One of my goals since I decided to be an accountant was to learn to golf. Well folks, I can grab the pencil to cross it off my list (but lets not cross it off quite yet).
I went to the driving range with my landlord, Stephen, last night and it turns out I'm not as bad as either of us thought. The cash register wasn't working, so they let us each take a free bucket of balls. Nice! We had a good time.
I told Don to bring his clubs to work today so that we could go afterwards. Over lunch I picked up a glove; I've found a new hobby.
Tonight I was a little sore, but I was more consistent than last night. I actually did pretty good. Stephen let me borrow his dead neighbors clubs which he acquired. It turns out they belonged to a John R. Fox, at least that's what the tag says. I'm using a dead dudes golf clubs. Creepy, right?
I think Don and I are going to go once more this week because we're both going to be out of town for awhile. Stephen and I will probably go this weekend, too. Hey, I only spent $5 tonight and had an hour of entertainment. You just can't beat that.
I Golf. I'm a Golfer.
Happy Easter!
I know I'm a day early, but the weather is so nice today (bordering on h-o-t) that I just had to say....
Happy Easter!
No. 2 Thief, Part II
Before you read this, read Part I below.
Today I was in one of the accounting clerk's office and he was writing something out for me. The No. 2 Thief came in to ask me a question. She needed to make a note about it on her notepad. She left.
Accounting Clerk is about to continue what he was telling me...
"Where did my pen go? I always seem to be losing them."
"I think D**** [the No. 2 Thief] took it."
"I swear, she's a klepto. She's always taking my pens."
I laughed to myself as I walked away and though, "she struck again!" I took comfort in knowing I wasn't the only victim.
As I was in her office later this morning, I noticed it right there, sitting on her desk, the pencil she stole from me on Monday. While she was going on about something, all I could do is stare at my pencil. I had to let it go though. It's over. Left there in Oakland while I'm back here in Orange County.
Like I said, I'm over it.
No. 2 Thief
The accounting manager at the client Don and I are at this week in Oakland asked to borrow my pencil on Monday morning. She took it with her. I didn't see it the rest of the day.
Tuesday, she's in the room talking to Partner Joe, and Don motions to said accounting manager, then points to his hair and makes a writing gesture.
It's in her hair. My pencil is in her hair.
I don't even want it back now.
Today she comes in our room and starts to write on something with it.
Does she not wonder where she got this pencil from? I usually notice when I'm using a writing instrument that's not mine. And it's not like it's just another yellow pencil; it's a mechanical one. A red one at that.
I'm over it.
Survivor
So remember way back when CBS and Mark Burnett announced the production of "Survivor"? Well, obviously most of you are familiar with the concept of the show now. But back when the first news of this show was released, I genuinely thought it was going to be taken literal. I remember thinking, "wow, so people are really going to risk their lives for $1 million?"
I thought that the winner would be the only one who survives...literally. How messed up is that? Thankfully (?) it's not true, although I don't think it's outside of the real of possibility for a show to exist like that some day. Maybe on Pay Per View or something. If releases are signed waiving liability, what's illegal about it? Certainly something.
Anyways...back to studying.
My First Financial Statements
The main purpose of auditing companies is to express an opinion on their financial statements as to whether they are free of material misstatement and are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America.
You got that?
I recently had an opportunity to draft my first financial statements. Now normally, as a rookie accountant, you wouldn't get to do this for 2-3 years -- maybe more. But because our firm is short staffed and handling a lot of clients, I got the chance to gain some awesome experience.
The cool part is that we audit post-secondary institutions: trade schools, medical/health training schools, etc,. and these auditor's reports end up in the hands of the U.S. Department of Education. So they're kind of important. If the school doesn't get a favorable opinion from us, they could potentially lose their funding from the Fed and that would pretty much be the end of them. As far as I know though, our firm rarely if ever has to issue anything but an unqualified opinion.
We have a template that we use and we just plug in the final numbers. The footnotes to the financials need to be modified for each client, but we just roll that forward from the previous years financials and make any applicable changes. It's not too difficult, but like I said, in general, staff auditors would never ever get to do this at larger firms. Kinda nice. More pressure, but worth it in the end.
