Can you figure out what is in this case? You will be given three clues for now:

1) It is very important to me.

2) Some of the contents have been with me for more than 10 years.

3) Not all of the contents are from the same place.

If none of the guesses are correct, I'll post a video giving more details.

The person with the correct guess will receive an official jaylowe.com prize to be determined. Good luck!

Yes, I stole this from a similar random email forward and from my favorite Atlanta Morning Show, but I thought it sounded fun. The basic concept is think about pivotal moments in your life and list a song which might be tied to them. This list wasn't random. Oh no, this list was deliberately chosen. All decisions may not make me beam with pride now, but at the time they were tied to that period of my life. If they are ever on the radio or the ipod, an instant memory will appear.

Have fun with the tunes. I imagine some fun will be had at my expense here, but I know all of us have guilty pleasures. Some of these songs certainly fall into that category.

- being a silly child and dancing around the house:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap-OO0xqTe4

- skating rink parties in elementary school:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swzh0ngMNJo

- my first concert was actually with the parents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-nt7aC_JQ
(I remember waiting for Christie Brinkley to show up on stage.)

- first tape I ever purchased:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fumgOJLFSHw
(This was the first introduction my Granny had to rap. She used to enjoy listening to it on my walkman. Or at least she made me believe she enjoyed it.)

- 7th/8th grade slow dance parties:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-BW23Zwfko
(first song on this list which is embarrassing, but it got me my first slow dance.)
 
- first cd I ever owned:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7l250E5uM4
(still get pumped when i hear this song.)

- that 8th grade crush that moved away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_dN1WXBxuw
(I purchased the cassette single and mailed it to her.)

- driving my car alone for the first time (NSFW language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfkDnsxc-zE
(My honda civic hatchback, driving University Parkway, windows down)

- my first heart break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFt-wj2i3zo
(Never was into country as a kid, but woke up the morning after my first heartbreak and this song was on the radio.)

- prom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDcpXlttqq4
(Yes, it is cheesy, but this was the popular slow song.)

- high school graduation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFZLq6R-ZtM
(We blasted this on our way to senior beach week.)
 
- those old, dear friends who are always there for me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyP04daVwGY
(My friends, my brothers. 'Nuff said.)
 
- leaving nc for college in ga:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gic6B-B6rpg
(Leaving NC behind, this kept me company.)

- partying in the Phi Psi house:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0GBEIUt6uc
(Actually, that entire album set the stage for what would become late night Dance Party USA at the Phi Psi house.)

- all those drives back and forth to NC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfwIPII72lQ
(Ok, yeah that entire album along with There and Back Again and Running on Ice had me training and straining my vocal chords)

- summer in Chapel Hill (NSFW language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FTRAeycmM0
(Puff Daddy and Mase were gold back then.)

- the birth of Argus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xju6vMIvrQc
(Covering this song got Argus its first gig.)

- the grad school year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnoI7Be4VZk
(There are countless tunes from that year which ring throughout my head, so much so I made 3 compilation cds from that year. All pop music.)

- heartbreak #2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMTTyxJRv0s

- the Spring Street era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOESyEljmFE
(Again, another era where there are countless songs which could go here, but this one reminds me of my cool roommate and all the outstanding parties we threw.)

- living in Illinois:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gMvgMq-2CM
(Purchased this cd about a week before I moved. It was my "drive to work" cd for about 8 months.)

- heartbreak #3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQgDnZQogDM

living in Nashville:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmV_YJm5jAc
(One of the coolest things about Nashville was the great friends and constant social calendar we all kept. This was one of the tunes we'd karaoke.)

- working at Vanderbilt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU13MRtSD7E
(Just a fun dance song which always took my mind off of work.)

- meeting my future wife:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY7rZCTmbSI
(Edwin's album, Scream and Whisper, came out while Courtney and I were dating. This is a song that always reminds me of the beginnings of our relationship. It is the closest video I could find.)

- moving to Ohio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH_bvXf1-yM
(Thanks to my friend Trent, I discovered Rilo Kiley right before I moved to Ohio.)

- the wedding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsGTG1c64lA&feature=PlayList&p=B7A2FE4C0920C24C&index=2
(Ok, not a real music video but this is the best youtube had. It was our first dance song.)

- moving back to Athens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzYyBYLc9kQ
(No, I am not a Daughtry fan, but this song was popular when we decided to move back to Georgia.)

- this fall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tslf0VXfpww
(Probably my favorite song from the Tuesday release of, Burning The Days, by Vertical Horizon.

It would be great to hear your thoughts on these. Any of them stick out to you? Do they remind you of a special time in your life? A miserable time? Heck, even if you just want to make fun of me feel free scroll back to the top and leave a comment.

