The Top 100 CCM Albums of All Time - Introduction

That's all I've got.  Just a title.  Well, perhaps a little more.  

I read about Burlap to Cashmere's debut album on someone's top something list and my local library didn't have it.  Sure, I could listen to it on UberTuber but I'm old skool and don't have a streaming service.  "Put that one in the ol' failing memory banks," I told myself.  But a week later I saw a physical CD for $1 at a thrift store.  Why not?

Now this entry isn't about Burlap to Cashmere.  I've only heard it once and I doubt it's going to scratch my sonic itch, but since it is two days away from 2021 it started me reviewing my creative output from (wretch) 2020 and what I might want to do in 2021.  To that end, I decided to make a top 52 list of albums from my CCM collection, one a week to keep me on task.

Except when I started reviewing my nerdy database and this here blog I realized that I had already kind of started it.  Whoops!  At this point in time I have 108 albums that rated a 9, 10, or 11 and I've already reviewed 28 of 'em.  In looking at the list I find myself asking "Where's this album?  Why did I rate that album a 9 and this one an 8?  What happened with my life?" and other things.  So the remaining 80 might get condensed, with a few others sprinkled in.  It will be a surprise for both of us, and if there's anything 2020 has taught us is that surprises are always a good thing.

The Great Pizza Adventure #3 - Hungry Howies

Despite it being around for years I've never had a pizza from Hungry Howie's so I was, well, excited isn't quite the word.  I mean, it's just pizza.  How about "I was hopefully curious"?

Ordering via online was pretty straightforward, except that once it seems to skip back and I had to reclick on the cart icon to finish my order.  The pie was ready in the stated 20 minutes and there was no problem with me getting the pizza despite me not wearing the required mask.  The employee, I should note, WAS wearing a mask and we were separated by a piece of virus-killing plexiglass, so all is right with the world.

My pizza of choice was the $7.99 ($8.63 with tax) single topping carry out special with half pepperoni and half sausage. And here it is!

13 pepperonies and 44 of what looks like burnt rat turds.  That exceeds the mediocre Dominoes.  It weighed in at 37 ounces and spanned a mighty 13.5 inches across, or 143 square inches of lunch.  The proof is below:

Hungry Howie's "thing" is their flavored crust topping.  I picked herbed garlic and it was indeed a nice addition... quite flavorful!  The cheese didn't seem cheap and there was plenty of it.  The meats had a mild flavor with a tiny extra ZING of flavor on the tail end of the sausage but neither were anything to text home about.  The crust without the seasoning was just okay.  It wasn't soggy or crispy, just seemingly there to hold the toppings.  And the sauce was in good proportions, although it gave me slight heartburn both on the day I bought the pizza and on the following day when I had the leftovers... but that's probably just because I'm staring 50 in the face.

Overall it was better than Dominoes but still a fairly average pizza.  It didn't have any kind of magic crack seasonings that had me pushing aside old people to reach for another piece. 

 

So how about those stats?

Weight: 37 oz

Diameter: 13.5" 

Cost: $8.63

Service:6

Crust:7 (would be a 5 but the ridge crust flavoring saved it)

Sauce:5

Toppings: 6 (quantity) + 4 (flavor) / 2 = 5

Value: 7 (23 cents per ounce) / 6.0 cents per square inch

                  Overall Score:6.2

                   Flavor Score: 5.3

At least I'm on the upswing with this pizza adventure!  Who knows what 2021 has in store?  Wait!  Er, after 2020 I'm not sure I want to know.

Note: I've seen coupons that would take this down to $6.99 plus tax, which would make it an amazing deal.  If I can overcome the heartburn dilemma I'll definitely patronize Hungry Howie's again.

 

Biscuits and Gravy Review : Wendys

After many years of internal recipe development and market testing Wendy's recently decided to get into the breakfast game.  AND biscuits and sausage gravy is on the menu!

Eventually I skeedaddled to the nearest Wendy's and said "GRUB ME UP!"

And they did.  Pricewise it was on par with Hardees, without the $1.99 Hardees coupon.  The biscuit was decent, about one point lower than Hardees.  The gravy was creamy and of a decent amount and there were actually nice sausage bits in there.  Flavorwise it was once again trailing Hardees by a point.  The biggest problem, though, was the tray.

