Well Have a gay ole time !!!!!!!!!!!!

Well......I am still waiting for the results of the tests I took the other day .....I have now called twice for the results and have not heard anything back yet ......Doc's do things on their own time....Anyway when I know something I will pass it along.
LOST is getting really really good ....we had our first official LOST watching party over at Nick and Lauras house this past Wednesday night.....This came about for two reasons 1st-Nick finally got all caught up on the past episodes and 2nd-we had to move the watching party bacause Jackie has been sick this week. We hope she is feeling better and will be ready to watch next week with everyone .
Other things .....
Why cant the folks who are in charge just let gays serve in the military?? I dont understand how anyone in this day and age can be worried about what "might" happen.......What's the absolute worst that could happen?? Someone who is gay joins, goes to Iraq, and gets a leg blown off or two legs?? And then they can go to Walter Reed Medical Center and get great medical care !?!?!?!? I dont mean to make light of a serious subject but for goodness sake......If these men and women who are gay want to serve their country and take the chance to getting KILLED ...then let them!!! They are wanting to do something that many folks around of nation dont want to do ! The idea that some guy would decide in the heat of battle that he wants to kiss the guy next to him GIVE ME A BREAK !!!!!! Do away with DADT and let these folks serve openly.
Nick has given us Homework again .....What's on our iTunes playlist right now ....
This is a combo of a couple of my playlists ....Enjoy
Papa Loves Mambo-Perry Como
Catch a Falling Star-Perry Como
I'll be Seeing You-Frank Sinatra
The Departed Soundtrack
Your Man-Josh Turner
It is Well-Gaither Vocal Band
Because He Lives-Gaither Vocal Band

It could be worse ...........

So ......Giving up TV has not been as easy as I maybe thought it would be ....I have done real good on lots of levels but I have not been able to shake LOST. It is so good right now and some of my best friends are just now getting to where they are caught up with past episodes and we are all getting ready to watch together .....If sucks to have no resolve.
I am trying to get better at blogging but things in my life right now just dont allow me to do it on a daily basis. Stay tuned ...
I rediscovered Nashville last weekend .....what a fun place!
On Monday I will be having some tests run.....nothing too serious but nothing that I am looking forward to doing ...anyone who knows me well enough knows that I am not a fan of going to the doctor much less having tests run ....I will keep everyone informed.
Its late and I am tired.....More later

WE ALL GO A LITTLE MAD SOMETIMES.......

Bogie had Bacall, Romeo had Juliet, Andy had Barney......and me ? Well Jason had Television. Some of you are sitting there going ....HAD ? WHAT THE HELLLLLOOOO is he talking about ....Has he lost his fracking mind ? Well maybe I have lost my mind ...but I have decided to give up Television...or should I say the watching of Television for Lent. In years past I have given up Coffee, all drinks but water and juice and no radio in the car but this year I wanted to make a bigger statement in my life.....and this is my choice.

Anyone who knows me ....and knows me really good knows that TV is a huge part of my life....and that in itself is a little bit embarassing. I love good TV ...hell I love bad TV! I have been raving these past few weeks about LOST and how good it is again but guess what, after this Wednesday ....no more LOST till April. No more Friday Night Lights......No more Daily Show or Colbert Report......and no more OFFICE.....Ellen, Law and Order, Ghost Hunters,......They are all banished till after Easter......

So here are the RULES .....

1. No TV during the week. NONE! On Sundays I will limit myself to a very few news programs and The History Channel.

2. I will still use my TV to watch movies that I receive from Netflix. I pay for that service each month and will not waste the movies I get.

3. If I am at a friends house and the TV is on I will do my best to remove myself from the situation. I wont leave but I can go to another room, outside ...something.

4. BOOKS will once again become one of my best friends. If anyone out there has any suggestions on reading material PLEASE send it my way.

5. The last rule is more of a challenge .....I challenge all those reading this and all those in the know about what I am doing to give up something this year also...........We all know what Lent is and what it means ....What are you giving up ????

Once was LOST .....but now am Found!!!!

This is a review of next weeks new episode of LOST. It was printed in the new copy of Entertainment Weekly.

