ramblings from the south

You never just how to look through other people's eyes

2008-08-08T21:50:00.003-04:00

So my administrator was sitting in my office today. It was awesome. She was talking about the Olympics in 1996. She talked about college football and how she liked to watch Michigan Alums in the pros. She likes UGA as well. she called her husband to find out where Mario Manningham is playing in the NFL. She said the f-word too. that was awesome. She admired my Sopranos poster on the wall. She missed Skip Caray. she helped me do my job. She was supportive in me going to school. Good day. Good times.

An end of an era.

2008-08-05T18:00:00.002-04:00

It didn't really hit me right away when I heard the news, but the more I think about the sadder I become. I was perusing the message board that I have an unhealthy obsession with on Sunday night when I saw that Skip Caray, longtime Atlanta Braves play-by-play man, died. The initial reports were that he died in his sleep were untrue. He died in his yard, but that really doesn't matter in the end. What matters is that he's gone. His voice is one that has a firm place in the soundtrack of my life. Thomas and I and sometimes Rachel and David would be outside shooting baskets in the early evening in Stone Mountain, GA. We might be doing something else like playing two man baseball or possibly some hideous forced yard work like pulling weeds just because we had to or it could have some sort of punishment. Invariably we would drag out the Sanyo boombox and turn on the Braves game. Skip Caray calling Otis Nixon's catch to save a game late in the season against the Pirates in 1991 was heard this way. We didn't have TV then so if we were witnesses to it, we usually witnessed it on the radio. Sometimes we would sneak the games in bed. We were only allowed to listen to 2 games a week which later was reduced to one. I don't think that that rule was ever properly enforced and why should it have been? It was an unjust rule. Thank you for indulging my digression.
I have heard Caray's call of Sid Bream sliding into home to beat the Pirates in the 92 NLCS hundreds of times, but it still sends chills up my spine. I guess there's not really much else to say about it. It's just sad to see part of your childhood go and makes you wish you could enjoyed it more you got older.

It's me

2008-07-30T00:02:00.001-04:00

Landed"

We'd hit the bottom,
I thought it was my fault
And in a way I guess it was
I'm just now finding out
What it was all about

Moved to the west coast away from everyone
She never told me that you called
Back when I was still, I was still in love

Till I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's bye-bye, goodbye, I tried
And I twisted it wrong just to make it right
Had to leave myself behind
I've been flying high all night
So come pick me up...I've landed

The daily dramas she made from nothing
So nothing ever made them right
She liked to push me and talk me back down
Until I believed I was the crazy one,
and in a way
I guess I was...

But I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's bye-bye, goodbye I tried
Treading a sea of a troubled mind
Had to leave myself behind
Singing bye-bye, goodbye I tried

If you wrote me off I'd understand it
Because I've been on some other planet
So come pick me up...
I've landed

And you will be so
happy to know
I've come alone,
it's over

But I opened my eyes and walked out the door
And the clouds came tumbling down
And it's by my goodbye I tried
Down comes the reign of the telephone czar
It's OK to call
Now I'll answer for myself

Come pick me up,
...I've landed

Quick hits

2008-06-18T13:29:00.002-04:00

Is it me or some of the devices in Hollywood movies ask quite a lot of us? Example: small women throwing punches that knock out big men. I'm not talking about movies like Kill Bill where girls just going around kicking ass. Really just talking about specific scenes.
The Celtics won the championship and I'm sure that Boston is excited about it. It was good to see someone that was genuinely joyful about the experience like I saw Kevin Garnett last night.
This presidential race is going to be interesting. It appears that the Republicans are beginning to create an Obama-Commie campaign. This would be to drive voters towards the candidate that they( assclowns O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh) didn't think was Republican enough 3 months ago. The Dems are starting hitting back with McSame (I suppose as Bush). It's all a big maelstrom of asshattery while the candidates sit above it all.
Text messaging is a useful tool for passing along short bits of info, but attempting to connect with someone is enfuriating.
The hospital is horrible.
Don't buy trader Joe's brand beer. Everything else is fantastic from Trader Joe's. Also, Woody's Cheesesteaks are pretty tasty.

Why Jamaican Men are killing music

2008-04-28T17:15:00.004-04:00

This post is an appreciation of a couple of classic albums from artists that I wish would return.

The first is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by of course Lauryn Hill. This came out in the fall 1998 and it took a few years after that to get the full appreciation of it.
The first track Lost Ones is a diss of former Fugee frontman and bandmate Wyclef Jean. I believe what happened was that she and Mr. Jean had some sort of a dalliance and he admitted to it in a magazine interview. In the song she speaks of Mr. Jean "tarnishing her image in the conversation." She says his movements are "similar to a serpent." She also utilizes a kind of fake patois in order to make fun of him as well.
The one song that I liked immediately was Doo Wop(That Thing). It's just a great song and has great message. It pokes at the kind of people that are materialistic, misogynistic and that "give it up" too easily.
To Zion is just a fantastic song. It's an appreciation of her baby Zion. Carlos Santana plays the guitar and I still get chills sometimes when I listen to it.
She does a song with the uncredited Mary J. Blige called Now I Don't that is very powerful. Those are just a few of my favorites on the album. She has had 5 kids since 1998 by one of Bob Marley's sons and there is not a whiff of a new album. I even like the interludes between songs. it appears to be set in classroom with kids talking about love. if you listen hard, you can probably learn a thing or two.

The second one is an album by Sade called Lovers Rock. This came out in the fall of 2000 It's hard to pick out even a few songs because i really like every one. I think Slave Song might be my current favorite. There are also rumors that she has holed up somewhere in Jamaica with a reggae artist that i am not familiar with.

I have purchased both of these albums numerous times. I think Miseducation is the most requested album of mine that others have burnt off of me as well. Happy Listening.

The manager's special tonight is...

2007-08-29T16:44:00.000-04:00

The other night I was in the grocery store and the Temptations' "Ain't too proud to Beg" comes on the Muzak. Of course the initial reaction is to start singing along. Then I began to dance a little as well. I wasn't shaking it too hard, but maybe enough to where passersby might wonder about my mental status. When the song was over I got to thinking. That is truly a song that everyone knows. Now of course everyone doesn't know the song, but i would say that enough people know it for me to safely say "everyone" in the United States knows the song. Now i will pander to the masses and list songs that everyone knows.

Lynyrd Skynyrd- Sweet Home Alabama

I used to enjoy this song alright and have used it to get everyone on the dance floor at a wedding before. Kentucky Fried Chicken bought the rights and have completely bastardized the song. First of all I'm not sure why Kentucky Fried would buy something about Alabama, but whatever(Kentucky Rain perhaps). I probably would have tired of the song no matter what. I think when your lead singer dies in a plane crash, and pretty much all of your original members have gone on to glory. It's time to let the memory live on. "Free Bird" is one of my most hated songs, but it might have a chance to go on this list as well. I know i've said this before but it's better in this case to burn out than slowly, painfully fade away.

James Taylor-Fire and Rain

I believe there are a few ways to go with a James Taylor song so debatably this is one that I would list. It is also one that would be played over the Muzak incessantly, but it's one that I'll keep. I believe it's about a friend that committed suicide, but I could be wrong about that. Who can really say no to JT's unique blend of folk-rock.

The Eagles- Hotel California

The line: "you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave" is certainly one of the best lines in a song ever. It relates to so many situations in life. As most of these songs are or will be, it's hard for me to find good things to say about them because they are so over exposed at this point, but i will do my best to look at them from the perspective of someone that has just heard them, but I digress. One song by the Eagles that makes me want to reach through the speakers and choke Don Henley is "Peaceful Easy Feeling". This is music at its gutless worst, in my humble opinion.

You are My Sunshine

This little simple song everyone knows. I believe it may be the start of popular music. Ray Charles adds some twists to it, but how can you ignore this song.

Isley Brothers- Shout

This is a very simple classic. It is one of the wedding reception traditions that I do not mind. Ones that i pretty much have no use for are : the Electric Slide, The Chicken Dance, The Cha Cha Slide is OK for others to do but i really can only watch. Look for Walking it Out to emerge sooner or later as the newest Theme dance at a party/wedding reception near you.

Gloria Gaynor- I Wil Survive
The lyrics to this song are pretty powerful, it's a shame that they are done to a disco beat. I think this would have been a hi1t in any era, however it was produced. My two best disco songs are "I Love the Nightlife" and "Don't leave me this Way" by Thelma Houston. The latter i am almost sure would be a hit in any era as well.

Billy Idol- White Wedding

I think everybody knows this song, but I'm not sure. Not much else to say about it. It was in the Eighties, it's a pretty good rock song.

Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love You
I believe the Whitney Houston version is still the #1 song of all time. I knew this song even when i really wasn't allowed to listen to popular music.

Coldplay-Clocks
When you're watching Coldplay live on TV at the hospital and the nurse who happens to be African-American and probably close to 50 comes while this song is being played and says she that she loves it, you figure everybody knows it. I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Coldplay myself. One one hand they are extremely boring, and all their songs sound nearly the same. On the other hand songs like Yellow, Politik, the Scientist and Fix You can not be ignored, and I'm not ashamed to say that I like these songs. They could stand to get a little more of an edge, however.

The Beatles- I Wanna Hold your Hand

Many people know everything that the Fab 4 have done, but in my experience this is the only song that everyone knows. This was when the Beatles were the Backstreet Boys. I heard it said once that the Beatles were the only band that went from being the Backstreet Boys to U2 to Radiohead. There is of course not much else to say about them.

Future Nominees: Smashing Pumpkins-Today; Gnarls Barkley-Crazy

Please if you have critiques of the examples i've given, i'd love a discussion. Feel free to add your picks and explanations of such. Or you can just enjoy mine, haha.

Two funerals and a wedding

2007-08-28T18:08:00.000-04:00

Please note, the following events are meant to illustrate a theme. They in no way are meant to be portrayed as the most important events of my life. They are important events in the lives of many. Take it for what it is. It is just my view point on certain things. This is a creative space of mine that I value and attempt to entertain others and not intended to be a personal journal.

The year was 1999. Some of my college friends and myself were enjoying a Saturday in a state park in Western NY. We were driving along and up ahead there was what appeared to be a wedding and/or wedding reception occurring in one of the recreation areas. Now, mind you we were in college and we were therefore prone to to do or say inappropriate things in order to get laughs. I am reminded of my friend Jon pulling up his shorts past his belly button and acting "special" at the Baseball Hall of Fame. On this particular day someone suggested that we yell something along the lines of advice to utilize prophylactics to the wedding party. Us being all around 20 years old, this sounded like the most hilarious thing in the world. Jon also agreed that this would be really funny, but made a valid point. He felt like this was two people's special day and didn't want to be part of someone's memory of the event when they look back on it. We heeded his words and kept driving.

Flash to early 2001. I am attending my grandfather Amos' funeral in south GA. It is all very sad, but i don't really start crying until Mister Billy gets up and starts talking about Amos. Mister Billy was a neighbor who lived down the road and has known my Grandmother as long as they've been alive. He would come over to the house and visit nearly every morning. He would also take us kids for rides on his 4-wheeler when we would visit. Well anyway, Mister Billy was inconsolable even after the funeral was over. I was supposed to be one of the pallbearers. I first wanted to go over to Mr. Billy and see if I could be any comfort. I am however interrupted when one of the funeral home employees demands rather harshly that I come back over and assist with the proceedings. I know that was my duty, but I i just needed like 10 more seconds.

Now it's May of this year. My very good boyhood friend Michael Hullender was killed in Iraq while assisting his unit members who were wounded. I go to his funeral. There are rumors that the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas will be picketing the graveside service. These are worst kind of hateful so-called Christians that celebrate soldier's deaths because they feel that this is God meting out his punishment on the US for allowing homosexuality etc.. Almost out of necessity comes the Patriot Guard. These are veterans and others that ride loud motorcycles and if necessary, provide a wall between protesters and the proceedings of a funeral. Wow there is a use for dirty, long haired bikers after all. No protesters showed, but the Patriot Guard was there just in case.

3 major events in life. 2 of them were able to avoid having their memory tainted. The incident at my grandfather's funeral did not ruin the memory, but it could have gone better. Who knows maybe at all of these events, something didn't go right for someone. Maybe the happy couple is divorced so it doesn't even matter what happened on that day. I guess the point of this post was to look at major life events and try to point out how they could be tainted by little or big actions.

#1 in all of our hearts

2007-08-14T19:37:00.000-04:00

Man Crushes

It's safe to say that my Man Crush on Mike Vick lessened over the past year. There are still a few that I have.

Beck: I think ever since I saw him perform "Where it's At" at the Grammys in like 1997 he's been a crush of mine. I can't explain it, but I just thought his stage presence was electric. I like his music, but it's not like I ever owned a ton of his albums. Album. It seems like only old people make fun of other old people for using the word when referring to a musical artist's release. They say things like,"I think they're called CD's now." With CD sales declining, you can't necessarily call them that anymore either. Album is a perfectly acceptable term. I digress.

