Some of Martha Langrill's favorite things.

Every so often there comes a person, who just shocks you in their individuality and creativity. Shocks you to the point that you don't even understand what's going on, but you just assume there's a genius at work. You assume that there must be a meaning to all this madness. I want to talk to you about Martha Langrill, whose penchant for odd customs and unique traditions are unparalleled. 

Usually, after a long hard day of work, you want to relax. Maybe read a book, maybe watch a movie, maybe just go to sleep. Not Martha, she would prefer to stare at a blank wall. She finds the blankness soothing, her body normalizes itself and she becomes one with the world. It may seem strange to you and me, but remember, there's a genius at work.

(*note: This is not Martha)

It's also important to remember that this is the same Martha whose favorite family tradition is the Langrill family parade. They all go outside on the front lawn, sing songs, and I assume, walk together in a straight line. I know what you're thinking... It begs the questions, "Do they make floats?" "Do they dress up like Disney characters and wave to each other?" "Have the neighbors called the cops?" "Have the neighbors moved away because of fear?" I'm sure you are thinking of countless others. I'm sorry to say that I don't have all the answers, but if you're outside around the holidays and can hear the beautiful sounds of a family singing together and see people walking together in a line on their front lawn, you can ask them yourselves, because you can be confident that you've found the Langrill family parade. I don't know of any others. But remember, if their answers confound you, worry not, there's a meaning to all this madness. 

(*Note: This is not Martha's family)

4407 Commonwealth Ave.

This is the place, where for one year the SDs resided. The left apartment contained the Curtis family. The right downstairs apartment held Eric Nielsen, Darin Travis, and Jimmy Bunch. Upstairs were Matt Taylor and the SDs. After DT moved out, Chris Cooke, a.k.a. Cookie Cars, moved in. I'm not sure, but I believe Eric then lined the interior with lace. Curtains, doilies, tableclothes, everything. Very nice. Here's a sample.

  

Here's where I want to add that the lace only took over the downstairs apartment. It did not rise into ours. We did not adorn our apartment in this way. However, the taller SD did at times wear lace garments like scarves. We also had our own "lace" hand gesture sure to incite a riot even in the most sober of circumstances. 

This SD spent a year in this house being woken up before the sun by the other SD praising the Lord and ready to bulk up in the weight room. I begrudgingly woke up and told him to can it. 10 minutes later were the apologies and then we were off to get huge.  Ahh. Good times.

baxta

The infamous Baxter, nutured by the finest dog sitter, Johny-G, and making trippin' home owners on Commonwealth 'front!' It was a ttocs beautiful morning and as usual for a SDown...that means a walk with the dog. Normal things, I look and worship God with all my heart and soul ( :o) ) and Baxta does his thing. (what's up with this picture...I'm walking this dog and picking up his poop, then holding it in the bag?) This sunny morning he pees on the wrong tree and the homeowner bursts out saying, " Hey, is he peeing on my tree?" yada yada yada.

Lesson for all of you: difuse the situation and here's how you do it...I say, " Wait a minute, let's start over here, we don't even know each other! It's such a beautiful day and this isn't the way to start it out, sorry about this!"

Second story: short one...Johny-G was watchin' Baxter and literally wiped his butt b/c sometimes there's just a bit of poop left! Thx Johny

Final story: B Travis & her girl were walking Baxter when they came up on a suspicious brotha walking on the other side of the street. Baxter takes off (all 100lbs) of him and drags BTrav in the street her girl and she can't hold on, so Baxter takes off...she hangs on the leash in order for Bax not to take this innocent man down and leaves her girl in the middle of street! Yea...dont' look shady when you see my D.O.G.

Super Heroes

Yes, I just had to show this to you! My lil' Chief as I call him, loving his outfit of his favorite Super Hero! (although he doesn't get Spiderman is good, he wants to go around yelling and fighting!!) It's hilarious bro. You'd crack up and crap in your pants.

He really thinks he's the stuff. lol! He currently is literally having "no fear" and running full force into me or jumping into me no matter what is going on. "Protect the business lil' Chief!"

Speaking of SuperHeros, I remember when you got really excited about your Batman underwear your mom got you for Christmas a few years back !! When you get back to your "motherland" maybe you can Coop can fight crime and break the back of Satan together...hummm, Jesus already did that, so we'll think of something else.

The first SD connection.

I remember the very first SD connection. It was in front of a building at Purdue University called the Lilly Hall of Science. 

UUggghhh. That name is dumb. Kind of a lame place for the SDs to have their first connection don't you think? But, that's what happened and I can't deny it. The SDs were introduced to each other by a mutual friend named Nate Gore. (Where have you gone Nate Gore?) I remember being slightly intimidated by S-Down first time I saw him. He was an imposing presence. He's only like 6'3" but he appeared to be over 7 feet tall on that first encounter. He was wearing shades (as all cool people do) and had just come from a year spent in the greatest place on Earth, California. (Newport Beach, to be exact) So he was all bronzed and buffed and clearly I was out of my element. I thought he was a cool guy, but I figured I'd never talk to him again. He was just way to cool for me. *note* It wasn't anything that he did or said, but only my disbelief in my own coolness that made me think this way.

But, as unexpectedly as it may have seemed at the time, we became friends. I think hanging out with our mutual friends Craig and Cory Nickols pushed the friendship along. And finally, we decided to go with Darin to bring the Message of Jesus to the students of Detroit, but that is a different story. S-Down still is an imposing presence, by the way. 

Oh, one more thing, you gotta check out this picture of the SDs with the very Nate Gore who introduced us. This was taken in Panama City Beach, FL during Big Break 2001.

Cookin' in the kitchen with Eric Nielsen.

Eric Nielsen.

A model of many things: unbridled masculinity, pious spirituality, and of course, healthy eating.

Eric Nielsen has about 2% body fat. I wish I had a picture to show you of him without his shirt on. You'll instantly know that his diet is working. He eats raw everything. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, steel, whatever. Some of his culinary preferences are greek olives, wheatgrass shakes, hummus, and freshly caught fish. He tried taking carbohydrate shakes for while, but his body is too busy working everything off instantly for it to make much of an effect. But sorry ladies, he's married. 

Before I leave, I just want to give a shout out to his favorite food: lettuce juice. The power of lettuce juice has been well chronicled, but Eric has found a way to tap into its hidden strengths: it increases energy, eyesight, and memory and it decreases inhibitions. And of course, each glass adds 10 years to your lifespan. What's even more amazing is how generous Eric has been over the years in giving the gift of lettuce juice. A shout out to Eric, whose healthy living has been an inspiration to us all. 

Looks delicious doesn't it?

"um...Matt, is that a glock?"

An average day at the "man lounge"...4707, but not so average if you live with none other than, Matt T. Most incredible Matt, who dodged bullets and ran down janky "perps" in his sleep. Not so random to find a Glock hanging out in the bathroom on the toilet (or like the picture!).

Memory: Ttocs thinks he's being funny and decides to hide behind a wall and scare a man-eating DPD officer...(note: don't make sudden movements or jerks with a police dude around). Yea, don't do this unless you can protect yourself. Good thing that God had my back! God was my shield cause I almost got "popped"! I've eternally been changed by all the Steven Segal movies seen as a result of Matt. Miss that man! For real, he's the thug when he was trying to convince us they were on the streets!!! lol. If I'd want a bodyguard, I wouldn't pick Kevin Costner...nope, Matt T. SD3 out.

On the subject of Gayle.

Gayle Hofmann.

She's one of our favorite people even though we haven't seen her in like 6 years. We gotta reconnect girl! What's up with that? But those early years in Detroit with her were... a trip. It seems a little too early in the life of this blog to drop something so phat and juicy, but if I don't lay it out now, it might never be shared with the world. So, without further ado...

The Gayle Hofmann Rap!

My name is Gayle

Man... I aint looking for no male,

Men get whiplash, but I aint gonna tell,

The last man who saw me, he fell.

Now he's crawlin' back to me like a snail.