I'm not going to screw around. It's good. Really good. Like season-one, stuff-gets-answered,can't-wait-for-the-next-episode good. To recap: Ben is bleeding out on the table. Jack is demanding the release of Kate and Sawyer. and the fan base is demanding some frickin' forward movement. Well, how about the full-on Juliette backstory? Information about how the Others ended up on the island? Super-creepy Dharma experiment sequences?
Yeah, You know you want it. And by the end, you will be begging for more. Well,that, and praying this isn't just another tease from a show that always seems to start strong out of the gate.
Daniel Fierman
His score of the episode -A

Ok .....So that last Blog sucked..........

I got some things to talk about tonight .....

Car Accidents
Yup ...My Mom had a car accident Tuesday night on her way home. The damage to the car was pretty bad and she is getting around on crutches for the time being ....but other than that and her hurt pride, all things will be ok.
Weather
Why cant it snow ? I am not talking about snow that we have to measure in feet .....but something in inches would be nice . Not every year ....but once every few years would not hurt anything .....I think the last time that we could actually measure snow around here was in 1993 when a huge storm went through and that was in March of that year!!!!!!!!!!!
I dont want that crud that dusts the ground and then poor little kids(and parents) go out and make feeble attempts at building snowmen. That kinda of snow kinda makes me mad and I would just prefer we not have that mess.
At least its been colder though !!
Television
I have recently been tuning into one of the funniest shows on TV and its THE OFFICE.....if you are not watching then shame on you. Borrow the DVDs from someone and catch up....or go here and get episodes for free http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-office-(us)/links?sort_method=datecreated&tag_name[]=full+episode
Speaking of TV ......FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is my current favorite show on TV .....and next week LOST returns after a VERY LONG BREAK ......I am giving LOST 4 episodes to show me SOMETHING....ANYTHING.....My personal feeling is that the show has gotten too big ...To many stories going on and way too much to keep up with....I still dig the show and want to see it through to the end BUT I am ready to see something happen!!
I am also giving serious thought to giving up TV for Lent this year.....WOW , did I just say that ???????????
Poker Night
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......Will we ever all find the time to play again??
The Future
It's looking more and more like I will be going back to school this year..................My options are limited right now and I am ready to explore my way back into school. I am done talking about "maybe" going back .....its time to make this happen.....
Birmingham
The more I visit this city the more I really like it ......Compared to Montgomery ....well there really is no comparison ...Apples and Oranges!

Work is good ......family is good ......friends are good ......
See yall next time !!

Happy Birthday ....!!!!!!!

I have no idea what to write about .....................

What's black and white and red all over ????

My arm.......To those of you in the know, then you know what I mean ....to those of you who are scratching your heads going ....HUH? Well.....lets just say that it's in keeping with new things in my life. So far I am diggin it !!

"It's hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam’s security forces and his army. Hard to imagine." –Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, testifying before the House Budget Committee prior to the Iraq war, Feb. 27, 2003

I am going to make a better effort to post every week about something .......Once again sometimes we get into this blog mindset that we have to blog about something groundbreaking or life changing but we really dont .....we can post about some new shoes we got ...we can post about a weekend trip perhaps.....or maybe some really good food we had......main thing is this ...Its your dang blog and you can say what you want. So say it .
Things on my mind right now......My Brother, my job , George Bush and the job he is doing,
the new congress and winter retreat next week. I guess the last one would fit nicely with my job thoughts but I am speaking one night at the retreat so its got my nerves up a little for some reason.
George W Bush-President, United States of America. When will this madness end ?? I know it will end on January 20,2009 but what will we do in the meantime?
I sat the other night and watched the playback of his speech to the nation and he basically did what most experts, commissions, reports, former generals have said he should not do and thats increase troop levels in Iraq. He said that more troops were needed and would be sent. This was it for us he said ....If this does not do the trick then the Iraqis are on their own.
Lyndon Johnson ordered up more troops in 1966 to be sent to Vietnam. At the end of 1968 we had 500,000 troops in Southeast Asia . I dont think we will ever have that many in Iraq but it was kinda creepy to hear GWB sounding so much like LBJ. We all know how that war turned out.
Bush said we are giving them our last best effort and then they are on their own. Does anyone recall what type world they lived in before we invaded ? I know there was a dictator running the place but they were a fairly peaceful nation. Sure the lunatic running the place liked to invade really small countries(Kuwait) or really big ones (Iran).But for the most part the folks in that country were good, decent, hard working people . They raised families. Went to college.
Now look at it.......over 600,000 Iraqis civilians have been killed in the 4 years since the war started. Many folks would say that Hussien killed thousands while he was in power but most people will agree that he did not kill 600,000 people.
The money is so devalued that you cant buy anything really. The infrastructure is a mess and jobs that do exist dont pay anything. Plus you have to worry about getting killed on a regular basis by militias that did not exist 4 years ago.
But President Bush has drawn a line in the sand........You got one more chance Iraq and then we are taking our toys and going home!!! I love what hes done for the place
Some would most likely say Good Riddence!!

