I Love To Wash Dishes

I love to wash dishes.


Okay...that may be an exaggeration.  Maybe not an exaggeration, but at least a misstatement.


For a time, Cheryl and I hosted a "young married couples home group" for our church.  During one of our times together, we were talking about the idea of serving each other, working together, etc.  All the things you normally talk about in "young married couples home group".


One of the young husbands (as opposed to me...I was the old husband in the group) was saying that he didn't like to do dishes.  I said that I LOVED to do dishes.  That confused him...so I explained.


What I meant by this was that when my wife asks me to do the dishes, I love to do them.  I don't really love to do dishes, per se, but what I do love to do is bless my wife. 


I promise I'm not trying to sound like I'm Superhusband. Not in the least.  My love for doing dishes is at least 50% selfish. 


You've probably heard the expression that "if momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy".  It's true.  If washing a few dishes makes "momma" happy...them I'm happy to do it.  So when I say I love to do dishes, I obviously have something of an ulterior motive.


(Here comes the clever application of the previous life lesson to getting healthy...)


I'm not a "runner" like some people.  I don't run for the pure pleasure of running.  I run because it's good for me.  I run because it's good for my family for me to be healthy.  


I LOVE to run...just like I LOVE to do dishes. 

So How Does One Get REALLY Fat?

"So how does one get REALLY fat?"

This was the question posed to me by one of my close friends.  I just officially past the "100 lbs lost" mark, and we were discussing health in general.

"I mean, as you got bigger and had to buy bigger clothes didn't you realize there's a problem?"

Of course.  But it's a little more complex than that.

When you're fat you don't like to go clothes shopping. At least I didn't.  It's not an enjoyable experience to be confronted with the reality of your situation.  For me, it would usually go like this.

I would put off clothes shopping as long as possible.  As I gained weight, my clothes would do their best to accommodate me.  Shirts would get stretched out, buttons on pants would loosen...or pop off.  You get the picture.

Eventually I would be forced to shop.  Either because I literally did not have enough clothes to make it through the week, or I had a wedding or other event coming up.  When I ultimately made it to the store, I'd find out that I crept up a size...or two.  Each time, one step at a time, I progressed down that unhealthy path.  44 inch pants turned into 46s...2X shirts to 3X...

The problem is that by the time you're in the Big & Tall Store trying to buy pants, you can't just say, "Hey!  Whoa!!  Hold the phone!  I believe that I may have gained some weight.  I'm not buying any clothes today.  I'm going to go lose some weight and THEN come back and buy some clothes."  You're at the store, you need the clothes or you wouldn't be there, so you buy the clothes that fit.

Lather, rinse, repeat. It's a vicious cycle. In my case, this was perpetuated by an incorrect body image.

Most of the time when people think about weight issues and body image, they think about bulimia or anorexia.  People that see themselves as fat when they really aren't. Mine was the opposite.  It wasn't really that I was in denial, per se, but every time that I saw a picture of myself, I was surprised at how fat I was.  In my mind's eye, my body image was such that I saw myself 75-100 lbs lighter than I actually was.

So how DOES one get really fat?

Simple.  Avoid buying clothes as long as possible so that you aren't confronted with the weight you've gained in a quantifiable way.

That's what I did, and it worked for years!  By the way...I don't recommend it.

TV Still Surprises Me

"Fictionalization.  Do not attempt."


That's the small text in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.  Just those four words.  You may have seen this commercial but not noticed the text.  It's on one Blockbuster's new "Why wait 28 days for new releases?" commercials.


These are the ones where Blockbuster is attempting to compete with Redbox by bringing up the fact that you have to wait four weeks to get certain movies at a Redbox.  You know the one...it's the one where the guy gets bitten by a raccoon.  The raccoon hangs on his arm as he goes to the emergency room, where he is told that he will have to wait 28 days to be seen.


That's when the words appear:


"Fictionalization.  Do not attempt."


Really?  Really?!?


There's this squirrel that lives by my storage building, and I was thinking it would be fun to let it latch on my arm...

Good thing they warned me.

Redneck Sledding

Last night, in case you haven't heard, Georgia was covered with a blanket of beautiful white snow.  At Casa de Butler, we personally got 5+ inches.  It's awesome.

