...so he would wake up to his entire front yard filled by a massive bald eagle. I have no idea if that would have worked because I have no concept of how long it would take to fill a 40x50 foot parade float.

I'm still bent that we didn't win it, but we still laugh over our frantic attempt at it.

These deals all have semi-complicated captchas you have to do. The one for the eagle was simply typing "I should not buy this eagle" into the box. Which of course made us want it even more. We had dreams of putting it in his front yard and using a portable tire inflater overnight...

And I love the Bengals every day except for the ones they're playing against Buffalo.

Nothing permanent. Just enough to take him out for about 11 days.

Maybe Joe Burrow will get salmonella poisoning.

In fairness to him, he would have had one if it weren't for that fumble.

Yeah, that was a great game, which makes the bad football being played in this one look even worse.

I think that collaboration was where Layne's regret came through the most.

He definitely said don't do it. "Can't get high or you will die" was a line in Godsmack, from the perspective of one of the many people in his life who were trying to save him. In a way, even though he knew he wouldn't quit, his music as a whole was showing people why not to ever start using.

Sometimes he almost welcomed it. But he never wanted it. It's hard to describe. I think a lot of the Mad Season side project lyrics showed his feelings about what he was doing to himself, which is why I quoted "Wake Up" at first. "River of Deceit" too.

Them and Soundgarden. Chris Cornell and Layne both had such hauntingly beautiful voices.

He didn't want to be addicted, but he also didn't want to stop using. He never really glorified it. He knew it was destroying him and every relationship he ever had. But knowing that was not enough for him. His music was a cautionary tale. "Can't get high, or you will die."

He did and he didn't. "Dirt" is a good example of the internal battle.

And he knew exactly what it was doing to him.

Addicts frequently lash out at the people who love them and are trying to keep them accountable.

Every bit of music Layne ever put out was foreshadowing. One of the few celebrity deaths that I've ever cried over, and that was before I even knew just how awful the circumstances were. "Slow suicide's no way to go".