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Every time I go to a concert, I come home wondering why I don’t do it more often. Last night I took Randy Raus’s son Zack and his friend to see O.A.R. at the Celebrity Theater near downtown Phoenix. The theater looks like a concrete UFO permanently stationed in a sun-baked parking lot. Inside probably holds a couple thousand people. It’s a theater in the round: a circular center stage that spins so everyone has a good seat.

I can’t stop thinking about last night. I’d never heard of Jack’s Mannequin, but they were awesome. I’ve listened to them all morning. I’d listened to O.A.R. a few times and I knew I liked them, but seeing them live was such a richer experience of their music. Everyone in the band looked like they were in their twenties, but they had a sound so tight, you would think they’ve played together for decades. It was awesome. Every person in that room had a great time. Even the stiff security guards couldn’t resist swaying and bobbing their heads.;

It makes me wonder how many experiences I’ve missed out on. I spent my whole childhood in a town where nothing happened, and I’ve lived in cities ever since I graduated high school. I forget that one of the most exciting parts of living in a city is the variety of entertainment.

I wish Candyce couldn’t been there to do the whole thing with me. I’ll have to make an effort to see some concerts this summer when I am out in San Diego.

It’s a little after nine on Sunday morning. Summer is here in Phoenix. There’s a heat advisory around the city. It’s quite interesting witness thes hot days as an outsider. Everyone goes out and does their business in the first half of the day. After noon, there are not many cars on the roads, nobody’s on the sidewalks, and there’s no more landscapers clipping hedges.

Well last night the Suns lost game six against the Dallas Mavericks. So the season is over for us. Last night before we drove downtown to watch the game, I told Angela and Candyce that there are 60 teams, 60 cities of fans who wish they could be where we are today. So regardless of whether we win or lose, we need to enjoy this.

Candyce and I sitting at Majerle’s Sports Grill downtown next to the arena.

It was hard to lose the game, especially when we were up by 18 at one point. But when you get this far in the playoffs, the opponent is so good that you never have a safe lead. You can lose a lead even when you are playing excellent. The other team could just be playing more excellent.

After the game, the three of us walked over to the parking deck where the players pull out. It was a good feeling to see the other fans there, especially the families. It was fun to see dorky moms able to be excited about as their junior high daughters. There were black people, Mexicans, and whites. All the guys pulled out of the deck slowly and took time to give one final wave to the fans. Leandro Barbosa, Shawn Marion, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Steve Nash. It was great.

We got home and watched the TNT post game show, and it was interesting to hear how different the guys talked about the Suns. I guess now it’s okay to say what they couldn’t say before, because people would think they were biased. But they are fans of the game too.

Charles Barkly slowed down and got a little reflective:

“It’s cool for me living here in Phoenix because I get to watch Steve Nash play a lot. Like I said earlier, if you don’t like Steve Nash, you don’t like basketball. He’s fun to watch. He’s a great guy.”

Magic Johnson is a smart, well-spoken man. Someone else could say the same words, but nobody can say it like Magic.

“Everybody in the league now wants to copy how Phoenix is playing. They are the most exciting to watch. Steve Nash is one of the most exciting players in the NBA. Also, he brought back now the true point guard to the game. I’m so happy Steve Nash is playing; so now everybody else is out; trying to get a Steve Nash so the game can be beautiful to watch again. Steve Nash makes the game fun, makes it beautiful. Especially point guards like me, thank you Steve Nash for an unbelievable season.”

This season has truly inspired me. The Suns were a team maligned with injuries that nobody thought would make it to the playoffs. But with Nash as a leader, the team was able to do more together than they could ever do by themselves. This makes me wonder if I’m doing a good job as a leader. Do I make the people around me better?

The Wedding and the Reception

Candyce finished her semester-from-hell three weeks ago, but she’s been under a lot of stress to find a place for our wedding reception before she leaves for her summer internship in California. It’s easy for me to shrug this off because it doesn’t really matter, but it does matter. You want to have a good party, and that’s not going to happen in a dull hotel ballroom.

We moved some things around and we have booked a the reception at this STUNNING outdoor garden. This place is so beautiful that I don’t even know where to start. I don’t have enough room to describe the fountains and plants. But what matters most is that you walk in the place, and you instantly feel good. You want to walk around and explore. You don’t want to leave because it’s so charming. Candyce and I are very blessed.

