I have a doubleheader today at Motlow, and the forecast is good, so that is good news. Michelle is riding with me, so she can spend the day at their parents' house working on wedding stuff.

Yesterday, we went to the public library. We each picked up a book, mine is on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also got a video on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am sort of reading a book on the scrolls, but it is incessantly boring, so I am not getting very far with it. Maybe the video will be better. I also got several CD's--Elton John, U2, Steely Dan (which is not one person, in case you are wondering), Dwight Yoakam, and Brian Wilson's Smile. All cool. I ripped them all onto my hard drive for later review.

I called Greg Walker's radio show for the first time in what seems like forever yesterday. We ended up talking more about the wedding than we did about sports. Which is how almost all of my conversations go these days. I can't wait for the wedding to be over, if for nothing else than I would like to talk about something else for a change...LOL.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

I have a doubleheader today at Motlow, and the forecast is good, so that is good news. Michelle is riding with me, so she can spend the day at their parents' house working on wedding stuff.

Yesterday, we went to the public library. We each picked up a book, mine is on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also got a video on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am sort of reading a book on the scrolls, but it is incessantly boring, so I am not getting very far with it. Maybe the video will be better. I also got several CD's--Elton John, U2, Steely Dan (which is not one person, in case you are wondering), Dwight Yoakam, and Brian Wilson's Smile. All cool. I ripped them all onto my hard drive for later review.

I called Greg Walker's radio show for the first time in what seems like forever yesterday. We ended up talking more about the wedding than we did about sports. Which is how almost all of my conversations go these days. I can't wait for the wedding to be over, if for nothing else than I would like to talk about something else for a change...LOL.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

I have a doubleheader today at Motlow, and the forecast is good, so that is good news. Michelle is riding with me, so she can spend the day at their parents' house working on wedding stuff.

Yesterday, we went to the public library. We each picked up a book, mine is on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also got a video on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am sort of reading a book on the scrolls, but it is incessantly boring, so I am not getting very far with it. Maybe the video will be better. I also got several CD's--Elton John, U2, Steely Dan (which is not one person, in case you are wondering), Dwight Yoakam, and Brian Wilson's Smile. All cool. I ripped them all onto my hard drive for later review.

I called Greg Walker's radio show for the first time in what seems like forever yesterday. We ended up talking more about the wedding than we did about sports. Which is how almost all of my conversations go these days. I can't wait for the wedding to be over, if for nothing else than I would like to talk about something else for a change...LOL.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

I have a doubleheader today at Motlow, and the forecast is good, so that is good news. Michelle is riding with me, so she can spend the day at their parents' house working on wedding stuff.

Yesterday, we went to the public library. We each picked up a book, mine is on the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I also got a video on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am sort of reading a book on the scrolls, but it is incessantly boring, so I am not getting very far with it. Maybe the video will be better. I also got several CD's--Elton John, U2, Steely Dan (which is not one person, in case you are wondering), Dwight Yoakam, and Brian Wilson's Smile. All cool. I ripped them all onto my hard drive for later review.

I called Greg Walker's radio show for the first time in what seems like forever yesterday. We ended up talking more about the wedding than we did about sports. Which is how almost all of my conversations go these days. I can't wait for the wedding to be over, if for nothing else than I would like to talk about something else for a change...LOL.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

I was supposed to have a doubleheader today at Mid-Continent, but it was rained out. Hopefully, my games tomorrow at Motlow will go as scheduled. Also, I have a conference series this weekend, and I really hope it stays dry for that.

As part of my journey through Holy Week, I finished reading my book about Mel Gibson's Passion film. The book consisted of about 25 essays written by various scholars, theologians, and philosophers, representing many different backgrounds and viewpoints. It was great to read about other peoples' opinions of the controversial film. I also watched a movie about Paul, the apostle. While watching it, I remembered that I had a book called "The Pharisees' Guide to Total Holiness", so I started reading it. I have finished the first three chapters, and since it is relatively short, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week.

Yesterday was simply awesome. After a great worship service, Michelle and I came back to Clarksville for my family's picnic. It was great to see everyone, although I sort of grew tired of fielding questions about the wedding. I just told everyone that I am trying to stay sane, and engaged...LOL.

