That place

Hello, my friend.
Welcome to
that place with chairs,
the most powerful idea.
It's the most powerful idea.

You have space here.
Space to be quiet, to heal.
There's a fire on a log.
We'll let you sleep in under
fat comforters. We like to sleep.
You need a warm shower?
You can throw up if you need to.
Or smoke a cigarette.
The fridge has pizza and cookie dough.
Check what's on TV.
The doors are locked and
the windows, too.
Everyone is here.

I had a song on my mind,
da-da-da-duh.
And I sang it real loud!
da-da-da-duh.
My friend, my dearest friend
da-da-da-duh.
I'll hold your face
and we'll climb a tree
and laugh into the clouds
forever. You are dead.
You are totally dead,
my friend.

Stumble on this!

I am putting up some links to some things I've found on StumbleUpon that I have found useful or humorous.

Storm Troopers 9/11

10 sites that will warp your mind

50 dumb laws

New ways to tie your shoes

Internet TV Guide

The World of Cats and Dogs

I write like...

(I write like Rudyard Kipling.) Enjoy.

Stinky is 15

Believe it or not, Chase Alexander Brown turns 15 today. Watch out Springfield drivers! Soon, little Chasio will get his permit and he'll be driving on yo' streets, and climbin' in your windows, so hide your kids, hide your wife!

The fact that I have even heard of the Bed Intruder song is a tribute to the birthday boy. But I digress. I'm here today to write about The Legend.

The Legend of the Chase

Now that Chase is getting older, I want him to know more about his origins, or at least, what we imagine his origins to be. The whole truth may never be known.

From what we can tell, Stinky, as I affectionately call him, was born in the Mark Twain National Forest in the late fall of 1995. We believe he lived his first month of life with a pack of blonde wolves. His mother and I found him with his head stuck in a log near the Finley River while on a brisk country hike.

Once loosed from his from his fallen tree, we saw a smiling boy with a headful of blonde hair. Valerie, who has an undying love for all of God's creatures no matter how ugly, insisted that we put the poor animal down. But, for reasons that are unclear to me now, I put my hand in front of her gun, and I said, "no, we can raise him as our own."

As he got older, we worked hard to make him just like a normal boy. We gave him regular daily haircuts and eventually weened him off of squirrels and toilet water. He is, in many ways, our greatest work.

Those who know him today would hardly believe that in the first grade Chase ran the mile at school on all fours (4:52 is still a Missouri elementary record), or that when he was 9 he nearly replaced Hugh Jackman's prized role in the X-Men movie series. Today, Chase is on the debate team at Parkview, and he plays basketball with real kids. We are so proud of how hard he's worked!

Over the years, I have taken the boy I call my son back to the forest many, many times to see if he might stay. But, his yelps of fear always told me, "Don't go, daddy. I'm one of you." And looking at how far he's come now, I can honestly say I'm glad he always managed to catch me before I got back to the car.

Happy Birthday, buddy! We don't hate you!

New Jobby Job

I want to let my general blogging audience (probably millions of people) know what most of my Facebook friends have already heard: I got a new gig. On Monday, I accepted a job offer from the Springfield Business Journal. Starting next week, I'll be the new reporter on staff.

I'm excited about the job, and I'm anxious to get there and get to work. In my time at CFP, I found that I really enjoyed writing business stories and features, and so this feels like a natural fit for me. Also, I will be covering Springfield City Council meetings, which takes advantage of my experience and feeds my somewhat dorky interest in our local government.

In the days to come, I'm curious to see how this new career affects what I publish here. I wouldn't expect things to change too much, but I suppose I will want to be careful not to be too political. It may be that I will start a new website or blog at some point where I can be anonymous, but still have an outlet for some of my more creative ideas. I don't know, yet.

Regardless, it's a new day for me, and I'm excited to get busy on getting busy. Thanks, SBJ. You have not made a mistake.

Ballot guide for Nov. 2

If you would like to review the measures on the ballot before voting tomorrow click here.

If you have questions about what to expect at the polls or want to know who to call if you think your voting rights may be violated click here.

If you want to know where your Congressional candidates stand on the issues (Dist. 7- SW Missouri) click here.

If you want to brush up on State House and Senate candidates in the Springfield area click here (voters' guide found in Oct. 20 issue by clicking on the newspaper icon).

If you want to learn more about the drugs you'll need to take before and after you vote click here.