Charlotte

The 2.5 hour ride to Charlotte for the Family Dance was uneventful, and the Crowne Plaza Hotel was pretty easy to find. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many of the singles I knew from various places. I was expecting most of the singles to bypass Charlotte for KC’s dance. My thoughts were on the Family Dance, and I’d completely forgotten about L4T. The room in which services were held was packed and quite hot. I had to leave the room twice and towel off because of the sweat pouring down my face. They must’ve eventually gotten the AC squared away, because the temp was tolerable by the middle of the sermon. Mr. Lambert Greer gave the sermonette about the L4T program, and Mr. Meredith gave a sermon directed toward the young people in the church. After services I got the chance to catch up with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while, and the fellowship was great. I also got to chat with the Westons, who pastored in my area back before my time. He remembered pretty much everyone, and was pleased to get updates on his former charges.

The dinner was surprisingly good. The grilled chicken breasts with mushroom gravy, potatoes au gratin, and the dinner rolls were quite tasty. The sweet tea left a lot to be desired though. They must have been looking out for the Yankees and diabetics in the crowd. The Wells’ band from Baton Rouge did a good job at the dance. To my amazement, they even did a Soul Train line. If you don’t know what Soul Train is, then educate yourself. I also got to meet Karl of The Secret Life of Karl fame.

I actually got the chance to play a little 3-on-3 basketball before we left Sunday. I found out that Jason from Penn/NJ is tall, and that Jake (IA) is a deadly shot. The Lyons boys and Mase (Walterboro, SC) are chock full o' energy. Mr. Heykoop played well also, especially considering he was playing barefoot on asphalt. I think the other player’s name was Darren (Raleigh). We played a couple of games before I had to leave to meet my brother and parents to celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary. If anyone out there who reads this talks to Juan (NJ) or Jamal (MD), tell them I said “If you’re scared, say you’re scared!” I missed out on a game of Ultimate being put together by Miss Moluf due to my having to leave around noon Sunday. Sunday was the folks' 37th anniversary, so I met them, my brother, and my sister-in-law for a celebratory dinner. In short, the weekend was good. I'm tired of typing. Bye.

Operation Get Fine

I was down to 213 pounds before we headed off to the Feast in October. I got in some treadmill work early on before the hustle and bustle of the Feast put an end to that. I’ve been consciously averting my eyes from the scale in our bathroom for the past few months. Well, Monday night I gathered myself and finally stepped on. At first glance it looked like I was still at 213. I knew that couldn’t be right, as my pants (particularly my dress pants) no longer fit comfortably. I was about to die by the end of the dance in Charlotte last weekend as my pants struggled to keep my expanding gut in check. I think one more electric slide would’ve split my pants – and that’s not an impression I want to leave 250 people with. I looked down again and realized the scale read 231. Two hundred thirty-one and 0/100 pounds. Whoa. So today I began Operation “Get Fine”. I started dieting today, and plan to restart the Couch-to-5K plan. By the time it’s warm enough for me to run outside I hope to be up to running 5K nonstop. I was up to 2.5 – 2.75 miles when the Feast hit. I’ve got to go to New Orleans next week for a few days – now that’s gonna be a test. *Sigh*

The Fiesta Bowl

I just saw the college football game of the year. If it comes on ESPN Classic this week, watch it. Boise State came to play, and didn't buckle when it appeared they would lose to the Sooners. OK, they might've buckled, but they didn't get knocked out. The playcalling by the BSU coach in overtime and at the end of regulation was inspired. Great, great, great game.

None of the other Jan. 1 bowls held my interest... The ACC and SEC teams are not having a banner bowl season. At least FSU took care of business.

Getting ready for the Sabbath and the trip to Charlotte tomorrow. Have a good one yall!

A 20 degree drop overnight?

No one is here. I love this time of year (students being gone, not the holiday per se). I can park anywhere, go anywhere without worrying about lines. The only drawback is that a lot of places will close early until the students return.

I need help. The kids are spending the night with Grandma and Pa Pa, and the M.R.S. wants to go on a date. I'm fine with that, but I don't want to see the movie she's picked out: "The Pursuit of Happyness" with Will Smith. I know it's a feel-good movie, but it's not something I feel like dropping 15 bucks (plus popcorn) for. I'd much rather watch it on DVD. Any suggestions? I'd prefer one that doesn't involve me ending up in the hospital.

Here's an interesting (to me) discovery reported here by Reuters - I guess they've found the Komodo Madonna.

Edit: The movie was much better than I expected, primarily because it wasn't as sappy as I thought it would be. A little language in a couple of scenes is the only thing that detracts from the film.

Like San Diego, only cheaper

The weather here has been fantastic recently. I think the high today was 75-77 or so. I strongly considered walking to work just because it was so nice. Even better is that the traffic is negligible due to the end of the semester being upon us. It's amazing how a little sunshine and warm weather can perk up the soul. Don't have much time to post today as I've got a bus to catch. Later peeps.

Errata

I fell into a burning ring of fire... I fell down, down, down...

Nothing much going on here. I came downstairs Sunday to find Nick watching a NASCAR show. Thank you very much, Lightning McQueen. Noah's black eye is healing up nicely (thanks, Rocky Balboa). Jalen and our 14-year old neighbor met this weekend and appeared to hit it off pretty well. Our neighbor's a pretty nice kid, so I think that's a good thing.

I've been thinking of doing a little project next time I go home to visit the folks. I was thinking of going to the library and looking up old newspaper articles that I was in and saving them in a scrapbook for my kids. Those of you from small towns know it doesn't take much to make the paper. I've got a few spelling bee mentions, stories on my high school football and basketball teams (basketball, very good; football, not so much), etc. Would you like seeing stuff like that about your folks? It would prove that we really were young once - and that some of us had a full head of hair once upon a time. (I wonder if there's a correlation between those two things?)

New Link

I just added a link to a new blog called "Thoughts En Route" by Wallace Smith. He's an LCG pastor in eastern MO, and the new presenter on the Tomorrow's World telecasts.

Blah

I was all set to type up a cheery blog post, but I decided to see what was going on in the COG world first. All of a sudden I'm not in such a cheerful mood.

It's almost Monday already?

I made the mistake of leaving several journal article printouts on the arm of the couch when I went to bed last night. Whilst I was fixing breakfast gremlins came through the living room and trashed my papers... I must've fed them after midnight or something.

Anyway, HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS? I thought they were gonna tank today and lose to the Giants, but they managed to pull it out by a field goal with 1 second left. It would've been nice to see 2nd half, but one must work. That's more than USC or Arkansas could do this weekend. I don't want Florida to meet Ohio State for the BCS championship, but it looks like that's what's going to happen. Clemson might be playing in the Music City Bowl in Nashville. That's only a 6-hour drive, but methinks it'll be a tad chilly for my tastes. I guess I'll just support the team from afar (i.e. my living room).

I think I'll start petitioning restaurants to have more round tables. It's hard to hear the convo when I'm always at the far end of the table... Watching/holding/wrestling with Noah. There appeared to be some spirited convo going on from where I was sitting. I'll have to ask the M.R.S.

I'm not complaining, but wasn't there supposed to be some Arctic-type weather hitting us or something? We were in the 60s again today. Gotta love the South.

Dude in the corner thinks I'm stupid... Like I don't know he's just surfing the web. At least open that textbook you've had beside you for the past hour.

Poop

Last night I spy this funny-colored popsicle stick on the living room floor and I picked it up to deposit it in la basura. The bottom half looked like a normal popsicle stick, but the upper half was rough; pink on one side, burgundy on the other. Turns out the "popsicle stick" was actually an emery board, and my dearest Noah had somehow eaten the coating off of half of the thing. That might explain what happened next...

The boys often bathe together. While they were in the tub we hear these frantic pleas from Nick: "Daddy! Daddy! OH NOOOOOOO!" The M.R.S. and I look at each other to see who's going to go upstairs to see what's happened this time (usually it's Noah getting out of the tub to run around naked, or one of the boys has soap in his eyes), and her look silently informs me that indeed, Daddy will be the responder to the SOS. I bound up the stairs in a couple of steps and burst into the bathroom. Lucky me! My boy Noah had indeed gotten out of the tub - but not to run around... Not at all. Apparently something he ate didn't agree with him (I wonder what that could be?) and he had to go. Right there on the floor. And in the tub. Nick's frantic yelling had frightened him, so now he's crying. My pleas for help fell on deaf ears ("They asked for you, Daddy!"), so I get the boys out of the tub, tidy Noah up, put on my Haz-Mat suit, and decontaminate the lavatory. I don't think I've ever seen two boys more happy to see Daddy break out the Dow with Scrubbing Bubbles. Ah, the joys of child-rearing. Maybe it's time to start the potty training.

Nick, of course, didn't recall doing the same exact thing to Jalen when they were in the tub together 5 years ago.

New Job

I just started a new job and so far it's working out nicely (other than the fact I'm fighting sleep). I'm working part-time in my University's Academic Success Center for student/athletes as a study hall monitor. Next semester I'll probably be a tutor here, so I can see what type of teacher I am and whether I like it enough to make a career out of it. Maybe I can help keep some future #1 pick in the NFL draft eligible, and he'll reward me with a phat check after he signs his contract. (A man can dream, right?) I'll still be working Sundays at the restaurant, and hopefully now we'll have more money than month, as opposed to the way it is now. The good thing about this job is that I can study while working, as Noah seems to resent my efforts to do so at home. Annette - it's a great job for a grad student if you have the time.

In the tradition of Banjo Ben I'm attempting to schedule my qualifying exams. I'd like to take them beginning in December, but it'll probably be January before I'm able to start due to Finals and Christmas. We'll see how things go. If I pass those, then it's just a matter of finishing my research project. Then all you mere mortals can kneel before me and Prayers are welcomed.

Decisions, decisions

I've been thinking about decisions. It's amazing how seemingly innocuous decisions have shaped my life. For example, I almost transferred to Francis Marion University in the midst of my 5.5 year hiatus from Clemson. I didn't transfer though, and my life is profoundly different because of that decision; for example, I never would've met the M.R.S. had I transferred. Also, my relationship with my then 2-year-old son would probably be in much worse shape. I wonder where I'd be if I'd taken my then-advisor's recommendation to get out of mechanical engineering because I didn't like it. I wonder where I'd be if I'd followed one of my teacher's suggestions to apply to faraway schools like MIT and Stanford. Where would I be if I'd never picked up that one Plain Truth magazine that I found somewhere at my Grandma's when I was a teen? How would I be different if I hadn't made the conscious decision to "dumb down" in high school & college? What if I hadn't taken the initiative to call up this little green-eyed beauty I'd spotted at my job? (So what if we hadn't met and I had to do some detective work and find out her name and do some more detective work to get her phone number and then had to distinguish myself from the other Joes at the job since she had no clue who I was?) What if I hadn't drank those beers at the Homecoming dance my Junior year at Clio High? Or what if I'd gotten sick after that first time? Hmmm... What decision did I make today that's still going to be reverberating in my life in 5-10 years? I guess I'll know in five years.

Watch your mouth, Kramer.

Kramer of "Seinfeld" fame has gotten himself into a little hot water. Apparently he let a couple of African-American hecklers get under his skin and let loose with a barrage of racial epithets. I wonder if he'll get the Mel Gibson treatment.

States I've Driven to/Through

I think that's 20.

How could I forget?

We saw the baby Tuesday! She's gonna have a big head -if it is a she. Then again, Nick KNOWS it's a she, so I guess that's settled.

Mutual of Omaha presents...

Here we find the normally rough-and-tumble alpha male lovingly teaching his offspring how to survive on its own. The proud poppa is instructing the youngling in the proper manner of picking a carcass clean...

Freefall

Ever feel like you're in a state of freefall and your parachute won't open? It's not a good feeling, I tell ya. Grad school - check that - my particular graduate experience has been horrible for the last two years. I'm REALLY almost at the point of just walking away and getting a job. I feel like a quitter of course, but I've almost convinced myself that being a quitter is something I can live with. Almost. I'm supposed to have so much more done by now. I'm supposed to have a deep understanding of the things I have done. So much for that.

Perhaps I'll pull myself back from the ledge if Michigan can beat OSU and Florida State can upset the mighty Gators next week.

I had to go to court yesterday to clear up a misunderstanding. In short, I had to show why I shouldn't be jailed for being in contempt of court for not paying child support. Good thing I actually was paying it all along. Turns out that the original CS order was issued in Pickens county, and didn't automatically switch to Oconee county when the new order was issued in September. I went in pretty confident, but then I saw the guy in front of me get sentenced to 6 months. The judge was a little brusque with me at first too, until he realized that I wasn't giving him a sob story about not having the money. When I whipped out my payment history printout I think the judge smiled. After that things went smoothly and quickly. I do plan to check with Pickens county to make sure that the transfer did indeed go through, and that I won't be hauled off from my job in handcuffs and disgrace.

Some sweet tea would be good right now. I think I'll go search the internet and find me a sermonette now. I'm sure someone has one posted. One that will fit in a 10-12 minute window. lol

Cheez!

Guess who's not afraid of the camera?

It's gonna be in the 70s again tomorrow!!!

Donald Rumsfeld just resigned. I must say I didn't see that coming. He struck me as being one to hold on to the bitter end; one from whose fingers power and position must be pried only after they were cold and dead. I wonder if maybe he didn't get a visit from some pipe-wielding brothas who strongly recommended he spend more time with his family post-haste. Those politicos - I'll never figure 'em out. These next two years promise to be interesting for the President.

I need a change of scenery. For some reason I've been thinking about Montana or Wyoming or South Dakota. Wait - it gets cold in those places, doesn't it? Perhaps Australia would be nice for a few years. They do have some cotton research programmes in place down there. Wait - they have like, nine of the ten most poisonous animals in the world, don't they?

I refuse to acknowledge that the Cowboys lost to the Redskins Sunday. Nope. Never happened. Oh, and please pray for my brother. Since Clemson lost their first conference game to Boston College, he's been waiting for Wake Forest to knock BC off and propel Clemson into first place in their division of the ACC. Well Wake held up their end of the bargain; Clemson, alas did not. Those two consecutive losses after being ranked in the top ten were definitely not included in his calculations. Goodbye BCS, hello lower-tier bowl game in December. Just when Coach Bowden had finally gotten off the hot seat...