AH... I used to wonder why the mere mention of a visit to Nanna/Papa/Grandma is met with joyous glee... but as the pic shows me why, as I-Man seems to need a "Vacation" bike for Grandma's house... it all good though.. just humorous...

starting to suck

the fact that the twins dont start school until after Labor Day sucks. Due to me working and Jessica starting work again last week in her school district, we have had to utilize Nanna/Papa/Grandma in various forms as we would rather not dish out the money it cost for someone to watch them and we arent fortunate enough to have people who can keep them all day. They are just about to the age where we can probably let them stay home alone, but are trying to avoid that scenario at all costs. So this means that the kids are off to Florence since last week, with I-Man having to shuttle back up here for his Soccer practices. Two weeks ago, I-Man was able to stay at Grandma's during the day and I would get him and bring him back to town for his practices. This past week saw him basically stay in Florence and this week will see him there too for the first half of the week. One good thing is that they will get to go "camping" with Nana and Papa in the new camper down on the coast the next couple of days. All the time spent with the Grandparents is good, and we are blessed that they are willing to inconvenience themselves and keep them... but I miss having them and it is annoying when I dont know what they are doing minute by minute. While I certainly trust and know that they are in good and loving hands, I just am annoyed that I see them for a soccer practice here or there...

Summer's over!!! time for school...

but wait... the twins dont start school until seemingly October again. Actually they start the day after Labor Day and we are having to figure out what we are doing with them for about three weeks while Jessica and I have to work... is it me or did we always start school the middle of August back in the day?

... yesterday, what was it that I saw? Leaves floating down from the trees. It certainly had the look of fall out back on the deck despite the 100 degree temps. Is it me or are the leaves starting to fall earlier and earlier?

i guess the prevailing question about alot of things is... Is it me?

"In these downbeat times, we need as much hope and courage as we do vision and analysis; we must accent the best of each other even as we point out the vicious effects of our racial divide and pernicious consequences of our maldistribution of wealth and power. We simply cannot enter the twenty-first century at each other's throats, even as we acknowledge the weighty forces of racism, patriarchy, economic inequality, homophobia, and ecological abuse on our necks. We are at a crucial crossroad in the history of this nation--and we either hang together by combating these forces that divide and degrade us or we hang separately. Do we have the intelligence, humor, imagination, courage, tolerance, love, respect, and will to meet the challenge? Time will tell. None of us alone can save the nation or world. But each of us can make a positive difference if we commit ourselves to do so." - Cornel West(Race Matters)

The Emperor has....

I often tell my stealthy Romanian friends that despite what you often hear, not all Black Americans are lock step in line with blindly rooting for President Obama despite all the glaring signs that he could care less about Black Americans... and slowly but surely, I am hearing the people calling in ( to the radio talk shows like The Power, and America Left... what? I thought I only listened and watched and read Foxnews) who are speaking out against him, who.. gasp... are black. I suppose they have issues with their skincolor too, as I have been told I do... This guy, a highly respected man in the Black Community, is starting to have serious doubts and is voicing them... an interesting take.

And the next time ANYONE tries to offer up one of the typical excuses for our President, I will simply refer them to this article, which... by the way... aint Foxnews either.

Anybody In with me?

Ok... surveying the schedule, I think I am going to try to go to either the Atlanta race or the Charlotte race this fall... Anybody want to go with me? I am thinking about the Atlanta Race as I have Labor Day off which falls the day after that race. I am thinkin' Ikea, The Varsity then on to the race, then back home for an Itenarary. The Charlotte race (a Saturday night event) will see a Nascar Hall Of Fame visit, then on to the track for the race then back home.

Summer-O-Rama-Fun...

While I have previously mentioned a while back that no major trips of the century/summer/year wereplanned for this Summer 2011, i did anticipate that the twins would be able to spend extended time with Nana, Papa and Grandma. I am pleased that so far this has been true. Extended time at both Grandparents House has allowed Ryles and I-Man to hang out with them and spend simple quality time. While I have tried to hope that they wouldnt try to spoil them, I have come to expect that a little of that comes with the territory. At any rate, I-Man has had the opportunity to begin to learn to water ski (above) using the same waterskis Aunt Ellen, Uncle Wes and Jessica learned on... and while his first experience saw him fall repeatedly without really getting too far out of the water, I suspect the next time will see him go farther. As he matures, I sense his strength is growing.. especially as he rides his bike more and gets a little more physical endurance/strength.

The twins have been able to spend a bunch of time with cousin Madison as well, and with the impending arrival of another cousin I hope that the adventures for them will continue to flourish.

One Month

.. so I decided to not post for a month and whittle away some people who I know will stop coming here daily/weekly/etc. I will now start updating again.. I know. A little pretentious of me, but I never said i wasnt somewhat arrogant at times...it is what makes me who I am.

meanwhile... i will spool up the posts again... starting today... and I will back track on events of the summer over the next few days...

We hung out today at home then went over to see Brandy and AJ and their family for dinner. The twins got to go swimming (always a fave with them) and we then hung out for a while before heading home. Tomorrow starts the drudgery again for me and work...

cable (and Internet) is out due to the storm last night... I am betting a WEEK before they fix it... we are at 24 hours right now... Charter is so crappy they are beyond crappy...

but we are watching The Muppets show right now... In this whacky world of virtually the same show over and over (see The Voice, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent... I havent even gotten to all the Race to somewhere supposed reality shows) I wonder if the Muppet Show would even last two episodes now....i guess it isnt as risque enough now... or it doesnt tell a story (shoved down out throat) about some random person from some random town who might...Might...MIGHT "make it" and make our hearts warm...

or it isnt about vampires or people who want to be vampires or people who got attacked by vampires or sucked blood from vampires or kissed a vampire or played basketball with a vampire...

so another weekend came and went... more on this later (with pix)

but... enough of this wearing the pants around the ankles stuff kids seem to think is cool these days. Do they not know where this came from or what it symbolizes??? or is it too cool for them to even know? Everytime I see some kid doing this (especially a black kid) I smirk and ponder "Do you KNOW exactly what you are signaling to other people"?

"Dumbass...."

... just sayin...

so thats where that sock went... The twins are off to Nanna and Pappa's this week. So, while they are away, I am trying to actually take stock and clean some stuff out of their rooms. Looks like I will only get to I-Man's room this week as I am astounded by how much CRAP is behind I-Mans newly created bunk bed...

those of you reading this with kids... do you ever find yourself wondering what happened to that one tshirt you remember buying for your child? or getting ticked off that the 5 pairs of socks you bought last week are now only two matched pairs? or just where did all those capri suns dissappear to? well.. I found them tonight. behind I-Mans retooled bunkbed. I swear I a stunned...STUNNED at all the crap, toys and trash...I think a severe talkin to is in order once they return...