I woke up today with a bit of a scratchy throat, and I hope it does not progress to anything more. I think it is just the crazy weather. After being 75 degrees Saturday, it has been cold and rainy since yesterday. Boo.

I read where the drummer for the 80s band Crowded House committed suicide over the weekend. I have been listening to their music this morning, although a few minutes ago I qued up some Billy Joel. Cool.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

Hannah Grace Clark was delivered into this world at 7:46 AM today. Michelle and I went by the hospital to visit, and both mother and child are doing well. Papa is as proud as could be. The miracle of birth is a wondrous thing, to be sure.

"But Jesus called for the children, saying, 'Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these children. I tell you the truth, you must accept God as if you were a child, or you will never enter it.'"

Peace...

I've been busy moving more files tonight. I have got almost everything moved. Somehow, in moving everything last night, I lost all my stuff in MS Outlook. All my contacts, address book, and email messages. So, tonight, I did a system restore, and now I have everything back in place. Cool. I was kind of worried there for a while.

It is now 2:30 AM in Knoxville, and I am IMing with a maniacal umpire friend of mine who lives there. Jordan Ferrell is the next coming of the Chris Winn/Mike Clark combo. That guy is falt out nuts about umpiring. He is one of the very few bright young umps we have in the area. We need to develop more guys like him, beacuse Mike and I are not going to be around forever. I enjoy talking with him, and working with him.

While I have been moving files, I have also been backing up all my digital pictures onto CDs. I have filled 4 CDs so far. Probaly have enough pics for about 2 more.

I have also been listening to Eric Clapton for the last 3 hours or so. He is without question my favorite artist of all time. I love all his music--the blues, the pop, the jazz, the country--just all of it. Yippee. It is not often I get a huge block of time free to listen to all his stuff, so I enjoy it when I do. Right now, I am at the beginning of a 13 minute live version of "Old Love". Way cool.

I am going to continue moving stuff, so once again, I hope everyone has a great night.

Peace...

Michelle and I went to the Maundy Thursday service tonight, and it was great. Other than the fact that she is wrecked with sinus problems. Communion was a little weird for me, though, in that I was asked to help serve. Normally when I take communion, I sort of go off into this other place mentally, really focused and self-centered. Helping serve, I did not get this chance. Although it was nice to help others get closer to their faith, so I guess that is just part of being a minister--sacrificing oneself for others.

Michelle and I have been talking about possible baby names. NO, SHE IS NOT PREGNANT AT THIS TIME!!!!!! Although, if the wedding date gets moved up, you may know why---LOL!!

I think we have settled on a boy name--Zephenius Euphrates Winn. We have not quite decided on a girl name as of now.

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Peace...

I have been up all night moving files from my laptop to my desktop. Yes, I am preparing to sell the laptop.

I had planned on moving all my stuff using an ethernet cord, but I could not figure out how to do it. So, I am doing it the slow way, using my jumpdrive--156 MB at a time.

About an hour ago, I thought of the line from the movie "The Sting", where Paul Newman's character made a late-night booty call, and she asked him what he was doing there at that hour. He replied, "It's 2 AM and I don't know nobody". That line inspired Bob Seger to write his hit single, "We've Got Tonight". One of the best lines in the history of cinema.

Peace...

Ever since we last week when we saw the TPAC production of Billy Joel's rock musical "Movin' Out", I have been listening to a lot of his music. I have long been a fan of Billy Joel, but it occured to me that I had not listened to anything of his in a couple of years. I remember that when I was in Youth Group in high school, we listened to and analyized Joel's "Keeping the Faith". I am sure Rusty thought it must have had a religious connection, but when we dissected it, we realized it was basically about growing up, drinking beer with your buddies, and a young man's never-ending quest to get laid. I also remember that was the first and last time we listened to pop music in Youth Group. LOL.

This deer came wandering throught the campground on Saturday. I was standing less than 6 feet from her.

At the youth retreat, I hosted a ping-pong tournament as part of the recreation. Here, Laura Byrd is playing a guy from another church. I beat Laura in the semi-finals, on my way to the championship. I sort of felt bad for winning my own tournament. Sort of.

