The Mark vs Pete Challenge!

So I challenged Pete to a contest the other day and I'm hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, (that statement will be more funny here in a sec). You see Pete & I are the two especially blessed members of Sanctus Real. We are the two who aren't naturally skinny mini. We both love to eat good food and aren't necessarily the biggest fans of running, the consequence of which is a little bit of belly. So here's the deal: I challenged Pete to a contest to lose 20 pounds by Sept 1st. If one of us doesn't do it, that dude has to pay the other big $, we haven't decided how much.
I'm already figuring out that my eating habits are worse than I've realized as I've spent the last two days watching closely what I consume as well as having to resist eating things and/or large portions of things I normally wouldn't think twice about. It's about time though, I am 31 now. I've got a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids and I declare in the name of Jesus Christ that, as long as it is the Lord's will, I will live plenty long enough to see all of them live out their lives. I will not cut myself short because I was too undisciplined early on to maintain healthy habits. In Jesus' name I WILL see 85 years of age at least! (Unless Christ comes back before that. I'd be just fine with that too). So anyways,on a lighter note, this is your warning that Pete and I are going to be looking pretty great in the new record's cd packaging. Maybe we'll even give Chris a run for his money. So pray for us that God would give us the grace to not bite off more than can, (or should), chew and that we will both have success in our goal of 20 lbs lost. (Which would be good because if I lose I don't actually have any money that I can pay Pete with. Don't tell Pete that).
Oh yea, my official weigh in is 171. So the goal is 151. I'll keep you posted ;-)

My wife is awesome! She's making me blog!

So let me tell you all how awesome my wife is; she just handed me my computer and said, "Here, blog!". I of course responded with my typical stubborn, dumb attitude by saying, "Blog about what!?!" I was just kidding really, I like writing blogs but it just seems to take me longer and longer to find that perfect combination of inspiration + motivation + time I need to actually sit down and write. Apparently though there is a new blogging app for the iPhone that Matt was telling me about the other day. I guess you can upload pic's and everything. So I'm going to find that app and then I'll bet my blogging consistency will increase 50% because I will be capable of writing a blog anywhere anytime.
So tonight was a good night; we threw my Mom a surprise birthday party at Max & Erma's, she's now 55. Her kids, kid-in-laws, grandkids, brother, sisters and two sister-in-laws all got together to honor her. It was pretty great bringing her into the restaurant and seeing the look on her face when everyone yelled surprise. Good times.
Now Susan and I are sitting on the couch watching an episode of Alfred Hitchcock. It's pretty amusing. I'll probably be going to bed soon, we have church in the morning. We go to Toledo Vineyard and love it. It's one of those churches where you're allowed to just be yourself and nobody looks down on you for it ever, no matter how messed up you are. It's a safe place where I feel loved. It's nice to have a church like that to go to with my family when I'm not on the road. If you're interested at all in checking it out here's the churches website:
Our Christmas tree is still up, I wonder how it will be before Susan wants to take it down. I'll bet we'll end up taking it down tomorrow because I'd rather wait until Monday;)
I think I'm going to try and get all the drumheads on my drum kit changed tomorrow because we're scheduled to go to Nashville and record a song with a new producer that we've never worked with before. We're going to see if he's the guy we want to do the next record with. So yea, it's true; next Thursday & Friday we will be recording the first song for the next Sanctus Real record. I'm already quite excited about this record because Matt has been writing a lot and the demo's he's been sending to us are great. We also got together and jammed as a band last week for the first and ended up writing two really cool songs. So things are starting nicely, hopefully that "flow" will only increase as we get further into this project.
Alright, so at this point I've just simply decided that I'm going to make this the most random blog ever because that's pretty much how it's turning out anyway so lastly; here's one of my most favorite drum videos of all time: