"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I believe that we are not alone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

well, well, well...

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

Change, passion and hotties

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

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

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

watchin the game...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our offfensive line is terrible....

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

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

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

well.. I passed 4 gas stations that were closed...out of gas entirely...came across a Pumpers that had regular unleaded and...DIESEL. Mercy, mercy, mercy.... pull in, and get the gas so I am good for a couple of weeks at least.

This so called bailout got shot down yesterday. Maybe if they wouldnt have tried to have all this crap added to it... money for all types of radical groups... no oversight initially...what are these people in washington thinkin? And dont think people cant see that this is BOTH sides that are trying to screw us over. Republican president and Democrat led House and Senate. Seems like the people in Congress and Senate got bombarded by calls and emails and with elections coming up in a month, they cant afford to not listen now, can they? But i wonder what wouyld happen if all this had happened in February. Would they listen then?

By the way... as long as president Barker and the Trustees are happy with Bowden, no amount of whining by the Clemson fans will force a move to remove the coach. And all indications are that as long as Season tickets are where they are, the teams wins 9 games every year, there is no public embarrasment to the institution... and most important...Bowden offers no threat to their power.... Bowden will not be removed. The major reason they removed West wasnt because he went 3-8, it was because only 40,000 people were coming to games. They will remove Bowden only if their is an obvious lack of ability on his part, and the Financial bottom line starts to change. So...if Clemson fans continue to come to games, they can bitch all they want as far as Barker cares because he would rather have a Bowden who is in line with the "Family" than a Ford type coach who maybe usurps their power at Clemson. I still contend that Clemson will only succeed at the highest level when everyone gets on the same page and moves in one direction, not trying to protect their own little places of power.

ya know...I was going to respond to stuff about the football game, but I just am starting to not care right now...it aint that important right now... I have to go get in my car and take a gamble that I can find a station within a 50 mile radius of my house that actually has diesel available to purchase. I have been putting it off because every gas station around here has a 1 to 2 hour wait. THIS is they type of stuff i feel Obama and McCain have NO CLUE about. Non...not at all...I'll say it again...when was the last time THEY had to pay for gas. instead, I am paying for their gas, and their campaigns while I am fixin to go get in my car and pray i get back to my house... of course you here very little mention of that on the networks...

tsk, tsk...

Lots to say about the Tigers, but since I am guessing that there will be a gut check internally on the team, I'll wait and pass judgement after their next game. I think it isnt the coaches. I think its the players. You KNOW the coaches had a sense of urgency against Maryland. You could see it. The players didnt. And dealing with that same age bracket in another venue, i can tell you from experience that they dont EVER get it until its too late. They never learn until they experience the exact thing you talk about over and over and over trying to prevent it from happening. Bowden jumped up and down and yelled at his team to not let up and close the deal during halftime. But it was obvious the team kinda started out going thru the motions in the second half, and I have seen it happen time after time with these college kids... they think that the other team is simply going to give up and they let them hang around and Suddenly...you are in a dogfight and 1 or 2 plays go against you and you are sacked with a loss... Happened with Southern Cal, happened with Florida.... At any rate, the season is far from over and the Conference championship is still attainable.

oh and another thing....

I am looking forward to see how UGA handles Alabama tomorrow. UGA has the advantage of knowing that Alabama is not as bad as everyone thought entering the season. But I believe Alabama is going to try to do the same thing to UGA that they did to Clemson, because UGA is essentially Clemson, except better. if you think about it, there are a lot of similarities.... great skill players, offensive minded coach, way out of whack expectations of fanbase, a general obsession on what color uniform the team will be wearing every week,a single national Championship eons ago... and... a very fragile psyche in many phases of its program. I expect Alabama to try to come out and punch UGA in the mouth like they did Clemson. UGA will be expecting this. The key is if UGA will be able to then sustain the body blows that will follow. If Alabama wins this game, then it will be even more proof that the Alabama game with Clemson is more of a situation where Alabama was simply better then and better now than Clemson.

