I had a very interesting weekend...

I had a very interesting weekend... here's some highlights.

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What's a little Shakira among family?
So, a highschool buddy of mine got married last weekend. My friend Hootand I went to Denton to the wedding and reception. It was an interesting time for many reasons... The groom, I thought, would always be a batchelor...and a college student. He's one of the most intelligent people I know... and has 3 Bachelor's degrees, one Masters and is working on his Doctorate.... he's been in college for about 17 years. But he found a fantastic woman to marry (I think.. I only met her at the reception) and here we are at a country club at the reception...

Now.. I hadn't seen the groom's family for about 17 years... his little sister (who had a troubled childhood to put it nicely) has a 14 or 15 year old son... The groom's parents divorced about 18 years ago... his dad married the secretary (welcome to the stereotype y'all) and they now have 2 sons... the age range about 12-15. Yes... the groom's half-brother and nephew are the same age. OK... that about sets the scene...

The DJ plays Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." The Groom's Step-mom, her two sons and her GRANDSON are dancing in their chairs singing along with every word... not the chorus. I'm talking these four lip synching:
"Senorita, feel the conga, let me see you move like you come from Colombia"

*shudders*

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Hoot's Music Collection
So, I'm a music writer, CD reviewer and avid music fan. I would be hard pressed to get hold of a CD that was before 2005 in my truck... I'm always listening to new stuff.

I take this trip to Dallas with Hoot... who hasn't bought a CD in a long time. His iPod was the music for the trip... Let me tell you...I got caught up on my Billy Joel, Eagles, and Guns and Roses. Oh.. and then there's the Reality Show music.. I never thought I'd ever hear from Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood and Marty Casey again... well.. I heard them all. Dude bought Buddy Jewel!

So I made the comment that he didn't have any music that came out after 2001 and wasn't connected to a reality show in his iPod.. he took that challenge... He opened up his "purchased" songs and there were 170 of them...he said 50% would be new songs. Well.. we went through 100 of them before we stopped at McDonalds for lunch (next story) and only 20 of them that were new... and 18 of them were bought for his wife (including "Hips Don't Lie" which we can never listen to again without shuddering). He claimed Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" and Blue October's "Hate Me"
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McDonalds
While on the road from Dallas to Houston, my friend Hoot and I stopped off at a McDonalds for lunch. First, there were about 12 people working the store... but the 2 lines 4 deep weren't moving at all...for about 5 minutes. Yeah... but that's not the disturbing part. That's just McDonalds. So, we order and are waiting off to the side, like good McDonalds drones and suddenly this teenage anglo boy walks up to the register... the following conversaion actually occcured. I swear...this is almost verbatim.

McDonalds Employee: Can I take your order?
Teenage kid: Yeah... now do'n mess this up...aayte?
I wan't two double cheeseburgers... (pause)
...ketchup and mayo? (pause) I ain't havin' none of dat.
...an...whats that secret sauce you got?
McDonalds Employee: You mean special sauce?
Teenage kid: Yeah... gimme that.... and bacon.
McDonalds Employee: ...
Teenage kid: You got tha bacon?

Now.. he goes and orders about 3 other things like that.. then at the end when the cashier tells him the total... he hands him a $20 and says... "This is for the cheeseburgers..."
We were laughing so hard that I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation...