Normally, most mornings find me rising near the crack of dawn, to get in some early work before class. And, most mornings find Michelle staying in bed another hour or two until she needs to go to work. However, this morning found her rising in the dark to go to an extra nannying job she picked up, before her regular gig mid-morning. This morning found me lounging in bed lazily surfing the net, reading the news and altogether enjoying some quiet time. Western Philosophy is at 9:40, so I am starting to feel the itch to get up and get ready...I am also jonesing for some breakfast.

Yesterday, I had two meetings that were wholly unrelated (ed. Note: I think it had been at least a year since I had used the word wholly, until I was doing some writing last night and it came out of me. I decided to try to incorporate it into my vernacular.), and completely disparate in their outcomes. Meeting number 1 was a complete waste of time, whilst meeting #2 was an hour of solving problems and working through issues. Cool.

Yesterday was also our 6-month anniversary. Michelle had a Mary-Kay meeting last night, and I went to Atlanta Bread Company to have some caramel machiatto and to start my Ethics paper 1.1. Michelle has a lead box at ABC, so I checked it, and it had almost 10 leads in it :) She is doing real well in her Mary Kay business, and last night we talked about the feasibility of her only doing that after her nanny gig comes to an end in a few months. I left ABC and stopped to get some flowers and a card. I was hoping to get home before she did, but alas she beat me home. Anyway, I presented the flowers and card to her, and was she very appreciative.

The reason that the paper is numbered 1.1 is because every student is required to re-write all of their papers, so instead of 4 papers, I will in effect be writing 8 papers. Plus a mid-term and final, 1 in-class presentation, and a reading journal. This ethics class is insane. LOL.

Yesterday in film class, we watched Total Recall, one of the best sci-fi movies ever. Then we talked about whether we can differentiate between the reality of our dreams and the reality of our awake periods. Descartes worked on this issue. The prof and I had a nice conversation after class, and after I told him I am a philosophy major he got real excited. We talked about the philosophy classes I have had, and he said that the film class was "philosophy light", meaning that it should be easy. I sort of thought that myself, but obviously would not have said it. Of course, I never think any class is easy, because if I did, I would probably slack off. So, I convince myself that every class is the hardest class I have ever had, so I will work hard and not screw up.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

We got back to Memphis last night about 9:30, and we were exhausted. It was a great weekend!!

My umpiring camp went great. I feel I learned a couple of new things, and I also did some good networking. Attending this camp definitely helped me in many ways.

Saturday night, we hooked up with my sister Jessica, and went to a party hosted by some of her friends. It was some of the most fun Michelle and I have had in a long time. The house was huge, so the large crowd did not seem too big. Some of us were playing cranium, and someone had to draw a picture blindfolded, while her teammate had to guess what she was drawing. Ernie said, "You must use the Force." Probably the funniest thing said all night. Except for when we were explaining wardriving to Michelle, and she inquired why it is called that--and Ernie said, "Because 'wee-fee driving' just doesn't sound as good." Funny guy.

The one thing that struck me most about Jessica's friends was how they accepted Michelle and I, and Jonathan and Kimmie, without any reservations at all. It was one of the most easy-going groups I have ever encountered. Truly great. Definitely one of the most eclectic groups of geeks I have ever seen--I counted at least 3 desktop PC's in the house, at least 1 laptop in use, about 20 Xboxes, a PS2, and at least 1 handheld gaming unit. And don't even ask me about the chess match going on in the den. An unconfirmed report said the loser was to forfeit one appendage.

Sunday, after I got done with baseball stuff, we went to the hospital to see my cousin Claire. It was really sad to see her hooked up to so many machines, and being extremely uncomfortable. She was wriggling around trying to find a comfortable position, which was impossible with all the tubes coming out of her. We talked with Patricia, Paula, and George for quite a while, and they seemed upbeat. Claire is having another surgery this morning, then another one next week, and if things go well she should be able to go home the week after that. Only time will tell how much she can recover. I told Patricia and Paula that it certainly is not fair for any of them to have to go through this, and that everything happens for a reason. We do not always know why things happen the way they do, but the answers are usually revealed to us later. At least, that is my belief.