Speaking of the Bunkbed... Papa was here last weekend and he and I put back together the bunkbed. And it is extremely sturdy now...so sturdy that I have serious doubts how/if we will ever be able to get it apart. But Id rather have that worry than have it collapse. And seriously. I dont really know if we will be able to get it apart without an axe....

and the livin is easy....

So... Summer has arrived. Vacation is here. Except for me... As of now, no HUGE vacation plans are on the docket... as previously mentioned, the Georgia Guide-stones are penciled in for a day-trip, a couple of lake outings if we can work out borrowing the boat from Papa and the rest of the time will see constant visits from various classmates or the twins off to visit their classmates. Meanwhile, I will be off to work everyday, as usual...

... I-Man has footskills trainings every week on Thursday, and pickup soccer matches on Mondays. I find it amusing that these are supposed to be optional, but I swear almost every kid on the Academy teams is there. And the coaches are there too. While they are not running the drills, it is interesting that they are there. And they occasionally yell instructions to players while the drills or games are going on... so much for "optional". I swear these are looking just like normal practices to me... Did I mention that the Easley and Pendleton High School coaches are Academy team coaches too??...

Ryles, meanwhile, has purchased a couple of fish and put a tank in her room. Still kinda wondering where she got this money from, but whatever... she has two fishies named Nemo and Clementine. Lets see how long before they join their friends in the creek out back...

Did I mention that at the All Star Race, I saw Darius Rucker do the National Anthem and Lee Greenwood sang God Bless the U.S.A.... that was cool, but the most impressive thing was the B2 Bomber that flew over. It was almost sorta scary in that you only saw a slier in the distance and there was virtually NO SOUND when it flew over... then after it passed it seems to swerve off and throttle up and you heard it for the first time... but it was eerie how you could really barely see it. Just a sliver. Yeah, I think that tech is working.....

I will be hard pressed to keep my mouth shut if I hear ANYBODY complain about it raining at ANY point in time in the foreseeable future. The creek running behind our house is at midsummer drough level NOW. The only thing keeping the water flowing down the way is the fact that it has created a tunnel under the big rock and is flowing under it. I am sure this will lead to the inevitable breaking of that massive rock eventually... but that is probably decades away...

Three Down, Several more to go....

another year closes out tomorrow for the kids and they will be out of school until...SEPTEMBER FRAKKIN 6th..... what is up with this?

..anyways, Ryles was kinda upset that it would be the last day because she said she would miss her teacher. I tried to explain to her that this is the way it goes, and this wont be the last teacher she will miss. And I told her to make sure to go give her teacher a long big hug tomorrow. I am sure she will appreciate that way more than any card (which is getting from our family)...

...Ryles and I-Man both got awards for school with Ryles getting an award for ALL A's for the year, and I-Man A's and B's for the year...

So.. going into 4th Grade sees the twins in the Gifted/Talented Programs, I-Man on the Academy soccer team, and both probably the equivalent of halfway thru year one on Clarinet and Euphonium. I think they are progressing well...

... and to think people said our children would be at a disadvantage...

The weekend o Rama

Well. A Whirlwind of a weekend has ended with me back at work while everyone else is grilling hotdawgs today. But a quick synopsis....

Found out that Ryles was placed into Gifted and Talented class, joining I-Man and addressing an obvious point of contention with her....

We then went to a Braves game with Bozz and Khris, couple of current Frat. It was a great game that went into extra innings. Braves win too....

Yesterday i went to Coca Cola 600 and the 29 wins when everyone else runs out of fuel... A late night back and today sees me workin... The twins are off swimming and grilling, it seems...

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so the past weekend saw a somewhat busy time... Saturday we went to I-Man's first meeting for the Academy team. No real surprises in the info we got but we did also get a tentative schedule for some matches/practices/tournaments... We then headed to Charlotte to the All Star NASCAR race.. it was a lot of fun for I-Man in that his guy ran up front for a long time (#48) and he surprised me with actually keeping up with his driver on the track, etc. It was all good until a pit stop mired the 48 (actually the % on this night) back in traffic. Suddenly I-Man wanted to go to the car...

Top things I noticed and heard from I-Man...
1) "Why are all these people walking around with no shirts?"

2) a definite look of confusion when walking into the Men's bathroom and seeing
nothing but troughs

3) "Why are all these people smoking?"

4) "Can we get a ride on a bicycle?"

A late return home and Sunday saw me attend the CUTBA board of directors meeting where I feel I was able to represent some concerns of Kappa Kappa Psi, and in return I am able to address some concerns of theirs to the chapter...

... then to I-Mans year end soccer party for his current team (a pool party) and then we chilled out before starting another week....

I also started a flickr acct where I am going to be doing one of those POTD type of dealios... I will put a link here in a few days once I get my upload mechanism and pattern going...

So.. tomorrow is I-Man's first team meeting with his new team.. then he will go with me to the All Star race in Charlotte. I am interested to see how he handles what will be a longer race day than he has ever experienced. But it will be seven shorts races so he will be spared the monotony of 247 laps in a row without caution that can occasionally happen at a race... I am sure I will have to pony up some cash for a #48 diecast car but I hit Ebay for a 5 dollar Jimmie Johnson t-shirt that I will present to him to wear and avoid that transaction at the track....

... speaking of which, I found out I definitely have Labor Day off(Monday) and am ponderin getting a group of people to go to the Atlanta race (Sunday) on a day trip sorta gig for that race...

... by the way, referring to a previous post... I realize that not everyone is on facebook, etc and I wasnt trying to single anyone out or anything...

And this is supposed to be a step in the right direction? I bet there is going to a a HUGE market (black, I bet) for the old light bulbs when this starts.. and let me guess, they will all be made in China... As I sit here in my downstairs den/livingroom/kitchen area.. I see 10 (ten) TEN light bulbs that would need to be replaced... 50 dollars a piece? Are you serious? I guess people want us to simply not use light at night, I am guessing... are the poor going to be able to afford these. Oh wait, let me guess, they will get them for free...

Funny.

Go here...

Yesterday was my birthday... I got tix to a Drive game in June,which is ALWAYS fun... got some materials to make a Manhattan and Ryles got me so Calvin Klein cologne I also got a lot of "Happy Birthdays!!!" on Facebook, which was really nice. I know that the reminder thingy makes it easy to remember birthdays and all that, but you still have to make the effort to send a message so it it was awesome to hear from so many friends. Birthdays are somewhat anti-climatic now in that you kinda personally look forward to it, but you know that the reality is that it isnt as "special" to others as it is to you, for obvious reasons...

..but it did make me happy to hear from friends from all over... texts, Facebook messages, AIM and calls were all nice... now onto the next thing...