Charles Barkley: I've always drunk his Koolaid. I was a huge fan of his when he was on the basketball court and I love him in the TNT studio. How can you not? His outlandish comments fit right in with Kenny Smith's astute analysis and Ernie Johnson Jr's somewhat comical straight man routine.

Vince Vaughn: Obviously Swingers was the start of it. I also liked Clay Pigeons although not too many other people did. He's just so funny to me and still seems like a regular guy. If there was somewhat that I would like to be, it would probably be him. Of course I wouldn't want to be anybody else.

Jimmy McNulty: This is a fictional person. The drunken, womanizing homicide detective from HBO's the Wire is someone that i look up to. He kind of reformed his ways in the last season so he lost the spark a little bit, but it looks like he'll back to his old ways by next season.

Jay-Z: He's kind of lost it as well with his last album. Although their were some good songs on the album, he seemed like he lost some of his fire. He's talking about how many stamps he has in his passport and such. I need a fiery, hungrier Jigga. But then he's like 37 now, so that might be hard to conjure up.

Chris Dimino: You probably haven't heard of him. This sports talk show host is one of the hardest working around. He always does his homework. His opinions are well thought out and almost always agree with him. He does a baseball show before every Braves home game. He has interviewed nearly every living baseball legend including Buck o'neill, Yogi Berra, Chuck Tanner, and many more.

Neal Boortz: He has been on Atlanta Radio longer than I've been alive. I been listening to him since I was probably 10 years old( I know I'm weird). He's certainly responsible for my love of talk radio. Lately I've found him to be somewhat abrasive and heartless, but he's still the Talkmaster.

Honorable Mention: Jeff Francoeur, Allen Iverson, Jason Stathan, Matt Damon, Owen Wilson.

With or without you

2007-08-05T12:57:00.000-04:00

It was April 2001. I had just moved back to Atlanta and was very happy about it. I had been a Falcons fan since I had started paying attention to sports. Which was when i was about 10 I think. A basketball goal put up in the driveway would probably be the tipping point which started a full fledged interest in being a lifelong sports fan. My mother is so proud. Back then there was little to cheer about. John Settle, Shawn Collins? The Falcons had just recently blown the first pick in the Draft on a defensive end from Auburn named Aundray Bruce. He had some off the field issues, but mostly he just didn't want to work hard and was a waste of talent. I digress, back to 2001. The Falcons had the 5th pick in the draft which was a big topic of discussion in ATL as to what they would do with it. Would they draft a receiver out Mich. named David Terrell or a DE by the name of Justin Smith? Ladainian Tomlinson wasn't really talked about because they had Jamal Anderson who had only tore up his knee once at the time and had just come off a 1,000 yard season the year after knee surgery.

Then the news came down. The Falcons' brain trust had made a trade. They gave up the 5th pick in the draft and a few other pieces for the rights to the 1st pick. Who was the hands down choice to go #1 that year? One Michael Vick out of VA. Tech. The town was whipped into a frenzy. My sister's interest at the time, was on the Falcons beat for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . He broke the story and it made the front page of the whole paper. The town had a superstar. The biggest guy in Atlanta since Dominique Wilkins ran the hardwood for the Hawks in the mid 80s to early 90s was here.

His first season, he played sparingly. this is usually the case for rookie quarterbacks.
Early 2002, Vick was named the starter and the previous #1 Chris Chandler was let go.
In the 2002 season #7 took the NFL by storm. He could literally do no wrong. He made marginal receivers like Quentin McCord and Trevor Gaylor look like stars. Any time he took off, he could go the distance. Who could forget the overtime run against the Vikings where he made two defenders run into each other. They went to the playoffs and beat the Packers in Lambeau Field for the first time ever(?). Excitement for the Birds and #7 was at an alltime high. The Dome was sold out with season tickets. There was actually a waiting list for season tickets. We never heard of that in Atlanta. That was reserved for teams with huge and traditional fan bases like the Packers, Jets, Giants, Cowboys. Vick has re-energized the city. This was exciting for me, but also vexing at the same time. Being someone that had suffered through many lean years, i was somewhat resentful of the bandwagon jumpers, who did not know names like Jim Hanifan, Michael Haynes or Bobby Butler. Despite this , the excitement for the '03 season was overwhelming.

In the preseason, #7 broke his ankle. He pleaded with us to stay on board, that we would be fine with Doug Johnson as the starter. I believed we would. We did just fine the year before in the one game that Johnson started. Well we weren't. What followed was probably the worst 12 games of QB play that i have ever seen in my life.
Mike came back in game 13 and showed why everyone believed that as long he was under center, we would win at least 10 games a year. He went 3-1. He made plays with his arm and legs and ended the season on a positive note.
A new coach was hired in the off season. Jim Mora was the son of ex-saints and colts head man Jim Mora. Lovie Smith, who was eventually hired by the Bears, was also interviewed. Jim Mora was a very charismatic fellow. He always said the right things(except when he didn't, which is another story). He was pretty good looking too, if I do say so myself.
The next season was true of the 10 game winning axiom. They went 11-5 and won the division, even though there were holes on the team. There did not appear to be too much talent in the receiver corps. They won their home playoff game in the Dome, which I was a party to, but then lost in Philadelphia for the 2nd time in 3 years in what was a very ugly loss. The Eagles appeared to have cracked the code as far as stopping Vick's runs and forcing the Falcons to pass.
2005 was a year that that started with as much excitement as the year before. In the first game , the Falcons took care of the Eagles that had given them so many problems in the last contest of the season before. Their defense looked like it didn't have any holes. Vick's passing numbers were somewhat suspect. He really wasn't rushing for that many yards either, but for some reason they were winning. In the first half they were 6-2. I was of the view point that as long as the Birds had a winning rcord, numbers be damned. But then... in the 2nd half of the season they went 2-6. In the last game of the season they had a chance to go consecutive years with winning seasons, but vick later admitted to quitting and not giving his best effort in the last game against the Panthers. Needless to say, there was some question now as to the quality of Mike's leadership and whether or not he could lead the franchise to a Super Bowl. Matt Schaub was the backup and there has always been a contingent of fans that would like to see Schaub get a closer look as the starter.

2006 got off to a very good start as well. The Falcons were 5-2 before anyone could blink an eye. Then they were not anymore. They were embarrassed by the Lions and the Browns. In the worst game I have ever seen by the Falcons, they lost to the Panthers 10-3 on Christmas Eve . The Panthers passed the ball less than 10 times and many times didn't even have a QB on the field. They ran all over the Falcons. Vick passed the 1000 yard rushing mark in the game, but it didn't do any good. At this point I felt like a QB's job is not to run for a 1000 yards. Running should be a last option and I felt like he gave up on plays too soon and didn't hit receivers when they were coming out of their breaks. They finished 7-9 that year and Jim Mora was fired. This was due mostly to 2 things. First a radio interview, in Seattle where he said that he would leave any job he had to coach the University of Washington. Then it appeared that the team quit on him.

This began the most tumultuous off season in my memory. The newly named commissioner of the NFL instituted tough new policies regarding off the field behavior. A new coach, Bobby Petrino was named by the Falcons. I won't go into the dog fighting details, but suffice it to say it has left me with some emotions as a Falcons fan to sort through. In my mind, Vick had one more year in which to prove himself as a starter in the NFL. This whole mess has probably made that made that impossible to prove in Atlanta. I believe that there is a very good chance that he is guilty, and if this is the case then at that point I would sever all allegiances to #7. I wish that there wasn't such a media frenzy surrounding the whole thing, but it's totally unrealistic to expect that the fury will die down any time soon. There is one addendum which I would consider giving vick a 2nd chance in the event of a conviction or guilty plea. He would have to admit his wrong doing, take his punishment like a man and admit the error of his ways. He would need to pledge his time and money towards the ASPCA( not PETA, because they are just complete wackos). He also would need to seek therapy, because anybody that actually did those things to dogs needs psychological help. He would also need to act like the millionaire that he is.

That being said my best hope is that in a couple of months I see that John Abraham is healthy and leading the league in sacks. Chris Houston and Jamaal Anderson are making impacts as rookies. Michael Jenkins is having a breakout year and Joe Horn is experiencing a career resurgence. Joey Harrington is not screwing anything up. After all, I'm a Falcons Fan and the train must keep moving.

Beat him like he stole something

2007-03-11T13:59:00.000-04:00

I got a piece of paper in the mail last week. It was a subpoena for court. The hearing was to occur this past Thursday. So I showed up. I had a hunch why I had to be there, but wasn't for sure. Recently my house has been robbed twice. The first time they made off with a few DVD's , DVD player and about 80 CD's. The missing CD's would have killed me, if not for the fact that they were backed up on my hard drive . Of course there was the feeling that I had been completely violated. It was somewhat amusing that they took the DVD player and not the remote for it. It was kind of funny to see what they took and didn't take. They took Scrubs season 2, but not season 1. They took Antwone Fisher, but not Man on Fire. They left Chappelle's Show Season 2 and Arrested Development season 2. They took Kill Bill 2, but not Kill Bill. The next time they broke in, it was far less amusing. They pretty much backed the truck up to my house and took anything of value, icluding the rest of my CD collection, computer, even my shampoo and toilet paper.
Needlesss to say I wanted to see the person that ravaged my house. I was also hoping to get on the stand and make a victim impact statement. I know it's not a violent crime. I know it's just material stuff, but I worked hard to get it and others put thought into giving it to me, so in that way it's more than just material stuff.
I found out that when I got to court that there as many as 20 other victims of this juvenile. There was one woman that felt like the accused was not perpetrator in her case. She lamented the fact that she had to keep coming down here. The detective in this case was a big white guy from western NY. He had played football at University of Kentucky and roomed with Tim Couch. He stated that since he put the accused juvenile in Detention in August, breakins in that part of town had been reduced 65%.
Next to me is a woman who drives a school bus for an alternative school. She is pressing charges on a student who assaulted her. She wonders why they wouldn't ban the child from riding her bus at least. It does not appear that this will be the likely occurence. After about 2 and a half hours it appears that the defendant may have been detained at the time of the first robbery. It's time for me to go. They tell me that I get paid $25 for my time. what a good deal.

The view from the fence

2007-03-10T19:27:00.002-05:00

We're no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but just for tonight, we are Barry Jive and his

2007-03-07T12:27:00.000-05:00

I think the favorite movie i've seen since I graduated from college is High Fidelity. It's the movie I've seen the most anyway. I was watching it the other day and discovered how much of it I have incorporated it into my vernacular. The conclusion John Cusack's character, Rob Gordon has near the end of the movie about why he wants to get married is in line with my way of thinking. I am not really there yet. I get the point about the panties and things not being in the fantasy and what not. Yes I know it's actually a book, set in England written by Nick Hornby. It's definitely the best adaptation of a Nick Hornby book for sure.
Many people are weary of Jack Black's schtick at this point. I think he has suffered from overexposure to some extent, but I still enjoy him. This movie showcased him at his best.
This appears to have been Iben Hjejle's (Laura) only role in America. She was likable enough, though one could definitely notice an accent from a Germanic country.
It was made by the same folks that did Grosse Point Blank. The dialogue between John Cusack and Dan Aykroyd is so smart and funny. This may be the last time Aykroyd was any good in a movie.

But i digress, the fact is if you go to any independent record store you will find people like this. People that will absolutely hold it over your head that they know more about music than you. Maybe they are not as over the top as rob, barry and dick, but they are just as condescending

It's funny that the following line is in the movie:

Barry: Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s and '90s. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?

At the end one of the best previously relatively unknown Stevie Wonder songs is played.

Every Headline We are Reminded this is not Home for Us

2007-02-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased the new Bloc Party Album. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The first track on the album is probably better than anything on Silent Alarm. It's one of you just want to blast and play over and over again. On the whole every track may not stand out quite as much as pretty much every track on Silent Alarm. As someone that doesn't do a whole lot of digging for new and interesting music lately, it's about as good as it gets for me.

How about this whole AT&T merger with Bellsouth thing. Do they think that because they try to charm us with the a standout Oasis song from their largely subpar third album that we will be hypnotized into thinking this is a good thing? Didn't federal deregulation allow AT&T to break up into Bellsouth, Southwestern Bell, ALLTEL, NYNEX, etc.. Then I know NYNEX was gobbled up and became Bell Atlantic. I'm not sure of the details, Bell Atlantic, I'm sure devoured more telecom companies and became Verizon. Meanwhile Bellsouth had their cellphone company named Bellsouth Mobility. Bellsouth Mobility became Cingular. A few years later Cingular merged with AT&T's wireless company: AT&T Wireless which became an all enveloping cingular. The "big" AT&T a year ago first takes the big PAC-MAN gulp of SBC(formerly Southwestern Bell). This year they get BellSouth and Cingular. For what purpose? Yes they have tried to entice with their all inclusive calling plans. In the end is it really to everyone's advantage? Or is it something that just goes in cycles? 10 years down the road will there be a reason for AT&T to break up into little divisions again? Who knows? Or will AT&T keep devouring? AT&T Broadband was snapped up by Comcast. Now it's Comcast. My guess is Comcast will soon be part of the AT&T umbrella.

Be wary of Vietnamese men trying to talk to you in the gym. They will eventually try to offer you massage services. I am not sure if he was offering it or he was offering someone else's services. I didn't really stick around to find out. The worst part was that i was trying to swim while this was occurring. It's hard to talk and swim. He tried to befriend me by offering to swim with me. When he lamented that he could not swim as fast as me, i did the old "you go, i'll catch up with you". He eventually seemed to get the picture and left the pool. He was in the locker room when i left the pool and gave me a big cheesy grin. Dude, this is the locker room. We are half and/or naked in here, not acceptable to get a big cheesy grin from another dude.

If you any facts to add to the AT&t piece, please feel free to add them. I pieced it to gether mainly through sugar packets.

Soul Singin'

2006-03-18T13:48:00.000-05:00

Admittedly i can't identify with the people that follow them around the country. I can't really identify with anybody that follows bands around the country. I enjoyed the hell out of this show, however. Who was this do you ask? Well, the place was the Fabulous Fox Theatre. The band was the feuding brothers rich and chris robinson's Black Crowes. I have always enjoyed their brand of southern/jam rock, but wouldn't consider myself an avid fan. Rock and roll is meant to be enjoyed live, and this was a perfect example of such a statement. I also don't consider myself a fan of the "jam band", but this was a very good blend of driving rock and some jam rolled in. they made the crowd wait until the very end before they played some of their hits "Hard to Handle", "Twice as Hard", "Jealous Again" and "Remedy". To be honest with you, I really would have felt it was worth my time, even if they hadn't played their hit songs. And that goes against my general feeling about seeing concerts. Make the audience happy. You made money off people buying those songs, so make them happy and play them. We know you've progressed and you're above those songs, but maybe we haven't. Prince, play Purple Rain. Pearl Jam, play Jeremy. Van Morrison, play Brown Eyed Girl. Phil Collins, play In the Air Tonight. You get the idea.

They looked too weird. It served them right.

2006-03-03T14:07:00.000-05:00

The other night i was out eating at a restaraunt called PF Chang's Chinese Bistro. As you might imagine the Ambience on a tuesday was trending towards professionals just leaving work and wanting to wait traffic out while grabbing a decent bite to eat and drink before heading to LA Fitness for the evening workout or headed home to catch Scrubs or whatever. So that's the scene. You got that picture in your mind right? then there was something i saw that seemed to contrast everything else in the picture. A man in a sleeveless flannel shirt, scraggly beard and some sort of a racing hat walked past my table. He was probably in his late forties. I looked hard, probably a little too hard. What looked like his wife and teenage daughter walked right behind him, out of the restaraunt. they looked like what you would probably call a "redneck" family. When the daughter passed by, i felt bad for looking so hard. Why did they deserve to be stared at? they were just here to enjoy their meal like everyone else. maybe they were down from Dawsonville and wanted to get a taste of the big city. did it really matter who they were or where they from anyway?

It was the cold winter

2006-02-23T17:02:00.000-05:00

February pretty much sucks. Nothing remarkable to report at all. How about these natural gas prices? they're really killing me. I have an electric space heater set up so that it'll heat my bedroom and the bathroom will be warm when i wake up in the morning. It works quite well. It's really a shame that i have to go to these measures. I'm ready for spring and baseball and for my softball season to start up.

Guess who's back?

2006-01-29T11:34:00.000-05:00

For those of you that have been pining for more Ramblings, I plan on getting on the ball very shortly. I have moved and i haven't gotten internet service up and running in the new house. I like the location in which i live. It's pretty close to everything, but i'm not sure i like the neighborhood. no one seems to be all that friendly, but oh well. I like the house so forget the neighbors. This has become on of my favorite things to do over the past yearso i really need to keep it up. i have let other distractions get in the way of doing something i genuinely enjoy. hopefully i it won't happen again. Now i will tell some people to get of town:

Michael Savage, get out of town! You're a horrible hateful man and if i was forced to listen to you i would puncture my eardrums in order to not hear your grating brand of negativity.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, get out of town! Why do i know so much about you! I have never gone out of my way to read anything about either one of you, but yet i know so much. How about adopting some kids from the US? There are plenty that need homes.

Ashlee Simpson, get out of town! You have zero talent and you're not that cute either. that's all i have to say about that.

Jack Abramoff, get out of town! You're a disgrace to this country. Before you go, leave us some names of who else i should kick out. Ralph Reed, you too. I'd like to believe there's a special place in hell for you all that let your pockets get lined and line other people's pockets under the guise of being political leaders. Bill Campbell, you too.

I'll be back sooner than you think. Be well and do good work.

Sexy boy

2005-11-14T14:35:00.000-05:00

She called me a pretty boy. "You're crazy," I said. How could this be? Here are some of the reasons that i was a "pretty boy". 1)I take my clothes to the dry cleaners. 2) I iron my t-shirts and jeans when i wear them. 3) Supposedly my hair is never messy. 4)Supposedly all i buy is brand name clothing. 5)my facial hair always looks neat and trimmed. 6)here's another one for your arsenal. i use dove soap.

Sounds like a pretty boy huh? I tend to disagree with the presumption based on my previous way of thinking. I would always look down on males that spent too much on clothes from Abercrombie and Polo and used "products" other than just shampoo, soap, shaving cream, and the occasional cologne used when one wants to impress a girl(possibly borrowed or stolen from a pretty boy or sprayed on yourself at a department store). But time has past right? We're all a little older. Our tastes have matured. plus we have, not much, but a little more money than we used to. Well this is all true, but i still don't consider myself a dreaded pretty boy.

First off all it's so much easier to take clothes, especially button down shirts i wear to work, to get starched at the cleaners for 99 cents apiece rather than fooling around for a precious 15 minutes in the morning ironing the thing.
2nd of all i do not iron my t-shirts and jeans. this would be ridiculous. the very spirit of wearing t-shirts and jeans is comfort and convenience, and incidentally this my favorite thing to wear in the world, by far.
Thirdly, when i wake up in the morning i take a shower, dry my hair and put Murray's hair pomade in it. this is 2.50 at the store and i have been using it for over 5 years. this takes about 20 seconds. If it looks good, it's not because i tried very hard for it to look that way.
Fourth of all i never pay full price for any clothing item. there is no reason to. you can always catch a deal on the clearance rack at macy's or the gap, or outlets for that matter. my favorite clothing items are the Fruit of the Loom colored plain t-shirts you can buy for $3.88 at Wal-Mart. I have also gotten some very nice looking dress pants from Target and Old Navy. The thing is i just know what looks good from time to time .
5)I have just started to grow a beard, but my neck area became too scratchy so i shaved it , and now it looks lined up. Before the beard, however, generally i wouldn't shave for a week at a time, so for the most part i would look like i had five'o'clock shadow. Even at my brother's wedding as evidenced by this picture.
As for the dove soap, i have sensitive skin. On a good weekend i'll go the whole time without taking a shower as well and i love it.

Cruising The ATL or I'm too lazy to post

2005-11-04T16:26:00.001-05:00

Ms. Stephanie has decided that she has observed an infatuation i have with a certain road in atlanta and has decided to write about it. I have granted her the opportunity to guest post. Look for more of this every once in a while.

Here it goes:

I have found myself constantly referring to and hearing about Ponce De Leon Avenue lately.........Especially while giving directions to my friends who are "jackalackin" around" Atlanta.
If you live in Atlanta then you have heard of Ponce De Leon Avenue at some point or time.
Who knew that when Ponce De Leon was paved on May 28, 1914 that it would connect cities like you connect dots. You can travel from Atlanta to Decatur to Clarkston to Stone Mountain and probably lots of other places if you enjoy traveling on this road like some people I know(she is referring to me of course).
Do you think that the Spanish Explorer Ponce De Leon would have ever imagined that in the future his dirt road, park and springs would turn into a street that is used so frequently?
Did he know that his street would be used as an excuse for being late or being on time. Did he know that people would use him when they couldn't handle real driving on the highway?
Do you think that Mr. Leon knew that his street would be as popular to some people as Peachtree Street?
It is a known fact that some people use Ponce De Leon Avenue everyday to go everywhere. How is that possible? How can you be lost in the strangest places and end up on Ponce De Leon?
Ponce De Leon is like the perfect song that never ends. It's like the energizer bunny of pavement. Where does it end? If you remain on Ponce De Leon for an entire day you are bound to go to the library, have Krispy Creme Donuts, search for an apartment, see exciting exhibits at the Fernbank Science Museum, see a play,purchase groceries, car insurance, stop at a hotel for..........................., stop by the police department, obtain a lawyer (if that doesn't work the Southern Prison Ministry #9 is available ), You'll probably need a drink at this point and there are lots of places on Ponce De Leon that sell "spirits", you can purchase cat litter, dog food, etc, and enroll your dog in Bob Dog's Training School. If you car decides that it is tired of this ridiculously long journey on the SAME STREET, you can either stop and get it washed or give it rest and rent a car. If you get tired you can stop and purchase vitamins and then get a massage. The evening should end with renting a movie from blockbuster...........somehow and somewhere in Tucker.

Editors Note: Ponce does not actually go through tucker. Also we pronounce it ponse da leawn.

No touching

2005-10-11T11:50:00.000-04:00

There have been a few TV shows that i have been enamored of as of late. The first one, of course, is Arrested Development. It's picking up this year where it left off and is just as good, if not better.
Tobias combining his previous occupations of therapist and analyst into one is friggin fall off the couch hilarious. Chachi replacing Fonzi as the the family lawyer, just fantastic. His name is Bob Loblaw. I love it!
I have really enjoyed the two shows after as well. Kitchen Confidential is a very entertaining look at an upscale NY restaraunt. The main character is the head chef who is in recovery and is trying to toe the line between being responsible and having his share of fun and debauchery while staying clean and sober.
Prison Break is a non-stop thrill ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat from 9Pm to 10pm. The commercials are almost a welcome break. At the end of the show, you'll swear you were sitting for only 15 minutes it goes by so fast. Now mind you, it's rare for me to heap praise on a show of this nature. I usually am more of a fan of witty dialogue and intelligent writing, but this has sucked me in.
On Wednesday night Over There has decided to keep me on my couch. It's a look at the war in Iraq and life at home for the soldiers' families. It's really good television as well. enjoy

oh and if you happen to be a Nielsen home, please watch Arrested Development and Kitchen Confidential. You can TiVo King of Queens and watch it later.

if you build it they will fail

2005-10-10T18:10:00.000-04:00

I told you it was gonna happen. I did get sucked in again. People say,"well they did it a different way this time, with rookies and coming from behind. I don't care. It is what it is. You won the division and failed again in the wild card round for the 5th time out of six years. Oh well you got me back around to football season. 'preciate y'all!

a rainy night in Georgia

2005-10-10T17:35:00.000-04:00

My way home last night was occupied by the problems of someone else. They seemed to be brought upon by poor choices that they made. Indiscretions if you will. I drove on, listening as intently as i could while trying to avoid the perils of driving in the darkness. Add to that the poor choice i made of not putting in my contacts in addition to the steady mist from the after-effects of an early fall cold front. I kept driving. Then the voice on the other end had to go. A little later I passed by someone walking on the side of the road, narrowly missing them as I went by. This got me to thinking about the choices that we make in life. What made the person on the other end of the phone do what they did? Why was i driving home in my Corolla, with my poor to fair credit and my low to average salary? Why was this guy walking down a rainy street on a Sunday night with no raincoat or umbrella? I can really only answer for me I guess. I suppose it really be traced to the fact that i can't manage to focus on one thing, ever. But this isn't really about me. Is it choices we make or is it all determined for us beforehand? I'd surely hate to think that it's all decided for us. This may sound played out, but i don't want to know how mine or anyone else's story ends up. The journey has far too much joy.

getting my ideas out

2005-10-10T17:25:00.000-04:00

I love that i can write things down and people will read them. It doesn't even matter how many people read it i guess or who gives me feedback. I didn't do anything to accomplish this, but sign up for a Blogger account. Now people come to read what i enjoy writing. i don't post as often as i had initially set out to, but i'll try to do better.

take note please

2005-10-07T14:14:00.000-04:00

i think i have a problem. well what else is new?, you ask. i know, i know i have a lot of problems with things other people do. it came to me this morning while sitting in a meeting( it wasn't really a meeting, it was more of a seminar). I really can't stand people that are long-winded. it's not really even that, if you're gonna talk for that long, please be as smart and entertaining as me. a few weeks ago i was in a training where i did not learn a damn thing. i was in there for two whole days. i really enjoyed it though. why was this you ask? because the guy that was talking was at least as smart as me and more entertaining. this is not to say that i am all that smart or entertaining, but i am at least somewhere in the upper fifty percent. so all you public speakers out there listen up. if you're not intelligent and/or entertaining, at least have the decency to be brief.

