The gymnastic stuff....

...is a little confusing. First, the scoring is whacked. They take deductions for stuff that I just cant figure out. And neither can the people commenting either. Its like if I was to go to Solo and Ensemble , play a 4 minute song, miss one note and squeak once, and get a III. I dont get this stuff... and is it me, or am I remembering things a little different from when I was growing up...used to be I'd watch this gymnastics stuff and you NEVER saw anybody fall, slip, take a step...whatever. may a small step here or there or something. But now you see people crashing into the horse, landing face first into the mats and stuff... same with ice skating. people fall now. Used to never see it. Maybe Wide World Of Sports was just cutting that stuff out or something. And dont give me that "degree o' difficulty" crap. they are all doing stuff I cant dream of even attempting, much less doing....

And I still dont get the 6 year old Chinese chicks... they crash, bobble and get near perfect scores...Everyone else does all these twist, triwls, death defying crap and they have 17 different deductions....

We regret that in the August 13th issue of this blog, i used the word "erstwhile". What was actually meant to be printed was the word "Great" and we retract that statement and ask that you place "Great" instead of "erstwhile"

The Redeem Team is doing what they are supposed to do...took care of business against the dastardly Greeks. Next up, the comedians from Spain.

So..while reading the esrtwhile friend from Florida's comment below, I was flipping thru the cable checking out the extra HD channels that NBC has going for extra Olympic coverage. Whoa....WHAT THE FRAK?!!!!! WEATHER CHANNEL HD!!!! wow...and it looks awesome. Also Animal Planet (who cares), Discovery Channel (cool), TBS (why?) and The Learning Channel(even cooler) all in HD...they kinda sneaked them in... well, i did get an email about it but i think I dismissed it quickly into the trash on the Curve. Of course Ryles immediately started pictching a fit when I turned away from some inane show on the Animal Planet. I can see where this is heading already and that direction aint good. Luckily the first day o school is on the horizon... kinda ironic when my daughter warns me about not messing up her "house" (made of pillows,blankets and cushions from the couches) while I am trying to clean up the house. ah...i then think and wish I could go back in time and be their age again and have no worries or responsibilities except for having to stomach brocolli or green beans during dinner.

...did i mention that The Weather Channel HD looks specatular?...

in related news, the temps are slowly cycling downward...but we have now officially had water restrictions placed upon us. No watering plants and yard basically. Yard already was toast but I might have to continue to sneak in the watering of plants. I have always said that this is the most ideal place to live in the US, and continue to think so, but this drought thing is a little annoying.

As John mentioned earlier, i will chime in...I too wonder why it is that Foxnews covered the John Edwards deal 2 weeks ago and that all the networks sat on this for essentially months. I wonder if the outcome of the primaries would have been different for Clinton if Edwards wasnt in the race during those early contests. Wonder if the media sat on this to keep Edwards from retiring early. With the polls showing the Obama/McCain race virtually tied, i find it amusing to see Olberman and Mathews trying to paint a spin on how this isnt important or that they dont need to report it. But if it was a Republican, they would have been 24/7 with it. Obama will need to come out of Denver smoking hot on the campaign trail becasue if he isnt up by at least 10 percent in the polls come November, we know how this all turns out. It will be 51-49 McCain in the popular vote and McCain will win the electorate.

Two weeks to gameweek and to see if Clemson makes a run. Alabama SHOULD be a win for Clemson. However, Alabama will come to play, and it wont surprise me if Clemson loses. Alabama has too much talent and pride to simply toll over in this type of game. If the game was in Clemson, i would have no doubt. In Obama/McCain fashion, Clemson needs to come out and take control of the game and put their foot on Alabama's neck, else the longer Alabama stays in the game, the worse the outlook will become for Clemson. And i wont even begin down the Fire Tommy crap that will come out. I will say this...I would much rather have a chance to win like we do now that not have a chance to win like we did before.

We have these lights that come on after dark at our house that light up the place like daylight. we had a storm come thru a couple of weeks ago and for whatever reason, 2 of them were not working. Had the power company out here for the second day working on them and you would have thought that we had asked them to work under whips. the look i got from the guys working when I went to lunch was so " i hate you for making me work on this meaningless task" like... but I assume they are working. we shall see tonight, I guess. They left and didnt say a word.

Seems like yesterday it was Dora... suddenly it became The Backyardigans....went to Hanna Montana...now its The Wizards of Waverly Place and... Phineas and Ferb. Where did the time go?

"Shake and Bake!" - Cal Naughton, Jr.

So...watchin this Olympics thing. One of those Chinese guys is amazing, especially on thos e them there rings o fire or whatever it is they do.... but it just kinda seems that sometimes all the Chinese guys do is hop, skip and jump and they get this gigantic score....

Bernie Mac, then...Isaac Hayes. Who next?... Eddie Murphy... or how bout Chris Rock? Goodness...

The Kids start school officially for good in a week. First Grade!!!! FINALLY!!!!!

We got this boat in the backyard now. Its the old Sunliner from Jessica's family that they have had since the late 80"s I think. It should be fun...we plan to take it out some and take advantage of doing some different things on Saturdays this Fall, for a while. Speaking of which, I talked to Dr. Spede and confirmed that the Brooks Parking lot is no longer available for parking unless you cut a check to IPTAY for some football tix.... and it better be more than $350.00 too... and it will probably take a special Tiger Band hangtag to get to the spots above the Brooks Center too. I may not get over to a game til Homecoming or at least South Carolina. But of course, that usually changes once the season starts and since I can always get a band field pass, plans might change.

I guess I could pile on John Edwards, but... since someone once mentioned something about glass houses a ways back, I'll lay off... but it sure does make you wonder about the judgement at that level. Like...dude...you are running for President. Dont you think that sorta stuff might get noticed in todays climate? Not like you can simply walk out your door and go down to the Stop-and-Shop and pickup some Pringles, a Dasani grape soda and a Powerball ticket and it not get some play on MSNBC...

a kick to the stomach

Yeah...I know...for most of you, if not all of you, will think this is a little bit dramatic...but...Skip Caray passed away today in his sleep doing a nap. Who is Skip Caray? well, he was the voice I listened to as a kid, then teen, then adult on the Braves radio broadcasts. if ever there has been a constant with radio broadcasts for me, it was Skip Caray. Even more than Jim Phillips, for my Saturdays once highschool started found me mostly doing band events until a few years ago. But Skip Caray took me back to the late 70's listening to a rickity radio out the backyard while I shot baskets until it was too dark to see, then to sleep late into the night. He is a part of why the Braves are my NUMBER ONE TEAM, period. How many nights did i fall asleep listening to 1600AM while the Braves were on the west coast???...losing yet again.... countless..... so the broadcaster passed away today, and I am reminded that as a fellow diabetic, I have to do a better job of taking better care of myself. At any rate, i will miss hearing his voice on the Braves broadcasts.... flipping thru stations and automatically stopping when I recognized his voice out of the blue. Kinda reminds me that we are not guaranteed tomorrow....

Holiday Road!!!!

Everytime we go somewhere touristy or vacationy, I get this song in my head by Lindsey Buckingham...from National Lampoon's Vacation...If you have seen the movies, you know what i am talking about....

Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

oh yeah...and the beach part

We did get to the beach...but we first went to Murrells Inlet and did the seafood dinner thing. But this was a lunch instead, and it was a better idea, I thought. I has some fresh flounder, and was not tricked into eating shark, squid, octopus, clam, dolphin or even... deer. Good old flounder. And it was tasty. We then went to Brookgreen Gardens. That was pretty cool and we walked around the gardens some and saw lots of statues and art, as well as naked women. We also spent time in their "zoo", which was about as close to a tropical rainforest as I need to come. But that was pretty slick. If any of you go down there and you are looking for a change of pace while at the beach, I think you should try it for a few hours. Of course, below is what I-Man thought of the Gardens after about 6 minutes....



Like I said, I-Man's comment was "When do we get to BOOGY BOARD!!!!". Well, we went across the street to the beach and all I saw was a flash and I-Man was into the water for 2 hours and 15 minutes straight. Below is what he was doing for 2 hours and 13 minutes...One minute was spent sprinting toward the water, the other minute was when he reluctantly left the water....






