I worked a JV game tonight in downtown Memphis, which would have been uneventful if not for the trip there. I had never been to this stadium before, so I consulted Mapquest ahead of time. When I exited the interstate, Mapquest directed me to turn left, so I did. I continued down that road for a while, until I crossed the FRIGGING MISSISSPPI RIVER! Jeez. After a couple of minutes of breathing Arkansas air, I turned around. Once I got back to the interstate exit, I realized I should have initially turned right instead of left. Mapquest has steerd me wrong several times recently, and I am getting tired of it.
Alex goes to daycare tomorrow for the first time, and Michelle and I are kind of freaking out a bit. She is going back to work next week, and we wanted him to try to get used to being with other people. A friend of ours will be watching him in her home, along with two other kids.
My classes are really tough this semester, and although I am taking fewer hours than I did last semester, I am having to work a lot harder. Tomorrow is going to be a little fun, since I am the liturgist at morning chapel. One of my professors is the speaker for the day. I am looking forward to the service.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Monday, September 24, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Alex went to the doctor today for his 4-month checkup, and did fine. He weighed in at 10 lbs., 8 oz, and is 23.5 inches long. He got a clean bill of health, and several shots. The shots make him feel weird for a couple of days, but he will be fine.
I am having some tests run tomorrow, so today I am having to fast. That is no fun. I have not eaten since about 11:30 last night, and I am hungry! Oh well, this too shall pass.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
I am having some tests run tomorrow, so today I am having to fast. That is no fun. I have not eaten since about 11:30 last night, and I am hungry! Oh well, this too shall pass.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Monday, September 17, 2007
Post #400 since I accidentally erased the blog a few years ago...
My football game tonight was brutal. I think the final score was 42-6. When the score is like that, and the losing team is on my side of the field, it is a long night. To make it longer, i got lost on the way home and finding my way added about 20 minutes to the drive.
I wore a heavy brace on my right knee tonight due to the pain I am having. About 5 plays or so after the start of the game, I felt my knee pop really bad, and I was in pain the rest of the night. However, it never popped again, which was good. I also strained my right calf a little. I chalk that up to the fact that I did not get to stretch much before the game. That was due to the presence of a supervisor, who was there to watch me and the rest of my crew. He wanted to talk before the game, so I only stretched for about 2 minutes. I am going to rest the next couple of days, until Thursday night when I have another game.
Michelle is not much better. We think she is going to the doctor tomorrow, but are unsure. They need to review her charts from the ER visit Sunday before they see her. So, we'll see how it goes.
I am excited about KT Tunstall's new album, which is being released on Tuesday. Also, Pat Monahan, lead singer for the group Train, has a solo record coming out. I also pre-ordered the Eagles' new album a few weeks ago. The first single sounds like vintage country-rock, and I have been enjoying it.
I ordered a funny T-shirt recently. It shows a Venn diagram, with the vowels A,E,I,O, and U in the left circle, and all the consonants in the right circle. The middle (intersection) area contains a Y. So geeky, I could not resist.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
My football game tonight was brutal. I think the final score was 42-6. When the score is like that, and the losing team is on my side of the field, it is a long night. To make it longer, i got lost on the way home and finding my way added about 20 minutes to the drive.
I wore a heavy brace on my right knee tonight due to the pain I am having. About 5 plays or so after the start of the game, I felt my knee pop really bad, and I was in pain the rest of the night. However, it never popped again, which was good. I also strained my right calf a little. I chalk that up to the fact that I did not get to stretch much before the game. That was due to the presence of a supervisor, who was there to watch me and the rest of my crew. He wanted to talk before the game, so I only stretched for about 2 minutes. I am going to rest the next couple of days, until Thursday night when I have another game.
Michelle is not much better. We think she is going to the doctor tomorrow, but are unsure. They need to review her charts from the ER visit Sunday before they see her. So, we'll see how it goes.
I am excited about KT Tunstall's new album, which is being released on Tuesday. Also, Pat Monahan, lead singer for the group Train, has a solo record coming out. I also pre-ordered the Eagles' new album a few weeks ago. The first single sounds like vintage country-rock, and I have been enjoying it.
I ordered a funny T-shirt recently. It shows a Venn diagram, with the vowels A,E,I,O, and U in the left circle, and all the consonants in the right circle. The middle (intersection) area contains a Y. So geeky, I could not resist.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Saturday, September 15, 2007
I forgot to mention earlier that Alex has started sleeping in his own bed, in his room. Woo! Yay for me being able to sleep in MY own bed again! I had been sleeping on the couch for the past 3 months or so, and Alex had been sleeping in our bed, ever since he came home from the hospital. It's super-nice to be back in the bead again.
My football game Friday night was a lot of fun. My crew met at a central location, and rode together. In the course of the conversation along the way, it was revealed that one of my partners used to be a professional wrestler. LOL. He told some hilarious stories. The game wore me out, since the crown of the field was high enough to bury a vehicle or two. Every football field has a crown in the middle, which means the center of the field is a little higher than the sidelines. This is so rain can drain off the field. Usually, the crown is about a foot or so, but on this field, it had to have been at least 10 feet. It seemed like I must have run up and down that hill about 3,000 times. The game also went 2 overtimes, so I did not get back home until nearly midnight. Then I was up at the crack of dawn to work 4 flag-football games with 1st and 2nd graders. That was hilarious, except that by the end of the day my knee was killing me. It's still popping every time I move it. I'm gonna have serious trouble at some point, but I have been saying that for several years, so I just keep on trucking.
Michelle continues to have problems with her legs. The swelling seems to be getting worse. I think she will call the doctor again on Monday to see if there is anything we can do.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
My football game Friday night was a lot of fun. My crew met at a central location, and rode together. In the course of the conversation along the way, it was revealed that one of my partners used to be a professional wrestler. LOL. He told some hilarious stories. The game wore me out, since the crown of the field was high enough to bury a vehicle or two. Every football field has a crown in the middle, which means the center of the field is a little higher than the sidelines. This is so rain can drain off the field. Usually, the crown is about a foot or so, but on this field, it had to have been at least 10 feet. It seemed like I must have run up and down that hill about 3,000 times. The game also went 2 overtimes, so I did not get back home until nearly midnight. Then I was up at the crack of dawn to work 4 flag-football games with 1st and 2nd graders. That was hilarious, except that by the end of the day my knee was killing me. It's still popping every time I move it. I'm gonna have serious trouble at some point, but I have been saying that for several years, so I just keep on trucking.
Michelle continues to have problems with her legs. The swelling seems to be getting worse. I think she will call the doctor again on Monday to see if there is anything we can do.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Friday, September 14, 2007
Alex has done a few really cool things in the past week or so. First, he has learned how to put his hand/thumb in his mouth. This is a good thing because instead of us having to always be at the ready with a pacifier, he can now pacify himself quite a bit. He sucks really loud a lot of the time, which is kind of cute (unless we are trying to sleep!).
Secondly, this morning he rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time. He has rolled from his back to his belly several times, but this was a first. I did a double-take when I noticed he had rolled over.
Michelle just sent me a picture of Alex holding his key ring. She says he picked it up on his own and started shaking it. That is hilarious.
Michelle went to the doctor yesterday to see about the infection in her leg. The diagnosis is that she was bitten by a spider. Yuck! She is on antibiotics, but we can't tell if they are doing any good. I hope she gets better soon.
I was supposed to work the clock at Houston High School tonight, which is about 20 minutes from where we live, but I got moved to a different game. However, an official broke his arm last week, so I got reassigned to his game. I will be the Line Judge tonight, which means that I will be at the line of scrimmage on the home team's side of the field, opposite the Head Linesman. The game is in Halls, TN, which is actually not part of our association. Apparently, the association there is short on officials, because we have been covering several of their games this year. It's a much longer drive for this game, but it's better to be on the field than to work the clock. The preferred hierarchy goes on field-->clock-->chain crew-->sitting at home.
Both of my JV games this week were in the rain. That's unfortunate because the supervisors do not come out to evaluate when it's raining (which is understandable). To my knowledge, my crew has not been evaluated yet this year. Although the referee is one of the more-respected people in the assocaition, so he may be reporting back to the bosses on the crew's performance.