Anyways, my draft made it through two Partner reviews and is about to be issued next week.
After I've done this a few more times, I'm sure I'll be over it and wish I could go back to no responsibility.
Gimme a Brake!
In efforts to save myself some buck$, I had my boss/friend Ryan do my brakes last night. I sort of half-asked if he knew anyone who could help me out, and as a matter of fact, he could. From that point on, I sort of didn't want to bug him about it, but a couple of days later, he asked when we were going to do them, so I figured he was wanting to do it - not offering out of kindness.
What he thought would take only a couple of hours ended up taking closer to five. Just what everyone wants to do on a Monday night. The objective of the evening was to get my rotors turned and install new brake pads. Easy enough. Well, since Mable is in her golden years, some of her nuts and bolts are a little hard to jimmy loose. I bet Ryan literally spent 30 some minutes trying to get one of those suckers off. He attached a long metal pole to his wrench to get some leverage, and the wrench snapped and broke. Craftsman!
Just before giving up and calling it a night, he managed to get that thing loose. Blah, blah, blah....we got the rotors turned at Pep Boys, saw the loser service supervisor turn down replacing a granny's battery ("sorry, my car needs a battery, too. that's how busy we are" he says. boo.), went to Bill's Burgers for some burgers, blah blah and everything turned out fine.
There was more than a few times where I wished I had just gone to the mechanic, but after spending only $55 to have some good as new brakes, it was worth it. Best part is, it sounds like we're going to replace the front calipers next, then tackle the rears. I consider myself lucky. I'm going to save close to $1,000 when all is said and done.
Somehow I didn't think I needed a change of clothes after work; somehow I managed to help out and not get one smudge on my khakis. High five!
I Fought the Law (Still Am!)
Growing up male, middle-class, and white, I do have it pretty easy (studies show). I guess I can admit that that's true. However, I can't help but think that I still am being kept down by The Man in some ways just like everyone else. So when I have the opportunity to fight back, I take it.
Chew on this: I have two reasons for the CHiPs to pull me over. And for those of you who don't know who the CHiPs are, it's a television show from a long time ago, but also the California Highway Patrol. Anyways, these guys are all over the place on their bikes. Motor bikes. Now, back to my reasons.
I was pulled over last fall for some ridiculous reason. I was heading East when a police office heading West passed me, made a u-turn and pulled up behind me at a red light. We proceeded through 2-3 more intersections and traveled about 2 miles when he finally decides to turn on his cherries and stop me. His reason? My middle brake light is out.
But before we get to that conclusion, he asks me whose car I'm driving, what I'm doing in California (I have MN plates) if I've ever been arrested, and if I've ever been in jail. Not sure how any of that was relevant, but I like to humor these guys. When he realizes he's got nothing on me, he just tells me to fix my light. Okay, sure.
As time passes and I can't find the bulb I need, I decide I'm going to defy The Man and not get it fixed. No siree. I want to see if this particular cop was just being a turd cause he had nothing better to do, or if they actually do waste their time pulling people over for stupid stuff like that.
So check this out. I'm in downtown Los Angeles at a late hour in a desolate area driving an old(er) car with out of state plates and a cop pulls up behind me at a red light. The light turns green. We come to the next red light and sit there again. He has plenty of time to think about busting me for my brake light. My supposed lack of safety is staring at him straight in the face. Well, as we get going again, he turns on his lights and whizzes past me. As I finally catch up with him, he's stopped at some shady bar to back-up his fellow man on the force who's got a guy on the ground at gun point.
Since then, I've had numerous police peoples sitting right behind me at stoplights or just following behind me. Every time I brake with my lack of the middle brake light, I get nervous. But guess what? Nothing. No one has pulled me over. I bet it's been 6-8 times I've been followed with no resulting consequences.
My conclusion: the guy that pulled me over was being a tool.