Things I've learned this week (Larry King Style)

2005-09-12T14:53:00.000-04:00

When you lose your voice people feel sorry for you. So much so that you might even get even more work done as a result.....DJ Shockley is neither as good as his game against Boise St. or as bad his game against the 'Cocks.....You always get more work accomplished when you do it in person....Fresh all-natural Chinese food ingredients doesn't always mean better tasting product. I'll take my General Tso's cat please....Doctors get sick and they cancel on you two or three times....i can put in contact lenses finally(maybe large pointy things won't come careening towrds my eyes in my dreams anymore)... I Hate DJJ....PJ Daniels and Thomas Brown are money....Maybe JP Losman can get the job done in Buffalo(don't count on it though).....I don't wanna get married anytime soon(can't deal with being followed around or following around)....Jaguar Wright is an underrated R&B singer....Kanye West's album is good but not as good as his first. His persona is a bit grating as well. Calm down buddy, you're imagining all the "haters" out there. I'm also a bit disappointed that he has reverted to rapping about the riches he has as well. I though he was different.... I like writing like Larry King, i'll only do it every once in a while though. I was just too scatterbrained to put a complete thought together.

Out of the every-where into the here

2005-09-09T20:31:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to take this opportunity to welcome my niece Lillian Rose into the world. Don't be scared. I know it' s kinda crazy out here right now. It's all worth it though. I wouldn't trade it for anything. We're so thankful you're alright.

Can't we all just get along? ya heard ?

2005-09-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know how to feel about this whole Katrina tragedy. The only thing i'm sure about is that it's heart breaking. Shut up everybody! Stop playing the blame game. Focus on making it right.

-Those of you who who say that it's a race issue that many of my black brothers and sisters remain in the danger zone are crazy as well. It's a money issue. Now you should know good and well that if you don't have money, you shouldn't to be taken care of fairly in these United States. Honor's in the dollar kid.

-On the surface, it would seem like the looters are not really a concern of those trying to rectify the situation, such as the men and women of law enforcement. But it seems to have taken a violent turn. Some people need to realize that they need to stop being complete asses and think about what they need to do to help the situation, not turn their city into a flooded kindom of their own.

-On a positive note, did anyone see the kid that took the school bus, filled it with people and drove it to Houston? I thought that was great. When asked how he felt about the others on the bus, he said he loved them all. That's what i say. can't we just love them all?

*Please note: i am prone to hyperbole. Anything i say can't and won't be used against me in a court of law.

My God isn't short on cash, mister!

2005-08-29T20:07:00.000-04:00

Matthew 21:13-He said to them, "It is written,' my house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it into a den of robbers!"

Any of you that live in the Metro Atlanta area have heard of the Bishop Eddie Long. i have long been critical of his ministry . One reason being the fact that his huge picture is plastered on billboards all over town. There is no mortal man that should be the star of the church. Then this article comes out in yesterday's paper. Please read it. He really should have just said "no comment". I really want to discuss this with you all.
Then you have Bishop TD Jakes' MegaFest that came to town a few weeks ago. This was sponsored by Bank of America, Pine Sol and others. This kind of thing doesn't sit well with me at all. This harkens back to the Bible verse i have quoted at the beginning of this entry.

Then I got to thinking about my life. Do i go to church on a regular basis? Do i preach the Word of God where ever i go? Do i live my life beyond reproach? the answer is, for the most part, no.
Let he that is without sin cast the first stone, right? That's something to think about, sure. However, preachers of the Word should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us right? i think so. You have to be able to lead by example. Maybe having a Bentley at your disposal and paying yourself a 3 million dollar salary to be the head of your own charity and all the while building yourself a mansion out of the funds is the example he is trying to set. The congregation should go and do likewise. I've watched him on TV a number of times. That's a big portion of his message: how to gain riches. If that's what a spiritual journey is about, then you can have it.

Stay safe tonight

2005-08-25T00:53:00.000-04:00

So I just got a phone call from a friend of mine who is stationed in Iraq. She had tried to call me a couple of times and I missed her calls before. It was just kind of strange. I was filled with overwhelming concern for her safety, but she sounded like she was doing alright. She is a medic which is certainly one of the most dangerous lines of work in the military. Now that i'm writing this i'm getting a little emotional about it. i think it's important that we don't forget about what's going on over there even if we don't agree with it. We didn't talk that long because she had two patients come in, I can only pray it wasn't something serious. I told her that i loved her and to stay safe and then it was time for her to go.

It kind of makes the other shit i write on here seem kind of petty and ridiculous.

Breaking up is hard to do...or It's not me, it's you

2005-08-23T23:43:00.000-04:00

Dear Mr. Janitor,

I said hello to you this morning. I don't really feel the need to say hello and your name everytime I see you like you do to me. I really don't need to shake hands every time i run into you either. For one, you've been cleaning the bathroom. This is not intended to be any sort of class issue, i just don't want to do it anymore. Don't call me, i'll call you.

Sincerely,

The greeting economizer

Dear Co-worker,

I don't really need to hear the reasoning behind every move you make. I understand that everyone has rough days and they need to vent, but if every day is like that, you might want to consider a new line of work. I don't need to feel like i just got off a rollercoaster when i get done having a conversation with you. This hurts me more than it hurts you.

Sincerely,

Annoyed in Atlanta

I'm the asshole now, aren't I? Why do i have to be? It's them that have the problem!

To the limit, to the wall

2005-08-19T23:28:00.000-04:00

Anybody out there that has not watched The Wire is really missing some great television. Every character on the show is developed meticulously. For those of you who haven't watched it, it's about the drug war in West Baltimore. The show is written by David Simon. He wrote one of the other best shows that's ever been on TV: Homicide: Life on the Street. Every angle is examined, from the kingpins to the low level dealer on the corner, to the junkie, to the detectives setting up the wiretap, to the politicians trying to get their hands in the pot. The show has a great way of showing that everyone is not all one way. Very humanizing to all involved. My favorite character on the show is a man named Omar. His main lot in life is sticking up drug dealers("I robs drug dealers", he testifies in court). He is a loner, but everyone knows who he is by only his first name. He is a homosexual, but there's no sugar in his tank. His main driving force is avenging the death of his main squeeze Brandon, by Avon Barksdale's crew. Barksdale is the main guy that the Baltimore PD is going after with their task force. I really don't want to tell too much else. You really need to experience it for yourself. The new season starts in January '06. If you live in the ATL area i might even lone you the DVD's, but don't keep them too long! I can't live without them.

Christmas, Christmas time is here

2005-08-18T17:02:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes it is folks. Football season is right arond the corner. It's time for me to bore everyone with another sports themed entry.

In the past i have made statements about Terell Owens that were fairly favorable. Now i'm sick of him. He is the best wide receiver in the NFL, but i promise you i wouldn't want him on my team. Would someone just give him a hug and get it over with? He's acting like a 5 year old hungry for attention.

The Falcons' receiver situation is still a bit shaky. Brian Finneran is still their biggest playmaker in the receiving corps , and he will still drop the ball on occasion. The past two first round picks that they have used on the wideout position have yet to emerge. This is not to say that they won't, but I am waiting. Another area of concern is the offensive line. The new regime has done little to shore up the pass protection that allowed Vick to get sacked the most of any quarterback in the league last year. Granted, this was partly #7's fault for holding onto the ball too long, but the O-line has to share in the blame somewhat as well. I can't wait for September 12 to get here. Falcons and Eagles in the Dome on Monday Night baby!

In college, expect USC to repeat as national champs. They lost no one of significance on offense from last year's team that romped over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. This was the best team performance i have ever seen. I am pretty sure that they could have beaten the '49ers.

Thank you for indulging me. Enjoy worshipping in the Church of the Immaculate Reception. Enjoy the sermon by the High Priest Larry Munson.

heard about town this week:

2005-08-11T19:07:00.000-04:00

"Yeah i think i'm coming down with something. I've got a temperature of 97."

"Stop taking pictures. You're gonna run out of film." (said by a 58 year old woman to someone using a camera phone)

and the horse you rode in on

2005-07-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

I was a guest representative for my particular county agency that serves families and children at an interagency meeting yesterday (it's far less important than it sounds. i just said it like that to mess with everybody). before the meeting the usual small talk ensued. it seemed that most of the people there were not originally from Atlanta or even Georgia. they all began to talk about how different it was up north in Chicago, NY, Connecticutt, St. Louis etc.. The general feeling was that it was decidedly better up there. The food was better. The traffic was better. People get along with each other better. People are smarter and have teeth. Now mind you i have done the living up north thing. As far as i can tell, there is no real validity to these claims. The only thing that I can't get is the "Garbage Plate". But that's really beside the point. The point is, all these people chose to come here and live. They are more than welcome to go back where they came from. I don't particularly care how that sounds. It probably makes me sound like a local yokel. Oh well.

is it general apathy or major boredom?

2005-07-13T21:29:00.000-04:00

I just want to say how discouraging it is to have little to no feed back. If you don't like it, say it sucks. If it sparks a thought, put the thought down. Maybe it's my fault for not moving the meter enough. Maybe these entries inspire no feeling at all. Whatever it is, it's closely related to walking into someone's house and not saying hello. in the last 3 weeks i've had 250 visits. out of those, few than 5 percent have commented.

The Weekender: "Immediately after making this statement, Royal realized that it was true."

2005-07-10T21:36:00.000-04:00

I've spent the better part of the last 5 days going to, coming from and being in Vermont. Why Vermont you ask? Well my brother Thomas finally made an honest woman of his main squeeze of the last five years. Vermont is where Sara is from. I happened to be the best man for this occasion. I think the way i'm gonna tell this story is to go day by day.

Wednesday: After going to work after for a half a day I head home to pack. Yes, I packed at the last minute for this is the way i usually do things. Off to the airport where my Sister Rachel, brother-in-law Jereme, and myself waited for a flight to Boston. This was delayed for an hour. This was going to be a theme for the week. On to Boston, where the connecting flight to Burlington was delayed for another two hours. You might think that a major airport such as Boston's might have food available at 9PM. Nope. The only thing available was a Dunkin Donuts which are as common in MASS as Waffle Houses are down here. This was most unsatisfying as it seemed that everything they had available was stale at that point. When i went back through the security checkpoint, they discovered a pair of very sharp scissors in my backpack. Good thing i wasn't Mohammed Atta II coming through the Atlanta airport. The screener was very pleasant about, however and even offered to make arrangements to have the offending mailed back to me. I declined and went on my way. The flight to Burlington was uneventful and we landed at about midnight. It was about 40 miles from the airport to Stowe, VT where our hotel was. Once we got off the highway, I did not see one other car on the road. Another complication to keep in mind: there is little to no cell service anywhere off the highway in VT.

Thursday: Got off to a slow start at the hotel room just chatting and b.s.'ing with the fam. We finally had to take Thomas over to the family of the bride's house in Waterville ,which is about 30 miles away and you have to drive up a steep mountain that is very twisty and turny, so that he could help with the final preparations. Thomas had advised us to drop him off down the road so that he could just appear and the mother of the bride (her name is Malo, she will be known as that from now on) would not trip out about company coming. Mom didn't listen and pulled up next to the house. A big to-do was made of us being there. Food was brought out and we were coerced into eating. We were able to get out of there mostly unscathed and made our way back over the mountain to Stowe. Later on in the day we headed back over the mountain for the rehearsal. This went alright for me. I felt somewhat nervous about the duties i was to perform, however. The most ominous of the tasks was giving a toast to the bride and groom. As charming and gregarious as i may seem(haha), being myself in front of a large group of people scares me. Naturally, the rehearsal dinner followed the rehearsal. Many funny memories of Thomas and Sara were shared. Thomas and I also performed a rendition of "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" as a tribute to my Grandfather. It seemed to go over very well. Afterwards i had the strong urge to get extremely snockered. This did not seem to be on anyone else's mind, however, so it was more hanging out at the room. This was a poor choice. You will find out why later on in the story.

Friday: The early part of the day was pretty uneventful. Lunch was had at a sandwich shop and was fairly unsatisfying. Afterwards there was some wandering of the street and i saw the only black person that i would see all weekend. I had a much-needed nap as well. Afterwards we headed back over the mountain for a battle royale: The Lakes against the Bakers in a game of two-hand-touch football. We got the dog beat out of us. It was most embarrassing. The main problem was that no one on our team was really qualified to play QB. After that it was back over the mountain. There was a stop at the liquor store included in the trip. After my brother David and I made our purchases , the clerk muttered something about it being a Georgia Invasion.
The liquor was consumed for the most part on the hotel deck, which overlooked the pool. The main consumers of the Jose Cuervo and Smirnoff(no, not Smirnoff Ice) were myself, my cousin Deborah's husband Rick and my cousin Katherine's boyfriend Dan. Also my sister Liddy. I implored others to drink very loudly and persistently, but to little to no avail. Among the resistance was Thomas, who for some stuuuupid reason wanted to be in good shape the next day. I really enjoyed myself. I was a very affectionate drunk on this night, giving out hugs like they were candy and saying very nice things about those around me. The night ended with me, Rick and Dan jumping into the pool at around 4AM and then heading off to bed(I know it sounds bad, but don't take it like that).