About 20 hours into the 30 Hour Famine, somehow I was able to smile.

As part of out 30 Hour Famine, one of our fundraisers was a "battle of the coin jars". Michelle and I each had a jar, and we got the youth to donate their change. I agreed to shave my legs if Michelle had won. Michelle agreed to drink a "Fear Factor"-type concoction if she lost (which she did). I, however, waived her penalty and did not make her do anything crazy.

(L-R) Amber, Melinda, and Amanda strike a pose.

We had an Easter egg hunt after church last Sunday. Jack decided to take inventory of his basket.

The baseball tournament this weekend was wild. I had a really tough time finding enough umpires to work all the games. In fact, as of 11:00 Saturday night, I was one guy short for Sunday's games. Someone who I doid not know referred someone else I did not know to me, and I figured since he was apparently breathing, he was OK. My standards at that point were not too high. LOL. Seriously, though, I got a lot of positive comments from the tournament directors about the umpiring. He must not have heard from the Murray (KY) Bucs, because they thought I was an embarrassment to the game. LOL. In fact, Michelle got into a bit of an altercation with some of their fans. She had stopped by the park for a few minutes Saturday night, and I made a call that went against them, and when they got on me, she let them know that she was not going to stand for that. LOL. Really, though, everything went fine.

Mike Clark's wife Dana is due to give birth any day now. This will be child #3, and daughter #1. I told Mike he will need to get another job in order to pay for everything. I think that would be job #7 for him. LOL.

I am supposed to have a game at Station Camp HS in Gallatin this afternoon, but the weather has been ominous all day, so I am not sure if we will play or not. Hopefully we will.

Easter is approaching, and I am real excited. We are having services on this Thursday and Friday, and I have some scripture I will be reading during the services. That will be fun.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

I can report that country-rock is alive and well. The show last night was simply incredible. WOW. We had a super-duper good time. The show was ultra-high energy, and long (although we didn't complain). I think Urban played for about 2.5 hours. He was simply amazing. And the fact that we were at the Ryman didn't hurt. It was my first time ever seeing a show there, although I came close to seeing Steve Winwood there last year. I suddenly realized that the day of the Winwood show was the day I had promised to take the youth group to see Third Day on the other side of town. So, I sold my Winwood tickets, and went to Third Day. Had a great time there, too.

Anyway, before the show, we ate at Mellow Mushroom. I have walked through downtown Detroit at night, and I can say that when I did that, I was not as scared as when we were eating at Mellow Mushroom. I can see why it's my sister's favorite place. I bet all the people who eat and work there listen to Mars Volta. LOL. The wireless internet was nice, though.

Anyway, what is the deal with Wendy's and their evil tendency to have cars towed away? My sister parked at a Wendy's in Knoxville, and got her car towed. We were going to park in Wendy's lot next to MM, but a sign on the MM door said that any car parked there would most definitely get towed. Jeez. So, I pulled around to MM, and had the valet park it. This was scary, since the valet guys were throwing football in the street at the time, not really in tune with their jobs. Jeez.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. By the way, I still need two umpires for Sunday afternoon. If you can breathe, you can umpire for me Sunday.

Peace...

It has been a long time since I posted, so I am not sure if I can remember everything that has happened in the interim.

Last Thursday, I had a game at Sewanee, which was something to behold. Neither team had any pitching at all, and neither had much defense either. The final score was 10-9, and the only thing that kept it from getting worse was the fact that neither team could run the bases well. There were several baserunning mistakes, and tons of double plays. Oh well. I guess the funniest part was that my lineup cards looked like jigsaw puzzles, due to all the substitutions. Piedmont, the visiting team, made 8 or 9 substitutions during the game. Jeez. One of their subs' last name had about 7 syllables, so the coach just told me the number and we left it at that. I remarked that having a name like that must be really tough on the first day of school every year. The coach started laughing like crazy, which lightened the mood a little.

