Pig Pickin' At Lee's

My dear friend and former college roommate Lee Bidgood married Emily Behler in Charlottesville, VA this weekend. I've never attended a wedding that so perfectly and beautifully reflected the personalities and passions of the bride and groom.

Lee - who once said "There is nothing I'd rather eat than food." - hosted a rehearsal dinner pig pickin' (see below) at his house Saturday night that featured a 120lb pig, homemade fixin's, a keg of Starr Hill brew, and good bluegrass music. The wedding took place in the beautiful Albemarle County countryside, though the rain unfortunately moved us indoors. The ceremony itself began not with a formal processional, but with Lee and Emily walking toward the altar and toward one another from opposite sides of the room while singing beautifully to one another. Lastly, the reception featured more bluegrass and - not joking - a thoroughly entertaining juggling routine from Lee's little sister Grace.

While the music, socializing, Starr Hill keg, juggling, and ceremony were all great fun, the best part of the weekend was without a doubt this:

Kelly upon seeing me eat the meat that I pulled directly from between the pig's ribs:

That is enough to make me want to become a vegetarian.

More photos from Lee's wedding at my/Kelly's Flickr page

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Take Your Unemployed Husband To Work Week

Now that I'm temporarily unemployed, I've come to work with Kelly the past couple days. She has thusly coined this to be "Take Your Unemployed Husband To Work" week.

Aside from her ongoing "I'm the breadwinner!" taunting and "Hurry up, Eric - you're going to be late for school!" faux-mothering, it has been an enjoyable experience. I'm about a third of the way through "Atlas Shrugged", I'm almost done with my pre-Italy planning, I've caught up with some old friends, and plan to catch up with more. Heck, I've even sent a "get the ball rolling" message to my high school classmates regarding our 10 year reunion which is over a year away. (Numerous people have asked me about it over the past few months, but - yes - I'm that bored.)

What's more, I have done all of this in what has to be one of the coolest offices on the UNC campus. Kelly shares the entire 3rd floor of the recently renovated Campus Y building with one other person. Her window overlooks the main quad, the South Building, and Old Playmakers and I have my own desk with a window that overlooks Gerrard Hall and Memorial Hall. The 1st floor has a study room with huge windows, hardwood floors, and leather chairs and the basement has a small cafe that brews good coffee. For the time that I'm not in Italy and China this summer, I suspect I'll be sitting here, doing my best to stay productive.

The "going to work with someone" experience has caused me to think back to the excitement of going to work with my mom or dad when I was a kid.

Going to work with my Mom as a youngster wasn't much fun. She's always worked in a doctor's office or hospital - BORING! When I was in high school, she actually "hired" me to match medical records from her office to those kept in a 150 degree storage building 15 minutes away. Not a bad deal, except that I had to take my 8 year old brother along. The $8/hour was not worth the time I spent shuffling medical records and wrestling Evan in an God-forsaken storage room oven on Franklin Blvd.

Going to work with my Dad, on the other hand, was a rare treat. He is in the NC Air National Guard and works on a super cool military base in Charlotte. My memories of visiting his office as a child include:

- The salute from soldiers armed with M16s as we entered the front gate.
- Touring the base in a golf cart and riding it up a REALLY steep hill.
- Playing Minesweeper for the first time.
- Playing ping pong and shooting hoops in the hangar.
- Firing blanks with an M16 on Family Day.
- Sitting in the cockpit of a C130.
- Watching a C130 dump thousands of gallons of water on a runway in a demonstration of the Guard's forest fire fighting capabilities.
- Visiting the top of the air traffic control tower at Charlotte-Douglas airport.

Aside from the stench of stale coffee everywhere, a trip to Dad's office was like a trip to Disney World. Plus, he never gave me a hard time about not having a job.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Thanks to Michael for writing a great farewell post on the Bronto Blog.

Giving Blood

Read an article about Kelly's dad and Kelly's involvement in the upcoming UNC Blood Drive:

Donating blood did not get personal for (Kelly Stowe) Boggs (my wife) until March 29, 2006, the morning a woman fell asleep at the wheel of the SUV that crossed the centerline and crashed head-on into the SUV driven by her father, Carl Stowe.

I finally donated for the first time ever yesterday.

