Still hangin' in there

I'm still alive. Been doing some soul-searching lately; mostly trying to determine whether I'm facing a truth that's been staring me in the face or whether I'm just a quitter. My opinion on that changes from minute to minute. This is not a good place to be.

Had to go to Family court to clear up another discrepancy regarding my paying child support. While I was there I noticed quite a collection of mullets amongst the crowd of people waiting their turn in court. There was even one memorable mohawk-mullet. Wal-Mart ain't got nothin' on Family Court in that regard.

I hope everyone is having a blessed Holy Day season. I think the boys are going to eat up all our matzos by tomorrow. They've developed quite a passion for matzos & honey.

Buckblog, you have my condolensces.

A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in...

...and that is life. That's enough Paul Lawrence Dunbar for one day. I'm in a bit of a weird mood. I am definitely stuck in a rut. I think a move and a career change would be good for me, but perhaps not as good for my family. I'd also miss our little church group terribly. So I'm probably going to be here for a while longer. I like the area; there are plenty of lakes, small mountains, smiling faces, decent food, and I love being in a college town. However, I feel stagnant, like I've been stuck in the mud for the past 18 years. Everyone around me is progressing - graduating, finding meaning in what they do, finding jobs that match their passions, building homes, preparing for retirement... I don't feel like I'm growing at all - especially professionally. Of course, graduation would probably change that feeling, but graduation's not on the horizon. As a matter of fact, the grant that funds me is up in April/May, so a career decision might already have been made for me. We'll see. Just in case, I've dusted off the resume and I've begun checking to see what's out there in the job market. I'm particularly interested in forensic lab/DNA testing labwork. We have a Genetics Center about an hour from here that does prenatal testing, but I'm not interested in dealing with the ethical issues associated with that line of work. Let's just see how things go.

At least I've begun to exercise a little lately. I've discovered that middle-aged professional men are the best basketball players in the world, and there's an inverse relationship between the amount of grey hair they possess and their desire to run non-stop the entire game. Now I always try to defend the youngest-looking person on the other team. My knees ache afterward anyway though. This getting older is not all it's cracked up to be.

Hoyas us, Heels down

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is dead to me.

Off to see the NIT

I'm taking the fam to see Clemson vs Syracuse tonight in the NIT. The boys are pretty excited; I just hope they're not holding out hope for more of the $3 drinks and pretzels that we had Monday at the Clemson/Ole Miss game.

Go T-I-G-E-R----S!

edit: That was waaaay too close. That's what 17-34 from the free throw line will get ya, I suppose. At least we won. That was the worst-oficiated game I've ever seen.

Re: Duke

Why the animosity against the evil empire known as Duke basketball? Hmmm... Lemme think

• Growing up as a Tar Heel fan, it's sort of a requirement
  
• Attending Clemson, it's sort of a requirement. They've beaten us 21 straight times, including one buzzer beater this season when time was wrongly added to the game clock.
  
• The unceasing worship of the Dookies by one Dook Dick Vitale of ESPN, and
  
• The foul-mouthed and vulgar tirades of that leader of men, Michael Sha-chef-ski. (You couldn't have possibly expected me to spell that last name, did you?)
  
• The Cameron Crazies
  

Been AWOL

I'm back from an unexpected trip home and to Fayetteville, NC due to a death in the family. It was good seeing cousins I hadn't seen since we all were kids. I just wish the circumstances weren't so dour. Nevertheless, I appreciated the opportunity to re-establish contact with family.

For most of last night, the TV was on but not being watched by anyone. My cousin (the son of the deceased) suddenly remembered that the NCAA tourney was in progress and we caught the last 1:42 of the Duke/VCU game. The house was suddenly tense as we rooted for VCU, all the while afraid that Duke would find a way to pull out the victory. A huge collective roar went up when Paulus missed the potential game-winner and Duke was officially eliminated. For a couple of minutes there were smiles on every face in the house. UNC, Clemson, MD, and other miscellaneous fans rejoiced as one for a few minutes; all sorrow was temporarily set aside. I love this game.

Late-nite blues/R&B

Etta James is good for the soul. I highly recommend her double-disc anthology, The Essential Etta James.

Concubining?

I found this while surfing the web. All I can do is shake my head. I think the article's from the Cincinnati Enquirer...


Ricky Lackey has six children on the way.

Don't call them sextuplets - they're each with different women.

When Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Melba Marsh asked Lackey during sentencing Friday on a charge of attempted theft how many children he had, the 25-year-old said, "None, but I have six on the way."

A stunned Marsh tried to clarify. "Are you marrying a woman with six children?" she asked.

"No, I be concubining," he said.

Prosecutors said Lackey is the expectant father of six children with six different women. The women all are expected to deliver in August, September and October.

Lackey's lawyer, Stephen Wenke, stopped his client from saying more.

Marsh said she wasn't sure how to respond, so she let the issue drop since it wasn't relevant to the proceedings.

Lackey, a music producer who told Marsh he was on the cusp of a $2 million deal that would net him $300,000 upfront, was convicted Friday on a reduced charge of attempted theft.

