I have not posted all week--haven't had much to say. Oh well.

Yesterday was wild--we baby sat for a couple of hours during the middle of the day, then Michelle and I took her regular kids to the museum. 2 different gigs in one day is kinda weird, but everyone had a blast.

Wednesday, I was hanging out at Grinder's, and Hoptown Hal from Eagle 94.3came in. He and his sidekick were taking pictures for their website. When I indentified myself as the guy on their "college of rock and roll knowledge" commerical, they immediately starting laughing crazily. They have been using my voice on their commercial for several months now, and Hal said that everyone at the station loves it. He said I should be getting royalties. LOL.

Today, we start our 30 hour famine. Going 30 hours without food, so we can get an idea of what poor people go through every day. I think most of the youth are excited--although a couple of them have backed out. That's unfortunate. Most of the kids doing it this year did it last year, so they have an idea of what to expect. Some of them, however, have never done it, so it will be new to them.

We have all kinds of activities lined up to do during the 30 hours. We will be doing some community service, random acts of kindness, and also playing some games and having fun. 29,000 kids die every day from hunger and its related problems, so we are going to do handprints on the walls of our youth room--we are aiming to get 29,000 fingers. That will be way cool.

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

OK, another weekend of madness is in the books. I will try to recap.

Friday, I had a doubleheader at Trevecca in Nashville. Michelle came with me, and we made a day of it. It was great to be back on the field, with a game that really counts. The games themselves were atrocious, as Trevecca won the first game 19-0, and the second game 9-1. Jeez, that other team was bad. In the first inning of the first game, the visiting team's starting pitcher was losing 4-0, with the bases loaded. The crazy thing was that he still had a no-hitter going. That's because he walked the first SEVEN batters of the game. Brutal.

Anyway, Michelle happened to sit on the visiting team's side, and she made friends with some people from Ohio who had come to watch their son play. Michelle was cold, and they offered her a blanket; that was really nice of them. Michelle made sure no one gave me a hard time...LOL.

After the games, we went to Panera's by Vanderbilt, and enjoyed some great sandwiches. When we got done, we went back to her dorm and hung out for a while.

Saturday, we were up with the sun, as we had a meeting in Nashville. The meeting was short, which was a good thing. I inherited my distaste for meetings from my dad. After the meeting, we went to Mt. Denson, because we had planned a community service project for the youth group. We had lunch, and then went to do our work. Michelle stayed at the church, getting things ready for Sunday.

Sunday after church, the youth served a chili lunch. It went great--we raised about $700. We are going to be sending most of that money to World Vision, as part of our upcoming30 Hour Famine. We will be doing the famine this Friday and Saturday, going 30 hours without food. We did the famine last year, and it was great. The kids all really had a great experience, and we hope it will be similar this time.

After the lunch, we went to a small bridal show in Springfield. I quickly found a chair to sit in, and tried not to look bored. Michelle went around and visited all the stations, and entered a drawing. She was notified this morning that she had won a nice gift basket. In fact, she has won something at every bridal show she has gone to. Unfortunately, these bridal shows do not give away tickets to the World Series, or anything else that I would be interested in, so Michelle gets to keep all of her bounty. LOL.

Today, we are just hanging out at Grinder's. We will probably run some errands later, but for now, we are just relaxing. I also need to start working on two different sermons. I will be preaching at Mt. Denson on March 6, and I will be preaching at least once, and maybe twice, at the spring youth retreat the following weekend. So, needless to say, I have a lot of work to do.

Instead of actually doing some productive work, I played some Zork II this morning. I still have not gotten very far with it. Jeez, it is hard. No wonder everyone I have talked to gave up on it. I am not sure if my parents ever finished it or not, but everyone else I know quit without finishing. Jeez.

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

I came home tonight and immediately started to have major computer problems. BSOD all over the place. I got some help from my brother Steve, and in our research we found that a lot of people have this problem with the model of wireless card I have. Unfortunately, no one seems to have a real solution. So I will continute to keep my system held together with duct tape and speaker wire...LOL.

Tomorrow is my first baseball game of the season. I am so jacked, I know I will not be able to sleep. Michelle is coming with me, and I think we are going to go eat after I am done. Baseball is HERE! SWEET!!

One of Jessi's friends explained the ending of "Vanilla Sky" to me. That was nice, since I really like the movie, but never completely understood the ending. I need to buy that movie.

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

Michelle and I have been hanging out at Grinder's this morning. She did some work for her online classes, and I have played Zork II. I got the better end of that deal, I would say. Although, Zork II is much more difficult than the original, so I have not gotten very far at all with it. I have 15 points out of 400. Jeez.

I also took a look at my calendar for the rest of the time until the wedding. I decided what days I am going to work, and what days to take off. I have not officially turned in my resignation yet, but I guess I have plenty of time to do that. The senior pastor and I have talked about my official date of leaving a few times, but he said it is up to me.

Michelle found a neat clock that she is going to buy. It displays the time left remaining until the wedding. It looks really cool.

Later, I am going to change the oil in my truck, and put in some new spark plugs, too. I may also clean up the inside a little.

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

The family that Michelle nannies for has been having some computer problems, so when I was there this afternoon, I had a look at it. Ad-aware found 494 critical objects, and Norton found 19 more. Unfortunately, Norton was unable to eradicate 9 of them. The PC's OS is Windows ME, maybe the most horrid excuse for an OS ever. Jeez, it was bad. Anyway, I am going out there tomorrow to see if I can do anything more. I sort of doubt it, since I break computers with much more skill that I fix them.

Speaking of which, last night my laptop started going to blue screen after booting up. It would then re-boot, then blue screen again, in an endless cycle. I thought at first the problem was coming from my IM software, Trillian. I uninstalled the 3.1 beta version I was running, and then installed 3.0. That seemed to fix it until today, when I started having the same problem. I now think it is in my wireless card, since if the card is not in its slot when I boot up, everything is fine. If I boot up with the card in the slot, then I have the problem. Strange.

I poked around at Zork II a little today, and it was cool. I don't remember much at all about it. I have already started making maps and copious amounts of notes.

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

Steve and I often talk about old video games, and old computer systems. Last week, we started talking about Zork, and ancient game that we had on the old Commodore 64 when we were kids. I Googled Zork I, and in no time I found a download. So, I installed it and have been playing it furiously for the past week or so. Earlier today, I finished the game. It was really exciting. I was glad that Steve was there (we were hanging out at Grinders) to share the moment.

Steve told a story that somehow I had never heard. When Zork I was released, the computer store my parents frequented sponsored a contest where the first person to finish the game with the maximum number of points received a free copy of Zork II. I never knew that my parents won this contest. All I remember is that they were indeed totally consumed with the game for probably about a year. I remember maps and maps and more maps, strewn all about the house. Zork dominated all conversation in the house and late-night gaming sessions were de rigueur. Steve said that after they finished the game, they went to the computer shop to show that they had finished. As they were leaving, another guy came in to show that he had finished it, too. He was just a few minutes too late. Steve and I had a great laugh.

I never finished Zork II, and never played Zork III. I am going to download II tonight and start on it soon.

It has been a while since I posted, so I will try to recap the transpirings of the past several days.

Last Friday, Michelle, two of her bridesmaids and I met her mother and some other people in Nashville so the women could look at bridesmaids' dresses. That did not interest me at all, so I went next door to Best Buy so I could look at toys. I did not take me long to find something cool. I got a new wireless router/card combo--it was normally $120, but it was on sale or $80 with a $60 rebate, so I was unable to resist. After about an hour or so of just wandering around the store, I went over to the bridal store to see how things were going. I was really hungry (it was now close to 7 PM), so I was hoping they would be wrapping things up. Michelle came out from the dressing area, obviously not in a good mood. Next, her mother stormed out and blew right by me without much acknowledgement, chasing Michelle. Suffice it to say that for some reason, tensions were running high. The other girls came out a few minutes later, and now it was obvious that no one was happy. I don't know what goes on in women's dressing rooms, and I don't really want to know either.

Michelle's mom and the other people with her headed out, and our group went to TGI Friday's. We had a good time, and everyone got back into good spirits. We headed home after a while, all of us really tired.

Saturday, Vanderbilt had an intra-squad, so I umpired it. I worked 4.5 innings behind the plate, one inning at third, and a few at first. It was good to get back on the field. I was supposed to go to APSU today to work some, but they decided not to pitch. So, I may call one of the high schools in town to see if I could work some Thursday. My first game is Friday at Trevecca, so I would like to get in some more work before then.