Ryles spent a shorter period of time in the water, and spent her other time in more creative pursuits....




On our way back home, we stopped off to help Uncle Wes and Aunt Ashley celebrate cousin Madison's first birthday. It was the typical mashed cake, smeared icing "what the frak is this?!" sorta event, but She obviously enjoyed herself and racked in some birthday loot.

SO......

I sometimes wonder if I think too much about vacation time...as in, I look forward too it too much and set too high expectations on it. I think its because the amount of days I have are so precious, and are in reality somewhat valuable because I only get so many. The kids have no clue as to what goes into prep for that sorta stuff...for them it's just another day in paradise. Which is the way I want it to be for as long as possible.

...went to beach last week....
The twins got on some rides and made a Car and a Doll.... The rides were pretty cool. They were brought over from the old Pavilion at the Beach and restored. I rode on the thingy that swings you around. That was somewhat scary and I wont find myself doing that again. I-Man was hell bent on riding the big Pirate boat thingy was Jessica rode that with him. He was trying to hold his hands in the air. Darn near flew out of the thing (not really)..... I-man picked out the color, engine, wheels, rims and effects and put his car together at the "shop". Ryles got to have her doll made right in front of her, complete with stuffing and a couple of outfits...oh, and glasses too....(click on their picture to see the glasses and pajamas "Krystal" is wearing)

oh...man....delayed post

for whatever reason, this didnt post when it was supposed to. I have since actually played TJ and it was a short game of 1 quarter, which ended tied...


flippin channels last night when i come across the ESPY's, and there was a commercial for NCAA 2009 for XBOX360.... and they show Clemson on the game...I was stunned and...immediately got up and went to Wal-Mart and purchased that game, came back and picked out a team (Not Clemson) and started working on getting that team up to speed. But...I did setup clemson as my favorite team, and its weird to see current Tigerband members in the pictures on the game. Anyway, TJ.... I"'m coming after ya...its only a matter of time. You have my xbox name. I'll be ready soon.

by the way, TJ and Lisa (and Trace) came by Saturday and its awesome to sit for a while and visit....

WE MUST DRILL NOW...THAT WILL FIX IT ALL!!!!!

...I'm sure that my title will have the same effect as the current The New Yorker cover and people will assume that is exactly how i feel....

let me clarify...Do I think the Oil companies have fault with the current gas prices and oil issue. Yes. Do I think that they are drilling everywhere they possibly can???.... I suspect that some are not. Do I think that simply drilling in more places will solve the issue. No? Do i think that oil companies have stymied the growth and research of alternative fuels and energy? Yes. Do i think that our government currently takes away 3 times as much money per gallon as the oil companies do? yes. Do i think that OPEC and the middle east yahoos think that they can contine to squeeze the US because they know that people will block our attempts to get currently needed resources into place? yes. Do I think we need to come up with AFFORDABLE energy sources and put them into play ASAP? yes.

but what am i supposed to do in the meantime. wait for all these alternative things to come into play 10 yers from now. Like i said before, is somebody going to come take my car and replace it with a hydrogen cell car? for free??? wait...let me guess....Obama and the government are going to bail me out, right? Romney is going to buy me an electric car to get me the 60 mile round trip every day for work. right? oh...no..dont think so... Gas has risen 40 percent but my paycheck has definitely NOT followed that rise. I am fortunate that i make a decent living. but it has already changed things for us. And I suspect all of you. But all i hear is that we need to come up with alternative stuff...OK? fine...sounds good to me...seriously. Well, lets get to it. Wait...oh i get it...we need to let the government pay for it, right? which really means that I am going to have to pay for it. ANYWAY, what are we waiting for? Oh I forgot...Hope for Change i can Believe in...yeah...thats it.... meanwhile McCain is stumbling around mumbling something another that I can't understand....

back on point... 44 million acres and only 10 being used by the oil companies. Definitely an issue there. I suspect that a lot of that 34 million doesnt have oil. I also suspect that alot of it does. At some point something has to give... but like i say to Brown... I am not concerned as much with 10 years down the road as I am with tomorrow. Because 10 years from now doesnt come BEFORE tomorrow. And if I am giving larger and larger percentages of my money to my car and my heat water heater for my house, that means less for my kids. like i have said before, i have pretty much all I need. Its all for the kids now.... It seems like I whine about this a lot, but here is the root of the issue. If a 30 dollar trip to see nanna and pappa is now 70 dollars with no end in sight, it becomes a larger issue that has all sorts of long term ramifications....

Nascar, Snow, Jesse and Obama.... with a little 'Cain

Oh father high in heaven -- smile down upon your son
who's busy with his money games -- his women and his gun.
-Ian Anderson from....Aqualung

While I was saddened to hear of Tony Snow's passing, it did not have the same type of effect on me. Not that I mean to diminish his accomplishments or his obvious talents. It was different. I did think to the old adage about these types of things coming in threes...

I am glad that I have held my vintage 1984 Jesse Jackson for President T-shirt on the bench, based upon the firestorm his comments brought last week. I didnt comment on those because it really is the tip of the iceberg on what a lot of people in the black community think. Jesse came/comes across as jealous (and he may very well be...i dont know...hard to imagine he isnt though) but the black community was slow to warm to Obama initially because he isnt really seen as "one of us"...jumped on the wagon when he started to win in February, and since then are becoming increasing mistrustful of Obama's very obvious shift away from a buch of stances he initially took. "Change We Can Believe In" seems to be slowly fading as Obama is becoming just like all the other candidates, doing and saying whatever he needs to do to get elected. While I would be doing EXACTLY the same thing as he is, his schtick initially was that he wasnt like all the other candidates...and it is being revealed everyday that he is not the Change we can Hope for, but just more of the same thing from the Democrats. But I still am waiting on McCain to see his choice for VP, for I am not sure McCain will see 2012, so might need to see who really will end up Prez by then....

I like NASCAR because it's cool. And if anyone goes to a race, you will be impressed.... but i digress, for I am still wondering why I keep hearing Harry Reid and that scary wild eyed Pelosi screeching about how drilling in new places/more places/old places(whatever that argument is) isnt going to help us and that we wont get anything out of that for 10 years, all the while seeing/hearing people come on TV who are work in that industry everyday who say that they can be drilling actual oil in any location in about a month. I am all for developing other avenues for fuel/power/energy and I think its obvious we need to get away from oil, but...with the overwhelming majority of people in this country living a little bit more than a taxi ride away from work, if the DEMS are willing to drop a $45,000 hybrid car in my yard...wait, make that TWO $45,000 dollar hybrids in my yard, or pay for the solar panels for the roof, or whatever other "green" thing that is hot today...read: expensive, well I'm all for it. But its easy for these politicians to block solutions when they dont have to spend one dime of their own money for gas. As a matter of fact, Obama and McCain are spending MY money for their gas. Wonder when the last time either of them stopped by Exxon or Shell and filled up their car. I 'd love to drive a hybrid, or pursue alternative "green" stuff. But when faced with he scarcity of those options, and the increase in cost of those options, and people blocking any seeming alleviation of my financial burden, I get annoyed. THAT is why OBAMA gets the elitist tag, because its real easy to talk about 72 degree thermostat settings when you dont have to worry about your 72 degree thermostat setting. Bet his kids havent droppeed a bead of sweat or worried about how much a gallon of gas cost, and never will. So we come full circle...When Obama is now speaking (and his speeches have slowly evolved from that HOPE/CHANGE/FINALLY/BELIEVE crap to a I-am-your-savior-I-will-have government-fix-it-all leaning) and telling me that he thinks its sad that we all say "Merci Beaucoup" and I better have my kids speak Spanish, i get annoyed. Its obvious he doesnt do well when he strays from his "script"...

Ok...well, this is all kinda on the surface of a bunch of larger arguments, I guess. McCain is starting to get his act together. Polls today have Obama seeing his 10 point lead gone and its a dead heat. I know the previous paragraph seems to have me leaning toward MCain. But i still remain Independent, hoping someone can make sense and earn my vote. I dont talk much about McCain because..well..aint much to talk about....