P.S. in a slightly band geeky note, I look forward to hearing two BIGTIME band programs go after each other. Guarantee that you will hear BOTH of those bands bringing the heat all night long, play after play....

just goes to say....

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Will Rogers

last night was a perfect of example of why I just dont get that worked up over a Clemson loss...Southern Cal is a FAR, FAR...FAR superior team to Oregon State. And yet they showed up, seemed to think they would just automatically win, and by the time they realized they needed to step it up and play at a high level, it was too late. This is what happens when you have 18-22 year olds playing a game... the better talent, no matter how well coached or prepared, just doesnt believe what you are telling them. And they think they are invincible. And Oregon State was a perfect example of what happens when everyone is "All In" from the team to the cheerleaders to the band to the fans. I am wondering what will happen in Clemson if Maryland scores first? Will the fans sit down and start mumbling and cursing with their arms crossed? Or will EVERYONE pull together and try harder? I'm hoping that the Clemson Family figures it out...

And of course the Bail Out crap is all messed up, because the same stuff that caused the issue is popping up with the Politicians who are supposed to be fixing it...GREED. From both sides... I dont want to hear anything from OBAMA...does this guy ever do ANYTHING other than stand apart and yell about how he is going to Change things? As for MCCain, well...he seems to be pandering to some groups and i am not feeling the supposed rhetoric he is spewing either... But... I am still not understanding why i have to pay for the bad loans of others. We work hard every month to make sure Citimortgage gets their money and we certainly did not apply for a loan that we knew we would not be able to pay for. Same goes for Jessica's car. Yet there are people out their who feel i should pay for other peoples mortgages and car loans. How about the people who gave them the loans in the first place giving up ther money that they made off these bad loans? Whoa...wait...cant do that...lets get the GOVERNMENT to bail us out.... Well... obviously we are at a point where the governement needs to say/do/govern something in this mess...but why do i get the feeling that they will ultimatly run this in the ground like so many other things? As I have said before, I can be compassionate to people who areless fortunate than me, but I feel I should get to decide what to do with the money i earn, not other people. If I want to spread it around, I will decide who and where to spread it to. Why do people want to tell me what to do with what i have worked hard to earn? Can someone tell me?

Shaking head...

So... I am going to give this Knight Rider show a shot. So far, it kinda is corny, although the car is about as awesome a Mustang Cobra Transformer Knight Rider wannabe thingy can be on NBC. Its kinda weird that a character named Billy is the EXACT same guy that plays a character named Billy on Battlestar Galactica, that was killed off on that show a while back... the show also seems to be a commericial for Ford Motors....

Meanwhile, I saw perhaps one of the coolest shows ever the other night of Family Guy. It was a show that was basically telling the store of Star Wars, but cleverly done.

Tomorrow has the season premeir of The Office. Obviously, I have pretty much zoned out of the political stuff for the moment, although I really am kinda annoyed about having to bailout the financial crap...I really dont feel I should have to pay for others peoples greed, but I guess it happens all the time and we've been paying for it already... I just done feel the Socialist vibe I am seeing from all of this... but obviously we cant let the system go to pot, so...

How quickly you are dismissed...

Watching the football game tonight when they mentioned the Wake Vs Florida State game this weekend, and talked about the winner would win the ACC. No mention of Clemson, despite the fact Clemson has to play them both. Wow...this is what happens when EVERYTIME you get on TV in a big game, you take the gaspipe. No respect for Clemson until they kick Wake in the mouth and then take out Florida State. Lets see what happens...A couple of more tune up/fine tune games over the next 2 weeks... I'm thinkin that Clemson will come out fighting. I'm hoping they will come out fighting. And I am ALL IN, as they might say. I just wonder if most bandwagon Clemson fans are too...

