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  • C’Mon, Take Your Tray Back, You Loser

    (Note: This is especially for my Iowa friends Matt, Jon and Kristy – wonderful, hip, and groovy people those Iowans and still my best friends on the planet. And for Marcia, Sharon and whoever else may be out there and remember this…)

    evangel-tray.jpgThis made my morning.

    My colleague and friend Brent Sharp sent me a link to this ebay auction which is for a cafeteria tray from Evangel College University.

    When I was at Evangel back in the year of our Lord 19-and-88, there was a little Indian guy who worked in the cafeteria. He was in charge of making sure students took their trays back to the drop off area. Of course, since this was a rule, it had to be occasionally broken.

    So one magical day that I will never forget is when I broke that rule, then while exiting the caf I felt a tug on the back of my shirt, turned around and there was the little guy. He solemnly stated these words that I will never, ever forget.

    “Take tway back.
    Tahoo pooddy dare.”

    (Interpretation: “Take your tray back. I saw you put it there.”)

    Every now and then, I will get an email from my friend Matt:

    To: Doug
    Subject: Take Tway Back

    Those were the days eh? I would love to go back and relive a few like this one.

  • Rush Snakes & Arrows – Cleveland, August 30 2007

    I spent Thursday night in the 5th row at Blossom Music Center for Rush’s Snakes & Arrows show. I was on the right side in front of Geddy Lee. This was my 5th time seeing one of my favorite bands and as always, all 3 hours of their show was spectacular. Being up front, I was especially amazed at the sound and feel of the bass. During the last few bars of Subdivisions, the bass was so powerful that I could feel the ground moving under my feet. It may have been a 2.0 on the Richter scale. In my 27 years of concert-going, I’ve never felt bass like that coming up from the floor into my body. When the sound ended, the crowd exploded and you’re left standing there with chillbumps from head to toe.

    rush-rotisseries.jpgThis was a show for the true Rush fan – the Rush fan that knows the deep album cuts by heart as well as the Tom Sawyer’s and Fly By Nights. It’s very difficult to pick a favorite part of the show, but I especially enjoyed hearing Natural Science which lead beautifully into Witch Hunt which was my first time to hear live. They played a lot of their new stuff which I’m sure really ticked some people off, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. If you want to see “Rush’s Greatest Hits Live”, go buy the Rush 30 or Rio DVDs. Seriously, these guys have earned the right to play whatever set list they want to play. I’d go hear them play Air Supply covers for 3 hours – they are that good.

    I can really appreciate that these guys in their mid-50’s have stuck together and not let drugs, women, egos or creative differences come between them. The picture above is of the three rotisseries that Geddy had behind him. I guess the story goes that Geddy was envious of all the guitar amps behind Alex, so he chose to add rotisseries behind him. Every few songs, a guy in a chef’s hat came out and basted the chickens.

  • Ausbury / Bottenberg History Part One

    Jacob Bottenberg > Lewis Bottenberg / Isaac Newton Ausbury > John Price Ausbury > Harold Ausbury > Phil Ausbury > Doug Ausbury

    jacobbottenberg.gifI’ve been doing some research on the Ausbury name and believe I’ve found the tombstone of my great, great, great Grandfather whose name was Jacob Bottenberg. Born sometime between 1803 and 1809, the Bottenbergs were Quakers and Jacob came to the U.S. from England in 1810, settling in Pennsylvania.

    ausbury-home1.jpgOn April 12, 1827, Jacob married Elizabeth Van Swearingen and on March 9, 1828, Jacob had a son name Lewis Bottenberg. Lewis was a mean and jealous man – an alcoholic who allegedly left his entire family for his wife to raise. Lewis married Anastasia Price in 1852 and had 8 children. One of these 8 children was John Price Bottenberg, named after Anastasia’s father, John Price. John Price Bottenberg was disowned by his parents and was adopted by Isaac Newton Ausbury (born August 8, 1839 and died on Christmas day 1924). John was renamed John Price Ausbury.

    John Price Ausbury married Nora Singer (my great grandmother) and had 3 sons, Elmer, Carl and Harold (my grandfather). These 3 Ausbury boys grew up in this home in Macomb, Illinois.

    ausbury-barn.jpgThe Ausbury home is located along Route 136 a few miles east of Macomb. It was constructed in 1850 and also located on this farmstead is a notable barn constructed by Wilbur Wetzel in 1918. My grandfather Harold and his brother Carl went into the ministry while elmer took over the family home and farm.

