Tickets, please

"At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell. But as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found, one Christmas, that she could no longer hear it’s sweet sound. Though I have grown old, the bell still rings for me. As it does for all who truly believe." - Hero Boy

...Santa was talking to me a couple of days ago(we have a surprisingly close relationship) and he was telling me that he figures this might be the last year I can think that the kids will not ask any questions about what is in the house right in front of them...

...After our HD Box went dead on Sunday, I have realized after all the comedy of error on part of Charter, that they are idiots... After 3 days of snafu and a bunch of irate calls and 2 visits to the local office, we finally have cable and HD again downstairs....

..and then did I mention that after I reported the smell of gas near our house, they came out and found the cause of the gas smell way up the hill at another house. Then they supposedly found a potential leak underground at the base of the fron of the house, but they cant actually confirm a leak..but... they cut our gas off and wont turn it back on until we pay to have test run on our lines, potentially dig up our front yard and eliminate any possible leak that may or may not be there...at our expense. Well... looks like the gas powered Hot water heater is about to be heading to the dump and in comes a new fangled electric hot water heater...

So..the comedy of errors for a week is about to end...just when I thought I would have to figure out a way to run power over to where the hot water heater will go...well.. lookee here...whats this? well, i'll be...there is power running down the wall right exactly where I need it. looks like someone was thinking WAAAYYYY ahead of me about this.

So...agenda for the weekend... drop 300 on a hot water heater, get it hooked up and see if we can get it powered up so we can get hot water again...oh, and go to I-Man's last soccer match of the Fall...oh, yeah...Halloween tomorrow night...

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

....or L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs ("Hell is full of good intentions or wishes") - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Thank goodness this election stuff is about over. Then what, a couple of months before we start it all over again? Seriously....

...but... McCain... has a long record of experience...patriotic...more moderate in the Conservative movement...Obama... a definite catalyst with ability to galvanize people... fresh approach at this level of politics....

I have wavered for a while now, but have remained somewhat right leaning in my thinking in regards to this election. Since the first George Bush, I have had a moderate conservative way of thinking. I supported Bill Clinton, then I supported the current Bush for election then re-election. I think some people mistakenly take me as a neocon, while others assume I am a member of Operation Push. i am none of those things... but here is a sampling of what I believe, for what its worth...

I believe it is a Woman's right to choose (up to a point)

I believe that you should be a citizen of this country and pay taxes to use the infrastructure (schools, hospitals, banking system, etc.)

I believe that it was the right response to go after the people (and the supporters) who attacked us on 911

I believe that the US got sidetracked by greed in pursuing the previous response

I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was part of a large, covert conspiracy to kill JFK

I believe that my money that i work for should not be taken away and given to people who have not worked hard for it. I will decide who I want to assist. Not someone else. If I want to keep every single penny of my money, that should be my right. Period.

I believe that the same people who jumped up and down and accused the Republicans of altering voting 4 and 8 years ago are doing the exact same thing now.

I believe that we are not alone

I believe that the overwhelming majority of the media has slanted the entire coverage of this election process to elect who they want to elect.

In addition, I believe that the coverage of the polling is slanted only to those polls that show Obama ahead by larger margins. Coverage rarely mentions the slim leads in the most respected polls.

I believe that education should be a top priority of our society.

I believe that peanut butter and jelly should be mixed very carefully, with about 2 parts peanut butter to 1/2 part jelly being about right.

I believe that America as a whole is ready to elect a Black man or a Woman as President

I believe that racism and sexism are still a huge problem in this country, and that problem may unfortunately play a factor in this election

However, for me race is not a factor at the bottom line. Obama getting to this point is a fact that I can be proud of in some form. But honesty must tell you that he got to this point because he is black. If he was white, he would quite possibly not even be a Senator. But he has used the opportunities given him and made the best of them, and he is to be applauded for his acheivements in so short a time. However, i cannot support the somewhat far left thinking that he seems to support. Be it the past associations that he seems to always have an excuse for to the more recent comments about redistribution or spreading the wealth. His past comments that are record seem to show support for a socialist way of thinking. While I certainly am not in the super rich, rich, wealthy, well off, or financially set for life category I am still ahead of the paycheck to paycheck category...albeit not by much. And even then, i do not want other peoples money. yes...that stimulus check helped buy an extra tank of gas, but the more you squeeze the people supplying the goods, the more that same tax break or credit is simply going to get eaten up by the increase in costs/price handed down to me by the taxed. And where is Obama going to get all this money for all these entitlements? where is it going to come from? i keep hearing that redistribution thing over and over. Well, we just bailed out the banking stuff...there went a whole heap of programs and other promises by Obama. Then how is he going to keep these promises? by taking from those who have money and giving to those who dont even pay taxes? how is this going to work, let alone even fair?