My First Phone Call As A Bronto

Back in the day, Bronto wasn't very good with new employee orientations. Most of the hires came on board during the salad days recieved the "Here's your laptop, here's your phone, bathroom's down the hall, sodas are in the fridge, let's make it happen." orientation - especially the new employees that worked with or for me.

(Nowadays, we actually have an orientation program that eases our noobs into the organization through a series of planned activities. Yes - this makes me a little jealous.)

I don't recall the specifics of my orientation to the company, except that I started on a Monday and Chaz declared that I would be on the phone trying to do deals that Friday morning. So I spent my first week learning our product, shadowing both Joe and Chaz, and doing my best to not look like an idiot.

When Friday came around, I was feeling pretty good. I had watched Joe and Chaz make calls and felt like I could replicate what they were doing. Plus, I knew that I would start out by calling through a massive list of companies that have already said that they didn't want to buy Bronto, so I didn't really have anything to lose.

That Friday morning, I milled around for a bit trying to find reasons to not make that dreaded first cold call, just like countless sales professionals before me. After piddling around for a while to identify my first target - which ended up being a local golf course - I finally manned up and made the call. It went down as follows:

Golf Course - (Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.) Hello - you have reached Blah Blah Golf Course, blah blah...

Eric - (Sweet! I'll just leave a message.)

Golf course - ....after the beep. (Beep!)

Eric - Hello. This is Eric Boggs, calling from BrontoMail - a local email marketing software company. Blah blah blah. You can return my phone call at... ...

(Covers mouthpiece)

Joe! What's our phone number?!

(Joe looks at me like I'm an idiot, smiles, and writes our phone number on the whiteboard.)

Our number is 919.806.4421. Thanks.

(Hangs up.)

Obviously - they didn't call me back and I got better with time.

Finding Bronto

I REALLY wanted to work for Red Hat when I was a starry-eyed, job-searching senior at UNC in 2001/2002. I recall thinking that the company seemed "cool" and appreciating how it had built a business around the open source concept. (How does a company sell free software?!?)

After submitting my resume through the UNC career services office and, I presume, passing the initial resume screen, I interviewed with the company in February 2002. I was interviewed by a newly-minted Kenan-Flagler MBA, Chaz Felix. I don't remember much about the interview, other than feeling really nervous and Chaz asking me a question about Red Hat's competition:

2001 Chaz - Which of the following do you think competes with Red Hat - HP, Compaq, or IBM?

2001 Eric - Uhhh. IBM?

2001 Chaz - Why?

2001 Eric - Uhhh. Because they are a services-based company? They compete with Red Hat for large scale enterprise implementations?

2001 Chaz - Exactly. At Red Hat, we blah blah blah...

2001 Eric - (Sweet Jesus. I can't believe I was right...)

I managed to muddle my way through the conversation such that I felt pretty good leaving the interview. Per my Kenan-Flagler undergraduate brainwashing training, I emailed a "thank-you for the interview" note to Chaz after the interview. His reply:

(Yes - this and the others are screenshots of the actual emails.)

Unfortunately, I didn't hear from the company after a few weeks, so I emailed Martha in HR. (Not sure why I didn't email Chaz.) She replied saying that Red Hat has decided against hiring for their MBA Associate Rotational Program. I remember thinking that it was not a good sign that they weren't hiring MBAs - surely they weren't hiring undegrads either. I replied saying that I wasn't an MBA student and that I was interested in the Analyst Rotational program. Sure enough, I got my ding.

(Based on the ~350% increase in share price between then and now, I should have just sunk my life savings in the company and left it at that. But I digress...)

Through a pretty funny set a circumstances that I'll perhaps detail later and (mostly) good luck, I ended up getting a gig working full-time for the Kenan-Flagler IT department as a Computer Consultant. However, I never gave up on my Red Hat ambitions.

After emailing a few folks in Red Hat HR and keeping tabs on their website, I got word of a career fair. I didn't qualify for any of the positions that they were trying to fill, but that didn't matter to me - I had an "in" with my "relationship" with Chaz Felix. So I took a half-day and rode over to Red Hat HQ in Raleigh to make something happen.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the career fair wasn't one of the "show up and work the room" type. They had a gatekeeper that screened your resume and asked you a few questions at the door. If you were legit, you made it in. If you weren't, you made the walk of shame back out the door.