Sunday, The Clarksville Umpires Association had our annual meeting. We spent a lot of time talking about the new middle school league, and I think we got everything worked out. Michelle made chocolate chip cookies for the guys, and they were all appreciative of her efforts. I headed back to Springfield for youth group, and that went well. We talked about our upcoming activities and finalized things for this Sunday's chili luncheon.

This morning, instead of going to the gym, I decided to do some vehicle maintenance. My wipers have not been working for quite a while, and my previous efforts to fix them had been fruitless. So, I got my mojo working and decided to tackle it head-on. I went Advance Auto to see if they had the part I needed (wiper arm linkage), although I doubted if they would. Indeed, they didn't, so I went to the dealer and got one. I wanted one for each side, but they only had one for the passenger side. I figured the plastic piece that had deteriorated on the passenger side would soon do the same on the other side, so I ordered one.

It took me about an hour or so to install it, and much to my surprise, when I put everything back together, it worked fine. COOL!! I did a little celebration dance in the yard. My neighbors were probably shuddering in fear. LOL. Anyway, I got it fixed, so now I am hoping some rain will come soon. Just not on Friday.

Last night for Valentine's, we re-created our first date. All except the "walking through the park in a bizzrd part". That would have been hard to do since it was almost 70 degrees outside yesterday. We went to Demos' for dinner, then to Books a Million. Last year, we each bought the other a book, and wrote sweet-nothings on the inside cover. This year, we each just got some magazines. Which was cool, because we each got some that we liked. Plus, I have been doing some heavy-duty reading and writing lately, so it will be nice to relax with some lighter stuff for a little while.

Afterward, we went back to campus to hang out for a while. There was a free concert, but we decided not to go. We had a really nice time. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

I just realized that I have posted twice today, so I decided I would post again just for fun. I remember back in the day when I would post multiple times a day on a regular basis. I don't have the stamina to return to that pace, but it's been fun today. Peace...

Steve and I hooked up a while ago, with the intent of going to the new R/C hobby shop at the corner of Riverside and Main. He got there before I did, and called me to say that it wasn't worth much. So, we decided to cruise over to the new Grinder's location and see if they were open yet. I was delighted to find that, indeed, they are now open. The health inspector has not come yet, so they are not allowed to sell anything yet. However, they can give away as much stuff as they like, so that is what they are doing. Hence, Steve and I are enjoying complimetary beverages. Steve is also enjoying some vegetable soup. Cool.

Later, Michelle and I are going to Nashville with her bridesmaids. I think they are going to drop me off at Hickory Hollow Mall while they look for bridesmaids' dresses at one of the local shops. Joy.

I got a message ealier from the pitching coach at Vanderbilt saying that he is not sure if they are going to scrimmage tomorrow. I hope they do, since I need to see some pitches before my first game, and I had already made plans to go there. I know I could go to MTSU Saturday, but I do not want to drive that far to work for free.

I hope everyone is having a great Friday. Peace...

Yesterday was interesting, to say the least.

We had agreed to meet at the gym in the morning, so I got there and started working on the elliptical machine. I was going pretty well when Michelle came in, and told me that she needed to go to the doctor. She had been having pains in her side all week, but she felt she could fight through it. Now, she was ready to get some medical advice. So, we went to the doctor, and it appears that she had a kidney stone. When they did the CT scan, they never saw one, so they think she had already passed it. She got a couple of prescriptions and we were on our way. She was still having nausea last night, but she should be better soon.

Needless to say, we missed our valentine's party last night. Not really a big deal, since her health is the most important thing. We should still make it to the party tomorrow night, so we can have fun then.

Today, I am going to get all my baseball gear in order. Vanderbilt is scrimmaging tomorrow, and I am going to be working a few innings. I finally received my new uniform jacket a couple of days ago. I was getting worried a bit, so I was relieved when it came. My new hats had already arrived a couple of weeks ago, so that was no problem. I am now fully uniformed, and ready for the season. YAY!! My first real game is a week from today, so I am getting excited.

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

It's been a great day so far, minor technical difficulties notwithstanding.

I finally finished typing my letter for Prison Pete. Jeez, that due can write. Just not well.

I started getting a strange message this morning. Whenever Outlook is open, I occasionally get a message saying that a program is trying to access my address book. I of course believeed this to be malicious, so I denied it access. Steve found a patch for me, so I installed it.

We will be heading to church in a while. Ash Wednesday is a great reminder of our Savior's sacrifice. I am really excited.

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

OK, the weekend of insanity has finally come to a close. I will try to re-cap, but please forgive me if I leave out a thing or 3.

Friday afternoon, we went to the house where Michelle nannies, and hooked up with the kids. Mom and dad were on their way out the door, headed to Connecticut. We hung out there for a while, and then left for Nashville to go to the Valentine's party. I thought the party started at 6:00, but it started at 6:30, so we were way early. This wasn't too bad, because I was able to talk with the musician (one-man jazz act) for a while. He was really cool. He played a huge Epiphone 6-string electric, similar to the axe Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats plays.

We enjoyed a decent meal, and some great company, and the party. Unfortunately, Michelle did not enjoy herself as much as she could have, because she was really worried about the kids. We had left them with their older brother, and we weren't real sure of how that was going to work out. We stayed for about 30 minutes after dinner, and then left. It was sort of weird being the first there, and the first to leave. I gave the musician a wave as we exited, and he tried to wave back, but was in the middle of a song, so it kind of messed him up. I got a kick out of that. He plays regularly at a club in Nashville, although I forgot the name of it. I remember he said it is behind Jim Reed Chevrolet on Broadway, so it should not be too hard to find. We will have to check it out. A friend at the party said that club has the best veal in the city, which is kind of weird, because if you remember from Godfather I, the restaurant where Michael Corleone killed the police captain was reputed to have the best veal in the city as well. I found it strange my friend, who is a minister, would say the same thing about this jazz club. Hmmm.

Anyway, we got back home to find everything was OK. We put the kids to bed, and tried to relax a bit.

Saturday found me up before the rooster. I had a meeting in Nashville at 9:00, and I had to meet one of my youth at the church to pick her up. Fortunately, she and I were both early, so we got off to a good start. We stopped for coffee, and she combined her cappuccino with a bag of Cheetos. Very strange. It was kind of neat to be able to see the sun rise as I was leaving Clarksville. There was a time in my life when I saw plenty of sunrises, but unfortunately I was usually coming home from a night of heavy drinking so I was not able to fully appreciate them.

The meeting was rather long, but we got a lot done, so I guess it was productive. We were planning the spring youth retreat for this March. I will be giving the message on Friday night. It will kind of nice to get the bulk of my work out of the way early, so I can better enjoy the weekend. On the Saturday during recreation time, I will be coordinating a ping-pong tournament. That should be a lot of fun. There is also a craft project during that time, and I think Michelle may end up helping with that.

After the meeting, then lunch, I came back home. Michelle was not feeling well, so I hung out with the kids while she took a nap. I squelched a couple of arguments, and we all had fun during the afternoon. The cable guy showed up to install high speed internet, and he was sort of a goof-ball. He got it installed, but only after eating half the cookies Michelle and the kids had made earlier. LOL.

Saturday night, we went to Toys R Us, then Chuck E. Cheese's. James (one of the kids) had been named "Star of the Week" at his school, so we promised him some special treats. He and his sister got some stuff at TRU, including a set of Star Wars light sabers. Needless to say, there have been some epic battles in the past couple of days. We also had tons of fun at Chuck's. We parlayed our tickets into two whoopee cushions. One of them developed a hole before we got home, but the other one is still blowing, if you get my drift. LOL.

Sunday, we took all three kids to church, and they were great. Unfortunately, these kids do not attend church regularly, so it was nice to be able to do that for them. Elizabeth had an important question for the minister after the service. She asked "If God made everybody, and everything else, WHO MADE GOD"? I thought that was really neat since last summer at Junior Camp (4th-6th graders), a kid asked the same question. Elizabeth is in Kindergarten. WOW. Anyway, I told her that before God made everything, he made himself. She said that didn't make any sense, and wanted to know what really happened. I told her that I wasn't smart enough o figure that out, and that since she is smarter than me, she could work on it. She liked that idea, and then went to play on the playground. LOL. The kids had a great experience, so that was nice. It turns out that Parker, the oldest kid, (16 years old) is hanging out with some of the kids from the Clarksville church. It was cool to discover that. I think he is going to come to the retreat, so that is awesome.

Overall, I felt the commercials were collectively among the worst ever. There were only a few that I actually liked, and several that made me want to puke. Sir Paul's halftime entertainmet was excellent, if not a bit understated. I think the NFL severely over-reacted to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. The commericals and Paul's show were as sterile as a hospital room. I think the NFL has missed the boat, and I think the fact that the viewership being down about 5% from last year is proof of that. People want to be entertained, and they do not want some group from on-high to tell them what do and do not want to see.