Ok, I swear this will be the last post about college basketball for a couple of months, but I couldn't pass up this video:

When you grow up and UNC basketball is all you know for 18 years of your life, stuff like this will pull at your heart strings. When I first saw it, I sent it to my parents and sister. The four of us, as well as grandparents and other relatives, had some special moments watching Carolina basketball. A good bit of them are in this clip. It is a walk down memory lane, for sure. Well, minus the 1957 National Championship team. I wasn't around for that one. I did the math.

Court and I just finished sweep, vacuuming, dusting and mopping. We need to do it more often. It amazes me how much dirt and dust the dogs bring in, not to mention hair. We are considering giving them a good shave down to hopefully eliminate some of the hair situation. Have any of you ever shaved your dogs? Does it help with cleanliness?

The future Flippens and the Brouillards are possibly coming over to watch the UGA game tonight. It won't be quite as crazy as the Fried Football Chicken Classic, but should be fun to have some good friends at the house. If the weather were better, I'd totally set up a tv on the deck again. Actually, if the rain stops I may just do that!

Speaking of rain, we've been getting it. A lot of it. Unbelievable. I know we need it, and I'm thankful for it but my motivation has been considerably down because of it. It is just an excuse, I know.

Who else has a youtube page? What do you do with it? I uploaded some silly videos a few weeks ago, and now my creative mind is running wild. Do you use it for just normal every day stuff? Do you use it to review movies? Do you have a secret comedy routine which needs to be shared with the world? Let me know. I'd love to check it out and get some good ideas for my page.

Just a few more days before Vertical Horizon's Burning The Days is released. I plan to spend Sunday preparing myself for it by listening to their entire catalog. At some point the 30+ bootleg tapes I have will need to be transferred to mp3 so they can be thrown on my ipod or shared with other fans. They may not be your type of music, but the heart they put into their tunes is unparalleled.

Off to watch some college football. GO DOGS!

Just a quick update on the ipod situation ... it works fine on my home computer. I'm starting to think there is something wrong with the usb connections to my work computer. It won't recognize my ipod or my flash drive. Both of which are recognized on our home computer. So I may owe an apology to apple, but I'm still not downloading itunes 9.0 to the home computer yet.

Sad news out of the NCAA home office yesterday with the passing of Myles Brand. It will be interesting to see the direction the NCAA takes replacing Brand. He, probably more than any other sitting president, further pushed the integration of education and athletics. The world of collegiate athletics is a very special place, but it would not be there without the universities. And hey, the guy stood up to Bobby Knight while president at Indiana. He very well may have been liked more outside of the state of IN than within it.

FREE GOLF! As long as the weather holds off, I'm slated to play some free golf on the UGA course tomorrow with three folks from the department. Free is the key word here, as I am getting to the point where I do enjoy playing but the cost is sometimes too much to justify. I have pretty generic clubs and would love to upgrade them at some point. I was actually given 3 newer clubs by the father of our friend Lindsey. After seeing me play prior to Doug and Lindsey's wedding this year, I think he felt sorry for me! But I use those three every time now (driver, 3 wood and rescue). For the record, I am a horrible golfer. I really am, however it is hard to beat a day walking or riding around a wonderfully manicured course.

Georgia is on the road this weekend at Arkansas, which gives me the ability to relax at home. It sounds like my good buddy Flippen and his fiancée Catherine will be joining us at the house for some Saturday football. I have plans to travel to Vanderbilt, Florida and Tech. I have thoughts of going to Knoxville but still unsure about that trip. If I take that one, I will be away from the house for 4 consecutive weekends, and I'm not sure I want to do that. Plus I'm not sure if I could deal with that much orange.

While there appears to be a break in the rain this morning, the week has made me feel like we are living in Oregon. We've been getting rain pretty much non-stop for the past two days and it is expected to continue through the week. I certainly don't mind it. We NEED it. It has actually given me a chance to test our pups.

The past three days I've been leaving the dogs in the house unattended while at work. Since I'm not on the road this week, I've been able to run home for lunch to check on them. I've been so proud of those little guys. All three of them have been behaving well in the house. They may have jumped on the front door if someone walked by, but they haven't been eating anything or chewing. They haven't peed or pooped. When the door opens, they are right there greeting me. Salem and Sherman are over 3 now and Yoda's third bday comes in December. They are still hyper from time to time, but I have become very proud of their behavior.

The pre-order should be on its way next week, but don't forget the new Vertical Horizon cd, "Burning the Days," is released this coming Tuesday. Buy a copy. Buy copies for friends! Help support a hard working band. You should be able to preview the new album via VH's facebook page by clicking on the "music" tab. Enjoy!

My wonderful mother-in-law gave me a tremendous Christmas gift in 2007, a brand new ipod. This was the mother of ipods holding 160gb. over the past year and a half, I've been filling it up and racked up around 6,000 songs. Needless to say, I love my music and I love my variety.

