Elton John Live!!!

Yesterday, i got a super cool surprise for my birthday. Brandy got me a ticket to see Elton John and took me to the concert. And it was pretty awesome. I was impressed that he sang for 2 and a half hours straight, and he sang virtually every hit song he has ever had, except for 2.. i'm pretty sure. I am truly grateful that I had a chance to see him in concert again as he announce that he is doing no more albums, and implied that his days of concerts are now ending.

#4) Something I want to do

Go to an HBCU football game.

HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I want to go to a football game and, honestly, see the bands in the stands and at halftime. I dont want to go to one of the "Classics" that you see on tv. I want to go to a random Fall Saturday weekend when there are no TV cameras and I can see what it is truly like. I think that would be immensely fun.

I guess thats why they call it the blues

Don't wish it away
Don't look at it like it's forever
Between you and me I could honestly say
That things can only get better

And while I'm away
Dust out the demons inside
And it won't be long before you and me run
To the place in our hearts where we hide

And I guess that's why they call it the blues
Time on my hands could be time spent with you
Laughing like children, living like lovers
Rolling like thunder under the covers
And I guess that's why they call it the blues

Just stare into space
Picture my face in your hands
Live for each second without hesitation
And never forget I'm your man

Wait on me girl
Cry in the night if it helps
But more than ever I simply love you
More than I love life itself

Music by Elton John and Davey Johnstone Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

If you can and dont already have this song, download it and listen you it. Pretty profound...

Where Are The Bees?

Not to be a Treehugger Alarmist or anything, but I have been following recently the plight of the Bees. Have you noticed that there are hardly ANY bees flying around anymore? Look around. Seriously. Yeah..you see wasps and yellowjackets. but do you see any bees? And here's the Question...where did they all go? Its a world wide thing and , in case you dont know, bees are what makes the world go. Bees pollinate plants. Plants are eaten by animals that man eats. Plants are eaten by man. No bees? humans EVERYWHERE have serious issues producing crops. Dont believe me? Look it up. This is legit...

#3) Something I want to do

See a NASCAR race at Talledega.

Ok...Darlington???...check. Daytona????...check. Charlotte???...check. Atlanta??...check.Bristol???...check Greenville/Pickens???...check. The last of my must see tracks is Talladega, and i might actually pull that off this Fall, if I can work it out with Harwood for a quick drive down in October. Its only 31/2 hours away from here... That would make that list complete, with Rockingham (no longer being used), Richmond (6 hours) and Martinsville (6 hours) remaining as "I'd like to go if i had a chance but it aint that important" tracks

next in the list...

#2) Something I want to do.

See a World Cup Soccer Match in person.

Ok, so this will be problematic, since South Africa is up next in 2010 ( and I aint goin there), then Brazil is the only country bidding right now for 2014. Not sure I want to be headin to Brazil either, no matter how much fun it actually might be. 2018 is slated for Asia, then 2022 is in Europe before it cycles back to North/South America in 2026 (likely the USA or Mexico). So...lets pencil in Europe for 2022. Its 15 years from now. Kids will be in college or wherever. Germany and France are out, so likely candidates are Spain, Italy and England. England would be good...

Top 15 Things I want to do before I leave this place

OK...15 days till I reach a milestone. For the next 15 days I am going to post one of the top 15 things i want to do before I pass away. There is no particular Order or Level of importance. Nor will I view my life as incomplete if i dont do any of these. I must admit that I have done relatively well on the lists of cool things to do so far, and a beautiful wife, 2 awesome kids, a house, cars, tvs, electronics, friends and health acheived are pretty significant....

Something I want to do.

See the Grand Canyon.
Its on the list for a future Summer Roadtrip with the family. I figure rent a RV and take a week during the summer... leisurely drive out, seeing the sights, etc. and spend a couple of days on target, then repeat on the way back using a different route. I can see it now with I-Man and Ryles constantly complaining abt when we are going to get there. hell, they complain now about how much longer it will be before we get to Town when Town is only a 10 minute drive... But...I digress... It will be fun. Probably get in a quick visit to Roswell too....

continuing...

(you probably need to read the post under this one first...)

...I mean, I-Man walks into the house and the first thing he does is look for the remote to watch a recording of Backyardigans (which, I do find entertaining...at least for the first 17 times i watch a particular episode...the 23rd viewing starts to get old). Now, he does like to go outside andride his bike or kick the soccer ball, so he isnt totally tied down to the TV, etc. But I dont know. and Ryles???...well, I can tell she isnt going to be sitting out in the sun tryin to get a tan anytime soon (not that she needs to or anything) When we go to the park, its about 5 minutes before she is complaining about it being too hot. Now I'm sitting here thinking "Its 70 degrees outside, and you think its hot"? "Come talk to me in July and see what you think it is then"...

Takes me back...

Went to Dr and gave blood for my Dr visit next week. Then sweeped by my mothers house just to get my tag stuff. Then found out it was actually in my house, but i digress... I am always amazed at how quiet it is at home (home being the house where I grew up) Sitting here at my computer, I can hear the bustle of "the city"...snicker... ok but still, I can hear cars , sirens, etc. At home, all I hear is birds and bees... a dog way off in the distance...some crows cawing... and i can hear a car miles away approaching. I remember it was a mini event when a car went by back in the day. I stood outside today and remembered what it was like when there was no cable...and ...gulp...no internet. And it just brings back memories of times when I would ride my bicycle around the yard in circles for hours, or play with toy soldiers in the yard for hours, bat rocks across the road into the fields for hours.... I wonder if my kids are missing something. I have so much more than i did when i was their age, but I guess the question will always be if we are missing something by having something. An eternal question, i guess...

Whew...what a whirlwind

Special Thanks to Aunt Brandy and Aunt Ashley and Uncle Wes and Grandma and Uncle Jerry and Papa and Nanna for coming to the last soccer match and recital over the weekend. We also cut down a tree in the back in prep for the new storage shed. More firewood for the firebowl.... I really didnt get a good, clear photo of Ryles during the Recital rehearsal, but there you see a snappy of her ballet troup above.

...my jinx has worked its spell again. The Miami Heat go down in flames ( hah!), forcing me to have to change allegiances in mid playoffs and go with Lebron for however long he remains in the playoffs. I only say Lebron because I cant remember the name of anyone else on his team ( well, actually, Larry Hughes, but...i digress...)

...Today i get to go do bloodwork for my next Dr visit, then get back here for some weedeater work around the spots I missed with the ridin mower...

Today, tonight, tomorrow....

...still doing some spring cleaning. We have decided to purchase a shed to go out back of the house. It actually like a mini house. It should help us alleviate the disaster of our garage.... Ryles is in a fashion show tonight. That should be very interesting.... and tomorrow is I-Mans last soccer match till Fall. Papa, Nanna, Grandma, Uncle Wes and (new) Aunt Ashley will be in town, although I am not sure Wes/Ashley will actually be here for his match. Then Sunday will be Ryles dance/tap recital at Brooks. I will have to miss Ryles recital due to work, so i will go to Ryles dress rehearsal tomorrow. Other than that, it should be a quiet weekend.

Oh, and i am dissapointed

...the replacement skid pad came today. As I should have figured, no mounting hardware (i.e....BOLTS!!!) came with it. I only have 5 of the 8 bolts that were originally with the piece. So I will have to figure that part out...

...went to SED convention. I was actually pretty decent. No step show or banquet...all business, technically. But the social aspects were still there. I think that if they slowly incorporate the step show back in with definite rules, it will be fine in the future.

...I-Mans last soccer match of the school year is up this weekend, and Ryles dance recital is on Sunday. Then its pretty much summer for them...

Oh..the humanity..

Ok...i could go on and on abt the stuff that happened up at VaTech, but..I wont. I think enough has been said already.

...a few months ago, I ran over this large piece of rubber on the road and it put a huge hit on my skid pad on the Jetta. I was able to repair, but it was really only a temporary fix. The dealer wanted over 400.00 for what is essentially a large, hard piece of plastic with sound dampening material on it. Well, It eventually fell back down and has started to drag and I could no longer get it to stay up. So I searched high and long and..of course...there are parts stores who carry the OEM part for 135.00. So, i ordered it last night, should be here on Monday, and this morning i took off the old skid pad. Now I got to see if I can get over to the Harwoods and see if he will let me use his lift to put the new one on. My Jetta has done me good but it is starting to need replacement parts...like all new shocks, and well, I will need tires by June or July i figure. Then will come another timing belt replace. All of this will hopefully tide me over to the 200,00 mile mark, when I can perhaps think abt the eventual replacement... the question then will be to stick with diesel, try to go hybrid, or go BMW. At any rate, that is still over 2 years away... got other things to take care of first.

I am workin on a solution to where I will be able to post my pictures here at home. I hope to have that up and running by next weekend.

...tomorrow is SED convention. It is only one day this year and I can honestly say that I m glad. It will be good to see old friends again but I will also see them again in July, so the time missed away from home is valuable. Hence, the sentiments...

Happy Birthday to Lynn..Yesterday. Yep...we are startin to get a tad bit old...

oh, and I checked out the GTA 4 stuff

Brandy kinda clued me into a game that i might find interesting, and last last night, after my xbox had crashed, i was able to get it rebooted and downloaded the trailer for grand theft auto 4. Looks pretty impressive... of course it doesnt come out till october of 2010 or something like that, so I'll put that back on the backburner and continue to wait for forza 2

EASTER!!!!

Easter arrives and I-man and Ryles worked on Easter eggs last night. This was the first time they had done this painting gig. Aunt Brandy was visiting and was able to lend a hand to Ryles and I-man...

anybody know where this came from?...

...without doing a google search?

‘So once you do know what the question actually is, you’ll know what the answer means’

what happened to the holidays?

I remember growing up that when these special days like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas came around, there was a kinda buildup to the day. No, not the endless pounding of commercials hawking sales, Zales and Hallmarks shops. But...like... for Easter, there was always the TV movies about the Cruxifition and the events leading up to it, etc. Now i guess a lot depends upon if you subscribe to the biblical stories or not, but I look forward to introducing that stuff to our kids because the entire concept of religion, etc. is rooted in good morale foundation that I think is important to our kids...

