For Those That Do Not Know

This will be my last post on my blogger.com blog. I moved a while back to wordpress, but now I am officially discontinuing posting on here. So, please click this link: MY OFFICIAL BLOG and it will bring to my real blog. Also, if you have me blog-rolled, change my address on your link to michaelgriffis.com. Thanks so much for your loyal viewership. I look forward to seeing you and hearing form you in the future at michaelgriffis.com.

Shadowfeet

Today in the office, we had a friendly-ish discussion. It was explained to me that the reason I don't have a CD (barring the obvious lack of talent and the "it" factor, not an utter lack of talent simply not-recording worthy) is because of my inability to think outside the proverbial box. First of all, get out of the box and call it a circle or something. Get out of your circle would be a "creative" way to say the same thing. Then people would think you are talking about an Altell commercial or something, so maybe not. I digress (such a box-dweller's word for a transition back to the topic at hand), this discussion came up with my opinion that Brooke Fraser chose a ridiculous title for her song, "Shadowfeet."

Here's a video of the song:


Here are the lyrics:

Walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet
Toward home, a land that I've never seen
I am changing
Less and less asleep
Made of different stuff than when I began
And I have sensed it all along
Fast approaching is the day

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

There's distraction buzzing in my head
Saying in the shadows it's easier to stay
But I've heard rumours of true reality
Whispers of a well-lit way

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

You make all things new

My thoughts and opinions:
She was apparently proud of her made-up word and decided that would be a cute title. I, being the opinionated box-dweller, felt as though the song would be better served to have the title "Found in You" the hook line of the chorus or maybe "All Things New" the bridge. I'm speaking simply from a marketing standpoint. Mind you, I am not a marketer, but have done so before. Granted, if I were great at it, maybe I would still be doing it. Regardless, here's my humble, amateur thought:

First of all, that title is unattractive. Sure, it is slightly intriguing, but unattractive enough, in my opinion, to negate the intrigue. Only because I knew the artist, was I even vaguely interested. Upon hearing the song, I never even noticed the word "shadowfeet" in the lyric. What rang out to me were the obvious hooks. Is it boxy for me to want her to title her song in such a way that the name of it is as pleasant as the song itself? Why wouldn't she want to make the message more plain and simple, and in so doing make it more accessible. Perhaps, she doesn't want "everyone" to hear the song or "everyone" to get her music. Perhaps. But if she desires to be exclusive and limited in her reach, why then does she need a deal with Sony? Be underground and creative and sell to your hundreds, I say.

I understand that I am a completely unimaginative, uncreative person, but I stand by my belief that the title is ridiculous. Now, you could argue that I am simple. I agree. You could even say, I'm not creative. Also true. But, I do want to know what you say. Please chime in and share your opinion of my thoughts and/or your opinion of the song and/or it's title. Where do you stand on "shadowfeet?" Get it? Stand . . . feet? I kill me. So, to the Bob's of this world, I challenge you. Convince me, with or without insulting me, why this is a fitting and worthy title.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Well, it has taken a long time, but I finally have followed through with my promise to all 3 of you that read this blog. Many had spoken, quite some time ago and I think the overall vote was to get rid of my locks of hair. Anything worth doing is worth doing well, so if I was going to get this done, I had to go to the best of the best: Joel at Salon Londyn. He's absolutely amazing. I couldn't just cut it to cut it, so I donated it to Locks of Love. Which means, in the near future, some little girl will be roaming the streets of America with my hair!

Before (aka- the Griffis you've all come to know and love):

In Salon Londyn, with my fate and hair in the greatest hair styling hands in the world.
The Cut (there will be a video of the cut coming soon):After (aka-The new and more responsible looking Griffis):
In my Christmas Sunday best, a whole new man!:
All comments are appreciated! Good and Bad!

Swiss Finale at Jungfrau

The following are from our last few hours in Switzerland. We had limited time, but WOW was the view ever worth it. These photos are among my favorite from our trip and in no way come close to truly capturing the beauty of God's creation that is the Swiss Alps.

But first,

Our last night was spent in Lauterbrunnen.
Our last Swiss meal was served here at the:

The view from the street as the cloud coverage began to lift

The sun peeking out across the valley finally

And our first clear glimpse of the snow capped Alps
from our restaurant table outside

As quick as the sky cleared, night came and we spent our last night here:

The next morning came very early, because our time was very limited. Weather had beed a huge obstacle for us, but we knew it was going to finally be clear enough to enjoy Jungfrau. So, for about $250 bones, we took a very brief, yet very worthwhile trip to Jungfrau before departing for Italy.