Today happens to be one of my regular exercise days.  The sidewalks are ice.  The gym is my normal bad weather option, but the roads are "officially unsafe", so I didn't feel like I could really head down there either.  So...options?  It's obvious, isn't it?

I put on my cold weather gear and headed outside to run in the snow in my yard.  Because of my habit of wearing shorts year-round, you may find yourself surprised that I own "cold weather gear".   Well, I do.  Here's the breakdown of my sub-arctic wardrobe:

• ski-mask (a gift from my wife)
• knit gloves (not the best for snow, but they help a little)
• long sleeve t-shirt (I got if for doing the Gobble Jog 5k)
• sleeveless t-shirt (custom, it originally had sleeves)
• Captain America Wal-mart hoodie (only for when it is sub-0 and I am going to be outside for an extended time)
• sweat pants (hand-me-downs from my buddy Don)
• tennis shoes covered with 1 gallon Ziploc bags, held in place with duct tape

I was absolutely toasty!

I headed out in the yard and started running around the yard.  It was hard work!  The snow had a nice 1/2" crust on the top that I had to break through.  I had run while it WAS snowing, but it was the first time I had ever run IN the snow.

I was only out there a few minutes when my son joined me.  We grabbed a big Rubbermaid tub, tied a tow rope around it, and BAM!  Redneck sled.  I drug him all over the yard.  The only problem was that the bottom of the tub didn't have quite enough surface area, so unless I pulled up as well as forward, the front of the tub would break through the ice and our sled turned into an ice-breaker.  That led to him getting dumped out on any corner.  

This just confirms that winter weather is the best weather ever!

Hey! Want to Climb a Mountain?

One of the "philosophies" I've developed during this whole process is the one meal/one workout philosophy.  Anybody can eat healthy for one meal.  Anybody can go exercise one time.  So I just worry about the next meal and the next workout.  Put a string of these "one-at-a-times" together, and you get results.  I know that this isn't some big revelation, but it is the way I'm approaching it.

If you're waiting to get started on getting healthy "until Monday", or "after the holidays", or "next week"...don't wait.  Start right now!  Eat healthier at your next meal.  Plan a time to get more active.

Just think, if you had started making changes at the same time that I did back on July 1st, you'd be 3 months closer to your goals.  For some of you, you might have already reached your goals!

Because I'm healthier, today the family and I were able to go to Pine Mountain outside of Clarksville and hike about 1.5 miles up the side of the mountain to an incredible overlook point.  We then ran back down the mountain.  In June, I literally could NOT have done this, even if I had wanted to.  Today, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I can't wait for our next adventure!

A Novel Concept

A while back, I read an article about some hackers that had been busted.  Apparently, they had created a website that when visited would install some malicious software on the person's computer.  Not only would this malicious software capture the username and password to that person's online bank account, it would send it to a server in Russia.  This server in Russia would then compute how much money would be safe to remove from the account without causing too many red flags, and withdraw that amount.

But that's not all.  Then, every time that person thought they were going to their online bank account, the malicious software hidden on their PC would redirect them through the Russian server.  The Russian server would then, on the fly, change the way the bank website displayed on the person's computer, so that the illegal transactions did not show up.

To the person with the infected computer, it appeared as if everything was fine.  The way that it was discovered is that someone actually brought up their bank's website on two computers at their house:  one infected with the malicious software, and one that wasn't, and could see the two different bank balances side-by-side.

Wow! Trojans...keystroke loggers...server redirects...rewriting HTML on the fly...these guys were geniuses.

My only question?

...

If they're this smart, why didn't they figure out a way to make money legally?

Really? No, Really?

I just saw an insurance commercial.  It had a guy playing the part of "wind".  He was dressed in a suit, sitting up in a tree on a limb.  The limb overhung a new car.  He bounced up and down on the limb and made it break off and fall on the car.  Simulating wind and all.

Here's the "really" part.

As he did this (bounced on the limb and broke it off so that it fell on the car below), some small text popped on the bottom of the screen:

"Professional stuntman.  Do not attempt."

How far down the path of the ludicrous have we traveled that some legal department somewhere felt the need to let us know not to do that.