Prosecutors say the Avondale man defrauded U.S. Bank out of $3,975 by depositing empty envelopes into ATM machines, claiming they contained cash, and depositing bad checks before withdrawing cash on the falsely inflated balances.

Lackey has repaid the money, according to court records.

Marsh ordered no other sentence, because restitution had been paid.

As Lackey left the courtroom, a group of teenage girls there for another case appeared to know Lackey.

"Oh, there's Ricky Lackey!" one swooned.

Lackey shrugged the attention off with one word and a wave of his hand.

"Fans," he said.

It was inside that I cried

Ah, it was far too easy to get re-accustomed to home internet access. Alas, all good things (except the kingdom) must come to an end. The systems admin needs to use the work laptop, so I brought her back today. *sigh* I guess always interact with those three people I keep seeing in my apartment.

All is not lost however; after all, Duke did lose last night.

Me & GMC (or is it GMC & Me?)

I bought a van. As much as I agonized over the official shift from “young couple with kids” to “soccer dad” status, it actually felt pretty good to be in a vehicle with sufficient room for the family (and then some). The transaction was carried out in an Asheboro, NC Golden Corral; the seller signed the title, and the buyer meekly affixed his John Hancock to the check. Then the aforementioned seller and buyer hit the trough as only Americans can, piling plates high with trans-fat and partially-hydrogenated-oil laden goodies. The boys love the novelty of the new vehicle, even though prior to the purchase Nick had been brainwashed by a certain someone to refuse anything less than a 2010 Honda Odyssey.



I don’t think I’m ever moving back to my hometown. First of all, there are no jobs – but even if there were, there’s no church close enough. There are 4 LCG congregations in the general vicinity, but the closest one (Asheboro) is exactly 100 miles from my parents’ home. Raleigh (actually Warsaw) is 110 miles away according to Expedia, Charlotte 120, and Walterboro, SC is 135-140. There is a UCG congregation 30 miles away near Florence, SC. My wife and I attempted to go there once, but I made a wrong turn. We got there just in time to hear 6 minutes of sermon, sing a song, hear a prayer, and that was that. The brethren there were nice though. Had I grown up in WCG I would’ve attended church with most of them.

Anyway, I’m at work now and the kids have been behaving themselves pretty well. It seems that many professors give tests the same week at the university; this must be one of those weeks because everyone is studying. Facebook and AOL IM are lonely tonight.

And as a further blessing, Duke girls AND boys lost this weekend. And it looks like the Tigers just might be in the Big Dance again after two straight wins to close out the season. I need to go through my Rolodex of friends with big-screen HD TVs.

Oh, my new niece is gorgeous.

This made me laugh

Spotted on a poster while having lunch:

Justin Timberlake for President in '08

He'll bring the troops and the sexy back!

Personally, if I was a voting man, I'd go with General Zod.

Enterprise

I talked to a very close cousin of mine Wednesday night for the first time in several months. We grew up playing together at Grandma's, went to school together (she was 1 grade ahead of me), and hung out together as teens/young adults, until things like college and marriage got in the way. The fam would stop by her home in Enterprise, AL (she married a guy from there) on our annual trek to Panama City for the Feast. That changed a few years ago, but we still try to keep in touch. Imagine my surprise when, after not talking for several months, the very next day Enterprise is all over the news thanks to a terrible tornado that struck town, including a school. I immediately called to see if they were OK (they have two school-age children), and to my relief they were. I must've called her about 2 hours after the storm, so she didn't know the full extent of the damage. The timing of the whole scenario was a little eerie. I have another younger relative there as well at Ft. Rucker. I think she's fine too. I really feel for the families of those who died in the storm. I probably shouldn't have let Nick watch so much of the news coverage - he's terrified of floods and hurricanes after seeing the Katrina damage, and the end of the movie Deep Impact has given him a healthy fear of tsunamis. I think I'll hold off on the Revelations prophecies until he's a little older. :-)

And the floodgates were opened...

We had rain all day yesterday (along with a couple of peals of thunder). I love a good summer thunderstorm, but I'm not a fan of cold, wintry days. One good thing about the rain(well, it might not be a good thing) was the creation of all the miniature class-5 rapids caused by the runoff. In this town we have plenty of hills and plenty of pavement, which leads to much runoff. I always want to get out of the car, put on some rubber boots, and put toy boats in the water and follow them as they go with the flow; each riverlet connecting with other riverlets, growing and picking up speed along the way. As a child we used to go out in my Grandmother's yard as soon as possible after a good summer rain, and we'd dig canals and connect mud puddles with one another, build mud dams, etc... I think I'd still have fun doing that with the boys - if we had some dirt.

I'm going home to see the folks and the new neice this weekend now that everyone's healthy on my end. I'm also going to look at a van one of the Asheboro brethren is trying to sell. I guess this is officially the beginning of middle age. *sigh* Of course, I'm not quite ready for the alternative.