After the game, I drove back to Tullahoma to Michelle's parents' I can't quite bring myself to say "in-laws" yet, but it will come eventually. I am at a stage now where I am not sure what to call them, Mr. and Mrs. Swift, or by their first names. So, I just don't address them by any name.) house After a nice dinner, I repaired to the TV room to watch the OC. I have never watched OC before, but since the world premier of the trailer for Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith was going to be played during one of the commercial breaks, I certainly did not want to miss it. During the show, I tried in vain to get my laptop hooked up to their wireless network, but to no avail. I went downstairs for a few minutes to get Michael's help, but neither of us could get it figured out. I ended up spending more time down there that I had planned, and I thought I may have missed the trailer. Michelle pointed out that it was probably going to air at the tail end of the show, so I relaxed a bit. Indeed, that is when it aired. It looked really cool. I am really excited about the movie, although not excited enough to stand in line for days or weeks to see it. I have read where there are people who are already standing in line, and have been for months. Jeez, get a life. I have too many important things to do.
We spent the day at the house, getting stuff ready for a yard sale. We are looking to unload some stuff before we move to Memphis, so a yard sale seems like a good idea. I have never known if yard sales are a southern thing, or if people all over the country have them. Anyway, we will be having at least one, and probably more.
We left her house in the afternoon, heading for the church. The trip was smooth, and we made good time. Which, if you remember the Seinfeld episode, is all that counts. It doesn’t matter if you actually know where you are going, as long as you are making good time. LOL.

Anyway, we got to the church, and got things ready to go. The trip to the campground was uneventful and smooth, which was exactly what I was looking for. We stopped at the Bellevue exit to pick up one kid (it was a pre-arranged deal to pick him up--he wasn't a hitchhiker). We got registered smoothly, and immediately proceeded to the weekend's first event.

I gave the message Friday night, and I didn't really think it was all that great. I don't really know what went wrong. I felt I was well-prepared, but it just didn't feel good. Several people told me afterward that they thought it was fine, but people always say that. Anyway, my cousin Paula gave the message on Sunday morning, and it was fantastic. About 20-25 young people came forward to accept Christ as their savior. It was an awesome sight. In fact, in all the camps and retreats I have been to, I have never seen anything like it. It was way cool to see young people making the most critical decision of their lives.

When we got back to Clarksville, we had to go to the Tobin's (the family Michelle works for), because they were in new York and Michelle had the kids until they got home Tuesday. I spent the night there each night just to house-sit, and to give a manly presence. I grilled burgers Sunday night, and we all had a great time.

Tuesday night, we went to TPAC to see the production of Billy Joel's Broadway rock musical, "Movin' Out". Michelle and I both had an incredible time; I told her afterward that it was one of the best dates we had ever been on. It was so cool.

Last night, a couple we know went, so it will be interesting to hear of their thoughts.

As were going to TPAC, we passed by the Ryman. We saw two guys with guitars heading inside, and we deducted that they must be with Keith Urban's band, since Urban is playing the first of three shows there tonight. Which will explain where we will be tonight--yes, we going to see Keith Urban at the Ryman!! YAY!! He is Michelle's absolute favorite artist right now, and I think he is great, too. So, we are mega-hyped. He is playing 3 shows, which all sold out in about 20 minutes. We were lucky to get seats, and they are not bad seats at that--20th row.

I have spent all week scheduling umpires for two tournaments this weekend. It has been tough finding guys who want to work--I don't really know why. Oh well, I have got most of it taken care of, and the rest will come together tonight. I emailed one guy to let him know who his partner was, and he emailed me back, saying "Sorry--I don't work with black people". I immediately was like "What the fuck?!?!" I stomped around, really pissed, for a while, and trying to think of what I wanted to do. I was oh-so-close to canceling that guy's entire schedule for the weekend, but I decided to just move him to another field where he would work with a different partner. I emailed him back to let him know that what he had said was one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard, and that I was moving him to a different field. He came back saying that he was just joking, that he was black, and that the other guy was one of his best friends. Jeez, they really had me going for a while. Maybe I need to lighten up. Man. We all had a good chuckle about it last night, so all is well.