We stopped for lunch at the Panera on the strip in Knoxville before leaving town, and it was great. That is Michelle's favorite place to eat in the whole world, so whenever we are in a city with one, we are obligated to stop there. I enjoyed being able to be online after a couple of days of not using a computer. I was starting to get the DT's.

I-440 in Nashville has consistently been on of the deadliest highways in America, and for good reason. When traveling west-bound around 4:30-5:00, drivers stare straight into a blinding sun. I felt fortunate to get through it alive. It was only mildly appropriate that as we were negotiating the sun, Jackson Browne's "Runnin on Empty" came on the radio, where Brown memtions 'running into the sun'. Cool stuff.

We ate dinner at the O'Charley's near Bellvue mall on the way through Nashville. I told the waiter that it was our anniversary, and that might have technically been true since today is our 6-month anniversary...LOL. Michelle has to work tonight and I have film class in the afternoon, so last night was our celebration. We enjoyed a great meal, followed by free dessert, and then made our way back home. Although we really appreciated Jonathan and Kimmie's hospitality, it was good to sleep in our own bed again. I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to tackle the day.

This morning, I have a meeting with the Assistant Director of Housing to discuss the ongoing parking issues here on our cove. I am sure that it will be a complete wasted of time. At 1, I have a work meeting to go to, then Philosophy in Film class from 2:30-5:30. We are watching "Total Recall" today, then tying it into Descartes' discourse on what is real vs. what it not real. It should be a lot of fun. I saw the movie once several years ago, but do not remember much about it.

I am continuing preparations for my Israel trip. This morning I made arrangements to rent a cell phone while I am there, so I will have contact with friends and family back home. When I get the number, I will post it here for those that are interested. Also, as part of the trip, I will be required to keep a journal, then submit it for review. I have decided to set up a separate blog for this purpose. When I get it up and running, I will post a link on this site. What I have in mind is making nightly entries into a Word document, then sporadically posting them while I on the trip. If I have more regular internet access, I may be able to post the entries more often.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

Here is my flight/hotel info for my trip to Israel:

Departure:

4 March, 7:15 p.m. on NW #58, arrive in Amsterdam at 11:05 a.m., 5 March

5 March, 7:45 p.m. on NW # 8365, arrive in Tel Aviv at 1:15 a.m., 6 March

Return:

13 March, 5:40 a.m. on NW 8352, arrive in Amsterdam at 9:50 a.m.

13 March, 2:10 p.m. on NW 57, arrive in Memphis at 5:05 p.m. (on the 13th)

Hotel Info:

March 6-7:

Tal Hotel
287 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv
Phone: 972-3-5425500
Fax: 972-3-5425501

March 7-8:

Lavi Guest House
Kibbutz Lavi
Lower Galilee
Phone: 972-4-6799450
Fax: 972-4-6799399

March 8-13:

King Solomon Hotel
32 King David Street, Jerusalem
Phone: 972-2-5695555
Fax: 972-2-6241774

Peace...

Tax dollars at work

My Israel trip group was supposed to have its first meeting of the semester tonight, but the professor got an infection from a recent outpatient surgery as is still recovering, so the meeting was cancelled. Which leaves me only slightly bummed, since, 1) I hate meetings, 2) This will allow me to do some work on other stuff. Although, it would have been nice to meet the people who are going on the trip. Of the 20 students going, I know only one of them. He was the Grad Assistant in my Jewish Thought class last semester.

I have a meeting with the Assistant Housing Director next Monday at 11:00 AM to discuss the recent issues in my area. I am sure that it will be a complete waste of time.

This weekend promises to be exciting. Michelle and I are going to Knoxville, mostly because I have a baseball umpires' training camp, and partly because her best friend lives there. We also will get to see my sister Jessica, and hopefully dominate some of the games at her board game party Saturday night. We also are going to try to see my cousin Claire, who has been in the hospital battling a brain tumor and all its complications. I hope that she will be well enough to see us.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

Philosophy in Film class is going to be really cool. Some of the movies we will watch, I have already seen. Others, I have not. I really like how the syllabus lays out the themes we will discuss from each film, and the assigned readings. I am going to love this class.

I have spent the past 2 hours doing my Spanish homework online. Nothing more is due until Feb. 3. Cool.

