from Keller Brothers. If you’re in the area, we highly recommend them!
- October 26 – Married to Sarah for two years and she’s still my bestest friend.
- October 30
- October 31 – At our Murder Mystery Party, everyone got dressed up in fancy clothes and we pretended we’re a lot more civilized than we actually are.
- November 14
- November 20
- December 4 – We attended a surprise birthday party for our friend Alyssa. It was a successful covert surprise operation.
- December 5 – My dear friend Nik (another Gotee Records survivor) is in town and Sarah and I get together with her for coffee. I probably sound like a broken record, but it’s so nice to re-unite with old friends and catch up!
- December 12 – My pal John had a poker night (guys’ night out). We tried to keep it as manly as possible, considering the snacks consisted of deli meats, apple cider, and hummus.
- December 24
- December 26 – For the second year in a row, Sarah’s sister and her family (The Tatmans) visited us for a week . We played games, watched movies, and hung around the house. Basically everything you WISH you did on vacation.
There’s one highlight I didn’t post because it happens every week: Sarah and I have some good friends over on Tuesday nights to watch Lost. Our usual gang of misfits includes some of our closest friends in Pennsylvania (Alyssa, Ashlea, Dustin, Janelle, Monica, Tammy, and Tyler). Sure, we’re all fans of the show and enjoy the twists and turns, but most of all we love having an excuse to get together with good friends. In a time of virtual social networking, nothing compares with actually hanging out with others.
Thanks, everyone, for a great 2009. Preparing to enter 2010 is weird. 2010. It looks really super futuristic. If I don’t have a flying car by 2015, I’m going to be mad.
Pink Slip Proof
Posted: July 24, 2008 Filed under: humor | Tags: christian. fired, gotee records, nashville, pink slip, record label, terminated, WJTL 1 Comment »I’m having trouble contacting an old employer.
I used to work at Gotee Records, a Christian record label in Nashville. Before making the move there I worked at WJTL, a radio station in Lancaster PA for 3 years (I’m actually back at JTL again, so that worked out).
Not long after I got to Nashville, people started being let go from Gotee under really weird circumstances. Two years later, it was my turn. The best part is, it was one of those weird situations where the guy doing the firing couldn’t come up with a valid reason to let me go, so he had to make something up. On my pink slip under “Reason for termination” the excuse he put down was “No experience in radio.”**
I thought this was hilarious but have since lost my copy of the pink slip. I tried to get in touch with the HR department at the label to get a new copy sent to me. I actually want to frame it and put it in my office (I’m sorry, but when something is funny, it’s funny). I called the label today but got an automated message saying “Please hold for assistance” over and over again and was never connected to a real person. So, if anyone reading this has a hook-up…hook me up.
It’s all in the name of comedy.
.
.
** Interesting footnote: The promotions manager who fired me? He’d worked there only a couple of months longer than me and his previous experience was working at a coffee shop. For realz, yo.
.
.
UPDATE
A few minutes after posting this, my buddy and co-former Gotee employee Brad gave me the heads up on the person who could possibly get me what I was looking for. He gave me her email address and I sent her a friendly and polite email requesting a copy of my pink slip.
UPDATE #2
Approximately 30 minutes later I received an email in response to my request. She told me she’d see if she could get it from Joey (co-owner and co-founder of the label) and she would keep me posted. So far this is going much smoother than I anticipated.
Find out the final outcome by reading this post.
The Useless South
Posted: March 12, 2008 Filed under: friends, humor | Tags: alaska, atlanta, beach, california, country music, cruise, florida, georgia, hawaii, IM, inbreeding, kentucky, klan, mississippi, montana, myrtle beach, nashville, north carolina, oil, outer banks, peaches, south carolina, state, tennessee, useless, virginia 1 Comment »Today I got a really random IM from Ashlea at work with a question that opened the floodgates. I’m probably going to offend some people with this one but at the end of the day, I stand by my word. I now give you our instant message conversation:
ASHLEA: Which state would you describe as the most useless?
ME: Montana. Alaska. Alabama. Kentucky. Missisippi. Tennessee. Georgia. South Carolina. North Carolina. And Virginia.
ASHLEA: Haha. Ok, disputes…Alaska has oil. And you can take cool cruises.
ME: Yea but conservationists won’t let us get the oil, so it’s useless. Mexico has cool cruises, too.
ASHLEA: North Carolina and South Carolina are awesome. Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach.
ME: If you want beaches, go to Florida or California or Hawaii.
ASHLEA: Georgia peaches.
ME: Georgia has the Klan.
ASHLEA: Tennessee because of Nashville.