The South is still probably the best place to live in the USA, especially here in the area we are in. a somewhat afluent area with very moderate weather, decent sports teams and an easy drive to larger cities. I think things have improved from my parents time to my time to my kids time, and they see a far different time than Idid when I marched into first grade. So its all improving...and as more people like that old man die off, the better it will be....

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things

just shakin' my head and wonderin'

...about the cover of The New Yorker and just what those guys were thinking. I mean, it actually took me a few minutes to spin that around and around again and MAYBE get what the satire for what that was. I guess maybe it was actually meant to be seen a couple of ways, and that confused me...but... somebody might be out of work soon over that one.... the whole "Barack is a Muslim because of his middle name" is so tired. I guess I'm a member of the IRA because of my first and middle names, huh?

...and isnt interesting that the price of a barrel of oil was starting to drop, when... well, well, well...Iran "supposedly" shoots off a bunch o rockets and starts jumping up and down shouting LOOK AT US. Well.. they did shoot off some old rockets of theirs...nothing new it seems. But of course, that sends the price of oil skyrocketing again. Lets see...Irans total economy is based off oil, and they are totally invested in keeping the entire area unstable and therefore keeping idiots jacking the price of oil up on all fronts.... its like if a Jew steps on an ant in Syria, the price of oil goes up....

...Coach Ibrahim (the old soccer coach from Clemson) passed away over the weekend.

I think I have placed the August Bristol Friday night race back on the docket... if anyone wants to join Harwood and me to see the Cup guys practice and qualify, and the Nationwide guys race, let me or Harwood know...

momma always told me...

One of those old people I wish would just go away and die did just that a few days ago. I started to post something about it, but decided against it...remembering the old saying that if you dont have something good to say about somebody (especially at their funeral), dont say anything. But Brown sent me a link that pretty much summed up why I am glad that old man is dead. And all of those people who think like him can die off too....

...here's the link...click here!!

especially of note are the comments that follow.... sigh...

WATER!!!!

So...um...they are now saying the drought now in the upstate has reached epic proportions. They say Lake Jocassee is down 24 feet! Obviously Lake Hartwell has been down for years and they did mention that it is essentailly a 10 year drought we are in. Which leads us to... Clemson is the first town to officially go to water restrictions. WOW...this will get really interesting if this continues. They say that if we dont get some tropical storms, tetc. this Fall, the entire upstate will start to suffer. I find this really weird as I was on lake Wateree and lake Murray this past weekend and there is NO sign that those lakes are down 1 inch, much less 24 feet.

The Twins are doing Day Camp at Camp Watzitstooya this week... then Vacation Bible School next week.... then to Grandma's for a day then back to Nanna and Papa for a couple of days before hitting Myrtle Beach for 3 days...then...another week o Day camp.... I remember my summers growing up and they were NOTHING like this....

bringin a knife to a gunfight...

So...went down to the lake for July 4th. Hung out on the pontoon and actually tooled around on the jetski several times. We then went on the pontoon and watched a fireworks show on the lake with about 1000 (it seems) other boats. Then headed back and I brought out my frakkin awesome supply of fireworks.... but... it seems that i didnt get the memo that the fireworks i was buyin are about 1/4 the power that every other guy on the lake seemed to have. So I only actually had 12 shots that were on that level. Everyone else seemed to have 3000.00 dollars worth of fireworks that they were shooting off. OK...mental note...need to upgrade fireworks level...AGAIN...but...I WILL be ready next time..... sorta like when we played LSU in the Peach Bowl that time...and we had that pep rally and we were all like playing Tiger Rag...then LSU's band starts playing...and I will never forget that...i was like..."Oh.... um....Frak.......um...wow.....damn....we're getting torched...." and cutting a look over at Dr. Hosler and him looking back at me and slightly shaking his head and us sharing that "We brought a knife to a gunfight" look.

well...anyway, yesterday we actually ended back out on a different lake (the first one was Lake Wateree, this one was Lake Murray) and tooled around on the sunliner for a a while before eventually picking up the kids and returned back home yesterday evening.

Sigh...

I-Man has suddenly stated that he NOW wants to play the drums. I have stepped up efforts to get a Tuba or Baritone into the house...ASAP

OK??...!!!....hmmm...

Clemson started its smoking ban yesterday. This means that no smoking or any tobacco products in public spaces is allowed. Wow.... that should be interesting when the students return and the Gamedays start.

cruisin....

I-Man and I went to Clemson today to look around and check out the new Nike sideline apparel. As we were drivng there, i thought about the fact the Ryles and I-Man have been no more than a hundred or 2 hundred feet apart a hanful of times in their lifetime(Ryles bein in Atlanta with jessica and Aunt Ellen)...Have I ever mentioned that their seems to be no reason to drive cars in Clemson, and really no way to put gas in them now as all three gas stations at the light on 123 are now...GONE. as in the Hess Station replaced by a Starbucks, the Exxon replaced by a Sonic and the BP totally razed and gone. I assume something is being built there... sure, there are gas stations in Clemson, but it seems the market for gas has definitely slowed there...go figure...

did I mention that I now have a Blackberry Curve? definitely sweeter than the Treo that I had... I fully recommend the Curve, having tested it fully against the Pearl and the World Edition of the Blackberries....

Guns...toys...Euro's and Soccer

Todays ruling by the Supreme Court was refreshing. I have grown tired and wary of the Supreme Court (at any level) acting like THEY should be the one making laws, instead of interpreting them. While I dont own a gun and dont really plan on it ( at this moment ), I certainly beleive in everyones right to bear arms. All the blather from people trying to say that this means that mental patients and felons will now be getting guns need to go away and try another tack. That aint true. Will the drug dealers and the sad, silly white kid who's been picked on and now wants to be some sorta sick hero still be able to get a gun. unofrtunnately...yes. And they would even if there was a total ban on guns. Pot is illegal too and I can get some within 24 hours if i was inclined to, which I am not.... which reminds me, I need to make sure the Pellet and BB guns I have are secured. I may one day consult Harwood on a gun purchase though, because you never know...ya know... and like I heard today, if you are coming in my house, you better be bringing a pizza or a supeona ... and you better be waving that supeona from the road, or you might get a baseball bat to the face.

...the other night sitting outside Ryles made an announcement that she had something she wanted Santa to bring. Of course, being someone who maintains a very close tie to Santa, my ears perked up, and I awaited with baited breath, anticipating a request for yet ANOTHER Barbie or Bratz doll, or even better... a Hanna Montana dress... well... Ryles declares that she wants a Nintendo DS.... (crickets chirping....).... and of course, I-Man chimes in that he wants one too...(more crickets.....)... which sent me to Best Buy during my lunch to check out for Santa what sorta material those devices will entail for him to make. sigh....(shakin head....

...The NBA draft...lots of freshmen and European players. wow....

...And speaking of Euro's.... it has been interesting watching Euro2008. And we get Germany vs Spain. gotta admit that Germany is not an option for me so I will be pulling for Spain, especially since I just love Spain's home jerseys. I am not a huge fan of red, but Spain's red home jersey with yellow(gold?) stripes with black shorts are pretty tight....

just thinkin...

...about several things...

Sara mentioned about gas hitting 4.00 a gallon. I paid 4.99 a gallon for diesel near Hersey, PA the other day...so I'm thinkin 6.00 a gallon for me by Summer's end. Of course Obama gives me "hope" for a "change" in my gas prices..."snicker".... and I definitely understand the feeling of trying to keep the kids busy all day. I still ponder how it is the McDonalds playground (any McDonalds playground, it seems) is like a magnet for the twins. I do not remember the McDonalds playground being any sorta draw for me as a small kid. But there wasnt a McDonalds every 3 miles back then either....

Speaking of our supposed Saviour, I got my Obama tshirt on Thursday. Funny...it only took the campaign that supposedly is going to "change" things in Washington and give us "hope" for a better America and make me "believe" again that I can finally be proud to be an American again 2 and a half months to deliver a tshirt that is the EXACT same as one I got from Ebay in 4 days. Funny...2 or 3 weeks ago they took away the ability to post on the Obama website. I wonder if it was because they were getting blasted by everyone about not getting their shirts and the fact that people were wondering aloud on the website as to if this is what we can expect. So much for the free thinking Obama people, huh?