Last year about this time, I-Mans soccer season ended and he found out that a couple of his teammates from his Rec League Championship team had tried out for the Academy team and made it. He was friends with them and was upset that he didnt get the chance to try out. I had not had him try out because, even though he was an integral part of that team, I felt he wasnt ready for the increased demands and expectations playing at the Academy level would place on him. Looking back on it, and seeing his overall level of play transcend Rec League at his position, it may have been a mistake. But not much we can do about that now. so...

...Five tryouts and a couple of evaluations during actual games later, I-Man is selected to U9/10 Academy team. And I am somewhat taken aback by his reaction as he is genuinely overjoyed to be chosen. He has said several times that he wants to play "at the highest level..." and obviously we are a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnng ways away from anything of that sort.But this is definitely a step in that direction. Now he will get a true taste of how competitive it is. This will now be a lesson of "there is always a bigger fish..." for him as he will no longer be able to be lazy and turn on burst of speed to catch up and take the ball away from less talented players. Now if someone gets by him, it will be a clear shot on the goalie that is likely to be a score(and a lot of screaming from the coach... and suddenly it will no longer be "everyone gets a trophy, thanks for coming" but "too bad, you lost.. no trophy for you... maybe...MAYBE.. we might be able to stop at McDonalds... maybe... we'll see" it will be good for him on many levels as the level of expectations and responsibility get amped up. I see many lessons, some hard, on the horizon... but I am willing to bet he will make some long time friendships too...

So the past weekend saw a trip down to Florence for everyone... I went to the Darlington races while Jessica went to a Sorority gig in Myrtle Beach. The twins hung out with Nanna and Papa.

I went down early on Friday and took the opportunity to meet Aunt Ashley for lunch in Lexington... and then did some quick shoppin for Mothers day. I then dodged the rain and watched Sprint Cup qualifying before meeting up with Papa and Uncle Wes for the Nationwide race. The race was uneventful, I must admit...


Saturday saw the twins heading to the lake with Nanna and Papa where I hear that both Ryles and I-Man caught fish, and rode the jetski's. I went to the track and met up with a guy from work. We then walked around the souvy trucks and got a chance to see some drivers... I was particularly excited to get to see David Pearson from relatively close range although he was kinda being mobbed. Pearson was my favorite driver growing up and if you look at the stats, Pearson won 105 races in less than half the amount of starts Richard Petty had... 105/400(Pearson) to 200/1000+(Petty) is pretty impressive. Notice the dude with no shirt... classy..(reference a previous post)... i thought about photoshoppin him out but figured you would miss out on the ambiance if I did... by the way, Pearson is the gentleman (right in middle of pic) looking obviously bothered by Mr no tshirt...

We then got a chance to see Mark Martin up close. I was stunned at how small he is. I honestly mistook him for a kid when I first saw him backstage because I was going to try to squeeze of a picture of him. I saw him but thought "that CAN'T be him... that's some kid that looks similar to Mark Martin"




We then reveled in more Americana at the NASCAR RACEDAY on SPEEDCHANNEL... I started to ponder at times if there were any black people at this event... (actually, I'm kidding. There were lot's o black people... still dont see many Hispanics or Asians though...) but not many rebel flags anymore... used to be I'd see a bunch of them but, as I have often said, that crowd and ilk is slowly phasing out. Its till exists, but eventually it will be somewhat a footnote... or at least I hope so... Anyways, I hope I can get some people to go to a race later this year. Maybe the Charlotte race or Atlanta race in the fall...

The race saw us in the usual seats Papa has every year that I am fortunate that he lets me have. These seats are virtually perfect... at the top of the bottom section where you can see most of the track, but close enough to feel the ground shake when they go by... and at the end of the row... with the concessions stands right behind us... and the bathrooms right beside them...

Anyways... Sunday was Mothers's Day and Ryles and I-Man got Jessica a card (I-Man made his) and a couple of Cd's she had been wanting... We hung out in Florence for a while before heading to Lexington where we met up with Uncle Wes/Aunt Ashley/Aunt Ellen and cousin Madison for Ice Cream with Nanna for Mother's Day. She got a Kindle from her kids, which is about as cool a gift you can get if you think about the advance in technology that will be seen as in 300 years or so...

We then went and watched Cousin Madison get some more experience riding her bicycle without training wheels... a few crash and burns, but that is to be expected...

Finally, we headed back up the highway, stopping off at Grandma's house to see her for Mother's Day. We hung out there for about 45 minutes before heading back to TRY to miss the budding T-Storms I could see off in the distance. we ended up getting caught in one super heavy storm, which serves to clean my car nicely...

And now we are into this week... work/school/soccer/lessons/homework/PASS testing/Soccer Tourney...

yesterday was Easter. First of all, I dont really like when Easter is this late. Seems like there are two or three Sundays of pseudo Easter Egg Hunts before Easter even gets here...but I also dont like when its early either. Easter should be the first or second weekend in April, right about the time of the first real warm open-your-windows-in-the-house-weekend. But i realize some monks somewhere came up with some algorithm based on the full moon and stuff so the date of Easter gets all jacked up occasionally...

.. Second, I grew up when Easter seemed to be a bigger deal than it is now... seems like there was this long buildup to it in Sunday School with the stories, lessons, etc. and that there was also Charlton Heston on TV at some time... not sure if this happens anymore. And while I certainly like the plastic eggs full of jelly beans, I am kinda limited in how much of that I can have. And it really isnt what I mentally think 0f Easter being about. And similar to Christmas, I know my kids are aware of the religious background of the day, but it is so pushed into the background, it hardly seems to register. Perhaps I need to make sure to project a stronger emphasis on the actual meaning of this, and ANY holidays and make sure that the secular side of the religious holidays, while fun, are not the sole reason of these days...

...because I kinda miss seeing all the Easter dresses and men in their new suits.. oh wait, that isnt the reason for Easter either... but I do kinda miss that too...

..maybe I should get up on Sundays and go to church? I know my son is quietly a religious person on some sorta level. The one book he has ALWAYS read in bed at night has been his "kids" bible, with illustrations. I have mentioned this before, I know. But I see a start contrast in him and his Sister in this regard. He is reading his Bible in bed... she is on her iPod Touch surfin the web... maybe I will get him down to Grandma's this summer for Sunday stuff... we shall see how it works out..



oh... and when we put out the pseudo Easter eggs, I put one on a paper plate and pushed it across some water. I though I-Man might jumpin after it...

weekend o rama

the weekend started off pretty sporty with some yard work... cutting grass, trimming back the "hedges" from the driveway that hang over the cars and blowing off the resulting brush/shrubs/leaves started us off... then we then went over to Greenville and hung out with some friends at a park and the kids played and did the usual kid-at-a-park stuff.... I dont remember these type of parks back in the day, but they are all the rage in this era... and some of the contraptions that are being built are not the old slide and swing set anymore...we then went to some sorta Thunder Yogurt type place that was actually pretty cool, in that you totally built your dessert, including how much of everything (at a price)

I think we have learned the hard way that racoons like cabbage... three cabbage plants sitting out beyond the back deck in front of the creek the other night went from being all leafy and huge to a pitiful short resemblence of a stalk. At first we thought perhaps I-Man had used the swingblade on them, but I didnt see the leaves or any other remnants around. And I-Man isnt that underhanded (yet) to have gotten rid of evidence. So since there has been a racoon sighting here recently, I googled "what likes cabbage?" and all sorts of references to racoons eating all of a gardens worth of cabbage came up... there are also references to a particular type of cabbage that is poisonous to racoons... hmmmm...

in the "well its obvious" class... i think it is oh so interesting to see on facebook, especially within the Frat groups, how entertwined the whole damn shoooting match is in a Six Degrees of Separation kinda feel. I have been fortunate to know several different "groupings" of people come thru the Frat and it surprises me to see people i dont expect to know each other (from different "eras") talk to each other and seemingly know each other from these "groupings"...

On a slightly related note, I have decided to attend National Convention this summer in Colorado Springs.. I am also pondering getting back into the game on a National Level at some point... probably not this year, but in two years...

...and the built this huge ramp to nowhere on I-385 that I drive by every day. It looks like they are getting ready to build a 4th Pyramid of Giza. Except they explained that it is supposed to allow heavy machines easy access to the project... since the ramp leads up to a bridge, I hope that bridge holds up...

OK.. I think I am pretty much aligned with his guy... I have spent to months tring to find a suitable swimsuit for my daughter because... while I certainly understand her sense of independence and individuality, I also want her to understand that if she wants to be treated with respect, she must respect herself as well.... it kinda goes along with this gig with my son, who seems to think it is ok to walk around the house without his shirt on. While certainly within your home in private, things are different, I also subscribe that it is a show of disrespect to the women in the house to be walking around with no shirt on... I never have liked that with guys who do that, be them fat and hairy or greek god built.... I just think it is a show of narcissism to do this.

Oh.. wait, but back to the original link/post... I just think that my daughter should not dress like she is going "to the club" when she is 10 years old and is not about to go to the club anytime soon...

I have been avoiding mentioning the Braves. The have gotten off to a slower than expected start, but not disastrous... several young players are sprinkled thruout the lineup... they will probably be fine... I think the will be going on the tentative docket for short day trip "staycations" this summer... although i think staycations mean you are actually at your home...

I spent last weekend in Athens at the Southeast District Convention. I came away rejuvenated and looking forward to implementing some long range strategic planning.... some of which ties into a project the new chapter Alumni chair is doing... Frat Alumni should go here if they wanna join the new Facebook Group Dedicated to the Kappa Beta Alumni...

lifted this from one of the sites i visit occasionally...

so... i had have of my bonus from work taken from me earlier this year.. 4 figures is what the government took out of my bonus... they take 20 percent every other week... i just had to pay another 4 figures to the government. For what? for them to give to people to who dont pay a dime??? .. can someone tell me how this is even REMOTELY fair? and I will have to get up in the morning and go work to keep paying more taxes... and dont give me that Obama crap about "the fortunate" either...

I am always a little sad after returning from big Frat conventions like SED or National Convention. I spend time there wishing that any of my "peers" were there with me. While I enjoy hanging with the "kids", I kinda start to feel like some sorta old hard up guy who has no life following around 20 year olds. But it is kinda boring just sitting in a hotel room for the entire weekend.... but I am also resigned to the fact that no friends from my "era" want to come with me... perhaps a recurring theme, it seems... I keep wondering as I am driving home from events whether or not I am totally out in left field at times. I am blessed from my Father in Law with tickets for the Darlington Race but I will be hard pressed to find anyone who wants to go with me... I think what confuses me is that I love going to this sorta stuff, but seemingly I am the only person. At the root of my issue at times is that I can always get one of the kids from Clemson to go if I say "FREE!!!" but I dont wanna always do that... plus, I really enjoy being able to have a similar frame of reference. I like being able to talk about my family with someone who kinda knows similar experiences. But it just seems like I spend a lot of time talking to myself at times these days... I guess people just think that the can just know what is up with me by just reading this... I suppose there is some truth in that... Addendum: now, I am not asking for some sorta pit part.. I just wonder why it seems so difficult now...

its kinda like an gut check when you have to go into your twins amazon list and remove stuff that they are now "too old" for... I look at stuff and remember when that was so cool for them... and now they would think that it is for a child. It is the way things keep churning forward, I suppose. One day it is suddenly them singing the words to Dora.."Backpack, Backpack!!!"... now it is being fascinated with The Amazing World of Gumball (yech) or Star Wars, The Clone Wars (actually kinda cool)

One of the things I like about receiving gifts from friends is what that triggers in the future.. for example, whenever I put on this jersey (and I do wear it often, even to this day) I am reminded of Erik and it makes me wonder "what is he doing right now"? or "where is he"? or "I really need to call him and see what is up with him and Pam"... It doesnt matter if it is this, or a soccer jersey from Marseille Olympique or an old frayed Gap Sweashirt hoody it always makes me think of the people who gave it to me. Not so much of the article of clothing, but of them. Which makes me smile...

OK... so I am getting ready to purchase tickets to the All Star Race in Charlotte. I used to be able to get a group of people to go with me but the past couple of years has seen me basically go by myself. Is there anyone reading this who might wanna go with me? If you have never attended a race, this is the one to go to as it is a series of short sprints (i.e, not a bunch or laps, but short segments) and I am even willing to go camp out if anyone is daring enough. We have done it before and had a blast hanging out by a fire chatting... let me know... Or if ya wanna just go for the race, thats cool to. While I have a lot of fun going by myself, I find that it is starting to get a tad saddening that I usually do a lot of this type of stuff by myself...

maybe, I should take a look in the mirror and wonder why that is, huh?

So another weekend comes and goes... I-Man's soccer team continues an upward trend with a 1-1 draw against a league team from Seneca... The weekend also saw Nana and Papa come to town for a day visit...

...Ryles and I-Man have some sorta thing about the creek in our backyard. As in, if the temperature goes above 40 degrees they wanna go play in it... While it is a convenient subsitute for the local pool, it is annoying when they put on swimsuits and ruin them sliding down the rocks. We managed to cut this off today by the water being too cold. But while Ryles was wary, I-Man tried it out...

...the visit from Nana and Papa would not be complete without lunch outside in the pleasant weather. I love where we live. Moderate climate (for the most part) with occasional change ups of extreme cold and hot to keep it interesting... no earthquakes to rattle the local Nuke reactor, tsunamis (none recently) to flood the living room or tornados to "Blooowww the house down" {made of brick, I might add} as a usual worry... Spring Comes early and Fall comes just in time... So we get to enjoy our caty cornered deck (see previously mentioned tsunami) a lot...


