Best Concerts

Last night, I went with Matt and Joseph Rhea to see Fleet Foxes at Bottletree. It was a great show, and you should check them out, if you haven't already.

Then, this morning, my friend Carla Jean listed her top five concert experiences on her blog (and she went a little heavy on Nickle Creek and its derivatives, in my opinion). So I was inspired to do the same.

Five Best Concerts I've Seen

1. Sufjan Stevens, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN, 9/11/2006, With John, Matt, and Mark Harrison. Except for that part with the John Wayne Gacy mask, this concert was awesome. It was nearly a spiritual experience. Sufjan wore butterfly wings.
   
2. The Decembrists, Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, AL, 4/10/2007, With Andrew Sims. They're so entertaining.
   
3. Josh Ritter, Workplay, Birmingham, AL, 10/31/2007, With Sarah. It was Halloween. The band was in costume. After the show, we all went to Laser's Edge and they played some more. Awesome.
   
4. Ben Folds, Birmingham Southern, Birmingham, AL, 10/2005, With Jenna Lyle. Matt informs me I took his spot at this concert. I inform him he lost his spot himself by making some girl think he liked her. Take that!
   
5. Wilco, Snowden Grove Amphitheatre, Southaven, MS, 9/13/2007, With Sarah. It was a long drive, but Wilco just rocks. After the show we slept in Cheese's ghetto.

Honorably Mentioned

• Fleet Foxes, Bottletree, Birmingham, AL, 9/29/2008, With Joseph Rhea, Matt Francisco, Patrick McClendon. Like I just said, it was great.


• Sufjan Stevens, Marquee Theatre, Tempe, AZ, 8/1/2005. I was by myself, but it's the smallest venue I've seen Sufjan play. After the show I got his autograph on a poster.


• Sufjan Stevens, Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN, 9/23/2005, With John Lambuth, Jenna Lyle. It was hot, and the line was long, but it was Sufjan, so who can complain?


• Elton John, Gaylord Entertainment Center, Nashville, TN, 9/30/2005, With Matt, John, Sarah Murray. He played for nearly three hours. We couldn't have gotten worse seats, but it was great anyway.


• Josh Ritter, Bottletree, Birmingham, AL, 5/4/2008, With Sarah, Ryan, Matt, etc. I may be the only one who preferred the other show.


• Guster (Ray LaMontagne), Chastain Park Amphitheatre, 7/21/2006, With Matt Wilson. Someone gave me these tickets the day of a the show, as a nice surprise. We snuck our way up to the stage.


• Compound Folk Festival, The Compound, Hoover, AL, 5/12/2007, With Sarah. Probably the best time I've had listening to local music. There was free beer. It was on a farm.


• Danielson, The 40 Watt, Athens, GA, 7/4/2006, with Mark Harrison, Matt Wilson, and Joel Rakes.

Perhaps you would like to list your five best concerts too? I bet Matt will. And you you other people don't post soon, then Matt and I are going to hold a hostile takeover and turn this into our own personal blog.

Erin=Awesome; Fire=David Blaine

The window from which Erin so valiantly tumbled

The illustrious Vestavia Park apartments

A Shot of the back of the apartment complex

Erin's apartment was top left

So... Erin awoke this morning at 430 to the screeching of a woman we lovingly call "The Creepy Lady." God bless that woman... Erin put on jeans, woke up Laura Pearson, and went to the door to see the apartment across from them engulfed in flames. Thankfully, everyone made it out okay, but Erin was a little roughed up... They attempted to climb out of this window before the Fire Dept. arrived, and Erin, trying to get down and after clinging by her fingertips, tumbled into the brush below...

For a little more in-depth coverage...

Health Care is not simple!!

Hey guys,

I decided today that I need to contribute to the blog. I've been sitting on the side lines too long. "Coach, put me in. I'm ready to play", I yell as I put my helmet on and run onto the proverbial field of Internet blogging. I encourage others who have not posted lately to join me in letting us in on what you've been thinking about, what big has been happening. You can even just make fun of someone. That's always fun.

So here's what I decided to share. Yesterday on NPR I discovered this thing called Intelligence Squared, a program where debates are organized on various topics and three experts are called in for each side of the argument. The audience is able to vote before the debate and after the debate. Also, there are links to Intelligence Squared programs in Britain and Australia. Those are interesting because the topics are really foreign like, Prince Charles was right: modern architecture is still all glass stumps and carbuncles or For a sporting nation we’re not very sporting. There are also ones like, Is Islam compatible with democracy or Are we better off without religion? Look into it if you're bored. It was nice to hear informed differing opinions.

So I read one called Universal health coverage should be the federal government's responsibility. It was really long, 83 pages, but I had nothing to do at work. I don't know after reading the debate if there's a clear "right" option. There seems to be more contradictions and confusion than before. For example,

-Why is it that some people LOVE Canada's health care and think it is the best thing in the world while others claim that it sucks. For instance, the Canadian director of health care when she got Cancer flew down to UCLA to get treatment.
-Is universal coverage to health care a human right that the government needs to guarantee or is quality health care for most people more important?
-Should we first try to fix the system now before going to a "single-payer system" like Canada? For instance, insurance now is not portable (you can not take it with you when you change jobs) and there are no opportunities to shop for insurance that fits you. Some people don't get sick or need medications and don't need really expensive insurance.
- Finally, if the government regulates prices and procedures it will curb the exorbitant prices charged by pharmaceutical companies but there are hard choices that have to be made like do you give the expensive procedure to the 90 yr old guy that will cost $500,000 to give him an extra 2 yrs to live or do you give him Advil and let him die? Technology is creating more and more expensive procedures that will help us live longer.