I had the opportunity to do the photos at a wedding this past weekend. I've been to a few weddings and they have all bee great events that celebrate 2 people commiting to each other. But I found this wedding a little different and very unique. It was out in a field behind a barn. They got some tables and strung up some lights and got a boombox and had a party afterward.... iliked the atmosphere at this wedding... it was really cool....

Dealing with the twins and how simple they see things is always eye opening... like watching my son eating pizza and watching the same episode of Phineas and Ferb for the 37th time. Pizza is greasy, and he has to take off each peperoni and eat it separately. And when a commericial comes he has to get the remote so to fast forward. of course, he simply licks his hands several times then picks up the remote....

head games....

... If there is one thing i can see about this election, it's this... Sara Palin is clearly...CLEARLY... inside Obama's head, and the Democrats as a whole. Listening to Obama, even his public speaking has changed, from a position of confident front runner to a position of defense. To me, he is concentrating t0o much on deflecting instead of getting his message out. From my point of view, it is panic and even more PANIC coming from the Left. And the attacks are flinging from both sides. 50 more days of this, I figure. This is what I can see happening... it is starting to look to me that even if Obama manages to right his ship and hangs on and wins, he is in a weakened state and Palin will return in 2012 as a very..VERY formidable opponent. I still say that if he chooses Clinton, this would have not even been close. The Republicans would have folded tent and gone home till 2016. And I am beginning to think the Dems should have had their ticket as Clinton/Obama. Do that, and they have the White House for 16 years. Instead they may barely get in, and will be under fierce attack from day one. and set themselves to lose in 2012. Ultimately, i see a Clinton vs Palin campaign in the future...and THAT will be one hell of a catfight, heh, heh, heh....

by the way, Olberman and Mathews have been "reassigned" on MSNBC. yeah... "reassigned"...sure... whatever you say.

Looks like I-Man will be Goalie for the majority of matches this season. He has moved up in age group and there is an obvious difference in coaching and expectations in regards to level of play. And did I mention that Ryles is doing dance and baton, as well as Gymnastics? It makes for a busy week...with Monday being gymnastics, Tuesday being the first soccer practice, Wednesday being Dance and Baton, Friday brings the second soccer practice and Saturday brings a soccer match. Whew...and then it starts all over....!!! A busy weekly schedule for the Fall, it seems...

Watching USA vs Trinidad and Tobago... pretty slick home jersey for the USA side.

I talked with Santa today and he is starting to finalize his list for I-Man and Ryles. I am fortunate to have a pretty good relationship with the man, and he's starting to spool up the toy making machine. I told Santa today about how good Ryles seems to read now, and how good she is about getting on the internet. Santa told me that it wont be long before she starts trying to branch out from the Hanna Montana/Waverly Place/Barbie/Hotwheels websites on her pc. I guess she might be able to read this one day...probably not anytime soon... but eventually.

you would think...

Kids are supposed to be in bed, right...but I hear my computer chair rolling back and forth upstairs. Obviously they are in our bedroom catching some more Suite Life of Zach and Cody, even though they have seen every episode 23 times, AFTER they have been put to bed. So... I walk over to the steps... Cough loudly a couple of times...listen...no movement out of our bedroom... i start walking up the stairs...SLLLLOOOOOWWWWLYYYYY....step by step. Now, each of of those wooden steps makes an agonizing creaking noise when stepped on. Surely they will hear me and make a bolt back to their bedrooms.... i hear no tell tale pattering back to their bedrooms....OK... I get to the top of the stairs and make a big production of opening the front door and going out to my car (right outside our bedroom too), then coming back inside and locking the door. Surely they would have retreated to their beds and be "sleeping", right? Nope... so i walk to the door expecting to have to dodge a mad dash past me. Nope... walk in and here they come..PANIC on their faces. The look is that "BUSTED!!!" look. But i cant help but think that while they are certainly advancing and growing up, simple things like how to avoid getting caught, etc. havent dawned on them yet. And I realize that maybe that isnt a simple thing....

taking care of business

You get up every morning
From your alarm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the city -BTO

The press conference to announce my pick for President has been called off....

