We’re taking a mini family vacation over the next couple days so my blog is going to go dark until Monday. Seems like the perfect time to give away free gift cards to the store of your choosing.

Here’s the deal: I’m need to know you who are and what you like (if anything) about my blog. I’m going to open this up for folks to comment until midnight on Sunday night EST, and on Monday I will randomly choose 3 winners to receive a gift card to the store of your choosing. (The gift cards will be for $20, $15, and $15 and will be for any place that i can actually get you a gift card at – Amazon, Home Depot, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and so on)

What do you need to do to be eligible? Just leave a comment to this post answering the following questions:

1. Where do you live? (city, state or just state)

2. What’s your favorite feature of the things I do on this site?

3. Other than your answer to #2, is there something you’d like to see more of? (could be something I’ve never done before)

That’s it. Please only answer once, and please be honest. If there’s nothing you like about the site, then let me know.

And in case you need a refresher on some of the different things I do here, here’s a reminder:

• Ramblings
• Cannarf Book Reviews
• Living With the Amish posts
• Confession Booth
• Family Updates
• LOST posts
• Spiritual posts
• Video blog updates (like the infamous Jason Bourne video)
• Giving you random web stuff

Thanks so much to all of you who read the site. I’m really excited to see what exactly it is that you like most about it. So please, even if you’ve never commented before, this would be a great time to break the ice. You’re input is really valuable to me. (and if you’re a new reader, feel free to check out those links to see what type of stuff I do here.)

If you’re reading this in a feed reader, click this link and leave your 3 answers in the comments section.

If you’re reading this on a magic invisible computer, that’s pretty rad.

Thanks again everyone, see you on Monday with the winners!

Many apologies for the lack of LOST posts over the past few weeks. Jordan and I have tried to make a LOSTcast happen, but our attempts usually go something like this:

Me (via text): Hey Jordan, can you drop everything and do a LOSTcast right at this very moment?

Jordan (4 hours later): Sorry, I was working can we do it tonight?

Me (4 hours later): I have a window tonight from 8:33 to 8:49, if you’re available.

Jordan (at 8:50): Take your window and shove it, you pretend-busy doofus.*

Here’s what you need to know from the last 2 episodes of the show**:

Episode 5.12 – Dead is Dead

Ben has a soft spot for mommies and babies, which saves Rousseau’s life in the 80s and Penny’s life in 2007…John Locke puts his feet up on Ben’s desk because he’s in charge now…Ben pulls the drain on the smoke monster and out walks John Locke, who may or may not be a carcass brought to life by the smoke monster…under the temple John Locke and smokey are not seen together, which lends credence to them being the same somehow…Ben appears to be judged by smokey and is allowed to live. this may have to do with him being repentant for allowing Alex to die, something Eko was not with regards to his brother (and Eko was killed by Smokey)….Hey, there’s a young Ethan in cahoots with young Ben!… What lies in the shadow of the Statue? I don’t know. The Well and Donkey Wheel, perhaps?

Episode 5.13 – Some Like it Hoth

Miles was born on the island to Pierre Change, but Pierre kicked them off the island. We assume because he knew the Purge was coming…Now we know why Miles asked Ben for 3.2 Million dollars last season. It was because Widmore offered him 1.6 Million…We get to see the beginning stages of the Swan, and we see them putting the numbers on the steel door. I thought those numbers were important to the Valenzetti equation? Or are they nothing more than a random serial number?…Bram and Ilana seem to be working for neither Widmore nor Ben. Are they the children of the Dharma Initiative that were exiled from the Island to avoid dying in the purge? are they looking for answers to why their parents died?…Dharma dude died when his filling shot through his brain. Remember in Season 2 when Sayid said his fillings hurt when he was next to the big steel door?…With all the Star Wars references, isn’t it interesting that Pierre Change will lose an arm at some point. Remember in the Swan video he appears to have a prosthetic…Faraday is back, Phil is kidnapped by Sawyer, and the poop is gonna hit the fan in Dharmaville.

RANDOM BONUS THINGY

LOSTpedia recently did an interview with LOST producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (no spoilers) and asked them about the audience’s attempts at guessing what is going to happen in the show, specifically in the final season. I liked Damon’s answer:

…Considering what the audience has to work with, they’ve proven to be incredibly resourceful and insightful, but there are some clues that we have not yet presented them, that are really integral to figuring out what the real endgame of the show is, so there’s no way that they could really get at it.

Intriguing, eh? I think so.

So we’ve got 4 hours of Season 5 left. Here’s how they’ll play out…

Episode 5.14 “The Variable” – airs tonight (4/29) at 9pm

Episode 5.15 – airs 5/6 at 9pm

Episode 5.16 and 5.17 – they air back to back on 5/13 at 9pm and 10pm (preceded at 8pm by a Recap show)

Enjoy the ride! Hopefully Jordan and I can reconnect for some episode analysis next week.

*ps. Jordan is not that mean, nor does he use the word “doofus”.

**and by “need to know”, i mean “these recaps stink and were not endorsed by Jordan”. Perhaps he can add his insight into the comments section if I give him a big enough window.

I don’t normally re-post videos my friend’s sites, but this one is too timely and classic not to share. (I grabbed this from my friend Brad Ruggles’ blog … which you should absolutely check out after you watch this.)

Who knew the Swine Flu was around 33 years ago? And who knew they were capable of creating such creepy public service announcements with relatively primitive video technology?

What was your favorite part of that creep-fest?

I liked the “I’m the healthiest 55-year old you’ve ever seen!” golfer who has to use his 5-iron as a cane to help him get out of his chair. Is that why you’re winking buddy? Because you haven’t told anyone you’ve got knee replacement surgery scheduled for next month? You are so getting swine flu in your fake knee, you liar.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go wash my hands…

(h/t: Brad Ruggles)

Don’t ask me why I was on the Pensacola Christian College website yesterday…but I was, and right there on the front page was a quote from an alumni member that made me laugh…

Because I missed my calling as a professional slogan writer,I’ll subject you fine folks to what I believe should be the new slogan at PCC. But first, a few runner-ups (or is it runners-up?)

Pensacola Christian College – where the most beautiful building we have on campus looks like an unfinished Jenga tower.

Pensacola Christian College – where the best experiences you’ll have are meeting 2 people.

Pensacola Christian College – celebrating 35 years of taking pictures while lying on the ground.

Pensacola Christian College – Where we had to go back nine years to find someone who met their future spouse.

Pensacola Christian College – where even the trees are underwhelming.

Pensacola Christian College – because other than every other college in America, we’re the ONLY college in America where you’ll meet lifelong friends.

Those were all worthy, but ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new slogan at PCC…

(drum roll please)

Pensacola Christian College – where your best friend and your spouse are definitely NOT the same person.

What’s that? You think you can do better? Well, by all means, please submit your PCC slogan in the comments. Best slogan wins a crappy prize from my crappy prize stash.

Although I must warn you, I’ve emailed my suggestion to PCC, so you can expect to see their promotional material updated for the 2009/2010 school year.