... I also wonder where my son suddenly learned how to catch a ball. Yesterday, he starts thowing a small football to me and wanting me to throw it back to him. I'm like sure, thinking that this will be pointless. I throw it to him and he catches it. not against his chest, but with his 2 hands. I'm like...uh...hmmm.... he couldnt do that last week. And now he can. Interesting. Unfortunately, he is throwing with his right hand. Which throws out that dream of him being a left handed relief pitcher and paying for my retirement.

...i think i am going to have to send Brown some cash and have him pick me up some Starbury stuff in NYC. 15.00 for sneakers? wow...

the next 3 weekends will be eventful... Frat formal in Charleston, Frat Convention in the ATL then Ryles recital in Clemson... then a weekend off, followed by Darlington race, All Star race in Charlotte and whew...take a breath....

on a side not

...well, maybe not exactly like that, but...in addition to what I-man was talking about with being a "conducter", Ryles has developed a sudden infatuation with my old band hat. Perhaps there is a future in band afterall. I plan on tryin to get to a Drum corps contest this summer, and perhaps going back to the marching band contest we went to last fall and seeing how they like that...

just moving right along...

jessica had her birthday on Friday, and she went out to Restaurant O with several chick friends. That seemed to go fine... then Saturday I-Man had his soccer match (and Ryles is now playing too) and then the new fridge was delivered. It is a different type of design than I am used to, with the fridge part on the top 2/3rds and the freezer on the lower 1/3rd. But it has more room and is definitely cooler....we also got a new hood for the stove to match colors..instead of the Easter type yellowish stuff, everything is white now. we seem to have upgraded all the appliances in the kitchen and probably are just new countertops away from having the kitchen done...

Braves opened up the new baseball season today, with a win. Bullpen seems to be better... and I am going to like playing as the underdawg for the first time in a decade and a half... I think that will serve the Braves best this year, to work under the radar and without the bullseye.

I-man stated today that he wants to be a conducter after watching an orchestra on TV. Hmmmm...now I never wanted to be drum major, for I liked playing too much. But obviously, his mother, aunt, and Grandma were drum majors so it might not be too much a stretch. Gotta get him that Tuba first...

Yesterday was Jessica's birthday, and She went out with some girls for dinner. Some of them surprised her and I think the evening went well....

...and also... why is it that EVERYTIME someone says they are delivering something/fixing something at your house and they say "we'll be there between 1 and 4", you can count on 4:15? We are gettin a new fridge today... one of those fridge on top, feezer on bottom gigs... but it doesnt have an icemaker on the door. had to sacrifice that gadget... But it has far more room and the sections are more readily available for I-man to come down and get his juice and leave the fridge door open for 8 hours...

classic ..just classic....

well. Clemson takes the gaspipe...AGAIN ... in what is increasing not just a trend with everything Clemson, but perhaps tradition, Clemson success is often tragically tinged with ultimate defeat... It just seems that there is a palpable air about Clemson. it is a sense that it can succeed but there is always a tragic flaw...be it an inability to throw the ball when 8 men are stacked against you, or hitting simple free throws 75 percent of the time... I can list off a veritable sadsack list of Clemson Achilles moments, from that baseball team in the 90's that went something like 60 and 10 with Ken Vining, Chris Benson and a slew of other now major leaguer pitching, yet when the got to the Series found that the team suddenly couldnt hit homeruns in a field 450 feet to dead center...or the many Danny Ford teams that had NFL players 2 deep that would lose to Duke ( oh wait, that STILL happens), or the team with Elden Campbell and Dale Davis that lost on a full court, no time on the clock, turn around jump shot against Uconn, springing that program to national prominence and Clemson Basketball into a spiral it didnt recover from until it lured Barnes, who of course,used Clemson to springboard to Texas, where they are now a powerhouse in basketabll. Funny thing is that if THAT basketball team would have hit its freethrows, they win. perhaps they go even deep in the tourney, lure more recruits and become a national Power, with Cliff Ellis being mentioned in the same breath as Roy Williams, etc... oh I could go on, but...i just dont care anymore...

American Idol has jumped the Shark

...now, i dont watch American Idol. But you cant miss hearing about it all the time from everyone else who does watch it. And i have seen/heard the clips of this Sanjaya fellow who obviously should not be singing on what is suposed to be a talent show of this level. As far as I'm concerned, if the voting "public" votes off the Sligh fellow (who actually has shown some level of talent) and keeps that Sanjaya guy in, then American Idol has no credibility with me and I can just call it what it is...a popularity contest. But, then again, isnt that what it is all about anyway...as I have said before, it is more about looks and marketing. Think that wasnt marketing when they showed that girl cryin the other day? Like i said before, place this contest in the 60's, take a young Stevie Wonder, or a young Ray Charles, or Roy Orbison and those guys would not have even made it pass the initial auditions....but when the "public" voting is young, white girls between 8 and 18, you can see why this contest (sic) is a farce and is losing credibilty every year...

There's Faith, Hope and Love... and the greatest of these is Love.... That's cool.

-Garth Brooks