    The Singer family came from England and were Presbyterians – very involved in the Camp Creek Presbyterian Church in Macomb. I have an actual brick from this church which is quite meaningful since my grandfather, Harold and his wife, became Christians in this church. After my grandfather and grandmother received their college degrees (Agriculture and Education respectively), in the early 1900’s they became traveling minsters and moved from town to town starting churches and living completely on “wherever the Lord would lead them”. Subsequently, my Dad was in 20 schools before finishing the 7th grade.

    In Part Two, I’ll share more about my Grandfather Harold Ausbury who left this world in 1988.

  • Die Hardly Working

    Anyone watching On The Lot on Fox?

    My favorite Director, Zach Lipovsky was voted off this week which is a real shame. He reminds me of Chris Daughtry who was by far the best of the final American Idols, but somehow didn’t get enough votes to stay in the competition.

    Here’s Zach’s finest work from his time On The Lot:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdSvYGIuiUw]

  • High Five: Great Music Finds (Aug 2007)

    It’s that time again! I didn’t want to keep all of you waiting for the second edition of ….. yes that’s right ….. the August edition of High Five: Great Music Finds!!! (echo, echo, echo …..)

    Disclaimer: Some of this fine fine music does not come with very good videos, so keep in mind this is about the music baby.

    Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek
    Lots of studio magic on the voices here and I absolutely love it. If you wait until 3 minutes in, you’ll hear an amazing chorus that may raise a few goosebumps if you have it turned up loud enough.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=5cpSv2mNhhc]

    Heavens – Patent Pending
    Kind of sounds like The Bravery. New wave fans will enjoy this one.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=wcWD-1cO884]

    Jack’s Mannequin – Dark Blue
    Very good, piano-leads-the-way band ala Bruce Hornsby.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=JDScNjxlScE]

    Jackdaw4 – King For A Day
    Not my favorite of their songs, but I still like this band a lot.
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=NnhadciA_Q8]

    LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum
    One word: Fun. You’ll hear some B52’s in this one…
    [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=SpGPdYeDuYg]

  • Gulp

    This post is especially for my Mom, who I know will get nauseous when she sees this picture.

    This is Dar Robinson hanging off the CN Tower which is the world’s tallest building.

    cn-tower.jpg

  • Paradisimo

    Just returned from our annual summer family vacation. We took the boys to Grand Cayman for their second trip. It was my 6th time in paradise.

    We love staying out on the East End of the island where there are just a few resorts and away from the crowds of Seven Mile Beach.

    If you’re looking for a great place to get away, check out The Reef Resort or The Morritts Tortuga Club. There are also some very intriguing deals on Ebay for week-long stays.

    This is truly one of the most beautiful places God created.

    cayman-aug2007.jpg
    Collin, Grant & Kim take the stroll down the pier at Rum Point. Destination: Sting Ray City.

  • 40 Is The New 30

    I’d like to join my blogging buddy Dorsey in wishing his brother Jeff a happy 40th birthday. Both these guys have awesome blogs that I highly recommend checking out.

    Senor Jeff, happy 40 you old man you and welcome to the club!

    This is where I would go on and on (and on) about all the things that suddenly started hurting and stopped working after I hit the 4 decade mark. This is not to mention the things that bounce (that shouldn’t) when I walk fast. However, some fool told me that 40 is the new 30 and I am pretending that this is true.

    I highly recommend that you join me in believing this complete line of BS, that way we both have 10 more years to start complaining about all those things.

    Cheers my friend!

  • What Google Thinks About Me

    I got a kick out of this. I recently decided to say a little bit about who I am over in the right hand column of the blog.

    Now if you search for my last name on Google, here is the search engine result. Check out the text I highlighted in yellow:

    google-doug-ausbury.jpg

    —————-
    Listening to: Ace Frehley – New York Groove

  • The Baseball Beer Song

    I am thrilled to welcome my first guest blogger, my youngest son Collin (age 10). On Father’s Day this year, while at an Indians game, Collin wrote new words to “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”. He calls it “The Baseball Beer Song”. Take it away Collin!

    Take me out to the food bar
    Where we’ll miss half of the game
    Buy me some peanuts and horse pee
    I don’t care if I ever get drunk
    So let’s wait for the Bud Light
    If they don’t have any its a shame
    For its Once, Twice, Three times I crashed
    While drinking Miller Light.