He said, "But my name is Dell,

I work at Taco Bell.

Yo baby yo, can I get your e-mail?"

Listen son, you best get off my trail,

Or you just might get impaled.

He said,"Baby you so beautiful, I can only look at your picture in Braille."

I said, "You're blowing hot air like a whale,

You're on a quest for a babe, like the crusaders and the grail.

But you'll be looking til you're old and frail

Like Christopher Columbus, you're gonna set sail,

Your game's like communion bread, old and stale

I know I'm beautiful, I must be a ten on your scale,

But you don't have me on lockdown like I'm sitting in a jail cell.

So you better step or else you'll get nailed.

I told you I wasn't looking for no male,

Like Vietnam, your mission just failed..."

SUCKA!!!!

We miss you Gayle.

The Bridge that goes Burrrr

Winter...international missionaries (Dubac, Ttocs and oh yes, Gayle) headed south to Windsor, Canada. Ha (still makes me laugh)! "Gayle, did you bring your coat?..."no, why?"..."don't you know that it's 10 degrees colder in across the bridge?" Yea booy! I miss that girl and all the laughter she brought. "I'm the jelly in a babe sandwich!" Who can forget Windsor? (we'll save that for another time), but we turned on California Dr. EVERY time...or just about every time! That place was crazy. Remember they had condom dispensers in the bathrooms? wow. It was a blast and I haven't experienced trusting God and having total fun since!! SD3 out.

How the mountain peaks formed.

People have been wondering for years just how the mountains of stone granite have formed on my upper arms. It's not a simple answer, but I will share with you where it happened. 

The Matthai Center, part of Wayne State University. The mountain peaks were formed after years of being in this building at 7:30 A.M. Ok, maybe a few days at 7:30 and most of the time at 10. They have some of the greatest machines for shaping and sculpting raw meat. Also, they have some awesome free weights that you will be able to look at. If you want to use them, you'll have to learn how to pick locks, or you can try entering the same time as class. Just try not to make eye contact with the teacher. You too will be able to work out here. All you need is a membership to the Wayne State Alumni Association. It will cost you though. About $35 a year, down to $17 if you can split it with someone. Oh one more thing. Ask for Diablo. He'll point you in the right direction.

Bling-Bling-Botta-Bing

Sometimes there are moments that you want to capture and save to share to the world. Yea, here's one. Picture SD in white "bling" shoes and walking lightly on his feet...all chipper and gitty. Pumpin' those huge mountains of massive rock, called biceps. (how does a person w/biceps like this even find shirts at the Big & Tall store?) Haha! Oh yea...that's hilarious bro :) To top it off, what if you actually wore white pants...I'm chuckling in my chair!

MMMMMMMMMMMMACKEY!!

We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to someone very special to the SD connection. Malissa Mackey. For her 3... 29th birthday party a few years back we went on a cruise on the Detroit Princess. It was... an experience. The cruise had an all you can eat buffet. Really, there was just a whole mound of meatballs. But let's not forget about the dancing. We decided to cut a rug and apparently we were not all that successful because the DJ referred to us as American Bandstand and to Darin as Dick Clark. I suppose that wouldn't be all that bad, had everyone else not been laughing at us. I also gave her the gift of dying my hair blonde to be just like her. Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of the inside of the boat, but as soon as I can, I'll post them. As for now, enjoy the shots of what Detroit looked like on her birthday 3 years ago.

The SD connection is here!

Well ladies and gentlemen, the SD connection has come online October 7th, 2008. I want to use this time to give a shout out to the man who helped make it happen, my co-creator of the SD connection, Scott Downey. You might know him as TTOCS. He loves Taco Bell, live wire, lace, Steven Seagal, and everything he does is a matter of life or death. There is another honorary member of the SD connection, but as he might not want his name attached to our tomfoolery, he will go unannounced for now.  (If you would like to be a member of the SD connection, simply e-mail Scott or myself with your initials and a few interesting facts about yourself and we will decide if you qualify.) 

I imagine that this blog will change the world. My hope is that it's in a good way. Enjoy.