The staff of The Crimson White, the student newspaper of the University of Alabama, has 5 staff members for a conference in Portland, Oregon this week. The current Advertising Coordinator is none other than Mississippi College alum Laura Pickard [facebook link].

I love Portland. There’s no sales tax… seriously. However, they don’t let you pump your own gas… seriously.

Fun fact: Portland, Oregon has the highest number of 9/11 conspiracy theorists in the nation.

One of the blog readers is going to have a baby. I’ll tell you on Monday.

Any guesses?

Any other TV talk?

This is one of those photos where you must first understand what you’re looking at.

I took this photo on my second drive from Jasper to Seattle in November of 2006 at the scene of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. This shot is of the Field of Empty Chairs, each chair symbolizing one life lost in the bombing. 168 chairs in all… 19 of them are small chairs such as the one seen here. These small chairs represent the children who lost their lives at 9:02 AM on April 19, 2005.

It was an eerie feeling that morning I visited the Memorial. For one, it was overcast, wet, windy, and absolutely freezing. I was the only one roaming the grounds that morning. A volunteer worker at the sight told me it was alright to walk among the chairs. It’s tough to concentrate. Your mind just keeps going back to the images of that day. You’re standing on the exact spot where 168 people lost their lives… many of whom never even heard the sound of the explosion.

If you ever get the chance to visit… do it… and bring a box of tissues.

We didn’t. Happy hump day.

This link (don’t click any of them, it’s just a screen shot) came up on the Yahoo! homepage yesterday. I’ve been lucky enough to eat at two of these burger joints. I actually swing by Dick’s once a week. Please enlighten our hungry tummies if you’ve grabbed lunch at any of the other locations.

Question:

What’s the best hamburger you’ve ever had?

Around these parts we actually like Peyton Manning. Aside from being one heck of a QB, he’s also one heck of an actor… that is, when you actually consider that he’s an athlete.

While we didn’t catch last Saturday’s SNL, this skit came across our desk yesterday. It’s pretty good.

While in Whole Foods the other day I saw a girl who could be no more than 8-years-old… with a pacifier in her mouth. Eight? Come on.

Question:

When is it time for the passie to hit the road?

This glorious video of kid rapper Bently Green comes courtesy of Karen Howell.

I got $20 that says this kids Big Wheel has spinners.

I had a discussion with a coworker the other day about my least favorite thing in life: sleep

I hate to sleep. Hate it. It’s a complete waste of time where we waller around in one place, drool on the pillow where we also place our head, and have crummy yet realistic dreams about dragons chasing us in our underwear through a field of Blow Pops.

If there was one thing I could (in all seriousness) go before God and request, it would be to make it so that I didn’t have to go to sleep every night. Seriously. Do you know what you could do with an extra 7 hours a day?

Read a book.
Catch up on 7-14 of your favorite TV shows.
Workout very, very, very slowly.

I don’t really know if this is technically a QOTD… but does anyone else loath slumber as much as I?

Miss USA is tonight and we’ve got two people to cheer for, both are Mississippi College Alumni:

I’ll be on a retreat in Gig Harbor, so update with any info via text message and/or email. I’ll check my phone a few times throughout the night. I’ll assume that no new is bad news.

And remember that it’s just like Jalin said, “…swimsuit is won with the eyes, not the thighs.”

Question:

What’s everyone doing this weekend?

Songs of the moment… as always, please download them blindly. Do a “trust fall” for Landon… if only this once.

Listen to all the audio featured on the blog here: music @ landonhowell.com

“God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.”

- Max Lucado, ‘Just Like Jesus’

While we’re on the topic of favorite TV theme songs.

No, I’m not joking. Great song. Great show.

I know I say all the time that “it doesn’t rain all the time in Seattle”… but it kinda does. Our “rain” is more of a constant sprinkle, and our “downpour” is considered a heavy rain that somehow always manages to stop traffic.

However, the one thing that lacks in all the condensation goodness is thunder-and-lighting. Yes… the Southern staple that is a thunderstorm doesn’t really exist in Seattle. For example: I’ve been in Seattle for almost 7 months now… and I’d venture to say that this year’s “rain season” has produced moisture about 70% of the days I’ve been here, yet I only heard-and-saw my second occurrence of thunder-and-lighting last night.

Things I miss:

Chick-fil-A
Southern belles
Thunderstorms
(amongst other things)