Braves are floundering around .500 so far...I will continue to observe amd keep quiet till the All-star break and make my decision as if this is going to be another lost year of sorta contending or some sorta strange harmonic Clemson vibe coming out of Atlanta....

Oh, and the team of my childhood (notice a theme here) won the title(NBA) and I have been wearing my Celtic logo T proudly to work. Seriously though... I pulled for the Celts and my Father pulled for the Lakers back in the day, and watching all the clips of those old games brough back memories....

Coldplay has made it onto the XBox in Guitar Hero. I can see why bands are starting to get on the band(heh...)wagon in regards to putting songs out there on the game. I think I might kinda like that music, but I am going to Wiki it and see what the deal is because I keep seeing headlines that I never read about Coldplay...or something....

I really hate summer

...I really do... its too hot and there just seems to be no natural schedule of things.... and its too hot. The kids are off with the Grandparents for the week, so they are having fun. And they will return and we will have to establish some sorta routine for them or else it will be "Lets go to the Pool!!!" everyday....

in addition...

... ithink i need to clarify something about my post about Mr Russert. I dont have a problem with Liberals/Progressives/whatever they may call themselves. I actually agree with a lot of that type of idealogy. But I do have an issue with the type of mentality that seems to pervade the people I mentioned in the previous post...that is that anyone Conservative is evil and demented and trying to make everyone god fearing, etc. And the same goes for the Hannity/Limbaugh faction that has all Liberals treehuggin fanatical pansies. I know that the moderates on both sides don't sell, and that is probably at the root of what we see. And I simmply get tired of it being a constant bashing of one side or the other, when it hasnt changed the obvious majority of the country. For all the jumping up and down of Matthews and Olberman, i bet the November vote (as of now) will be 51%/49% Obama over McCain. And it is precarious at best that margin. And limbaugh can scream for the next 5 months all he wants, but the majority out there isnt in either camp fully. I think most people have a strong mix of Progressive/Conservative views, which is how the Clinton AND Bush got elected, and re-elected. At the end of the the day, if you remember back, Bush was considered somewhat a moderate overall for a Republican, just as Clinton was. And if Obama isnt careful, he will lose all those middle of the road votes he was getting in the early primaries.

So... basically, I am just tired of the seemingly sissyfied whining of the "Left". And Russert, while probably pulling the lever for the "Left" when he voted at least presented the facts to me as evenly as possible for me to decide for myself... not slanted. I will miss that.

(the previous representations of Progressives and Conservatives are at times generalizations... I know Brown is in the Obama camp, but I still beleive he thinks clearly despite all his "Green" ramblings...I think he is a mirror of me politically in fact, so that clarifies that)

wow...

Tim Russert passed away today. This made me somewhat sad as I feel we lost someone who could report political news to us without reporting it slanted to what he thought we should think about it. Now NBC/MSNBC is left to Olberman and Matthews, who basically are not even subtle about who/what/how they believe YOU should think. I mean Chris Matthews wears a Obama T-shirt and runs around with pom poms with an "O" on them everynight. Well, maybe not but it sure seems as though he would if they would let him. Tim Russert, while coming from significant posts on the Democrat side, always seemed to give an objective reporting of the political events. I think at the root of it is that while I am highly sceptical of most people and their motives in the media, be it Hannity, Olberman, Matthews, Oreilly, Limbaugh....Sharpton, Combs...and the numerous others I listen to everyday...I TRUSTED Russert to talk straight and bring me the facts. I sensed he was being fair and down the middle, and held both sides feet to the fire. I will miss that because we are not getting that from ANYONE else. Period. Rest in peace, Mr. Russert.

quick trip to the Poconos

...went and saw the Race at the Poconos. Interesting track.... also stayed with Kristen and visited with her family...

Foul Ball!!!

Went to the Greenville Drive game yesterday...always a fun time, great crowd and I'm thinkin that i might try to do a Summer Frat thingy there maybe next summer.... picked up the twins from their last day of school and we went and they hit the McDonalds playground before we went and met up with jessica. Went down by the Riverwalk perused the shops, then grabbed some icecream(more on this coming up..heh, heh). Then we walk to the field and it was a tad hot yesterday. Got inside and we were about to sit when Ryles starts throwing up her Bubblegum icecream. That was quite a bit o drama. And required a brand new Drive tshirt from the concession stand. I noted to self that Ryles does not operate in heat well...and i will make sure to carefully observe this for future summer picnics... Not sure how this is going to play out once band camp starts in a few years...

that sucked...

So, those guys will NOT be getting my business should I decide to go back with VW or goto Audi with my next car. While I am still contemplating a BMW, walking the car lot showed me not a single diesel, and if I dont go BMW, I will go back to a diesel. Plus...they took FOREVER to do a 30 minute warranty/recall job. I guess it was all the time they took trying to find other things wrong with the car, because once the "finished", the tech guy comes and starts telling me the various things that needed to be done...and...how much they would cost... Rear brakes (which I already have the parts for thanks to my Father in law) - $340.00 me..."um...I got that. I "ll take care of it"...Tech guy...Glow Plug system needs replaced - $760.00... me ... (thinking to myself..." i have 2, maybe 4 cold weather starts a year...SCREW THE GLOWPLUGS!!!!) "I might have to come back another day for that one".... funny thing is that they took almost 3 hours to tell me what i knew from hooking my Jet to my laptop. A quick online tells me that I can get the parts for my glow plus for $200.00. Hmmm... wonder which route I am going to take with that issue?.... all that and they still didnt notice that my right tallight was out...or if they did, they didnt fix/mention....

lets see how this goes...

7:30am and sittin here at Steve White Volkswagon because my brake lights are on on my car and wont turn off. So I had to take out the fuse and turn them off entirely. which kinda presents a problem, if you can imagine. Its a brake light switch issue, and while I guess I coulda fixed this myself in the long run, ordering the part, figuring out how to do it and then doing it before headin on a trip this weekend would have been problematic. Lets see how much this costs and where it heads... the ole Jet has 175,000 miles right now...figure to get to 200,000 before i start seriously ponderin another ride, which is probably another year and a half, i guess. But....I have always said, and will probably stick to it that I might ride this car till it blows up, at 45mpg city 60mpg highway right now.

End o year awards....

went to the twins award ceremony this morn...I-Man pulls in a "Top Notch Worker"award and the much coveted "Perfect Attendance For The Entire School Year" award, as well as an Accelerated Reader (Afterschool) award....Ryles pulls in the "Top Notch Worker" for her class, Accelerated Reader for her class (which means she read way above her grade level), the same Afterschool Reader award as I-Man and... drumroll please.... "Best Musician" for her class. The only thing that makes me a little wary is that the perfect attendance thing can become a burden later. The longer it goes, the more pressure there is to kepp it perfect. And it sucks...because if you miss one day and never miss again, you feel cheated in the long run..I missed one day of school in my 12 grades...a day in the 3rd grade when I had to stay at home with my brother... and I was really annoyed when some scrub got that award when I graduated...

at any rate, Ryles gets a music award, which i think is pretty slick...

here we go again...

i say it every May/June...I am ALREADY set for Fall to get here. I really dislike the Summer period. ANd yesterday and last night reminded me of Fall.... Time for October....

musing....

I saw the American Idol final 2 guys on the Today show this morning singing. I am not even sure how some thought it was even close. The Older guy blew away the teen singing this morning. It was obvious he is far more polished and his voice mature. I am not even sure how it was a contest in the first place between these two. Perhaps there were others on that show better than this teenybopper guy?

whole lot of shakin goin on...

Dude...like...Is there going to be anything left of China still standing by the time the Olympics arrive? Seems like everyday there is a major earthquake or aftershock....

tis sad, but true...

