Racing Nick @ 4K Field Day 

Toozday

I'm listening to the new Mariah Carey song "Fly Like a Bird". So far it's OK. It has sort of a Deniece Williams feel to it. I'm trying to remember exactly when Mariah started whispering her songs instead of singing them. I think it's somewhere around the time she started shedding her clothes. Ahh, now there's some George Benson playing. Dude is one serious jazz man. Unfortunately, I don't like this song so I'll fast forward to ... The Righteous Brothers? OK, so I have a closet weakness for "Unchained Melody". I wonder what Yahoo radio has in store for me next... Louis Armstrong? That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

So far I haven't slipped up and nibbled on something I shouldn't have. Nick shared some of his matzo with one of his classmates. I know Nick's teachers think we're weird-as-all-get-out. No matter, they won't be the only ones I suppose.

I've been polling the men in Anderson to see who'd be willing to play some softball. I think we have enough, though we might have to recruit some women as well. Perhaps we can get Atlanta and Charlotte to come here for a day of softball/potlucking/fellowship, or we could go to one or both places and play. I think I'll see if we can get something done. I'd like to play basketball too, but have you seen the typical LCG congregation? I think basketball might be asking a little too much of my grey-headed brethren. Of course, I'm sure there would be an upswing in Ben-Gay sales if we did shoot some hoops. I'm guessing there'll probably be a copious amount of post-game soreness just playing softball. Hopefully no one will pull a muscle or tear up a knee. Mr. Poole should probably bring some surplus anointing cloths, just to be safe...

I can't get this Perl script to do what I want it to, and all the computer people are gone. Therefore, I guess I'll just go home.

Wasn't it summer just a few days ago???

I've really got to get on the ball. I haven't done anything since coming back from Bakersfield. I really need to get going on my research project so I can graduate. I've been quite the slacker lately... I just don't seem to have the enthusiasm for my subject as most of my fellow grad students have. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up and make myself hang on until I reach the finish line... And I'm REALLY not looking forward to taking comps this fall. Nope, not at all.

At least this past weekend was great - cold, but great! I met a new brother @ the Passover service; well, technically he's not 'new', but he hadn't attended church for years. He certainly sounded as though he was glad to have found us (via the TV broadcast) and will probably be attending in Charlotte, which is a little closer to his home. We had warm water again for the 2nd year in a row! There's nothing quite like sticking your feet into an ice-cold basin. I was also reminded at Passover that my feet are quite ticklish.

I didn't actually get to hear much of the sermons on the weekly Sabbath or the 1st Day of UB. Noah was not feeling well and he refused to stop crying. Both days I walked around with him pretty much the entire sermon, constantly patting his back. That brought back memories of having to do the same thing to his older brother 5 years ago. I think the problem was gas, but it only seemed to affect him over the weekend. Yesterday he was back to normal, being the quiet drool machine that he normally is.

I guess I'll go home and get something to eat now. Before I go though, I think I'll leave my adoring public with some of my random thoughts:

I no longer like Penn & Teller...
NBA action IS fan-tastic - especially the playoffs. Although, I don't see why they must last until June...
20 years ago, when both were at their commercial peak, no one would've argued that Prince was more normal than Michael Jackson. NOW, however...
I love my church family...
I wish more of my relatives were a part of my church family...
I should not get upset when fictional characters are killed in a story I'm reading - even if I've followed these characters and watched them develop over the course of 6.5 books and 3,000+ pages.

Westsiiiiide!

L.A. was a blast! I made it to services an hour ahead of time - which is VERY unlike me. I met a lot of wonderful people yesterday. I also found out that Glendale, a SUBURB, is twice as populous as the largest cities in my home state. There was a young girl sitting next to me yesterday who was soooo precious, and her entire face would light up when she smiled. We spent the last few minutes of the sermon playing peek-a-boo. She allowed me to take a picture of her along with her big brother - I hope it turns out well, because she was so excited about having her picture taken. Seeing her smile made my day. I had some very thought provoking discussions later that evening as I hung out with some of the singles and newly married folk. I got a little paranoid on my way home as I missed the exit to the freeway - lost in greater LA is not the place for a country boy like myself. Especially after 11 pm... I'm definitely looking forward to returning in July.

I wonder if I'll be flying home in the same sardine can I flew out here in. Luckily on the 2nd leg of my flight the plane was only half full, so I was able to have a row to myself. Why aren't planes designed for people over 6' tall? I need to remember to go by Barnes & Noble tomorrow and some literature for the flight - something deep and meaningful along the lines of The Sporting News. Yeah...