Thanks for the advice...I was really considering it.

Clever Marketing

The Scorpions and Ratt are coming to Atlanta.  I'm sure it will be an awesome concert.

The concert sponsor?  A local pest control company.  Hilarious.

Irrevocable

Last week a friend of mine was in a minor fender bender. He's fine - just sore and embarrassed. You see, he rear-ended someone today because he was trying to look at an email on his cell phone. I'm just glad no one was hurt more.

It got me thinking about the irreversible decisions we make in life. Most decisions don't fall into this category. "Should I wear this shirt or that?" probably won't affect your future. But other decisions do.

Some are obvious big decisions:

"Should I go to this college or that?", "Should I marry this person?" or even: "Should I go out with this person?"

But some don't seem too big on the surface:

"Should I go to so-and-so's house tonight?", "Should I try to pull out now, or wait a little longer?"

For my friend, "I can glance at this email" turned into "My car is totaled and I got a ticket" in a split second.

I remember when I totaled my parent's car. I just looked at it and thought, "There's no going back. No sweeping it under the rug. No apology will repair it. It's just gone."

Other times the only action involved in an irrevocable decision is saying something. There are no take-backs in real life. And even though we can usually get forgiveness for something we shouldn't have said, we can't always expect the person to FORGET what we said. Some times a decision to say something can "total" our lives or the lives of those around us.

I guess this is just a reminder to us all (including myself) to be intentional in what we say and what we do. Let's happen to life, instead of life happening to us.

I Don't Expect Much

You know, I don't expect much from my co-workers. But there's one thing that I just have to say something about.

We have an ice-maker in our breakroom. It's a nice ice-machine. I like it. I like ice. I like cold beverages in general. It even comes with its own scoop. There's a nice little holder built in to the right side to hold the scoop.

Every time I use the scoop I put it back where it goes. Every. single. time.

And every time I open the ice-maker to get some ice, I find the scoop laying in the ice. Every. single. time.

Why can't people just put it back where it goes!?!?!!!?! It's not hard. Why? Why?!?

Okay...I'm done complaining.

Do You Feel the Same?

Quick question:

If you are on a road trip, and you stop at a McDonald's or QT, or maybe even a generic Chevron, just to use their restroom, do you feel any onus to purchase something?

I do. Every time. I've tried to even convince myself, "Hey, I eat at 'McDonalds' all the time," but I know they are mostly franchises and the Mickey D's that I eat at in Smyrna doesn't send any money to Monroe, Louisiana, so I can't completely convince myself it is okay.

Am I strange? Insane? Have an over-developed sense of responsibility?

How about you, has the thought ever even crossed your mind?

Body Image Part II

I while back I wrote about how we sometimes get an image of ourselves locked in our mind, and when we change (gain weight, grey hair, etc.) we end up in a situation where our inward image and outward image don't jive. Of course, I can't speak for everyone, but it has happened to me.

I just wanted to expand the idea a little and let you fill in the holes.

On a personal level, I'm talking about moral drift. The person that compromises just a little at work. The first time it is tough, the next time easier, etc., etc.

Organizations can do that, too. Our government, for example. How about a church? How about The Church?

Just something to think about.

Body Image

I'm forty. 40. The big four-oh. The interesting thing to me is that I still feel 18. Maybe 21. I definitely don't feel 40. Heck, most of the time I don't even feel like an adult. (Shhh!! Don't tell my son.)

Recently, my friend Chris has posted a bunch of pictures from high school. In my mind's eye, that's still how I see myself. I forget I have lots of gray hair until I look in a mirror. I don't realize how my waistline has increased until I until I get into a Hyundai. (More like "put on" a Hyundai.)

My body image is trapped in 1987...along with my taste in music. At least my hairstyle got free.

There's a bigger point to this, but I think I will save it for next time...

Ready for Additional Help

Okay, the other day I posted about a tree that I had seen, hoping to get some help figuring out what kind of tree it is. I went back to the tree and took some more pictures. Any ideas anyone?

Father's Day, Part II

It just so happened that I started this blog in May of last year, so one of my earlier posts was on Father's Day about my dad. I've mentioned him a couple of times since then. And, since it is indeed Father's Day, I thought I would throw another little nugget out there.