I have mentioned before that I have always felt it important for the twins to have quality time with their Grandparents. It was such a nice day out and Ryles and Nana hung out on the hammock by the creek.. at least befoe I-Man came along. But he then got sucked into the creek and got two sets of clothes wet. And these werent even bathing suits... I still see Ryles being the one of our two kids who never strays far from home (or us/family)

... mucho thanks to Papa for the new storm door. I did manage to help install it but I am still somewhat a novice to that sorta thing and it is his experience in being able to do that sorta stuff that makes me grateful. I wont bore you with a picture... it is tall, white and has a sliding glass window that lets air inside. You probably can visualize it...

Next weekend will see SED convention, Jessica @ a teacher sorority thingy and the twins visiting with family.. the it is Spring Break for them...

A year of Pawsitive Experience is winding down for the Frat...this is the 2010-2011 version... this has been a great year and the transition that I have seen over the past year should be complete by the end of next year. While the chapter will cycle back to mostly underclassmen, a positive foundation has been relaid by the outgoing seniors.

Not sure if this will be on the Ladies preference list for what they are lookin' for when sniffin' menfolk...

WOW... Myrtle Beach is Number #1?

so... last soccer season, I-Man was on a team that ended up winning the championship, routing several teams in the process with a team that was ...LOADED.. at least for 8 year olds. This season, he has found himself on a .. err... less experienced team. It suffered from a lack of scoring and while improving dramatically on the defensive end, they had all sorts of issues scoring and did not win a match in the Fall and had not won, despite playing better, this Spring. Saturday saw I-Man's team break thru with a win.. AT LAST. With a new tactic of basically pushing I-Man forward to cut off advances at midfield, and the addition of another offensive minded player, this match saw the team playing against another team similar in talent, and the constant offensive pressure produced a win 3-2 with I-Man scoring a goal as well....

Saturday then saw I-Man off to a birthday party at a Movie theater. A new twist, I thought, with the usual cake, and toys with a movie. I-Man saw Hop, which seems to be some sorta Easter movie of sorts with rabbits or something....

The Twins then went off to Grandma's while Jessica and I met up with some friends at Ruth's Chris. It was by far.. not even close... the BEST STEAK I HAVE EVER HAD... I was impressed. Totally... the steak, the potatoes au gratin.. the Manhatten.. even the apple-tart-a-la-mode-something-or-another were outstanding. Best meal probably I have ever paid for. Did I mention the steak? not even close. The.best.steak.ever. The only thing I might have called a dissapointment was the atmosphere. Not the company we had there with us, but the overall "ambiance" was lacking, if I have to be critical. Which I dont. But I will anyway. Cause I can. But it was fun chatting with friends. But isnt it interesting that even though you make all these plans to have an adult evening/dinner without the kids, all you end up talking about with your friends is your kids and their kids... funny how kids change everything. But I did get to take the classic "City Confidential", "48 Hours", "Dateline" photos...



Sunday saw me picking up the Ryles and I-Man, who had their usual great time with Grandma, Uncle Jerry ( and Bristol )... I still am always stunned at how quiet it is at her house, which is the same house I grew up in/at. I have mentioned it before, but it is soooo quiet there. Peaceful.... but I always think it is benefitial that they get to spend a few hours with the Grandparents, even if it is just hanging out watching TV, etc... much to be learned I feel with these types of interactions



after getting back home, we had dinner out on the back deck, grilling porkchops and sweet potatos, with strawberries, bread and My 102.5 on the radio for dinner. The grill keeps catchin' fire and I suppose I should clean the thing out to keep this from happening again...



... closed the weekend out with a chapter meeting. Also used Ryles metal detector and I think I found the time capsule some Colony and Alpha Class members buried waaaayyyy back in the day. I was about to put in exact coordinates (seven steps from fence pole, in line with tower and and middle light pole)

So.. Ikea then to Phillips Arena last Friday. I was pleasantly surprised by the NBA game. They have really improved the entertainment value, I feel with all sorts of stuff going on during the timeouts... and there were waaayyyy more Celtics fans at the game than Hawks fans. I think we are going to plans a Boys night out for next season and try to get courtside seats ( or something close ) for a game next year and get a several guys to go...

Today, I am heading to the ATL to see my Celtics play the Hawks. I am really looking forward to this as I have NEVER seen my Alltime Second Favorite team (behind the Braves) play live...

Has anyone been to the Post Office lately? it opens at 9:30am!!!! and and shuts the down by 4:30pm!!! nowhow is anyone who has a normal job supposed to get inside this place. Of course, I guess hours vary but no wonder this place is losing billions despite raising the cost of stamps every three weeks or so... You should have heard the cursing as people walked to the door and realized they were... CLOSED? at 9am? on a Thursday? that is not one of the 37 government holidays?

And I continue to wonder how it is I cant find a decent swimsuit for my daugther that doesnt look like she is in a contest for Miss USA or Miss Universe... I see plenty that would be fine for a 22 year old girl on Spring Break at Daytona, but none that are suitable to a 9 year old. Looks like she will be wearing boys swim trunks and a boys rashguard....

and another thing.. is it me or are all the Jack in the Box's closed now all of a sudden?

an answer

my mother gave me a little insight as to why Ryles might be balking at wearing I-Mans jeans... she says the button is on the opposite side and that makes it not feel right when you put them on and try to fasten them. And that I-Mans sweatpants, etc. DONT have any buttons, therefore dont have the same foreign feel... It does make sense to me....

So on Sunday Kirk Randazzo came up to visit the chapter and gave an impressive presentation on Leadership. I have seen it before but I saw the tweaks he has done to "freshen" it up ad it works...

I came away a bit energized myself in regards to moving the chapter forward in a manner meaningful to them and our Alumni of Kappa Beta...

.. and I was reminded at how much of a POSITIVE influence Scott Hendrickson played in my life, even though I wasnt exceptionally close to him. No doubt his death spurred my "career" within the Fraternity as I never would have repeated as President of the Chapter if he would have been there, which in turn may have led to me never running for District or National office.. or being in a position to be asked to Sponsor the chapter. I certainly wasnt as close to him as others who read this blog. But I always remember his positive energy that he generally displayed. And whenever I sing the Fraternity Hymn, I think of him. Every single time. And it is people like him and others who have followed and worked so hard within the chapter that makes me strive tomake sure there is a POSITIVE experience during their time at Clemson within the chapter. And to keep it going as a souce of pride for those very same Brothers.

Happy Birthday to Jessica!!

today is my wife's birthday!!! Happy Happy to her...

I-Man went outside in the rain and picked some plants for her this morning...

I often wonder why it is that Ryles simply will NOT wear I-Mans old jeans, which actually fit her fine, look virtually brand new but somehow are branded "boy jeans" by her despite looking EXACTLY like the jeans she normally wears when she isnt wearing some pear of jeans that has some butterfly or flower or ladybug on them. How does she even tell them apart?

