I wanted to wake up before mid-afternoon ’cause that’s when it’ll hurt the most (- Duritz-ish).

And I blame facebook.

It started early in the week when my buddy, Tat, posted a few lines to an old(er) song as his update:

I dream I never know anyone at the party and I’m always the host.

The line flipped around between my ears like fragments from a dream, then turned into a film about my ghost (- Duritz-ish).

Knowing I couldn’t escape, I moved south down the coast of thoughts til the rest of the film played in my head (- Duritz-ish).

A long 7 seconds, indeed. But at the end, I remembered the title: “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby,” by Counting Crows. From the 2000 album This Desert Life.

I never claimed to like Counting Crows.

Still don’t. Spending college and everything after addicted to blues and jam bands, I had trouble appreciating the Crows’ craftsmanship. ‘Always thought they could do infinitely more with 34 guitarists standing on stage and one guy who thought he didn’t have to sing his lyrics because Dylan didn’t. Bob, not Thomas.

But eventually, I accepted them as folk and they crept into my consciousness. Especially when I realized my dreams of bumming out in Spain (coast side) and fantasizing about Picasso’s old guitarist were shared with lead singer / songwriter Adam Duritz. And he’s probably done it now. Many, many times. I wonder if Mr. Jones snuck into my thoughts without me ever realizing it. God knows any friend I ever played guitar wanted to play that jam. Except Gag – I thank you for the break.

He’s just an idiot walking a tightrope between fortune and fame (Durvitz). The lazy fat f*ck. Durvitz, no Gag.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

About 17 seconds in I wrote back to Tat the line line about the dreams being like movies and before you knew it I’m off on Grooveshark playing the song again, and again, and again. And I posted the song on Facebook.

That’s when my once and future partner-in-crime, Slewis – not C.S. Lewis though that’d be cool too – commented her fervor to not only learn to play guitar but to play “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby.” A quick search on Ultimate Guitar revealed all 4 chords involved and a little ditty involving the “A” chord. And a Capo. I hate Capos. Now I remember why I didn’t learn this song a decade ago.

But with all 4 chords and little “A” ditty, I already knew the song. It’s the lyrics that rival “American Pie,” in length that she’ll…we’ll have to remember.

Though I was a little pensive in saying “yes,” to teaching her this song. Extremely pensive.

When “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” came out, I felt a kinship to it. Like how the haunted is connected to their ghost. All the crazy late nights at the casino boat along the lake, the random road trips and the many concerts, waiting for Mrs. Potter to talk to me while trying to outrun her essence in case it all fell apart.

The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings – Duritz

‘But can one change destiny?

I really think the legendary TV show, “Dr. Who,” has it right about life when the Doctor discusses time. He says that some moments in time are fixed and never can be changed whereas other moments are flexible and can be rewritten. I felt, when trying to get my Mrs. Potter’s attention, that that moment in time was flexible. I could change that. Whereas when I stopped playing guitar, time called me back.

Like last week my buddy from Atlanta scheduled time so we could play. And my finger strength is coming back around – like it was sleeping, resting, waiting. And now that Tat informed Slewis that I’m “really good” or something, the tingle that runs up and down my spine every time I see a guitar is back.

It helps keep me going.

As I write this, Slews chatted me and said she’s listening to the song. And I’m sure Tat is too as he addresses the painful leak in his newly-remodeled kitchen. The pains of domestication.

I’m listening to Mrs. Potters’ Lullaby right now, too.

Slewis – I’ll be ready when you are. I still have Gag’s Washburn sitting over there you can use to start. We’ll put nylon strings on it to start til you’re ready for some 80-20 strings (I’ll tell you what those are later). And…we’ll get a capo for it. Unless Tat still is offering you his. BUT NO PICKS! You can have finger picks (those little metal tips banjo players wear), but you’re not learning with a pick! Picks are for pu**ies.

It’s about time to pull Mrs. Potter down of that movie screen and get the Book of Blues prequel written.

The music video for Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby

Lyrics to Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby by Counting Crows – written by Adam Duritz

