As part of I-Mans' Christmas haul, he has gotten more and more technical with his Lego creations and sets that he gets... included with stuff he got this go around is a Space Shuttle Lego set, that he put together in about 7 and a half minutes.... next up, a Lego Empire State Building!!! ... seriously....

Today I-Man and I went and rode bikes along a trail in Greenville called Swamp Monster Somethin' or another. It was fun and the actual course wasn't bad at all.. a pleasant ride for New Years Eve morn... This afternoon we will go to visit with Aunt Brandy and then will be going over to one of Jessica's friends house later in the evening for hors d'oeuvres before coming home to ring in the New Year....

Happy New Year if I dont get around to SMS bombing everyone....

Christmas has come and gone. Santa made sure the twins felt that that side of Christmas was a success with the elusive, oft asked for, Ipads finally making their way into the possession on Ryles and I-Man... And we also got to see Nana, Papa, Grandma as well as Uncle Billy, Uncle Jerry, Uncle Wes, Aunt Asley, Aunt Ellen and cousins Madison and Meridith.... We visited at Grandma Catoe and got to see Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ken as well, with the twins fishin' at the lake and taking in another huge haul of gifts from the relatives. As I have said before the twins are blessed with extremely generous Grandparents and relatives and we are always appreciative....

Now comes New Years and we will be off to the races again with a packed calender.

Finally.. I-Man and Ryles have given up the ghost and are now asleep with those dreams and visions someone once waxed poetically about.... Santa has sent me a txt sayin' that he was in route... so I am now headin to bed...

"Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be"

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!

THIS...is why I simply shake my head at times... and is why i get pissed at our heading toward an Entitlement society... funny thing is that I thought that perhaps I should call my wife and tell her some of her students are on TV. But it also saddens me that people are so jacked up.. about...shoes? that NONE of these people will ever use at PRO, College, Jr. College, Community College, and for most High School....

shoes.... C'mon, son....

Another weekend o party,friends, kids and lights o rama

So we had freinds over this oast weekend and they brought thier kids and we did the gift exchange thingy... we then went to TinyTown and saw Americana at its errr... best. Then we hung out by the firebowl and chatted until 3 in the morning (well, i went to bed @ 2:30)... last night we actually we to the the "Light People".. these people who stand outside their house with lights on their body... a tad bit interesting, i might say.... we also stopped by this house in town who has this light show set to music, that you tune in a channel on the radio, and it is all synchronized and stuff... a lot of time spent on that setup.... did I menetion that I-Man had his birthday party on Friday night with 5 of his friends sleeping over. LOUD... and surprising a little more "emotional" that Ryles girls the previous weekend... but the biys ate thru several pizzas and a bunch of bacon, but didnt touch the cupcakes....

last night saw the twins go to the Clemson Basketball game with one of their friends and today will see another of Ryles friends coming over to spend time with her...  sigh... constant commotion these days...

so I remember back to this day in 1998 when about this time i was pondering getting ready to head over to the church... 13 years ago we made official. I always am listening to lyrics and whenever I think of my wife (and twins, for that matter) I almost always come back to this song. A tad bit corny, I know... but whatever... I wont quote the full song here but the gist of it...

I'm gonna love you forever,
forever & ever amen
As long as old men sit & talk about the weather
As long as old women sit & talk about old men
If you wonder how long I'll be faithfull
I'll be happy to tell you again
I'm gonna love you forever & ever, forever & ever Amen

They say that time takes it's toll on a body
Makes a young girl's brown hair turn grey
But honey, I don't care, I ain't in love with your hair
And if it all fell out well I'd love you anyway
They say time can play tricks on a memory
Make people forget things they knew
well it's easy to see it's happening to me
I've already forgotten every woman but you --- Oh darlin'


I'm gonna love you forever, forever & ever amen
As long as old men sit & talk about the weather
As long as old women sit & talk about old men
If you wonder how long I'll be faithfull
Just listen to how this song ends,
I'm gonna love you forever & ever, forever & ever amen
I'm gonna love you forever & ever, forever & ever
Forever & ever, Forever & ever Amen - Randy Travis

Happy Anniversary, Jessica!!!!

for all of us who have kids who.. when our kids are opening presents have an eeeevvvvver so slight bit of nervousness because you never know if your kid is going to react with grace if they think the gift is... whatever... watch this... THIS is absolutely funny. it is from Jimmy Kimmel. I was laughing so hard I had tears at work....

um... i'll take 63, Sunny and pleasant over a "White Christmas" anyday... and as I drove into work today with my window down and previously mentioned Chrismas songs wishin for snow, i thought "I'll stick with this and run with it"

i listen to a couple of ALL Christmas ALL the time stations on Satellite radio right now... first of all, most of the Christmas songs I grew up with like O Come all Ye Faithful and We Three Kings are played rarely while we get Mariah Carey and All I Want for Christmas 6 times an hour.... Second is that I notice just how many songs talk about snow, or watching snow.. or walking thru snow... or wanting snow... or wishing for snow... or dreaming of snow. I can honestly say that a "white christmas" would be a disaster here where I live. I get one day off for Christmas. That is Christmas Day.For me to spend it cooped up in the house, fingers crossed that the power and/or cable doesn't go out, wondering how I will get to work (cause failure to get to my job no matter WHAT the conditions are is me having to use personal or vacation time) the next day is not how I want to spend Christmas. Sure, time spent with my wife and twins would be awesome. But I am for sure NOT dreaming of a white christmas.

Seriously... if you have to use a horse driven sleigh to get from point A to point B would mean a pretty serious ICE Storm/Snow storm in these parts. Not thinkin that would be a pleasant Christmas for me.And the kids wouldn't get that socalled benefit of no school either...

just sayin'... I'll take Away in a Manger or O' Little Town of Bethlehem over 37 versions of Jingle Bell Rock, The Chipmunk Song or 6 repeats of Mariah Carey anytime.

although I have yet to hear Snoopy's Christmas. I actually DO want to hear that.

So the past weekend saw Ryles birthday party held (I-Man's is this coming Friday) and it was a sleepover type thingy with four other girls joining Ryles for nails, Monster High dolls, American Girl dolls and staying up until 3am. This Monster High doll thing caught me off guard. I was totally unaware of it until Ryles received 3 of them for her birthday. Interesting backstory to it all as I caught up on Wikipedia....

so.. Mean Girls Easley Style has propped its ugly head up in the 4th grade with Ryles.. seems that one of the girls she invited to Birthday Party #1 this weekend has been getting treated badly by the "in" group at school and her mom was upset and there have been teacher conferences and well... this girl didn't want to hang with the other girls who are coming to Ryles Birthday party (and it seems Ryles is NOT doing any of the mean treatment, according to the other girls mother).. so Jessica has arranged for that girl to come earlier on Friday and hang out with Ryles then discreetly leave before the other girls arrive. Just weird that this is going on in the 4th Grade. But I saw how social they were in the first grade so I shouldn't be surprised...

So I am forced to try to explain this cap that I have acquired recently and is now in heavy rotation since my Clemson caps all went into mad bad mojo/juju and I had to shelve them all in hopes to salvaging the football season... people keep staring at the flag and a couple of people have asked me to explain (including the Tiger Band Director).. I get the sense that people are thinking that I am an anarchist or something because the flag "seems" to face an opposite direction.... but... go here and/or here for explanations... so as I told Dr. Spede, I am not planning to over throw the Mayor or harboring a small militia or stockpiling an armory or anything like that...

... yet.

so Cartoon Network, Disney XD, NickTV join Disney in HD on cable thus assuring I will have a constant fight for the TV from now on....

..in addition, am I the only one who thinks that The Cartoon Network is full of these jacked up cartoons that are waaayyy "out there"? These aint the cartoons I grew up watchin' so I have to constantly monitor I-Man and what he is watchin' on that channel...

we did do some snappys for the holiday cards... It is always difficult to take pictures now of the kids as they seem to balk at any inkling of me getting out my camera. Hell, everyone in the family does but I keep wondering what they will say 20 years from now when they view a photo and it brings back memories, or more importantly, a memory of someone no longer with us. While this photo here isnt what we will be sending out it is one of the few times I could get I-Man to not either scowl or have a goofy look like what he does for every school picture....