Tigers take care of business against the Citadel. Should continue to do so until the next real road test... Panthers take care of business too...

watchin the speech tonight....

and mcCain seems a little uneven, but a eloquent speaker he is not. It seems to be typical of all these speeches.... lots of flourish and generalities, and nothing of substance. i look forward to seeing them all speak specifics. I am not sure the person who wrote this for him was thinking of how Mccain speaks when he wrote it. And it is coming off as a little...um... stiff. But, well... i understand that about McCain. And it looks as though he ended on the stuff he was more familiar with, and felt more comfortable...

But I really was pissed off by the protestors who chose to interrupt his speech. It's one thing to disagree. its one thing to protest. But this is why I look at Democrats (the fring loons of the party) and it makes me not want to have ANYTHING to do with them. Surely the same thing could have been orchestrated at Obama's speech. But notice that he was allowed to speak. Why wasnt McCain given the same courtesy?

"The more we take the less we become, the fortune of one man means less for some." - Sarah McLachlan

Watched Governor Palin's last night over at Harwoods' place... It was an amusing speech and she delivered it well... looks like she was trying to make sure everyone understood she wouldnt pull a Clemson and fold under pressure when punched in the mouth. She made some references to a couple of things she has done and it was basically an introduction. It was a good speech. It didnt get into much specifics, but did lay out what her experience was... Some people immediately started saying that she didnt write it. Well, i dont think ANY of these guys, including Obama, writes ANY of their speeches so that is a non issue. It is how they react to the non scripted moments that will be telling. It seems this Veep choice for the Republicans matters more than the Democrats and it will probably be 2 on 1 for the rest of this race, as far as the public goes.... Brown asked me if I was swayed to vote McCain. No. I am not. I have not been swayed to either side.

I have noticed a subtle change starting yesterday with NBC and CNN with what seems to be an attempt to be a tad bit more even in their reporting. An obvious slant (just as with Foxnews to the right) but less of the overt cheerleading that you see with Olberman and Mathews on MSNBC. Polls are showing that the public is starting to be turned off by the love affair some are outwardly showing toward Obama, and a somewhat overt sexism toward Palin (and Clinton) and I think the smart people will pull back the overt cheerleading. I also think that Olberman will continue to be out of control until someone reigns him in... I wonder if Olberman would have gone off the deep end if Tim Russert were still alive.

Anyway... on to more important things. Plans for Talledega are pushing forward. I'll be at that Oct 5th race and it will leave only Richmond left as the track I need to get to in Nascar.

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness." - George W. Bush

Govenor Palin as a choice for Veep has proven to do exactly what I believe a lot of Republican strategists may have hoped for..."Obama who?" Hardly any conversation of him except to point out the inexperience question, which is probably Obama's biggest weakness. The issues with her family and daughter will eventually fade away, i feel. just as most scandals do and i think that this is just the beginning of these two months... You will probably see more stuff come out in regards to Obama and more stuff come out in regards to McCain. this is ALL going to get real nasty, and I might just go back to listening to Sports talk again until November. But then again, with the Braves in freefall and Clemson nation getting punched in the face and crying to mommy, I might just have to stick to the 80's channel on XM. But.. I was thinking...if...and its a big IF.... Palin makes it thru and this all becomes a positive, it might be Sara Palin who becomes the face of the Republican party, not John McCain. And it might be Palin who is able to win the center like Bill Clinton did. I think ultimately the Republican party is slowly reinventing itself and if Palin emerges out of all this stuff intact it might be this CHANGE that is what actually makes a difference, not the supposed change Obama keeps spewing.... by the way, Obama did sorta denounce the media frenzy regarding the daughters pregnancy, but of course, NBC, MSNBC and others keep pounding the issue over and over. How many times have i have this exact phrase on the today show over the past 2 days???... "Governor Sara Palin's unmarried 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant."...over and over and over... As my friend in Florida mentioned in his comments below, I wonder why Obama doesn't forcefully stand up and say..."everyone...Stop It!!!" but he isnt that type of leader, or at least hasnt shown that to me yet. If he is going to go ballistic over comments about his children, then why is it OK to tacitly let the Kool Aid drinkers continue to do this...yeah, i know..he made a statement. But it was...well... surprise, surprise... "weak"... by the way, I wonder if Obama has forgottn how close the margins were in the last 2 elections...close enough that 80, ooo in Ohio that might vote for him (including me) could be swayed if he showed some leadership... that same 80,000 that gave Bush the election...