I had a funny thing happen last night. I was the Head Linesman, which means that I was in charge of the the chain crew. My referee was immdiately upset with the chain crew, even before the game started. They were high school kids, and had their pants halfway down to the ground, iPods blaring. I gave them a quick tutorial on what to do, although they did not listen (as teens are apt to do). So, after the second play of the game, the referee fired them. Just told them to leave. We got some adults to work the chains, and unfortunately they did not do much better. But, I got through the game OK. I have fired a couple of chain crews in the past, but never so quickly. It was kind of funny. A good chain crew can make all the difference in how smoothly a game goes. I had a game last year where the crew wanted to quit, but I refused to let them. They were kids who thought it would be fun, then realized there was a little work and concentration involved, so they wanted out. I had spent the first quarter-and-a-half getting them straight, so I was not going to let them walk out on me. So, we made it through OK.
While I am ranting, let me give a shout out to Mike Clark. Mike is scheduling the umpires for a baseball tournament this weekend, and only got the final schedule from the tournament director YESTERDAY! That is absurd. I am sure Mike is pulling his hair out, trying to line up umpires at the last minute. We've had problems with that tournament director in the past, and I sort of half-jokingly told Mike to kick him in the knee for me. Jeez.
I got my first couple of papers of the semester back, and did well on them. It's nice to get off to a good start. Gotta keep the momentum up.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Secondly, this morning he rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time. He has rolled from his back to his belly several times, but this was a first. I did a double-take when I noticed he had rolled over.
Michelle just sent me a picture of Alex holding his key ring. She says he picked it up on his own and started shaking it. That is hilarious.
Michelle went to the doctor yesterday to see about the infection in her leg. The diagnosis is that she was bitten by a spider. Yuck! She is on antibiotics, but we can't tell if they are doing any good. I hope she gets better soon.
I was supposed to work the clock at Houston High School tonight, which is about 20 minutes from where we live, but I got moved to a different game. However, an official broke his arm last week, so I got reassigned to his game. I will be the Line Judge tonight, which means that I will be at the line of scrimmage on the home team's side of the field, opposite the Head Linesman. The game is in Halls, TN, which is actually not part of our association. Apparently, the association there is short on officials, because we have been covering several of their games this year. It's a much longer drive for this game, but it's better to be on the field than to work the clock. The preferred hierarchy goes on field-->clock-->chain crew-->sitting at home.
Both of my JV games this week were in the rain. That's unfortunate because the supervisors do not come out to evaluate when it's raining (which is understandable). To my knowledge, my crew has not been evaluated yet this year. Although the referee is one of the more-respected people in the assocaition, so he may be reporting back to the bosses on the crew's performance.
I had a funny thing happen last night. I was the Head Linesman, which means that I was in charge of the the chain crew. My referee was immdiately upset with the chain crew, even before the game started. They were high school kids, and had their pants halfway down to the ground, iPods blaring. I gave them a quick tutorial on what to do, although they did not listen (as teens are apt to do). So, after the second play of the game, the referee fired them. Just told them to leave. We got some adults to work the chains, and unfortunately they did not do much better. But, I got through the game OK. I have fired a couple of chain crews in the past, but never so quickly. It was kind of funny. A good chain crew can make all the difference in how smoothly a game goes. I had a game last year where the crew wanted to quit, but I refused to let them. They were kids who thought it would be fun, then realized there was a little work and concentration involved, so they wanted out. I had spent the first quarter-and-a-half getting them straight, so I was not going to let them walk out on me. So, we made it through OK.
While I am ranting, let me give a shout out to Mike Clark. Mike is scheduling the umpires for a baseball tournament this weekend, and only got the final schedule from the tournament director YESTERDAY! That is absurd. I am sure Mike is pulling his hair out, trying to line up umpires at the last minute. We've had problems with that tournament director in the past, and I sort of half-jokingly told Mike to kick him in the knee for me. Jeez.
I got my first couple of papers of the semester back, and did well on them. It's nice to get off to a good start. Gotta keep the momentum up.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
--From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
--From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
Oh gosh, so much has been going on. Life is crazy, in a good way.
Last Thursday, Michelle cleaned out the Explorer, in preparation for us to leave town the next morning. I keep my baseball umpiring gear in a HUGE suitcase, and in the process of taking it out of the car, she twisted her knee really badly. She shook it off, although she was in a lo of pain.
