The official website of the future father of Frank “Big Bird” Brewer. Watch out world.
This is it.
- Power Support Crystal Film Set for iPhone
- Griffin PowerJolt for iPhone
- Fudge
- The family to be together on Christmas (first time since 2004)
- Something only a few people know about
That’s all.
I know it’s not Christmas yet, but I want it to massively snow tomorrow night into Saturday.
The following image says it all (with apologies to local news station KSPR):
BRING IT ON, that’s what I say.
The last time I saw snow was my first day working at KPTV. Had to drive 45 miles in about three inches of snow, up hills and going about 25 MPH. What fun.
Snow football on Saturday, anyone?
My perspective on life changes ever so slowly. As each month progresses since I’ve been here, I’ve noticed that this place has already changed me quite a bit.
I know for a fact that I’m not as audacious, I’ve lost a little bit of weight, and I’m still praying for God to open and close doors in my life as He deems necessary.
My personality is changing as well. Let me share a little story that can set the stage for what I’m about to say.
During my time in the Air Force, I did what they call “one man banding” news stories. This meant that I shot, wrote, edited, voiced and packaged each news story I was assigned. You could hear and see my work, but you couldn’t see me on screen. Because I rarely did any stand-ups, I was always known as “the mysterious man behind the camera” by fellow co-workers and other Air Force broadcasters out in the field. I made things happen but I was never seen doing it. I was never in the limelight, yet people knew it was me that put the story together.
That’s kinda the way my personality is starting to shift. It’s weird for everyone who has known me for years, because if you’ve known me for any length of time, you know I like to steal the show and do something crazy. That’s the way I have been as long as anyone has known me. Class clown, court jester, whatever you want to call it.
I do know that there has been a benefit to my life slowing down a bit since I’ve been here. It’s forced me to reevaluate myself and see just exactly who I want to be, the type of people I would mesh well with, and what I can do to benefit others and myself in turn. It’s forced me to be a bit more serious around everyone.
I thought about it long and hard the other day, and I figured it’s not all that bad to step out of the limelight and be known as “the man behind the camera” figuratively speaking, when it comes to friendships, forming relationships, etc. Remember my previous posts about everyone having a story? Remember how I said I’ve spoken for far too long and it’s time for me to shut up and listen to everyone? That’s exactly how I feel. I want other people to be able to tell their stories, and I want to play an integral behind the scenes role in helping people out with their lives.
As my life continues to progress and I continue to make tremendous strides forward spiritually, mentally and emotionally, things will continue falling into place and God truly will open and close those doors as He sees fit.
For all I know, it could be Him telling me to take a big step back out of the limelight anyway.
Back home in Oregon, we had to contend with rain all the time. In the winter, rain. In the spring, rain. In the summer, more rain. In the fall, you guessed it, falling leaves coupled with rain.
My dad has said repeatedly that he loves the weather here in Missouri compared to what we had in Oregon. While we did get some sun in the summer and even some snow in the winter, about 75% of the time the sky was either overcast or rainy. I grew to love it, while the rest of my family did not.
As I wrote last week, the rains came down fast and furious in the Northwest last Saturday and Sunday. Homes were flooded, roads submerged, and winds reached 130 MPH on the coast. Wikipedia now has a good summary of all the storm damage.
Today, the effects of the rain are still being felt in Clatskanie, 15 miles west of where I once called home. An absolutely massive landslide gained steam and traveled two miles down a hillside, onto Highway 30, the main link connecting Portland and the coast — leaving mud, logs, and a trail of destruction in its wake. The horrible part is that three homes were lifted from their foundations and swept away. KATU has amazing video and photos of the slide — check out the photo of the mobile home on the highway. It’s incredible.
One look at the photos and video, and I say give me the freezing rain we had over the past couple days, any day. I think I finally agree with my Dad on the weather issue — plain old rain just sucks. Look what it’s done to the great people of the Northwest.
Presenting Chris Brewer, now with 100% more facial hair. The photo above was taken at the Front Porch on Saturday night. This one is featuring my friend Andrew from Crimson House, who sadly has departed Springfield for Florida before departing for his homeland of South Korea. Great guy, we’ll miss him, and from a personal standpoint, I wish I had more time to get to know the guy a bit better. (He’s a great photographer as well, I’ll link to his site if I can find it again.)
On another note, please welcome the two new people to the blogroll today:
- Mireya Browning is a good friend of the family and we’ve known her and her husband Dan ever since our days attending church in Vancouver, Washington. Check out her blog, the Musings of Mireya Browning, at www.mireyab.com. She just started it a month ago so show her some love, folks.
