We are on our final Women We Love - Andy Trip Edition and I saved the most intriguing for last: Angela.

But before I get into that, you need to watch this Seinfeld clip.


I like where Jerry is going with this, but personally I would go up a few percentage points. I'd go as far as to say that 99.5% of women - and maybe 99.9% of people are undateable. Thus 5 in every 1,000 women I meet might be dateable.

Now I am not one of those Christians that thinks there is only one person out there for me, but I do feel the pool is pretty limited (for an example as to why read this and the comments).

Thus my frustration in dating. I'd probably be more inclined to believe Jerry if faith weren't as important of a factor. But it is, which rules out a lot of people I would for any other reason like to date.

But what does this have to do with Angela?

Angela is the only person I have ever met that isn't a compromise in any area. Does this mean she is perfect, of course not. But regarding the - say five - major traits that are important to me in dating, nothing is compromised. She is the Stolen girl I blogged about at the beginning of the year.

So needless to say, when I realized she was leaving Los Angeles and going to be in Lexington for Christmas, I diverted my normal route to Fort Wayne through Louisville, and pushed my departure back a day to have dinner.

Amidst our conversation at Chedder's (her pick) about poverty alleviation, and core theology related to ministry, and growing up with similar family situations, and preaching sermons, she includes, "I can tell you'd be really fun to have sex with." In interest of brevity I'll leave her reasoning out.

Now I don't think there is a man in this world that wouldn't want to hear that - for obvious reasons. But there is a less obvious, additional reason why I loved the above statement.

Let's just assume for one minute that a lot of women think this (big assumption). And let's just assume that out of those women, some of them have a deep faith (also probably a big assumption). What I love about Angela is that she didn't just think it; she said it.

It is no secret that I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth. This comes from basically saying what I think...all...the...time. And while there are many of my qualities I find annoying when other people have them (which probably means I am annoying), this isn't one of them.

I'd take someone who just says what they think, and on the rare occasion offend, than just thinking stuff and holding it in until it was "safe" to say any day. This whole blog (particularly this post) is evidence of that.

Thus a year later and the Stolen girl remains the Stolen girl thanks to a once-a-year meal in Lexington, KY.

It has been another long day. Up around 8 when Jadyn gets up after a night of minimal sleep due to Asher not sleeping through the night. The next 14 hours are spent non-stop taking care of the kids and tending to the new house.

She walks down the stairs after a very long process of putting Jadyn to bed - as breathtakingly beautiful and sexy as she was before popping out two kids - and instead of passing out on the couch next to her lazy husband and her lazy husband's lazy friend, she looks at CJ and I and asks, "would you guys like fruit smoothies."

This is Andrea. She is amazing. And she more than anyone deserves to be a woman we love.

More on this later...

I once went to a church service that had a silhouetted drama skit of two scenes: a groom with his best man and a bride with her maid of honor. The skit was about conflicting expectations after marriage.

It became painfully obvious the antagonist in this story was the best man - mainly due to the new wife's low opinion of her new husband's best friend. I remember nothing else from the service but one single thought: "man am I glad Andrea is as cool as she is."

It is one thing to have a best friend in life as cool as CJ. It is quite another to have my best friend's wife be my second best friend.

She works at least twice as hard as I do - and complains half as much.

She is more patient and nurturing with her kids than anyone I have ever known.

She unconditionally loves and respects her husband - even when he doesn't deserve it.

She lets her husband's best friend spend weeks at her house, including over their anniversary, with out blinking an eye.

Simply put she is the most wonderful woman I know.

Some may look at this and think it isn't very feminist, but I would argue she is a perfect model of feminism because she is living the life she set out to live.

I don't feel that it has to be a woman's place to stay home and raise the kids. And even though I have spent most of my 20-something existence making financial decisions that will hopefully enable my wife to stay at home if that is what she wants, I also have no problem if pursuing a career is something that is important to her.

But feminism is about choice. This gets forgotten. It isn't doing about what is expected - albeit a career or homemaker. It is about knowing what one wants in life and not having anyone prevent that. Andrea knew what she wanted out of life, and is phenomenal at it.

