After getting back into the swing of things with the first Thursday Rundown of 2025 last week, I am stoked to begin a streak. Let’s get started with tonight’s five topics…

Baptism Birthday Bash – This past weekend, we attended the latest Family Faith Night at our parish. The theme this month was Baptism Birthday Bash as it coincided with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday. Marie Bricher, our director of religious education at St. Mary, once again did a phenomenal job of presenting the content. She covered the significance of baptism, the necessity of baptizing infants, and the importance of celebrating our own baptismal birthdays (I was baptized by Fr. Adrian Van der Hyden on Nov. 30, 1986, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Walla Walla). The kids played games, took photos in front of the “happy birthday” backdrop with their favorite priest, and decorated cupcakes.

My family had a really nice time at the latest St. Mary (Spokane Valley) Family Faith Night. It was a baptism theme.

Fargo – Over the weekend, Sidney and I decided to make a super random movie choice. We decided to give Peacock a chance and I pretty much blindly chose “Fargo.” I had heard of the movie before (mostly thanks to the song “Hey Leonardo”) but had no idea what it was about. Turns out the 1996 film is about a family man who hires a couple of outcasts to kidnap his wife so he can scheme ransom money out of his father-in-law. “Fargo” actually exceeded my expectations as I got a big kick out of the “Minnesota Nice” midwestern accents and solid performance from Frances McDormand. Also, as a marketer, I enjoyed how product placement was inserted into the movie. If you have nothing else to watch and you subscribe to Peacock, give “Fargo” a shot.

It took me long enough, but Sid and I watched “Fargo” this past weekend.

Decade Ago – On this date 10 years ago, Sidney and I went to the movie theater to watch “American Sniper.” To this day, I categorize it as one of the best acting jobs turned in by Bradley Cooper. The amount of preparation he devoted to playing the role of Chris Kyle was evident. But what I want to focus on is the price of a movie ticket. As you can see from the stub below, a single ticket in 2015 was $8.75. When Sidney and Sloan went to “Wicked” at the end of December, it was $15.99 for an adult ticket. Heck, when we went to “Moana” on Thanksgiving, the adult matinee price was $11.99. If movie ticket prices increase the same way they did the previous 10 years, we could be looking at movie tickets that are north of $30 in 2034.

My ticket from “American Sniper” back in 2015. It was a superb movie.

TBT – Thought I would share a throwback photo in tonight’s rundown. I chose this image because my dad always mentions that one of his favorite memories of me as a little boy was when I would throw on my favorite white hat and “mow the lawn.” What caught my eye about this photo was how old the cars in our garage look! Talk about dating myself. On the other side of the coin, check out the camcorder my dad is holding. For this photo to have been taken probably in the 1989-1991 range, I would have expected it to be some gigantic video camera resting on his shoulder.

The cars look old but my dad’s camcorder looks surprisingly modern.

Dry January – It seems like “Dry January” is a real thing this year. A couple nights ago, Sid remarked to me that she knows many people who are doing it. This morning, we threw out a bunch of beer in the garbage. However, I can’t claim it was because we jumped on the Dry January band wagon. Rather, it was because the beer expired long ago! When readers learn that it was Bud Light beer that was tossed, I am sure many of my IPA-loving friends will reach out and say that is where it belongs (expired or not!). Kudos and support to all those at the halfway point of Dry January.

We threw away Bud Light this morning simply because we didn’t drink it in time.

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Thank you for reading. Let’s continue to pray for those impacted by the California fires, especially those who have lost their homes and those who are first responders. May we never know the hell they are experiencing. Don’t Blink.