Well I woke in mid-afternoon cause that’s when it all hurts the most

I dream I never know anyone at the party and I’m always the host

If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts

You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast

well, I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame

I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame

If you’ve never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame

and though I’ll never forget your face,

sometimes i can’t remember my name

Hey Mrs. Potter don’t cry

Hey Mrs. Potter I know why but

Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me

Well, there’s a piece of Maria in every song that I sing

And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings

And there is always one last light to turn out and one last bell to ring

And the last one out of the circus has to lock up everything

Or the elephants will get out and forget to remember what you said

And the ghosts of the tilt-a-whirl will linger inside your head

And the ferris wheel junkies will spin there forever instead

When I see you a blanket of stars covers me in my bed

Hey Mrs. Potter don’t go

Hey Mrs. Potter I don’t know but

Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me

All the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep

And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep

All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep

Hey I can bleed as well as anyone, but I need someone to help me sleep

So I throw my hand into the air and it swims in the beams

It’s just a brief interruption of the swirling dust sparkle jet stream

Well, I know I don’t know you and you’re probably not what you seem

But I’d sure like to find out

So why don’t you climb down off that movie screen

Hey Mrs. Potter don’t turn

Hey Mrs. Potter I burn for you

Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me

When the last king of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor

and orders another

Well, I wonder what he did that for

That’s when I know that I have to get out cause I have been there before

So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door

We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars

We stand up in the palace like it’s the last of the great pioneer town bars

We shout out these songs against the clang of electric guitars

You can see a million miles tonight

But you can’t get very far

Oh, you can see a million miles tonight

But you can’t get very far

Hey Mrs. Potter I won’t touch

Hey Mrs. Potter it’s not much but

Hey Mrs. Potter won’t you talk to me

(photo credits: 1&2 Eparist via Flickr. 3 – NM Jeep Tours via Flickr. Great shots, guys! And note: sci-fi is cool. Dr. Who is awesome. Jimi loved Sci-Fi. Need I justify more?)

I was gonna write about the fact that the iPad is coming to the office this week. Pretty excited…

But something pretty cool happened over the course of the last couple days, and though I said I wouldn’t always do social commentary, I had to share.

It all started with a Conversation on Twitter

Rahsaan's best side

As far as I can tell, the whole thing started a couple days ago when friends Ben Fraley and Rahsaan Taylor were jabbering back and forth about Rahsaan’s Twitter profile image.

Kristen Page jumped in and quoted some dork about the idea of needing a revolution.

And Rich Orelup took over.

I don’t know the vitals passed then, but at some point Rich said that for every person who switched their Twitter profile pic to what you see here on the left, he would donate $1.00 to Banta Feeds Food Drives of Valparaiso, IN.

And from there, Rahsaan Has an Ugly Mug awareness day was born.

I’m not even sure how it came about. As Richard would attest to when I tried to verify the story:

“You don’t have a clue about that which you are writing” – Richard Orelup, a few minutes ago to me via gmail chat (I’d a felt robbed had he given me an informative quote)

The Rahsaan Has an Ugly Mug gist:

• over 45 people switched their profiles
• Others donated on their own cash
• $116 bucks was raised, that I’m aware of

And Banta Feeds Food Drives was able fill a few more empty plates.

But for the juicy details, check out Richard’s “Blog of Mu.” And don’t be afraid to suggest more ways to make Richard donate money.

How to Contact Banta Feeds Food Drive

• Leave them a note on their food drive site
• Contact them via Twitter
• Contact Christine Hisick – one of the great organizers for Banta Feeds.

So I did find more stuff in The Region worth watercooling about.

(oh yeah, shout out to DILBERT! great timing last week on that comic!)

Life balances. Even when it comes to our economic woes…

I’m a guy without a home of my own, so of course I keep running into people who if they aren’t building or selling homes, they’re helping people get home loans. It’s the circles we run in from time to time.

Perhaps life is telling me something.

I’m a fan of Scott Swinford. You can tell 100 people how to do something that will benefit them directly if they put forth the effort. 98 people won’t do it. Scott Swinford is one of the2 who will. He has to be…

Scott is a mortgage lender who can help those with bad credit find a mortgage. And, “no,” I’m not getting paid a dime to say so. The most I play with numbers is on ranking systems. Otherwise I avoid them like they plague. I find mountains of respect for those who can crunch the number down to a workable metric. It’s poetic. It’s as economical as I am not

If you check out his site, USCCRA Online, he stats showing you how to get your credit report. Then he starts the process.

What is USCCRA?

The USCCRA Online is an affiliate of the US Consumer Credit Restoration Association. They spend their days working to help people fix their credit. Quite the thriving industry nowadays.

It’d explain why Scott always looks like he’s thinking. He probably has a lot on his plate.

How did I meet Scott Swinford?

Scott is another NWITweetup Alumni. He’s at most of the events. Often quiet and unassuming, Scott usually surprises me with his wit and candor. I think he waits for me to space off into the nearest basketball game on the TV in the bar before he starts to speak.

He’ll be at the #NWITweetup/Blog Indiana event at Golden Technologies. Look under the radar. You’ll find him there, wading in good conversation.

And if you need to see the NWI Loan guy in his atmosphere, you can catch him on his site.

Here’s to hoping guys like Scott can help turn our economy around.

(photo credit:  Andres Rueda via Flickr)

The last two years leading up to my 99 weeks were patterened, modular, predictable. Might I fear to call them, “domestic.”