After church, we had dinner on the grounds, as our denomination celebrated its 195th birthday on 2-4-05. The meal was nice, and afterwards we headed home.

I tried to relax a bit before the game, but that was impossible. Phil Mickelson was in the lead of the golf tournament, and since Tiger wasn't in the field, I wanted Lefty to win. He is Kent's favorite golfer. He won the tournament by 5 strokes, so that was cool.

I grilled some steaks (not without some technical assistance from my dad) for dinner. I had never used a gas grill, and I had never grilled filets before either. Everything turned out fine, and with the vegetable medley Michelle whipped up, we had a great dinner. We watched the game, and I almost predicted the score correctly. I was glad the Pats won. They are a tremendous team. The team of the decade so far, without question. It's funny how football has had teams of the decade, going all the way back to at to least the 50's.

40s: Bears (4 championships)
50s: Lions and Browns (3 championships each)
60s: Packers (1 championship and 2 Super Bowl wins)
70s: Steelers (4 Super Bowl wins)
80s: 49ers (4 Super Bowl wins) (with the Redskins close behind with 3 SB wins)
90s: Cowboys (3 Super Bowl wins)
Oughts: Patriots (3 Super Bowl wins)

In the hub-bub Sunday, we forgot that our engagement announcement was in Sunday's newspaper. My mother told me that several people at her church had clipped the picture, and that was touching. We stopped by the paper's office today to see if they had some extra copies of yesterday's paper. When we were at the front desk, it didn't look like we were going to get anywhere with the secretary until Ruth Stryjewski came by. She worked in my dad's area for a long time, and she introduced me to the secretary as "Mike Winn's son". As soon as she said that, the secretary changed her tune, and all of a sudden it was closer to "What may I do for you today?", and suddenly there were about 5 copies of yesterday's paper in front of me. LOL. I don't think I was going to drop my dad's name, so I was glad that Ruth did it for me. LOL. Anyway, we got five copies of the paper to distribute to those who may have missed it.

Today, we ate lunch at the Front Page Deli. I had won a certificate worth $20 on the radio, so we ordered nice food like it was considerably cheaper food. We had a good time nonetheless.

After lunch, we me the kids at home, and helped them with their homework. James went to Sylvan later, and he must have done well, because he won a prize. We celebrated afterward with Michael's pizza. As we were eating, the parents got home. Everyone was glad to see them. After we briefed them of the weekend's events, we went home to recover. It is safe to say that we are both physically and mentally exhausted. LOL. Please shed a tear for us...LOL.

Tomorrow, we are going to the gym to work out some stress.

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

I heard this morning that long-time character actor John Vernon, who played Dean Wormer in "Animal House", has died. Animal House is one of my favorite movies of all time. He also played Fletcher in "The Outlaw Josey Wales", which on many days I would say is my FAVORITE movie of all time. He also did the voice for Big Brother in "1984". He will be missed.

Michelle and I are going to a Valentine's party tonight in Nashville. It should be a lot of fun. This is the first of three parties we are attending. I never knew we were such socialites. It always feels nice to be invited to things.

I am going to the gym in a while. Michelle decided not to go, so she is going to do some school work instead. Good for her.

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

I met Michelle at the gym this morning, and we had a good workout. Tomorrow, we are going to take an aerobics class. JOY!!

If you have noticed the link to Prison Pete's blog in the left margin, you may be interested to know that I am going to be helping his editor occasionally. Basically, Pete does not have access to a computer, so he writes letters to a friend. His friend is going to scan then into a PDF file, and a few loyal readers are going to type them into Word documents, so the editor can pate them into the blog. I enjoy reading about Pete's day-to-day life in the NY State Prison system, so I was glad to help out a bit.

The parents of the kids that Michelle nannies for are going out of town this weekend, so she has the kids all weekend. Normally, this would not be so much of a problem, but this weekend was going to be crazy already. I have a meeting in Nashville Saturday morning, and Michelle has tutoring that morning as well. Michelle, her mother, and some of the bridesmaids had planned on going to Nashville Saturday afternoon for some dress-shopping as well. Sunday is the Super Bowl, and we had planned on going to Kent and Daphne's to watch the game. Daphne was a little reserved about having two small kids running around the house, so I don't know for sure what we are going to do. I am sure it will work out somehow. Wish us luck!!

My official prediction on the Super Bowl is Patriots 31-Eagles 17.

I walked the dog earlier, and she was glad to be outside. The last two days, it has been raining non-stop, so we didn't go out.

I am going to do some reading and probably some more writing. I wrote for a while yesterday, but I have not decided if I am going to post it on the blog or not. I just don't know yet.

Tonight, Michelle's dorm is having a board game party, so that should be fun. Plus, free food is included, so that is way cool.

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

When Michelle and I got back from the theatre Saturday, she sent an incendiary e-mail to the corporate offices of Regal Cinema. She got a response tonight that said they will be sending some free passes for our trouble. Cool.

We were at a bookstore this afternoon (it isn't hard to imagine that), and I saw a magazine that features Bob Dylan on the cover. The lead article is an in-depth look at the making of his epic "Blood on the Tracks" album, the release of which occurred in January 1975 (30 years ago). This is my fav Dylan album of all time, so I had to have the magazine. The mag also came with a free CD of several artists covering some of Dylan's best work. Cool.

I read several of the essays in my first Passion book today. The most interesting to me was one that discussed how it appears that Jews and Christians can watch the film, and come away with opinions that suggested they had watched two completely different films. It reminded me of a conversation I had in a Bible study that was led by my Greek professor. We were talking about how each of us has our own sense of reality. I stated that I would never know why some women see the need to own 72 pairs of shoes, and how most women will never understand how some men can watch football for 18 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. My professor responded, "Isn't that why we read, so that we can understand someone else's position?" I stated that I could read all the books in the world by African-American authors, yet I would still never KNOW what it is like to be black. Maybe I could empathize more, but not know.

It's the same way with the Passion. No one I have spoken with came away from that movie blaming Jews for anything, yet many Jews in the media felt they were being blamed for Christ's death. I will never know what it is like to be Jewish, so I try to understand their plight, although I cannot appreciate it fully.

Tomorrow, I plan on doing some cleaning, and some more reading.

I saw a TV ad earlier for a brokerage house that featured the Airplane song, "Volunteers." I got to thinking about how that brokerage firm is likely run by a CEO who is a wealthy middle-aged white man, the same kind of person who likely was listening to that song while marching against the Vietnam War, and speaking subversive about corporate America. Interesting paradox, I think. As uncle Bob once said, "The times, they are a-changing." Maybe they already have. Maybe they always are.

Have you heard about the University of Colorado professor, Ward Churchill, who is in a major firestorm for writing an essay in which he likened the victims of 9-11 to German Nazis, and suggesting they got what they deserved? He had a speaking engagement at a small college in upstate NY cancelled, and has resigned the chairmanship of his department at UC. Many people are calling for his job, but I think now matter how insane someone's opinion may be, freedom of speech is more important than PC. I do think that he should be censured by the University, because as a state employee, he should not be able to use his job as a platform for such nonsense. Here is an article written by a fellow professor about the controversy.

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

I learned today that my good friend Jeff Stovall resigned his position as Pastor at Woodbine Church, effective at the end of February. He never really felt like he belonged there, so hopefully he and another church can find each other and work in unison to further God's Word. For those that do not know, my denomination calls ministers, whereas some denominations assign ministers to congregations.

I got my cell phone fixed today, so now the display works again. That's cool.

I did some reading earlier, and bought a new book at Wal-Mart. Another book on Gibson's Passion film--This makes two. I have not read the first yet. LOL. There is a bookcase at the church that I need to move into my office, because my current bookcase is overflowing. I have got books strewn everywhere. One book, the PTL Guidebook, is displayed prominently for the sole purpose of scaring people. If you do not remember what the PTL was, think "Tammy Faye and tons of makeup". The book was given to me, along with a ton of other books, last year.

Tomorrow I am going to spend some time writing. Don't know exactly what about yet, but it will come to me.

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

Friday night, Michelle and I went to Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast. Her suitemates Rachel and Lindsey came along, in addition to Rachel's boyfriend Andrew. We all had a great time. Our friends Norm and Robin Brumblay were there, helping their son Garrison celebrate his 4th birthday. We gave Garrison all the tickets we won, and he got to buy a rocket launcher. Dad said with a wink that they were gonna gave a great time with it.