Obviously, this was sub-optimal - my resume was a joke. (It actually listed that I was proficient in MS Office, among numerous other pedestrian software applications.) So I gave it my best shot:

2002 Eric - Hi. I'm Eric.

Red Hat Guy - Hi, Eric. Do you have a copy of your resume?

2002 Eric - (Clears throat.) I'm here to see Chaz Felix.

Red Hat Guy - (Smiles while scanning my resume.) Chaz doesn't work here any more.

2002 Eric - ...

Red Hat Guy - Thanks for your interest.

So that was pretty embarrassing, not to mention a waste of a half-day.

Once I figured out that I would be there for a while, it didn't take long for me to realize that I hated working at Kenan-Flagler. I loved my co-workers, but hated the job and the "state employee" mentality. So, I trolled the career listings daily in search of my escape.

One fateful afternoon in the Spring of 2003, I came upon a "Sales and Marketing Associate" position for BrontoMail, Inc. The hiring manager was none other than Chaz Felix. My email exchange with Chaz:

I interviewed with BrontoMail that Friday. I showed up at their "offices" in Meridian Parkway and waited around until "they" showed up - I didn't know what to expect. After I had milled around in the lobby for a few minutes, Joe and Chaz popped out of the elevator - Chaz in shorts and a t-shirt and Joe in his trademark white-button down, jeans, black belt, black socks, and black shoes. (Some things never change...) Chaz says "Hey - there he is!" and away we went.

The interview went down at BrontoMail's "Headquarters", which was actually an over-sized utility closet. Seriously - it was an interior room with no windows and a few small desks. The first thing I remember thinking to myself was "Where am I going to sit?"

I don't remember very much from the interview. I recall trying to focus the conversation around my efforts to start Aerea Consulting, a home/small business technology "consulting" (read: home wireless router installation) company a few friends and I were trying to get off the ground. I quickly realized that extreme "start-up-iness" at BrontoMail, so I figured they would appreciate the experience. Plus, talking my way into after-hours home tech support gigs with Kenan-Flagler faculty and staff comprised the extent of my sales experience, so I had to let it ride.

It seemed to work. Later that day, I had the gig:

We met that Monday and I joined the team. A few thoughts/memories:

- I knew I would accept the position when they offered to meet at Pepper's Pizza on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Either we connected subconsciously such that they mysteriously knew that I loved Pepper's or they picked up a hint I must of dropped in the interview. Regardless, any friend of Pepper's was/is a friend of mine.

- They quick turnaround was a mistake on their part. For one, it scared me. "Are they desperate? Do they know what they're doing? Is this a real business? Am I going to get paid?" For two, it gave me a (small) sense of leverage in the "negotiation". Thus, I felt validated asking that they at least match my Kenan-Flagler salary - which they didn't at first, but did by the end of the first slice. Though the difference was only a few grand, it meant a lot to me because Kelly and I were going to married a few months later and had already booked a fairly pricey honeymoon in St. John, U.S.V.I.

- After a single interview, I had an offer to take a position for which I had very little relevant experience. I was lucky because Bronto doesn't hire like this any more. Having made a few (hilariously bad) mistakes with shake and bake hires in the past, Bronto now requires that applicants. interview with at least 3 or 4 people at least 3 times before we will even considering offering them a job.

- Deciding to work at Bronto turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I've ever made.

More about my time at Bronto later this week.

Behind the Scenes at Bronto

As many of my loyal readers know, I only have a couple weeks left at Bronto Software before I embark upon The Summer of Eric (more on this later) and then 2 years of business school at UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Considering my impending departure and my distinguished tenure with the company, the next few weeks at the Boggs Blog will carry a "Behind the Scenes at Bronto" theme. I'll reflect on some of the memorable moments and people from Bronto days past and, if the mood strikes, perhaps convey a portion of the immense admiration and gratitude I have for the company and the people with which I work.

For now, on with the comedy.

Eric
---

At Bronto, we fancy ourselves as a company with a soul. (The fact that we're named after a dinosaur should make it pretty obvious that we're not your typical software company.)

Our website showcases our quirkiness. For example, the copy on our site includes the following gems:

We ensure that the infrastructure remains incredibly secure (think Superman “Fortress of Solitude” secure) and performs at expected levels.