Look at all that wasted gravy stuck in those crevices!  I was tempted to try to lick it out but it wasn't THAT good.  Based on this serving I'd definitely get this again... unless there was a Hardees nearby.

Which is what I did a few months later.  I was on the south end of town and needed a quick breakfast when I spied a Wendy's.  Alrighty then!  I was in luck!

Not.  So.  Quick.

The biscuit and gravy that I got this time was a completely different beast*.  This was a few months ago and I'm going from memory but I remember the gravy being thinner, there was barely any sausage and, I kid you not, the biscuits had a faint scent of cigarette smoke.  On a normal day I would have tossed them or gone back for my money but I was going to be doing a decent amount of physical labor that morning with no access to food... so I'm ashamed to say that I choked the whole mess down.

I live in a part of town that was developed in the early 1970s.  It's not well-to-do but it once was and it's decent and relatively safe.  The south end of town has a reputation of having problems so it's likely the Wendy's there can't get good help and yes, someone was probably smoking when they made my biscuits.  But last week I was on the west end of town which, while not as lah-tee-dah as the north end of town is still pretty ritzy and about twenty years ago was the hot spot of the city.  So when I found myself with time and hunger one morning I decided to give Wendy a chance to redeem herself.

 

This was much more like the Southtown Wendy's than the Georgetown Wendy's by my house.  The gravy was thin, the sausage sparse, and the biscuits... the biscuits were dense, flavorless sponges.  Well, there was a kind of odd aftertaste... This time I didn't finish even half of the serving even though there was no trace of cigarette smoke.  Lucky me!

Because of the inconsistent quality I don't think I can assign numbers to these.  I also don't think I'm going to risk getting breakfast at Wendy's, even at the one by my house.  Go ahead... compare the first and last pictures.  Do they look even remotely like they were made from the same recipe?

Oh Wendy... whatever did I do to you to deserve this?

* Sorry kids... no pictures of this one.

The Great Pizza Adventure #2 - Domino's

When I get a hankerin' for take-out pizza Domino's is not my choice.  I don't have any political axe to grind against them, it's just not what my taste buds crave.  However it's been a number of years since their pizza graced my mouth so let's see if anything changed.

I ordered online after 12:30 on a weekday and found the website to be a bit clunky.  It was easy to order my pizza but I had to click through an annoying number of pages where I had to decline add-ons or donations to organizations.  Then it wouldn't let me order as a guest so I had to put in my personal information.  Not cool, pizza dudes.

My pizza was ready about ten minutes after I ordered.  El yeah!  Actually picking up the pizza was quick and easy, so that offsets the wonky web site just a bit.  The best coupon I could find was a two topping pizza for $8.99 ($9.62 including tax).  Methinks it was advertised as a large.

So... what's in the box?  It looks pretty yummy and smells good.  Without the box it weighed 29.2 ounces and was 11.5 inches across, about 104 square inches of pizza.   

There wasn't much sauce (I like a lot of sauce) and what there was didn't have much flavor.  Still, the pizza was far from dry and far from greasy... a very nice middle.  The crust had a good crunch but again, lacked any strong character.  It was about this time that I remembered that the reason why I didn't usually order from Domino's is that the pizza is merely two steps away from bland.  It's good, mind you (better than almost every frozen pizza) but not even close to "party in your mouth" great. 

As best as I can count, my pizza had 22 pepperonis and around 30 pieces of sausage.  Adequate.  The flavor of these was the highlight of the pie but even though it was not mind-blowing.  I ended up eating half the pizza for lunch (with the last piece sprinkled with garlic powder for more taste-bud happiness) and my belly was happy.

So how about those stats?

Weight: 29.2 oz

Diameter: 11.5" 

Cost: $9.62

Service:5

Crust:7

Sauce:5

Toppings: 5 (quantity) + 6 (flavor) / 2 = 5.5

Value: 5 (33 cents per ounce) / 9.3 cents per square inch

                  Overall Score:5.5

                  Flavor Score: 6.0

Congratulations Domino's... you beat Pizza King.  That's not really something to brag about but there you go.

October 2021 Update:

I needed to pick up a pizza to take to someone who was helping me out with a wood working project and the closest place to his house was a Dominoes.... on the south side of town... a few hundred yards away from the Wendys that served me biscuits and gravy that tasted like cigarettes.