Saturday: Woke up feeling awwwful and. I downed a Coke and a granola bar and heading back over the mountain with Thomas for the much-anticipated nuptials. On the way up the mountain, a unwanted party began in my stomach. I implored Thomas to stop the car. I jumped out and sent the Coke, Granola bar and whatever else back to the ground from whence they came. I felt much better after that. We continued on to the ceremony after a brief pit stop at the Baker house. It was a rainy day, and the ceremony was to be held outside. Sara was determined to have it go the way she planned. About 20 minutes before the wedding was supposed to start, the rain let up. The ceremony went off without a hitch to speak of. I didn't drop the rings as I handed them to my Dad, who did the ceremony. Nobody tripped. Nobody fainted. It was done. The skies opened up and it began to pour. There was one more thing to do before we headed back over the mountain for the reception. Sara's sister, Jill and myself had to give a toast. This involved the wedding party frantically pouring glasses of sparkling cider for the entire audience and passing them out. Then it was time for me to speak. The words came haltingly at first. then i got going. i believe i said some very nice things. afterwards i realized that i meant them and started to get very emotional. i needed a hug. i got one from my Aunt Mary and my Mom and 2nd mother Mary Jane. Over the river and through the woods to the reception hall we go. seeing old friends and acquaintances can go two ways. Sometimes you can hit it off and it seems like you never missed a beat. Other times once you get through sharing old stories, there's nothing really else to talk about. There was a little of both that went on at the reception. There was also dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. also drinking. very little of which was done by me. drinking that is. It was pretty fun. In an unusual twist, Thomas and Sara left the premises through a line of well-wishers waving sparklers. this was a pretty good idea i thought and looked pretty neat. after everything died down Mary Jane, her husband Kerry and I went to an English sort of pub where i enjoyed a couple of Woodchucks and wound down. I got back to the hotel and hung out a while more. My cousin James was in rare form and was quite entertaining to watch. After a little of this i hit the sack.

Sunday: It took a long long while to get home. I have to say that i might not be at home if it weren't for Jereme's hustle. Big ups to you!

There is not a Wonderwall to climb

2005-07-01T21:01:00.000-04:00

All this talk about the perfect song has got me thinking. At work today I started a list of such songs. I know, I know, making the best use of my time at work of course. To me, a perfect song is one that that makes the absolute best use of it's 3 minutes, 30 seconds. This is not to say that it has to be a prescribed length. Some great songs just have great parts. You might be waiting just to hear the one part. I'm reminded of one episode of Beavis and Butthead where they are watching "Creep" by Radiohead and are commenting on how the song sucks until you get to the hook. I'd also like to think that a perfect song might have some power to convert someone that wouldn't normally like a certain artist or genre into a fan. At the very least it would be a gateway into the realm of a particular artist. They also just might have a certain intangible quality i'll call perfection. Here are some that I think deserve this distinction:

Travis: Slide Show
A song about songs that take you to another place in time is always intriguing. This one is the best that i know of. This one takes me back to the last month of college which was certainly a rollercoaster of the emotional variety.

Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil
This has a little bit of the "forbidden fruit" quality. This was on the "banned" list in the house growing up. It tells a great story and it achieves exactly what it is trying to achieve.

Jay-Z: Meet the Parents and Song Cry
The former tells the story of a boy growing up on the mean streets with an absent father. He gets older, starts gang-banging. He is reunited with his dad, unfortunately at the wrong end of a gun. The same man that had a hand in bringing him into the world, took him out. The story is told masterfully. The Latter tells a tale of love which is lost. The Unplugged version is the one to listen to.

Wilco: I am Trying to Break Your Heart
It's a song that perfect in its imperfection. Runs long, but does it in such a way that you don't notice. Incorporates various percussion and non-sequiturs into a beautiful, bittersweet product.

Ashanti: Foolish
I know. She can't sing and she's done nothing since that's worth listening to, but that's not what this is about. The producer took Biggie's beat and made it his own. You've heard a million formulaic songs about going back to a man that treats you bad, but this one pretty much sums it up.

Radiohead: Idiotheque
I can't really even describe it. The first time i heard it, i wondered what it was. The second time, i fell in love.

Allman Brothers: Whipping Post
It just captures the emotion of someone being in unhealthy relationship and takes it to a primal level.

Otis Redding: That's How Strong my Love is
When you hear the song, you know exactly how strong his love is and you feel it for yourself.

Britney Spears: ...Baby one more Time
Again, a formulaic pop song done to perfection. Certainly one of my guilty pleasures. Travis does an interesting, self-deprecating take on it as well. On one version, you can hear laughter as the lead singer goes up high.

Kenny Chesney: A Lot of Things Different
This is about a man that has many regrets in life. He lists them as well. About as depressing as it gets.

Jill Scott: Love Rain
This partially spoken-word piece is masterfully done. The protagonist falls in love and gets burned and you know exactly what she's talking about. It's an age-old story, but this is why there's music.

Pearl Jam: Better Man
See the rock version of "Foolish".

Gil Scott-Heron: Watergate Blues
Marvelous wordplay. Politically charged spoken-word piece about the state of the nation in the late '70s.

Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger
The beginning piano riff that sounds like it was ripped straight from "Imagine" turns into a soaring song you can't help but sing along to.

Marvin Gaye: What's Going on?
You can hear the sadness in his voice as he asks the question.

Well there they are. This is by no means intended to be a complete list. Please feel free to add yours and give your opinions on the ones I have listed. I know there's a lot of you out there that are reading this blog but not giving feedback. this is a great place to start!

Go on and marinate on that for a minute

2005-06-30T21:06:00.000-04:00

I know this is lazy, but here's a little taste of what I was just listening to over and over and over on the way home. It's one of the perfect songs i've heard in my life.

faithful to the end
(We got to be)
Faithful to the end
(I want to be)
Faithful to the end
I'm like her
Very best friend
Yes, this for the people ... God moves
I was rolling around, in my mind it occurred
What if God was a Her?
Would I treat her the same?
Would I still be runnin' game on Her?
In what type of ways would I want Her?
Would I want her for her mind
Or her heavenly body
Couldn't be out here bogus
With someone so godly
If I was with her would I still be wantin' my ex
The lies, the greed, the weed, the sex
Wouldn't be ashamed to give Her part of my check
Wearing a cross, I mean Her heart on my neck
Her I would refelct
On the streets of the Chi
Ride with her. cause I know for me, she'd die
Though good and bad
Call on her like I'm chirpin(that would be using the Nextel radio for those of you who might not know) Her
Couldn't be jealous
Cause other brothers worship Her
Walk this Earth for Her
Glory I'm grateful to be in Her presence
I try to stay faithful
Faithful to the end
Faithful to the end
Faithful to the end
I'm like her
Very best friend
He worked with her
She was this lady's best friend.
Even if they do try, some ladies test men
And this was a test that was bigger than him.
Some believe it's the nature that's givin him in
He had a good gig, a wife, a kid, a decent home.
One reason or another, couldn't find peace at home
She asked, "Why do men always have to stray?"
He said, "I'm bad, but not as bad as Eric Benet."
I used to take them out to eat
But they weren't really eatin'
Might have got a little head
But I wadn't really cheatin'
It's hard when your lady don't believe what you sayin
What you did in the past you gotta live with today
She asked if they could spend the night together
He thought and said, "I'm tryin' to get my life together."
Went home to his lady
And these were his confessions
"Baby, you a blessin' and my best friend."
Faithful to the end
Faithful to the end
Faithful to the end
I'm like her
Very best friend

Wasn't that great? I don't think I really need to say much else.

the welfare people came and took the baby

2005-06-26T22:51:00.000-04:00

So I was talking on the phone with a friend i hadn't spoken to in probably about 3 mos. She says to me,"so I heard you got married and have a baby." I'm like," well that's news to me." Isn't it wild the way rumors get started? The way i figure this rumor got started is that someone saw a baby seat in the back of my car(which is necessary sometimes in my line of work). And perchance there was someone of the opposite sex in the front with me. craziness i tell you. and furthermore i saw you three months ago. how could all this develop in that short time period? in one way i don't care. in another way i am somewhat curious just to find out the exact source of the story. then again that might be an endless mission.

First the good news...

2005-06-21T15:35:00.000-04:00

Here is a story worth reading. I was a big Deion fan when he played for the Falcons and Braves, but when he left, his bravado wore a little thin for me . It's good to see he isn't just about running his mouth anymore(he was pretty good on the field too i guess). Maybe this will inspire others in his position to become foster parents. We need more that are in it because they want to make a difference.

Unfortunately here is some ugly news about a former NFL player making a difference and not being being appreciated in the community. Mel Blount also has a home like this in his home town of Vidalia, GA. Racism exclusive to the South? I don't think so.

Annoyance in an elevator

2005-06-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

After some observation of a certain behavior at work there are interesting phenomomenons(sp?) that become apparent. It is quite simply the action of getting on and off the elevator. First of all the building in which I work is only 3 floors. Second, the elevator is the slowest i've ever been on. In reality it's much faster to take the stairs. but they are all the way at the end of the building, and the elevator is right at the entrance. Lately people have been taking a bit more interest in getting into shape, which is certainly admirable . Therefore there has been a whole lot more stair-climbing than there used to be.

Say someone is on the elevator and about to get off. Then say that someone is waiting for it to "ding" and open the door for them to get on. Wouldn't you think, dear reader, that the most expeditious thing would be to wait for those exiting the iron people lifter and then make your entrance? Well some people in the office do not share these views. They feel that squeezing past and/or getting on before others get off is the best way to do things. To me this is a test of operational intelligence. It also bugs the (poop) out of me when people do this. Am I overreacting? Or should I take a stand then next time it happens?

Another phenomenon is the "i'm too big of a man to get off the elevator before you" syndrome. Is it really that serious? if i'm right next to the door, shouldn't I just get off? Isn't that a lot less hassle than let all the ladies and "girly" men off first? I think it might, but then again what do i know? One day soon, Johnny. One day soon.

The Weekender: If heaven had a height you would be that tall

2005-06-13T08:53:00.000-04:00

The bulk of this past weekend was spent having fun and tricks at a rather large gathering here in The City Too Busy to Hate.

Friday night got going with a snail's pace. It took me a while to transition first from work to the Suntrust ATM on Cascade(Unfortunately SunTrust has no 24 hr. ATM's in the 'hood). After that, I hop on the train in the West End. It's less than than ten minutes to the North Avenue station. I get off the train and begin making my way towards the venue. On my way there, I am accosted by man dressed rather shabbily. He greets me and begins making small talk. He asks me if i'm a racist. I said I don't think so. He asks me if I wanted to hear some poetry for a small fee of course. I agreed to the offer on one condition. That would be that I would get to record it on my voicemail(If you want to hear it just give me a call). On to the show.

It started out with more of a fizzle than a bang. Nothing really that interesting was happening when I first got there. Ciara was the first act I saw. I figured: "If nothing else happens, at least she's really hot." "Seeing hot famous girls in person is cool." And true to form that is just what happened. Her voice sounded weak in person. The choreography was pretty good, but that's about it.

From there i headed over to see Lou Reed. I know, I know, pretty big difference 1 and 2. I've always pretty much thought that Lou Reed was one of those people that music snobs loved just because the general population didn't get it. Almost like the Emperor's New Clothes. That was before I saw him in person. I was blown away. Whatever "it" is, he's got it. I'm in too. The crowd got into really only for the last song which was the oft-covered "Sweet Jane" .

I then went and watched the last 30 minutes of Interpol. They didn't really move the meter in any direction for me.

The last show of the evening was "siblings" Jack and Meg White. Aside from seeing Radiohead in Toronto in 2000, this was the best show I've ever seen. I would like to think that seeing the White Stripes in 2005 was something akin to watching Led Zeppelin in 1969. That's what it felt like to me anyway. Jack was the High Priest and we were his congregation. By the time "The Hardest Button to Button" came on, the crowd was a ferocious teeming mass of humanity begging for more. They got it too.

Saturday started out with some Mississippi flavored hip-hop in the form of David Banner. His show never really turned in to anything resembling his alter ego, The Hulk. I am a fan of one of his songs: "Cadillac on 22's". This isn't really an ode to excess as the title suggests. It's actually a prayer for the trials and tribulations of living in Mississippi. Overall it was the epitome of a terrible hip-hop show. He rapped about 20 percent of his lines. The rest was canned. One of the lines in his song "Like a Pimp" is "These bitches ain't (poop)." This line was yelled most vigorously by, you guessed it, the females in the crowd. This phenomenon has always been very curious to me. The majority of the crowd at that point was white it should be noted, so take it how ever you want to.