It annoys me that she wont wear those perfectly good jeans, but will snag a pair of I-Mans old sweatpants and wear those... just fine. No problem with those. NOT. AT. ALL.

while not my birthday or anything, I did find out this info....

i have been living for 525 months, or 2288 weeks or 16021 days...

Sometimes I wake up with weird threads of thought running thru my mind... i guess they are probably some extension of a dream I might have been having (which I never remember). But this morning I woke up and was thinking about just how many times I might see some of my friends in my lifetime. Some of them I have a feeling I can probably place at the UNDER 20 range. Yeah, I know... morbid. but, realistic? I have no immediate plans as of now to get to New York/New Jersey/North Carolina before Summer 2012. I guess I could change that as it is within my power to do so.. but.. it still remains that it makes me sad. I dont work in a place where we are all friends and hang out after work. So my friends are all away from work. And outside of Brandy, Lynn and Harwood it takes months of planning to see anyone. And even when I see those above, it is an 45 minute lunch here, an hour brunch there... never anything where I get a feeling that I have had a legit chance to reconnect and talk about substance for any length of time. And when I do even visit with long times friends up north, etc. it is an 11 hour trip to have an hours worth of conversation while our kids run all around us. Now... life is what it is. And I dont think any of us would want to go back to sitting at Huddle House for hours on end versus what we have been blessed with now with our children and families. But I do miss an occasional night of wasteful rambling conversation going from one topic to the next... sigh, oh well.. I guess I just need to get over it and get ready for work.. again...

I have often said that I see a lot of myself in my son at times, especially when he gets angry or is in trouble. He is far more emotional than my daughter, and a huge difference between them is that at times my daughters emotions seem a little contrived (one day she is going to read this and be peeved) whereas my son is more genuine. I still wonder if/when he will develop more self control and be able to internalize this stuff... i wonder..

so.. it seems that someone hacked an acct of mine and was doing the oh so childlike typical things kids do when this happens... but.. I did find a trojan horse of sorts on my desktop the other day and I ponder if this had anything to do with it. I doubt it as my antivirus spotted it immediately, but who knows... But this deal of facebook/google/aol/twitter/EVERYTHING being all tied together is starting to make me wonder. I have started the process of updating all my logins to a stronger, totally different password that will take NASA a while to crack. What ticks me off is that I had stuff I had planned to do this morning, and have wasted an hour tracking down where/what/how I was sending random IM's to people... they "seemed" to come from Facebook, but actually were coming from AOL AIM, where it seems someone had accessed my acct thru an old phone number from 10 years ago, that was still linked to AIM...

Ha!... funny how Gadhafi' all of a sudden calls a "cease fire!!!" when the UN announces the go ahead for military operations against him. When Obama was wringing his hands, you saw all the typical bluster and bravado from Gadhafi' and his minions against his population. Then France, Germany and England gave up on the US making a move and decided to make a move themselves, and we see the typical actions of a bully...

i know I have talked about this before... but... it is so weird, yet comforting to lie in the bed and be able to smell your wife...no.. i am not talking about B.O. type of smell or anything like that.. but her perfume or bodyspray will be on the pillow/covers and it is always comforting . I assume it is this way with most people. I dont know... but it also leads me to sleep on "her side" of the bed whenever she is away for what ever reason. I just think it is also kinda weird that i DONT like when I can smell either my son or daughter from if they have been lying in the bed watching TV or something. It is interesting that this turns me off, so to speak.

off the beaten path topic, I know...

last week I had a brief one day bout of some sorta stomach thingy, which had me actually throw on the way to work... while in the car. Luckily, I had a big ole Bojangles cup, and well, you can guess the rest.... So that day saw me simply turn around and go back home and sleep for about 17 hours straight... all better then.

But that prompted me to think about what triggers that reaction... i think its different with everyone, but by the time you are an adult, you KNOW the symptons.. whatever they might be with you. With me its this weird sensation in my mouth, an almost tingling feeling that tells me "ALERT, ALERT... YOU HAVE EXACTLY 4... REPEAT NOW 3 SECONDS TILL THIS HAS GOT TO GO FROM YOUR STOMACH!!!!.. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!"

time is going WAY too fast....

the other day, I went to the Awful Waffle with Lynn for a brunch. The food was awesome, except for the bacon, that they used a press on and made it just too flat and unjuicy... I was amused to see that it seems to be run the same as it was back when we frequented the place regularly withthe womenz workin' in the morning and the menzfolk working @ night. I was was also struck by how absolutely run down the place is, yet I bet it was exactly the same way almost (gulp) 20 FRAKKIN YEARS AGO!!!.. has it really been that long?

more on Carlos Estevez

here's an opinion on Charlie Harper

I've said this before, and I'll say it again... listen to virtually ANY Michael Jackson song and it makes me both sad, and happy at the same time. Sad because we all saw just how jacked up he was. But happy when I see my kids and how positively they are affected by his music. They know little, if anything, of the extremely eccentric actions and things he did, or the allegations of his "relationships" with kids. But the reation they have to his music... all positive. I wonder if 200 years from now all the negative stuff will be anything more than a footnote in Wikipedia

looks like an actual ticket to the Bristol Sprint Cup race has fallen into my lap... this will check off one of my must see races... anyone want to go with me? ( i believe I have two)

.. i setup Skype with a video Cam on the I-Man's newly souped up (doubled his memory) computer. I am going to put a webcam on Grandma's computer sometime and also setup Skype on Nanna's laptop and see if video chatting is something they might like... the webcam was 10 dollars and it is amazing how good the video is now on these things...

..oh, I have my netbook back up and running again with anywhere access. Kinda funny how out of sorts I felt without being able to get online at anypoint... weird when I remember a time when there was no internet...

... which brings me back to that Alan Jackson song "Remember When", which I sometimes think they play in the mornings just so I will be singing it in my mind all day long...

If I were President, I would send in 2 or 3 small yachts manned by innocent looking "families" who in actuality are S.E.A.L. teams with orders to eliminate anyone who attacked them (off the record, of course). I wonder how long these "pirates" would remain in existence in that area if suddenly they all started disappearing. None of this arresting them and bringing them to "justice" in some court in New York.. just a little bit of frontier justice.... just sayin'

'Where's Waldo?'

Why is their no outrage about Charlie Sheen? If this was Bill Cosby, or Rosanne Barr would we stiill be getting the virtual pass on the behaviour? I mean, its is being shown but it is almost like "heh, heh, look at Hollywood playboy Charlie...isn't he cute" but there would be a public outrage and NOW and the other Social Injustice groups would be screaming if it were other types of people. This guy has beaten women, publicly demeaned women and its ALL GOOD it seems...

By the way... Finally cut I-Man's hair on Sunday... or i should say Jessica did...