by the way, ESPN can stop running that commercial where they knock Howards Rock off the pedestal...I am beginning to think that that might be the bad karma moment for this season. And EA Sports can quit running the NCAA '09 game commercial that shows Clemson n the game...alright..enough now... please?

... looks like Hanna will not be as forceful as once thought, which is good. However, it looks like the twins are going to have to hit the Fair with Grandma on Thursday night instead of Saturday as rain is going to be prevalent this weekend...

I still think (right now) Obama wins in a squeaker....

"You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms." - Neal A. Maxwell

My old friend from high school has been blessed to adopt. It is good to see him progress to this next step in that "circle" people keep mentioning.... Congrats to John and Pam.... and Lauren Grace. As a lot of people who read this have found out, a lot of things change and only begin to make sense when you are blessed with another life to be truly responsible for.

Speaking of children... I think the choice of VP for McCain is a cagey and risky pick, but i certainly dont understand how the Democrats even remotely think they can talk about her experience when they have the candidate they do. It is extremely hypocritical and I dismiss anyone who thinks that somehow being a communtity organizer makes you more qualified to be President than her stints as a small town mayor and Governor for a year and a half. Heck, Obama has been running for President the entire time he's been Senator. So.... any argument against Palin in that regards is disregarded and seen as plain stupid by me. If you wanna disagree with her politics and policy, fine. and the people who are piling on her because of her daughter have no clue. No matter what you teach your kids and no matter how hard you try to guide them, they are going to make mistakes...and then make mistakes again. Even Obama himself has tried to remind his FANATICS (and thats what i will call these airheads who are blogging and saying this crap about her daughter) that his mother gave birth to him when she was 18. Now Barack Obama's birthday is August 4th. You do the math on that one and guess what age his mother was when she became pregnant with THE CHOSEN ONE. Dont hear people talking about that, do we? And we shouldnt. I agree that the children of these candidates really should be left out of this. While it is to be noted, it is a family matter that they will address. But this wont stop the Kool Aid drinkers from being shrill with their crap about Palin's daughter. What are they so afraid of?...worried that Obama's supposed easy walk aint going to be so easy anymore? While I am still sitting on the fence... crass and ignorant behavior from the far left whack jobs will keep pushing me to the right.

Now... Hurricane Hanna is looking like its going to give us a little rain toward the weekend. heh...and we need every bit we can get. i just wish we could get rain in a steady normal downpour instead of flash flooding.... but we gotta get what we can while the gettin's good, so they say.

tsk...tsk...