Next up was Bloc Party. Excellent excellent excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed them and was very disappointed to see that their CD was sold out after the show. They were playing at around 5'o'clock and I think the lead singer had a valid point. He said that he felt the band would have better received had they been playing at night.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band kept the afternoon going during a torrential downpour. Very lively, jammy, bluesy, fun, kind of a thing.

Common was incredible. He was the epitome of what a hip-hop show should be. There was a DJ, drummer and a keyboardist. I was right up front for this one. It made me feel good that the rednecks that were bouncing up and down to David Banner and Slim Thug had never heard of Common Sense and left the area for that one. In the middle of his performance, the one and only Kanye West came out and did his part on "Get 'em High" and then did three songs of his own. Then Common came out and did more of his brand of socially conscious hip-hop. It doesn't get much better than that.

If the weekend had ended right there, I would have been happy. It didn't though. There was a run in with a hillbilly from Gainesville or some where who went out of his way to shove me for no apparent reason. That's another thing i don't get. Why do some people, when intoxicated, have the urge to start mess?

Alan Jackson was workman-like on the stage, pumping out as many of hits as he could in the hour and a half he had.

On Sunday, my friend Rosie was a backup dancer for Enobi. Rosie did very well, but unfortunately it was a very sparsely attended event and there wasn't much energy from the crowd.

MC Lyte showed she still had the energy from back in the day and I enjoyed her performance. Her show just felt like a party that I wasn't invited to for some reason.

Public Enemy ended the night for all intents and purposes. They electrified the crowd with their incendiary lyrics that felt just as relevant today as they did 17 years ago. In the midst of Chuck D's anti-Bush rhetoric he also implored radio stations to stop playing vulgar songs at all times of the day. He said something along the lines of 9 year olds shouldn't want to go to the strip club. this was met by great applause.

across the way thousands upon thousands of meth-addled woodsman watched Kid Rock do whatever is his he does. that's all i have to say about that.

I'm back baby! It's as if i never left. haha

Fear and Loathing at Tucker Tire

2005-06-12T13:25:00.000-04:00

So i'm sitting in the auto shop waiting for my car to be tuned up , when this attractive female walks in. She sits down at the table that i'm sitting. She starts up a conversation with some idle chatter that i can't recall at this time. it continues on like this for a while. I'm acting cool keeping the conversation just above the surface. I don't forget to insert a wise crack every once in a while. She apparently thinks i'm funny because she laughs at my jokes. Then it's time for her to pay and go. So she does. What do i do? not a damn thing. I'm there kicking myself for getting or giving a number. What happens next? She comes back to the shop. She decided to get some more work done on her car. So it goes the same as before. Again, i'm frozen in my seat when it's time to leave. What is wrong with me? Why am i such a lame ass?

I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

2005-05-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it. Has it really been five years since I graduated from college? I was part of the graduating class that "built a bridge to the 21st century." I'd like to think I know more, but in a way, i know less. A million different scenarios go through my mind. "If I had just done this and this and this; I might be in a different and better place. Why is different always better? It's hard to say. If I had done something different, I wouldn't know the people I know. I wouldn't do what I do. Yeah I don't have a lot of friends that show up on a consistent basis or can depend on. Yeah I don't make a lot of money to jetset around the globe or whatever it is you do with a lot of money. But i do have some of what i mentioned above and that's not bad. It's really pretty good. Well i don't know. Sometimes it's not that great.

Things I've learned since Graduation Day: 1) you teach people how to treat you. 2)stay away from girls that flaunt it, even if they don't got it. 2)FICA sucks! 3)I'm really a lot smarter than most people out there. I don't know if that's a good thing. In fact I'm sure it's not a good thing!

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

2005-05-03T16:20:00.000-04:00

This past week would have been my Grandfather's 87th birthday. Of course it was certainly his time to go when he left us 4 years ago. That doesn't mean that I don't miss him any less, however.

If we were lucky , he would rescue us from the interminable church service on Sunday and go the grocery store where we load up on snacks to watch whatever sport was in season at the time. These snacks would invariably include red grapes and Doritos. This is an interesting taste sensation when eaten back to back. That's one of those things that will be engrained in my memory forever.
I swear he was clairvoyant when it came to watching sports. "It's gonna be an interception." and then it would be. you wouldn't think an old guy would like a new-school flashy player like Deion Sanders, but that was one of his favorites. "That Deion, he can do anything."
One of his favorite phrases was "knock it off." This was used most often when Grandmother was saying or doing something that just didn't make any sense.
Don't get him started on whether Hank Aaron was a better home run hitter than Babe Ruth. He had all the numbers to back up the Babe which of course would segue into the story of him playing in Yankee Stadium when he was a kid and seeing Babe Ruth's locker up close.
When he would prepare a snack or do something as simple as cut an apple into slices, he had the ability to make it seem like it was the best thing in the world.
He was always ready to teach us an old goofy song or rhyme and we loved it. And we loved him and still do.

Sounds like a love song

2005-04-25T11:48:00.000-04:00

Well i met her when i was 3 years old and my love still grows. When i first met her i was scared that she wouldn't take care of me, that there wouldn't be enought to eat. There always was, however.
She has always taken me for rides and i'll never forget the first time she taught me how to go downtown.
Sometimes she makes me wait and it's frustrating, but i can't stay mad at her.
In the springtime she likes to look her best. she puts on all types of beautiful clothes from pinks to vibrant greens to yellows and everything in between.
she takes me to the highest highs to the lowest lows. i talk to her children sometimes and wonder why she would want to to put them though all that pain. it breaks my heart. i yell at her for being an unfit mother to so many of her offspring. she isn't a bad mother to all of them and we wonder how she chooses.
watching her work in the summertime is quite a sight, it makes me sweat. this is when i sometimes wish for a temporary breakup, but we're right back at it by the middle of september. in October she likes to tease me with false hope that we'll be part of a Brave new world, but disappoints when she deems the time is right. I'll always be with her whether it physical or spiritual.
If you haven't realized by now, i'm talking about A-town.

right or wrong it's what i was feeling at the time

2005-04-24T12:32:00.000-04:00

Can't think of anything to write.... haven't given up on blog....upset b/c car isn't working....also disheartened b/c weather has gotten cold again...putting extra efforts into getting into school in the fall...sorry for last couple of bullcrap entries...

love that chicken

2005-04-14T14:41:00.000-04:00

Times are good or bad, happy or sad.

One of the things i enjoy about my job is lunchtime. Most days of the week everyone from the third floor gathers around the conference room table and brings their various lunches to eat together. On this particular day Ms. Motton who has been the building director for 15 years(and coincidentally one of the nicest best people you ever want to meet in your life), my supervisor and myself combined our pennies to get a ten-piece box from Church's Chicken. We brought our food to the table and were mobbed for our chicken.

there is always lively conversation. Ms Motton is always the sensible voice in response to the 2 young women in our unit who say very outlandish things. My supervisor usually will say something that is meant sound half-way serious, but no one really ever takes it that way. Then there's my next door office neighbor who is very loud, but very nice, but very annoying. she always feel the need to interject a story from her past. in this context, it's ok and she can be tuned out or appreciated, which ever way i feel like going. I usually slip a wisecrack or side comments for good measure.

My supervisor asks us if we ever look into the mirror and ask what is our real purpose. I say I do, not really realizing at the time that it was going to turn into a big joke. Oh well, next time i'll be a wiseass. It's fun anyway, i'll keep it.

Because of Winn-Dixie

2005-04-11T09:18:00.000-04:00

Circa mid to late 80s
"Yep, I couldn't pass it up", said my Dad as he brought home a large jug of pure Vermont maple syrup. "It was only nine dollars." That's a reasonable explanation. My Dad really likes pure maple syrup(I don't care for it that much. I rather prefer the first Ladies: Mrs. Butterworth or Aunt Jemima, but I digress very far from the topic). If you like something and it's less expensive than usual, you're probably going to be leaving the store with it. My Mom replied to Dad's exclamation,"well, Barbara Wright would have passed it up." Barbara Wright is a very nice lady. She is the grandmother to the Clements who i've mentioned before here. She would also scrub our floor every Wednesday because she was so nice. She was also very frugal. She would make sure the crackers were not Ritz, but Georgia. She would make sure the cola was not Coke, but Chek(those of you who have been to Winn-Dixie know what I'm talking about). Even if 2 litres of Coke were on sale for 75 cents, it didn't matter because Chek Cola was always 4 for a dollar. This is what flashes through my mind when I'm looking at that oxford at the Gap on clearance for 10 bucks. I usually still buy it, however.

Representing the JAX

2005-04-04T15:26:00.000-04:00

My brother Thomas writes for the Florida Times-Union. One of my favorite things he wrote at that paper is this. Regardles of whether you like country music or not, I think you'll find it amusing. Do an advanced search on the main page for "Thomas Lake" to read more of his writing, which is very good and i'm not just saying that.

Move around. Motion creates emotion.

2005-04-03T21:26:00.000-04:00

The other day I made an impulse buy. I've always wanted a pair of football receiver's gloves. I don't really know why. Besides playing intramural flag football in college, I've never played in any organized leagues. I don't know, they just looked so flashy and they were on clearance and they were a "deal i couldn't pass up" (i promise i will give the back ground behind this quotation one day soon). So anyway now a pair of brand new Reebok NFL equipment gloves in NY Jets colors are in my possession. Fast forward to today. I was jogging around the track with my friend Traci when a few carloads of guys roll up. They get out and start throwing a football around. When i finish my run, they ask me if I want to join them in a game of two-hand-touch( football that is). I was excited to play b/c it has really been over 5 years since i've played an actual game of football. Keep in mind, however that i'm not really the fastest guy around. Add also the fact that...let's just say i was the milk in their football playing cup of coffee. I said all that to say that i didn't expect to make much of an impact on the game . But there I was, bam!, 2nd play of the game. The guy i'm covering runs a crossing pattern. I jump the route, make an interception and run it back for a touchdown. Success! Now i'm being called Jason Sehorn. All without my receiver's gloves too, which were sitting limply on my desk at home.

2005-03-31T15:50:00.000-05:00

Well that's it. It's over now. She's gone. Hopefully the Pinellas Park hospice can go back to normal. The people there that are trying to live out the rest of their lives in peace can have just that. Hopefully some quiet too. They won't have to read hateful neon-colored signs calling people murderers and executioners. They won't have to endure random people calling for the governor to send in the storm troopers to "Save Terri's Life". And a quality life it was too. At least Jeb Bush had the sense to stay out of it for the most part and realize he wasn't living in a police state. The people living in the neighborhood won't have to worry about protesters parking in their driveways. They also won't be cursed out for being "Anti-Christian" when they ask for these wonderful Christians to not park in their driveway. They won't see grown men aggrandizing themselves on CNN rather than letting Terri's tortured soul be at peace. Well it is now.

Atlanta's Air Force

2005-03-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

The history of the Atlanta Hawks is very sordid at best. I should say my history. The Hawks were really the first sports team I really got into following. My brother Thomas and I would listen to the games on the radio when we were supposed to be in bed. Dominique Wilkins is my favorite basketball player ever. Back in the late'80s to early '90s they could never seem to get past the second round of the playoffs. Then came the 93-94 season. The high flying Hawks had the best record in the Eastern Conference. Dominique was having his best all around season ever. Then, in the middle of the season, the genius Pete Babcock decided to trade him to the Clippers for Danny Manning. Manning was a decent enough player, but he was certainly no Human Highlight Film. The Hawks barely got past the Heat in the first round and were demoralized by the Pacers in the 2nd. Manning left for the Suns in the offseason, but that was only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Babcock's Blunders. Adam Keefe, Rumeal Robinson, Stacey Augmon, Ed Gray, Priest Lauderdale, Cal Bowdler, Doug Edwards, Roshown McLeod etc... These were all first round picks by Mr. Babcock. You probably hven't heard anything good or anything at all about any of them. The only marginally good one was Augmon, but he was known mainly for his defense and couldn't hit a jumper. The Babcock era ended the day After X-mas 2002. Now the Hawks are under new ownership and a new GM by the name of Billy Knight. Knight is one of the surliest people you'll ever see when talking to the media. So far he has done an excellent job of getting rid of unwanted salaries, but hasn't shown yet that he has an eye for talent. He passed over two excellent rookies in last year's draft(Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala) in favor of ,the marginal so far, Josh Childress. Let's hope Atlanta Spirit LLC can get it together and reverse the curse of Dominique.

I can see clearly now the rain is gone

2005-03-28T08:51:00.000-05:00

To those of you that are still reading my blog after the last few weeks. Thank you for staying around. I realize it's been a bit of a downer as i was looking back through past entries. I will say I'll try to find more positive things to write about, but I don't know that I actually will. As you might know I am a bit of a sarcastic type of person, with just a pinch of cynicism for flavor.

Also I realize there is a distinct possibility that no one reads this on a regular basis, but if you do please feel free to leave comments. In the past, I may have been critical of some that have left comments, but I really do want to hear what anyone has to say.

This is a work in progress of course, so pardon the dust!