On Saturday, we went to Table Rock, put on the Tevas and went hiking... we didnt go to the very top but I-Man seems ready to do it. Or at least he thinks he is. i dont think he realizes how far or long that will be for him. But we will be returning one day soon to attempt to reach the summit. I did find it interesting that a lot of the same dynamics exist within our small family.. I-Man running off ahead with little concern and never looking back while Ryles hovered back with us, never straying more than 20 feet ahead. We had to constantly keep asking I-Man to come back, or get down off those rocks, or get out of the creek, or get back on the trail....

... we then went to Pizza Inn that night (celebrating good grades and the free coupons the kids got because of it) where I actually ate 15 slices of pizza. Thin slice pepperoni/sausage will let you pound a ton of it. But what I found amusing was how easy it seems for kids to randomly talk/play with other kids who they do not even know at all. I go and look in the "arcade" and the twins are gathered around with some other kids and they are all playing these games... instant friends...

First Spring Training game today and a run at another shot at the playoffs.. people will go on and on about the Phillies... I prefer chasing rather than being chased for this season, especially with the younger players sprinkled thruout the roster...

so... I did give someone at work a sixpack o beer to swap out my Broadband Card. But.. it seems there are more problems than originally thought. It aint going to work without sending it off to HP, and that aint happenin'... it will still work fine with wifi and it seems to be destined to become a device to replace Jessica's school computer here at home. I can get another one free thru work, but I kinda wanted a LTE (4G) tablet of some sort but that seems to not be in the cards right now unless I can wrangle some sorta deal thru work to get that instead... problem is that an IPad could easily be acquired, but since someone asked Santa for an IPad for Xmas, I dont think my suddenly showing up with one of those would go down well at the house.

as a follow-up... why does I-Man virtually REFUSE to wear a polo shirt? I occasionally put out a polo shirt for him to wear, and he always comes down stairs in some random t-shirt. Then I remember how old he is. And that I pretty much MUST wear a polo shirt everyday.. and that maybe I need to find a job wear I can wear a tshirt like this to work everyday....

But then again, I could live in Libya right now....

for some reason, my broadband card embedded in my netbook seems to not want to power on. And i never knew how much i relied on being able to connect ANYWHERE until this has happened as i cant seem to make myself use my Droid to update like I actually can. I keep thinking I need to get to wifi and with my jacked up work sched, I keep putting off posts... I could repair the card with other card, but it will take me virtually taking my netbook apart. Perhaps a Xoom is looming in my future? or perhaps I will give someone a sixpack of beer at work to do it for me...

i am always intrigued by the differences in our two children... I-Man comes downstairs every morning with his jeans and plain t-shirt while Ryles has a definite sense of style that reminds me of Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place. But... occasionally, she has blips... like this morning when she seemed to be wearing a jacket under a dress under this sweater/trenchcoat thingy that Aunt Ellen gave her. Of course, a meltdown occurred when she was advised that perhaps the jacket under-layer wasnt needed. After storming off upstairs she returned teary eyed without the jacket with just the dress and sweater thingy... she then proceeded to sigh heavily every 45 seconds from the back seat on our short drive to school.

in other news... i think I have their birthday/Christmas lined up. Should have it wrapped up in a couple of days. Early?.. a tad bit... but I wont have to be worried about it then. All that will be left will be to relay requests to Santa for perhaps one more year...

so the weekend found me at a few cabins on the lake in Georgia with the Frat for their retreat. I did do a few interviews and am pleasantly happy with the Candidates overall. I think that while a transition year is looming, brothers are starting to step forward into leadership positions, and/or position themselves for serious consideration. These events always bring back so many memories, of times and people that I miss...

..today I am watchin' the Daytona 500 and it seems my guy (the twonine) is going to at least run upfront and be a contender... at least until he seemingly blew an engine.. oh boy, he is going to have to scramble now to make the playoffs now. wow.

today we are also chilling with Grandma and Uncle Jerry...

"Troubles, they may come and go, but good times, they're the gold". - Dave Mathews Band

"To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have". - Ken S. Keyes, Jr

routine and new stuff...

part of the routine now is sunday afternoon practice.... I-Man is producing tones amazingly well for what I thought he would be able to do for a while. he doesnt know the range he is showing because he still kinda just views them as random notes. As an aside, I find it startling when I see I-Man's reaction to Music and see a LOT of similarities between him and me and how Music makes me feel at times... its just that he is far more apt to jump up and start dancing. What is so obvious is how it affects him. And to see the happiness makes me cringe when sometimes we have to tell him to settle down, cause I really.. really.. REALLY dont want to curb that enthusiasm for something so imortant to me...

..Meanwhile Ryles is having a slightly harder time producing tones and notes on the Clarinet. She is doing about to be expected for the instrument, which I found tricky even after years of playing the saxophone. I worry that she will become discouraged while I-Man seemingly has an easier time of playing the Euphonium. I try to emphasis to her that even the most experienced players squeak occasionally, and that mastery of that embouchure takes a while longer than a brass instrument. That being said, she is doing fine and producing notes just fine... I still wonder if this is ultimately the instrument for her.

my computer..it havin issues

my netbook has been having issues recently and my broadband card is seemingly dead, leaving me with only wifi... it kinda has changed my pattern of updating here.. but it is fixed now...

I-Man played a bit yesterday on his Euphonium (not Baritone) yesterday and I am somewhat pleased at how easily he is producing a sound, and has now latched on to the tuning note... I know.. a long way from Drum Corps but, it doesn't look like he will struggle with producing a tone or controlling the instrument. Ryles is having a bit more of a struggle, although it is clarinet and it is a harder instrument to produce a tone initially on... we have have to be careful not to let her get discouraged.

This morning I went with I-Man and Ryles to school for their Men who Matter Most breakfast. So Fathers, Grandfathers.. guys who are important to the kids... we were all sitting in the cafeteria @ 7:30am eating sausage biscuits and coffee. kinda amusing seeing the kids introduce gentlemen to their classroom bussies, showing us their cubbyholes where they put their stuff during class, etc. "This is my desk, daddy!" and "this is where I get on the computer" was amusing... But I do realize it was very important for them. And it gives you perspective of what is important when you see all these guys doing this for someone else....

another day, another class... last night the Tau class started theur journey officially. It really looks like a strong group of kids.... diverse cross section of the band program, which will serve the Fraternity well.

Currently, the chapter has a lot on its agenda. the usual service stuff is there but they seem to have gone on a philanthropic tangent recently, which i hope doesnt lead to burnout within the leadership of the chapter by April. It seems that I always have to fight that burnout toward the end of the Spring Semester, when the class load, warm weather and expectations of the Fraternity all come to a clash. But the current leadership is strong so I feel confident it will manage itself nicely... I had thought I would not go to SED convention this year, but I have changed my mind as it will be a great time to work with the future leadership and start setting up for the Fall....

so we got back from the SnoCation and I promptly got some sorta sickness... just getting over it.