Today, Michelle has a doctor's appointment, and I am hanging out at Grinder's. I am working on some church stuff, some baseball stuff, and some fun stuff. I would like everyone to know that when I say I am hanging out, that can be read to say that I am working on stuff. Just because someone doesn't go to an office every day, doesn't mean they don't work. My brother Steve and I have never been real fond of positions where clocking in and out is involved. We prefer to work on our own, and it seems to work for us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Peace...

This is a list of the top 100 banned books of all time that I got from Boston Ellen's blog. Selections in bold are books I have read entirely, selections in italics are books I have read at least a part of. Selections underlined are books I would like to read in the future.

I have seen other lists similar to this, but I am not sure who compiled this list.

Michelle and I have made a decision to stock our home with books. We want to share our love of reading classic literature with our children. I also want my son to have a 97-MPH fastball, but we will see how that works out. LOL.



#1 The Bible
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
#11 The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli_
#12 Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker
#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Das Capital by Karl Marx
#37 Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchel
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair_
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque_
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak_
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller_
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X_
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence_
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
#75 Separate Peace by John Knowles_
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath_
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov_
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner_
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess_
#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Emile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Emile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes_

Yesterday's doubleheader at Cumberland was interesting. Ominous clouds hung overhead all day, but the rain held off until just after we got done. So, that was cool. We had some fireworks after the 6th inning. A player for Columbia St. got picked off to end the inning, and had a few choice words for my partner, such as "you fucking suck", and so forth. So, my partner immediately ejected him. Columbia St. is a JUCO team, and Cumberland is NAIA, and the two organizations have some rules that vary. Such as, in NAIA, when a player is ejected from a game, he must sit out the next game. However, when we met at home plate for the second game, this player was in the lineup. I was really hoping the Columbia St. coach would not go nuts, and thankfully he didn't. He just changed the lineup, and told the player to go sit in the bus. The second game went off without a hitch.

My middle school games today were cancelled, so that was a bummer.

This morning, I took my truck to Midas to get a new muffler put on. My old muffler fell off a while ago, so I was glad that I had a lifetime warranty on it. Cool.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

The 2006 Honda Ridgeline. Sweeeeeet.

Car shopping when you know you are not going to actually buy a car is fun. Michelle and I went to the Honda and Nissan dealerships here in town to look at trucks.

First we went to Jenkins and Wynne Honda/Ford/Lincoln/Mercury/Everything else not named Chevrolet or Dodge on College Street. We looked at the new Honda Ridgeline. We LOVED it!! I think in a few years when we are ready to buy a new vehicle, this may be the one we get. It will certainly get a great deal of our attention. Our friendly salesman, Brad, was happy to let us take it for a spin. Michelle really liked it because even though it's a truck, it rides so much like a car that she is comfortable driving it. It has some really innovative features that no other truck has-- such as a unibody frame, an under-bed trunk, and a bed door that opens two ways. It also is normally front-wheel drive, except for when it needs to, it can go into 4x4 mode automatically. Cool. We really enjoyed the test drive.

After we left, we went to Matthews Nissan on Riverside Dr. We asked to speak with Jesse Johnson, but we were told that he now work at the Suzuki dealership. So, we spoke with Amber, who was glad to show us the new Titan truck. We took it for a test drive, and enjoyed it, too. Just not as much as the Honda. In fact, not nearly as much. The Nissan had a really cool feature in that the bed is extremely versatile. It can be configured to hold just about anything, large or small. We did not, however, enjoy the quality of ride as much as we did in the Honda.

All in all, today was a lot of fun. We may have to do this again sometime. LOL.

Peace...

Last night, Michelle and I went to see James Cameron's new film, "Aliens of the Deep", in IMAX 3D. We had tried to see it once before, but the projector broke during the first preview. This time, it went off without a hitch.

I remember reading an article several years ago where an astronaut said that after he had seen the earth from outer space, he could not understand how anyone could not believe it God. During the film last night, that thought kept reverberating through my mind. To know that there is life at over 3,000 feet below the surface of the ocean is mind-boggling. How do creatures live in icy-cold water, mere inches from volcanic plumes shooting out gases at incredibly high temperatures? I dunno. The thesis of the film seemed to be "Before we start seeking other life forms on other planets, let's research what we have here on earth." I sort of agree with that, although Leif Eriksson and Christopher Columbus would have never made it out of their harbors if they had adopted that mantra. Explorers explore; that is that they do.