The Bronto team members are some of the finest individuals around (at least we think so). We're each like a snowflake - unique and beautiful. But when we marshal our efforts, we transform into an email marketing juggernaut the likes of which the world has never seen. However, we put our pants on just like everyone else - one leg at a time. Except, once our pants are on, we make and support the best email marketing software out there.

In particular, we take great pride in our employee bios on the web site, all of which are penned by Boggs Blog patron and UNC PhD candidate Ben Rogerson.

Here is a bio that Ben wrote for former Bronto Jon Norris:

Jon Norris
Web Designer

Jon Norris handles Bronto's custom template design program, designs
instructive demos for clients, and shares his wisdom on all things email
marketing design. Prior to joining the Bronto team, Jon worked as a web designer for Dialog. Jon received his BA in Spanish from Mississippi College.

Throughout the mid 1990s, Jon smuggled medical supplies, appliances, and used clothing south of the border to help churches, orphanages, and dental clinics. Considering his dashing good looks and devil-may-care attitude, "Che" Norris does not for one second regret his subversive past. He harnesses this same zestful iconoclasm to design outstanding email marketing messages.

And here is an honest-to-goodness, absolutely true, and absolutely hilarious email we received from a customer regarding Jon's bio:

Subject: Who is he? John Norris?

Dear Danielle,

This is confidential!!!

about JOHN NORRIS?
NO Disrespect, but, this man sounds
like a CRIMINAL from the description
you provide on line..

If his major is in SPANISH, that explains alot of why the new Website is so backwards.

What are you all thinking? Is this BRONTO's idea of Humor?

THis is my business...this is not a game.

Please pass my message on discretely.

Rod

More comedy from Bronto (and my old emails) coming soon...

Eric

Opposites Attract

From my NetFlix queue:

Orange Serpents Season Recap

The Orange Serpents capped off of an undefeated season with a rousing comeback against the Red Team this past Saturday.

We were down 4 to begin the 4th quarter. (For those of you that haven't seen a 7/8 year old basketball game recently, 4 points is a nearly insurmountable lead.) We made a couple buckets to tie the game with about 4 minutes left, one of which was a sweet put back in traffic by Liam. Once we tied the game, it was clear - considering the horrific shooting and scrambling defense - that the next team to score would win.

A couple minutes late, Isabelle - one of our best defenders, but not a consistent shooter - hoisted a 15 foot jump shoot that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Her shot left us gave us a 2 point lead with about 2 minutes left. So, we only needed to make a few stops and we'd win the game.

The last 2 minutes were so exciting! The crowd was going nuts and the other team was playing very aggressively, but my players kept their poise. I called timeouts (yes - in a 7/8 year old game) after possession changes so that we could set our offense/defense. After each time out, the Serpents did exactly what they were supposed to do.

I was proudest of my team on our last defensive play. I warned Xavier - our toughest player and one of our point guards - that the other team was going to come to his side and try to screen him - which they did. He saw it coming, played it well and defended the shot. Liam snagged a tough rebound - just as he had the entire game - handed it off to Xavier once the defense cleared.

Xavier walked the ball to halfcourt and I called timeout before the defense could swarm him. We threw the ball inbounds in the backcourt without any problem. (My inbounds play was predicated on the "no pressing in the backcourt" rule.) We easily melted the clock and took the victory. My kids went nuts! They were so happy to finish 8-0.

I'm sad that the season is over. As we progressed, the games and practices became such fun. After the first 5 or 6 weeks, my kids had learned the basics - share the ball, play defense without fouling, spacing on offense, keep your spot on defense, etc. Thus, I spent our practices teaching them to set picks, block out, and hit the deck for loose balls. They loved the drills and games that I taught them and I loved feeling like I was coaching the greatest 7/8 year old basketball team every assembled. (This is an arguable point. The 1988 Gastonia YMCA Bucks with me, Joel, and Andy were pretty good, too.)

I hope that I have time to coach again next winter. I also hope that my career path meanders in such a way that I end up on a sideline coaching a high school basketball team. Considering the fun I had coaching children, I simply can't imagine how much fun I would have coaching players that can really play and that I could berate and run to death when they displease me.