Reason two to pull me over: My registration tags on my license plates expired in December. The rear one isn't even visible. Sure, I have the most current registration tags. My car is registered. I just haven't bothered to display them yet. I'm actually pretty surprised nothing has resulted from it; I would think that I draw extra attention being one of the few without California plates on.
So there you have it. My way of silent protest. I may not tag walls with graffiti, do illegal drugs, or even eat grapes at the supermarket without paying for them, but I am a bad___. I am sticking it to The Man. It may be only a matter of time before I suffer the consequences, or is it? I've already gone many months. In fact, a cop was tailing me for 6 blocks on the way home from work tonight. Nothing.
Some may say at this point, "knock on wood," but I don't believe in those old cliches.
Hopefully I have no updates to this story for a long time. Godspeed be unto me.
If you'd like to support my quest of fighting The Man, click on the Google Ad in the left pane. It may earn me $0.01.
Larry Norman (1947-2008)
It saddens me to report that a week ago today, Larry Norman, the Father of Christian Rock, passed away of heart failure.
Many/most of you have probably never heard of Larry Norman. He started his career back in the 1960s in San Francisco, California as part of the "Jesus Movement" while signed to Capitol Records and later MGM.
"[In] 1971, TIME magazine was reporting on the growth of the Jesus Movement, and while Larry Norman took some steps to distance himself from it, he had become the most popular musician among its followers. TIME Magazine reported that Eric Clapton had become a 'convert of the Jesus Movement,' and a 1971 cover article also named members of Peter, Paul, and Mary and Fleetwood Mac within its sphere of influence. Johnny Cash was also named."
Larry was also a huge influence in helping musicians break their drug habits. He started a Bible study called "The Vineyard" in the 1970s that was attended by actors and musicians. Most notably: Bob Dylan.
By the end of the '70s, Larry left the major labels and pursued a career as an independent artist. Throughout his career, his work has appeared on over 90 albums. Van Morrison as well as John Mellencamp have claimed to be fans of Larry and over 300 artists have covered his songs, including Sammy Davis, Jr.
Larry's had problems with his heart for decades. Surgery after surgery have been performed, although it was usually just a struggle to even get into the operating room. Costly operations are difficult to pay for when you're an independent musician with no health insurance. Larry had to rely primarily on the financial support of his fans to cover his medical expenses.
I was introduced to Larry Norman's music back in 1995 or so. My sister Krysti was dating my now brother-in-law Marc, who was also my youth pastor at the time. Marc had been a fan of Larry's music for years and was quite eager to share that fanaticism with a new generation (me).
In May of 1996, Marc and I journeyed to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, just outside of Toronto, to see Larry. It was my first time, Marc's too, if I recall. We drove over 13 hours overnight to get there. We arrived at the venue about 4 hours before the show and were pretty much the only attendees around. The promotor heard how far we'd traveled, and reserved two seats front and center just for us. It was a pretty amazing experience considering the history and influence of Larry's message and his music. It was also a reminder of how fragile his health was, even then. Forty-eight at the time, he already had had major heart surgery more than once. He had to stop the concert halfway through due to a bout of coughing and to go take some heart meds. After thirty or so minutes, though, he came back out and finished his set. 
Marc and I had the opportunity to meet him afterwards. I don't remember much about it, being 15ish at the time, but I do remember that Larry was very low-key and happy just to be able to talk to his fans about what's going on in their lives, his music, or anything really. It was quite an experience. Something I'll never forget.
I'm not sure the timeline, but maybe a year later, Larry was performing in Iowa somewhere. Marc and I badly wanted to see him again, and knowing how (un)healthy he was, knew we'd better take the chance when we had it. This time we brought along my sister, Marc's wife, so she could experience the magic. She wasn't the hugest fan of Larry's before she saw him live; most people aren't. He doesn't have the most radio-friendly voice or anything. But after she saw him in person, she came to appreciate the artist that Larry truly is: goofy at times, but at his core, a genuine human being who had the gift of influencing people with his message and music. 