So yeah, I was a bit hesitant.  I ordered online and was reminded at how horrible the Dominoes web site is.  I had to decline four up-sales offers... I JUST WANT A PIZZA!!!!  I picked 12:15 for pickup and arrived at 12:05.  Surely it would be early, right?  These places are ALWAYS earlier than the 15-20 minute estimate.  Not this time, Sherlock!  However at 12:15 on the nose my pizza came out of the oven, so at least it was night and hot.  No pictures or measurements but I've gotta say that the south location makes a very good pizza!  The crust had a nice crunch, there were ample toppings, and overall it tasted very good, possible a 7.0 on the ol' Flavor Score.  Kuddos, Dominoes!

The Great Pizza Adventure #1 - Pizza King

Yeah, it's about that time again... time that I find another series with which to occupy my time and give me a reason to write, no matter how triffling.  And so, being sent permanently home to work (they closed my physical office) I decided to see if I could find the best pizza in my zip code.  It turns out there were only a couple in my zip code so I expanded it to the immediate area, just because I'm nice that way.

As with the Great Gravy Adventure (post-named) I need to come up with some criteria, which shall become apparent as I ramble on.  Plus I'm sure it will change as I think of more things.  In fact, I've already had regrets on my first pie.  Well, the very first regret was the pizza place itself.  Pizza King.  Next to Little Caesars, this is the place I most dread.  I've only been to Pizza King a few times in my life and I've been disappointed every time.  But for you, dear reader, I shall soldier on.

Why start low?  Now there's (almost) no place to go but up! Plus I had a coupon!  Yes, part of my criteria is to get the cheapest pizza they have on special and see how they all stack up.  Pizza King had an 8" PIZZA FEAST for $7.09 (plus tax, of course).  If possible my intent is to get a small size pizza from each place with half pepperoni and half sausage but apparently the Pizza Feast is a supreme.  No biggie... I've liked supreme pizzas ever since I started paying on a mortgage.  For the record, a small (10") one topping pizza would have been $8.69.

I ordered at 12:20 and was put "on hold" for three minutes, meaning the guy set the phone down and took care of someone in the store.  The order was then taken and it was indeed ready 15-20 minutes later.  I think he was the only employee working.  Did I mention that this particular Pizza King is half of a gas station so it's small?  I mean, uck from the outside but inside the place was actually very nice and you wouldn't know you were sharing a roof with a petrol dispensery.<

When he brought my pizza at first I thought it was a joke.  I mean, I knew it was 8" but it seemed much smaller than that.  

Of course I had my handy dandy l'il scale.  Press the Tare button, later subtract the weight of the packaging, and you have a pizza weight of 11.3 ounces.  Just... 11.3 ounces... for seven bucks.  A Tombstone pizza is $3 and it's durned near 21 ounces... but it's just a frozen pizza.  However a Freschetta, on sale for $5, is 26 ounces and I KNOW that's good.  Alright, Pizza King, show me what you've got. 

Looks like what you've got comes up a little short.  I was hard pressed to find a measurement of 8" so once again, disappointment reigns at Pizza King.

In my shock I forgot to take an unobscured picture of the pizza so this, and the next photo, will have to do.  So let's talk about this pizza... the crust was crunchy, though it did have some chewy bits.  Honestly it was like a Jeno Party Pizza.  The sauce was underwhelming, like it wanted to have flavor but just didn't know how.   The amount of toppings was quite good and they kept up to their motto of "good to the edge", or at least they had toppings to the edge.  But this also gave it a Party Pizza vibe... not a good thing.  As for the flavor of the toppings, well, like everything about this pizza it just seemed to fall a bit short.  Maybe it I had put some garlic powder on top or parmesan cheese or even some salt it would have fared better.  'Tis a pity.

As for the "Feast", I ate the entire thing on my short drive home and immediately made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  If I spend $7.66 on lunch I'd better be blown away by the flavor or I'd better be very full.  It's probably a good thing I didn't end up with a larger pizza because then I'd have made myself eat the entire unsatisfactory thing, which would have led to further regret.

 

 

So how about those stats?

Weight: 11.3 oz

Diameter: 7.75" 

Cost: $7.66

Service:2

Crust:3

Sauce:3

Toppings: 6 (quantity) + 4 (flavor) / 2 = 5

Value: 1 (68 cents per ounce) / 16.2 cents per square inch

Overall Score: 2.8

Flavor Score: 3.3

Pizza King, I hereby dub thee THE KING OF DISAPPOINTMENT!  I wouldn't be surprised if even Little Ceasers scores better.