I have (probably mistakenly) told more than one girlfriend that I don't really care what my mom thinks of you, it's Andrea who you really have to be worried about. She is with out a shadow of a doubt Supermom and Superwife and definitely a woman I love.

The second in the Women We Love - Andy's Trip Edition isn't a woman at all, but a beautiful young girl: Jadyn.

Since Jadyn graced our lives over three years ago she has changed my outlook on life so much - and she isn't even my kid.

For the past 8 days Jadyn has been my alarm clock. And if waking up to a beautiful woman who I get to sleep with is the best way to wake up, waking up with a beautiful young girl saying, "come on Uncle Andy, let's get up and play" has got to be an extremely close second.

The usual morning routine involves playing a quick game of hide and go seek, which transitions into a game of tag, and then ends with some version of dolls in her bright pink room.

The other day after tag, she was getting out her dolls and I decided to try and steal a quick moment to check the iPhone for email - which is usually literally the first thing I do in the morning (before even getting out of bed).

But as she sits down by me with dolls in hand, she looks up and sees me checking the iPhone.

She responds, in the sweetest little girl voice, "Uncle Andy, can you not check your email right now and just watch me play."

I respond, "Of course."

As I sat and watched her play, I thought to myself how important - regardless of age - it is to have people who are there just to watch us play. And sure, as we get older, "play" becomes a bit different. Play becomes work. Play becomes being a husband or wife. Play becomes raising a family. Play becomes serving our community. Play becomes a whole slue of things.

But we all need support in the things we do. We need people in our lives that essentially "watch" what we do and give us the encouragement and support that we are valuable and what we are doing is valuable.

Jadyn will grow from a young girl I love, to a young woman I love, and finally to a woman I love. And I will always be there to watch her play - no matter what that play entails. And I am grateful for those who have and continue to watch me.

Now back to playing dolls...

I love coming home to Indiana for vacation. I have great friends in CJ & Andrea that feel like family (more on that later this week). I get along better with my real family now more than I ever have, and I truly enjoy spending time with them.

But one thing I have really grown to love is the "once-a-year" meals I share with people I don't get to see very often. The conversation is always intriguing; hearing all about what has happened in the time apart. Seeing how we have grown to who we are today, compared to where we were the last time we talked.

And, since by some natural law of the universe that states I am only allowed to have one guy friend in any given region, these conversations are usually with women (hence the mini-blog series). This Christmas I met up with a long-time-ago exgirlfriend named Ashley.

I hadn't talked to Ashley in over 8 years. The last time I saw her was at least senior year of high school. She was a cheerleader in high school, but incredibly intelligent. She went on to Purdue and eventually took a job in engineering.

We had "talked" a few times on Facebook this year about various things, and so decided to get together for lunch over Christmas.

Ashley has grown into an incredibly beautiful, successful, and talented engineer at a large cooperation in Kentucky. And our conversation seemed to end too quickly.

But you want to know what I loved most about our lunch at Yen Ching? Well...I can't tell you.

Now I know Erik is probably thinking up some salacious reason as to why I can't tell you, but that isn't it. Really, I can't tell you because most wouldn't understand. I would come off even more conceited than I actually am.

So if I can't really tell you, why blog about it? Because we all need people in our lives that "get" where we are at. We need people - who sometimes may not have been really close friends - but who understand what is great about our current place in life, while at the same time understand the struggles and insecurities that come with it.

Ashley gets what it is like to be the youngest person by 20 years in meetings. She gets what it is like moving away to a town where you know no one in pursuit of career aspirations. She gets what it is like owning a home in the burbs while the rest of the 20-somethings live in the city.

It is a similar reason as to why I love CJ as much as I do. We get each other.

In January I mentioned the Duke University study that states Americans have fewer friends and confidants than they did 30 years ago. I have been blessed to have some amazing friendships. And the lunches like the one I shared with Ashley are what keep me from going nuts.

I once went to Juarez, Mexico with 40 other people to build 2 houses in about 25 hours. It was July and if memory serves me correct it was 195°. It was crazy and exhausting.

We had laid the foundation. Put up the studs and drywall. Spackled. Etc. All that was left was to lay the roof. All I had to do was bend the shingles over the roof and nail them to the side of the house. Simple right?

