When is the last time you skipped? Truly skipped? Yes, the popular activity of most six-year-old girls. Today I discovered iskip.com. It is a site dedicated to promoting the positive effects of skipping. The site shares that skipping just a few steps can instantly lift your mood and help you reconnect with your buoyant, exuberant, childlike spirit. Hey, that sounds like something I’m trying to do. Who knew? Skipping!

The founder Kim Corbin believes that,

"Today’s world needs as much positive skipping energy as possible. That is why we are on a mission to share the joy and freedom of skipping with young and old alike."

You can check out Kim’s blog, Skip on! here.

The site talks about how in order to skip in public you must be willing to let go of any fears about what people think about you. The physical and emotional benefits to skipping really surprised me. You burn twice as many calories skipping as walking and it is virtually impossible to skip without smiling.

When I read this I told Jason and instead of walking to the next room, we skipped. In the short few seconds we were actually skipping we ended up laughing and smiling as well. I also almost knocked down a huge Jabba the Hut figure Jason has in his office from the bouncing floor that the skipping created. So, be careful.

If you are overwhelmed by your Christmas bills or are frustrated about those tried and true New Years resolutions you are trying again this year, try skipping. It can’t hurt…unless you pull a muscle.

Stretch first!

| Comments (4)

One more take on Kris Kringle. Reveries magazine reports on a new way for the kiddies to chat with Santa. Maybe the thought of sitting on Santa’s lap is a tad too terrifying for little Jason…but what if Santa made a phone call?

“She didn’t want to have anything to do with the big fat man,” says Cindy Richards, referring to her 3-year-old daughter’s response to a real, live, retail Santa Claus. It was another reaction entirely when Santa rang her up by phone, however. Little Cassidy Richards “froze in giddy shock, the phone locked to her ear … ‘I love you Santa,’ she whispered.”

It’s a growing business and a popular alternative to standing in line at the overcrowded malls. Parents can hook up with Santa online at web sites like Santa Calls Kids and Santa Speaking. What’s especially neat is that the big guy is fully briefed before every call. He gets the 411 on the child’s wish list, siblings, teachers, and what was under the tree last year. Sometimes Santa even adds a bit of bonus realism to the conversation, by asking “the child to hold while they scold Rudolph for coming into the house with wet hooves.”

If Santa called me up, I’d be sure to ask him why he insisted on always bringing me socks. 

| Comments (3)

This time of year I’m sure many of you would associate ‘the big drop’ with the ball of lights in Times Square that will make it’s big fall just nine short days from now. A few days before Christmas, ‘the big drop’ I think of is much different.

It was the evening of December 25, 1985. I was seven years old. My family was visiting my grandparents. Of course my sisters and I brought along some of the goodies that Santa had delivered just hours before. One of those gifts happened to be a remote controlled Barbie corvette. I’ll never forget it. My sister Kristy, who is two years older than me, got it from Santa. It was white with teal accents and it made a real car noise when it was driving. The remote had a steering wheel on it, which I thought was so cool because it was as if you were really driving. I have to admit, I really liked my sister’s gift and honestly I cannot remember what Santa brought me that Christmas. Well, somewhere after the Christmas cookies and before the tears, the corvette got dropped. I swear I didn’t do it. No biggie, right? I’m sure it’s fine. About an hour after my dad and his brother, both electricians, tinkered around with it, we knew it would never be the same. The corvette worked fine for about ten hours before ‘the big drop.’ I know there were tears. I think I shed more than my sister. My dad ended up cutting the chord, so we could still push it around. Such a solemn moment.

Why do I recall this horrible Christmas memory? Well, I think sometimes we, myself included, try to make everything around the holidays so ‘perfect.’ There is really no room for error or disappointment. The time goes by so fast and we want it to be everything we hoped it would be. There is nothing wrong with these heartfelt intentions, but the pressure that is mounting underneath the colorful lights can cause prevent us from actually living in the moment. Whether you have a ‘big drop’ at your Christmas this year or not, just remember – we remember moments…and in order to remember them we have to actually live in them. Enjoy your family and friends these next few days. Merry Christmas!

| Add a Comment!

Last week I almost died. Or at least was pretty darn close to a hospital visit wearing one of those gowns with built-in air conditioning.

Kim, Jenna (the Chief Sales Servant), and I were on our way to Milwaukee for a National Speaker’s Association meeting. The conversation was light and lively. Christmas music was on the radio. As we approached a flock of cars, I tapped on the brake to slow down, and made a very alarming discovery.

The cruise control would not turn off.

Kim and Jenna did not comprehend the gravity of the situation at first. Meanwhile, thoughts of Keanu Reeves emerged in my mind, and I was jealous that he only had to keep the bus at 55 miles per hour while my ride was stuck on 70.