 

Metaphor Time

This past spring I picked up a box of wildflower seeds from Dollar Tree. It was on a whim, but aren’t most purchases from Dollar Tree? I didn’t really have a spot in mind but then I remembered the field behind our house, one that is attached to an elementary school but is mostly a field of grass with one ball diamond and an area that is sometimes used as a soccer field. There are a couple of sections of bare dirt ten feet or so off a roadway, sunbaked and barren, but I figured why not?

One evening the kids and I hacked into the hard earth with shovels, not really breaking down farther than a couple of inches. We didn’t really work that hard at it because it was only a buck. Then they sprinkled the seeds and the mix inside the box seemed to be mostly perlite filler, but again, just a buck. Then we raked over the seeds and I lugged a couple of five gallon buckets of water over from my house to get the seeds settled in. Some spring rains provided the rest of the water and a week or two later, after the mowing crew did their first mow, we gathered up a few armloads of grass to make a rather incomplete mulching. Over the next few weeks we would check our garden in the field when walking over to the playground but nothing was happening and we soon forgot about it.

Fast forward to July. Where we live July is dry and hot, the time when you stop mowing the lawn for a few weeks because it’s not growing. One morning while taking a walk I was going past our barren plot and it occurred to be to check. I wasn’t wearing my glasses so I walked down the ditch from the roadway and over to the forgotten garden. There were flowers! Scraggly, spindly things holding on for life, but there they were, pops of color growing out of what was little more than dried mud.

My mind was turned to prayer and God’s overflowing goodness. I’ll pray for something for a day or two and then saunter off on my merry way, forgetting my request. But behind the scenes God is often working while I do nothing. And then BLAMMO! FLOWERS! I don’t know how many times I had even forgotten that I’d asked for flowers or wasn’t even looking for them to bloom and passed them on by. Or if I see them I don’t put two and two together and fail to thank the One who answers prayers with blessings.

Make up your own allusions for this next part. They started mowing the field and the first couple of times they mowed around the patch of dirt. But eventually a government employee mowed zoomed over the top, nipping off the flower heads. Fear not… one week later and these stubborn plants were beginning to flower again.

May 5, 2020

Even though the government is graciously allowing us to slowly recover our rights I'm still working in my basement. My cold basement. Sure, I could put in a heater but A) The room I'm in isn't small so I'll be paying to heat up a large space and B) the heat will just head upstairs after a cursory nod in my direction. So each day I put on a long sleeved flannel shirt over my t-shirt* and head into the darkness. I've got three bright lights on here, plus the one in the fishtank (hello fish, my constant companion) and I've situated my desk/folding table so that I'm facing the lone 8" X 24" window (hello outside, where I can see that it's sunny but deceptively so because I know it's only 45 degrees), but the former owner did this room in medium brown paneling so it's dark here no matter what. At least today it's 68.2 degrees. When I start work the heat is just kicking on so it's about 60 degrees. During April it peak at 66.6 degrees each day... not sure what that's all about.

As one who fights self-isolating and generally only needs a little socializing this totally blows. I'm not sure how extroverts aren't cracking up. My wife keeps tabs with her usual group of people (she would correct me if I called them her friends but they are at least close-ish contacts) and there are days when she's completely socialed out and needs copious amounts of alone time to recover. Me, not so much. I stink at keeping in touch with people**. And of course I only write these here blog posts when I'm down and need some therapeutic purging. Last week I was fine and dandy and actually waved my backside at "the law" by picking up Mike and driving 45 minutes to Bluffton to jam with Andy. And every Saturday I've been playing electric guitar in The Ridge's praise band. I really don't know how off I'd be without the praise band playing. I admit that I'm not very good at playing about any instrument (some more or less than others) but I enjoy it and I'm grateful that I'm allowed to play.

In other worlds, I'm building the worlds largest playhouse. About fifteen years ago I built one that was only 6' X 6' and my older kids (who are now almost exclusively old enough to drink) wished the could have spent the night in it. We had a small yard and I had to fit a swingset and a playhouse in there... what do ya do? So this time it's 8' X 12'. A shed, if you will. And to make matters worse I decided to put a barn-style room on it, which extends up 4' and makes the entire thing ten and a half feet tall. It's only about 6" taller than the neighbors shed so still I'm a bit concerned over what I've gotten myself into. I have one more wall to frame and then up they go! The roofing joists are assembled and the wall covering is mostly cut-out so it will look proper in no time. Did I mention that this thing has six windows? Yes, I'm cashing in some savings but hey, who needs to eat. I mean, really? Fasting is supposed to be good for the body and spirit and I'll surely find that out in about five years when we run out of savings.