Michelle and I had the worst experience ever at a movie theatre Saturday night. We went to the IMAX theatre at Opry Mills to see "Aliens of the Deep". The announcer said that the film would start after one trailer. The trailer ran for about 5 seconds before it came to an abrupt halt. After waiting for almost 45 minutes, the announcer said the problem with the projector was fatal, and that all tickets would be refunded. We went to the refund counter, and I told the guy that we were really disappointed in all this, because we had driven over an hour to get there. He apologized, and offered us free tickets to any movie, plus our refund. So, we chose to watch "Hide and Seek", with Robert DeNiro. It would have been a great movie, except there was a crying baby who would not settle down. The mother refused to take the baby out, so everyone else was mumbling and grumbling. It was horrible. Michelle finally got up and went to talk with the manager. He and the security guard basically said, "Tough shit. Deal with it." Jeez, it was horrible. I can't understand why anyone would take a baby to a movie like that.

Yesterday, my baseball meeting was really boring--as they always are. However, it is always nice to see old friends and renew acquaintances. Thankfully, it did not last too long, and were out of there.

Youth group was great last night. The kids were really focused, and we did a ton of work in preparation for World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. The kids are really excited. We have one kid that has not been attending church much in the past few months, and lat night we found out that her boyfriend has run into some serious legal trouble. I am going to try to reach out to them and see if there is anything I can do. I am deeply saddened by things that have transpired.

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

Ok, let me try this again...a while ago, I tried to post, but it didn't publish and disappeared. One day I will learn to copy and paste my posts into a Word document for posterity's sake.

Michelle just scored 2 tickets to see Keith Urban at the Ryman. He is her absolute favorite artist, so she is mega-hyped.

James Cameron's new film, "Aliens of the Deep" is now playing at the IMAX theatre at Opry Mills. I am going to try to talk Michelle into going today, but since the film does not feature Mandy Moore, I may not have much luck with that.

I have a baseball meeting tomorrow at Hunters Lane HS, which is not exactly thrilling for me. Although, I will be able to stock up on some new gear, which I desperately need. So, that's cool.

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

GRR to people who make appointments and don't keep them. Yesterday, I was supposed to take the caterer to the church so he could look at the facilities, but he was tied up with something else and could not make it. So, we are supposed to hook up today.

This morning, I have an appointment at the Y for an orientation. The are several pieces of equipment that I do not know how to use, and I want to learn more about them.

Something happened earlier this week that was so funny it caused me to say, "I have got to put this on my blog". Unfortunately, I cannot remember what it was. I am going to ask Michelle later today if she remembers. Grr to forgetfulness.

I have not done much reading this week. I need to get caught up. I started working on a jigsaw puzzle a few days ago. It seems to be progressing slowly. I have not done a puzzle since I was a kid, but I saw one I liked so I decided to do it. When I get it done, I am going to glue it together to preserve it. Cool.

APSU, in its infinite wisdom, disconnected the ethernet ports in Austin's, so they now do not work. The jukebox is also gone, so the place has about as much ambiance as a hospital ward. Jeez. I can't wait to get to Memphis.

We broke the news to the youth group that we would be moving to Memphis after the wedding. Rumors quickly spread in the church that were moving to Minnesota or Michigan. Jeez. Sort of like how Michelle told my grandparents that her brother goes to college in Macon, Georgia--and my grandfather thought she said "Jerusalem"...LOL.

We met Daphne for lunch yesterday to talk about wedding stuff. I am still not sure if her role has been defined, but she is definitely looking for a job in it. Also, Regina's role has still not been defined, and she is getting antsy. I told Michelle that having so many people volunteer to help is a good problem. We have so many that we are having to sort of create jobs for them. We have been super-blessed in the whole planning process. We are really grateful.

Yesterday we went to the grand opening of the new Sam's Club. It was really exciting; the store is huge and packed with all sorts of great stuff. We were by the floral department, and I picked up a dozen tulips for Michelle (her fav flower). She got all excited, and I told her to enjoy them because we would have to put them back before we left, lest I actually pay for them. Several people near us heard me, and started rolling...just laughing uncontrollably. It was hilarious. I have been giving her a ton of flowers lately, since tulips are in season. I am scoring more points than Larry Bird in his heyday. LOL.

Michelle sold one of my old books on eBay to a guy that lives here in Clarksville. Unfortunately, the clown would not meet me to make the exchange, so I am going to have to mail it. He lives on Greenwood, which is about 5 minutes from campus. What a joke. He is a moron. Whatever. Jeez.

I have been having a lot of computer problems lately. I cannot connect to AIM, and Outlook has not been able to connect to the Hotmail server, so I have not checked my Hotmail email address in several days. I also bought some new software yesterday, and am unable to install it on the laptop. I installed it on the desktop just fine. I think the problem lies in the fact that I once had some software from the same company on the laptop that has been removed. I remember getting a message when I removed it saying that all of it could not be removed. I think the parts left behind may be interfering with the new stuff. The CD to the old software is at the church, so Sunday afternoon I am going to reinstall the old stuff, and see if the new stuff will work then. Jeez.

I also have been having a lot of trouble with my wireless connection at home. Normally, I have it set up where Windows manages it, but I have been having a lot of trouble connecting, and maintaining a connection. So, I let my wireless card (a real POS) manage it, and still its not better. Jeez, I am really pissed off at lot of things in regards to technology. Maybe Fidelio heard that I was trying to sell him, and he is rebelling like a teenager. Jeez.

We were talking about eh honeymoon, and the different things we want to do in Boston. We have decided on a whale tour, the aquarium, and a day trip to Walden. We found that people are allowed to swim in Walden Pond, so I am going to bring my trunks. LOL. Also, a trip to Lexington/Concord, maybe a baseball game, and probably some other stuff, too. We have been invited to dinner by a distant relative of mine who lives there...Cool. We are really excited about seeing the city. Hopefully, the snow will have melted but then.

I have had no luck finding a coffee shop I like, so I am waiting patiently for Grinder's to re-open. Grr to not having good coffee/conversation/ambiance.

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

I have not been posting much lately, and I feel bad about that. I would like to record more of the wedding planning process, but I have not been able to make myself sit down and write. Going forward, I am going to write more.

Saturday, Michelle's parents came up, and the 4 of us went to the bridal show at the mall here in Clarksville. It was essentially a waste of time, since there were only about 5 vendors. By coincidence, I ran into several people I know, so that was pretty cool. I even remembered most of their names. I am horrible about running into people, and forgetting their names. One of the people I met at the mall, Ray Roby, is a guy whom I have known all my life. He has been a member of the Clarksville church forever, and he worked with my dad for about 30 years. Yet, for some reason, it took me 30 minutes to remember his last name. Jeez. He is such a nice man, too. I remember that he was the liturgist the morning that I announced I was leaving the Clarksville church to take my current job at Mt. Denson. I asked him before the service started if I could make a special announcement, and he said sure, no problem. He then kind of got curious, and asked what my announcement was about. I told him it was going to be emotional, and I would prefer to only have to say the words once. He just sort of nodded his head, and said OK. After I made the announcement, he told me he understood my plight and wished me good fortune.

After the bridal show, we went to eat lunch at Whitt's BBQ. When we got done eating, we talked about the budget and other stuff. Michelle's dad was really wound up at first, because he had found all of her mother's random notes, and put every number he had found into a spreadsheet. His total put us about 50% OVER budget, and he was freaking. Little did he know that most of the random notes he had found were invalid, so he was greatly relieved to find we are actually about 15% UNDER budget right now, with no major expenses unaccounted for. Whew. Since Whitt's is catering the reception, we spoke with the owner for a while, and worked out the details for that. Towards the end, he asked me what I did for a living, and I told him I am a minister. He asked me jokingly asked me if I was going to marry myself. Michelle's mother looked at him and said with a straight face, "No, he's marrying HER", pointing to Michelle. Everyone got a good laugh. I told him that since I would be busy GETTING married, I would leave the officiating to someone else.

We were supposed to have dinner with my parents, so they could meet Michelle's parents, but my dad was violently ill, so we postponed the meeting until later. I guess the thought of meeting new people must churn my dad's stomach...LOL.

I am going to swing by the new Grinder's location tomorrow, to see how things are going. Hopefully they will be opening soon. I am seriously jonesing for some good coffee. I also am supposed to take the engagement announcement to the newspaper. I am also go to the gym. Michelle and I joined the Y a few weeks ago, and we have been having a good time working out. I am down to just under 190, and it feels good. The last time I was 190, I was at 8% body fat, and was lifting everything in sight. I am a much softer 190 now, but I am going to start lifting soon to build some muscle mass, which will also help burn some fat. Last year on the baseball field, I was way too slow. I am not going to let that happen again.