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to pick a song to present to my english class. We were looking at music and the meaning behind the words in the songs. I chose Larry Norman's "America." It was the perfect chance to present Larry to people who likely hadn't heard of him before. I'm not sure if I converted any fans, but it was pretty cool for me.
In the ten years since I've seen Larry live, he's had a stroke and other ailments, disallowing him to even play the guitar for a couple years earlier this decade. I've often wanted to see him one last time, as I'm older and more in tune with myself and the world. Seeing him perform was very limited in occurrence and distant in location; it just never really worked out. I'm very thankful and blessed that I was able to see him when I did.
Larry, thank you for the gift of your music, for the blessing of your message, and the convictions of your heart. You will be missed, but never forgotten.
Now that I've been a little lax in tracking down your albums, I suppose that those vinyl records going for $400 awhile back on eBay will be even harder to track down.
Here's a classic video of Larry, likely from the '80s:
At the time of his death, Norman had been working on a new project with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and Pixies frontman Frank Black, who cites Norman as a major influence. That music will be released later this year (Reuters).
Source: Wikipedia
Lunch Money
Last year when our firm was auditing our client in Alabama, they had lunch catered in every day. When we were back there for preliminary work in December, there was no catering. There was a change in management from the year before, so we can chalk it up to that. However, yesterday, when we were finishing up our year end work, I mentioned to one of the VP's of something that we weren't sure if we were going to have time for lunch because we had quite a bit to do before leaving for our late afternoon flight.
Without hesitation, she says that she'd get us a menu to a local deli and order it for us and have one of the girls go pick it up. So ok, I'm thinking "Yes! They're buying lunch for us!" Well, then Don is all, "are you supposed to give her your credit card...?" And I'm all, "no, man, she said she'd order it for us."
The more I got to thinking, I thought maybe that didn't necessarily mean she was paying for it. Well, when I went back to this VP's office with our order, I offered her my credit card fully expecting her to decline it. We didn't even do the whole "no, that's okay, I got it" "ohhh, are you sure?" exchange. Nope. She took my credit card and $20 later, I bought the audit team's lunch.
What the heck?
I Golf. I'm a Golfer.
One of my goals since I decided to be an accountant was to learn to golf. Well folks, I can grab the pencil to cross it off my list (but lets not cross it off quite yet).
I went to the driving range with my landlord, Stephen, last night and it turns out I'm not as bad as either of us thought. The cash register wasn't working, so they let us each take a free bucket of balls. Nice! We had a good time.
I told Don to bring his clubs to work today so that we could go afterwards. Over lunch I picked up a glove; I've found a new hobby.
Tonight I was a little sore, but I was more consistent than last night. I actually did pretty good. Stephen let me borrow his dead neighbors clubs which he acquired. It turns out they belonged to a John R. Fox, at least that's what the tag says. I'm using a dead dudes golf clubs. Creepy, right?
I think Don and I are going to go once more this week because we're both going to be out of town for awhile. Stephen and I will probably go this weekend, too. Hey, I only spent $5 tonight and had an hour of entertainment. You just can't beat that.
Happy Easter!
I know I'm a day early, but the weather is so nice today (bordering on h-o-t) that I just had to say....
Happy Easter!
No. 2 Thief, Part II
Before you read this, read Part I below.
Today I was in one of the accounting clerk's office and he was writing something out for me. The No. 2 Thief came in to ask me a question. She needed to make a note about it on her notepad. She left.
Accounting Clerk is about to continue what he was telling me...
"Where did my pen go? I always seem to be losing them."
"I think D**** [the No. 2 Thief] took it."
"I swear, she's a klepto. She's always taking my pens."
I laughed to myself as I walked away and though, "she struck again!" I took comfort in knowing I wasn't the only victim.
As I was in her office later this morning, I noticed it right there, sitting on her desk, the pencil she stole from me on Monday. While she was going on about something, all I could do is stare at my pencil. I had to let it go though. It's over. Left there in Oakland while I'm back here in Orange County.
Like I said, I'm over it.
No. 2 Thief
The accounting manager at the client Don and I are at this week in Oakland asked to borrow my pencil on Monday morning. She took it with her. I didn't see it the rest of the day.