Yesterday, however the kids officially started lessons on Baritone/Euphonium for I-Man and Clarinet for Ryles. I dont know if they will eventually follow in band as far as we did, but we shall see...

So... I am currently sitting in a cabin in Gatlingburg, as the Family Vacation is winding down... tomorrow, I will head home, eventually. It has been a fun adventure with Nanna, Papa, Uncle Wes, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Madison and Aunt Ellen... It started with a cabin switch due to roads being supposedly impassable to our original cabin, but they upgraded us for no additional charge to more bedrooms, etc. and it actually ended up working out well, upon reflection. We then hit the sloped at Ober Gatlinburg, along with seemingly half the East Coast ( at least Tennessee and half of Clemson) as well... lines were extremely long but eventually we were able to get on the snow. In the meantime, I-Man and Ryles went ice skating for a bit and learned about the phrase "hurry up and wait", which didnt seem to sit well with them... Ryles did a short period of skiing before heading back home with Nanna and Papa ( did I mention the tram ride 2 miles up the mountain?) but I-Man pretty much put on the ski's and fell a couple of times before flying down the intermediate slopes. I had to stay with him constantly else he would have tried to go up to the advanced slopes and try to replay Winter Olympics Super G or something... That was yesterday... we eventually ended up doing night skiing... today we went back with Uncle Wes and attempted snowboarding with I-Man. It was a little bit more challenging to him than I think he thought it would be... eventually, we went back to ski's and he started barreling down the intermediate slopes at breakneck speed again... upon return to the cabin, we went out and did a little shopping and got Ryles some new boots and sneakers at the outlets. Tomorrow, we leave the cabin and will probably hit more shoppin before coming home for the real world again...

I think the gathering went well, and I learned some things to note for the "next time". it is always good to spend time together without theimmediate responsibilities that always seem to pull us away from each other... I ponder this type of stuff... we are not guaranteed tomorrow...

SNOWSTORM 2011... SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

well, It dumped some serious snow here today... looks like about 8 or 9 inches for us here at our house. I havent seen that much here since the 80's... I must agree with my friend Kim that my thoughts on snow are pretty much that its cool to go see it and maybe ski in it or watch the winter Olympics, but it aint cool when it falls in your town. Yeah, its pretty and all for about 20 minutes, then try to go somewhere and the roads are all jacked up, everything is closed, and you STILL have to go to work. Maybe back in the day when you got out of school, it was another level of cool on top of the pretty.. but now I have to worry about if the kids will have school or not, and how that affects daycare for us... or if they will get out early, and who will watch them for us if Jessica has to work as well... oh, and then they ever so slight worry of a power outage, and all that goes with it. So.. I dont give a crap if it NEVER snows here again. it can snow up the road all it wants, but the fact that the roads with be treacherous for the next 2 days annoys me. But the kids enjoyed it immensely, playing with the neighbors kids and sliding down the hill toward the creek and all that kids usually do in SNOWSTORMS of the CENTURY....

I think one thing that I found interesting was that after we were able to get my car down, then back up the hill away from my house and parked a quarter mile away so I can go to work tomorrow after all this crap freezes, I walked back in the snow drifts back home and actually had 4 people stop and ask me if I needed a ride. I thought that sorta nice stuff from strangers had completely died away for many reasons... while I turned every offer down ( i was not going to ask any of them to actually drive down the hill then back up it to get to my house), i was pleased that people actually still did that sorta thing.

so... anyways... moving along...

So thanks to Harwood for letting me use his lift again to facilitate an oil change on my Jetta yesterday. Also got my coolant level back up, and saw that my right rear tire was about to shred apart. This led to a last minute trip to walmart to get two new rear tires... happened to run into the frat president and a couple of other brothers. always interesting to hear of their exploits... eventually retrieved my car after observing the full scale panic that is on due to the Snow Storm of the Century that is about to happen here. wait.. didn't that happen a couple weeks ago?

We then had Cubed steak, rice and gravy and biscuits for dinner.... about as complete a dinner as you can get. we then went out with Ryles telescope and looked at stars... actually saw jupiter with uranus in front of it as it was VERY bright in the western sky right now. the telescope Santa brought her for Christmas is more powerful than i imagined it would be... i am looking forward to taking it with us on our upcoming trip...

Today has seen us take down the Christmas tree, and all other decorations. Always kinda sad when that happens as it means a special time is pretty much past and back to the day to day drudgery is upon us... I am now grilling hamburgers for lunch and am pondering if this snow will really be as bad as they say. I am pretty much OVER this snow stuff... it was nice when I was twelve... now all it means is inconvenience, and potential power outages ( and inherent cold )... my workplace doesnt stop for snow. they WILL be open, no matter what and if you dont show up, you get to use up a vacation or personal day, or simply not get paid for the day... oh well..

for some odd reason or another, my son wants me to put back together his bunk bed.. not sure what the allure of a bunk bed is. SO I will have to get that out of the shed this weekend. But the reason I remember this is that every night I go into his room, I find all these books he is reading on the bed.. "Star Wars The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels" is always there these days, but the one that has ALWAYS been there is "My First Bedtime Bible", which I am positive he looks at EVERY night. I am intrigued by this because we are not in any way an overtly religious family and rarely, if ever, see the inside of a church. But I sense that I-Man, way moreso than Ryles, has a spiritual side to him.... which is hard to see when he is calling one of his classmate an "eFF'er" on the playground...

Also gotta try to winterize my car, change the oil, etc. in prep for a Ski Trip next weekend with the family...

2011... lets try again...

Resolutions for 2011...

1) take comprehensive pix of all immediate family members... that would be my wife, I-Man, Ryles, Aunt Ellen, Uncle Wes, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Madison, Uncle Jerry, Grandma, Nana, and Papa. I want to have a solid record of pictures that stand up to scrutiny 10,20 years from now... so that means that if you have some issue with me taking pictures, get over it... in the future, others will be happy that we have a record.

Measurement: A portfolio of photos for everyone for The Holidays

2) Lucha Libre... by November 1st

Measurement: Halloween

3) solidify our family financial plan for the next 10 years... when/where/what are we spending money on, and how....

Measurement: December 31st, take stock of progress

2011?

Resolutions for 2011...

1) Terminate my Dr. Pibb obsession

2) Nacho Libre ... or Ignacio

3) Take the plastic off my Droid ( seriously, I still have the plastic on it after over a year)

ok... so the new year is started. what to do... any resolutions? well, not really, but kinda. any big plans? not really, but kinda.

no huge summer plans for the kids this year, at least right now. I think I am going to try to have the twins spend at least a half week with the grandparents during the summer... and will look to plan a big birthday surprise for them in December...

maybe look to spend less this year and utilize the resources we have accumulated (games, books, skateboards, telescopes, etc.) for fun ideas and activities...