Speaking of baseball, it is almost here. I am going to start working in the bullpen soon, as my first game is 2/18 at Trevecca. The last time I worked there, the game manager was a buffoon. He put us in a locker room while telling us he would have to move us after the first game. WTF? Why not just put is in one place and leave us there? After the first game, we had to pack up all our stuff, and then move it to another locker room, which happened to be on the other side of the basketball gym. We had to move all of this stuff across the gym floor, while a basketball game was underway. Jeez. As umpires, we try to remain as inconspicuous as possible, and here we are walking across the gym floor, with all eyes on us. We may have well as been wearing beanies and Bozo shoes. I am not going to let that happen again.

Anyway, it will be great to get the season underway. I have a great schedule lined up. I have about 12 dates on the calendar right now, and will probably pick up some more. In addition to my non-conference schedule, I am working in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, which is a D-2 wood bat league. I worked in that league 2 years ago and it was great. Wood bats keep the scores down. I had a conference series in St. Louis, and the last game was 9 innings played in about 1:45. A total of about 6 hits if I remember correctly, and the score was 2-1. Beautiful.

I will also be working plenty of HS ball and Middle school ball should be fun, too.

Speaking of St. Louis, I had the strangest dream ever last week. I dreamt I was in the St. Louis airport, and I ran into Rodney Lockerman, who was working for UPS and had a cart full of stuff to deliver. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I woke up. Rodney is a kid from the Clarksville church who I have not seen in quite a long time. Weird. Very weird. LOL.

I have been reading a book called, "The Gnostic Gospels", which are the documents found at Nag Hammadi in 1945. Probably the most interesting, and certainly the most controversial, part of those documents was the Gospel of Thomas. I just started the book, so I have not gotten very far yet.

The youth group is hard at work getting ready for World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. We going to have a chili luncheon and silent auction of Feb. 20, and the actual famine is Feb. 25-26. We will go 30 hours without eating to get a feel for what a lot of people live with every day. We did this last year, and it was great. Please support World Vision as they try to help people around the globe, including victims of the tsunami, have a better life. One of the main things I love about World Vision is that 84% of all the money they bring in goes directly to their ministries. This is one of the best percentages of any charitable organization in the world. When you give to World Vision, you can feel confident that your money is going to those in need, and not lining the pockets of fat cats in an office.

"They might have split up or they might have capsized;
The may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters."

--From the Gordon Lightfoot classic, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"

What an incredibly intense song. Jeez, I'm shaking while listening to it.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

The Hunt for Caffeine and Free Wi-Fi

Since Grinders is temporarily closed, Michelle and I are looking for an interim hang out. Well, actually, I am looking for one since she is actually in school. The kind of place we seek will be first and foremost a coffee shop. It will be a sit-down type place, not just a drive thru. Not a jazz club, or a place that thinks its an Italian restaurant. The place will have free Wi-Fi available. The atmosphere will be relaxed, but not dead. The prices will be reasonable. The people that work there will be friendly and knowledgeable. The people that hang out there will have above average intelligence, and will be able to converse on any number of subjects.

Anyway, here are the results of my hunt:

Lassiter's (Riverside Dr.): Drive thru only, plus the owner is a jerk. Scratch it.

Cafe Paradiso (North Second St.): As soon as I walked in, I choked on the haze of smoke that was 3 feet thick. At 9:30 in the morning. I thought I had stumbled into a bar. No Wi-Fi. The waitress told me that they had it at the old location, but that "it never quite worked out"...whatever that means. She was quick to point out a power outlet under my table, in case I needed to plug in. Maybe she thought I could miracle myself onto the web. Nice touches were the lender's library (leave a book, take a book), and the magazine/newspaper rack was extensive. House guitar hanging on the wall (with pick) for anyone who wants to play. However, the prices were too high. If there were ever a cafe for bikers, this is it. Clientele (and staff) seemed quite "rough around the edges". Example: the girl behind the counter was smoking Camels.

Three Girls cafe (Wilma Rudolph): No Wi-Fi (girl behind the counter said they hoped to have it running my mid-summer). I resisted the urge to say that humans may be living on Mars by mid-summer, and that they should move into the current century. Prices were reasonable. Decorations were great. Clientele seemed to be classy. 3 semi-private rooms for meetings and such. That was cool.

Franklin Bean Company (Franklin St.): No longer in existence. I had never been there, and apparently not many other people had either.

Cafe 431 (University Ave): Is it a cafe that thinks its an Italian restaurant, or vice-versa. Anyway, they scored in the 40s on their health dept. exam. Ouch. Note to self: Salmonella sucks. E coli too.

Mugsy's (Ft. Campbell Blvd.): I have never been there, so I called today and asked the girl on the phone if they had wireless internet. Her response was, "Do we have what?" I repeated my question, and she said she would have to ask the manager. I knew I was in trouble. She comes back to phone after she popped her gum, and said, "No, but they hope to have it in a couple of weeks". I resisted the urge to say that people may be living on the moon in a couple of weeks, and that they should move into the current century.

Java City (on campus): Staff are all bartending school dropouts. Prices are too high, and service sucks. 7,000 students attend APSU and JC seats about 40. You do the math. Often there are at least 3 TV going full volume on 3 different channels. Mass confusion reigns. Occasional live music or movies on the projection screen, which is cool. The bands almost always seem to play on nights that I cannot be there, though. Wi-Fi and ethernet ports (about 5). A little too dark for me to do any real reading.

So, I am in a real quandary here. I do not know what I am going to do, other than maybe drive to Nashville to a Panera bread store. I don't see that happening, though. I will keep you posted. Peace...

Michelle and I were saddened by some news last week. Our favorite hangout, Grinders, has been sold to new owners and will be closed a few weeks while the new owners move it across the highway. The original owners, Pete and Katie Alex, decided to sell it after Katie's sister died and left two small special-needs children. Pete and Katie have decided to adopt the kids.

Michelle and I helped them pack up the shop on Saturday, and it was sad. So, right now, we are left in search of a new temporary hangout. I went to 3 girls cafe yesterday, and that ain't it. I think I am going to go to Franklin Bean today.

We have been working really hard on the wedding. Well, it would be more accurate to say Michelle has been working really hard on the wedding. Whenever she asks my opinion on something, my standard response is, "Whatever you like is fine with me." LOL. I am going to work on the guest list today, attaching addresses and stuff to the names in our database. My mom ripped into me the other day, because I had left off some important people. I forgot to tell her that the guest list is determined by a complicated mathematical formula that factors in things such as (1) How nice of a gift someone is likely to bring, (2) How much someone is likely to eat, and, (3) How many kids someone is likely to bring. There are some other mitigating factors as well. So, if someone gets left off the list, he or she should not take it personally, it's just business. LOL.

We are looking forward to Valentine's Day, which will be the 1-year anniversary of our first date. We are going to a minister's party on Feb. 4, and then to the party at Clarksville Church on Feb. 12. Tulips, Michelle's favorite flower, are in season right now, and I have bought them for her twice in less than a week. She is beginning to wonder if I have some ulterior motive, such as wanting to buy a motorcycle or something. As of now, there is no ulterior motive, although I may think of one later. I just like seeing the look on her face when I show up with flowers.

Yesterday after luch we went to Opry Mills. We picked up a bunch of stuff at Barnes and Noble. $60 worth. Ouch and Joy at the same time.

We had a fight Sunday afternoon in Wal-Mart, and laughed about it afterwards. So much so that we have been TRYING to start another fight ever since. Every attempt just boggs down into a laughing session, so we are having fun with it.

I am going to change the oil in her truck today, and replace the rear turn signals on mine. We have decided to start driving my truck more, because we have been putting a ton of miles on hers, and not many on mine. When baseball season starts, I will be driving mine a lot more anyway.

I have been really busy getting ready for baseball. I have gotten most of my college schedule, and I am really excited about it. My high school schedule should be really good as well, in addition to my middle school schedule. I also may work a few games in Hendersonville. Since I am not it school this semester, I want to work somewhere every day I can.

The youth are busy collecting donations for World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. We are having a chili luncheon and silent auction after church on Feb. 20, then we will be doing the Famine the following Friday and Saturday. Michelle and I are having a contest involving penny jars. We each have a jar, with pennies counting as positive points, and silver coins being negative. If I lose (not gonna happen), I have agreed to shave my legs. If Michelle loses, the youth group is going to concoct some kind of nasty mix of foods that she will have to eat. Fear Factor, Presbyterian style. So, if anyone would like to contribute to my efforts, please let me know. Michelle has the entire group on her side, and I am all by myself. I am not going to let myself lose, though. LOL.

I hope everyone is doing well, and has a great day. Peace...

I have decided to sell my laptop. We decided today that we only need one laptop, so I am going to sell mine. I figure I should be able to get about $600-$700, so that will be a nice emergency fund to start our marriage with. I hate to part with it, though. I may hold a wake.

More wedding planning has been taking place every day. Somehow, yesterday, I found myself trapped in David's Bridal for 3 hours while Michelle tried on dresses. I definitely needed a drink after that ordeal. Jeez.

My guitar playing is not coming real well. I know 3 chords, but can't change chords or play any kind of a tune. I can bang chords for hours, though. I need to practice more.

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

My local association also issued name badges. I could not find mine, so i took this one. I figured if I said something stupid, it was best for no one to know who I was.

I spent Friday and Saturday at the NCAA Regional Umpires Conference. It was really great, and I feel like I learned a great deal. This is my folder with my NCAA-issued name badge. 

My dog disappeared on Christmas day, and was gone for several days. Some guy dropped her off at my house last week, without saying a word. She was weak, tired, and sick. She had clearly been outside the entire time, and had probably not eaten. I immediately took her to the vet, and found that she had a sore throat and chest congestion. She has been doing better every day, and when I exercised her today, she ran with nearly the same energy as usual. I am so glad that she is back and doing well. Michelle and I stopped at Kroger's tonight, and I got her (Fluffy, not Michelle) a butcher's bone. She will vaporize it tomorrow when I give it to her. She only started eating normally in the past couple of days because of the sore throat, so she is looking to make up for lost time. She rarely eats all the food I giver her each day, but the past two days, she has cleaned her bowl.

Michelle and I took a hard look at the guest list tonight, and I did some paring. We are trying to keep the total number to about 300, but we are still over by quite a bit. Maybe I won't show up, reducing the number by one...LOL.

We have been shopping several times in the past week or so for various stuff, and it has been fun striking up conversations with random strangers who are planning their weddings as well. All the guys have exactly the same dumbfounded look on their faces as I do, and when asked their opinion on things, they all give the same response as me: "That's fine, baby...Whatever you like (is great)."

We are busy planning things for the 30 hour famine. We did this back in the spring, shortly after I started working at the church. I think the kids are excited, I know they had a great experience last time.

Tomorrow, Michelle and I are going to chill out a bit and probably watch a movie. Probably "Almost Famous". I may listen to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer a few times tonight to prepare myself.

We have decided to go to Boston on the honeymoon. It should be a lot of fun. The Royals are in town that week, so we going to try to catch a game. We want to see a lot of the architecture, and historical sites. Cape Cod, too, to see how the other half lives. We are really excited about seeing one of the most historical cities in America. Much thanks to Boston Ellen for sending us a Boston tour guide. I promise to send it back.

I hope everyone is feeling well. Peace...

My youth group will be participating in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine Feb. 25-26. We will be raising money (and going without food for 30 hours) to feed starving children.

Your $30 donation will feed a starving kid for an entire month. Please call me at 931-378-3088 to make your donation. Thank you. Peace... 

I read an an interesting column in USA Today that led me to a very interesting website about political bias among professors at some American colleges and universities. While I do not agree with everything that either of these two links have to offer, it is clear to me that Austin Peay's English department suffers from this disease of liberalism as well.

Back in November, I looked at a web-site (fundrace.org) that listed the name of any person who contributed at least $200 to any political candidate. I counted several APSU faculty that contributed to the various Democrats (donations prior to the primaries were listed), and none that gave to Bush. Exit polling in the 2000 election showed 90% of college professors voted for Gore. Interesting to say the least.

William Wordsworth once said, "One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can." Thankfully, these current 'sages' that are trying to corrupt America's students have not yet achieved their goal. Peace...

Michelle and I have been sick the past few days, so Christmas has not been much fun. I am feeling a little better, but she is miserable.

My dog is also missing, so I am thinking of writing a country song.

We have been in Tullahoma at her parents' house since yesterday afternoon. We opened some gifts last night, but went to bed early.

We are coming back to Clarksville tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Peace...

Patricia always reads the birth story from Luke 2. 

Singing carols at Granny's house. 

Granny is cutting her almost world-famous jam cake. 

Michelle and I gave Steve the collector's edition of Monty Python's Holy Grail. He is probably wondering what joys the 24 additional seconds could possibly bring. 

The Christmas tree at my parents' house. Much to my chagrin, they started using an artificial tree a few years ago. 

The main dining room table at my parents' house on Christmas eve. Michelle and I got to sit at the "big table", albeit, unfortunately, because my mom's parents were not there. 

The youth group adopted two angel tree kids. No one can save the world, but everyone can make a kid's day a little brighter. 

I finished watching ROTK the other day, and I must say that it is one of the best films I have ever seen. The trilogy is also one of the best film series I have ever seen, so I was inspired to create a new poll.

Michelle and I are busy planning the wedding. I am going to call the musicians we want tomorrow to see if they are available. The caterer we wanted is not available, so we are going to make calls. We also have a meeting with the photographer Tuesday, so that should be great.

Please visit the wedding website. We are constantly adding new stuff.

Tomorrow after lunch, we are going to shop for a new pair of shoes for me. Cool!! There may also be a trip to the Gibson store involved. YAY!!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. Shalom...

I made it through 30 minutes of part two last night, and then I gave up. I will watch the rest later.

I think the time of the wedding has changed to 12 noon (same day, July 30).

I am going to start taking guitar lessons next week. I am really excited. Michelle and I were at Opry Mills Sunday night, and I appreciated that she indulged me by hanging out in the Gibson store for about 30 mins. while I strummed guitars. If I walk into a Ferrari dealership, there is no way I would be allowed to test drive anything. However, I can walk into a guitar shop, and strum chords on any guitar they have. I tend to leave the high end models alone, though, so as to not get any crazy ideas. LOL.

Peace...

Is it a good idea to start watching LOTR ROTK at 9:35 PM? Me thinks not, but oh well. Here we go.

Starting disc 2...

She Said YES!!

A few minutes before 9 PM on Monday, December 13, 2005, I dropped to one knee, withdrew an engagement ring from my pocket, and I asked Michelle for her hand in marriage. Without hesitation, she said yes. Which is fortunate, because it would have been really awkward otherwise.

Anyway, we had already been planning the wedding, so most everything is set to go. It had taken me a while to find the right moment, so Michelle had really been on edge for a while.

The ceremony will be at the Clarksville Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Clarksville TN, at 11:00 AM on July 30, 2005.

I have found that if a man gives a woman an engagement ring, he can get away with anything for a while. In the past few days, Michelle has bought me Eric Clapton's new DVD/CD combo, and the LOTR ROTK special edition. I have been thinking of taking her down to Mary's Music to see what I could get there...LOL.

I am in the process of putting together a wedding web site, so check it out as it becomes functional.

I stopped by the Leaf-Chronicle today to pick up a wedding packet. We will be announcing our engagement soon. We are going to announce it in the Leaf-Chronicle and the Tullahoma newspaper. Maybe the Tennessean, too.

We have a meeting with the photographer next Tuesday. Bill and his wife have been friends of mine for a long time, so we are glad to have them. The cake is going to be done by the mother of one of the kids from the youth group. We haven't completely decided on the caterer yet, but we are leaning strongly in one direction there.

I hope everyone wishes us well, and peace to all.

Today is the last day of classes for the semester, so that is great. Tomorrow is a study day, and finals start on Thursday. I have the easiest exam schedule in history, so I am really relaxed. Normally, I am completely freaked out at this time of year. LOL.

I went to the Gibson guitar shop at Opry Mills yesterday, and got treated like a horse's ass. I doubt if I will ever go back there again. I told the guy I had just bought my first guitar last week, and he asked me what kind it was. I told him it was an off brand that he probably had never heard of. He said he had heard of them all. So, I told him it was a Franciscan CS-19. He scoffed and said, "I have never heard of that brand".

I told him that my research had revealed an almost infinite number of string combinations, and I asked what he would suggest for me. He launched into a discussion of the 141 guitars he has at home, and he finally suggested a brand of strings, saying, "This is the ONLY brand I play. When you change strings as often as I do, you have to have the best. I observed that they cost $35 per set, and told him that I only have one guitar, and that it cost $65, so I didn't think I should spend $35 on strings. He never could really provide a suggestion as to what combination of strings I might like to play, so I just gave up. Jeez.

Today, I went to Mary's Music on Riverside Drive, and spoke with a couple of the guys there. I told them about what happened yesterday, and they quickly suggested a set of $10 Martin ultra light strings. They said that since my hand strength isn't real good right now, light strings are the way to go. I really appreciated their help. I think I will be doing business there from now on. I also picked up an electric tuner, and some picks. There is also an almost infinite number of styles of picks, so I got some suggestions as to what I might like top play. I ended up buying several different kinds, so I can fool around with all of them.