Okay, two more stories about dad involving his reputation:

First Story:

I grew up in a small town. We had a sod farm, which meant we had several tractors. We not only had our own land, but we also leased land from several people. Often times, to get a tractor from one piece of property to another, we simply drove them. I've spent lots of hours driving tractors, forklifts, and other equipment down the highway.

On one such occasion, I stopped at a gas station and filled up the tractor I was driving with diesel. I topped off the tank, went inside...and realized I didn't have any money. No one was home, and this was WAY before the days of everyone carrying a cell phone.

So what did I do? Simple.

I went up to the counter and said, "I just filled up my tractor and realized I don't have my wallet. Can my dad stop by later and pay?"

"Aren't you Bobby Butler's son?"

"Yes."

"Sure. No problem."

Like I said, simple.

Second Story:

Another time a friend and I were going to go fishing in a little pond on one of the properties that we leased. As we were driving across the property toward the pond, a truck came barreling across the field towards us and pulled up next to my window. The following conversation occurred:

"What do you boys think you are doing?"

"We were gonna go fishing."

"Who told you could go fishing in my pond?"

"My dad said he didn't think you would mind..."

"Who the $%^& is your dad?"

"Bobby Butler."

"Oh...well...you boys go ahead."

And he drove off.

Needless to say, my friend and I were a little concerned from that exchange. We fished for maybe 10 minutes, but we felt so uncomfortable that we headed back to my house. When we arrived, the gentleman was already there, apologizing to my dad for using such colorful metaphors when talking to me.

My dad probably could not have quoted Proverbs 22:1 verbatim:

A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

But he knew the truth of it, he believed it, and did his best to live it. He knew the asset and/or liability a man's (or woman's) reputation can be. His reputation around the small town that I grew up in was that he was a tough but fair, honest, hard-working man. His reputation around our home was that he rocked!

Yes, That Is A Plane In His Yard

I have a blog-friend who goes by the handle "Misfit in Paradise". She has a couple of blogs, one of which is a photo blog of the area around where she lives. I find it very cool and interesting. As I am driving around delivering pizza, I notice all the things I would like to take pictures of and share in the same way. Usually I don't have the time...pizzas to deliver and all!! Tonight, though, there was one photo op I couldn't pass up. Below is the story...

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I knocked on the door of the house. A gentlemen answered and asked for the total. I told him. We exchanged money for pizza. Then I asked the question.

"Did you know that your neighbor had a plane in his front yard?"

"Yeah...nice guy...a little eccentric...but nice."

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Labels? Schmabels!

Just to clarify, this is not the same post my good friend Jeff wrote entitled "Label Schmabel". I mean, it's obviously not exactly the same. My title is plural and has punctation. You ought to take a few minutes and read his when you have a chance.

My thoughts aren't crystal clear on this subject yet, but I thought writing about it might help. So, here goes.

If you've ever watched The Breakfast Club, a movie about a group of high school kids that spend a day in Saturday detention, you know it deals with stereotypes. At the start of the movie, their judgemental supervising teacher gives them an assignment to write an essay about who they think they are. At the end of the movie, you hear the essay read as a voice over.

Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us...

In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...

...and an athlete...
...and a basket case...
...a princess...
...and a criminal...

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Very interesting, huh? Like Mr. Vernon in the movie, we all, in general, define people by the "groups" that they belong to. A few examples immediately come to mind:

teacher
Texan
musician
liberal
adult
environmentalist
biker
geek
Christian
professional
father

Whether it is because of a person's profession, gender, political leaning, age, or socioeconomic class, we all tend to view people through those stereotypes/labels/paradigms. But, also like in the movie, the reality is that no one is only one of those things, or a perfect representation of any particular group.

You might ask, "Aaron, if a movie from the 80's has already explored all this, why are you re-hashing it?"

I might answer, "I don't know." But I won't. Instead I'll answer by saying that the thing I wanted to remind myself (and you, if you are reading this) is that when we let labels define people, we ascribe faults and strengths to people that they may or may not have. I have one friend who always says (only half-jokingly) that anybody with dreadlocks smokes dope.

