Happy Blog-aversary

Well, technically, my 1st Blog-aversary isn't until the 18th, but being married to my wife for 6 years has corrupted me to the point that I can't wait until the actual day to open my presents.

Last year, around this time, I was chatting with Friar Tuck on Facebook and he suggested I start a blog.  I told him that I'd started a blog a few years back, but, as with most of my childhood pets (frogs, lizards, turtles, etc.), I grew bored with it after a few weeks and my parents were forced to take care of it.  Unfortunately, my parents didn't know the first thing about how to care for a blog, so they took it to a nice farm out in the country where it still lives to this day, right Mom?

Friar Tuck suggested that I give it another try.  So, I reestablished "87 Murphy Squirrels" on August 19, 2009, with the following words:

It's finally time for me to get off the sidelines and finally put my opinions where people can read them, critique them, and challenge them. It is my plan to make a blog entry at least once a day.

I have enjoyed being able to use Facebook & Twitter status updates to express myself, but have always felt limited by space.

I also apply a heavy filter to my Twitter and Facebook writings due to the audience. I do not feel like alienating my friends and family by forcing my views/opinions/thoughts onto them via their news feed. I would rather have people show up on their own, when they want, and if they want.

So..............here goes nothing.

A year later, I feel I have accomplished everything I set out to accomplish with my blog.  Over the past year I have written 160 blog posts (a bit shy of my idea to post daily, but not too bad).  My blog has allowed me to express my thoughts and feelings about politics, movies, music, and golf.  It has allowed me to brag about myself, my wife, and my dog.  It has been an outlet for my frustrations, sadness, and anger.

I tend to have obscure hobbies and interests (i.e. baseball cards, golf club building, eclectic music, among others), and writing in my blog allows me to explore those topics in my own way (and hopefully educate others about the things that I enjoy).

Also, over the past two years, my wife and I have been living far away from our family and friends, so my blog (as well as Twitter and Facebook) allows anyone of those friends or family members to know what has been happening in our lives.  It's a nice lifeline as we float along in this scary world.

Towards the later months of this past year my blog started running out of steam.  I'd grown sick and tired of politics (and sick and tired of how angry my political posts had become).  I'd said nearly everything I've ever wanted to say about golf in general.  My movie and television reviews and recommendations had become cliche and trite.  And while I'd found a new hobby in card collecting, those posts were slowly morphing into "look at these pictures" posts (which are not much fun for anyone other than me).  In short, my blog was getting stale and boring.  I had lost the passion and fervour that my posting once contained.

So, imagine my surprise when I found a "Happy Blog-aversary" card on the counter from my wife (and don't worry, there is still plenty of time for everyone else to send me and my blog something to celebrate our day.  Not much time.  But, technically speaking, there is still time.  But not much.  So hurry.)  I opened the card and found this note written inside.

As much as I love reading your blog, I grow a bit tired of posts about golf, politics, and Luke Hochevar baseball cards. As such, I am giving you this gift of inspiration. Each week I will ask you a question for you to answer on your blog. This answer can be one word or one thousand words, but you must answer my question, and you must do so weekly.  If your readers have questions they would like answered, please have them post the questions in the comments of your blog and I will work them in as the weeks go by. Hopefully, you will get at least a weekly blog post out of this deal and I will get to know more about you at the same time.  I'll even help you with the name of this feature, "My Wife Asks..."    

--- Your Wife

I am so very excited by this present.  For me, the hardest aspect of maintaining a blog is finding topics that interest me enough to spend time writing about.  And I can't believe I missed the most interesting topic there is for all of this time -- ME!  And, since this is my party, I'll open one more present.  This one is my Wife's first question.

My Wife Asks... what is your all-time favorite song?

There are thousands of songs that I love.  I have favorite country songs, favorite rock songs, favorite DMB songs, favorite oldies, favorite hymns, favorite instrumentals, favorite rap songs, favorite classical pieces, and favorite heavy metal songs.  But if I were forced to pick an All-Time Favorite I would have to pick



"Right Now" by Van Halen. 

I love Van Halen and I love everything about this song.  In my mind, every aspect of this song is perfect.  Musically speaking, this song is awesome.  This piano solo should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Add to it the world's greatest guitarist, a fantastic drummer, and an under-appreciated bass guitarist, how could you go wrong?  But as good as this song is instrumentally, the lyrics are what nudge it to the number one spot.  Give the song another listen, and read these lyrics as Sammy sings them.

Don't wanna wait 'til tomorrow
Why put it off another day?
One by one, little problems
Build up, and stand in our way. Oh

One step ahead, one step behind it
Now ya gotta run to get even
Make future plans I'll dream about yesterday, hey!
Come on turn, turn this thing around

(Right now) Hey! It's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything

Miss a beat, you lose a rhythm
An nothin' falls into place. No!
Only missed by a fraction
Slipped a little off your pace. Oh!

The more things you get, the more you want
Just trade in one for another
Workin' so hard to make it easy
Whoa, got to turn. Come on, turn this thing around

(Right now) Hey, it's your tomorrow
(Right now) Come on, it's everything
(Right now) catch that magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything

Pure genius.

If I was stuck on a deserted island and could only listen to one song the rest of my life, this would be that song.  I have listened to this song hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times, and it always feels fresh to me.  There are songs that I greatly enjoy the first couple dozen times I hear them, but soon they soon tire.  Before long, I'll hear the first few bars of the song and hit skip on my iPod (or change the station in my car).  But not this song.  This song, I listen to the entire song, every time. 

When I was in high school, I would listen to this song, and only this song, when I was in my car on game day.  Before football games, I would drive to Loaf 'N Jug to buy a Gatorade just so I could listen to this song multiple times (I wouldn't have been able to finish the piano solo at the beginning of the song if I'd have driven straight to the gym from my house) and I wouldn't leave my car until the song ended.  I am pretty sure that my playing this song over and over at a very high volume blew out a couple of speakers in The Celebrity.  To this day, just like Pavlov's dog, my adrenaline starts pumping while listening to this song.

For the past 12+ years, "Right Now" has been my favorite song, and I don't know how any song will be able to overtake it.