The next morning, we left town kind of early, heading for Tullahoma. Michelle wanted to surprise her mother on her birthday by bringing Alex to the school where she teaches. So, after a fairly smooth trip, we got there. Michelle's mom flipped out when she saw Alex, and all the other teachers had a great time meeting him. That was a lot of fun.
Saturday, Michelle's dad and I put new brake pads on the Explorer, so it will now stop on a dime. Almost. It is definitely improved now. Cool. I had fun watching some college football that evening. Any day that Michigan, Notre Dame, and Tennessee all lose, with Georgia winning, is a great sports day for me. To boot, Memphis almost came back to beat Ole Miss. They came up just short :( All in all, it was a great sports day.
We had originally planned on worshiping at Mt. Denson on Sunday, but we were too sleep deprived to get up at the crack of dawn (which is what we would have needed to have done in order to get there). So, we slept in a bit, until the pain in Michelle's knee became so unbearable that she decided to go to the hospital. She spent the bulk of the morning there, and eventually got a prelimenary diagnosis of a torn ligament. The doctor told her to get an MRI once we got back to Memphis to confirm his diagnosis.
We were able to leave just in time to get to Dickson on schedule. Alex was baptized at the birthplace chapel at Montgomery Bell State Park, which is where the Cumberland Presbyterian church was founded in 1810. It was a wonderfully ecumenical ceremony, and Alex looked great in his suit that my grandmother had made for him. We had a great picnic afterward, and everyone had an awesome time. Some of us threw some football, and it was nice to get my old wing loosened up a bit. After a while, Alex decided that he had had enough of everyone pawing on him, and he spazzed out big time. It didn't help that it was over 100 degrees outside. So, I took him to the car, turned the AC up high, and let him chill.
Once we left to go back to Memphis, he was in full rage. He had just had too much stimulation the entire weekend, so he let loose. He cried constantly almost the entire way home. It took us seemingly forever to get back. Monday, he spen the whole day ticked off because he was too tired to sleep. Finally, Monday night he went down. And slept like a rock for about 12 hours. He was in a much better mood when he woke up.
I did not get any school work done all weekend, so on Monday I decided to go to my office to get some stuff done. It felt weird to labor on Labor Day, but I got done everything I needed for Tuesday's class (acts of the apostles). My plan was to do my stuff for today, yesterday afternoon--but Michelle needed to have her MRI, and by the time she got that done she needed to go to class herself. So, Alex and I hung out all afternoon, and into the night. Michelle got home about 8:30 or so. Once we got him transferred, I went to the office to do what I needed for today.
After the MRI, the diagnosis is torn meniscus in the knee. She should know definitively in the next day or so. Either way, she is looking at surgery to fix it. That sucks.
I stayed at the office until deep into the night, until I got everything done. I hope everything is good; I can't stand the thought of starting the semester behind the eight ball. It seemed that everything was fine. I went to class this morning about half-asleep, but I made it throught the day. I have ethics from 8-11, and Christian Ministry from 1:30-4:30. After lunch, I was REALLY ready for a nap, but I got stronger as class went on, and didn't crash until a little while ago.
I am enjoying my classes. The work load is insane, but I suppose it is grad school. LOL. I get a kick out the people that complain, and sometimes I wonder what they are doing there. Oh well. It has been a lot of fun showing pictures of Alex to everyone. No one escapes without seeing at least a few...LOL.
My friend "Boston" Ellen has moved to Chicago for grad school. She has her own apartment for the first time, and I am excited for her. Since she is a Cubs fan, I think I will start calling her "Northside" Ellen...LOL. Go girl!
Seeing my grandmother and Alex in their Braves gear last week reminded me of the funniest story ever. Several years ago, the Braves swept the Cubs in a 3-game series. The next day, my grandmother went to Verizon Wireless to pay her bill, and knowing that Kent would be there, she took a small broom with her. Once in the office, she started waving her broom around, making sure Kent knew that the Braves had swept his beloved Cubs. Granny, trash-talking one of my best friends...LOL. Absolutely hilarious! He has never forgotten it, either...LOL.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
Last Thursday, Michelle cleaned out the Explorer, in preparation for us to leave town the next morning. I keep my baseball umpiring gear in a HUGE suitcase, and in the process of taking it out of the car, she twisted her knee really badly. She shook it off, although she was in a lo of pain.