I'll end the post here. If you have any answers to these questions, comment. You can also comment if this is over your head or you don't care and you really want to talk trash about the corn hull game that Cliff and I won against Dwight and PT Keith.

Have a great day, friends!!

No more caf trays at Samford

A symbol of our Samford experience has died: Samford has removed all the caf trays. Ostensibly, this is to prevent people from taking as much food and to reduce electrical and water usage. Other colleges around the country are doing this too - see articles in Time and the Samford Crimson. But I think that there are better ways to accomplish these goals than inconveniencing everyone who uses the caf.

Matt, Keith, and I have all spent long, wet hours washing dishes at Young Life camps, where we used a dishwasher probably similar to the one used at Samford. Here's how it works: At the beginning of a shift, you turn the machine on, and it fills with water and heats it. Then you put all the dishes on racks and push them through the machine. The machine tops itself off with water as it evaporates or leaves on dishes. At the end of the shift, you drain the machine.

So, each additional dish uses a minuscule amount of water and small amount of electricity. I can't imagine 2,000 caf trays adds up to much compared to all the other dishes.

Furthermore, it's stupid to make the caf significantly more inconvenient for everyone in order to save small amounts of water and electricity, when other methods could be more effective. Maybe the caf could collect clean trays when people are finished with them - most trays stay clean the whole time anyway.

As for saving food, this could be better accomplished by charging people for what they take. Of course, the shock of how much that grease-filled, barely-edible lasagna costs would probably keep people away from the caf all together. Maybe then the caf would have to actually improve food quality to keep people coming.

I never understood the caf. In Young Life kitchens we made delicious, filling meals for an average meal cost of $1.75. And the food looked good. In the caf a barely edible dinner costs $8. I don't get it.

i am a diplomat.

the best thing about coming to addis is unblocked, high speed internet. wow. you guys are ridiculous. funny thing is... people actually wear Jen's hairdo here. true dat.

so pat was here. he abandoned me yesterday... not sure why. something about lack of toilet paper. he just couldn't handle it. once again, incredible to have some family here. amazing when you think about how many of you people have come. it's a huge blessing. Pat adapted very well even! Exactly! even though his luggage was lost for the whole trip, he sported his haile selassie shirt with pride.

hey. i miss you guys! see you in three months!!!!

haha. I had to keep going with this.

Some of these might be a little tricky to figure out!

Uncle Aaron "Harbringer of Death" Hutchens

Ok this is a week late, but I AM AN UNCLE! YAY! On Thursday, a week ago, my sister had Hailey Elizabeth Nichols, who is one of the greatest best babies god has ever given man on the face of the earth. (please see stephen colbert for details) She's very precious, but not in a lord of the rings smeagol sense, and a bunch of family has ceom in to see her, including my parents and my brother and sister in law.
It has been a time of great rejoicing in the Hutchens family, and I just wanted to share it with you all. I will soon post pictures on facebook...hopefully.
Other than that, life is going well still working at Fox and Starbucks, however people are back in bham, and Samford soccer has started back, so i am much excited. WE are having a bad season so far, but we're not in conference play yet. All that being said, i love and miss all of you.

Are there words?

I'm not great at witty commentary, so I'll leave that up to you.

Hello from London

For those of you who don't know, I'm in London. I got here Thursday, and spent the day in London. Friday I took a train to Newcastle and a bus to Bamburgh to visit a castle my grandparents traced our geneology to. Turns out, they sucked and let the castle fall into disrepair before going bankrupt. Luckily, people made of better stuff came along and fixed the place up. It's in really good shape now. It's called Bamburgh Castle, so you can Wikipedia it.

Northumberland was unbelievably wet. I think they had a 100 year flood to celebrate my arrival. Thankfully, today I'm back in London. Thursday I went to the National Gallery and toured Parliment. Then I ate at the English Maid on Will's recommendation. That place sucks.

Today I went to Brick Lane market and felt the unbelievable social pressure of 40,000 hipsters. I no longer like hipsters or want to be one. Problem solved. After that I watched the first stage of the Tour of Britain cycling race, which was pretty cool. Then I went to the Tate Modern, which was too crowded and contained highly disturbing violent imagery. As if the dreams from my Malaria pills weren't bad enough...

Speaking of violence, last night I saw a well built 30 year old man shove a 13 year old kid to the ground. Drunk British people suck. Why are there so many of them?

Trust me, I'm having fun. These people just intimidate me. I no longer think traveling by myself for a long time is cool. Respect for Aaron +3.

In any case, Tuesday I leave for Ethiopia, which will be great, because to get to see new things and travel around WITH someone else.

Love you guys, and miss all of you
Pat

2020: The Magic Games

For those of you somehow caught unawares... Birmingham's mayor is awesome. And it's about time that The New York Times recognized it