When Michelle gets back from her Mary Kay meeting in about 30 minutes, we are going to watch Caddyshack, which might be the funniest movie ever made. I told her it's a travesty that she has never seen it, so she rented it. Cool. I also think it's a travesty that I do not own it...LOL. Maybe that will be the next one I buy. Although my media purchasing is now geared more toward music, since there are about 5 new CD's that I want and do not have. I hope to get some/all of them soon. Train's new CD is released Jan. 31 (I think), so I am excited. I love me some train!

I got some work done on my sermon, so that is uplifting. In fact, I even emailed the church secretary the title of the sermon, although that usually changes several times. Sometimes, it changes the night before I am to deliver it, so it unnerves me a bit to submit it so early. LOL.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

Today will be a great day to get a lot of work done. I have a good game plan for the week, so I just want to make sure I stay on track and get done the things I need to. Which includes a ton of reading. I will be reading more this semester than any other previous semester. I'm gonna start this morning with some Descartes; one of the biggies. Then on to my ethics book, then some stuff for the Israel trip. After lunch, I need to go to the public library to return a book. Tonight, I am gonna do some Spanish. Oh, yeah--and my philosophy in film class meets today from 2:30 to 5:30. That should be interesting.

Oh, and another thing. At some point, I need to write a sermon for Febuary 12.

Is it possible to be overwhelmed in the second week of the semester?

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

I am looking forward to a solid 2 hour block of reading before I get to work. I do not feel I got much done this week, so I need to catch up. Laundry can wait. My clothes don't smell too bad. Yet.

Peace...

"When I was teaching at a Methodist Children's choir in Maryland, I was moonlighting between the church and Pat Benatar concerts. I remember an old lady in the church, whose mouth was always in the shape of a sour prune, demanding that I tell her why I was dressed in the vulgar manner that I was. I put my hand over my heart and said, "I pledge allegiance to the microphone of the Pat Benatar wannabes of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one black teddy, under goddess, with lingerie and bodice for all.'"

--Tori Amos (April '99)

School is in Session

Obviously, I have not posted in quite some time. Given all of the recent happenings in my life, this may be a lengthy post.

Last week, we were accused by one of our neighbors of having a dog living with us, which would be a violation of our lease. This was so absurd that I should not have even given it a second thought. Which sounds good, except that I completely blew up and went nuts. I called the Assistant Director, and told her that we would welcome any inspection. I also told her that what was bothered me most was that, according to the notification letter that she had sent us, we were already guilty in her mind. How can one person's allegation make us guilty, with no investigation or inspection? So, she came yesterday to inspect, and of course, found no evidence of a dog. Unfortunately, I was not at home, and she copped an attitude with Michelle.

We think the accuser is the same woman that we filed a complaint about in regards to her parking habits. So, if it is indeed her, she must still be in the third grade. Jeez. Why can't people just live and let live? In an interesting twist to the story, a dog has indeed been seen several times in the past week or so, so I asked one of the neighborhood kids if he knew where it lived. He said, "Sure, it belongs to the people that live next to me". So I asked him to show me where he lives, and he did. I have not decided whether to file a complaint or not, although I lean strongly toward not. The dog doesn't bother me, so it's no big deal.

What a great way to start the first week of the semester. Yesterday was the first day of class, so not much happened. Except that both of my professors specifically said that their classes were going to be extremely difficult. I had never had any professor just come out and say that, so to have 2 in the same day was a little unnerving. Anyway, the way I see it, if the work-benefit ratio is good, then I do not mind. I just hate working hard in a class that I don't get much out of. From the looks of it, I should learn a lot of interesting stuff in both of yesterday' classes, so it's no big deal.

I only had one class today, which was Math. This is the first math class I have taken in quite some time, so I am a little nervous. However, the professor said that since this is a math theory class, it will be different than most. It will not be linear, with each unit building upon the previous material. One unit is on logic, which is something that I sort of specialize in, so that unit should be a breeze. The others will be more difficult, I am sure. I bought the wrong book, so I am going to the bookstore later today to exchange it for the correct one.

