The Late Show with David Letterman

Tomorrow Andy and I are headed to New York City, Lord willing. We booked our plane tickets a few weeks ago and have been looking into lots of fun things to do while we're there. One thing we thought would be fun was to go to one of the late shows. Our first pick was to see Conan, but they didn't have any tickets for him and we didn't want to go try to get standby tickets the day of. So, that leaves David Letterman.

Here's how it works: you submit an online request for tickets. If they have any available, they will call you close to the time you're wanting tickets and let you know. You then have to call a number and answer a random trivia question to get the tickets.

The only problem with this scenario is that Andy and I pretty much never turn our TV on, so we know little to nothing about the David Letterman show, making it difficult to answer any trivia question.

Here's Andy's email to me about how it all went down. It cracked me up so I thought I'd share it with you:

"She asked me how often we watched the show and I said MAYBE once a week. I had been watching clips online today, so I figured that was ok, right?? She asked who watched it most and I said we probably watched it the same. I think she was going to give me the option of having you answer the question. Anyways she said I could have no outside help and the question was, 'what color is Alan Kalter's hair?' I had no idea and I was trying to find it on Wikipedia and she told me it was a bright unusual color. I finally googled his name and clicked images, and it was orange and I got the tickets."

So, Wednesday at 4:30PM, we're going to be sitting in on the taping of the David Letterman show. Assuming my research proves me right, Tom Brokaw, Vera Farmiga, and Brad Paisley will be on the show. Andy is planning on wearing his cowboy hat so that we might be spottable on the show. And I will probably be bundled up because they supposedly keep the studio at 58 degrees!

You'll have to tune in and see if you can spot us!

Christopher Columbus, I love you.

Normally there aren't perks to working at a bank. Contrary to popular opinion, banks in 2008 stay open past 4pm. And I only get two weeks of paid vacation a year. But, one perk to working at a bank is Columbus Day - the holiday that no one else celebrates. In celebration this year Andy and I and our good friends Ben & Beth took a fun road trip to Alpine, TX.

We enjoyed the art galleries in Marfa:
We had fun dinners:
Andy played at a little bar in Alpine called Harry Tinaja's with our wonderful friend and amazing banjo player, Billy Faier:
We hiked at Big Bend National Park:

And we hung out at Billy Faier's place, enjoying some wonderful true blue folk music. I need to add that Beth and I made dinner on the spur of the moment (literally) with the few random ingredients we could find on hand at Billy's place. It was quite the adventure.
Check out the light box that Billy made in the 70's. Apparently he made a whole traveling display's worth of these. Isn't it awesome?

By the way... If you are a Dave Van Ronk fan, you need to know that Billy Faier taught him the song "Mr. Noah".

Why you should ask your friends how their marriages are going...

Judson on Short Term Missions

“How can we, who are devoted for life, cordially take to our hearts one who is a mere hireling?…I have seen the beginning, middle, and end of several limited term missionaries. They are all good for nothing. Though brilliant in an English pulpit, they are incompetent to any real missionary work. They come out for a few years, with the view of acquiring a stock of credit on which they may vegetate the rest of their days, in congenial climate of their native land…The motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, out to be ‘Devoted for life.’”

- From Adoniram Judson's biography, "To the Golden Shore"

More lessons learned from working at a bank.

Lesson 1: The middle of a bank drive thru lane is probably not the best place to sit down and smoke a cigarette.

Lesson 2: If someone from the bank asks you to go some place other than the drive thru, asking if you can finish smoking your cigarette may not be the best response.

Lesson 3: If you have previously done the aforementioned things, wandering through the drive thru and sticking your head in various car windows could be a bad idea. You just might get arrested.