Kenan-Flagler

I mailed my deposit to Kenan-Flagler yesterday. So that's that - I'm going (back) to UNC. (As if it were ever really in doubt...)

School starts in early August. Can't wait.

Gaston Gazette Article Featuring Kelly's Father

The Gaston Gazette recently featured an interview with Kelly's father, Carl Stowe.

Part I

Part II

The Maw Maw Sessions

This is my grandmother, Catherine Maude Rhyne Boggs Postell. (We just call her Maw Maw.) Among her many talents - which includes cooking macaroni and cheese, mowing her lawn, keeping her home oppressively warm, and exhorting me to wear warm clothes - music is the chief.

Maw Maw can't "play" the piano, per se. She's never had formal training and she can't read music. However, she can bang out hymns like nobody's business. She learned to play by ear as a child and has continued to play throughout her life. In addition to her work on the keys, Maw Maw also has a natural knack for singing the alto line that I've only recently come to appreciate.

In 2000 (?), I took my 4-track recorder to Maw Maw's house and had her lay down a few tracks. Naturally, she elected to perform a few gospel numbers. I had her record on her Lowry organ, both because of the churchy quality and because, as far back as I can remember, her piano has never been in tune.

After recording Maw Maw's vocal/organ tracks, I went back home and embellished the tracks with guitar, harmonica, percussion, and vocals. The finished - and admittedly humorous - recordings are below. I hope that you'll enjoy!

I'm Satisfied

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

More recently, I recorded some footage of Maw Maw playing at my parents' house. My wife Kelly, aunt Cathy, aunt Rhonda, and (unfortunately) I make up the choir. Check out the video on YouTube

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Serpents Victorious Over The Green Team, 32-20

The Orange Serpents moved to 2-0 with a 32-20 win over the Green Team this afternoon.

We jumped out to an early lead that dwindled down to 2 points midway through the third quarter. However, once our big three - Xavier, Austin, and Liam - entered the game together with 4 minutes left in the third quarter, we quickly regained control of the game and cruised to an easy victory.

The unquestionable highlight of the game was when Xavier and Austin ran "screen low", a simple inbounds play we learned in practice this week, to perfection. Xavier scored an easy bucket off of Austin's screen and Liam's good pass. I think I'm going to teach the play to the whole team this week so that we can set up our other players with easy shots under the basket, particularly those that normally don't get to shoot.

I Got In

Many of my loyal readers and friends know that I have spent the past few months applying to business school. For some, I just let the proverbial cat out of the proverbial bag...and hopefully answered any lingering "Why does Eric look so tired?" or "Didn't Eric wear that yesterday?" questions.

I'm happy to report that I've been accepted at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. I'll hear from other programs in the coming months. Suffice it to say that getting the first admit takes a huge weight off of my shoulders.

So that's that. I start business school sometime this fall. I'll do my best to keep the MBA posts to a minimum between now and then.

Eric

Serpents Win Debut

My 7/8 year old basketball team - the Orange Serpents, as named by my kids - tipped off our season today at noon.

Prior to the game, I was a little nervous. We've only had two practices and I was pretty sure that my kids had not absorbed a single word I said during either one. I only had time to teach the two-line lay-up drill and a defense that somewhat resembles a 2-3 zone. Needless to say, I was prepared for an afternoon of complete chaos.

After the game, I'm wondering if I have the greatest 7/8 year old basketball team ever assembled. We won the game 30-16 easily and would have won by much more had I not called off the dogs in the 4th quarter. Our best perimeter players, Austin and Xavier, made seemingly every shot they took and Liam, our big man and best passer, grabbed every rebound and loose ball within his reach. My players stood exactly where they were supposed to stand on defense, shared the ball on offense, and even pointed to "thank" the passer after a made basket on a few occasions.

I couldn't believe how hard my kids played, nor could I believe how they absorbed the little nuggets I had taught them during our two practices. Given their willingness to listen, I'm confident that we'll be running the jump trap and picket fence by season's end.

You Need To Recognize

The ODB AKA "Dirt McGirt" AKA "Big Baby Jesus" AKA "Ol' Dirty Chinese Restaurant" has been pumping through the Boggs family hi-fi for the past 45 minutes and I could not be happier. It has been like re-discovering a thoroughly demented old friend...