Well I think I am doing just a fabulous job and one of the adult leaders - who mind you built his own house with his bare hands - comes up and says, "you've been working hard, why don't you take a break."

I retreat off the ladder and grab a Sprite from the cooler. About five minutes later I look over and see the adult leader ripping out what I had just done!

That's right folks, I sucked so bad at handiwork that it wasn't good enough for an impoverished family who before we showed up didn't have a home. Pretty humbling, huh?

Now I don't blame this youth leader. He was right to do it. The worked suck - despite my hard efforts. The lesson was simple: I am not good at construction.

Fast-forward 10 years later.

I buy a house. And while I have to admit I was a little nervous about the financials (who isn't?), I was more nervous about the fact that I am not real handy around the home.

It's been great though. Since buying the house I have:

• Installed a bathroom faucet
• Installed fingerprint locks
• Installed garage shelves (no pics)
• Installed a kitchen faucet

But nothing like this. You may remember the horrendous day I had back in August.

$1,100 dollars later, I had a fixed air conditioner, a de-molded ceiling and wall, and a giant hole in my ceiling.

After getting sick of spending so much money I decided to try and patch the giant hole myself. So I went to Home Depot and bought what I thought I needed. And at last, the project is done. It looks good. Not great. But good.





Two conclusions came from the project: First, I hate popcorn ceiling now more than ever. I almost didn't buy the house because of it. It aesthetically looks awful. However, I hate it even more now as it is near impossible to spread to match the current ceiling - and was surprisingly the hardest part of this project.

But the more important lesson is how important it is to do things that help us overcome our insecurities. I freely admit I legitimately feel like less of a man because of my lack of handyman skills.

Maybe I shouldn't. And I am not saying all men need to be Mr. Fix-It. Nor should they feel insecure if they aren't. But I do. And it has been very affirming completing these projects.

We all think about our insecurities a lot - that's what makes them insecurities - but how much time do with think about what needs to be done to overcome them?

There have been some heavy posts recently, and it's Friday, so I thought I would lighten it up a bit. I have been meaning to do this post for almost 2 years.

Most of you know I don't drink alcohol because I know I would be an alcoholic. There are a few reasons I know this to be true, but one of them is that I drink like a fish. Those poor waitresses at restaurants will usually refill my glass of Pepsi four times a meal. I am a good tipper - I promise.

Now, because I don't drink alcohol I have become somewhat of a connoisseur of other beverages: mainly Lemonade and CranApple juice.

Believe it or not Kroger generic brand is the best CranApple juice out there. It beats OceanSpray - which is good. Everything else out there sucks hardcore.

That is except for Minute Maid Cranberry Apple Cocktail. But here's the problem. I can never find it anywhere except while flying above 10,000 feet and served by a flight attendant (the nice ones make my day by offering the whole can). It doesn't matter if I fly Delta, United or American - they all have it.

This stuff is so freaking good, but all attempts to find it on the ground have been futile.



This picture was taken aboard my United flight from Tokyo back in April of 2006. But this stuff was still around per my last flight on Delta from Midway in November. So I know it's still being made.

So here is what I want to know. Has anybody seen this anywhere besides on a plane? If you can lead me to a sustainable source of this exact drink - not Cranberry Raspberry Apple (see that all the time) or Cranberry Grape - there will definitely be a hefty prize awaiting you.

Have a great Friday.

"I sat under a world-renowed economist in college and you know what he told me?" said the President.

"Never have an airline strike at Christmas?" replied his Chief of Staff.

"Yep. I am going to St. Louis."

This is a scene in one of my favorite movies, The American President. And if not having an airline strike at Christmas is the #1 rule of holiday travel, not having the lights on in the parking deck forcing everyone to loop has got to be #2.

That was the scene last night at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It was a disaster. Sitting on 85 forever, only to loop around the airport and then be forced to get back on 85 south of the airport. Then only to come up Camp Creek Pkwy and sit there with out moving. Finally I had my family take MARTA up two stops and I met them at East Point.

I wish I would have thought of it from the get go as the East Point option was so amazingly easy. Ohh well.