- Also we would like to give a shout out to Jason over at the Life of Jason, a prominent Springfield blogger who is active in his church, community politics and was formerly involved in radio broadcasting. You can visit Jason’s blog at www.lifeofjason.com.
Last thing: I forgot to add my new favorite song to the 54321 yesterday, which is okay because it would have unfairly made it the 654321. Oh well, here it is, “Paris” by Groove Armada. It’s a Youtube linked video, so check it out after the jump.
I haven’t posted a 54321 in awhile so I figured I’d post 5 tracks that I’ve listened to a bunch this week. It’s not all dance music, I promise.
Before we jump into the music, though, let me share three quick valuable lessons I think could benefit employees of not-so-well-paying companies:
1. It’s not about the money. For the wages for which you work, it can’t be about the money.
2. Put people first no matter what, and you’ll always reap the benefits. Monetary or not, there are still benefits.
3. By keeping points 1 and 2 in mind, your job will go much better for you and your customers.
Now to the music, after the jump.
This is a view outside of my bedroom window in Republic, MO. The ice isn’t too bad, but my car is caked and I have to go to work soon so I’m gonna go start my car shortly — about half hour before I would normally take off.
They’re saying the roads aren’t too bad, but if I encounter a bunch of traffic incidents I’m turning around and coming straight home. No sense in becoming another victim.
Hopefully it doesn’t get much worse. I’ll post later on my iPhone from work. Cheers, kids.
Meteorologists here in Springfield and beyond are predicting freezing rain over at least the next couple of days, and it could all possibly start a couple hours after I finish writing this.
This doesn’t bode well for us here in the Ozarks. I wasn’t here in January when the massive ice storm hit here but from what I’ve heard and from what I saw during my visit two months after the debacle, it was BAD. Hopefully this one isn’t as bad, and I hope the power doesn’t go out and everyone can still get around safely.
Speaking of getting around safely, I told my boss on Friday that if the roads are all slick, I am making absolutely no attempt to come into work. The reason behind this being simply me watching out for my safety and the safety of everyone around me. I can drive in snow no problem, but no one can capably drive on ice without winter tires. I don’t care if you’re Richard Petty, ice owns (or should I say pwns?) you while you drive on it.
The weather was crazy tonight, with a dense and thick fog blanketing the entire Springfield area from about 4 PM onward. The young adults from Crimson House went to The Front Porch, where they were holding a fashion show and auctioning clothes and other items to help raise funds for their church. There were more women than men there, which is a plus, and my heart raced at the very thought that some of them just HAD to be single. Evin even dared me to ask someone for their number…but crap, I never got the chance.
(edit - 10:50 PM, Dec 9)
Tomorrow is work for me from 9-noon, then church at 6. Not if there’s ice all over though, I’m not risking my neck to make $21.
Tonight around 8:00, with one hour to go at work, I decided to clean up the back room a bit, which meant to take out the trash and cardboard to the dumpster behind the store. No biggie, right?
Well, I grabbed the garbages and while I was tying the third garbage bag, I noticed a piece of sharp metal in the bag, but unfortunately not before my right hand struck it. Fortunately it only caught the knuckle on my right thumb, and it hurt for a second but I shook it off, took the garbages out and resumed work.
No sooner did I step back onto the sales floor to finish up my cleanup than a customer walked through the door asking for help finding a walkie-talkie battery. I helped him out, got to the register to ring out the transaction, and then I noticed it.
Blood. All over my right hand.
How did it happen without pain? I didn’t feel anything but there was a nasty little patch of blood on my right hand that somehow didn’t get everywhere (being left-handed saved the day). I went into the bathroom and washed it up, and grabbed a paper towel to wrap around it.
8:30 passed and the bleeding continued. Not as bad as 15 minutes prior, but still a decent amount for a small cut.
8:45 came and I had visitors. Still bleeding.
9:00 came and I closed the store, locked the door and got into my car. Hello blood.
9:30 came and I got home. STILL BLEEDING. UNREAL. I put a bandage on my hand and that seemed to calm it down. No blood since. What wonders a bandage can do.
The moral of this story is don’t cut yourself on sharp objects. It won’t hurt but you’ll bleed all over the place, and apparently if you don’t put a bandage on it you could bleed to death.
On another note, I’ve added a poll to the top right hand corner of the front page of my site. I am wondering whether to keep my facial hair or shave it, and I need your help in determining what to do. Vote and help me out.
See you on the other side, children.
I found this on the Internet tonight and think it is mildly amusing.
A bunch of you have asked how I’ve been doing lately. I’m alright.
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