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

Yesterday morning, Michelle had a doctor's appointment in Murfreesboro. I took my laptop so I could do some work while I was waiting. The doctor's office a few doors down had a secured wireless network, but I figured out the password and logged on. LOL. Anyway, Michelle got some good news, so we were happy.

Afterward, we visited a couple of pawn shops to look at guitars, but I didn't see anything I liked, so we had lunch and then came back to Clarksville. We went to a couple of pawn shops here, and I found a guitar I really liked, for half-off. So, I am the proud owner of a new guitar. It is a Franciscan model CS-19. It is a full sized acoustic folk guitar, with spruce top, round soundhole, black rosette, black body binding, nato back and sides, 14/20-fret laminated fretboard with pearl dot inlay, 3-per-side chrome tuners, and hardwood bridge with black bridge pins. I really like the way it sounds and looks.

Yesterday was Lindsey Cox's birthday, Michelle's suite-mate. A bunch of us went to Rafferty's, then to the Riverwalk, then we drove to see the house on Dotsonville Road with all the Christmas decorations. Everyone had a great time; it was a lot of fun.

I don't have much going on today, so I am just going to relax and read a bit. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Peace...

Here is my new guitar. 

The ornaments on the Riverwalk tree were stars made by kids at East Montgomery Elementary school. Each star had a kid's wish on it. The couple by the tree just got engaged a few days ago. 

Here is a particularly touching wish. 

Here is Lindsey, enjoying her just desserts. Amanda, on the left, does not like the camera. So, I make sure to tak a lot of pictures of her. LOL. 

Which Extremity of the World Are You?
From the towering colossi at Rum and Monkey.

I spoke with Mike Clark tonight, and he gave me some really great news. Several of Clarksville's middle schools are going to have baseball teams this spring, and they want our association to schedule the umpires. That is awesome. When Mike and formed our association several years ago, we did so on a philosophy that while each umpire has a certain level of ability, EVERY umpire can do three things: 1) Show up on time; 2) Have a clean and proper uniform; and, 3) know the rules. Some of the other area associations do not stress those things enough. Our hard work continues to pay off, with us gaining new teams all the time.

With my college, high school, middle school, and Hendersonville schedules, I should have a full slate of games this spring. Cool!!

I found out today that my sinus infection has morphed into a touch of bronchitis. Jeez. I started taking Sudafed, so it should clear up pretty soon.

Michelle and I are going to Murfreesboro tomorrow to take care of some things, which may include me buying a new guitar. Well, new to me anyway. I believe that a guitar cannot play the blues unless it has been in a pawn shop, so that is where I plan on buying it. Peace...

This is me umpiring a game. At the far left of the pic, you can see the edge of the pitcher's mound dirt circle. At the far right is the edge of the grass, and another 10 feet or so away (out of the pic) is second base. About 50 feet total between the mound and the base. Way too much. I can't believe no one had ever noticed that before. I felt like I was out of position during that entire game. 

Michael, Allison, and Michelle's mother were looking at the sales flyers, making their plan of attack. 

Michelle and I love going to Dunbar Cave to feed the ducks and geese. 

Someone took this pic of me during my sermon, without me knowing it. Jeff Stovall is my roadie. 

Here are a couple of friends from the Clarksville church, at the fall retreat. They appear to be having a good time. 

I finally got around to uploading some pictures from my camera to my laptop, so I decided to post a few. Peace...

The Thanksgiving dinner table. Everything was wonderful--except the rash.
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Rachel, Lindsey's roommate, was also instrumental in the planning and implementation. She did much of the cooking. I think she took her mask off while cooking.
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Lindsey was instrumental in planning Michelle's birthday party. Muchas gracias, Lindsey.
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Needless to say, it has been a long time since I have posted. I promised to quit cussing in this forum, so in the name of honor, let me say that I have been feeling like feces lately.

Michelle and I went to Tullahoma to share Thanksgiving with her family, much to the chagrin of my mother. After enjoying a great meal Thursday afternoon, everyone repaired to the TV room to watch "Elf" with Will Ferrell. Since I despise most stupid Christmas movies (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation notwithstanding), I drifted in and out consciousness. I was awake long enough to tell a funny (to me) story about my very brief career in bicycle assembly, though (more on that later). All seemed well until the next morning. I was playing X-box college football, trying to master the option offense. In dynasty mode, I lead the University of Georgia to 5 national championships in a six year span. With success comes scrutiny, of course, so my team got put on NCAA probation for two years. Those darn boosters are always screwing things up. Anyway, I started itching in a couple of places about mid-morning. Turns out I was having an allergic reaction to something, and I got a rash that spread all over my body. From head to toe. Jeez. Itching like CRAZY!! I spent about 3 days in agony, trying not to peel off my skin. About the time the rash went away, I developed my bi-annual sinus infection. So, I have continued to be in agony the past few days. So, I cancelled class today, and didn't even get out of bed until 2 PM. I feel horrible. Oh well. All things must pass.

**In regards to my previous mention of a very brief career in bicycle assembly, let me explain. When I worked at Wal-Mart, I got moved to the toy department one Christmas season. My first assignment was to assemble all the bikes. Management was wanting me to do about 15-20 per day, but the best I could muster was about 3-4. So, after a couple of days, I got moved to a different job. LOL.

I hope I start feeling better soon, because like most people, I simply do not have time to be sick. Please wish me well.

Michelle came over tonight to create a Powerpoint presentation for tomorrow. It was good to see her--she was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dreadful day.

We watched Jeopardy Ken lose tonight, after an incredible run of success. He missed two Daily Doubles, and that sealed his fate. He was a class act in defeat, offering a gracious handshake to the winner. We could all learn a lesson in humility.

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

The new poll in the margin consists of the top 10 greatest songs (in order) according to Rolling Stone magazine. Although I agree with this top ten to a large extent, I would have had a few differences. My top 10 would have been something like:

1. Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)
2. Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan)
3. Yesterday (Beatles)
4. Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
5. Hoochie Coochie Man (Muddy Waters)
6. Imagine (John Lennon)
7. What's Going On (Marvin Gaye)
8. Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)
9. Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)
10. Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix)

Some things I noticed were that Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares to You" is #162, but the highest Pink Floyd song is #314? Hmmmm. Nirvana with 4 songs, Nine Inch Nails with none? Hmmm. Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" is only #250 (its the greatest heavy metal song ever!!)? Hmmm. "Stairway to Heaven" is only #31 (top 20 at least)? Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" is #95, but Elvis' is #423? Hmmm.

Leave some comments and tell me what you think. Peace...

We got back from the retreat with our sanity intact, barely. We were both exhausted, so when we got into town, we went to her dorm for naps. I had barely over an hour before I had to go to a baseball meeting (we laughed about the fact that people who don't know would never guess that baseball season starts in November), but thankfully the meeting was at APSU, so I only had to walk about 2 minutes to get there.

The retreat was great--I think most of the kids had great experiences. I am not sure my sermon was all that great, I dunno. I did the best I could, so I am OK with it. I plan on posting some pics, maybe tomorrow. I need to get them sorted out first.

Friday, about 30 minutes after I got home with my new power cord, the cord I ordered from Dell arrived. That really ticked me off--the fact that according to Dell's tracking, it had not even made it to the carrier yet. So, now I have two cords. I am going to send the Dell cord back to them and get a refund. I am completely infuriated with Dell in general (I have been through 2 hard drives and 2 power cords in 15 months), so I doubt if I will ever buy from them again. I want to sell my laptop and upgrade by the end of next summer, but I have not made a decision in regards to which brand I am going to buy. More research is needed.

The alternator in Michelle's Explorer is going bad, so my brother Tim and I are going to install a new one this afternoon. Michelle and I are going to leave for Tullahoma after that, and we will be driving my truck there. That way, her dad can help me install a new windshield wiper motor. I have been driving without wipers for several months, and have been fortunate not to have gotten caught in any big storms. I don't want to push my luck any further, though.

I forgot to post last week after Michelle's birthday. It was a really nice day (especially for her!!), as I showered her with gifts. LOL. I got her a Keith Urban CD (which was free with the purchase of an Eric Clapton CD, so it was win-win), a basket of things plus a loaf of bread from the Apple Barn, and a new set of tires. Nothing says true love like BF Goodrich. LOL. The new tires are not yet installed, so I will get that done when I have a minute to breathe.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will miss not being here with my family, but I am sure they will survive...LOL. Peace...

Michelle and I are getting ready to leave for the fall retreat. We are really excited. We have 15 from our church going, so it will wild getting them there and back. I will be delivering the message tomorrow morning, so keep me in your prayers.