"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." --Vice President Dick Cheney, on the Iraq insurgency, June 20, 2005

One final thanks to Luke, Jackie and David ...Yall are great friends. I appreciate yall more than you know !!

We have to go forward to get back !!

Happy New Years everyone ......Not that a ton of folks read this simple little blog but Happy New Years to those who do ....

I would like to first of all say that 2007 is gonna be THE YEAR ! I have been looking at the calendar for the last two months waiting on December 31 to tick off and for 2006 to pass into the history books. It happened ....1 million people stood at or around Times Square in New York City and watched a large crystal ball drop thus saying to the world that 2007 is here.

Anyone who reads this blog knows what 2006 was like for me ....it was for most parts CRAP! With a capitol C that rhymes with P and stands for POO!!

There were a few saving graces last year and here they are....

• My friends . Dear Lord how could I have ever gotten through last year without the love and support of my closest friends. It was quite a year for a few of us and to Nick, Laura and Mike words will never fully convey to you how much I love and appreciate you all. You were there in March when Daddy died and you were there the rest of the year to support me in all things . Thanks


• New friends. 2006 saw me changing my attitudes about new friends. I have for the longest time said that I was pretty "full up" on friends but I gladly changed my tune this year and let wonderful new people into my life. Luke and Jackie are such great folks and I have been greatly rewarded by knowing them. I look forward to more nights of poker or just hanging out. I mean come on Luke got me to like Outkast!!!!


• Jason in Bham.....Thanks man for helping make 2006 end on a positive note. Maybe you belong in the first catagory...LOL. Thanks for the friendship and Tabooli Salad!

These were just a few of the things that helped make 2006 a tad bit better.

And now we move forward.....Like the title said we have to move forward to get back . But what are we getting back to ?? Life for me is of course the "New Normal".....I move each day further and further from March 21, 2006. That is a blessing. I dont think about things as much as I used to and that also is a blessing. I dont want to get back to life like I knew it last year.....I cannot be that person. Life for me has started a slow but somewhat drastic change and that's fine .....it's a change that I am happy with and am embracing. If we look back over the years at things that did not change ...or friends that did not change .....we see that they stayed right were they were and life moved on right past them. I cannot be that person. I will not be that person. Nick has been calling 2007 "The Year of Fitness" and I am on board with getting in better shape but for me 2007 is going to be "The Year of Change".

Lots of excitement right around the corner folks.......God Bless!

Merry New Christmas Kwannza Hanakkuh Years Day

It has been a good long time since I posted anything and I thought that before I head out today that I would post something .....
This week is a busy one for me ....here is a listing of whats going on in my life right now ....
Christmas Caroling with Youth Sunday night.
Dinner tonight with a friend.
Choir party tomorrow night.
Youth function Thursday night .
Big blowout Christmas Cocktail Friday night.
Christmas at my Granny's house Saturday.
Dinner party at Susannes house Saturday night.
WHEW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As with anything you commit yourself to during the Christmas season you find yourself saying MY LORD why am I doing so dang much....Then I remember ...I am happy to do them all.
This is the best time of the year .....and I will argue that point with anyone...anytime..anywhere.
How can you not love this time of the year . Even if you are not a Christian....you can be a Muslim or a Jew or a Jehovahs Witness for all I care ... things are just more fun and festive around this time of the year .....and come December 26 we will pack it all up for 12 more months.
I am as happy as I have been in months .....many things are causing this happiness ...
My friends...my family and all those folks who are special in my life. I am enjoying the ride and letting it all happen. It's Gods Will.
Nick told me the other day that we are all so blessed and I agree so much with him on that one.

