What Would Skeet Do?

I planned to have the last of my car tires replaced this coming weekend after it started leaking air through the sidewalls. Well, when I say leaked air out of the sidewalls, I had no idea what that even meant. 

It was pointed out to me recently by Cody, a strapping mountain of a man who works for the AAA roadside assistance company as he had to help me fix my flat tire. According to him I have an old tire with some sun rot on the sidewalls and with a sudden cold spell, the air contracts and ...

Uhm, okay. I will have to replace it then.

Yesterday, I noticed that the said tire is losing air fast and won’t make it till the weekend and decided to replace it at our local Wal-Mart last night after work.

Now, know this, I am quite comfortable with my acquired level of manhood.

Admittedly, I don’t know a wrench from a spark plug, but at least I know which knife to use when you eat fish.

So, I jauntily get out of my car and to manly converse with the tire swoppee attendant at Wal-mart, who asked me if I would like a doohdah tire with radial blah-blah-blah.

At this point wild panic hits me. I am not sure if he suddenly started speaking French or just Man.

I had absolutely no idea what he is on about.

Shannon, a friend of mine’s dad, Skeet, is the über car man. He knows everything about cars. More manly you can not get.

Tire swoppee man is now looking expectantly at me waiting for my answer.

The whole time it flashed in my mind, what would Skeet do? What would Skeet do?

I change my stance and ask him to go through the list again but with adding prices this time.

He started again a bit slower and pointed out that the doohdah tire with radial something cost $79 and the Goodyear with … is a good price at $98 and goes on to end with the Fukupayama or some even more asian sounding name at $138.

What would Skeet do? What would Skeet do?

I realized he stopped talking and is expectantly waiting for an answer. I took a blind stab and said with a more manly assertive tone I’ll have the Goodyear at $98, thank you Bob.

On second thought, his name might not have been Bob.

And maybe I should not have ended my answer with a question mark in my voice as I saw the sudden pity in his eyes.

I hastily handed him my keys and jolted into the shop.

The Red Barn Shrimp and Catfish Buffet!

So, last night I got another lesson on how to survive in deep east Texas! I ended up at Robertson's Ham/The Red Barn Shrimp and Catfish Buffet on I-20 outside Wills Point for a friends birthday. WOW. It is the hokey, hole in the wall, on a very busy interstate, out in the sticks kinda place. Enormous inflatable pig and wall to wall trucks outside, Styrofoam plates, plastic cutlery inside. Ugh, my heart sank.

But, oh boy, was the food good! Good company, good food and lots of laughter. Boiled Shrimp, fried shrimp, fried catfish, beans, homemade bread rolls, hush-puppies, coleslaw, all kinds of cobblers, etc. Good honest food as my gran would say.

 No pretenses. Just shrimp being shrimp, I guess.

And of course as an added bonus, there was the people watching! Wow.

I found this gem of a testimony on their website:

Chris L writes: I've seen the signs for Robertson's REAL Beef Jerky along I-20 dozens and dozens of times when trekking my to/from Louisiana and finally was hungry enough on my way home to stop and grab a sammich. Pulling up past the old school gas station pumps (numeric wheels?  Haven't seen those in a decade) into the dirt parking lot took me back to my formative years out in the sticks. Grab a Coke out of the cooler, mosey up to the counter, and order a sandwich.  The most expensive sandwich is $3.99.  My $2.99 sandwich had about a half pound of DELICIOUS ham and a slice of swiss cheese.  I also grabbed a homemade cherry turnover, which was awesome.  It was like a Hostess Pie on 'roids. I ate my sandwich outside on a picnic table listening to the hum of traffic passing by on I-20 and enjoyed the simple taste of a well made ham sandwich.  Good times.

Famous Italians

This made me smile....

 Famous Italians

 Fabrizio 

 

 Rossi 

Biaggi 

 

 Schettino 

 

Screening for Surgical Patients in Togo

Photos from our recent Surgical Screening in Togo. Initial reports from the Africa Mercy say that the patient screening went very well! An estimated 3500 people patiently waited to be seen of which 1600 were selected for further screening. Keep watching my blog for continued updates throughout this Togo Field Service. Thank you for your prayers and support.

The Importance of Real Cheese

Why it is important to only eat REAL cheese and no, Velveeta is not real cheese.

January Newsletter!

My January newsletter is now available for your gentle perusing!

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move, eat, learn

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....
= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn

If you cannot see the videos below, click HERE!

Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing

Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound

Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

The Piano Guys ft. Alex Boye

Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style (Piano/Cello) Cover - The Piano Guys ft. Alex Boye

If you cannot see this amazing video below, click HERE and turn your volume UP! What a beautiful song!

A great big THANK YOU!

Mercy Ships (http://www.mercyships.org) staff and volunteer crew say thanks to just some of the supporters who help us bring hope and healing to the forgotten poor. Mercy Ships is able to provide free surgeries and services because of the generous support from individuals, groups and companies from around the world.

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I love this advert!

Remember that vacation you took last year? The one with the camping and the screaming and the bears? Yeah, let's not make the same mistake twice. Join us aboard one of our "Fun Ships," which happen to be 100% bear-free.

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