I suppose I should get back to work. As soon as I find my misplaced gumption. I lost it about six years ago*** and find bits and pieces of it now and then but lately it seems to be hiding from me again. Perhaps it's under the couch.

* Yes, I wash them both. The T-shirt changes but the flannel does not. I will surely burn it after this governmental experiment is over.

** Thanks to Adam and Roger for your texts in the past six weeks. I wish I had interest in a hobby like board games and once I played a very enjoyable round of Zoo Keeper where you "grow" baby animals and once played Ticket To Ride but other than that my board playing experience is very bland. Oh, I have a HeroScapes set or two in the closet, just another attempt of trying to make a friend. Maybe one day Andrew and I will play that. Maybe that day is today. And Roger, if you read this, I got your group text and I meant to respond but yes, my flip phone doesn't handle group texts very well and one day because one week and now it's a matter of "Well, it's rather late to respond so I won't." That's why I stink at keeping in touch with people.

*** Burn-out is no laff-riot, kids.

End of 2019 Music Roundup

It’s difficult to believe that’s been twenty years since Y2K mania swept the country. I don’t feel old but maybe I should…

I guess I should do some writing and what better writing to do than an end of year list? Lazy, yes, but it’s less lazy than doing nothing.

Heart – Jupiter’s Darling
Sure, it’s from 2004. This list is the best that I heard this past year, a kind of “New to me” list. Anyway, this album is amazing. I’ve been a medium Heart fan, loving Dreamboat Annie but never really digging much past that. But this album is stellar! It’s got amazing melodic hooks, searing guitars, and vocals to climb the walls! I had never noticed it before but Heart are fans of Led Zeppelin and nowhere is this more apparent that on this album. Absolutely killer.

The Claypool Lennon Delierum – South of Reality
Crazy psychedelic fun! As a weird bassist I should love Claypool but I find his usual stuff technically interesting but melodically boring. Plus he takes one or two ideas per song and drives them into the ground. Here, though, he makes actual songs and Lennon’s contributions just send everything soaring into the stratosphere! Beatley? Sure. But inventive, melodic and anything but boring.

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me – 1981 Extended Play
An EP by a guy who was the bassist in the band Panic! At the Disco for a while. Loads of insanely catchy hooks, breathy vocals, super saturated synth tones and a whompin’ good time. A bit like PATD, sure, but definitely its own thing.

The Rembrandts – Via Satellite
I was glad to finally have some new Rembrandts music and there are a couple of really good songs but sadly it seems like it’s incomplete, like maybe they needed to work on the songs a bit more before committing them. I found a note from maybe five years ago with this title so is it possible that albums been waiting to find a company to release it? It’s not bad by any stretch but I only listened to it for maybe a month whereas their previous albums (except L.P.) still get regular listens twenty plus years later. Kind of disappointing.

Neal Morse – Jesus Christ The Exorcist What is not “kind of” disappointing but is actually really disappointing is this double album by Neal Morse. It just can’t make up its mind. Is it a church cantata with simple parts so regular folks can sing it? Or is it a prog album with a few complicated passages? And maybe I missed it but I don’t recall there being ANY exorcisms discussed in the lyrics… it’s just a kind of more Biblical version of Jesus Christ Superstar but without those pesky catchy melodies, something Neal normally has in spades. I really tried to like this but it’s just bland. Sorry.

Devin Townsend – Empathy
Also disappointing is this latest album by Devin. I think the problem is, at least for me, is that now he takes himself too seriously. I mean, there are videos leading up this album where he’s doing psychoanalysis on himself and the songs and whatnot. I wouldn’t exactly say the music is pompous but you can’t just throw a few kittens into the video for an overblown choral wash and say, “See? I’m still fun.” I was attracted to Devin’s music because he WAS fun and didn’t seem to take it all too seriously. It’s not like I’ve liked everything he’s done (which isn’t to say that it wasn’t good, it just didn’t appeal to me) but the ratio of Likes to Blah is way too low. He’s now officially on my “listen before I buy” list.