In other news ....
We can file this one under DAMN THATS STUPID
At an airport in Washington State this past monday workers removed several large Christmas trees rather than erect a Menorah. A rabbi from the area asked that one be added to the holiday decorations and instead of adding that, the powers that be decided to REMOVE the trees.
We live in a messed up place sometimes. I am a liberal ....a bleeding heart liberal. But this was foolish.
The rabbi said he never wanted anything removed and said he was dropping his move to get a memorah installed. He even had one he was gonna give them.
The trees were being RE INSTALLED onTuesday.
Heres the kicker......
The folks in charge at the airport said that the workers did not have the time to install a menorah!?!?!?!?!?!? WHAT ? Not only did they have time to remove several trees what were well over 15 feet in height they also had the time to put them back up on tuesday. Could they not have found the time to sit a menorah somewhere and plug it in???
All over the country places are once again Saying MERRY CHRISTMAS...and hosting CHRISTMAS PARADES......Heck Wal Mart even changed the name of their holiday center to the CHRISTMAS SHOP.
It is ok to say Merry Christmas and put trees up folks ......and its also ok to install a large golden menorah next to them.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best when he said
"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will persish together as fools"
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HANUKKAH

A National Day of Thanksgiving .......

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin

Why is it just today that we seem to pause and give thanks for the wonderful people and things in our lives?

I have tried pretty hard these past 8 months to show my love to all things important in my life. I have failed at times to properly vocalize these feelings but all in all I really do think that those most important to me know how I feel. I few special mentions .....

My Mother and my Brother....What an incredible year we have had ! I know there are many members of our family but in a matter of hours it seemed as though we were the only three left. That maybe does not make sense but its how I felt and still somtimes feel. I have never known a person as strong as my mother. She amazes me daily . I see my Daddy everytime I see my Brother. For that I am very grateful. I love them both so very much .

To Nick, Laura and Mike.......What an incredible year we have had also !! For friendship,love, laughter.....you three have made this hard year bearable! Thanks!

To the other countless friends out there that might read this post ...know that I love each of you...old friends ...new friends...everyone.

May God bless each of you this Holiday Season.

I Stand Amazed

On November 15, 2016 I am sure there will be much talk on the news about the big storms that blew threw Montgomery 10 years earlier. I am sure in the meantime we will have many other storms to hit the area. For right now though I am gonna talk about the storm that hit Montgomery County on November 15,2006.

35 people walked out of the rubble pictured above. We can ask all the questions we want. We can wonder aloud with friends about what ifs. You can stand in the parking lot of Worth Cleaners and look across at a building you watched being built. I stood there amazed. Amazed that a building that big and solid was no match for God's power. That's what it is ....it's God's power..... Clearly on display for anyone and everyone to see. For all you folks out there saying "Wow God is pissed at someone" He is mad because the Democrats won last week. He is being rubbed the wrong way because we allow homosexuals to be married. He is upset that the moral center of this country has gone down the crapper..... well here is the kicker--The same God that created nature and the forces that come with also provided a hand of protection to 35 people. 31 children, some as young as 8 weeks old, were carried out of that devastation. I can hardly type this or talk about it without getting choked up. Not one person lost their life yesterday in all that happened in all those buildings that were destroyed or badly damaged .

I am not one to wear my faith on my sleeve and anyone who knows me knows that..... I have a relationship with Jesus Christ and it is a strong one but what happened yesterday......WOW! I am sitting here at 1am in the morning and I can still see some of those kids from the Fun Zone being grabbed by their parents and being hugged so hard.

I worked at Worth Cleaners for 5 years and I thank God that Mr.Worth's business did not have any major damage. I thank God for his current employees who ran into a destroyed building to try and help people in danger.

I Thank God.

Ps i dont think my pictures are gonna come through...sorry !

We all Win................

Yesterday was a great day in American politics.......not because the Democrats won but because WE THE PEOPLE turned out in huge HUGE numbers and voted with a loud voice. We want change. Last week I read an article about the election and the guy writing said he hoped that Dems would win but only by one seat in each house of Congress. That perhaps a clear message would be sent to the members......SCREW THIS UP AND YALL ARE OUT ALSO!!! I believe with a strong heart that things will be different. I also think that we need term limits on every level,branch,division,station etc of our government. Get there knowing you have a certain amount of time to get the job done and if you screw it up then you are gone ...one way or the other.