While McCain certainly has his drawbacks... somewhat ill-tempered, somewhat old, somewhat well... a bunch of things... he doesnt scare me with the radical associations and changes that are potentially out there with Obama (and more importantly..Pelosi). Some people call it the smell test, and when I see Obama at this point in time, I see an untested politician who we are taking about giving the keys to, who has shown bad judgement at times in the past, and who hasnt really done ANYTHING of note at this level, other than run for President. I will say again...McCain has his shortcomings, but I sense that his Change is a better type of change that we need...will McCain keep some Bush things in play?...Yes...will he change some things and end some things...Yes. Does he have experience at this level working? Yes.

Now all this being rambled on, Obama is still playing with the lead. The polls are all over the place, with some giving him a 10-15 point lead (oh, NBC/MSNBC shout about this nonstop...) to some like Gallop and Rasmussen citing a 3 point lead with likely voters (never hear about these polls, do you?) Lets see...the last two elections had both Gore and Kerry winning the same way with the polling data going into election day, where Bush squeaked it out by a 200-300 thousand votes or so. Will the ACORN stuff get Obama over the top in a similar type of tally? we shall see...

So... I am choosing to go with the proven experience and a more temperate mode of change of McCain versus untested and unknown experience and ideas (Do we REALLY know if he is as radical as his friends are or is he just using them to get to the top?) for change from Obama that reek of a socialist society and government acting as a nanny for us all. For me, it has nothing to do with his skin color. It has to do with his lack of record, as well as his on the record statements for what he believes in.

Maybe Obama gets elected and is the person he has led us to believe he is. If he does, I will be happy. For now, he has not met my bar. I have not bought in. I will cast my vote for McCain

"Memories of the past remain in the past, but as you make new memories in the present and walk towards the future, the past is still simply, the best. ~ Mark Aaron A. Corrales "

This has been a kinda cool week in that I heard from a childhood friend the other day, and that really brought back some memories...these come from WAYYYY back, long before band and all of what followed that really steered me toward my friendships, wife and family of today. These are a couple of cousins that I feel I really had a lot in common with, at the end of the day. Our paths veered away from each other as their parents had to move elsewhere, but one of my few memories now of childhood are from playing out in the yard with them. Thinking back on walking up and down the road to each other's houses, I wonder if that would be allowed in todays "here today, snatched and kidnapped the next minute" society...

..I then went to see the old highschool play the local highschool tonight. I had not seen the highschool play since the 80's and, well, they kicked butt just like to State Champs years from my highschool days...I stayed thru halftime to watch the band (of course) then left for I think I will be spending friday nights watchin my kids in some form or fashion soon enough.... be it Football ( i doubt), band, cheerleadin...something... I dont think I want to think about my kids walking around with a cell phone glued to the ear trying to be cool....

I noticed a particular game last Spring during a seemingly random NBA game that seemed to be "aged" and have a different look, with a lot of different camera angles, etc. Well, the Florida State/NcState game had that same look tonight. Interesting thing about this is that it only looks this way in high def. On the "normal" TV upstairs, the game looks normal. It suddenly dawned on me that this must be some sorta way of rehearsing this look for the BIG games in the future. Maybe I'm just seeing things...

...but I did notice that FlaState is eerily in the same boat as Clemson... talented skill players with a average QB, a stout defense that is forced to stay on the field all the time...and... a horrible, inexperienced offensive line makes the offense look miserable....

well, well, well...