Yesterday at work we were talking about how we had to constantly be aware of where our children are, and how so different that was from when we were young. Back in the day, our parents would let us play outside all day long by ourselves. Now, we dont let out kids walk out the door for 10 seconds without us. I was reminded again last night as while I want to leave the windows open on the road side of our house (which in our configuration is on ground level), I am paranoid that someone might view this as an invitation to enter the house... so ...I make sure the windows to I-Mans room are closed and locked as well as the hallway window. It sucks because that changes the cool airflow thru the upstairs at night. SO...with the temp set to reach 87 or 88, I will power up the AC and set the timer/schedule for all that. It just sucks because I remember growing up and having all the windows, as well as the doors open growing up during the summer 24/7.

I've reached the 90's..

..upgraded the lapper from 1992ish (256mb) to 1997ish(512mb) and boy, there is a definite difference. While I'm not doing anything serious on my machine other than remote email or websurfin, i do see a difference...

...went down to help Aunt Ellen move to her new apartment in Lexington. She didnt tell me that she was moving into a 4th floor apartment, but we got it done... but she's got a pretty slick new pad.

...Still no Obama T-shirt....

...but hey, Clinton seems to be putting her foot in her mouth daily now...

Looks like it is going to be time to fire up the AC. I still havent upgraded our heat pump yet and it aint going to get done this summer again, it seems. But I think we are going to try to run at about 75 degrees this summer instead of the 73/74 we have in the past and supplement with small fans in the bedrooms...especially Ryles, who seems to be hot at any temp over 36 degrees...funny, I-Man sleeps with all sorts of blankets/sheets/wool Symphonic Band blankets and duvets every night while Ryles is all sprawled out at the same temperature. Funny how twins can be so different.

...and I still aint falling for the "deer meat chili" ruse again, John....

an update

..tried it again...lay down for a moment this morning, and it felt entirely different than last night. i think it has to do with temperature....

...watched the UEFA Cup Championship yesterday. Manchester United, the soccer team of my childhood...(notice a theme here?)...won in Penalty kicks over the dastardly Chelsea Football Club in Moscow. It was definitely interesting watching and hearing John Denver blaring from the loudspeaker in Moscow at 1:30am!!! their time. "Country Roads, take me Home" is kinda not something you would expect to hear from a soccer match of two teams from England playing a match in a driving rainstorm in Moscow at 1:30am. Yes...they started the match at 10:45pm local time in Moscow and it didnt finish till almost 2:00am. And people complain about the start times for games at Clemson when they start 7:00pm...imagine a 10:00pm kickoff...

...Downloaded Def Leppard songs for Guitar Hero and am going to get the Muse songs tonight. The Def Songs are pretty good, and I was surprised that I knew them as well as I did...

...Gas now at 4.60 a gallon for diesel for the Jet. this is not making me happy. Oh, and I posted on the Barack website about how I hadnt gotten my shirt, and there a whole lot of other people who have had the same thing happen and they are posting too, and stating that this makes them wonder as well.... I am going to dispute the charge soon and get my money back.

why is it...???....

...and I have said this before and I'll ask again....why is it if I lie down in bed at 8:30am and I absolutely must be somewhere in an hour, it feels SOOOOO good, but when I get into bed at 11:00pm, with nothing on the horizon till 9:00 the next morn, it just doesn't feel as good?

the weekend that was...

It was a great time for me in Charlotte this weekend. Saw the truck race on Friday night then the AllStar race, where my guy didnt really ever contend, but it was fun seeing Junior and the fans reacting to him being in front and/or in contention. Harwood got in a scuffle with some dumbasses behind us who had no hometrainin and were slinging beer on him and his wife Jessica. Brandy and Aj arrived on Saturday from some sorta magic wormhole (they just materialized...not sure how they knew where we were parked out of thousands of campers, but...well...it all worked out good)... I am always struck by how I now feel after these types of weekends...I am sad a little bit because I mentally look forward to having a good time, and it seems to go by so fast and then I am all of a sudden back at work... Much thanks for all the Birthday wishes from the FRAT bruhs...and of course Lynn, Kristen, Ellen and Ashley. Brandy gave this card that I thought fit my mood perfectly... It said "Celebrate friends...Celebrate fun...Celebrate joy...Celebrate love...Celebrate life." I think that I do try to do that and I mentioned this weekend that these times grow more and more fleeting. Our budding families and those more important demands make finding time for these types of events more and more problematic. Jessica got me a pretty slick outfit, AXE and tickets to a Greenville Drive game in June. And my Mother/Uncle got me a 500gb external hard drive which should pretty much end any issue with storage space for a long while... next up... headin to Columbia to assist Aunt Ellen moving this weekend...then 2 weeks after that is the Drive game then The Poconos for a race...oh yeah...and a visit with Kristen.

I did not take any pix of the weekend. I am not sure why. And that makes me sad.

Charlotte!!!!

headin out to Charlotte this morn... Harwood and I will be setting up camp midday, and the wives are joining us this evening. Then the Fords are dropping in tomorrow... I plan to get in Qualifying and the truck race tonight and tomorrow is the big event. I still say that if you have never gone to a NASCAR race this is the one to come to... I am going to try to break out the camera a lot this weekend...

well...

..did I mention that I went on Ebay and ordered the exact same Obama T-shirt for 1/3 the cost and it arrived in 3 days?...while there is still no shirt from the Obama camp? I sent them an email and I got this genuine, personal, well thought out reply...

Your item(s) are currently on backorder. As soon as the items arrive we will ship them out to you. We do apologize for the wait.

No signature...no mention of ANYTHING I said in my email....nothing.... despite the fact they charged my card a month and a half ago....And there was NO mention of the item being backorder at the time of my order. I deliberatly waited till that backorder notice went away before ordering... Now...I wonder several things... I wonder how many people who voted for Obama during the Hysteria 2 or 3 months ago would vote for him today if they were voting again (and will they cast that same vote come November?)Wonder if those people in Iowa and other places would cast the same vote again knowing what they know now from what they have seen over the longer haul. This primary thing where people are voting over the span of 6 MONTHS seems very, very flawed. Wouldnt it be better to have 1 day where all the states have their primaries? That way people in Iowa are voting with the same info as those in Oregon? I dont know...It looks more and more that I will be looking at a scenario again like last time where I am looking at who is the best of a sad lot of choices. While Clinton shows some balls and seems to have a better feel for standing up and leading, I have reservations about the underpinnings of what her administartion would have...definitely a more ruthless person...which might actually translate better for that position... MCCain will lose my vote if he goes with Huckabee as his VP. No way I vote for that. Period. That will leave me with Obama. This is starting to look like Bush/Kerry where I simply thought Bush was the better of 2 sorry choices... Will Obama ever show me any sort of hint of masculinity? Is Clinton going to always seem more of a man than him? I just have this mental picture of Obama sitting in the WHite House during a crisis biting his nails whining about wanting to "talk" to everyone and "work things out" while his wife is standing behind him in a leather corset and whip. Yeah..I know...I am probably way off base...but...It all seems to boil down with me that Obama seems..."weak". I guess I gotta decide if I can live with that for 8 years (presumably). I probably can given the other sorry choices I am left with. Sadly, I have no other choices because the system lets a few people in a few states decide who I will get to chose from come November.

By the way...at the race in Darlington, at the souvenir tralers all drivers have a trailer. Dale Junior has TWO trailers, both of which had 10 lines of people 15 deep at them...kinda funny was that Kyle Busch had his souvy trailer parked next to one of the Junior trailers...(crickets chirping...)...I did Ryles a Racegirl shirt and I-Man an M&M shirt (with no mention on the #18 on it, heh..heh..)

Spending the day finishing my project of flipping our bedroom. We have moved the bed to look out over the creek in the backyard. I just have so much crap...

WHew...

Ok...Darlington was a blast...the new track saw far faster speeds and virtually every car had all types of damage from run-ins with the wall...up next?...the All Star race... I still get a rush when the cars fire up for the first time, they roll by on the parade laps and the ground shakes as they roll by and then on the first lap...the sheer sound and power is pretty slick...

Sometimes all this stuff going on EVERYWHERE in regards to the weather makes me a tad leery. Earthquakes...Monsoons.... Cyclones...Tornados...Floods.... What in the world is going on? And we havent even gotten to hurricane season yet....

I thought I was going to be on Dateline or something when Harwood bit into a piece of plastic at lunch on Friday at Texas Roadhouse in his baked beans...