When I met my wife in college, I volunteered to tutor her in trigonometry. I'm a big guy, and in college I was in (much) better shape. My (future) wife's response internally to my offer was, "How can he tutor me in trig? He's just a big dumb jock."

You know what they say...don't judge a book by its cover. (But you may not know what I say...don't judge a book by its movie. )

Though I may have looked it, I, of course, am not a big dumb jock.

What do you think people might assume about you? Who do you tend to "pre-judge"? It's worth thinking about.

There you have it...told you I didn't have my thoughts organized very well on this.

A Humbling Experience

The other day, I attended the funeral of the grandfather of one of our close friends. He was himself a dear friend of ours, and a wonderful man. He had served in the United States Marine Corps when he was a young man, so he received a military funeral. There was a team of young Marines there that carried the casket, folded the flag, presented it to his wife, etc.

George Tyler, one of the elder statesmen of our church, was also at the funeral. He was in his mid-eighties, but still pretty spry. In the hallway after the service, he walked up to one of the young marines and told him that he had served in the Marines, what division he had served in, and in what theater of war.

I didn't know that George had served in the Marines, and I thought to myself, "Hey, that's cool. Very interesting, George."

I expected the young Marine (he was probably 20, or 21 years old at the most) would say something along the same lines. Instead, he reached out, shook George's hand, looked him in the eye and said, "Thank you."

I was humbled. He got it. He understood the sacrifice that every person that joins our military makes. My nephew Travis is serving with the USMC in Iraq right now. So, even though it's not Veteran's Day or Memorial Day, I would just like to take this opportunity to say thanks.

To everyone that has served our country in the military, past or present, thank you.

The Soundtrack of My Life

As I was driving around Saturday night, delivering pizza, I had it on an "oldies" station. A particular song came on (to be honest, I can't remember which one), and it instantly took me back to a particular time and place in my life.

This got me thinking about the songs in my life that did that to me. These are the milestone songs that are irrevocably tied to an era in my life. So here it is: the soundtrack of my life. Sorry it is somewhat long...but I am 40 now.

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up to 8
Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott (The Statler Brothers)
Saturday Night (The Bay City Rollers)
When I hear these songs I'm taken back to the home of my childhood. I would listen to these songs (and others) on 8-track (click here if you don't know what an 8-track is), and play pool in our little gameroom. Sometimes we would use the pool table to have a place to play with all my army men.

3rd - 4th Grade
Summer Nights (Grease Soundtrack)
This song takes me back to 3rd/4th grade. The first time I remember hearing it was at Shari Morris' house on their 8-track. For some reason, I also always associate this song with my first girlfriend, Kelly McGraw (other than Luann Teboe in kindergarten...I broke up with her because she got the mumps). She lived right down the road from Shari...maybe that's why. I wonder if Kelly ever knew she was my girlfriend?

5th - 6th Grade
Tommy Soundtrack (Various Artists)
By this time, we had moved into the "new house". We had a gameroom there as well. I had left behind the Statler Brothers, and now liked to listen to Tommy while playing pool, and, you guessed it, pinball. I fancied myself a pinball wizard. Of course, this was on 8-track as well.

Summer Before 9th Grade
Friday Night Videos (Various Artists)
Ahhh...1983...the year Friday Night Videos made its debut. I'll never forget that night. It opened with Billie Jean (Michael Jackson, of course). Also that night: Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran, Duran), Let's Dance (David Bowie). I want to say that Come on Eileen, Our Love's In Jeopardy, Safety Dance, and Our House were also on that same episode, but it may have been later. Regardless, any of those songs takes me back 25 years instantly.

9th Grade
More Than a Feeling (Boston)
Being in 9th grade to me meant a lot of changes. I was in high school now, and I had friends that could drive. One of my best friends from my freshman year was Tyree Collier (he used to give his name as George when we would eat somewhere that put your name on the ticket...I always thought that was funny). Tyree was a senior. We fought back and forth that year for trumpet section leader, and became good friends while doing so. One thing I learned from Tyree has had a lasting impact on my life: the guitar. Tyree played guitar, and since he was a senior, and extremely cool, I thought playing the guitar would be cool. He introduced me to Boston, and one of the first songs he played for me was More Than a Feeling. So, years later, after all the bass and guitar gigs I've played, in church and out of church, in cover bands and original bands, it can all be traced be traced back to Tyree and Boston.