Tuesday, she's in the room talking to Partner Joe, and Don motions to said accounting manager, then points to his hair and makes a writing gesture.
It's in her hair. My pencil is in her hair.
I don't even want it back now.
Today she comes in our room and starts to write on something with it.
Does she not wonder where she got this pencil from? I usually notice when I'm using a writing instrument that's not mine. And it's not like it's just another yellow pencil; it's a mechanical one. A red one at that.
I'm over it.
Survivor
So remember way back when CBS and Mark Burnett announced the production of "Survivor"? Well, obviously most of you are familiar with the concept of the show now. But back when the first news of this show was released, I genuinely thought it was going to be taken literal. I remember thinking, "wow, so people are really going to risk their lives for $1 million?"
I thought that the winner would be the only one who survives...literally. How messed up is that? Thankfully (?) it's not true, although I don't think it's outside of the real of possibility for a show to exist like that some day. Maybe on Pay Per View or something. If releases are signed waiving liability, what's illegal about it? Certainly something.
Anyways...back to studying.
My First Financial Statements
The main purpose of auditing companies is to express an opinion on their financial statements as to whether they are free of material misstatement and are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America.
You got that?
I recently had an opportunity to draft my first financial statements. Now normally, as a rookie accountant, you wouldn't get to do this for 2-3 years -- maybe more. But because our firm is short staffed and handling a lot of clients, I got the chance to gain some awesome experience.
The cool part is that we audit post-secondary institutions: trade schools, medical/health training schools, etc,. and these auditor's reports end up in the hands of the U.S. Department of Education. So they're kind of important. If the school doesn't get a favorable opinion from us, they could potentially lose their funding from the Fed and that would pretty much be the end of them. As far as I know though, our firm rarely if ever has to issue anything but an unqualified opinion.
We have a template that we use and we just plug in the final numbers. The footnotes to the financials need to be modified for each client, but we just roll that forward from the previous years financials and make any applicable changes. It's not too difficult, but like I said, in general, staff auditors would never ever get to do this at larger firms. Kinda nice. More pressure, but worth it in the end.
Anyways, my draft made it through two Partner reviews and is about to be issued next week.
After I've done this a few more times, I'm sure I'll be over it and wish I could go back to no responsibility.
Gimme a Brake!
In efforts to save myself some buck$, I had my boss/friend Ryan do my brakes last night. I sort of half-asked if he knew anyone who could help me out, and as a matter of fact, he could. From that point on, I sort of didn't want to bug him about it, but a couple of days later, he asked when we were going to do them, so I figured he was wanting to do it - not offering out of kindness.
What he thought would take only a couple of hours ended up taking closer to five. Just what everyone wants to do on a Monday night. The objective of the evening was to get my rotors turned and install new brake pads. Easy enough. Well, since Mable is in her golden years, some of her nuts and bolts are a little hard to jimmy loose. I bet Ryan literally spent 30 some minutes trying to get one of those suckers off. He attached a long metal pole to his wrench to get some leverage, and the wrench snapped and broke. Craftsman!
Just before giving up and calling it a night, he managed to get that thing loose. Blah, blah, blah....we got the rotors turned at Pep Boys, saw the loser service supervisor turn down replacing a granny's battery ("sorry, my car needs a battery, too. that's how busy we are" he says. boo.), went to Bill's Burgers for some burgers, blah blah and everything turned out fine.
There was more than a few times where I wished I had just gone to the mechanic, but after spending only $55 to have some good as new brakes, it was worth it. Best part is, it sounds like we're going to replace the front calipers next, then tackle the rears. I consider myself lucky. I'm going to save close to $1,000 when all is said and done.
Somehow I didn't think I needed a change of clothes after work; somehow I managed to help out and not get one smudge on my khakis. High five!
I Fought the Law (Still Am!)
Growing up male, middle-class, and white, I do have it pretty easy (studies show). I guess I can admit that that's true. However, I can't help but think that I still am being kept down by The Man in some ways just like everyone else. So when I have the opportunity to fight back, I take it.