It was a great day in America yesterday......Today is great ....and Tomorrow will be even better.

I close with a few quotes I found online ....

A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." --Thomas Jefferson

"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country." --Franklin D. Roosevelt

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." --Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers." --Aristotle

AND FINALLY ......

"And so, in my State of the -- my State of the Union -- or state -- my speech to the -- nation, whatever you wanna call it, speech to the nation -- I asked Americans to give 4,000 years -- 4,000 hours over the next -- of the rest of your life -- of service to America. That's what I asked. I said 2 -- 4,000 hours." --George W. Bush

GOD BLESS AMERICA ....INDEED!!

VOTE EARLY AND VOTE OFTEN !!!!!

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who dont go vote.

anonymous

The Constitution of The United States says........

Article 1

Section 2-The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the Electors in each state shall have the Qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.

Section 3-the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state chosen by the legistature therof*, for six years and each senator shall have one vote.

*Amendment 17-The Senate of the United Staes shall be composed of two Senators from each state,elected by the people therof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.

Election Day occurs on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November every year. This rule was instituted by the Congress in 1845, and the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November was chosen to keep the election day from falling on All Saints Sunday. Tuesday was chosen to allow voters one day to travel to their polling place, as most residents at the time could not travel on Sunday because of church. The month of November was chosen because it was after the crops were harvested.

Simple American History.

Are you going to vote tomorrow or are you so fed up with the whole political process that you wont even consider driving to your polling place and casting your vote.?

Please go vote .....the founders of this nation paid a high price for YOU. Not many things make me madder than when I hear someone say they did not vote. Are we that busy? Do we not care about what happens? I believe that voting procedures should be changed . Nothing is done to appeal to the young voter anymore ....

How about allowing folks to vote via email or at an online polling place? What about using text messages? What if iTunes got behind something like this and used their considerable website to promote something new?

I think we could and can change this nation! But we have to start somewhere and that somewhere is Me, You, We, Them , They.

Encourge your friends and parents to vote, offer to take them to vote JUST GO VOTE.

Democrat....Republican......Independent......VOTE Tomorrow

In other News........

I had a up and down weekend but I think it ended on a really high note. The hard part was facing some hard realities about some things and realizing that great friends should ALWAYS be a part of the things in your life. Life is about changing and I think we grow up in some way everyday........Does not matter if you are 8 or 80 we always have room to grow.....Our friends just make it easier!!

My Dad would have been 61 years old this past Sunday. It was a tough day but not as tough as I thought it would or could have been. I said it before in another post and will say it again...I really feel that I have turned that corner and am looking at life different now. I miss Daddy so much but I am making the choice to celebrate his life and not mourn his death. I am praying that others start in someway to do the same thing.

I got a Facebook account.......for what that is worth....Thanks Nick!!!!!!

I leave you with this quote............

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. ~Victor Frankl

It's a Date.......

Dates you should never forget.....As told in the new edition of Mens Health Magazine

• The edible kind, like the ones that killed the monkey in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Without the posion of course, dates are low in calories (24),fat and cholesterol;full of fiber and richer in potassium than bananas. Eat six or seven a day and shave points off your blood pressure while adding snap to your bullwhip.
• 1507. The year the New World was named after Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. People remember guys who arrive first and plant their flag. Having a cool name helps, too.
• February 26, 1993: The first attampt to destroy the World Trade Center. Few attacks come unannounce, whether on the battlefield, in the boardroom, or in your own backyard.
• Her mom's birthday. Hell hath no fury like a women with a mother-in-law scorned.
• January 1692. The kickoff to the Salem witch trials. Nineteen people were hanged in a climate of war, economic strife, religious intolerance,and teenage boredom. Of course, something like that could never happen today.
• The date when you took her on a picnic instead of to a restaurant;to an art museum instead of to a movie;or on a midnight stroll on a beach instead of to a bar for a nightcap. Also,the date when you were asked in for that drink instead of being dispatched with a hug.
• D-Day: June 6, 1944. If the Nazis had won the war,we'd probably be on our Ninth Reich by now. History has a series of pivot points. We bet your own life has had a few. Learn from them and it will be easier to spot the next one coming.
• November 19, 1863. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. If you want immortality, get to the point.
• January 1, 2000. Two dropped digits plunged cyberspace into chaos, resulting in premature missle launches, a global transportation shutdown, and a worldwide economic meltdown. Oh, wait a minute. No, they didn't. So the next time a coworker starts hoarding drinking water and stockpiling munitions because the end is near-heard about the 2012 apocalypse lately?- abuse him verbally.
• Any expiration dates. Medicines, health insurance,passports,driver's license. Red Tape Sucks!