Death, it's a part of life

2005-03-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had to do probably the most grown-up thing i've ever had to do in my life. A few weeks ago a former co-worker of mine died in his sleep. He worked with me at my current job for a while and also at my last job as well, so I did know him fairly well. He was only 32 when he left this world and passed onto the next. Another mutual friend/co-worker called me to say that she volunteered me to say the opening prayer for his memorial service. I was nervous for two reasons. 1) I'm a little bit scared of public speaking and 2)That when I walked up to the pulpit and began to pray, I would be struck by lightning and swallowed into the earth. Well I got over number 1 with only about 2 "ums" and not that much perspiration and I'm writing this right now so that took care of number 2.

The service was short and sad because there weren't that many people there and of the people there, only one got up to say anythng about him.

That got me to thinking about how I would want my funeral to be. First of all, I think I would want to have it before I died and I could watch it through a hole in the wall. I clearly would want to see what people said about me or even if anybody came. I also want to be cremated and scattered to the wind. Then it would be almost as if my presence could be felt wherever the ashes were scattered, which I haven't really decided where that would be. Probably on the beach somewhere though. Wow that was interesting where I took that entry. That really got away from after a few sentences.

The best way to spent $35 a month for regular exercise at the gym

2005-03-23T20:53:00.000-05:00

I've been going to the gym with a little more regularity than possibly any other time in my life. Along the way I've found out a few things about the gym and about myself at the gym. I think I've overcome my complex regarding how I look as compared to other people that are working out. I used to feel like I had attain a certain degree of fitness and muscle tone before I could reveal myself to the staring, criticizing eyes of the avid gym-user. I now know that there is really no such person and if there is they are too self absorbed in their own physique to care about anyone else. When in the locker room keep eyes straight ahead. Certainly not to the side or especially not down at anyone's er...middle region. It's not as if I didn't already know this, but just a reminder. I've also discovered that I really like the sauna. This is not something that I would have predicted that I would like. This is mainly due to its hot and sweaty nature that I usually have no use for and avoid at all costs. For some reason it seems very cleansing and a good finish to a workout. Sweat begets more sweat I suppose. I also found out that the guy that sells you the membership doesn't always remember you afterwards, even if he says he grew up in an obscure area of upstate NY that I lived in for a while as well. It was a good sales pitch though and I am glad I signed up.

Truisms in life

2005-03-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

Where there's smoke there's fire- this is one my favorite things to say these days. Of course it is an overused cliche', but how do things become cliche' ? By being true of course. If we see a kid come into state custody because of neglect, chances are there are drugs involved. If there is star college player alledging that he was paid, it's probably not a clean college program. You get the idea. Where there's smoke there's fire.

Sometimes you gotta laugh to keep from crying- this is pretty self explanatory. I know I have to use this a lot.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck it's probably a duck-see the first one

We aren't promised tomorrow- I have come to realize this lately more and more. Instead of saying "Oh Crap" when I wake up in the morning I should be thanking God that I have another day on this green earth.

Medicine doesn't always make you better

2005-03-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

"How was your trip to the doctor?" "It was alright, she prescribed me amoxycillin." "Amoxycillin, aren't you allergic to that?" "No Mom, I've never had it in my life." "No Johnny, I think you're allergic to it." "I don't think so, I've never had it before!" "How could you think I was allergic to something I've never had before?"

Sure enough a few days later, red bumps pop up on my arms. It could only be caused by what? You guessed it, the amoxycillin. Why are moms always right? Happy Birthday MOM!

You're nobody 'til somebody kills you

2005-03-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

You all might be aware of the events that took place last weekend with Brian Nichols' rampage through Metro Atlanta. I know that it's quite late but it's still been on my mind all week. When I heard about it, the first thing that popped in my mind was a question that I've posed before: Why is doing right so hard? Anyway I was glued to the TV all day long Friday and until it ended on Saturday. One thing I was amazed by was how Geraldo is always on the scene. If you were lucky enough to be watching Fox News you got to hear his overdramatized tones coming through the TV speakers. Second of all it helped me to finally break free of loud obnoxious morning radio. This was caused when a caller called up to this radio station during the beginning of the whole development and asked why they weren't talking about this story. The caller was not only hung up on, a gunshot sound effect was used as he was summarily shot off the air. This I felt was in very poor taste, given the situation. The Morning Edition on NPR gets me in a better state of mind I've found as I prepare for the day anyway.
When it all ended it would seem that I would feel a great sense of relief. I didn't. I just felt an overwhelming sense of sadness for everyone that had lost someone. I felt sad for Brian Nichols as well. I really just wanted to know what he felt so hopeless about that he had the need to do these horrible things. Just sad, sad for everyone.

...and it's so slow flashing thru your mind

2005-03-08T18:27:00.000-05:00

i certainly identify with my friends who have been robbed lately. My break-in wasn't as bad, it was my CD player stolen from my car. The crackheads, of course didn't just steal the CD player, however. They had to cut wires that messed up my defrost, blinkers, emergency flashers etc... This happened in the middle of January. Thanks to the fact that I only have liability insurance on my car, it was just last week before i was able to get everything fixed. After all the necessary things were fixed on the car, I decided that I was going to buy another CD player b/c as much as I enjoy singing to myself on the road, I decided that enough was enough. I decided to go to this place called BrandsMart USA. Everything in there is so incredibly cheap, I swear it must have "fallen off the truck", if you know what i mean. so that all went well and now i have music again. I swear i don't care what kind of car i drive as long as i have a way to listen music, talk radio or whatever. it's wonderful.

How do you spell failure in the postseason? B-R-A-V-E-S!

2005-03-07T14:57:00.001-05:00

Here we go again. Baseball season is right around the corner. Even though it's very hard for me sit through an entire baseball game, there's just something exciting about spring training. Every team has hope for the season to come. Veterans talk about how they are in the best shape of their life. The new 5 tool prospect says he's ready to start off the season with a bang. Ricky Henderson is a non-roster invitee to his umpteenth team.

That being said it's hard to be a Braves fan. It's so disappointing every year. Every offseason GM John Schuerholz makes a few shrewd deals to keep us in contention for a division title. That's all we do, however as we bow out in the first round of the playoffs. Then our idiot manager Bobby Cox says all the lines about we're just proud to have made it that far. I for one one, am not at all proud to have made that far. But i'm sure i'll be sucked in again as newly re-acquired Brian Jordan(one of my favorite Braves) revives his career and Tim Hudson helps get the pitching staff back in gear. I will of course go through 162 games only to watch Chipper or Andruw strike out with the bases loaded in the wild card round to lose game 5. Go Braves! Let's hope it doesn't happen that way.

By the way that's what I love about Falcon coach Jim Mora, who said he was physically ill while he was watching Mcnabb and the Eagles celebrate their NFC championship. Losing should leave a bad taste in your mouth. That's what the fans want to hear anyway.

just don't do it

2005-03-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

I love the show Arrested Development. It's one of the rare broadcast shows that's fresh and consistently makes me laugh. I just hope they aren't adding a baby to the show. Why do sitcoms always feel the need to do this? Friends did it like 5 times and it sucked every time(well i can't really say that for sure b/c i rarely watched the show). That was one of the great things about Seinfeld, no babies.

If you ain't stewing, what the hell are you doing?

2005-03-07T14:48:00.000-05:00

I rather enjoy rather this radio program every afternoon from 1-4. It's the only sports show in America with 2 black co-hosts. They are brothers as well so the sibling rivalry is quite entertaining to listen to. It's a good loud time if you're trying to keep yourself awake after lunch.

Only Jesus can save us or my guest spot on a Jadakiss song

2005-03-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

as much as i enjoy some things in their right place, i may have overstated things just a bit. There is a point where some things are disappointing b/c they happen as expected. Like why is doing right so hard? Why do kids go from the foster care system straight to the penal system? Why are they so unprepared for higher education? Why do men cheat on their wives? Why can we point to crack or methamphetamines as the underlying cause of neglect in most instances? Why do women stay with bad men? Why is there so much teen pregnancy? Why is it so damn depressing to turn on the news? Why does being a politician involve so much selling out? Why do TV evangelists turn out to be so corrupt? Why do developers have to clear cut forests to build subdivisions? Why?

There ain't nothin funny when a soldier cries

2005-03-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

Perhaps you are familiar with the song by Destiny's Child called "Soldier". When i first heard about it i expected a tribute to our troops in harm's way in the Middle East. When I heard it, I discovered this "soldier" that they speak of is most definitely not been back door drafted or held in limbo by the "stop-loss" program. The song doesn't mention anything about being aware of roadside bombs or incoming RPG's. It doesn't say one thing regarding rehabbing in a hospital with very limited contact to the outside world. It didn't mention anything about cutting combat pay or forgetting paychecks entirely. No, apparently to Destiny's Child a "soldier" is someone who walks around with gold in their mouth and drives on shiny, oversized rims. Regardless of how you feel about the war, the troops deserve better than to have the term thrown around so cavalierly. Just something i've been thinking about.

"yes I am done. I have no questions."

2005-03-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

This week i am back at the training site that I had mentioned in a previous entry. As positive as the last experience was, this one is equally as negative. I had mentioned my new-found joy of participating in class. Don't worry, it's gone again. These people have interminable stories, yet they know nothing. They feel this is an open forum to throw co-workers and supervisors under the bus even though considering that they are relatively new workers, they might not know what's going on. In what universe is this considered appropriate? Admittedly, I love my supervisor, but I even if I had problems with him, airing them as dirty laundry for all to hear would be the furthest thing from my mind. Is this a woman thing? Is this a stupid thing? Is it a pencil-pusher thing? Well the view from the back of the class is ever changing.

F-king HMO bastard pieces of sh-t!

2005-02-27T14:49:00.000-05:00

Some of you might remember that line from the great film As Good as it Gets or maybe are familiar with it because you've said it in real life. Well I had my first real experience with an actual HMO on Friday as part of the whole flu experience. I called Kaiser Permanente up on Friday morning to set an appt. for that day. That went well enough, they said i could come in that afternoon to see a DR. . Part 2 was fine as well as I only waited about 2 minutes before I was seen by the Dr.. She gave me my prescription and I was on my way. The only catch is you have have to fill your RX's at the company store downstairs if you want to take advantage of the co-pay. Oh the Humanity! Just what I felt like doing that day. So there I am, standing shivering and sweating in line, coughing my lungs out. The very large man next to me is complaining vociferously about these long lines. He then procedes to get on his cell phone to complain to customer service about the problem at hand. What he hoped to accomplish from this, i'm not exactly sure. Meanwhile two little girls are running around the room swinging on the poles and wrestling each other on the floor. Mom is busy chatting up the woman next to her in line. If I wasn't using every last bit of energy I had to stay vertical I might just tell Mom what I thought of her. Finally I get to the counter. "Sir I don't see a RX for John Lake." "But my name is on the board", i reply. "How long has it been on the board?" "I'd say at least 20 minutes". oh good something else that doesn't mean anything, notifications that your RX is ready. Well they hustled and got it together pretty shortly after that, perhaps out of pity, b/c there's no way i was going the assertive/nasty route given my state. It would have used up too much energy.

Makin their way the only way they know how

2005-02-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last five days completely incapacitated by the flu. I don't remember being that sick for that long in my life. Along the way I discovered a few things. NBA teams like to make trades for the sole purpose of making trades. Good for the Sixers for picking up Chris Webber in the deal-happy days before the trading deadline. I also discovered some very good movies( White Oleander, Friday Night Lights and I heart Huckabees), an OK movie(The Notebook), and a really stupid one(She Hate Me). I was also watching the Dukes of Hazzard marathon and I had a question that if anyone knows the answer to, I would appreciate their input. If Daisy, Beau and Luke are all cousins to each other, and Uncle Jesse is the uncle to all of them, where are their parents? Are they all orphans? Did they have a huge accident at the family owned sawmill? I've had too much time to think over the last few days, I know.

Everything in its right place

2005-02-22T16:16:00.000-05:00

I believe in experiencing things in the way that they should experienced. I love gospel music. Not the kind with Michael W. Smith or Steven Curtis. It needs to be sung by Mahalia Jackson or by a band with three part harmony and banjoes, fiddles and mandolins. If I watched NASCAR, I would want to watch it in a smoky old bar with a bunch of middle aged men talking about how like the pretty boys taking over the sport. "Now that Richard Petty was a real man." It might sound something like that. I love soul music. Not by these little ishheads like Usher and Timberlake. Please give me the silky sounds of Marvin Gaye or the rich sounding growls from Wilson Pickett and Teddy Pendergrass. I don't want to hear old men and women talking about some new trendy thing and saying that they understand it or love it. "Back in my day.......(insert phrase here) " is what should come out of their mouths. I need 16-17 year old boys to sneak out to parties with beer and girls and then I need Mom to catch them and ground them 'til "whenever". I don't want to go to Florida to stand in line waiting for the Incredible Hulk Ride. I want to sit on the beach, sipping a big fruity drink or to the GA-FLA game screaming my lungs out for the Dawgs. I want to eat a Garbage Plate in Rochester. I want hot wings in Buffalo. I want BAR-B-Q and peach cobbler in South GA. I want to drive in the hills of Alabama listening to, well, Alabama. you get the idea

rage against the dying of...the night

2005-02-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

As hard as it is to get up early in the morning, i really appreciate it once I'm actually up. The past week I've had to put in some extra hours at work b/c of some very urgent situations I had going on. As a result it's been very dark when i've gotten up. Something about it just seems intriguing, like there's gonna be some mystery to the day. It also seems like I have more power to control the way my day goes. And for the most part, I think i have had more control. When I get to work, I'm waiting on people to respond to me as opposed to the other way around. But it's not just about work. It's about preparing myself to deal with anything that might come my way and being ahead of the game. instead of being reactive, being proactive. crap, this kind of turned into a motivational speech instead of being just being an anecdote. oh well, it's still true.