Bowden "resigns" today and gets out of town before the lynch mob can get to him. Cant say i wouldnt have taken the money and bowed out too. Imagine what it must have been like...everywhere you go you know that everyone is talking about you, and most people are talking bad about you, when you were trying your hardest to give these same people what they want... imagine knowing that your wife and kids have to hear people curse your name all the time. Yeah.. I know he was (and will be) well paid for it. But imagine the ENORMOUS pressure he was under. And wow...What kinda person must Harper actually be, the way he piled on after the fact with his statements...kinda ironic when it was Bowden who stuck by him over the past year of ineffective performances when everyone else was screaming to replace him. An NFL scout was quoted today as stating that Harper dropped from a potential second round pick to 6th round at best with his statements... At any rate, the "resignation" will set up the AD to make the best choice possible and give plenty of time to search and be contacted about the job. They better not mess this up. He made a good hire in Purnell and he will need to to make a similar hire again or else the out of whack expectations will have the fans complaining again in what?...3 or 4 years?.... I sometimes wonder if this is as much a move to buy 5 years of giving from IPTAY and keep the focus away from the AD and the President. There are plenty of discussions out there about who they will hire. And Swinney may actually be the best fit for now. But I just wonder if we will be right back here before the London Olympics... I think we"ll see more energy overall, and it will be a positive move. But unless we are going to import a bucket of better offensive linemen Gatech will give them a problem, FlaState will present a problem, Boston College will present them a problem and South Carolina will present them a problem. Maybe the Korn factor will allow a different type of playcalling mentality, which I think is what Bowden had decided. Once again, how ironic Harper spouted off like a punk 6th grader who had his Nintendo DS taken, when it was his ass Bowden and Spence kept tryin to call plays for to make him succeed over and over again. I hope Korn shows the abilities he showed in high school and we never see Harper again. But if we do, I hope Harper keeps his mouth shut and plays hard. And I hope i can finally go to a game and not have to hear nothing but negativity from the so-called Clemson Family.

Change, passion and hotties

So... looks like Bowden has said "Look son, I appreciate all you have done but... I got a BIG mortgage to pay, and my job is on the line. If you cant MAKE a PLAY, you got to got to gots to go sit down and if I'm going to get fired, at least I wont have left any options on the bench".... All these fans been talking about playing the backup...well... we're going to see if he's the real deal or not...

I watch Dr. Lou on Thursday nights and while a lot of people like to make fun of him, he does actually say some profound things... one of the things he mentioned last time was talking about having a passion for something... here is his quote..."everybody needs four things in life: everybody needs something to do, someone to love, something to hope for, and something to believe in. You have to have those four things." I heard that and it struck me because that is something i personally have tried to always apply to myself. talking to a friend the other night, I heard them mention that they were a little "down" and and my mental question to myself was "do they have these four things to think about?" I couldnt remember the exact Dr. Lou quote, but found it for them... I always end up falling back on my own little personal statement that sometimes drives my wife crazy, but has yet to not be true... "The sun will rise tomorrow...everythings going to be just fine."

I-Man had a moment the other night while watching the beginning of the race... when the camera showed the Lowes car and its driver, they showed his wife standing beside him. I-Man immediately says "Ohhhh...she's a hottie!!!....wow...she's hot!" (crickets chirping in room as I tried to process the many different levels of meaning and ramifications of that statement) Me..."what did you just say I-Man?"... I-Man says..."SHE'S REALLY HOT!"...giggles and walks off with his lego pieces to make another random vehicle... Of course, when Jessica got home, I immediately waited till the Lowes car was on TV again (not too long, unfortunately) and asked I-Man to tell momma what he told me...she didnt think too highly of his statement....

watchin the game...

I'm watchin this Clemson/Wake game.... here are some observations whilst this game happenz...

Defense seems ready to play... Offense is still playing soft. Our offensive line is playing horrific, snapping the ball on the ground, getting smacked in the mouth by the Wake defensive line...wait...this reminds me of Alabama again here... is this "weak, soft" mentality still rearing its head. Ah... the announcer just said it..."Someone needs to get in the face of the offensive line", he says. The tightend just gets plastered. Harper throws a weak lollipop pass down the field. Davis tiptoes to the line. There goes the announcer again...and he says EXACTLY what i have been saying all along..."I put this on the players. They are not performing"

Hmmm...Good pass down the field. But...Davis seems to be running NOT to get hurt. That means he has no confidence in the offensive line. Well...then again, the replay shows Wake guys standing there as soon as Davis gets the ball.... And down goes another lineman. What? We calling Daniel High tomorrow for some linemen? ...tsk, tsk.... a fake punt and the line cannot get a half yard.