I blame Nick for this ......

My last post was when I got back from North Carolina .....I thought I had some really good stuff to talk about after that but now I am drawing so many blanks .....
My creative juices are gone for some reason ...and I blame Nick ....cause I gotta blame someone that aint me !
Yo Yo Ma Rules !!!!!!!

If you are lucky enough to be in the mountains....then you're lucky enough!!

At the very top of Grandfather Mountain October 12, 2006

PART 1......

I am back ...Did yall miss me ?

I spent the last week on holiday in North Carolina.The British say holiday instead of vacation and I like the sound of it anyway I was in Asheville to be exact. I am about to sound kinda silly ...like someone with a high school crush.....BUT I dont care . I LOVE Asheville, North Carolina. Well, to say that I love the mountains as a whole would be a slight understatement. But, I do dig Asheville for so many reasons ...so many that its hard to pick just one. So lets start with this ....It's eclectic....

Eclectic is described by Websters as being ....

Selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles, composed of elements drawn from various sources.

That's Asheville! That's the mountains of Western North Carolina! People who settled the region came from all over...Scotland, Ireland, Wales....so many styles and elements that came together to make something so beautiful. The people who walk the streets today are every element that you can imagine. Diverse.

I feel comfortable in the mountains....it's soothing! I have been there in all four seasons, in the rain, snow, high winds....No matter the weather I always have a smile on my face. The area suits me. The people suit me. It all suits me . I told yall I was gonna sound kinda silly. It's a lovely place. My mood rises when I leave because it only means I get to come back someday and enjoy it all over again.

My family has roots that go deep in the mountains of NC. A family that has ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War and them came back to start families. My grandfather moved to Alabama in 1940 because of his being in the Army Air Corps. He stayed in Bama...my and fell in love with my Nana.....Here we are..................BUT

I sometimes sit and think that maybe I could be the one to "take" our family back to NC......to buy a house on Rock Hill Road in Asheville and just let things happen.

If I cant live there full time then I plan on going back as often as time and funds will allow. I also want to take family and friends back with me. And as often as they want to go . When you have something this great that you enjoy this much ....it should be shared and shared often.

I want to expose people to The Blue Ridge Parkway, Barleys, The Mast, Christmas at the Biltmore Estate, The Noodle House , The Grove Arcade, the Natahalla, All Souls Church, Pack Square,Grandfather Mountain, The Grove Park Inn and so many other great places.

So who wants to go ? When do you want to go ? How long do yall want to stay? I am up for any trip that will include the mountains.

I might live in Alabama but North Carolina is my home.

This is the first of at least two posts. Stay Tuned!!

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2006

What's going on .....
The Good....
LOST's third season begins tonight on ABC. The USA Today gave it 3.5 stars out of 4. I am pretty dang excited about the show getting started back up tonight. Auburn is currently 5-0 and Number 2 in many, if not all national polls. I have been talking about it for months but it looks like the time has finally arrived for my vacation to Asheville, NC. This will be my third trip to western NC this year. I cant get enough of that area. My friends are wonderful ....my family is great.
Work continues to go very good for me. I really do enjoy getting up each morning and going into work. The weather in Montgomery makes me very sad. We have maybe TWO days of good Fall weather and then its like someone pulling a rug out from under us ....just like that...BAM! It is 93 degrees on the 4th of October......But things will cool off again and all will be right in MGM.
The Bad....
A scandal has hit the higher reaches of our Government. AGAIN! Former Rep.Foley of Florida did some bad things it would seem. If he has some demons and needs to work on taking care of those problems I really REALLY hope he finds the help he needs. Is he the reason no one has any faith in our political system? Or people like him? There have been scandals going all the way back to Pres. Washingtons time but it seems that so many Americans are just turned off by the whole political process. Everyone is to blame ...Democrats and Republicans. Although, Ann Coulter said last night that this was all being made a much bigger deal by the Dems. Ugh! Why cant folks take responsibility for things ? I am a Democrat and it upset me when President Clinton had his affair with Monica. Still makes me mad. OWN up to what you do ....thats all.