Headin out...

Headin to Darlington today, hooking up with Harwood and Aunt Ellen for the race tonight, then doing the race by myself tomorrow night. Looks like rain will miss us on both evenings so it is all gravy today....

wait a second...

Why do I suddenly see/feel as though Clinton is positioning herself in a place where the DEMs MUST place her on the ticket with OBama if there is to be any hope (hey, isnt that Obama's word?) of the Democratic party coming together to knock off McCain come Fall? And by the way...STILL no T-Shirt after Obama charging my card over a month ago. I might start blowing up his website with negative stuff.... wonder how NewsCenter 4 would like a story during some dead time if I dont get my tshirt. I dont like the fact that they have charged me and used my money but no shirt. Perhaps trivial to some...but 25 dollars "CAN" be used elsewhere...

Frizzy hair day...

Ok..So Ryles was coming off a frizzy hair day on the left...but here are a couple of recent pics. She is wearing her new favorite Hanna Montana dressone the left and is in typical school day fare on right.......

Built Ford Tough!!!!

FINALLY!!!

So...Obama finally does what he should have done in the first place... and holds a presser and says "I don't know what the hell my old man crazy uncle is talkin about, but that aint me, and I'm startin to wonder about the old man"...or something like that. The whispers about Obama not having balls were starting to get louder and I wonder if it isnt too late. Now I guess we are going to see if this starts to go away...my guess is no... because it opens up the question of why did he make a 180 degree turn, and ...why now???? of course, we know the reasons why, but..once again, if you wanna be the big dog, gotta answer the hard questions, even if they are not on point as to the Presidency...
Oh...and ANOTHER THING!!!!! Obama charged my VISA 25.00 on APRIL 1st and I HAVE NOT RECEIVED MY T-SHIRT!!!!!! You mean to tell me you can't have Tommys T-Shirt Hut in Chicago print me up a 2 dollar shirt and get it to me in a month!!!! Wonder if i can reverse those charges....

Ryles had her recital on Sunday. I am always struck by all the people who are there. So many families supporting their girls (and boys) and I am always struck by the grandparents, friends, aunts and uncles who come. I dont know...I just found it interesting.

I dont know what to make of that Reverend Wright thing.... he certainly seems to be making sure he gets his 15 minutes worth.... i tried to call my chief politico E "Dick Morris" Brown but he seems to have gone into hiding in Brooklyn....

I have one more weekend free before I start a 1 month run of 4 possibly 5 nascar races starting with the Nationwide race in Darlington and ending with the the race in Pocono. Then i will probably have my fill till October...

I'll probably have that pic of Ryles up tomorrow night once I am able to get my light kit set back up...

finally...i wonder if Hanna Montana is headin down that Britney Spears road.

a little crack in the armor?

So... I ask the question that is starting to be whispered this morning by Russert and on Air America as I listen on XM..."Why can't Obama close the deal?" He had SIX WEEKS to convince the voters and still lost by 10 points. I think the question that Clinton keeps posing is legit...if you cant win the big games now, how you going to win in November? Because this will still boil down to the big cities vs the rest of the country come November. I think that you are starting to see the luster come off the golden boy the longer this plays out. The "he speaks so well" thing can only go so far, and while i like to think that I can read and comprehend on a high level, I am stil not seeing the substance to his campaign. And the biggest thing that keeps lurking in my mind is...if he was a white freshman senator from Illinois, who has virtually no experience at this level, would he have even gotten a sniff at this campaign? well, that much is obvious...he wouldnt have. John Edwards can make the same speech as Obama and he's sittin at home now. Obama comes along and , because he "speaks so well"(which we all know is code for something else) he's suddenly is our savior? um...No. Unfortunately, Clinton may STILL be the worse of the 2 choices from that side, and I am still wary of Mccain.... This all is starting to smack of what I have seen so many times in sports...the favorite (Clinton) goes into the game against the decidedd underdawg(Obama) and doesnt take them seriously... the underdawg comes out playing hard and gains momentum and the crowd gets into the game rooting for the underdawg... The favorite suddenly realizes (perhaps too late) that they got to get their A game going and makes a run(its the NBA, EVERYBODY makes a run)...and suddenly you see the underdawg with a little fear in his eyes..."Can I actually pull this off?" is the unsaid thing you see in their face. This is what I say to Obama and the koolaid drinkers pulling for him no matter what the warning signs are coming out about him....better win Indiana or I see big trouble....(and no...Brown...i dont think you are a koolaid drinker...hell, i pull for the Braves, so I know what its like to hitch your horse to the wagon and say "Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!!! in a game... i just decided to stay on the sideline till November so i dont have to get all emotonally tore up come November 5th)

its official now everywhere i look..I'm paying 4.00 a gallon for diesel... $4.07 in a couple of places

amusing me...

Whenever I go to I-Man and Ryles soccer matches, i am amused by the scenario that always plays out this season... the other teams come onto the field... all little white boys with blond hair blue eyes (very generalized, but...get the point) with names like Biff and Cody (Ok, so like I have room to talk with my kids...but...lets not get in the way of facts here...)..."Our" team is 1 black kid, 2 interracial kids, and 3 hispanic kids...and i always wonder how the so-called random allocation of kids worked out this way. well... well, again, "our" team crushes the other team and always about half way thru the match , the other team becomes so demoralized by the domination that "our" team virtually starts to score at will.... and what strikes me is the loud Spanish that is being yelled on "our " side while there is virtaul silence on the other.... oh, did i mention that we started the season with 1 white kid and he seemed to be having a lot of fun, but...he mysteriously has stopped showing up.... wonder what happened there??? (see previous posts about kids playing together)...but I have enjoyed the routine butt kickin's "our" team puts on the other teams... I'm sure I can figure out what is being mumbled on the other sideline... but i digress... as it will be interesting next season as a I-Mans first coach wants him back on his team ( at the next level) because of his speed and defensive ability.... As I have said before, I think I-Mans position (if he stays with soccer and doesnt pick up that baritone/tuba) will be on the defensive side of the pitch...

Moving right along...

...didnt post a "today" pic of Ryles...I forgot her recital is next weekend, so i will wait to throw up a pic of her after her dress rehearsal on Saturday. She is actually doing Ballet, Tap and Baton now..so she is in three different things on Sunday for her recital....

...the new FRAT Alumni Sec has created a Blog @ kkykb.blogspot.com for the alumni to access. Its a great idea and I beleive it a further indication of the direction the chapter is heading with its leadership. While it is open to the public, I dont think any "secrets" will be divulged there or anything, not that I have ever been too worried about non brothers knowing the 4 or 5 "secrets" we actually have. Just because you know that stuff doesnt make you a brother.

Actually, the "year" is about to end for the Frat...seems like it always comes so suddenly. I am currently pondering talking to Dr. Spede about flipping the MEP class to the Fall and limiting it to 8 weeks. That way the chapter gets that stuff out of the way sooner.I am still not sure if that is fair to the potential candidates to have to make such a big decision after only about 6 weeks in college, so I am still leaning toward not doing it.... if we did, it would clear up so much time in the Spring for more Service and community involvement for the chapter... the MEP process consumes everything in the Spring right now. Of course, maybe we should look at taking the tightened down MEP and hold to it in the Spring....

Battlestar Galactica is certainly starting to get very interesting....

I think I am 95 percent committed to doing the Pocono race in early June... that will knock off another track that I want to see and leave basically Martinsville and Talledega left..Harwood and I are in tentative negotiations regarding the Fall Talledega race, and it might make it on the docket...

Latest I-Man pix

...I was fooling around with my base lens and got I-Man to hold still for a second.... Who does he resemble more?...me or Jessica?..or none of us? kinda curious what you think and it wont hurt my feelings whatever you answer... I will put up a pic of Ryles in her dance recital outfit Saturday, maybe....

Back home for a little while...

