AndrePope.com

There has been a lot happening here in my little world. Last week Heidi and I closed on our new house. We ended up moving in on the same day - we were so excited. After spending $4000 on furniture, lawnmowers, washers and dryers and a slew of odd and ends it almost feels like home; but not quite.

Keith and I were also featured in the local rag Weekly Serge. You can read the full article here. It was a good article about young people making waves along the Strand.

Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand May be getting together to form a small blog group thanks to this guy. I will keep you posted on the happenings.

There has been an official name change with the state for MB Photo Plus to 803 Labs, thus meaning we are one step closer with the merger.

It looks as if new Daddy Pope is having a good time with the baby. Heidi and I are really excited for Him and Shara.

I pretty much passed all of my welding test which include Mig: steel & aluminum and Tig: steel & aluminum. So on Monday nites I will be doing auto body work with Paul and a few other guys.

And to top it all off I have booked the company trip to Costa Rica. Should be a great time with the guys from Surf City. I can't wait.

Posted by Andre at 09:32 AM | Permalink

Posted by Andre at 02:18 PM | Permalink

So my boy Brandon Zellars aka Modern Decoy finally got off is butt and finished his demo reel.

Check it out:

Posted by Andre at 04:08 PM | Permalink

I admit it I am lazy when it comes to a few things. One of these things is politics. I see all of this crazy stuff happen all the time but I don't ever do anything about it. This is mainly for one or two reasons. The first being I am really uneducated when it come to politics. I understand the basics but that is really about it. Being uneducated makes me shun away from having discussions about the things that really make me ticked off. Which leads me to reason #2: what can I really do? I know i could bitch and complain about it but to whom? Most people already have their oppnion and won't be swayed from it. This is mostly due to the fact that they are in the same boat as I am in as far as being uneducated in real politics, however the difference is they think they know what they are talking about. I know down at its core I am just too lazy to learn more about it to make strong arguments about my case.

There is one guy out there that does know a little on what is going on and he is trying to raise awareness. Check out what Lee Iacocca has to say!

Posted by Andre at 12:29 PM | Permalink

My Brother and his wife had their first kid. Which makes me a uncle. I have been think about what uncle name I would like to have and have came up with Uncle Dre Dre. As far as the mystery of the baby's name its the beautiful name of Eleanor Rose Pope!

Congrats to Nakia and Shara

Here goes some picts:

Posted by Andre at 02:22 PM | Permalink

I was recently featured on a local restaurant website concerning me being a BBQ judge. You can check it out at: http://www.myrtlebeachrestaurantnews.com/

The funnest part is it says, "Andre Pope of Socastee."

Posted by Andre at 09:07 AM | Permalink

I have been fortunate enough lately to listen to some really good music. However to get the good music I had to listen to bunch of so-so and bad music. To help all of those out there here goes a quick breakdown.

1) Black Milk - Popular Demand - Hip Hop
Good Beats, Slow and Un-thought Provoking
Verdict: Pass

2) Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City - Dreary Dance Rock
A Good Mix But Gets Old After A Little While
Verdict: Worth A Listen

3) Chromeo - She's In Control - Pop Dance Rock
Poppy Fun & Danceable
Verdict: Put In On Your Ipod And Dance Your Ass Off

4) DJ Muggs VS GZA - Grandmasters Remix - Rap
Noting Special Or Notable
Verdict: You Can Do Without

5) From Autumn To Ashes - Holding A Wolf By The Ears - Metal Core
A Good Solid Album
Verdict: I'm Getting to Old For This

6) Ghostface Killah - Hidden Darts - Rap
Some Of The Best Beats This Year, Strength In Delivery
Verdict: A Sure Shot Purchase

7) Hieroglyphics - Over Time - Hip Hop
A Collection Of Their Stuff Over Time
Verdict: You Should Already Have Most Of It

8) Jennifer Lopez - Como Ama Una Mujer - Pop
All In Spanish
Verdict: I Could Not Listen To It

9) Lamb Of God - Sacrament - Metal
Solid Metal Album
Verdict: Worth A Peek Into Forgotten Metal

10) VA- Erotic Lounge Vol 1-4 - Electronic Lounge
Very Chill Lounge Music
Verdict: Borrow From A Friend, Program & Chill

11) Merle Haggard - 40#1 Hits - Country
Remastered Merle Haggard
Verdict: You May Have A Lot Of This

12) Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion - Dance Pope Rock
The closest thing this generation has seen to Queen
Verdict: Pick It Up You Won't Regret It
* I am not a fan of the 2nd track, but its still fun

13) Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank - Alt. Rock
A Steady Growing Album From A Group That Has Been Around For A While
Verdict: All your friends already have it, just borrow it

14) Project Jenny, Project Jan - EP - Electronica/Dance
A fun album with good beats, its like a science experiment
Verdict: Good Luck In Trying To Find It

15) Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation... - Rap
You know the deal
Verdict: If you don't have it, then you suck

16) Redman - Red Gone Wild _ Rap
Not eccentric as past ventures, beats are just ok
Verdict: Pass

17) Robin Thicke - The Evolution Of... - R&B
Take Justin Timberlake and mix In Michael Buble & There You Go
Verdict: A must, I love this album

18) Thievery Corporation - Versions - Trip Hop
Take some really good hip hop beats slow them down and add random elements
Verdict: Really good to chill to

19) Timberland - Shock Value - Hip Hop
Sounds like all the stuff he left out from everybody's else's album
Verdict: Not Worth Picking Up

20) Willie Merle & Ray - Last Of Breed - Country
The way country should should, solid all the way through
Verdict: A Classic To Pick Up

Posted by Andre at 11:34 AM | Permalink

This weekened was fun, exciting and draining (not to metion the Pope's curse lives on. )

On Friday night one of my friends Mark Rogers got married. It was a nice wedding and really cool to get to see my friends from far off (Charleston, Scranton, D.C.) make it down. We all hung out and ate dinner after the wedding. It was good to see and catch up with everybody.

On Sat. I got up and went to Summerville for my second BBQ judging. This time there were 27 teams there representing all four types of SC style BBQ. The competition this week was for whole hog (unlike last week where it was Boston Butts). I sampled all 27 and they were all good. It is really had to be critical of something that is so good. I mean most of these people do this professionaly so it has to be good.

I came back home and coated the tractor's gas tank. It was getting rust in the fuel line and I needed to correct the problem in order for it to run properly. After working a little outside I cleaned the house and started packing for our big move. Heidi had a girls night out so it was just Harley and I.

Sunday mourning Paul met me over at my house and brought his pressure washer. A brand new pressure washer...but one that came to the Pope's house. Before we even started the choke came off so we had to do a quick rebuild. Thirty min. later I was off and spraying the hose to kill the mold and fungi that popped up since last time.

After knocking that out it was off to take out the motor of the 73 VW. And in true Pope form it wasn't easy at all. Paul and I ultimatly got it off and decided to call it quits. I however wanted to get a little more done so I got the tractors tank back together and started to place it back on. Everything was going great until I went to connect the fule line to the carburator. I then discovered that I managed to strip the threads. After a trip to two local parts houses and lowes with no luck I officially called it quits.

To reward myself for all the work Heidi and I are going to see Blades of Glory.

FRICKIN SWEET!!!!

Posted by Andre at 08:11 PM | Permalink