8.4 Billion is being spent each month in Iraq. I know we are at war . Times are different. People all over the world hate us for what we stand for . That sucks. But besides longer lines at the airport, what sacrfices are we being asked to make ? Where are the ration cards like the ones my grandparents used during WWII? Where are the blackouts?
We are asked to realize we are fighting a global war on terror but then expected to act like nothing is out of the ordinary. On so many levels that is not right . Would those folks who drive around with the yellow ribbon magnets on their cars be the first in line to get rationing books?
How about if college students and others were asked to turn in their iPods so the metal could be used for making tanks and planes, like in WWII? How many folks would go out and plant Victory Gardens? Imagine the last 5 years with the following items either rationed or not produced.
Rationed
Meats, butters, cooking oils, cheese, canned good, dry items, sugars, coffee, gasoline, motor oils.
Production suspended
Radios, cars, trucks, boats, tires, microwaves, tv's, stoves, fridges.
Is this country willing to make this type of effort for the war? Am I ready to make this effort ? People did these things 60 years ago because they knew what the end result would be. They were fighting just as much as the men who were living in the fox holes in Europe and Asia. Something has got to change.

Montgomery pays respect
Officer Keith Houts was laid to rest today in Birmingham. He was shot last week in the line of duty here in Montgomery. He was the first MGM officer to be killed in the line of duty in almost 10 years. I watched the heartbreaking funeral on television. I thank God daily for the wonderful men and women who serve to protect us each day. They are doing something I would never be able to do . When you think about this senseless killing it kinda makes a television show like LOST seem very very very small. God Bless his family.

On a very light note
I saw these two guys online the other day and they were trading pickup lines in a bar.....the women walked away but the lines were funny.
Here are a few..
I'm so sweet Slugworth stole ME!!
I'm so hip your Grandad broke ME!!
and my favorite
I'm like Altoids...Small,white and Curiously Strong!!

This might be my last post till after I get home ......Travelling prayers appreciated.

Homeward Bound.........

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Healing happens in all sorts of ways .......I have been trying to heal for the last 6 months . I will never fully be back to where I was at the beginning of 2006 but I am somewhat better since the middle of the summer. This past week I decided to take a step towards some type of closure. I spent some time this week in my home town of Tuskegee ,Alabama. Thomas Wolfe said in his novel "Look Homeward Angel" that you cant go home again . I believe that you can go home. I think we often get so caught up in the daily dealings of life that we forget where we are from........Where our roots are. My roots are deep in Macon county. During the last 8 years when I have returned for some reason or another I have always had this deep feeling of discontent. You see, Tuskegee is not the town it was when I was growing up. There is no one really left from when I was there. The stores are all closed. The homes where people I knew are all run down or gone.
My main purpose of this visit was to say goodbye. To say goodbye to my Daddy. I have been trying and trying to think of something that I could do to bring this closure. I went to Tuskegee for a few hours this week and my Daddy went with me.
I went to my old school .....the house I first lived in when I came home from the hospital.....my Nana's house,my old church, our old business and our house in the country. It was a odd feeling to stand in the church that I grew up in to sit on the pew that I last sat in nearly 13 years ago at my Grandaddys funeral . It was a catharsis. I cried. I saw my Daddy in each of those places. I talked to him and I told him that it was time for me to put some things behind me and to move forward with my life. I have lived with a huge regret for the past 6 months. A regret that I did not get to speak to my Daddy before he had his surgery. Would I have said anything profound to him? Highly unlikely. I would have hugged him and told him I loved him and that things would be ok. I truly believe that my Daddy knew deep down that he would not ever be coming home again. I also think he was prepared for that and had made some type of peace. I have also made a peace. I dont fool myself into believing that things are gonna be all roses from now on. We will have some hard days ahead.... Then the holidays . But life will be better. We will remember and laugh .....we will tell his grandsons how much they were loved by their "Ga".....For me it's now about remembering the things that happened.....The past events that made us a family. I will no longer deal in a "what if" world. Those days are gone. Trying to imagine him here with us does me no good. He is gone, but the memory of him, is as strong as an anchor on a ship.
I went to Tuskegee to say goodbye to that part of me . Perhaps no one will ever really understand what I have done, or why I did it this week. Most of the reasons are still inside me and that's cool.....that's where it belongs. Those things I am keeping for myself. I did it for my reasons and my reasons alone.
I spent a very small part of Friday afternoon doing the last thing I felt I needed to finally do.... I went back to his grave. I stood there for a few minutes and said my last goodbye. I did not go alone and I appreciate my friend and his willingness to go with me . It is very unlikely that I will go back there much in the future. My Daddy lives on with me . I see him in myself everytime I go to a restaurant......when I look at my nephews.....and dozens more.
I went home this past week and I said goodbye. The page has turned .