A few off-the-cuff ODB-related memories:

- In 10th and (most of) 11th grade, I was the only player on the basketball team that did not have a drivers license, thus I had to hitch a ride home everyday after practice. I can remember riding home in Matt Dowdel's Carolina blue ghetto glider just like it was yesterday. "Return to the 36 Chambers" was still hot at the time - at least to the North Gaston HS basketball team - and we used to blast "Baby C'mon" at gloriously deafening volumes. As the clueless white kid that listened lame white kid music, the outrageously visceral, profane, and hilarious rap stylings of Ol' Dirty make quite the impression.

- No Old West dorm party was complete without a little ODB. "Baby I Got Your Money" soundtracks many of the hazy late night memories from 2001 and 2002.

- Once while listening to ODB in the car with Kelly, she unexpectedly sang along with "Recognize" by substituting my initials - ETB - for ODB. "Mr. Courageous ETB. You need to recognize he's a P-I-M-P. You need to recognize. You need to recognize." This is why I love my wife.

- The day Ol' Dirty died. "During the initial autopsy of the 35-year-old rapper, a doubled plastic bag containing cocaine was discovered in his stomach." Ugh.

The Gram Parsons Manifesto

I satisfied 2 burning obsessions today.

After a lifetime of hope and want, I finally got my first pair of Air Jordans. What a great feeling! Opening the box and lacing them up was like the first day of school, the first day of basketball practice, and tip-off at the Dean Dome all rolled into one. I always wanted a pair as a youngster, but my folks never had the cash to pay $100 for a pair of shoes, especially knowing that I would destroy them and/or outgrow them in 6 months.

I'll let this soak in for a bit and will then pen a post outlining the psyche of a 26 year old man so easily excited by Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes.

If getting a pair of iconic basketball shoes was already enough, Netflix sent me the new Gram Parsons documentary, "Fallen Angel". (I watched the film while wearing my new Jordans, eating leftover Pepper's pizza, and drinking a PBR in a can. Truly a transcendental hour and a half.)

Gram Parsons was a musician from the late 60s and early 70s that, in a sense, defined a genre of music. Many call it "alternative country" or "country rock". Gram described it as "Cosmic American Music". (Note the tag line on myblog.) Whatever you want to call it, I think he made some of the best music ever recorded.

His music is timeless and his story is fascinating. Some of the highlights:

• His father was named Coon Dog Conner. I'm not making this up.


• His mother's family ran a huge citrus plantation in Florida. Gram grew up with everything he could ever want, but had a pretty screwed up family life. (Coon Dog committed suicide, leaving a note that supposedly said only "I love you Gram".)


• He met Elvis as a 10 year old.


• Throughout his career, he lived off of his substantial trust fund. He would show up in a limo to play a gig in front of 15 people.


• Gram went to Harvard to escape the South and start his music career. He sent numerous heartfelt letters to his sister, expressing his love and such. Given the family situation, he very much felt like the family protector, especially the protector of his sister. (QuentinCompson anyone?)


• Gram played with the Byrds. He was the "country" influence behind "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" - the original alt-country record.


• Gram ditched the Byrds to hang with Keith Richards and the Stones. Gram was supposedly the "country" influence behind "Exile On Main Street" - the best Stones album far and away. The Stones also let Gram record "Wild Horses" for "Burrito Deluxe" before they recorded it for "Sticky Fingers".


• He gave Emmylou Harris her big break as a back up singer on his solo albums "GP" and "Grievous Angel".


• He recorded his solo albums with Elvis' band.

As the story too often goes, Gram lived a reckless life and died at 26 from a drug/alcohol overdose. The story that follows his death is the stuff of rock and roll legend. If you don't know it already,Google it or, better yet, watch the documentary. This post is long enough and I haven't even started to bring it home.

Why write all of this? For one, the world needs to know about Gram Parsons. If I had to pick between Gram Parsons and Netflix, I would pick Gram Parsons. If Nike made Air Parsons, I would own every pair.

For two, of all of the "tragic rock star deaths", I think his is one of the most unfortunate. He was making music that no one else was making at the time. The fact that his story and his music passes through The Byrds, The Stones, Emmylou Harris, and, indirectly, The Eagles speaks to the scope of his influence.

And he did all of this before he died at 26! In my opinion, he should be mentioned in the same breath as Jimi Hendrix as someone that God put on the Earth for the sole purpose of defining a musical moment.