Chew on this: I have two reasons for the CHiPs to pull me over. And for those of you who don't know who the CHiPs are, it's a television show from a long time ago, but also the California Highway Patrol. Anyways, these guys are all over the place on their bikes. Motor bikes. Now, back to my reasons.
I was pulled over last fall for some ridiculous reason. I was heading East when a police office heading West passed me, made a u-turn and pulled up behind me at a red light. We proceeded through 2-3 more intersections and traveled about 2 miles when he finally decides to turn on his cherries and stop me. His reason? My middle brake light is out.
But before we get to that conclusion, he asks me whose car I'm driving, what I'm doing in California (I have MN plates) if I've ever been arrested, and if I've ever been in jail. Not sure how any of that was relevant, but I like to humor these guys. When he realizes he's got nothing on me, he just tells me to fix my light. Okay, sure.
As time passes and I can't find the bulb I need, I decide I'm going to defy The Man and not get it fixed. No siree. I want to see if this particular cop was just being a turd cause he had nothing better to do, or if they actually do waste their time pulling people over for stupid stuff like that.
So check this out. I'm in downtown Los Angeles at a late hour in a desolate area driving an old(er) car with out of state plates and a cop pulls up behind me at a red light. The light turns green. We come to the next red light and sit there again. He has plenty of time to think about busting me for my brake light. My supposed lack of safety is staring at him straight in the face. Well, as we get going again, he turns on his lights and whizzes past me. As I finally catch up with him, he's stopped at some shady bar to back-up his fellow man on the force who's got a guy on the ground at gun point.
Since then, I've had numerous police peoples sitting right behind me at stoplights or just following behind me. Every time I brake with my lack of the middle brake light, I get nervous. But guess what? Nothing. No one has pulled me over. I bet it's been 6-8 times I've been followed with no resulting consequences.
My conclusion: the guy that pulled me over was being a tool.
Reason two to pull me over: My registration tags on my license plates expired in December. The rear one isn't even visible. Sure, I have the most current registration tags. My car is registered. I just haven't bothered to display them yet. I'm actually pretty surprised nothing has resulted from it; I would think that I draw extra attention being one of the few without California plates on.
So there you have it. My way of silent protest. I may not tag walls with graffiti, do illegal drugs, or even eat grapes at the supermarket without paying for them, but I am a bad___. I am sticking it to The Man. It may be only a matter of time before I suffer the consequences, or is it? I've already gone many months. In fact, a cop was tailing me for 6 blocks on the way home from work tonight. Nothing.
Some may say at this point, "knock on wood," but I don't believe in those old cliches.
Hopefully I have no updates to this story for a long time. Godspeed be unto me.
If you'd like to support my quest of fighting The Man, click on the Google Ad in the left pane. It may earn me $0.01.
Larry Norman (1947-2008)
It saddens me to report that a week ago today, Larry Norman, the Father of Christian Rock, passed away of heart failure.
Many/most of you have probably never heard of Larry Norman. He started his career back in the 1960s in San Francisco, California as part of the "Jesus Movement" while signed to Capitol Records and later MGM.
"[In] 1971, TIME magazine was reporting on the growth of the Jesus Movement, and while Larry Norman took some steps to distance himself from it, he had become the most popular musician among its followers. TIME Magazine reported that Eric Clapton had become a 'convert of the Jesus Movement,' and a 1971 cover article also named members of Peter, Paul, and Mary and Fleetwood Mac within its sphere of influence. Johnny Cash was also named."
Larry was also a huge influence in helping musicians break their drug habits. He started a Bible study called "The Vineyard" in the 1970s that was attended by actors and musicians. Most notably: Bob Dylan.
By the end of the '70s, Larry left the major labels and pursued a career as an independent artist. Throughout his career, his work has appeared on over 90 albums. Van Morrison as well as John Mellencamp have claimed to be fans of Larry and over 300 artists have covered his songs, including Sammy Davis, Jr.