I returned yesterday from the SED convention in Tallahassee. I am happy to report that the chapter received the Raymond D. Shannon Leadership award for the SouthEast District. This is an award given to the chapter that exemplifies and displays leadership both on and off campus. I am proud of the chapter and that brothers within the chapter continue to hold a large percentage of leadership positions within the bands and we have several brothers who are leaders within other organizations on campus too. I take my position as Sponsor very seriously, as I feel that i have a lot of friends who put a lot of time into this chapter when they were here. And to let all their hard work go to waste would be letting them down. So I continue to work to make sure that the Alumni of Kappa Beta have something they can be proud of. Hopefully, another great year in 2009 will see Kappa Beta listed again as a top ten chapter...we shall see....

It was great to see Pam and John again.... the time spent visiting was way too short.

finally... why is it that when I was driving back, I was looking for an Exxon/Mobil gas station that had diesel...and of course, there were none to be found??...eventually i got into my "i better get gas..um..like...NOW" window and stopped at the next exit that showed a BP with diesel. Used up my last 20 in cash and put in 5 gallons at 4.00 DOLLARS A FRAKKIN GALLON!!!!!!!!!!....so...now, a bit annoyed with the price, but not walking down I-75, i continue on back home.... and the VERY NEXT EXIT HAS A EXXON WITH DIESEL.... WITH EXXONS with DIESEL FOR THE NEXT 300 EXITS!!!!! ( or so it seemed )

might have to get a Dunder Mifflin polo soon...

Down in Tallahassee...

..down here in Florida staying with John and Pam. Will also get to the SED convention for the FRAT... nice little cabin they got down here.... starting to think I may NEVER get rid of my Jetta. While I had to pay 50 dollars to fill my tank, I got 375 miles on half a tank to get here. I dont know how much a new engine would cost (im sure my car guru Harwood will tell me), it might be worth it to research that option for the inevitable day that this engine finally starts to break down. No signs of it yet, though

...doesnt this airline thing smell suspicious... all of a sudden ALL the airlines are pulling their planes, instead of 10 planes here or there...

This entire thing of Easter being in February this year has kinda thrown off my mental view of things...used to Easter being in April, which flows all tidy like into May...

tsk..tsk..

Watching the National Championship last night.... free throws. I was having a conversation with friends the other day, and I remembered how i stated that everything stems from free throws. Memphis goes 1-10 of free throws down the stretch last night, leading by 9 with 2 minutes to play. Guess what?...they lost... hit your free throws, you're the champion. Miss your free throws???... you get close up of you crying into your towel... Wonder if any of those guys know how many free throws the greats shoot EVERY day? Jordan, Bird, Kobe, Lebron.... these guys shoot thousands of free throws EVERY day. Why? because it will always come down to them in the end.

ok...so maybe i will comment...

tonight I go to pick up my kids at a Mcdonalds near where I work. Grandma had picked up the twins after school and taken them for a McDonalds treat. (Of course she bought them more little toys to litter our den with..but...well..I dont think I can stem that anytime soon, no matter how much i tell her they dont need anymore toys...but i digress....) So i walk in and I-Man and Ryles are sitting there eating ice cream along with some random little Hispanic girl who seemed to be the same age as them. I'm like "who is this?" and my mother is like this is a girl they met on the playground (her mother was sitting a couple of chairs away) But I was struck with watching them interact as well as when they were playing with other random kids...why is it that there seems to be no problem whatsoever with White, Hispanic, Asian, and Black kids all playing together with no reservation...never met each other before, but had no reservation to go have fun. yeah..i know this has been observed in nurseries and daycares forever now...but i guess I was struck thinking that i bet that there are people reading this right now that if their son or daughter came home talking about playing with my son and daugther, they would get all bent out of shape about it. That if their kids came home and said that they were dating my son or daughter, there would be issues. And i shake my head and kinda wonder why you are reading this blog, and really kinda wish you would stop reading this blog, because even though that scenario isnt likely, I dont wish the inevitable time to happen that will happen, when someone will treat my children unfairly or with contempt simply because they are not white... or hispanic...or heck...black, for that matter. (i guess some will consider them white...some will consider them black, but that is a slightly different discussion). Some of you reading this will teach your children not to play with someone like I-Man or Ryles... and I simply wish you would go away.... because this is no place for you and your backass type of thinking....

...on another note...watching GLORIOUS HIGH DEFINITION TV tonight and it was ESPN and I noticed that they are broadcasting the NBA in some kind of different style..it looks like it is already aged and from 15 years ago... I also took a look at the same broadcast on normal TV and it looks like it normally does so this must be an HD thing....

Oh..and Battlestar was pretty slick....

So Say We All!

...tonight Battlestar Galactica is back on...I now have reason to live.... well...maybe another reason...also, New Kids on the Block are getting back together...another reason, heh..heh... I have decided to ignore the Braves till after the NBA playoffs and I see how far my Celts go... watched David Beckham last night and I think my MLS team is going to be the LA Galaxy because i simply cant pull for any DC team...

40 years ago MLK was killed. It gives me pause to think about things...I dont think I am going to launch into any tirade about anything, but it does make me think...

what the kids are doing these days...

One of the brothers from the Frat posted a couple of videos of the chapter dancing after their little Initiation Ceremony thingy the other night...thought some of you might be interested...

Clip 1

Clip 2

just throwin it out there...

i finally broke down...

...and got a pair of Crocs the other day. Not the genero ones EVERYONE has but these are the off- road-hiking types with boot type treads. Today is the first day warm enough for me to feel like i can try them out without socks...i have been leery because I dont like for my feet to feel sweaty and these crocs look like they will feel that way without socks...but everyone says "they are SOOOOO comfortable..." so I'm testing today...might have to continue the time honored tradition of wearing socks during the summer still if this does what i think they are going to do...

time keeps on tickin....

Tonight KayBee will initiate 17 candidates, by far the largest class in a while. And also there is the usual underlying turmoil within the chapter, most rooted in the extremely close relationships that inevitably grow between the brothers. At any rate...I have spent time this week listening to upset brothers (actives) complaining about this or that wrongdoing by another brother, which in the end are personal situations that should be dealt with between brothers, but spill out into the circle because it is virtually impossible to keep "business" separate from the "personal" stuff.... I have also spent a lot of time remembering the same stuff happening when I was "active", and shaking my head to myself and wondering "how much time did we waste over silly stuff?" It always makes me miss my friends from that time, as well as all of my friends. As I have said before, it seems that my time spent with any friend really seems to be getting more and more less frequent. Jobs....family...KIDS...well, these things certainly become a priority, and idlin time away at Huddle House until 3 in the morning aint going to happen...probably ever again. And it makes me really sad....

...at any rate, the other night i caught the end of Celebrity Apprentice and Trace Adkins sand a song that found somewhat profound, and am going to read these lyrics to the chapter tonight right after Rit... and while it doesnt talk about this type of situation im talking about specifically, I think you can see the analogy.....

She was starin' out the window of their SUV
Complainin', sayin', “I can't wait to turn eighteen”
She said, “I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules
Momma, put the car in park out there in front of the school”
And she kissed her head, and said, “I was just like you”

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by
He tells her it's a nice place, she says, “It'll do for now”
Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house
Daddy shakes his head and says, “Baby, just slow down”

Cuz' you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber
Workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin' and one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'

He says, “They don't bother me
I've got two babies of my own
One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three”
Huh, it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

You're gonna miss this
Yeah, you're gonna miss this

--Trace Adkins

G.I. Joe!!!!

i just found out...oh my..this is better than Transformers... to me at least...They are making a G.I. Joe movie....I dont know how its going to turn out. it might suck...but...what next? A Sgt Rock movie...maybe bring out the Shogun Warriors???

two thoughts....

The tourney starts today... cant wait to see the game where the "favorite" doesnt put away the directional school and all of sudden some random guy you've never heard of starts raining 3's and you start to see the "favorite" get this "deer in the headlights" look...then its upset city and you get the previously mentioned shots of the cheerleaders and the pep band...or now...the sorority girl in pink school sweatshirt and facepaint, or the frat boy who blew his entire spring break budget to get to the site with this stunned " i cant believe this is happening" look...

..Obama is now officially polling BEHIND Clinton now in the Gallup poll. While I am still leery of polls, i do have a little trust in the Gallup poll. Yeah i know he still has the lead blah, blah, blah..but he has work to do or it will get really nasty come convention...

was that a bullet i just sidestepped?