If he doesn't die at 26, I say he ends up being in the Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen conversation as folk artist that embodies all that is beautiful and true in American music.

Father's Day Buzz Cut

As long as I can remember, my dad Tommy has jokingly fancied himself a barber.

He bought a Wahl clipper set a number of years ago - complete with a hilarious how-to video. Ever since then, he's incessantly begged to cut my hair and my brother's hair. ("You need a haircut boy!")

In a moment of weakness, my mom let my dad cut my brother's hair.  If I recall correctly,  mom had to take Evan to our regular barber to clean up my dad's mess.

Fast forward to a year or two ago - my hair was especially shaggy on Father's Day weekend.

My dad's Father's Day gift? The opportunity to give me a buzz cut. Note how he took the liberty of leaving me with a mullet:

This was easily one of the best gifts I've ever given my father. We laughed like crazy the whole time - mainly because he was so meticulous throughout the process and my brother kept telling him everything he was doing wrong. ("Shut up! I'm a professional!")

I reprised the gift with rousing success this year. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

The Plunger

Kelly’s first apartment was a dump. From the 3 inch crack between the front door and floor to the toilet that never flushed to the view (and scent) of the dumpsters outside her bedroom window – the place was a much like Tom Hanks’ home in the “The Money Pit.” I guess that’s just the way it is with apartments in college...

One magical day, Kelly’s toilet was functioning properly. Then, it wasn’t – if you catch my drift.

The unfortunate situation necessitated a trip to the 7th Circle of Hell – the Wal-Mart at New Hope Crossing in Durham.

As we entered the store, we discussed how neither one of us wanted to scavenge Wal-Mart for a plunger, parade to the register with our bounty, plunk it down (just the plunger, mind you), swipe our debit card, and walk out the proud owners of the latest clear-plastic-handled, bell plunger.

So, we decided to make a game of it – whoever found the plunger wouldn’t have to buy it; the "non-finder" would have to endure a walk of shame while bearing the humiliating symbol of plumbing misfortune.

Once we agreed on the terms, the race was on.

If my memory serves correctly – and both Kelly and my mother will attest to the fact that it always does - I found the plunger. We raced through the store yelling and squealing like two 8 year olds. I was in the lead, because I’m faster, because I knew where the hardware section was, and because I really wanted to see Kelly buy a plunger. Meanwhile, Kelly played it cool and just tried to keep up.

The decisive blow came when she began to follow me, but on the opposite end of the aisle. Once I spotted and raced towards the unwanted prize, she was already there because it was closer to her end of the row.

I bought the plunger. We still have it.

Houston Patterson

My friend Houston Patterson died 8 years ago this June.

I met Houston when he was 7 and I was 6. We played on the Dallas Yankees t-ball team. Houston was the best player on the team and played first base.

He had this killer move at the plate. He would position his body like he was going to hit the ball to left field and then wait until the defense shifted in anticipation of a rocket shot to left field. Once the fielders moved into their positions, Houston would shuffle his feet and drive the ball to right field - where no one was standing. Unstoppable! Even as a 7 year old!

We played baseball together from that time all the way through high school. Houston played centerfield, hit lots of doubles, and liked to show off his shotgun arm. (Note that I did not say "rifle arm" as that would connote accuracy.) I sat on the bench, got a few lucky hits, and played with some great players and on some great teams.

Shortly after his death, Houston's parents, Rick and Joyce Patterson, started a scholarship fund in Houston's honor. (My sister was actually the first recipient of the Houston Patterson Scholarship.)

Every year, Rick and Joyce put on an alumni baseball game to raise funds for the scholarship. This past weekend marked the 7th game. My line?

- 3-5 - 2 screamers in the gap, one blooper hit. (Still trying to re-capture my Year 6 form in which I hit a 3-run homer.)

- 3 runs scored.

- One whiff so hard that my back still hurts.

- One great backhanded stab on a grounder up the middle. (The firstbaseman dropped my throw. Good times.)

- One double play turned off a grounder to my brother Evan at 3rd base. Boggs, Boggs, Summey - not quite Tinkers, Evers, Chance.

- Countless laughs and memories with the friends I grew up with.

- One somber inning played in Houston's centerfield position.