Larry's had problems with his heart for decades. Surgery after surgery have been performed, although it was usually just a struggle to even get into the operating room. Costly operations are difficult to pay for when you're an independent musician with no health insurance. Larry had to rely primarily on the financial support of his fans to cover his medical expenses.
I was introduced to Larry Norman's music back in 1995 or so. My sister Krysti was dating my now brother-in-law Marc, who was also my youth pastor at the time. Marc had been a fan of Larry's music for years and was quite eager to share that fanaticism with a new generation (me).
In May of 1996, Marc and I journeyed to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, just outside of Toronto, to see Larry. It was my first time, Marc's too, if I recall. We drove over 13 hours overnight to get there. We arrived at the venue about 4 hours before the show and were pretty much the only attendees around. The promotor heard how far we'd traveled, and reserved two seats front and center just for us. It was a pretty amazing experience considering the history and influence of Larry's message and his music. It was also a reminder of how fragile his health was, even then. Forty-eight at the time, he already had had major heart surgery more than once. He had to stop the concert halfway through due to a bout of coughing and to go take some heart meds. After thirty or so minutes, though, he came back out and finished his set.
Marc and I had the opportunity to meet him afterwards. I don't remember much about it, being 15ish at the time, but I do remember that Larry was very low-key and happy just to be able to talk to his fans about what's going on in their lives, his music, or anything really. It was quite an experience. Something I'll never forget.
I'm not sure the timeline, but maybe a year later, Larry was performing in Iowa somewhere. Marc and I badly wanted to see him again, and knowing how (un)healthy he was, knew we'd better take the chance when we had it. This time we brought along my sister, Marc's wife, so she could experience the magic. She wasn't the hugest fan of Larry's before she saw him live; most people aren't. He doesn't have the most radio-friendly voice or anything. But after she saw him in person, she came to appreciate the artist that Larry truly is: goofy at times, but at his core, a genuine human being who had the gift of influencing people with his message and music.
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to pick a song to present to my english class. We were looking at music and the meaning behind the words in the songs. I chose Larry Norman's "America." It was the perfect chance to present Larry to people who likely hadn't heard of him before. I'm not sure if I converted any fans, but it was pretty cool for me.
In the ten years since I've seen Larry live, he's had a stroke and other ailments, disallowing him to even play the guitar for a couple years earlier this decade. I've often wanted to see him one last time, as I'm older and more in tune with myself and the world. Seeing him perform was very limited in occurrence and distant in location; it just never really worked out. I'm very thankful and blessed that I was able to see him when I did.
Larry, thank you for the gift of your music, for the blessing of your message, and the convictions of your heart. You will be missed, but never forgotten.
Now that I've been a little lax in tracking down your albums, I suppose that those vinyl records going for $400 awhile back on eBay will be even harder to track down.
Here's a classic video of Larry, likely from the '80s:
At the time of his death, Norman had been working on a new project with Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock and Pixies frontman Frank Black, who cites Norman as a major influence. That music will be released later this year (Reuters).
Source: Wikipedia
Lunch Money
Last year when our firm was auditing our client in Alabama, they had lunch catered in every day. When we were back there for preliminary work in December, there was no catering. There was a change in management from the year before, so we can chalk it up to that. However, yesterday, when we were finishing up our year end work, I mentioned to one of the VP's of something that we weren't sure if we were going to have time for lunch because we had quite a bit to do before leaving for our late afternoon flight.
Without hesitation, she says that she'd get us a menu to a local deli and order it for us and have one of the girls go pick it up. So ok, I'm thinking "Yes! They're buying lunch for us!" Well, then Don is all, "are you supposed to give her your credit card...?" And I'm all, "no, man, she said she'd order it for us."
The more I got to thinking, I thought maybe that didn't necessarily mean she was paying for it. Well, when I went back to this VP's office with our order, I offered her my credit card fully expecting her to decline it. We didn't even do the whole "no, that's okay, I got it" "ohhh, are you sure?" exchange. Nope. She took my credit card and $20 later, I bought the audit team's lunch.
What the heck?