Unsure of what to do — all the good ideas don’t seem to surface until a few hours later — we decided to get off the highway. I found the first ramp, took it, and applied the brakes hard. That managed to slow us down to about 15 mph. While happy to be going at a slower, more manageable speed, I noticed a car ahead of us on the ramp. Stopped.

Ah, stopping. What a wonderful concept.

Now we’re in trouble, I thought.  In a moment that seemed like a speedy blur and slow motion all at once, instincts — or more likely angels — took over. I swerved around the parked car and into oncoming traffic. The traffic swerved around me, hurling rude insults with their horns — yeah, this is how I normally drive! — and we served onto another road. Lots of swerving. I was able to put the car into neutral and turn off the key as we settled in front of a gas station. Amazingly, we didn’t hit a thing.

Once we got our bearings, we summoned a local mechanic, who transported the three of us  in the front seat of his tow truck. The culprit ended up being a shop rag, which somehow got left behind after an airfilterectomy. It had jammed in the engine, causing the accelerator to stick. All told, the whole experience cost us $83, which our embarrassed local mechanic sheepishly ate. But I know it could’ve been much worse.

My dad offered up his thoughts in an e-mail yesterday:

Many years ago when I was in junior college I rode my bike down the route 251 hill by the Peru bridge near Maze Lumber.  I was going way too fast. I needed to break and I flipped over the front of the bike and landed on my back.  It could have been much worse. I could have been badly injured or even killed.  Over the years I have thought about this incident many times. Here’s my point:  I figured that the good Lord had a life purpose for me,  that maybe I was to grow up and become a father for you and your brothers.  No Walt, no boys.

Your work rag in the engine of your car really interests me.  First God "puts" that work rag in your engine and you all could have been killed.  But you weren’t.  And he wanted you to remember how big HE is and how little you are.  He’s calling the shots.  So he spares you guys for a reason:  I really believe he has a purpose for you guys and you’re on His mission.

His thoughts really made me think. One of my favorite Bible verses is "’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’" (Jeremiah 29:11) Kim and I had that verse read during our wedding. It has kept me going through the lean times. I feel fortunate that things ended up as they did. And as we get set to close out 2006, a year of ups and downs, this incident helps put things in perspective. I’m looking forward to being with my family for Christmas. And I am excited to think about what God does have in store for us.

I’m more than happy to let Him do the driving.

| Comments (8)

If the whole RSS thing still seems a bit unwieldy, you can now also get new posts from this blog e-mailed to you the old-fashioned way. Just look for the new "Subscribe" section in the sidebar at left. Enter your e-mail address, push the "Subscribe Me!" button and you’ll be kept in the loop whenever I’ve added a fresh post. Brought to you by the folks at FeedBlitz.

| Add a Comment!

I just wanted to announce that I finally got a chance to get my blog feed listed with Feedburner. So to anyone who subscribes to this blog via RSS, pretty please with a cherry on top update your RSS reader to this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/escapeadulthoodblog

For those of you who have NO idea what I just said, here’s a quick rundown:

According to Wikipedia, RSS is a technology that stands for Really Simple Syndication. By using RSS, you can "subscribe" to any blog. You use a program (called an aggregator) to store all of the RSS feeds from your favorite blogs in one place. The cool part is that your aggregator lists the new posts from each blog as soon as they’re posted. This allows you can read them all without running around to a bunch of different web sites.

A few popular aggregators are Bloglines,  My Yahoo, and Newsgator.

So, once again, the feed to subscribe to this blog is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/escapeadulthoodblog

And while I’m at it, be sure to subscribe to Kim’s blog too:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/swingsetreflections 

Thank you and good night. 

| Comments (1)

So a few posts back I reported on some of the frightening reactions to Mr. S. Claus. From the Montgomery Advertiser comes a more heartwarming tale of a guy who bought a "ratty" old Santa suit eighteen years ago and wore it to a friends Christmas party. Now he’s Montgomery’s favorite Santa, with 70 holiday bookings this year. What a cool and unique way to spread the Christmas spirit. He seems like a nice enough guy, but I’m certain I still would have be terrified of him.

I love some of the requests he’s gotten from children over the years: "I’ve had children ask for handcuffs, bunk beds, a water cooler for the bedroom, a camel, and even a six-year-old who wanted her own cell phone."

Doesn’t every good kid deserve a camel? 

Read the full article here. 

| Add a Comment!

Say that three times fast.

Thanks to Rich Burridge for the nice review of Escape Adulthood. You never know what you’re gonna get when you send out a review copy. For the record, I did NOT offer to make his mortgage payment this month.