10th Grade
Eliminator (ZZ Top)
When I turned 16, my parents gave me a 1977 Camaro. I know, cool, huh? It rocked. I used to drive around town, listening to my ZZ Top cassette on my 8-track adapter. That's right. It had an 8-track AM/FM radio...and I had an adapter. Like I said...it rocked.

High School in General
Anything from any John Hughes movie or Back to the Future(1985)
Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Back to the Future...play a song from any of these and I am in high school again.

Freshman Year College
Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns n' Roses)
My freshman year in college, I was in a cover band called Shattered Image. I know, cool name, huh? We played pretty regularly, had the worst sound equipment ever, had no idea what we were doing, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Tim Moss, Keith McLeod, and Bryan Armstrong were the other members of the band. Sweet Child O' Mine is indelibly linked to that time in my life.

Sophomore Year College
Lead Me On (Amy Grant)
For you Christian types out there (you know who you are), you may recognize that this is the first song by a Christian artist on this list. It's true. I didn't even know that "Christian music" was a genre until then. This was the time of my personal spiritual awakening, when I started reading the Bible and trying to figure out what I really believed.

Senior Year(s) College
Out of the Silent Planet (King's X)
Fast forward a few years, and you'll find me in college in a Christian band called Reckless Abandon (or Restless Ambition, as we were introduced one time). I roomed with several guys from the band (and some guys not from the band). Me, Mark, Coe, Russ, Tornado Tommy, Randy, Kenny (unofficially Seth...it just seemed like he lived there) all live at one time or another in what we called the Reckless Abode. We had quite the time. At one point, there were 6 of us living there. Tommy, who is worthy of his own blog post, introduced me to King's X. To this day one of my favorite bands (at least their first 4 albums). When I hear Goldilox from their Out of the Silent Planet album, it's like I'm back in the Abode again, fighting over who should have to wash the dirty dishes.

Circa 2000
Mezzamorphis (Delirious?)
This is one of my favorite albums of all time of all time. Also, King of Fools, another album by Delirious? is one of my other favorite albums of all time of all time. One reason I think this album, and two songs in particular off of it, My Glorious and Mezzanine Floor, evoke such strong memories is that I used them in a video I made about the youth ministry I was leading at the time.

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Well, there you have it. These things are, of course, always in retrospect. I'm interested to see in 10 years what songs make me think about moving to Atlanta. If I'm still blogging then, I'll let you know.

Care to share any songs from your soundtrack?

Wild Things

I'm reading a book right now called "Wild Things: the Art of Nurturing Boys". It's very interesting. It breaks boys down by age, explaining how best to interact with them, the ways they think (or don't), and some strategies for helping them grow. It's been a great book.

(If you're reading this on my actual blog (as opposed to Facebook), there's an Amazon ad on the left with a link to it and a couple of other books, too.)

The author was talking about how certain boys, especially in their pre-teens, can get very focused when playing a video game, working a task, etc. That reminded me of a story.

I had a lawn business for a little while, and sometimes I would get some youth from the church to help out on larger jobs. I had this big yard to do with flower beds all around a pool. They were very jungle like, and looked as if they hadn't been cleaned up in months.

I was trimming hedges, and Josh (a 12 year-old that was the son of a friend and a great kid) was pulling weeds and throwing them in a garbage can. Josh is a VERY smart kid. He now attends Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Me: "Josh, could you run around to the front and get the shovel and the rake out of the pickup."

Josh: "Okay."

Josh took about 4 steps and I stopped him.

Me: "Josh?"

Josh: "Yes?" he said, turning around.

Me: "What are you getting from the truck?"

Josh: "Uhh...the rake?"

Me: "And..."

Josh: "Uhh..."

Me: "The shovel."

Josh: "Right! The shovel!"

Josh turned and started trotting toward the front of the house.

Me: "Josh!"

Josh: "Yes?"

Me: "If you want, you can go ahead and throw those weeds in the garbage can."

He looked down at his hands and the two fistfuls of weeds he was still carrying.

Me: "Oh yeah."