Friends......

WARNING WARNING WARNING

CHANGE OF OPINION AHEAD

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends. Walt Whitman
Ok....so maybe I am not "full up on friends". I have said for a long time now that I have plenty of room in my life for people. Young, old, big, small, black, white, gay, straight. But I really dont have room for anymore close friends. That sounds really harsh! It is Harsh. I am a terrible, horrible, harsh guy. Right ? Of course not ....I am a fun, easy going, laid back gentleman who happens to enjoy a glass of Jack Daniels or a good martini. I enjoy good music, good books, good conversation. I enjoy being around folks who also share these likes.....SO why not open myself up to more friends?? God puts people in our lives so that we will be richly blessed by their presence. I am ashamed to say that this only recently dawned on me. Too often I have looked at new friendships as something that will take me away from other things instead of making me a better person in the long run. That ends today. I look forward to good friendships with people like Luke and Jackie....... Although Luke thinks I am a drunk. I am excited about continuing the friendships with John and Laura, Mike, David, Susanne and of course Nick and Laura. I have so many others that I could mention....You all know who you are . I am blessed and will continue to be blessed by all my great friends.

So to quote GWB...."Bring um on" Friendships that is....I am ready.

But it does hurt!!!!!...........

All I wanted was a haircut .......thats it....Not too much to ask ...right ??? There used to be a time about 20+ years ago when it was easy for me to get a hair cut. My Mother would take me to my Nana's house and Nana would cut my hair. I can still smell the "perm smell" that always seemed to be present at 202 Wallace Drive in Tuskegee. I can see Nana cutting away and the whole time there was a cigarette in her mouth . LOL!! That was circa 1980. Well needless to say things have changed a good bit.
2006--I cant get a decent haircut to save my friggin life. My hair is not hard to cut its thick but its nothing special..... I am looking for nothing fancy ...just a haircut. This past weekend I went to get a haircut. First problem-Everyone else in the the tri-county area decided to get a haircut. I went to three places on Friday afternoon and you could not stir folks with a stick I decided to go back on Saturday. I go to two places....the first is closed and the second is in the mall. I would rather be exposed to the plague than to have to go to the mall, maybe I am becoming my father....I dont know but the mall is not my idea of fun. Throw into the mix that it happened to be some kind of FAMILY- FAIR- AT- THE -MALL- WITH- FREE- BALLOONS-NIGHT.....UGH!!! Anyway.....I go to a fine establishment that will remain nameless for this blog we shall call them "Haster Cuts". There are three women working there ......I sign in and notice that my name is next.....Of course they proceed to take two other women ahead of me !!!! It would seem that they had been there around lunchtime on Tuesday I suppose , and were told to just come back and they would be "worked in"!!
I finally get called and explain what I want....I was pretty clear that I did not want to look like a doofus ....I look like a doofus already without a bad haircut adding to the problem. Long story short....She did a decent job I guess.
SO whats the problem .....I think its our overwhelming amount of choices. If you travel on the Atlanta Hwy , from Taylor Road to Ann Street, you will pass no less than 8 places to get your hair cut.....and many of those are chains. DO we really need that much ? I dont have any answers ....It just chaps me wrong I guess.....!!!!
Good Grief!!
14 days to North Carolina