OK..It is now EXTREMELY obvious. The old adage still holds true. The offensive line is HORRIBLE and it has pretty much affected the entire team, especially the offense. Defense still seems to be playing hard. I know what I do when playing my videogame, when I cant run the ball. I THROW THE BALL EVERY DOWN!!!!... I dont care if its 1st and inches...I throw it EVERY DOWN. Spiller and Davis are going to get drafted anyway. I tell the linemen to just get in somebodys way for 2 or 3 seconds... and i just start sending everyone out for a pass...

OH...yep...announcer said it again..."If you hit Clemson in the mouth, they just dont respond" and he also said "the players know they are good. They just are not playing" I am sure that Bowden will get hammered and I am sure he has jumped and down and spoken til he is blue about playing hard and with intensity. But have you seen ANY clemson player show ANY emotion? I am tired of hearing the crap about Bowden. I want to see all these skill players MAKE A PLAY!!!! Goodness. If you want to fire Bowden, go ahead. BUT...things wont change with the next coach until the players change. Period. I am willing to bet George Patton, Hannibal, Vince Lombardi, General Lee, Lou Holtz or General Swartzkopf (sp) could all show up and yell at the players and it doesnt seem as those the guys on the offense would show any life... oh another throw to Kelly who seems to get tossed around like a ragdoll everytime he catches the ball... his draft stock is falling everytime he gets shown on TV.

OK...halftime... went to Talladega over the weekend. That was pretty awesome. my guy was doing awesome until the big wreck at the end and he gets taken out. Got a chance to see Kristen in Atlanta on Saturday night after spending time with Andrea and Will at a bar, listening to Will try to persuade me as to his side on a variety of subjects. Not sure he was persuasive enough...heh, heh. At any rate, spent the night at Harwood's and we drove on to the race where we surprising drove right in and parked with no traffic, and after the race got out of the parking lot in about 5 minutes. By the way, my guy and the guy who caused that huge wreck got into a fight/scuffle at the track today. That's why I cheer for the #29, baby!!!

Ok..Second half. lets see what happens. Wow..the announcers just said what I said above. Just start throwing the ball...

Well, looking at this... The offensive is obviously an issue. But Harper is showing NO leadership now...taking too long...looking with that DEER in THE HEADLIGHTS look. So time and time again, they have left the defense hanging. Sooner or later, Wake is going to score.

offense showing a tad bit o life.... BIG interference call.... time out. Harper is WAAAYYYY too chalant. I see the coachs yelling and screaming at the players, and Spiller getting in the players faces. Spiller seems to be the only guy being a leader.... and he's out of the game.

FINALLY.... A gutty drive for a score.

Last time out called after it seemed some sorta trick play was being setup and some people didnt have a clue where to go. I sometimes wonder if having too many good players is NOT agood thing. it looks like we spend too much energy trying to get everyone the ball....

Harper throws an interception..oh..like... RIGHT to the Wake guy. Hmmm...wonder if thats Bowdens fault too....

Wow...on a Davis run, as soon as he is given the ball, he runs into the back of an offensive lineman that has been driven backwards into him. wow...

Wake drives. Throw into the flat. Clemson guys needs to make a tackle...whiffs. Wake scores...

Wake guy runs thru and over two Clemson blockers to sack Harper...

...and how many Clemson players do we have to see get knocked out of the game???????

Our offfensive line is terrible....

Kelly doesnt hang on...hmmm...imagine that. Has he ever made an IMPORTANT catch?

OK... People are going to scream for Bowdens head. I am not sold it is totally his fault. And beware of watch you wish for. but... when do we start to call out the players who are supposed to be great? Harper showed NOTHING. The offensive line is horrible. Its real convenient to blame the coaches. And you can see the anger in Bowdens face with his players. But I guess somebody has to pay for the way out of whack expectations for Clemson football. Lets see what happens....

Nothing but negativity for the rest of the year for Clemson football. I wonder if those fans who show up for Gatech will show up to cheer Clemson, or boo the coach?