"the only thing free in this world is Jesus"

2005-02-19T13:45:00.000-05:00

I love the movie Ray. I just finished watching it again. Damn it if it doesn't get me every time! When his little brother George says it wasn't his fault, wow. I will know that the Oscars are full of ish if this movie doesn't win. I haven't seen every movie that's nominated this year yet, but it's hard to believe there's a better one this year than that.

Now the Grammys are a different story. Genius Loves Company was fine enough, but nothing compelling enough to win any awards for sure. I don't know why I even watch them anymore. So I can watch John Mayer win with one of the most schlocky, crappy pap tunes ever made?... Well, some legend far past their prime is nominated in this category. Might as well give it to them... Oh I've got a fresh idea, let's trot out Bonnie Raitt. She's relevant... Please Mr. President of the Grammys, come tell us how illegal trading of music is wrong. Now that you tell everyone, we'll listen for sure....Can Nelly just please go away and never come back? I had hoped that was the end of him, but he just keeps popping up...

Well I'm sorry for combining positivity and sarcastic vitriol into the same entry, but it just kind of...happened.

the weekender pt. 2: Hillbilly Hollywood

2005-02-14T17:26:00.000-05:00

On Saturday after catching up on old times at the groom’s parents’ house, I said to myself, “I’ve got a rental car that I can run into the ground, why don’t I go somewhere that I’ve never been before?” I listened to my inner monologue and decided to head to Nashville, Tennessee. It’s the next state over. It can’t be that far right? Well 8 or hours and 550 miles later, I realized I was wrong on that account. Don’t ask me why I didn’t get a map. I arrived in Music City at 11:30(10:30 Central). I found a parking lot in a hurry, and set out to listen to some good live music.

The first place I went was the most crowded. There was a fairly talented band playing, but there was nothing too remarkable about them as they played the greatest country hits. I was standing there trying to take in the sights and sounds minding my own business, but people kept bumping into me and kicking my feet as they went by. I know the place was crowded but damn. At least say excuse me! Maybe my long sleeved t-shirt and New Balances didn’t fit in. There weren’t really too many cowboy hats that I saw though, mostly just a bunch of douchebags with too much gel in their hair and…well they just looked like douchebags. I can’t exactly say why. Maybe I was just being paranoid. There was a woman that was probably in her late forties or least looked that way. She walked past me a few times. I didn’t think anything of it the first time when she sort of fell into me and put her paws all over me and. By about the third time, I was ducking and covering when she came towards me with a seductive look. She still got in a free feel. Meanwhile to my right there was man who had to be over 50. He was dressed in a tan button-down shirt and a white ten gallon hat. He was obviously about 5 sheets to the wind. He seemed to be cozying up to a pretty attractive blonde who was my age at the oldest. He also was touching the young lady very inappropriately to be in public, trying to pull down her dress and such. Then he began to dance with her very badly. I was very happy with the place I was standing, but the couple was continuously bumping into me. I felt led to intervene on two counts. 1) b/c he was pissing me off and 2) b/c the girl didn’t really seem too comfortable w/the situation. I said something along the lines of “dude, chill out”. To which the girl replied, “it’s ok, he’s really drunk.” Well as long as he’s really drunk I guess we can accept it. Ha ha well it’s really funny when you put it that way. My fault for being a good citizen. The next two bars I went to had some very good rockabilly music and overall it was a good time. The next day I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and paid homage to Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. I was glad I did it. I’m gonna do more of that this year for sure.

The weekender pt. 1: a drunken punch-up at a wedding

2005-02-14T15:35:00.001-05:00

I really didn’t want to go to this wedding. I have spent the last year attending a wedding every other month. This is not an exaggeration. I don’t care anymore. I don’t want to hear the cute stories about how we met and awkward toasts. I don’t want to watch another father-daughter dance with overused music. I absolutely don’t want to hear “Celebration” again. That is the most tired song in the history of the world. I really don’t want to tinkle the glass and watch anybody kiss. Just go to your room and get it started thank you. All that being said I couldn’t say no to going to see my best childhood friend Peter Clement tie the knot. Now I haven’t kept in touch with Peter as well as I should have over the past ten years, but I still felt an obligation, partly due to family pressure, to go.
The ceremony and reception was in Eastern NC. We got there and saw that the venue was surprisingly classy. It was a bed and breakfast with a fairly large reception hall. Surprisingly the whole experience went off without a hitch. The food was decent. There were Coronas and Amstel and wine and such. A sister and brother of the groom, my brother William, my cousin Christiana, and a rather attractive young lady who was escorted by someone who she insisted was just a “friend”. She seemed interesting and pretty friendly. The evening went on pretty well from. We shared some “special sauce” I had in my suit coat as well. Everyone was having a good time dancing and joking around and things of this nature.

So the evening continued on enjoyably. It all went very well . I got the young lady’s number before the night was over which was exciting at the time, but found out later in the weekend when I used it, that the “friend” was really more than a friend. That was just Friday. More to come shortly.

PS: to anybody whose wedding i've been: it wasn't your wedding that made me feel this way. it's just a result of sensory overload and my current state of mind.

The burdens of being upright

2005-02-07T16:14:00.000-05:00

It seems these days i'm walking a tightrope regarding politics. It's so hard to say what is the right view on things.

We should probably go back to when i was growing up. I was raised in a Christian conservative household. We would listen to Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz on the radio. They seemed to have the answers for everything. If we did everything the way they said to do it, surely the world would be a better place. Well there's one problem with people that spend all their time saying what people should do. They don't spend any time at all doing anything.

Now this is not meant to be simply a reactionary conservative bashing piece. Certainly some of these values have been instilled in me and will be forever. At the same time i spend a lot of time outside the "700 club" box these days. This is my inner conflict. How to balance the two sides? Can they be balanced? Do i need to choose one side or the other and align my attitudes w/my actions?

I do know one thing. It's hard to say you're proud to be a young Republican with the current state of affairs. I can't believe this guy got the most votes ever. I tried to straddle the fence by voting libertarian.
This is me.
This is my struggle.

"I'm done, are you? Do you have any questions of me?"

2005-02-06T11:11:00.000-05:00

For the last few weeks i've had the privilege of being in training away from my normal place of work. I've found out few things during this time. I appreciate the people I work with everyday. They are a pretty fun bunch overall. Yes of course, there are some malcontents and rumor-spreaders, but there are going to be those kinds of people everywhere you go. I've also learned there might be hope for the Agency that I work for. I was overall impressed by the group of case managers that were in the training with me. Also seeing that it's been quite a few years since i've spent extended time in a classroom, i think my classroom behavior has changed quite a bit since that time. In college i tended to sit towards the back of the class, making smartass comments to my peers under my breath, but rarely contributing to the learning environment of the class. I still do the smartass comments of course, but i also feel i have other valuable things to add as well. I'm not exactly sure what i can attribute that to. Have i become the "non-traditional" student that we used to make sport of? The one who balances a whole other life and while also trying to improve their current station in the world? The one who always seems to have something to say in class when all everyone wants to do is have them shut the hell up so we can leave? I'm not exactly sure, but it is interesting to think about.

More than a Feeling...or The Seed 2.0

2005-02-06T10:37:00.000-05:00

Well here it is. Today is the BIG GAME(i am not licensed to say its official name with the roman numerals and such). Cheesesteaks against...umm baked beans. The city with the rude and crass reputation against the other city with the rude and crass reputation.

The Eagles are the underdog. Who doesn't love an underdog ? Usually this is the team i go for, but it's really hard to like the Eagles after they beat the dog out of my Falcons just two weeks ago. There's no one really to like on the Patriots either. They're more of a robotic machine than a football team anyway. I do always like to see what TO is gonna do next. Quite frankly i don't know why he is so villified around the league. He never gets in any trouble off the field(Desperate Housewives incident notwithstanding, the only reason that was a big deal anyway was b/c he was with a white woman). He is a great athlete who is fun to watch. You gotta like Mcnabb as well. I've watched him grow since he was a redshirt freshman at Syracuse. He injected life into that program and has done the same for the Eagles. All this after the Philly fans booed his selection in the draft(I don't think you still want Cade McNown).
I guess I said all that to talk myself into rooting for the Eagles. Go Philly!

My money's still on the Patriots and the points.

jemario

2005-01-31T23:21:00.000-05:00

They were there to observe, to make everything go well. They wanted to make sure the little boy they had heard about for the last half of a year was going to a good home. They didn’t quite know what to expect. They were there now.

The little boy that just two years ago, played like all the others. Now he is in a hospital bed, full of tubes. He can’t laugh anymore. Can’t even tattletale anymore. He sure can’t run around and play basketball, the game he loved so much. Now he’s reduced to answering yes or no by moving his eyes up and down or side to side. Grandma gave him up to the county because she couldn’t, maybe wouldn’t care for him anymore. Grandma still comes and visits sometimes, taking the toys that they give the little boy and bringing them home for the others she takes care of. Funny thing that cancer, it can get anybody anytime.

Well there they were, two big strong grown men reduced to tears by the little boy. Who'll cry for the little boy? I guess that's who.

cheesesteaks are bad for you anyway

2005-01-24T20:28:00.000-05:00

well my beloved falcons are gone from the postseason. can we get some damn receivers please?

the exits are here here here and here

2005-01-20T18:22:00.000-05:00

i want to take this opportunity to welcome any and all to ramblings from the south. i want to congratulate you on your good fortune of finding such an interesting place as well. i hope to give you a little bit of everything. some commentary on the news and sports. i will also of course share some happenings in my life and my point of view on them as well. i do invite you to give your feedback whenever you feel like it. enjoy.

his very own unicef

2005-01-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

my brother-in-law jereme came home from work. he said there was a little boy out in the cold selling lemonade. the sign said it was for tsunami relief. i was thinking to myself, "awwww"! so i wen to buy some lemonade. when i got to the stand, i looked closer at the sign. it actually said,"half the money goes to tsunami relief." i was going to pay 10 dollars for my lemonade. i decided that 5 was quite enough.

dirty birds

2005-01-17T16:50:00.000-05:00

i had the great fortune of going to the falcons home playoff game on saturday evening. i have been a long suffering falcons fan, so i felt that this was a wonderful reward to be able to take in one of only four home playoff games in nearly forty years. this was thanks to my brother-in-law ordering cable internet and receiving them as a premium and turning them over to me as an early birthday present. what happened after receiving the tickets was a little depressing, although possibly just a symptom of the way my social life is going at the moment. i began to go through my cell phone to determine who i would really want to go with me. the first person i called didn't pick up the phone. the 2nd person i called sounded very excited to receive a ticket, said she was very honored and would call me right back. i proceeded to leave the house to meet a co-worker friend of mine at a bar across town. i had trouble finding the place, and when i finally got there, she was gone. i'm a little frustrated at this point. while i was leaving i got a call from the person who had accepted my invitation earlier. she stated that she felt like she would be using me for my ticket. i'm thinking, "where the f--k did this come from." but i replied,"ok fine, talk to you later." the possible reasons why she came back with this reponse are another story for another day. i then called my supervisor (who is a big football fan and used to play for UGA). his wife wouldn't let him go. he suggested a coworker who is a huge falcons fan. i called her up. her first words were,"do you have more than one." no b---h, these are falcons PLAYOFF tickets. even if you did just want the one now i wouldn't give it to you. anyway, there were a few more stories like this before i finally found someone to go to the game with me. it was somebody i enjoyed hanging out with, so that was good. i just thought it was surprising that it was like i was asking for these people's 1st born children.

thought of the day

2005-01-15T16:33:00.000-05:00

i was waiting for the train at the 5 points station on friday. in the marta station(which is an acronym for metro atl. rapid transit authority), there is always a random person who is mentally ill, likes to cuss at people for no reason, whose brain is fried by crack etc... on this particular day, there was an older man who was not able to communicate verbally. he was still trying to communicate something through loud grunts and high pitched squeals. he began making his way closer to me on the platform . A man standing across the track from me remarked,"yeah i've been seeing him ever since i moved down here seven years ago. i don't know what he's saying, but he sure does mean what he says."