Anyway, it was an incredible film, and I am glad we could see it together. When we go to Boston, we are going on a whale-watching tour, and afterward we are going to see an IMAX film. I am not sure what it will be, but I hope it will be something scientific like what we saw last night.

The last couple of days have been "car days", meaning I have been doing a lot of work on my truck. I have installed a new fuel filter, PCV valve, changed the oil, and installed 5 new spark plugs. The reason I only installed 5 plugs in a 6-plug engine is that neither Steve not I could get the 6th plug out of its socket. It is at a really weird angle, almost impossible to reach. Even after we got our wrench on it, it was seized up and would not move. So, I am going to go to a shop and see how much it costs to remove 1 spark plug. Jeez.

I really enjoyed working on the truck, and I am glad I got a lot done. Next week, I am going to flush the coolant system. It desperately needs it. After that, I think I will be in good shape for summer. Except that I need new tires. Oh well, there is always something to do.

My sermon for Sunday is complete, although every time I look at it, I tweak it a little. I am never really satisfied with any of my sermons--I am my own worst critic. I hope it turns out OK. Hopefully, it won't be too long. Last time, I had some complaints about the length. Everyone wants to beat the Baptists to the restaurants, so anything past noon and people start getting nervous.

Monday, I have a game at Cumberland University in Lebanon. Tennessee, not Middle East. LOL. Actually, this is a make-up game of the game that got rained out last Monday. Except that it is supposed to rain again. Oh well, we will see how it goes. Hopefully, the rain will hold off. Tuesday, I have a middle school game, then Thursday I have a game at Motlow. Friday, we leave for the retreat. I am giving the sermon on Friday night, so I need to go ahead and finish it up soon. I think I will work on that in a while.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Peace...

I just re-installed Mozilla 1.7.5, and somehow my previous settings, including my bookmarks, miracled themelsves back into my world. Cool. Sweeeeeet. I was having too many compatibility issues with Firefox, so I am glad things are back to normal.

Peace...

I downloaded and installed Firefox a couple of days ago, and I am having some problems. My first problem is that I uninstalled Mozilla before I downloaded Firefox. So, I lost all of my bookmarks. That sucks. Second, I cannot log into Blogger with Firefox, so I am having to use IE. Gotta hate that.

The famine last weekend went exceedingly well. It was such a good idea to send the kids home Friday night, instead of having a lock-in like last year. I wanted to let them be miserable at home instead of with me. LOL. **pats on back** I think everyone had a good experience, which was the point. Also, we raised about $900 for World Vision, which exceeded my wildest expectations. Cool. We had a lot of fun doing random acts of kindness on Saturday afternoon, and watched the saddest movie ever (Pay it Forward) after that. Then, we broke the fast, and everyone was glad to get to eat.

I am preaching at Mt. Denson this Sunday, then at the youth retreat next Friday night. I have all of Sunday's sermon completed, and I am still working on Friday's.

Monday, I was supposed to have a game at Cumberland University, but it was rained out. Michelle had won a gift certificate to a bridal shop in Cumberland, so we had been looking forward to going there for about 2 months. So, even though I had no game, we went to Lebanon anyway. The name of the bridal shop is "The White Room", so as we walked in I played a power chord on my air guitar, and started singing Cream's "White Room". The manager was old enough to know what I was talking about, but the 16 pageant queen who was skipping school to try on dresses just gave me the wierdest look ever. LOL. That was funny. I keep hoping if I embarrass Michelle enough times, she may eventually leave me at home when she goes shopping. LOL.

My next baseball game is not until next Thursday, at Sewanee. Michelle is going to ride with me, and I am going to drop her off at her parents' house so she and her mother can work on some wedding stuff. Hopefully everyone will be in a better mood than a couple of weeks ago when they went dress shopping for the bridesmaids. We are going to spend the night there, then head back to the church on Friday afternoon to hook up with the kids for the retreat. This next ten days or so will be busy indeed.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...