Clemson and its weak mentality reared its head again last night. The entire Clemson community as a whole suffers from this, as i see it. And the football team exemplifys it over and over. Hit Clemson in the mouth and instead of hunkering down and fighting, Clemson folds and starts fighting with itself. Once again, toughness was an issue at the line of scrimmage and it doesnt matter who runs the ball or passes the ball, when the offensive and defensive lines are as weak as they showed last night, no coach or player can consistently win against superior competition. Last night, Clemson gets down early and the band fell silent...the cheerleaders started standing around the as usual, the Clemson fans in attendence started pouting and the players looked around at each other. instead of pulling together, Clemson pulls apart. EVERYTIME..... as I have said before, there is a "play not to lose" mentality at Clemson. And you see it in every major sport. In football, if the team gets down by 10, the fans start bitching. In basketball, a missed free throw brings an audible groan from Clemson fans, and the pressure mounts on the players. In baseball, it has always been the releif pitching and the World Series... Ever notice that the big time college programs hunker down in adversity situations and fight? ever notice that when its all falling apart for Duke basketball on the road, they band together and fight thru it. they may lose, but they dont just give it to you. But Clemson will just roll over and start crying if in a fight... and its sad. The band stops playing and gets quieter even if exhorted to play by the directors. The fans start moaning about Danny Ford and visibly turn on the players. the players stand around with that look in their eyes. And thats the reputation Clemson has nationally. And Clemson will continue to see what happened last night happen again and again until it changes. Oh...they will roll for the next three games or so..but..on the road at Fla State and at Wake, they will attempt to simply run straight at Clemson and say "are you man enough?" and unitil EVERYONE in Clemson Nation stands their ground and answers the question "Yes, I am " and punches back, all the talent and coaching in the world will be negated.

...oh, and I wonder what fools are sticking around in New Orleans this time. Oh, i am sure there will be some fools who stay despite being told a week ago that this storm is coming, and that there will be NO SHELTER or HELP. and you will see them blame Bush when they are sitting on top of their house in a couple of days. And I will say now as i said then. You.. are.. a.. DumbAss...

more random musings....

I heard this morning where they banned a 9 year old from participating in a Little League baseball league because he threw too hard????? WTF??? they disbanded his team and wont let him play. Because he is better than everyone else. This is about as lame as lame can get. If my son goes out and he strikes out 4 times in one game against this kid, I would say "tough going son, go try again. Guess what???...wont be the last time you strike out. Gotta keep tryin...." Tis is very much a part of this EVERYONE WINS crap that even I-Mans soccer league kinda prescribes to. Whats funny is that even though they didnt keep score last year, the kids knew EXACTLY what the score was. But I found it profound and refreshing that while they knew what the score was, about 5 seconds after the final whistle they didnt care. And it was on to the playground, snacks or McDonalds. Didnt matter if they beat the crap out of the other team or lost by 10 goals...they were having fun. Its the PARENTS who ruin the whole thing. And this kid who is smoking it by his peers has learned that to excel at something is not good. I can guarantee that this kid will be caught up to in a few years and the fact that he is throwin 85 miles an hour wont mean a thing. Just ask that kid Almonte from the Bronx who is toiling away in the minors with little hope of ever making it big to the majors...

and by the way, to all you racists who might be thinking that to kill Obama will keep a black man from being president.... you are only making sure he DOES get elected. Or that the next black man who gets to this point becomes a landslide winner...dumbasses...

...I am proud that Obama is at this level and if he is elected, i willbe proud of that fact. But I will repeat again that I beleive that voting for Barack Obama should be about his issues, not that he is black or that he reads speeches well. And that is what I will base my vote on. The fact that he is black has nothing to do with the fact that he is essentially a Socialist in his thinkings (or at least what has been spouted by his Kool Aid drinkers). If he wins my vote, the fact that he is black will be a bonus on a somewhat personal side, but only after the fact. But... as i said above, and is part of an ongoing conversation between Brown, Andrea and me... is that we are slowly starting to see the racial overtones become more and more apparent, and this latest threat of assasination is probably only the tip of what is to come. tsk tsk tsk...they better make sure they do the job because their rhetoric is only going to make sure he gets elected. Somewhat ironic, I think...

by the way...

...with all the stars on the Olympic basketball team, I still say that Dwayne Wade is THE MAN in the NBA. HE was far and away the most valuable player on that team....

been thinkin.....

...Great to see John and Pam this weekend with their new daughter. I am sure they are aware of the change they are going to experience in their lives. But...this is a good change.