The young people I was with last night were really inspiring. Actually, most of the young people I meet in the church are inspiring. There are some, of course, who only attend because of their parents and don't attempt to hide it, but the overwhelming majority seem to desire to do the right thing. I look at my actions when I was their age and hope that my kids DO NOT emulate dear old dad. I'm proud of the LCG kids/young adults.

I suppose I should practice song-leading the next couple of days, since I'm leading songs for the first time this coming Sabbath. I'm quite nervous about screwing up - then again, how many people actually watch the songleader for their cues? That reminds me, La Cresenta actually had violins and a clarinet in addition to piano accompanying the hymns... That was a nice touch.

Now, I'm off to catch some Sportscenter.

Bakersfield

Well, I'm here in Bakersfield, CA - well, at this moment I'm actually in Shafter. It's a bit too rural to be called a "suburb". I'm working at the experiment station for a week extracting cotton DNA as part of my graduate research project. This place is eerily similar to my hometown - all you'd have to do is swap the almond and orange groves for tobacco and soybean fields, and replace Hispanics with Blacks and VOILA! The land is perfectly flat (which I like), and in the mornings you can see the mountains surrounding the San Joaquin valley. I'm here until Tuesday, and I'm missing Shonta and the kids terribly.

I thought our local airport was small. Meadows Air Field makes Greenville-Spartanburg look like O'Hare. Getting from check-in to my plane shouldn't take more than 52 seconds.

I'm heading to La Crascenta tomorrow. I'm excited - why is the story about the country mouse who went to visit the city mouse popping into my head? I hate traffic, but from looking at a map it appears that I'll be off the freeway before I make it to L.A. proper. Plus, how busy can the highways be on a Saturday morning?

I caught the Larry King show last nite in my hotel room. He had a panel on a Protestant minister, Muslim expert, Rabbi, Catholic priest, and an atheist. They were covering topics regarding what happens to us when we die, what their thoughts were re Jesus, etc. I don't watch the show, so I don't know what Larry's normally like, but last night he sure was smug and emitted an air of condescencion. I stopped watching when the atheist said that there wasn't a shred of secular evidence to support the contention that Jesus was a real person. I assume no one on the panel ever read Josephus. Of course there are other secular references, and I was surprised that no one called her on that.

99.3 FM Bakersfield is slammin'!!! It's an old-school R & B station and it's really taking me back... Of course, if they announce that Evelyn "Champagne" King is performing for Cinco de Mayo one more time I'm gonna scream. She didn't have that many hits back in the day.

I wish that it would rain...

Oh wait - it is. After days of excellent weather, the rains have come and all is dreary in Clemson, SC. I went to the track yesterday at Nick's urging. He's my 5-year-old son, and he has a thing for the 400 meters. As soon as we got there, he took off and made his trek around the track. I must admit I was impressed - maybe he has a future as a distance runner. He most certainly is not going to be a sprinter (or basketball player or soccer player or T-ball player for that matter). As long as he has fun, I suppose... Anyway, I alternated walking/running and went two miles. Shonta walked the whole two miles. I'm finding that I like this family thing. Jalen (my almost 12-year-old) will be spending more time than he realizes here at the track this summer.

I'm trying to psyche myself up to go to the gym today. I've been putting off weightlifting for a few weeks because I hate it so. I definitely need to tone up, and some added strength wouldn't be bad either. If only it weren't so boring! I do OK if I have a dependable partner, as I'll go to keep from letting him down. Without that partner it's a major struggle.

I think I'm going to try the South Beach diet when I get back from California. I read some of the book last night, and it doesn't appear to be as strict as Atkins. I miss beans (I like homemade chili), and I'd like to start eating more fruit.

Maybe some Disco on AOL radio will inspire me. If not, I know the MotownSounds channel will. Everything's better with Motown!

1st Post

I'm interested in seeing how this develops. I've never had a blog before; never even read one until last week. I've always been interested in keeping a journal, but now I've finally decided to give it a try. Do I tell anyone about it or not? Hmmm...

Right now, I'm sitting at my work PC listening to my local sports radio station and basking in the afterglow of last night's NCAA basketball championship game. Luckily my beloved Tar Heels eked out a win and national championship #4. As least now I get a brief respite from Duke fans, as we've had a difficult last 2-3 years.

Perhaps I'll get on over to the library and finally scan pix of Noah - I've only been intending to do it for a week or so.