So, I watched most of the Grammy’s. Here’s what I thought.

Lady Gaga w/ Elton John – Amazing. She’s nuts, but she’s a performer and he sounded as great as ever. The legs and arms piano thing was creepy, but who cares. I’ve officially added Lady Gaga to my list of crazy musical geniuses; time will tell if she takes the top spot for the decade. (Former owners of this title: 60s – Brian Wilson (the Beach Boys), 70s – Dennis DeYoung (Styx), 80s – Prince, 90s – Taylor Hanson (Hanson), 00s – Eminem)

Pink – Ok, ten years ago she could sing, but she was kind of a joke. Her album Misundaztood (2001) was great and I’ll still listen to the entire thing. Then she disappeared. People thought she died. She released an album aptly titled “I’m Not Dead.” She records perhaps the most commercially successful appalling song ever (U and Ur Hand). She releases another phenomenal record (Funhouse). Then she comes to the Grammys and delivers perhaps the most impressive performance of the night. She was a lady (though poorly dressed). They gave her a standing ovation – one of the few that I saw all night. Incredible.

Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Drake – Seriously, if you’re going to mute the whole song then why bother having them out there.

Michael Jackson’s kids – first time I had ever seen them without masks on. They are good looking kids. I thought they did a great job. I hope they can grow up to have relatively normal lives.

Rap song of the year: Think it’s funny that Kanye was on pretty much every nominated song, but he wasn’t there. The little boy that went up with Rihanna and Jay was cute.

yeah, that’s all I got. I think the show started strong, faded as it went along, then ended abruptly.

• Had an awesome Family Fun Night with the staff of FBCC. Rock Band and BBQ – what more can you ask for?

Friday:

• Half day of work.
• Took Lincoln to the Dr. He’s fine.
• Grabbed some Freebirds

Saturday:

• Bought and assembled two bookcases for the living room. Big thanks to OJ for driving and the use of his truck.
• Went to the Chris Clayton concert at 121. Had a great time seeing old friends.

Sunday:

• Great day at church with Fellowship One Check-In launch. Pretty seamless.
• Got an actual nap.
• Went back to church for business meeting where I was an impromptu presenter.
• Took Lincoln home and watched the Grammys while Katie was at ladies Bible study. (Thought on the Grammys will be posted tomorrow.)

• Lincoln and I ran a bunch of errands all over town and had a great time doing it.
• There’s been a culinary renaissance in our house since I’ve begun using our slow cooker. Made some awesome Taco Soup – the perfect addition to the previous night’s Mexican Cornbread.

Saturday:

• Took Lincoln with me to Home Depot to buy some supplies to work on more of our home to-do list.
• Cleaned up the garage a bit more.
• Hung Lincoln’s swing.
• Dinner at Double Dave’s.

Sunday:

• Church.
• Changed the oil on the car.
• Gave a rambling presentation at a parents meeting @ church.
• Took care of Lincoln so that Katie could go to ladies’ Bible Study
• Finished watching Click (Adam Sandler) – Walken was genius as always
• Played some Civ 3 while Katie bought a birdhouse for our backyard

Friday:

• Half day of work.
• Hung out with Lincoln.

Saturday:

• Hung out more with Lincoln while Katie worked.
• Just took it easy.

Sunday:

• Church. Our pastor is sick, but tried to preach anyway and had to stop after about 10 minutes. They took him to the doctor and they said it was just the bronchitis that had already been diagnosed, but that he needs to continue to rest and shouldn’t have gone out of the house. Prayers for his health are appreciated.
• Went to visit my dad and step-mom – hadn’t seen them in several months. We caught up on Christmas.
• Got to enjoy some delicious Freebirds.
• Watched about half of 24. Will have to catch up the next couple of days.
• Lincoln got his first tooth!!

The other night as I was rocking Lincoln to sleep I thought a lot about our new house. It’s been a huge battle to get things the way that we want them and we’re not even there yet. Specifically, I was thinking about how much we still need to find a place for and the decorating and how there’s never enough time to do it because there is constantly dishes, laundry, general cleaning to be done…

And I began to reflect on the battle between maintenance and improvement.

• Maintenance has to be done… Improvement can often wait
• Maintenance usually requires less work… Improvement usually provides more reward
• Maintenance can sap your energy… Improvement often re-invigorates
• Maintenance will get you through the day… Improvement can keep you going through the next week/month/year

The funny thing is, this stretches far beyond getting your house clean. It is reflected in personal health, business, finance, creativity, relationships, really every area of life.

Maintenance can’t be avoided, but if you’re not carving out time to improve, you’ll eventually wear yourself out and have nothing to show for it except an outdated __________ (house, business model, relationship) that’s relatively straight but no better than it was 10 years ago.

• Worked a half day then hung out with Lincoln

Saturday:

• Grocery shopping with my boy
• Cleaned house
• Watch a good portion of the Cowboys game

Sunday:

• Awesome new service at church
• Katie made me take a nap… I didn’t argue
• Cooked some new foods for Lincoln – mashed potatoes and chicken… he didn’t care for them so much
• Cleaned house