My philosophy in film class only meets on Mondays, albeit for 3 hours each session. So, I have no idea as of now what we will be doing in there. Normally, I try to get the syllabus for each of my classes early, before the semester starts, but this time I did not. So, I will find out next Monday which films we will be studying.

One of the books I bought on eBay for my western philosophy class has not come yet, and since I am supposed to read 55 pages for tomorrow, I am going to buy it at the bookstore, then return it when the eBay book gets here. I certainly do not want to fall 55 pages behind.

Michelle was in a car accident Monday night. She and her Mary Kay partner were heading to a meeting, and were rear-ended at a stoplight. She is still quite sore, but is feeling better today. She did not work yesterday, but she going this afternoon. So, that is good. Also, she went to the doctor a few days ago, and received some really encouraging news. So, that is good, too. :)

I have a baseball meeting tonight, so I am going to try to get as much school work done as I can before then. I am going to update my calendar, then make a game plan for the next week or so, then eat some lunch, then head to the bookstore, then the library. Sounds like a good plan. Let me ask, does anyone actually look at my calendar? A link is located in the left margin of your screen, near the top. I put it there so people can know where I am and what I am doing if they so desire. Does anyone desire?

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

This is my 200th post since I accidentally deleted the blog in October 2003.

Saturday, Michelle and I struck an interesting compromise. The Redskins game started at 3:30, and I was supposed to get off work at 4:00. Michelle desperately wanted to leave for Tullahoma as soon as I got home. So, I proposed that we leave shortly after I got home, then stop in Jackson, TN around 5:00 for an early dinner at a place where I could watch the second half of the game. She agreed, and as a bonus, she reminded me that we had a gift card for Chili's, which would have TV's in the bar. So, we sat down in Chili's shortly after the second half began, and I was able to watch the rest of the game. Truth be told, I almost knocked over a waitress when the Redskins sealed the win at the end...LOL. There were a lot of other Redskins fans there, and some Tampa Bay fans, so it was a nice environment to watch the game. I was glad that the Skins won, and now it is on to Seattle this Saturday. I get off work at 3, and the game starts at 3:30, so I should be home just as the game starts. YAY!

We spent the weekend at Michelle's parents' house in Tullahoma, and had a nice time. I spent Sunday doing essentially nothing, with naps interrupted by periods of watching football. Meanwhile, there was a Mary Kay party downstairs, with all the ladies getting dolled up. It occurred to me that this was the first time since we have been married that I have had an entire afternoon to myself, able to do whatever I wanted. This revelation made me feel sort of guilty for wasting it. I will do better next time.

Today, I have been working on my sermon for February 12. I am excited about speaking at Clarksville church again. I am not nearly as nervous as I was the first time. Hopefully, it will go well. It will be great to see my family, and celebrate "Christmas" with them...LOL.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

I was recently asked to preach at the Clarksville church on Feb. 12. It will be, needless to say, quite exciting. It will also be great to be back in Clarksville that weekend.

I have started reading my books for the Israel trip. Deep. Very deep stuff.

One of my co-workers was involved a horrific car wreck on Monday night. The other driver crossed the center line, and hit my friend head-on. John is in really bad shape, with injuries to almost every part of his body. I was told that almost every bone in his head is broken. Please pray for him and his family.

We finally got both the phones in the apartment working. We have only had intermittent phone access for the past several weeks. As of this writing, both phones are working properly.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

Yesterday was quite wonderful; a great way to start the new year. We cleaned the apartment from top to bottom, so now it looks really good. It is almost impossible to do any cleaning in December, so the place had started to look pretty rough.

After cleaning, I grilled some steaks and corn on the cob for lunch. Mmmmmmm good.

Later in the afternoon, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Redskins play the Eagles. Michelle was supposed to have a Mary Kay appointment during that time, but her people failed to show up. So, she came over and met me, and we enjoyed eating some greasy chicken wings...LOL. Also, the Redskins won the game, so I was ultra-hyped. They play their first playoff game this Saturday, so I will get to watch it before we leave for Tullahoma.

Today, I am going to Home Depot to get some screws in order to hang up a new shelf we bought recently. Saturday, it occurred to me that an empty shelf does not look so good, so I surprised her with a Precious Moments figurine. She was quite happy.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...