I was assigned the task of giving a sermon on the topic of "peace". I decided to talk about spiritual peace, instead of political or eschatological peace. I feel that spiritual peace is a precursor to the other two, anyway. I am going to play the George Harrison song "Give me Love, Give me Peace on Earth" as part of the sermon. I hope the kids will get the point. Wish me luck.

I got tired of waiting on my power cord to be delivered from Dell (as of last night it still had not been sent to UPS), so I bought one at Batteries Plus on Wilma Rudolph. It seems to be working well, and it has a 1 year warranty. I am leaning towards selling the whole unit and upgrading, maybe sometime in the spring. I dunno yet.

Earlier today, we stopped by Rossview High School so I could drop off some stuff for Richard McWhirter. While we were there, we went to see Sandra Black, who teaches there. She and her family have been good friends for a long time, so it was great to see her. She told me that her daughter Rachel reads my blog, so I am going to stop cussing. LOL.

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

Today is Michelle's and Jessica's birthday. I would like to send a shout-out to both of them. I hope they both enjoy their special day. Michelle's suite-mates are cooking dinner for us tonight, so it should be a lot of fun. I am looking foward to it.

The power cord for my laptop has died. This is the second time that this has happened in the 16 months I have had it. Boo hoo. Seriously, this stinks. So, my computer access will be somewhat limited in the next few days.

I was at Grinder's yesterday at about 5 PM, and I ran into two of my philosophy professors who were there separately. It was funny, but kind of weird. The strangest things was that I was reading a book that was written by one of them. I made sure to point that out, so maybe I will score a few brownie points. LOL.

Michelle and I are taking the youth group to the Nashville Presbytery's annual fall retreat this weekend. It should be a good experience for everyone. I am preaching on Saturday morning, so for the past week or so I have been working on a sermon.

Sunday afternoon, my college baseball umpire's association is having its annual meeting. It promises to be 2 hours of sheer boredom. Oh well.

My football game last Friday was really exciting. CPA was leading Mt. Pleasant 14-0 after three quarters, but Mt. Pleasant scored 21 points in the 4th quarter to win the game. That was the first time I had ever been to Mt. Pleasant, and they treated us real well. I would not mind going back there again.

I hope everyone is doing well. Peace...

I will be leaving shortly for the bustling metropolis of Mt. Pleasant, TN, for my football game. It promises to be a wet, nasty affair, as the weather is horrible. I am packing all of my cold-weather gear, to be safe.

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

This morning, I was unable to get online at home. After doing some trouble-shooting, I concluded that it was a problem with the cable(I have Charter alleged-high speed) since the "cable" light on the modem was alternating between blinking and steady off--when it should be steady on all the time. So, I called Charter, and after spending 15 minutes with the automated customer service lady doing stuff I had already done, I got to speak with a real person.

Benjamin was a nice fellow, but something strange happened on the way to getting the problem repaired. We both deducted that the problem was indeed in the signal, so he began writing up a work order. While doing this, he suddenly screamed, "Wait!! Stop!! We are being ambushed!! We are being ambushed!! At this point I am nearly ready to shit my pants, thinking someone is walking around Benjamin's office with an Uzi, ready to take out their frustrations on the world. In reality, "ambushed" is Charter-speak for the act of receiving a ton of calls about a specific problem from a specific area. It seems that most of Clarksville was unable to get online, and the office was being deluged with calls. So, the work order was cancelled, and Benjamin told me they would investigate the problem and that I should try to get online later in the day. Whew!! I was thinking, "Jeez, what will I do if people die in an attack while I am on the phone?" I am glad nothing like that happened!!

As you may surmise, I am now online again, so it appears the problem has been solved. Without violence, thankfully.

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

Let me recap the events of the last several days:

Friday:

I showed up at Michelle's dorm at the prescribed time, to find that she had transformed her room into an Italian bistro, complete with warm mood lighting and great decorations. We enjoyed a wonderful lasagna dinner, and watched a movie afterward. It was a blast!!

Saturday:

I worked 3 football games, and forgot to apply sunscreen to my face. The burn has receded, but at this moment I look like a reptile that is molting. LOL. I was at Books-A-Million this morning, and some guy gave me a weird look. LOL. Whatever.

Saturday night, Michelle and I ate at Don Pancho's, the best Mexican joint in town. it was great. We ran into a family from Mt. Denson, so that was funny. Afterward, we went to my house and listened to music for a while, then she went home. Sometime later, I got a phone call saying that I had been assigned a 2nd round playoff game this Friday. Way cool!! I was not at all expecting to get a game, so I am really hyped. I do not know where we are going, only that we are leaving at 2:30 in the afternoon, so I can surmise the game must be pretty far away. We'll see what happens.

Sunday, after church and lunch, I took a LONG nap, about 2.5 hours. It felt great. The youth group meeting was really nice; we had 3 visitors that had never come before. Cool. It's a good sign when the kids are comfortable enough to invite their friends. Michelle and I are really excited about what we have going on with the group.

Yesterday, I ate lunch with the Nashville Presbytery ministers. There is a big Christian Education meeting in Memphis this week, so a lot of the regulars were there. It was still nice, however, to catch up on all the latest gossip. LOL. When I left, I stopped by the church and rearranged some of the furniture in my office. I have been given another bookshelf, so I am trying to decide where I want to put it. I needed another shelf, because I have filled up the one I started with. One of my aunts recently gave me a huge box of books and minister-type materials, so I needed to find a way to store them.

Last night, there was a spaghetti dinner in Michelle's dorm, so we went there and ate. Good fun was had by all. Afterward, we went to the "new" Brary to hang out for a while. That was the first time either of us had been there. I ran into a kid that grew up playing baseball here, and we talked a while about baseball and stuff. I have umpired a ton of his games over the years.

It has been sort of a light week in regard to school, so there is not much to report there. I have been doing a ton of reading lately, trying to catch up.

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

This has been a really crazy week, and I am now glad it's over. Whew. Very busy. Insane. Out-of-control.

I have been instructed to be at Michelle's dorm, nicely dressed, tonight at 6 PM. The rest is still a surprise. Since I don't like surprises, I am a little uptight about the whole thing. However, I trust her, so I am trying to keep cool. I know everything will be fine. I hope.

It has finally cooled off a little, and the weather is great. I love the crispness in the air. Long sleeves are once again de rigueur for me. YAY!

I picked up a couple of football games tomorrow, and a couple next Saturday. I am fairly certain that will wrap up the season.

I have decided to continue umpiring college baseball next spring. I know the time commitment will run me ragged, and readers of this blog can expect me to rant about my exhaustion and misery. However, I love the game too much to give it up, and college ball in particular is so much better than high school ball that it would be really tough to give it up. Being single and without kids affords me opportunities to do things that guys with families may have to miss, and I want to take advantage of the opportunity while I have it.

I have also decided to not work Saturday football next year. I am not allowed to wear my sunglasses on the field, and my eyes are too important to me. An old, out-dated custom was for sports officials to not wear glasses of any kind, be them prescription or not. This was to avoid the "four-eyes" ridicule that was sure to follow. However, I would like to believe that we live in a somewhat more enlightened time, and that ridiculous customs such as this can be cast aside. I liken it to the old idea that people should not drink water during competition, lest they get sick. Yeah, like heat exhaustion is a better idea. Blindness is not a good idea for me. Jeez.

Anyway, sunglasses are not allowed in Saturday football (perfectly OK in baseball), so I will not participate. It is not an issue in JV or varsity games, as those are played at night. So, I will continue to work those games. Besides, my officiating jones can be satiated with fall baseball.

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

Michelle and I have just discovered a new coffee shop in town, called Grinders. It is located on Wilma Rudolph, behind Sprint PCS. We are here right now, using their free Wi-Fi. I think it may be my new favorite place to be.

Peace...

Being a Republican, I was overjoyed to see Bush win re-election. I feared that President Kerry would have brought about a decline in the country's moral values (abortion, stem cells, gay marriages would have all been full-steam ahead), not to mention higher taxes. Since both of my brothers are small business owners, it would have been tough for me to see their taxes skyrocket, as I feel they would have under Kerry.

I think the American people spoke loud and clear about their values by defeating gay marriage in all 11 states where it was on the ballot. Alaskans defeated a bill that would have legalized pot. California showed it is on the far left, by authorizing stem cell research.

Michelle and I watched the returns in the lobby of her dorm. There was a nice party, with an eclectic mix of Republicans, Democrats, and even a couple of Nader-backers. Spirits were high, and attitudes were cordial, so everyone had a good time. I won 3 cans of shaving cream by answering various trivia questions about previous elections, so now I am well-stocked.

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