Not only that, but this ipod has been a savior on my travels. My work consists of me being on the road a great deal. Because of this, I love throwing the ipod in the car and listening to a random mix or something specific.

Yesterday, I downloaded the new version of itunes. Today I brought the ipod in to update it, plugged it in and got a lovely pop up window telling me files on the ipod were corrupted. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, restarted it, restarted the computer and nothing worked. Finally, I did the restore feature. This is usually a last ditch effort and unfortunately removes all files from an ipod. So I restart itunes after the restore, and something in the ipod is still corrupted.

I almost beat my computer. Right in the face, err, screen.

Short of it is I now have to spend time going to an Apple store to get it fixed. I wish I knew what happened, but until then it is back to the old cds.

Speaking of cds, don't forget Vertical Horizon's new cd, Burning the Days, comes out September 22.

Tomorrow Georgia opens the home football season versus South Carolina. Needless to say we need a win. I fear what the atmosphere will be like around Athens should we start 0-2. Hopefully we'll knock off the old ball coach and push forward. The schedule doesn't get any easier.

For those of you who don't know, I grew up a Tar Heel. Like many children raised in the great state of North Carolina, I had dreams of wearing that basketball uniform and being coached by Dean Smith.

That didn't happen. Not even close.

But I still appreciate UNC and the Tar Heels on all fronts. A tremendous athletic department which great tradition. This is the 100th anniversary of UNC basketball, so I share with you this clip of UNC's alumni game:

For your musical pleasure, I offer you a glimpse of the new Vertical Horizon CD, Burning the Days, with what I hope will be a hit single, The Middle Ground:

Free link

Also, be sure to click on the photo tab up top and view pictures from the 4th Annual Fried Football Chicken Classic!

While the Bulldogs were not able to fly out of Stillwater with a W, the 4th Annual Fried Football Chicken Classic was a hit. At the height of the party we probably had around 30 folks enjoying some grub and the game.

The set up was a little bigger this year. We took advantage of our expanded back deck and moved my old big screen up for double viewing. I honestly have to say I love the tv on the deck and would consider keeping it up there if we had some type of awning or roof over the deck. It would be a tremendous way to watch college or NFL football on the weekends.

A different recipe was used this year for the chicken. It was certainly spicier than previous years. The breading on some of the pieces was coming off too easily. I will have to work on that next year. Courtney made some ham sandwiches made with mozzarella, turkey and cheddar cheese. Very good. Some of the guests also brought food and snacks. You can never go wrong with mac and cheese, cream cheese wrapped in salami, cookies, brownies, chips and the Brachowski's awesome buffalo chicken dip.

The game was disappointing, but hopefully they can refocus for SC this coming weekend. I normally am not one to complain about officials, but a couple of the calls against the Dogs were questionable. I didn't get a chance to listen to the post-game show, but I am curious to know what coach thought.

Party pictures will be uploaded to our picasa page before too long. It appeared everyone had a good time despite the outcome of the Georgia game. It was great to have a mix of new and old friends. The Parkes' even brought their three little ones. I've said it before, but there is something comforting about having a full house.

Buuuuuuuuut I am also thankful for some peace and quiet today.

Before I leave you today, I will share with you some youtube clips I recorded. I was messing around and trying to come up something funny for the welcome page. Obviously I went with a more traditional welcome video, but you might get a kick out of these:

www.youtube.com/TheJotaLowe

Well here we go people ... the NEW and improved jaylowe.com!

Hope you enjoyed the intro video. Courtney has been laughing at and making fun of me the last hour or so because of it. There are others which didn't make the cut. Maybe I will share them, or maybe you will find them.

Yoda is back to somewhat normal. He is going to be on some meds for a couple weeks and is having to wear a cone. He hates it. Big shocker there. The little guy is so lovable, but geez he finds ways to give scares.

Ok, back to helping up clean around the house. The 4th Annual Fried Chicken Football Classic is Saturday at 2pm. I am SO ready for a full day of college football.

The week has been full. Period. I've got a few moments before Yoda goes to the vet. The poor guy has been scratching and itching all week. So much so, he's given himself a lot of little scabs. This morning, prior to leaving for work, I noticed his left eye was starting to swell. Work seemed unimportant to me, but the vet couldn't fit him in any earlier.

Parenting must be so difficult. Not only the time management, but this is the first time I felt really concerned about one of our dogs. Hopefully it is something a little medication can help, but I can't imagine going through stuff like this with kids. Ugh.

When Court gets home later today, we will be in full on cleaning mode. Tomorrow is our 4th Annual Fried Football Chicken Classic. Basically I fry up a bunch of fried chicken, lay out some beverages and snacks and watch college football all day. We have about 25-30 people coming, so lots to do. Good thing we expanded the back deck and plan to put an additional tv out there!

Off to the vet.