Prayers would be welcome for a righteous resolution to the current visitation drama we find ourselves facing.

Not long enough for a title

Maybe it's best that I become a professor. I've already got the "absent-minded" part down pat.

Mr. Prickle's Pig

Once there was a man named Mr. Prickle. He had a pig named Fren. Fren was shy but she wasn’t shy to Mr. Prickle. When Mr. Prickle goes to sleep Fren gets into big trouble. When Mr. Prickle gets up he sees mud in the house. The next day he saw six pigs in his house. That was too many for him. So he sold all of them and everybody took one. So that was the end of Mr. Prickle.

The End.

Written by Nicholas P. 2/24/07

The week's almost over

Why is Facebook so addictive? My charges can't seem to stay off of it. They've blocked it (along with MySpace)in the computer lab in the building.

Update on Operation Get Fine: Starting weight - 231 lbs; 2/22 weight 220.5. I was stuck on 223 for a couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll exert some willpower tomorrow after services.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could lose all of the fat in ONE specific area? (Yes stomach, I'm looking at YOU.)

AI

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I hate American Idol.

Good Eats

I've actually enjoyed cooking breakfast and dinner the past few months. The smell of cooking food makes the M.R.S. sick, and it looks like that's going to be the case for until Nyla arrives. Tonight we're having T-Bone steaks with sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes with broccoli & cheddar cheese for the M.R.S. and Nick, and a salad: romaine lettuce tossed in balsamic vinaigrette, diced cucumbers, diced apples, craisins, and slivered almonds. Yummmm... I'm not a great cook, but we get by. The M.R.S. can burn though. I try to fix something nice when the Sabbath rolls around. When I'm done with school I'd like to take some culinary courses.

I sometimes sneak off to the library at Southern Wesleyan U, my alma mater, in order to get some studying done. Whilst I was looking for something to distract myself with I came across a magazine called "Creation", which appeared to be affiliated with Answers in Genesis. There were some very interesting longer articles, though many of the shorter ones came across as "Ha! Take that, evolutionists!" It was quite refreshing reading articles from a creationist worldview, though I think they come up with some faulty conclusions based on their understanding of Scripture (for example, the age of the earth being 6,000 years and the dinosaurs were still alive at the time of Noah's flood). I tried to check a few of them out, but SWU's library doesn't allow you to check out periodicals. I'll definitely go back and read a few more.

The potatoes are calling. Join us!

PS: Anderson peeps: I ran into someone today who used to attend church with us in the 'A'. He was as stunned to see me as I was to see him. He's supposed to call me so we can get talk sometime. Nick was happy to hear that I ran into him, although I don't think he's watched "Ants" in quite some time.

Huh?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
The West
The Northeast
The Inland North
Philadelphia
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

A REAL day of rest

Yesterday was good. Desiree came home from CA, as did Ashley & Joe from Ohio. I got to get in some Ohio State-Florida jabs at poor Joe's expense, but he took 'em with a smile. I must dig a little deeper next time. Nick was excited about seeing Ray-ray (I couldn't resist) and Ash, though he pretended to be shy most of the day around them. Yesterday was a particularly relaxing Sabbath because I was Noah-less. It took a while to get used to not having to scan the room every thirty seconds to see what he was destroying getting into. People kept trying to make a correlation between the fact that I arrived earlier than usual and the fact that the M.R.S. wasn't with me. Hmmm.... (In case you're reading this honey, I defended you. Repeatedly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Mr. & Mrs. Ames came down yesterday, and he gave a sermon on 7 commitments to make as we examine ourselves, a good pre-Passover sermon. We had visitors from TN and GA as well, giving us a pretty full house. The eldest Burdette girl and hubby even dropped by after services for a spell. Miss Expansion Joints looks so cute pregnant. Nick took a bunch of pictures, but they're on the computer at home; I may splice some of them into this post later.

There were a couple of interesting announcements made yesterday. The first was that our area pastor is no longer our area pastor. He's been given some churches in MS to pastor, so we're no longer going to be in his circuit. I don't know if that means we're going to fall under the HQ umbrella, but it might. The second announcement was the establishment of "Living University", an online set of courses that will initially offer three courses in the fall. Hopefully this will be a successful venture; I know I'm excited at this opportunity to learn more about various doctrinal/theological points.

We potlucked afterwards, and all was well until I spotted the blueberry pie. I tried to resist, but to no avail. Of course once I bit into a slice the floodgates were opened, and I found myself eating all sorts of goodies. I finished off the night by devouring most of a box of cereal as a late-night snack. It was sabotage, I say!!! I was unable (unwilling?) to get back on the wagon today, as I just finished off a box of lemon-glazed shortbread cookies (only 1200 calories!). Those Girl Scouts must have sensed my weakness as I walked past them with the intent of only buying a diet drink. Ah, the incongruity of seeing the 1.5 liter diet Lipton green tea juxtaposed with the empty box of cookies. I hang my head in shame at the memory. *sigh*

Oh welll, study hall is almost over so I guess I'll wrap this up. G'nite.