Landscaping the New House

Looking at all of these wedding reception places has helped my imagination explode with ideas for redoing the landscaping in the new house. These gardens have helped me shed the last bit of expectation of what you do with the dirt behind your house. Who decided you need an under-used patch of grass surrounded by gravel? That’s dumb as hell.

I want shady patios, outdoor fireplaces, and cozy places to sit and watch a Suns game. I need to learn how to do masonry so I can make walls, arches, and planters. It’s going to be so much fun. And what makes; this even more fun, is that I’ll be living there with Candyce.

Then there is the house itself that needs work. Right now the house is slightly Spanish, and I’m ready to go all of the way and make it entirely Spanish. Spanish is not as hip as Tuscan in Phoenix right now. But I know that if I do it right, the house will look old but new…and still harmonious with the rest of the city. To achieve the Spanish look, I have to neutralize some architectural details (brick) and play up others (arches.) The house is going the right direction, but it needs to be steered to get it to the right destination.

Crash

Last night Candyce and I rented two movies that people told me I should see: March of the Penguins and Crash. We watched Crash first, because I know Candyce gets sensitive the later the night goes, and I’d rather get through the intense movie first. What a cool movie. It’s such a creative way to show how people judge one another, regardless of age, race, or sex. You really don’t know where people are coming from or what they deal with each day.

I rent a movie about twice a year. I usually watch movies on airplanes or in the theater. Walking along the wall of new releases at Blockbuster was a little startling. I mean, half of the wall of 1000 DVDs had a boob or a booty on the cover. A quarter had some gruesome monster or a deranged killer. I know that once you get into those movies, they usually aren’t as extreme as the cover suggested. But still, you wonder what’s wrong with our society where lust and fear are the only thing that will get someone to buy your crap.

Suns Fans Everywhere

It’s so exciting to see Suns fans all over the city. Everywhere I look I see people wearing jerseys of their favorite players: Nash, Marion, Stat, House, Bell. A sports town is a more harmonious place to live. When I wear my Suns hat, I have new friends waiting to talk to me everywhere I go. I don’t care how ghetto or arrogant someone may be acting, I say one thing about the Suns and we are friends. No judgment. Just fans.

(Random: I just spent the last three minutes ranting with the coffee shop manager and a guy wearing a Marion jersey. This whole place got silent as we barked about the big game from different corners of the room.)

Tonight is game six her at Phoenix, and we have to win or the whole season is over. We’ve played well in every game that we’ve had to win, so we’re all praying we can do the same tonight.

It’s hard to get up in the morning and go to work, mostly because there is so much work to do. So many things are changing in our ministry–which is good–but change takes time. So I have to be patient. (Which I don’t like to do.) It’s hard to make true progress when so many things are uncertain. You can’t build a house when the foundation is still drying. I feel like our foundation is always wet.

Becoming a sports fan again will help me do better work. I’ve wanted to have more sports-related content on lifeteen.com, but it was too hard for me to follow any sport because I was traveling too much. I could have read the headlines in the paper in between cities, but sports are meant to be watched, not read about.;

It could be a fun year to recruit writers who will write features that are related to sports. Sometimes our articles are only related to church. I mean, it’s church people talking about church stuff to help us be more churchy. And I just don’t like that. I want to see where the Gospel connects to the world.

Most of the websites that I keep up about web design itself. It’s talented people showing off their talent. And this is where most design trends come from. What I’m interested to see is how design connects with sports, whether it is on websites, team logos, or in magazines. I’ve grabbed a couple ESPN magazines while traveling this year, and I have to admit that is one cool publication. Once I move into my new house, I’m going to get a subscription.

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I’m kind of embarrassed and excited about how quickly I can become a fan. I’m just excited about life and everything in it. Right now, I want to become a sports writer or; a team owner. I’d like to see how to lead an organization that big. When I watch Bobby Flay cook on the food network, I want to be a chef. I become a student of the trade. I take notes during the show, I watch old shows again. I rewind shows. I practice it out on the grill.

After working on my house, I want to be an architect or a landscape designer. When I’m out to lunch in Arcadia, I want to be a restauranteur, creating clever restaurant concepts and pleasing crowds with atmosphere, food, and service.; Other times I want to build hot rods or choppers.

Somehow in the middle of this I’ve forgotten that I’m already a web designer and an aspiring fashion designer.