Most of these shots were taken from our train
on the way up to and back down from Jungfrau.
After about an hour, our destination is in finally in view
The contrast freaks me out a little, lush green
and white snow, just minutes away.
This would be the highest altitude urinal I have ever used
Chillin' with my rib in the Glacier Caves
Saw my very first polar bear
and eskimo
This tunnel was a bit smaller than the others Outside on Jungfrau
I believe this is us in front of Eiger
Snow for days!We leave our mark everywhere we go
Stupid train cable messing up a my shot
Seriously, Sound of Music anyone?
What a view!
How Great is Our God!
I love the Staubbach Falls in the valley!
I told you I loved it.In the distance, left of the falls,
but just right of center you can see a hang glider.This stream is all melted snow from the many mountain falls

That's the end of Switzerland. I will be back soon with Italy stuff among many other things. I will no longer force Europe down your throats back to back to back.

A Long Time Coming

Sorry about the severe delay, but Football season and Fantasy Football got in the way of my blogging time. A man can only spend so much time in front of a computer! So, as promised, here are some more pics from Switzerland! After this comes Italy, but I will be posting a lot in the next weeks to get you all caught up on all things Griffis! Boy, is there a LOT to share!

Switzerland 'til the end:

True Swiss Attire

Mercedes Dump truck

Not Eidel Weiss, though I took pictures of every small white flower!

Chess Anyone?

Baa Baa Brown? Sheep

The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music

Classic Swissman

OK, so there are still a lot of photos of Switzerland left, the best ones are from Jungfrau, the top of Europe. So, I will post them later tonight or tomorrow and move on. I apologize again for the delay and the boredom if you hate pictures.

And Then Came the Morning

Jill and our new friend, what's his name, on our way to eat dinner at the Mountain Hostel.

The View from the Mountain Hostel

So, your thinking wow what a great view. That Griffis sure is blessed. And it truly was, until the morning came. I was all excited and jumped out of bed to capture the mountain view in the morning. Open the window and nothing. All I see in front of me is cloud cover, fog and nastiness! I couldn't see the ground, let alone any mountains. Bummer! Especially because today we are heading to Jungfrau, the highest achievable point in Europe. Well, not so much. The forecast looks grim and we are destined to what turned out to be the worst day of our trip.

We had heard that the weather might break around noon, so we decided to head to Schilthorn Restaurant where they filmed the Bond movie, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."

Here's the lovely view from the Sky car to Schilthorn.


And the glorious view of the mountains all around, from our table in the rotating restaurant.

All I can say is this:

So, we thought let's walk down to Gimmelwald and make something of this waste of money up here and saw this sign.

Not bad, until I realized that the Std. is hours. Not wanting to walk 3 hours and 45 minutes, we took the gondola thing back down to Murren and walked from there.

The next post will follow shortly and will be only of photos from Murren to Gimmelwald.

A Room With A View Please

OK, so we made it to Gimmelwald and asked the lady at the gondola station how to get to Hotel Mittaghorn. Mind you, both Jill and I have on full backpacks and we both have our 25" rolling suitcases full and roughly 50lbs each and we have our cameras and other junk strapped to the front of these suitcases. So, the lady tell us go up the path and take a right and it's about a 5 - 7 minute walk. Awesome. So we head down the path, take a right and then we come to a dead end. No Mittaghorn. No way, she couldn't possibly . . . . there's no way we are . . . .

Apparently, we are. A short (wet from rain) gravel road, then these steps were our route to the Hotel. Don't think it looks that bad? Well, that is a shot to the 1st turn. Here is the view from the other end:

Can you say miserable? Well, if that wasn't bad enough: I was tired already, Jill was tired, we were wearily dragging our suitcases up the steps and I noticed one of my wheels starting to bend out. So, not wanting to damage our suitcases and also not wanting to have to carry them the rest of the trip without wheels, I was forced to lift both suitcases and walk these steps. 50lbs on each arm may not seem a lot to you, but to me that was a lot. Add to th e fact that it was a bulky 50 lbs and both bags were slamming into me the entire way up. It was, to say the least, not fun. So to make matters worse, when we get up the ridiculous stairs the manager is sitting outside the place and he informs us that we could have stayed on the paved road and walked about 20 minutes around the village and made it there just the same. Thanks gondola lady. Like she didn't notice the ridiculous baggage that we were carrying. I'm not bitter though, at least we made it.