...and i FINALLY got my text int the middle of the night. Biden really does nothing for me. Its who Mccain is going to pick I am more interested in. For that will be a factor in whether nor not I give him any consideration. But.... if Obama and his campaign are so much about change, why did they select a Veep who is about as "inside" an insider can be in Washington? If he is so much about change, Biden surely is OPPOSITE that rhetoric he constantly puts out there. And I assume Biden will be the guy attacking for Obama, which is what I would do too. But it just seems that we have been fed a pack of lies by Obama...and the more i think about it, it probably is his Kool Aid drinkers who have been feeding it more than him. Biden is a definite political move designed to get him elected NOW. But...here is what i dont understand.... Biden has been summarily rejected on a national stage by Democrats a couple of times as a Presidential Candidate. (and now that i think about it...so has McCain, but...i digress...) thinking long term would assume that 2016 would see Biden running as the Dem Nominee. Do people really think he will have a prayer then? No way, I say...and I see this move as a purely WIN NOW and WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW THEN move. pick Clinton and the might have very well had the office till 2024 at least. who knows... but I sense a tad bit of desperation that perhaps wasnt needed by Obama. I think he has definitely shown a thin skin that again makes me see him as "weak" but... man... this just reminds of sports in so many ways...Obama now in a prevent defense playing not to lose... McCain throwing the ball with abandon because he has nothiing to lose...

Ok...this drought thing is gettting a tad bit out of hand.

WTF?

WE LOST IN SOFTBALL????? HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE????!!!!!!

anyway, I was getting ready to head to bed early last night when...whoa...wait...what's this???? USA vs. Guatamala in World Cup Qualifier. Awesome...gotta watch this... but...its like the game was played at the Tiger Band practice field, except with worse lighting and 20,000 people. Honestly...it looked like they rolled in some of those portable lights you see in the parking lots for the night games at Clemson. I had to keep standing 2 feet from my TV to see what was happening. But...USA wins and gets out of the country with a win....

Yesterday was the First day of school for the twins. First day of First Grade. FINALLY!!!!!! Places them into the graduating class of 2020. its always weird as I dropped them off at school...they hop out of the car and they're gone about their way... its strange that they essentially have their own little world that i am not really privy too on a hourly, daily basis.... no cell phones though....

This gymnastics stuff...part Deaux....

...OK...first of all, watching this supposed competition makes me really wonder just how this crap is judged...the american girl does her vault and while not perfect, she at least lands on her feet, bounces a couple of times and walks away with dignity. The Chinese girl goes and vaults and lands almost on her face...landing on her knees and hands. And gets a better score. Dont give me that higher degree of difficulty crap. Shouldnt you at least have to actually land with your senses? given this whacked reasoning, I should be able to squeeze into some tights, and go down and throw myself into the air spinning and twisting in some vault that has the highest level of difficulty, land on my face breaking my neck, get carted off to some Chinese dungeon beneath Tiananmen Square and score better than the American girl. RIGHT? Right? RIGHT?!?!?! well this would be like John taking Laurens Junior High 7th and 8th grade band students and having them march at State Marching Band Festival and... well...since they are playing Flight of The Bumble Bee on upside down instruments...well...they score a 98.7 since their level of difficulty is out the roof. I am not following it... I think I'm just going to ignore this stuff till they figure out a way to be fair about the judging. I dont really care if the USA people win or not. well, maybe not true. I probably do care. But if the judging is fair, well it's all good.

Meanwhile, can't we find any fast black boys and girls to run track anymore? Where are they all?...trying to make Rap records? We got Jamaicans running at half speed blowing kisses to the crowd kicking our ass. Do we need to get some better steroids? Man... so what are we left with now?.... Womens soccer..barely. Men"s basketball...barely. Beach Volleyball? Volleyball? One robot we have disquised as a swimmer? womens basketball... womens softball? where did the boxing go? where are our rap artists running track? now that I think about it... i am starting to wonder if I would really care if Clemson went 14-0 and it was discovered later that the players were getting 100 dollar handshakes. Not like it hasnt happened before, huh?

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...