Now that I’m branching out during these 99 weeks, I’m finding more color in my life.

And more characters.

Take Jeff Eriks. Jeff is one of the co-owners of Cambridge Construction of Griffith, IN, a standout Northwest Indiana general, commercial, residential contractor /builder, and architect firm. And they have their own reality offices.

It’s like one-stop shopping for all your personal and business construction needs.

But, since I’m not domestic, most of y’all know I couldn’t have met him this way. And you’d be right. I met Jeff via Steve Dalton. And from there, I went to a monthly networking club that Jeff hosts.

Knowledgeable, assertive, and confident, Jeff Eriks is quickly developing a taste for inbound marketing. Other Northwest Indiana commercial builders should beware. Once he gets a firm grasp on this SEO, Social Media “thing,” the boy’s gonna be dangerous.

Though I’m still convinced that at this point Sam Cooke has had a much better life than me, I am still gonna try to win.

And I know I won’t do it alone.

It’s probably why I started my “People Along The Way” section, to help highlight those people who have helped me work on both my plan “A” and “B.”

I met Steve Dalton on my first trip to Blog Indiana. The co-workers and I started supporting Steve as he not only represented but also defended Northwest Indiana’s place at the state’s definitive internet marketing convention.

From that point on, Steve took us under his wing and I’m grateful every time a project comes up he asks me to work on.

Who is Steve Dalton?

Steve is a Northwest Indiana Mortgage Lender, one of The Region’s most respected and most sought after. An early adopter of Social Media, he had 4,000 friends on Twitter before most of the rest of us in the field sent our first tweet.

And though I might not be ready to be one of those Valparaiso home mortgage holders with the roots and the life ahead quite yet, you can be sure as the day is long I’ll be looking to him for advice.

And if my history with him to this point is any indication, Steve will be there to make sure I do it right – helping me to find the right Northwest Indiana Mortgage Rates.

Until then I’ll have to keep watching HGTV and dreaming of building my first home until such time as domestication finally grabs a-hold of me too.

Oh yeah, Steve Dalton is a Region Home Builder too.

Find projects you’ll see us working together on…

• Northwest Indiana Tweetup Blog
• New Media Whistle (under construction)
• And…oh wait, I can’t announce that yet. As much as I would love to…

The Northwest Indiana Mortgage Lender Himself in Action

This is where I first met him:  Blog Indiana 2008. Going left to right, Steve Dalton is the second person on the panel. Oh, I can’t wait for Blog Indiana 2010.

Where was I? To the right of this camera, asking too many questions.

If you need a Region Mortgage Lender and don’t know who to talk to, talk to Steve Dalton. If he doesn’t end up being the one that helps you, he can certainly point you towards someone who will.

Contact Steve Dalton

• NWI Mortgage Website
• Twitter

(photo credit, bottom photo: Noah Wesley Coffey via Flickr)

As my 99 Weeks continues to take the road less traveled, I’m coming across experiences and adventures I never dreamed of a decade ago. I’m in an industry that didn’t exist a decade ago. I’m going places that I didn’t think would appeal to me a decade ago. And because of the path, I’m meeting people I didn’t expect to meet.

A buddy of mine actually had me repurchase Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents while down here in Fort Myers, Magaritaville just to read a couple sections. Those thoughts lead to other Brogan thoughts on promoting others and from them as well as email conversations with colleagues, I’ve decided to start a column called “People Along the Way.”

Because in the end you’re only as relevant as how you treat those who come across your path.

I think God’s trying to tell me to plant roots because I’ve come across a litany of real estate and mortgage brokers. In The Region, Real Estate agents an Mortgage brokers have become early adopters to Inbound Marketing. With that in mind, this week I’ve picked Evelyn Johnston, a lady I’ve meet in recent Indiana Social Media events.

Evelyn is a certified short sale expert who works in Elkhart County, Indiana as a Realtor who’s using inbound marketing to attract more clients. She talked quite a bit about her new website that will allow people in Elkhart with homes for sale to upload images, domestic details about the subdivision, and a calendar of events including garage sales.

Her website will cover every Elkhart subdivision which will provide a valuable online tool for homeowners and home buyers as well as give Evelyn a first-mover advantage over other Elkhart County real estate agents.

Her passion was convincing. Because of it, I started to hearken back to my days hanging out along the St. Josephs river in Elkhart. I had family out there that was heavy into athletics. Lots of farmer’s tans, lots of boating.

Thinkin’ of moving to Elkhart / Michiana? Check out Evelyn’s site.

I think I’m gonna leave this second copy of Trust Agents here at oldold man Finn’s in case more ideas arise. I’ll leave it next to the Bible and Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation.