Halloween has always been my favorite Holiday. I love the idea that we can dress up and escape our realities for just a night. It’s a chance for us to be something devilish and sinister. But mostly it’s just good fun. And do I need to mention the candy? You wouldn’t believe the treats my children brought home from school yesterday. If I was a homeless man I would trick or treat AS a homeless man…it’d be a convincing costume and a sure fire way to get some grub. Of course maybe that’s why I’m not homeless; I think outside of the box.

Every Halloween I can’t help but remember a friend of mine who lived nearby when I was growing up. Adam Baine was a super nice kid who had the misfortune (in my opinion) of being born into a ridiculously religious family. He wasn’t allowed to listen to ANY music with electric guitars, he only attended Christian schools, and of course he wasn’t allowed to celebrate Halloween. I remember feeling so sorry for him. His parents did their best to demonize the holiday after their attempts to make him oblivious to it fell futile. I imagine the most hell-like anyone was on those Halloween nights was poor Adam as he sat inside listening to the throngs of revelers knocking at the door.

I feel bad for people that are that raised in families that don’t celebrate Halloween. It’s that kind of moral repressiveness that makes kids and teens go crazy when they finally get some freedom. If you think dressing up constitutes some kind of devil worship I feel sorry for you. You are really naive and far too easily influenced. Halloween should be the least of your concerns. I still feel bad for him to this day. As a 10 year old, missing Halloween was a bane of his existence.

It’s my sincere hope that wherever you are today Adam, whether or not you dress up or party, that at the least you have a couple pieces of candy and enjoy this awesome tradition we all share. Maybe one day you’ll knock on my door and I’ll finally be able to celebrate my favorite holiday with you, all these years later.

To everyone that reads this blog; all you ghouls and ghost, vamps and zombies, creatures of the night and all things fun and frightening; I wish you all a deliciously tasty Halloween filled with many treats and most importantly, many more memories. Happy Halloween!

My life is basically made up of three major sections; the professional, the personal and the spiritual. They aren’t always working together or even in equal thirds. To be honest I’m not sure I’ll ever get them balanced out effectively. Circumstances like time,distance and myriad other factors always seem to work against me. If you’re asking why that matters I’ll tell you. I think this ‘Trifecta’ is what we have to master and balance in order to truly be happy in life.

I feel like I have finally turned a corner in my personal life. I’ve met an awesome woman I have a ton of interest in. Surprisingly that feeling is being reciprocated. It’s taken me forever to feel like I want to try and even entertain the idea of a dating again. But for some reason it just feels right. And I know it’s okay to roll with this feeling. So the balance has switched towards the personal and I’m stoked about how things are going.

But professionally I feel more and more disillusioned with every passing minute. Every day I feel less like I’m in the right place. I suppose that was always a possibility with learning a new career, especially now that I’m getting more into the heart and soul of medicine. It’s one thing to see it on television. As I learned this week it’s entirely different to be there in person. So while I take two steps forward personally, I feel like I’m taking one back professionally.

Maybe the key to figuring all this out lies in the corner of the triangle I pay the least amount of attention to. I know religion and spirituality are incredibly important in life. Oddly I find it’s also the easiest part of my life to blow off. There’s always an excuse for missing church, or not meditating, or whatever the case may be. Maybe spirituality is the Rosetta Stone for finding contentment in those other areas of your life. Perhaps my focus has been wrong all along. If I put my faith at the forefront maybe things will automatically balance themselves out. I hope so. I’m tired of feeling like my life is a game of Marble Madness, constantly tilting and shifting. I’m ready to beat that game for good.

If you have found that balance in your life I’d love to hear from you. Let me know about your Rosetta Stone or experiences. I always learn so much from the comments, email and responses I receive. As always, thanks for dropping by. Be real, be true and be good.

As a recovering alcoholic I have an interesting outlook on alcohol. It scares the hell out of me. It’s so prevalent in our society. Maybe that’s because we make it so taboo – whereas in Europe it’s something that’s always around. I’m not really sure. But what I do know is this; it’s inescapable.

It’s been the biggest challenge of my life to try and stay sober. It’s like the worst itch you could imagine, and trying to not scratch it will drive you crazy. What makes it worse is how inescapable alcohol is in these United States. Watch a football game and count the beer ads. Stop at a convenient store and just look at the signs on the door. Go in your local grocery store or try to eat out and see if they don’t offer you a drink.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not for the abolishment of booze; there are lots of people who drink and can handle themselves accordingly. But I do find it strange that we have done away and regulated so much of the tobacco industry but not alcohol. I’ve never heard of anyone smoking to many cigarettes and beating their wife, or going on a smoking bender and then crashing their car and killing an innocent family. Aren’t we being unduly harsh on the lesser dangerous drug?

Is it all about money and lobbyist? Does common sense not win out? At the very least what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. They should be regulated in the same manner. I’m not questioning the dangers of tobacco. But it’s a struggle to quit when everywhere you look all you see is alcohol. We are inundated by it. And all those ads do exactly what they set out to – make me crave it. It’s a curse to not be able to put your disease out of sight or mind for even a few minutes. And it’s a battle I will fight everyday for the rest of my life. And that’s exactly how these companies like it.

Lying….it’s something I’ve done professionally. Think I’m kidding? I’m not. I’ve always been an amazing liar. I don’t mean the kind of liar you knew in high school – you know, that guy that made you think he was more than he was so he could get you out of your pants. I am amazing. I can make you think whatever it is I want. I wasn’t always this way, though. I have had help. Don’t get me wrong – I WAS that guy in high school. I convinced a band to let me tour nationally with them thinking I was 19 when I was only 17. I’m that good at what I do.

Strangely my ability to lie landed me in a gig that taught me to lie even more efficiently. I ended up a public relations specialist in the U.S. military. Is it lying? No….. is it bending and stretching the truth to meet your needs? Sure. And damn it…I was amazing at it. Unfortunately it was a skill that didn’t leave me post government work. I still bend and stretch the truth to fit my needs. It sounds funny to say, but I AM a government trained liar. I’m a master of deception. And I still deceive today.

Is that a problem, you ask? And the answer is yes. I’ve spent so many years struggling to find out what it is I want or who it is I am…but here’s the catch. When you’ve lied, bullshitted and skirted the truth for as long as I have you lose touch with not just reality, but yourself. I have no idea who it is I am anymore. I have lied so much I don’t know what it means to be me anymore. Who am I? My entire life is a fabrication…or at the least a giant stretching of the truth.

It’s a hard habit to break. It’s my fallback. I have always been “that guy.” I can walk into any room and own it. I can become whoever I need to in order to meet my goals. And it sucks. It’s so ingrained in me that it’s become hard to turn off. Who are my real friends? Are they even real friends…or are they just friends of the person I wanted them to see? For that matter, what is the real me? How do you find yourself when you’re lost? After all the self realization I’ve done through rehab and counseling I’m left with more and more questions. And putting this out for anyone to read scares me…it would have been much easier to lie about it all.

Its days like today I hate this town. Or more accurately its weekends like this one that I hate. I love my hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In my opinion it’s the most cultured city in the state of Alabama. We are a great university town. It’s not too big or too small, there are a fair amount of activities and we are just a short drive from the bustling city streets of Birmingham. But for about 5 weeks a year this city becomes unbearable.

The Deep South is home to the full frenzy and fervor of college football. And Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, is at the epicenter of that fandom. Now hear me out. I am a massive fan. I was raised on Alabama athletics. I bleed crimson. But as a former student that lives in this city there is nothing that irks me more than the influx of 100,000 plus people that have no intentions of doing anything other than drinking, cheering and congesting traffic.

I know it’s a massive boost for the economy…and I know it helps out the University. But try and do something on a home game weekend. I dare you. Yesterday I spent almost 30 minutes driving two miles. Thank you never ending line of RV’s. You made me late for my appointment. I made the mistake of going to the grocery store also; bad move. I thought I was never going to get out of there. Not to mention they were sold out of half the things I wanted. It was as if people we’re buying before a natural disaster.

I guess I just don’t understand the culture. Maybe living in this city has caused me to miss out on something. Is there something magical about RV’ing to spend the weekend back at your alma mater? I’m torn. I want my hometown back and for Alabama to win. So Roll Tide folks….and then roll out.

This is my favorite time of year. Halloween and Fall are finally upon us. There’s a crispness in the air, the darkening of leaves and the shortening of the day. I’ve always been fascinated with fall and Halloween. It’s without a doubt my favorite holiday. So I’m a little morose. I love horror films and the band Type O Negative and I anxiously wait 356 days of the year for the AMC Fearfest. I can’t help myself.

Maybe that’s what got me scouring the depths of the web this year for something unique and different to do this Autumn. What I found was an incredible artist named Len Peralta from Cleveland. He runs a few sites but without doubt his bread and butter is Monster by Mail. What he does is hand draw a 4×6 original piece of art based off the name you give him. Of course for the sake of research I sent him The HiTechRedneck. We’ll get back to that though.

Len basically offers four packages right now; It’s $25 just for the art, $35 for the art and a time-lapsed YouTube video of him creating it, and so on. I’ll let you check out all the specifics for yourself. I opened my email this afternoon to find a nice message saying my monster was complete and on the way. Plus it had a link to my video. It turned out fantastic. Take a look and see what ya think – but I couldn’t be any happier with it.

If you love Halloween as much as I do you owe it to yourself to get one of these made. Maybe you’re looking for a unique one-of-a-kind gift or perhaps you just want some incredible art; no matter the case check out Len’s work. You can follow him on Twitter, subscribe to his Youtube channel or check out his blog.

I hope you’re all having as special, creepy and scarily fun Fall as I am. Carve the pumpkins, hand out the treats and always remember – using garlic against a vampire is just a myth… I think.

There’s a never ending battle going on in my life; it’s between my heart and my head. The Battle of The Lonely Life – and believe me when I say there have been casualties. Years after my divorce I am still damaged goods; I still have parts that are broken. It’s funny how in trying to fix myself I broke parts of others. Make no sense? It will…

I’m sure it’s a battle that many people that are divorced fight. First and foremost am I ready to date? Am I ready to make a commitment to something serious? The answer is no. In fact I’m not sure I ever want a serious relationship again. Or at least that’s what I tell the masses that check on me. That’s what my head wants me to do. It’s logical to think that if you’ve tried something and it hurt, not to try it again. But the idea of being eternally single scares the hell out of me. I don’t want to live out my life alone and die lonely.

So is it possible to live your life single and not be lonely? My heart says, “Nope – you’d better try again.” So I tried dating and all it did was make me feel horrible about stringing someone along that I had no real long term plans with. That’s not fair to them. But that’s not something you tell someone early in a relationship. If you do you sound like a ‘playboy.’ If you don’t and things progress it seems like you lied just to get in their pants. So where is that happy middle ground? Does such a place even exist?

I hope it’s possible to be a bachelor and still have meaningful relationships. I’m not aiming for celibacy or being that guy who sits in the matinee movie alone, but I also don’t want the full blown married life with all that drama either. I have tried that, and it doesn’t work for me.

But most of all, I don’t want to keep hurting people. I’ve done enough of that in my life. Is it possible to have my cake and eat it too? I’m not sure – but I won’t give up the trying. Forward march – the battle rages onward.

I'm back folks - try and control yourselves..

The prodigal redneck hath returned. That’s right ladies and gentlemen – following a six-month hiatus I have returned from the depths of the Deep South with all new tales of trials and tribulation, of the amazing and miraculous…and I will be bringing those to you! So welcome to my new online presence. This is home of the all new HitchRedneck.com. It’s been, and still is, a work in progress…but most labors of love are.

To be quite frank I found myself at critical mass several months back. I was worried that a) I was divulging far too much personal information on the Intertubes… and b) I was fresh out of things to say. I always assumed that would happen and after a year and a half of solid blogging it was time for me to take a little time to reenergize. Fortunately I have amassed a ton of interesting, insightful and occasionally idiotic experiences to share with you. I promise you this time my run will exceed my last blog in content, depth, length and quality. Well…maybe not quality. Who cares, though? I don’t expect to be nominated for a Pulitzer anytime soon. A Nobel Peace Prize maybe…

So check back in and see what all I have planned for this space. It’s an exciting time around here and I’m glad you’re along for the journey. In the meantime keep your ear to the ground, your nose to the grindstone and your digits away from hungry children.