ME: Nashville has country music and also inbreeding.
ASHLEA: Eddie you really need to redeem your feelings about Nashville.
ME: Nah. I like my feelings about Nashville. It’s OK. I feel the same about Atlanta. We should just pave over them and start over.
ASHLEA: What would you change?
ME: I would gas it, fence it off, and make it a nature preserve.
After this, Ashlea didn’t say anything else. So, naturally, that means I’m right.
Again.
A Weekend with Aaron Marrs
Posted: February 28, 2008 Filed under: friends, humor | Tags: aaron marrs, bleach, cincinnati, concert, golf, golgotha, kings island, louisville, mini golf, miniature golf, nashville 3 Comments »I’ve written before about my good buddy Aaron Marrs. Unfortunately he’s not with us anymore. Fortunately, while he was still here we had some really good times and I was able to capture one particular weekend on video.
It took place in early August 2003. We were both living in Nashville at the time and we had decided to go to his parents’ house in Louisville for a weekend so we could catch a Bleach concert near Cincinnati and then hit King’s Island the next day.
On the way to Louisville, we took a detour to visit GOLGOTHA (billed, no joke, as “the #1 shaded Biblical mini-golf resort”). You may have already seen the video but in case you haven’t…
You may not have seen what we did for the rest of the weekend. I have decided to post that video as well and you can see it below. It was a really good time and thought those of you who knew Aaron might enjoy seeing him goofing around again.
Good times.
In Support of My Non-Flakes
Posted: March 11, 2007 Filed under: friends | Tags: ccm, karaoke, manhattan, nashville, national comedy theatre, pennsylvania, WJTL Leave a comment »My friend Rachael recently posted a blog venting her frustration about her flaky friends…people who just kind of come and go and are there one minute and gone the next. Granted, she lives in Nashville and a lot of people there are part of the CCM music machine, so that’s most of the problem right there. ;) I think we all have friends like that (I’m sure I’ve been that person more than once) but it made me even more grateful for my friends who have always been there.
Yesterday I spoke with Amy on the phone, one of the many talented people I worked with at the National Comedy Theatre in Manhattan. It’d been too long since we last talked and it was great to catch up with her. One of my favorite memories of New York is with Amy. We went to a karaoke bar one night where she entered the big contest and won first prize (an Easy button from Staples). After that we walked through Central Park, despite the fact it was too late to safely do so and then went to a Chinese restaurant. We talked about everything from parents to God and Jesus to relationships. It was one of those times that made you grateful for the people in your life.
Talking with Amy yesterday also reminded me of the rest of the NY gang. Usually when one moves away from somewhere you keep in touch with everyone for a certain amount of time and then that kind of wanes and you end up maybe hearing from one or two of them. Not so with my fellow improv-ers. Adi keeps me filled in on her voice-over work, Chris loves to leave me random video clips, I love hearing what JT is working on, Virginia lets me know how she’s doing, Jeff keeps me in check, Jason keeps me laughing, Jacob shares his adventures, Paulie shares his passion for comedy…I’m going to stop listing individuals because I’m going to forget someone but you get the point.
I have one or two people from each city I’ve lived in that I still keep in touch with and still feel really close to, but New York definitely has the highest ratio. Weird.
And I can’t think of my New York friends without thinking of my friends next door in Pennsylvania. I worked at WJTL there and can safely say I still hear from pretty much everyone on a regular basis. Fred, Stacey, John, Lisa, Ethan, Aubrey, Tim, Tom, Mel, and Jen to name a few. I don’t deserve to be so lucky.
If you’re a friend that doesn’t live in one of those two places, don’t think I’m saying I like my NY and PA friends more than you…it’s just funny to me that there’s this huge block of people all within 3 hours of each other that I am still fortunate enough to hear from pretty regularly.
So although it does stink to think of friends that have gone missing or AWOL, it’s more than comforting to be reminded of those who haven’t.
A Friend Indeed
Posted: February 26, 2007 Filed under: friends | Tags: amazing grace, art, fridge, gotee records, nashville, refirgerator, relient k, ups Leave a comment »Without going into it too much and being too whiny, I had a bad day today. Really bad, actually. Basically, without provocation, my computer took a dump on me. Since I’m online right now it obviously wasn’t a total dump, but it was enough of a dump to make me swear like Courtney Love in a No Smoking establishment. Basically the sound drive is shot which boils down to me not being able to hear sounds on my computer. It wouldn’t be too bad except I can no longer hear audio to do my audio and video editing. And that sucks.