As tired and frustrated as I may have been, even more so after I carried our stinking suitcases up three flights of stairs (no elevator here) to our room, the view was worth it all! open the window to and door to our little balcony and directly across from you are Jungfrau, Monch and the Eiger Mountains. You don't believe me, have a look for yourselves:

This is Gracie!

This is my precious little Gracie. Isn't she the cutest dog you've ever seen? Well she is to me and that's all that matters.

Well, Gracie isn't just cute. She is also really smart and has chosen against all odds to be an LSU fan. She even asked her mom to buy her a jersey. And her mommy did not disappoint:

So, being an avid LSU fan myself, I felt that I needed to test my dog's sports knowledge and loyalty to her team. So, I talked to her about Flynn and Perrilloux. She agrees with me that Flynn is the better option for the team. He's got a better grasp of the offense and a better head on his shoulders for decision making. He's even faster, but we also agreed that Perrilloux has a better arm and a prettier throw and better moves on the run. But, there is still no question we want Flynn at QB. So, Gracie is pretty articulate when it comes to her team of choice. Kudos Gracie. Satisfied that she is an opinionated fan, but not quite certain how avid she is I mentioned the two words to her: Florida and Alabama. This was her response.

Not bad, so I took it a step further and mentioned the once beloved one: Nick Saban.

Enough said, though I'm certain she, like me, would love that dude again if he came back next season when Les is gone to Michigan.

Jokes, Jokes, I Make Jokes

So, I got my bag and everything was in it. I just thought I would have a little fun. I know that most of you didn't even read the last couple of posts because they are too long, but I enjoyed writing them.

Anyway, so the weather is really disgusting in Switzerland and we are finally heading to Gimmelwald via Lauterbrunnen.

Isn't it lovely?

So, maybe it's not, but at first it's still awesome just knowing that you are in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Emphasis on "at first." So, we get to Lauterbrunnen to catch a connecting train to Gimmelwald. Lauterbrunnen is a nice little town in the valley of the Alps. They have great waterfalls and as my wife can attest, I love waterfalls. Here is a shot of the most famous one:

Staubach Falls

It was also here, in Lauterbrunnen, that we caught our first view of the snow-capped Alps through the rain and clouds that seemed to smother everything beautiful about the area.

From here, we take a train and gondola lift to Gimmelwald village of the famous Hotel Mittaghorn on Mount Mittaghorn directly across form Jungfrau.

Danke Shen? (Hallo Svitzerland Continued)

So, we are sitting there and approaching the landing for the ferry. I'm getting more and more anxious every single minute. How much longer is this stinking ferry ride? So, finally we see the landing ahead and the guy that I had spoken with earlier comes up tom me and says he's working on finding my bag. Just wait and he'll be right back. Meanwhile, the captain announces the final stop and everyone must unload. Great, now what. So, I try to be the last person on the boat and cannot seem to find the guy I was talking to.

Then here comes my little friend with not much more information. Hey follow the captain. Who's the captain? That guy right there. Just follow him. OK. Still not sure what was going on, I follow the captain to the ticket booth for the ferry. He tells me to go to the window, so I do just that. The lady asks me if I need a ticket and I do not, so I say no and let the people behind me go ahead. Meanwhile, el Capitan says something to the lady in the booth, lights his little cigarette and heads back to the ferry.

Still confused and now afraid that dude misunderstood me completely, I walk up to Cappy. He turns to me and says, "go there, go there." Then he just walks off. So, I go back to the booth and the lady asks if i need a ticket again. I told her i didn't think so, but the captain just told me to come here about my bag being left behind at the restaurant. She nods, picks up the phone and says some stuff in German (the Swiss don't have there own language). She hangs up and give me the incredible news. they have my bag and they are sending it on the next ferry. It will be there in about an hour and a half. Sweet!

Then I think, wait I never described my bag to anyone. I just mentioned that I left a bag. What if the bag they found wasn't mine? Tired of trying to explain myself to the Swiss, I just decided to trust that I was only person that had left a bag laying around. So, the Jillster and I decide to put our luggage in a locker and hang out in Interlaken until the ferry gets there. While we waited we made a reservation at a very cool little place in Gimmelwald via phone so we had a place to stay and went shopping for Jill some shoes. Then we saw this car:

Suddenly, it seemed this rainy, nasty day would turn out OK after all. Right?

A little while later, we head to the ferry and the booth lady heads over to greet the little ferry with my precious little bag on it.

So, one by one people unload. None of the ferry employees seem to be moving off the boat. No one has my bag in hand. Seriously, is this some kind of joke? I'm just trying to be patient and sit back hoping someone raises my little backpack. . . .