"A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice".  -Bill Cosby

"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely".  - Pam Brown


...wow, Erik... you got a good one.... ;)

So after making Kim extremely nervous when I led her thru resetting her IPhone she took a snappy photo of us sitting in the stands at the ACC Championship game. As i posted before, i wasnt sure if the time and money spent on the actual game would be worth it, but it was... and even more valuable was time spent just talking and catching up and ... talking. The game was fun in that it was a history type gig. While you like to assume that Clemson will be back and win ACC titles next year, etc. I can honestly say that in 1991 i thought it was just sorta a given that we win the ACC and go to one of those bowls like the Gator Bowl or something... little did I know that when they last one that year, it would be 20 years before it happened again.. and who knows, it might be another 20 years before another title. So it was funny to see the oranges being tossed from the upper deck. A little dangerous.. but funny. And seeing the VaTech fans who were so boisterous at the beginning filling out of the stadium in the middle of the 3rd quarter was humorous, considering how much it must have cost them to come into town, much less purchase tickets....
..anywho, as i alluded to above, it was great to talk to a friend and touch base for a while in person. While circumstances have definitely made her life different than the path she thought she would go, I am happy that she seems to be doing well with the resources she has now. I always love it (and find it interesting) when I can talk to someone I consider a peer without the kids around for a while. Even though the conversation circles around our kids, it is refreshing to still be able to have "adult" conversation without then fluttering about, even if it is only for one evening. I have said before that I sometimes go days without any sorta real conversation as the work environment discourages that sorta stuff and my stupid schedule makes it so everone is asleep when I get home and only have brief moments in morning as everyone is off to school. But it is what it is, i suppose. And as I slowly figure out how to see/talk to old friends/peers i hope we will be able to see our respective families more often...

Well.. it seems I will need to actually have pictures of the kids on our family Christmas card this year. I tried to go a different route last year and but that seemed to not go over well with people who like to put these things on ther fridges for the year. I must admit that we do the same thing so I understand that line of thought... so this is going to be carefullty crafted and a different take on the standard "here's the kids, Happy Holidays and a Frackin New Year from Us" christmas card, that I actually do enjoy sending out. I just need to make sure I have everyone's actual address this time around. I got two or three cards back last year...

seriously... hmmm... seeing as though every time we rent a video game for one night we end up keeping it for for 3 nights i am a little leery of this type of service....

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.  - Winston Churchill

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness". - Martin Luther King, Jr

I am not quite sure why I am going to this game tomorrow, other than taking the opportunity to visit with a dear friend. Well, I think I have answered my question. I will get to visit with Kim and chat. And maybe the Tigers will pony up some gonads and play with passion, energy and a sense of urgency like they seemed to exhibit earlier this year. That and i hope we can take a couple of linebackers from the Panthers and put them in uniform, too.

as a side note, I went to visit Scott Hendrickson's grave over Thanksgiving and took I-Man too... he got to see who he is partially named after.

Seriously? I saw this on Huffington Post and later Jamie Clemons posted it on Facebook. I still wonder sometimes about just who out there who pretend to be our friends but actually feel this way. I occasionally hear snippets and comments that indicate racist thoughts. And I just dont have room for that line of thinking in my life. but i guess if you are reading this then you knew this already.... But to think that bigotry and exclusion of people based solely on the color of their skin, or their sexual preference, for that matter... is dumbass.And I dont care how you were brought up.. or where you were brought up.. or why you were brought up. What is right is right. What this church (and it seems a small number within the church actually voted for this) has done is Stupid. And when they look around eventually and no-one is with them, they will only have themselves to blame....

Well it seems Herman Cain has been hit hard by a lot of allegations that seemed to only show up when he became a front runner. Still wondering where all these "violated" women were when Cain was just an afterthought. But i did find it interesting how his campaign (and obviously others) use the internet, and this article illustrates that point. I will now view searches on Google a little differently from now on.

in lieu of the recent hazing down at Florida A&M, i thought I might share an article that the current Band Director at Clemson shared with me...

I have often alluded to the fact that the twins do well in school (so far) which has made me proud because of the dire predictions of people way back when... it is to the point where if they didnt report well, I would be alarmed as to something deeper going on. They both got Straight A's on their last report cards (again) with Ryles continuing to trend a notch better overall in absolute average.I thought it was interesting that I-Man was dissappointed because he missed A/B Honor Roll by two points in one class (his average was two points higher than a B) I-Man was like "I missed it by 2 points!!!"  He views it as being better as more people made that list than his Principal's list for all A's. I mentioned to him that what he made was better but it actually seemed to go over his head. Funny how we continue to see grown-up behavior one minute, child-like behavior the next. That is a part of what is so fun about these times, I guess....