I spent the better part of the day trying to fix it and grumbling and hating life when the doorbell rang this afternoon. I was not in the mood for company. I peeked out the window and saw a UPS truck outside. I wasn’t expecting anything, so I thought nothing of it until I saw the UPS guy leave my doorstep and return to his truck.
What is this? I was hoping he had inadvertently delivered a box of cash money to my doorstep and so I made my way downstairs.
There on my doorstep was a box and the return address confirmed it was from one John Allen. For those of you who don’t know, I first met John when I was in Nashville working at Gotee Records; John was part of the sales team there. Like me he’s a fan of movies, stand up comedy, and trivia so it goes without saying we got along well and are still good friends.
A week or so ago I posted a blog about reconfiguring the junk on my refrigerator and invited my buddies to feel free to send me something to add to the collection. John dropped me a line to let me know his son Jake was working on something for me and it would be in the mail soon.
I definitely wasn’t expecting a box, though. I thought perhaps a legal-sized envelope or maybe even a Manila envelope, but definitely not a box. I giggled like an inbred monkey as I opened the box and out fell Jake’s awesome picture of a purple elephant, a couple Relient K stickers, a mini-poster from the movie Amazing Grace, an autographed insert from the new Switchfoot album, and a crapload of CDs!!!!!
So thanks, John and Jake. Thanks for being so incredibly thoughtful and also for brightening my day so much, even though you didn’t know how much I’d need it. It’s always nice to get those little reminders of how awesome your friends are. I had a bad day and my computer still isn’t fixed but thanks to my buddy John, I don’t care nearly as much.
Calling Me Be My Wrong Name
Posted: February 11, 2007 Filed under: friends, humor | Tags: name, nashville, new york, nickname, pennsylvania Leave a comment »A few people recently have asked me if they should call me Ed or Eddie. For most of you who live out-of-state, that’s never been a problem. You know me by one of those names and that’s all you ever hear people call me. But here at home, it is a bit of a dilemma.
I’ll try to explain. Most people who have known me since childhood call me Eddie. My family (except Dad, who’s pretty much always called me Ed), my friends, and people I went to school with. But now when I meet people I introduce myself as Ed. And when they get near my family, that’s when the confusion starts because they hear everyone else calling me Eddie. And then they ask me which I prefer.
I guess I don’t really have a preference. Whatever you call me is what you call me. But when you call me by the name you don’t usually use, that’s when it sounds weird. And a couple of times I’ve actually caught myself signing an email or message with the wrong name and gone back to correct it, most recently with Julie and Libby. So if I ever sign the wrong name when I write you, please forgive me. Sometimes it’s hard to remember who calls me what.
All of my friends in Pennsylvania call me Eddie. When I was on the air there, that’s the name I went by and how I came to be known. But if someone from PA would call me Ed, that would just sound weird. Likewise if my Nashville or New York friends were to call me Eddie. It just doesn’t fit.
So Ed…Eddie…it doesn’t much matter. Just pick one and stick with it. But ladies, you can still call me Pablo.
Eat Your Heart Out, John Cougar Mellencamp
Posted: May 25, 2006 Filed under: friends, humor | Tags: doc hollywood, nashville, new york city, small town Leave a comment »I was born in a small town…
…and then I moved away and lived in a bunch of big towns and then moved back to a small town and am really getting a kick out of it. So many things I probably saw a million times but never noticed. Just a completely different outlook.
I was talking to my buddy Dan in NYC and he told me he was getting visions of Doc Hollywood in his head. It’s not that bad, but you can see it from here.
First of all, everyone waves. After spending time driving in LA traffic and walking the streets of New York I have grown accustomed to making eye contact with no one. And now all of a sudden people want me to wave at them. I don’t want to wave at them. I just want to go.
So, Indiana friends, if you see me in a car and wave at me and I don’t wave back, don’t take offense. Chances are, I didn’t even see you.
I also found out that the tousled just-got-outta bed look that was so prevalent in NY and Nashville is just that here in Indiana. It looks like you just got out of bed. And that’s not a good thing.
This morning as I walked outside to head to work with Dad he said “You look terrible!”
“I do?” I asked.
“You look like you just woke up! You didn’t shave! And why don’t you comb your hair!” (Granted, without being able to hear his inflection he probably comes off sounding like a grumpy old man and that’s totally not who he is; we Placencias are known for giving each other a hard time for anything we can think of).
We then went to have breakfast at a small local restaurant and the Police Captain (an old friend of the family) came in. Dad said, “You remember my son Ed, don’t you?”
And without pausing, the guy looked at me and said, “Sure I do. It looks like you shaved with a Hershey bar.”
And people wonder why this smalltown kid grew up and got into comedy.