This trip highlighted what I love about Google Maps on the iPhone (the ability to find new routes easily) and what I hate about Google Maps on the iPhone (the traffic feature isn't nearly as reliable as WSB). Thank you Mark Jackson of News/Talk 750 WSB for your traffic report last night. It was your report where I realized ATL was a lost cause and this wasn't "normal" Thanksgiving traffic. I'd still be sitting in traffic this morning if it weren't for you.

Take a look at the crazy route (you can zoom out for the entire picture).


View Larger Map

But I am thankful for my family being in town. Which reminds me. Everyone head over to the "ABCs of Thanksgiving" section at allenhuntshow.com. Every year Allen and I come up with 26 thinks we are thankful for - some profound, some trivial - and list them. We also allow you to join in the fun by listing 26 things you are thankful for as well. I'll blog on a couple of these on Thanksgiving.

I started snow skiing when I was 3 years old. Since then I have skied at 9 of the 28 ski resorts in Colorado - including Vail (boo!), Aspen (good), and Snowmass (my favorite). At least once every time I get on a chair lift the thought of jumping - and my pending survival - crosses my mind.

No really sure why to be honest?

But the same rings true when I approach cliffs. I don't think it is that I am suicidal or anything. But there is always something in the back of my head saying, just try it, you'll probably live.

Needless to say, I stay away from cliffs. But I am looking forward to a Colorado ski trip with Cassie (my sister) in February.

Be sure to visit Post Secret for more interesting looks into the human condition.

Last weekend I visited my brother in Chicago to watch his play. It was fantastic and my brother was brilliant. But at 36,000 feet on the way home I did something I have never done in all the 202,011 miles I have spent in the sky: I asked the flight attendant out to dinner.

She was beautiful - not slutty beautiful like she was doinking all the pilots on layover - just classically beautiful.

Typically I would talk myself out of asking her to dinner for two reasons: 1.) I assume she probably gets hit on a lot and 2.) I typically fly United or American who don't have any flight crew hubbed in Atlanta. But this was Delta, so there was a good chance she lived in ATL, and about 2/3 the way through the flight I said to hell with the other reason.

So I got out of 10C and walked to the back of the plane and asked if she was based in Atlanta. She said she was for now, but in a couple of weeks was getting moved to the Honolulu-hub. I told her that I thought "that was unfortunate as I think she is a very beautiful woman and I just wanted to see if she wanted to go to dinner sometime." We talked for another 10 minutes, I gave her my card after she told me she was moving back in a year, and that was probably the last I will ever see of Kate.

I told this story to three people upon my return to Atlanta and all three said something along the lines of that was ballsy. But what woman, even if she thinks you are hideous, doesn't want to be told they are beautiful? The worst thing that happens is you feel a bit embarrassed, and she goes home with her day made. What's the loss?

The opening line of the movie Hitch is: "No woman wakes up saying: 'God, I hope I don't get swept off my feet today.'" Now that doesn't mean she wants to get swept up by me or you, but nevertheless she wants to be desired.

And men are really no different.

I know absolutely no one who doesn't want to find love. Don't read that so fast.
I know absolutely NO-ONE who doesn't want to find love.

Think about that. We all differ on religion, politics, financial desires, sexual orientation, how many kids to have, and what movies we watch. We all differ on everything from the trivial to the profound. The one thing we all share is that we all want to love and be loved. I think that is beyond profound.

In a somewhat ironic twist, I came home later that night after the show and saw Taylor's Swift's new music video Love Story for the first time. In a risk of embarrassing myself like I always do, I love Taylor Swift's music. And at the risk of sounding gay, Love Story is both incredibly well-written, and a phenomenal video. It captures the Shakespearean desire every single one of us share even in the trivialist of all moments like walking from class or riding on a plane 7 miles above the earth.

This flight didn't end in a Love Story for me or Kate - but I saw a beautiful woman and took a risk and tomorrow hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again.

Holy cow the game was amazing! The most intense Baseball expierence I have ever been apart of. Cowbells ringing. People high fiving all game long. Standing for most of it. And in the end we were victorious. Even leaving and getting out of the parking lot was remarkably easy (due to a back way I figured out).

To all the people expecting updates during the game, I am sorry. My iPhone died 5 minutes into the game and then Justin's Blackberry died shortly after that. We took photos though and you can see them below.

We got back to the hotel at 1:30. This is definitely going to have to be something we do every year.