I offered a kidney. 

| Add a Comment!

If you’ve ever seen the Christmas classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," then you have witnessed first hand how someone who is suffering from a very extreme case of Adultitis can change the way they think and act to be cured from the deadly disease. With the start of the new year Jason and I will be giving you some specific steps on how to make the changes to finally rid yourselves of Adultitis. Look for our new project, The Escape Plan. Mr. Grinch would have been a good case study for our project.

Long before Jason and I were even born Dr. Seuss was talking about Adultitis. Somthing tells me that he never suffered from it himself.

The other day on the radio I heard the song, "You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It was a remake by a Christian rock band. The words are hilarious. Hopefully you’ll exceed the average of 15 laughs today by reading the words to this classic song. Enjoy!

You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
You really are a heel. You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
You’re as charming as an eel.
Mr. Grinch.

You’re a bad banana
With a greasy black peel

You’re a monster, Mr. Grinch.
Your heart’s an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders,
You’ve got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch.

I wouldn’t touch you, with a
thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole.

You’re a vile one, Mr. Grinch.
You have termites in your smile.
You have all the tender sweetness
Of a seasick crocodile.
Mr. Grinch.

Given the choice between the two of you
I’d take the seasick crocodile.

You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch.
You’re a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.

The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch.
You’re the king of sinful sots.
Your heart’s a dead tomato splot
With moldy purple spots,
Mr. Grinch.

Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots.

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch.
With a nauseaus super-naus.
You’re a crooked jerky jockey
And you drive a crooked horse.
Mr. Grinch.

You’re a three decker saurkraut and toadstool
sandwich
With arsenic sauce.

Copyright © 1957, Dr. Seuss.

| Comments (1)

Every month, one Club K&J subscriber is drawn as the winner in the Supremely Wonderful & Exciting Loot Lottery. This month’s lucky recipient is Michelle Murphy! She wins 3 copies Escape Adulthood (a last minute gift saver)! Congrats, Michelle!

Join Club K&J for your chance to win this month’s prize Loot Lottery!

| Add a Comment!

This past weekend, Kim and I did our part to contribute to the $65.5M opening of The Chronicles of Narnia. Great, great movie. I must admit, I haven’t read the books (although I just bought the entire collection and I’m partway through the prequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.)

That being said, you definitely don’t have to read the book to get the movie. For those who have, I understand that they were very true to the original story, written by C.S. Lewis. I’m glad the movie went well, because I’m a big proponent of supporting the good stuff that comes out of Hollywood. There’s a lot of junk on TV and movie screens, but it frustrates me that the same people who protest what’s wrong with the entertainment biz often don’t support the stuff that it does right. While I think Hollywood has its share of ulterior motives, I really think it comes down to the almighty dollar. For better or worse, they make what sells.

Anyway, the story is great, the young actors do a wonderful job, and the special effects are breathtaking. I heard someone mention that C.S. Lewis never wanted his stories made into movies. I can hardly blame him, when you look at the quality of movies in his day. Even George Lucas has expressed that due to technical restraints, it was difficult to fully achieve his vision when he was making the first set of Star Wars movies in the 1970s and 80s. But Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings and the upcoming King Kong, has stated that we are now in the age of film making in which it is possible to do anything on screen that one’s imagination can conceive.

Good thing for Mr. Lewis, because his imagination was as wild as a four-year-old boy’s. The handling of the lion, Aslan, is spectacular, not to mention the stunning battle sequence featuring a myriad of real and fantastical creatures. The movie offers a positive message, drawing on the timeless theme of good versus evil, but it’s not preachy. It is violent at times, but not really gory at all.

Sometimes movies of this type offer up glamorous special effects as the star, leaving the story to fall flat. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen. Thankfully, Disney DID stick to Lewis’s time-honored story, and the actors did a fine job. I especially liked the performance of Tilda Swinton, who played the White Witch.

I heartily recommend this movie to everyone (except maybe really little kids — it can be a bit scary at times), especially any Adultitis-stricken grown-ups who would like to get swept away in a fantastical, thrilling tale of childlike wonder and imagination. 

| Comments (5)

The latest edition in "from the mouths of babes" category…perhaps you’ve seen these before, but they are still pretty funny. I try my best to write like this for my strip, but it’s awfully hard to beat the real thing.

BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a childproof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: "How does it know it’s me?

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. "Please don’t give me this juice again," she said, "It makes my teeth cough."

D I (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: "How much do I cost?"

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: "Why is he whispering in her mouth?"

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, "I don’t know what’ll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?"

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for awhile and then asked," Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?"

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget…. this particular Sunday
sermon…"Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) Leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

Thanks to Adriana for passing these along.

| Comments (2)