The next morning, we left town kind of early, heading for Tullahoma. Michelle wanted to surprise her mother on her birthday by bringing Alex to the school where she teaches. So, after a fairly smooth trip, we got there. Michelle's mom flipped out when she saw Alex, and all the other teachers had a great time meeting him. That was a lot of fun.
Saturday, Michelle's dad and I put new brake pads on the Explorer, so it will now stop on a dime. Almost. It is definitely improved now. Cool. I had fun watching some college football that evening. Any day that Michigan, Notre Dame, and Tennessee all lose, with Georgia winning, is a great sports day for me. To boot, Memphis almost came back to beat Ole Miss. They came up just short :( All in all, it was a great sports day.
We had originally planned on worshiping at Mt. Denson on Sunday, but we were too sleep deprived to get up at the crack of dawn (which is what we would have needed to have done in order to get there). So, we slept in a bit, until the pain in Michelle's knee became so unbearable that she decided to go to the hospital. She spent the bulk of the morning there, and eventually got a prelimenary diagnosis of a torn ligament. The doctor told her to get an MRI once we got back to Memphis to confirm his diagnosis.
We were able to leave just in time to get to Dickson on schedule. Alex was baptized at the birthplace chapel at Montgomery Bell State Park, which is where the Cumberland Presbyterian church was founded in 1810. It was a wonderfully ecumenical ceremony, and Alex looked great in his suit that my grandmother had made for him. We had a great picnic afterward, and everyone had an awesome time. Some of us threw some football, and it was nice to get my old wing loosened up a bit. After a while, Alex decided that he had had enough of everyone pawing on him, and he spazzed out big time. It didn't help that it was over 100 degrees outside. So, I took him to the car, turned the AC up high, and let him chill.
Once we left to go back to Memphis, he was in full rage. He had just had too much stimulation the entire weekend, so he let loose. He cried constantly almost the entire way home. It took us seemingly forever to get back. Monday, he spen the whole day ticked off because he was too tired to sleep. Finally, Monday night he went down. And slept like a rock for about 12 hours. He was in a much better mood when he woke up.
I did not get any school work done all weekend, so on Monday I decided to go to my office to get some stuff done. It felt weird to labor on Labor Day, but I got done everything I needed for Tuesday's class (acts of the apostles). My plan was to do my stuff for today, yesterday afternoon--but Michelle needed to have her MRI, and by the time she got that done she needed to go to class herself. So, Alex and I hung out all afternoon, and into the night. Michelle got home about 8:30 or so. Once we got him transferred, I went to the office to do what I needed for today.
After the MRI, the diagnosis is torn meniscus in the knee. She should know definitively in the next day or so. Either way, she is looking at surgery to fix it. That sucks.
I stayed at the office until deep into the night, until I got everything done. I hope everything is good; I can't stand the thought of starting the semester behind the eight ball. It seemed that everything was fine. I went to class this morning about half-asleep, but I made it throught the day. I have ethics from 8-11, and Christian Ministry from 1:30-4:30. After lunch, I was REALLY ready for a nap, but I got stronger as class went on, and didn't crash until a little while ago.
I am enjoying my classes. The work load is insane, but I suppose it is grad school. LOL. I get a kick out the people that complain, and sometimes I wonder what they are doing there. Oh well. It has been a lot of fun showing pictures of Alex to everyone. No one escapes without seeing at least a few...LOL.
My friend "Boston" Ellen has moved to Chicago for grad school. She has her own apartment for the first time, and I am excited for her. Since she is a Cubs fan, I think I will start calling her "Northside" Ellen...LOL. Go girl!
Seeing my grandmother and Alex in their Braves gear last week reminded me of the funniest story ever. Several years ago, the Braves swept the Cubs in a 3-game series. The next day, my grandmother went to Verizon Wireless to pay her bill, and knowing that Kent would be there, she took a small broom with her. Once in the office, she started waving her broom around, making sure Kent knew that the Braves had swept his beloved Cubs. Granny, trash-talking one of my best friends...LOL. Absolutely hilarious! He has never forgotten it, either...LOL.
I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...
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