So Obama made his speech today... no doubt this "episode" has hurt him..polls show it (although i am leery of polls)...lets see how long the press hounds him about it, or if it goes away in a couple of days... my only thing is no matter how much a father figure, friend, whatever this minister is...Obamas prescence in that church gives a tacit approval of that minister's rhetoric. Now...does Obama believe that stuff?..i dont think so. Does Obama not want to blow up his friend?...yep... but... a sitting Senator who repeatedly sits in audience with someone who eschews that type of hatespeak presents a problem to me. But... i know that the church...Church..in the black community is an entirely different animal than most non blacks realize. There is a lot more to it than simply dropping in on Sunday. Its family. And everybody realizes that while you dont always like your family or what they say, if someone attacks them, you will probably defend them fiercely. Its easy for me to sit here and say that i would blow that minister away a long time ago. but...i'm not walkin in Obama's shoes. I say that this is an issue that I am satisfied with his answers...for now. I know a lot of people are not. And i can definitely see that side of things... and I am dissapointed that Obama did not distance himself a long time ago because he has obviously had aspirations for some time now and surely knows that this would come to light eventually...sigh... either the press/media is going to be satisfied, or they are not going to let go, and this might very well be Obama's jumping the shark


by the way, Jessica hadnt ever heard of The Dropkick Murphys either....

Band names...

Names for bands these days amuse me... I downloaded some more songs last night for Guitar Hero and some of the songs are by some band called The Dropkick Murphys. I found that highly amusing... Tigers getting some luv nationally in regards to the tourney...lets see what happens if they dont hit their free throws down the stretch on Friday night.... I remember the last time the Tigers were in the Ncaa's..Chicago... watchin some punk from Western Michigan get his "one shining moment" bowing to the TV, while watching Brown stare at the Stanford tree jumping around as we were ushered out quickly... i will say it again...those pictures of the cheerleaders crying and the pep band members in shock are because they know that in about 45 minutes they will be on a plane back home...it ends very, very quickly... Trust me..I remember all too well a trip to New Mexico where i left on Wednesday night and was back in Clemson in time for 8am classes on Friday...heh, heh..too bad Josh couldnt get his sagebrush on the plane...

is this what I can expect????

WHY THE FRAK CAN'T THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN GET ENOUGH FRAKKIN T-SHIRTS OF THE ONE I WANT THAT IT DOESNT HAVE TO FRAKKIN BE BACK ORDERED!!!!! JESUS FRAKKIN H-CHRIST!!! YOU WOULD THINK WITH THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PEOPLE ARE THROWIN AT THE CAMPAIGN THAT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO SEND ONE OF THEIR DULE FLUNKIES DOWN TO THE LOCAL T-SHIRT SHACK IN CHICAGO AND GET A COUPLE THOUSAND T SHIRTS PRINTED AT 2 OR 3 DOLLARS A SHIRT AND RAPE ME FOR THE 20 SPOT I AM WILLING TO THROW AT OBAMA, EVEN THOUGH I MIGHT NOT EVEN VOTE FOR HIM.... ENOUGH ALREADY!!!???? IS THIS WHAT I CAN EXPECT FROM HIM AND HIS WHACK JOB MINISTER AND THEIR PRESIDENCY??? WANT MY VOTE OBAMA???!!! GET MY DAMN T-SHIRT ON YOUR WEBSITE...LIKE...OH...(and i'm not going to say "sorta"... see the next post...)...SAY.. YESTERDAY!!!!....FRAK!!!...YOU'RE KILLIN ME, PETEE!!!!

the #29 and #20, brackets and the tourney

went to Bristol on Saturday. It rained, but we did see the race that was run. We had even better seats and it was pretty cool... took a look at my man in the #29 and well...he got a little loose in the corner and, as they say... 8 wheels turns better than 4 wheels in the corner...heh, heh... too bad for the #20....

...I am NOT doing a bracket this year because it makes me root against teams i want to root for and changes how i watch the games..kinda like fantasy leagues... and I want to be able to watch and not be pissed when an upset happens that it blew up my bracket. For example...logic tells me that I should pick Villanova over Clemson. I kinda would prefer Clemson win the game. This way I dont have to have that type of conflict... Clemson got kinda screwed in their bracket. they kinda have a gauntlet to run if they want to make a deep run. Plus they have have to be 10 points better than anybody they play because..well... here's that free throw thing again....

...by the way...I'm workin on a post where I use kinda and sorta as much as possible. I will come when you least expect it...sorta....

Bristol, baby!!!!

...well...at least we hope so...rain is forecast in Bristol, and we will be sittin in Harwood's ambulance waitin it out, perhaps. Headin to Bristol for the Busch, er, Nationwide race tomorrow. first in a line of tracks I hope to get to this year...Bristol, Charlotte, Darlington, Pocono, and Talledega. Charlotte and darlington are definite...still in wait and see mode for the other 2....

This is why I get annoyed sometimes...

...Brown sent me this link...click here to see why it is i sometimes seem to take on a "angry, mean black man always talking about race" stance that some of you think I do all the time, which , if you know me well, isn't something i am into. But it's this type of stuff that makes me always know that if you are not black and you are always wondering why black people are always pissed off about stuff...well, its that type of stuff that happened in South Africa that tees us off...

WTF?

in what may go down as one of the alltime dumbass moves...EVER...a 15 year old kid fatally shot his father because his father had cut him off from using MYSPACE online. Hmmm...wonder how much time he is going to get on Myspace now?

frat stuff

The new pledge class is doing some sorta thing where they are making a quilt of some sort out of the family colors of the colony members, if they had any. They have some of them as some lines still exists. But some lines dont and some colonist family letter info has not been passed down. If anyone knows what if/any family letters/colors the following colonists have, let me know.....
Corey Amaker
Kristin Avolio
Alyson Craft
Clair Compton
Elizabeth Fogel
Angela Giles
Danny Goldrick
Scott Hendrickson
Aaron Hobbs
Katie McDowell

I was talking to the candidate who is heading up the project and to hear her mis pronounce the last names was highly amusing. Also telling them that some are married and dont have those last names anymore...you can almost see a glint of confusion... they live in such a different world...marraige,work, kids...they have a hard time grasping the reality of it. But I also remember that i didnt have a grasp of it either...

Its time for a change

well...anyway, I stayed up last night because i was curious as to what was going to happen with the primary stuff. It was interesting, and annoying, to watch MSNBC (which I never watch) and see how they covered the evening. I was watching the realtime vote tallies online, and could see that Clinton was leading in Ohio and Texas, and the vote total was consistently growing in her favor while MSNBC kept saying it "was too close to call". Tim Russert does a very good job at trying to not be as obvious as to where his allegiances are, but Keith Olberman and Chris Mathews have huge Obama pom poms and are openly rooting for Obama. I really have a problem with that and I was wanting to see how Olberman particularly would react once the inevitable "Projected to win" statements would come. Olberman must have said "too close to call" a 100 times, even a minute before NBC called Ohio, then right before they called Texas too. And the look on his face was priceless... I just dont understand why these people keep saying that Clinton should simply get out of the race when the race is still this close. Arent these the same people yelling about disenfranchisement and all that stuff? yet when it could benefit who THEY want to win, suddenly "we are tired of this and its dragging on too long" blah, blah, blah...wait...didnt THEY start reporting on this way before it was necessary? perhaps if they hadnt starting peeing in their pants for Obama way before it was necessary, they wouldnt be openly having to figure out a way to continue to cheer without being blatant. Dont get me wrong here...I'm eyeing this cool Obama T on his website but I just dont feel right with getting forcefed who i should vote for.

On a side note...kinda funny how when you hit your freethrows, you start winning....

22 inches of glorius screen

OK...so I finally got around to hooking up my 22 inch Westinghouse widescreen flatpanel computer monitor. Oh mercy... nothing like 1680 x 1050 of full glorious internet..yeah, I know...I'm gloating, but...frak, this changes how i view the internet, and it definitely changes how i use Photoshop.Many thanks to Aj for letting me use a 17 incher for a good long while when my 15 inch monitor wasnt footing it anymore.