Run, don't walk, to Muddy's. Seriously. Now.

Saturdays are always incredible. Yesterday was no exception. Liss and I woke up late, took the dogs on a walk and after that... well, pretty much just hung out all afternoon except for playing Wii (Liss surprised me with it on Friday!).

After relaxing, we met up with Matt and Mary Jane to grab some dinner at Bosco's, and if not for the incredible dessert at Muddy's, I'd probably be writing about the great pizza (Germantown Purist).

We wrapped up dinner around 7:30, so we piled into Stella in search of something sweet. Matt told us a few weeks ago about a review in the Commercial Appeal that gushed over this new bake shop, so we decided to give it a try.

Two things immediately grab your attention when you walk in.

The first is that the mixers on the counter are covered in flour, utensils are scattered neatly (is that possible?) and there are dishes sitting near the back of the kitchen waiting to be washed. In other words, the bake shop actually baked all of its own goodies (and not just that morning).

The second is the smell. If you want to make an obscene amount of money, find a way to bottle that smell and sell it as a perfume. I don't even know how to describe it except to say that the shop smells as good as its products taste, and that says a lot.

Anyway, we pick out some cupcakes to try, grab some coffee and sit down (by the way, the cupcakes are $1.50 - an amazing steal if you ask me). We'd heard good things about Muddy's, and I've got to say, it did not even come close to disappointing. The first bite completely redefined my view on cupcakes, and baked goods for that matter. You should stop reading right now and go get one (you've got 8 minutes - Muddy's is open until 11:00 most days). You're not going to understand how good the cupcakes are until you taste them for yourself. We'll probably need to start a support group, because I'm addicted.

To top it all off, we heard the owner of Muddy's Bake Shop (Kat Gordon) chatting away with curious customers about how she bakes all of her little bundles of joy. She seemed to be a genuinely cheerful, kind person, and after tasting the delicious products she's creating, I wish her all the success in the world.

She's not paying me for an endorsement, but if I started getting a dozen cupcakes delivered to my door every Monday, you wouldn't hear me complaining.

In closing, go there. Now. 2 minutes left.

Visit the Muddy's website here: http://www.muddysbakeshop.com

God Bless Capitalism

So here's the deal. Liss and I have a budget with which we try to be very disciplined (the Exploder is only going to last so long), so today I was reviewing our online statement. When I logged off, I was more than a little surprised.

I find an ad (see below) encouraging me to lock in a "jumbo loan at a great rate."

Considering the major crisis that most major financial institutions are facing (namely because of the real-estate fallout), you'd think that Wachovia would have something better to do than trying to rope someone into borrowing more money than they have any business applying for, but apparently you'd be wrong. I've got to say, I think this practice is despicable.

Sure, encourage people to explore their options for loans. Tell them you've got great rates, fine. A "jumbo loan" though? Seriously? I know there's nothing morally wrong with the ad, but I'm just asking for a tiny bit of ethical integrity from my bank. I certainly don't see it being expressed in this ad.

I think I'm done now.

Maybe.

Kansas Sucks, Cars, Roll Tide, 30 Rock and more

Where to begin? Maybe the NCAA tournament...

I still can't believe that Memphis lost to Kansas. That's how it happened, by the way. Kansas didn't beat Memphis. Memphis lost.

I don't think you can say that any group of college age athletes choked. I mean, they don't get paid to play the game, so you can't hold them to a professional standard of failure. John Calipari gets paid pretty decent money to make sure that the team can close out games. I'm still dumbfounded as to why he didn't call a timeout when Memphis was up by 3 in the final seconds of regulation. I imagine he'll be wishing he'd used that timeout from now until... well, a long time. My heart goes out to the Mays who were able to travel to San Antonio at the last minute to see the game only to see their beloved team collapse just seconds short of the national championship.

On the lighter side of things, Stella (our Dodge Stratus - see story below) is healed. The Shell station stepped up and did the right thing to pay for the repairs (mind you they made it clear that they were doing it as a courtesy NOT as an indemnification). Anyway, Stella got her groove back, and we're grooving all the way to Tuscaloosa this weekend.

Speaking of which, Liss and I are uber-pumped about seeing the Tide play in the A-Day Game this weekend. Reading about the team online, it seems like our receivers have had mixed-results in the first two scrimmages, so it'll be fun to be able to make some (completely inaccurate, I'm sure) judgements on how the new offense is coming along. 

Is there a funnier show than 30 Rock on television right now? I've only been able to watch a few episodes, but I've found myself laughing out loud (much to Nola and Allie's chagrin) more often than not. Of course, we're gearing up for the new episode of The Office that's coming on in about 5 minutes, so I could be retracting this post shortly.

Lastly, we're about to eat some Knock-ya-Naked cake, and I think the euphoria is about to make my legs go numb. Or maybe I pinched a nerve in my back... Either way, I'm about to instantly gain 10 pounds, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Finally some answers!

So here's one of the beautiful things about working for a business that is affiliated with the Church - you see some very weird stuff. Especially when we work on so many website projects, we run into some very weird ideas.

From bad church websites  (the animated .gif with spinning Jesus wasn't cool 10 years ago, much less now) to weird children's ministry videos (www.booples.com, if you go please watch the preview of the episode Not Curly, But Straight), there are some outrageous concoctions out there floating around the intertubez.

Of course, no one is surprised, after all everyone knows that the Internet is the breeding ground of all things weird, stupid or just plain outrageous. Around the office, anytime we find something particularly disturbing or funny we'll pass the link around for everyone to get a good chuckle, and today we found a gem.

iGod. Repenting made easy.

The website simulates a chat room type experience with God. To be fair, the opening page warns you that you should enter with a sense of humor, and if you can get past the sacrilegious preconceptions, it actually is quite funny. I've posted a couple of screenshots of my conversations for your amusement.

Want to have a go with igod yourself? Go nuts.

I'll also try to make it a regular habit of posting some of the more absurd stuff we come across.