Most spoiled athletes

I just caught the sportscenter segment on the US Open and how difficult Wingfoot has been the last two days. They were interviewing players who were talking about how grueling it is and that after 15 or 16 holes you're tired and you're mind starts to wander. I you friggin kidding me?? You play golf for a living. Not to mention, 95% of them probably come from well-to-do family's where they grew up playing country club courses. I wish more courses would tighten things up. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually like to see these guys work a little. What skill does it take to blast a ball 320 yards and then hit a half sandwedge into a big, soft green? Hit the ball straight then it doesn't matter if the rough is 3 feet deep. The only area I can tolerate some complaining is the greens. I do believe the greens should be appropriate for putting. Anyway, just thought I'd vent about that.

I'm finally going to get to watch a little WC. I have know idea if the US has a chance, but my suspicions tell me they lose by 2. I just think every other country raises there game 3 levels when they play the US. I'm sure the liberals will blame Bush for our poor performance.

Summer sweet summer

Wow, I was gone for a few days and now I don't now when I'm going to find time to read all the posts. Just kidding. Well, we had barely graduated another class of Trojans and summer school has already began. Not quite the cush job I was hoping for. Still, I get done at noon so I can't complain too much.

Plans are starting to fall into place for the Southern Tour. We probably won't actually be in Huntsville until Friday, July 21, or Saturday July 22. It looks like we are going to head straight to B'ham to celebrate my mom's birthday and from there head to the gulf for a little R & R on the beach. Once I know definite dates that I will be in H-Vegas hopefully we can pull something together to play some golf or just hangout. It would just be great to see you guys.

Ahhh yes, even Jesus felt the frustrations of being a teacher

Got this from one of our English teachers.

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathering them around
him he taught them saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Bessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are they who thirst for justice.
Blessed are you when persecuted.
Blessed are you when you suffer.
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven...

Then Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this down?"
and Andrew said, "Are we supposed to know this?"
and James said, "Will we have a test on it?"
and Phillip said, "What if we don't know it?"
and Bartholomew said, "Do we have to turn this in?"
and John said "the other disciples didn't have to learn this"
and Matthew said, "When do we get out of here?"
and Judas said, "What does this have to do with real life?"

Then one of the Pharisees present asked to see Jesus' lesson plans and
inquired of Jesus his terminal objectives in the cognitive domain...

And Jesus wept...

It would be interesting

This is a cool article. It wonders what the US National team would look like if the best athletes from other sports played soccer. I say, what if the best soccer players played other sports?? Oh wait, not much to offer ther.

World Cup Pickem on ESPN

I have set up a group on the World Cup Pick'em game on ESPN. Join the group.

Group Name: He's done it, it's the record
Password: billfold

You don't have to make all the picks for the whole tournament. The games are locked at kick-off. You can choose your picks daily.

Any one else excited about the World Cup?

By the Way

The Indian food hasn't been nearly as hot going down as it has coming out. Holy sh*t fellas! I've been scarfing down Asian food for two months now and I believe my stomach and intestines are starting to revolt. I had a nasty bout with explosive 'rhea in Cambodia that put me out of commission one night. Now I've got the slow burn kicking my tail on the subcontinent. The food is awesome, but I'm paying for it on a regular basis.

We're Alive

Yes Larry, the answer is we are in fact alive. Please forgive me for my lack of posting on both blogs recently. We've either been busy checking out ruins, busy traveling, busy making travel plans, or just in a place with a really slow or non existent internet connection. Right now, we are in the Indian state of Goa. It's like their Florida. And right now I'm kicking off their monsoon season in style...with a tropical depression that has knocked out power all across the state and dumped massive amounts of rain all over. Lucky us. Hopefully we'll be getting on a train tonight and moving along to our next destination. I say hopefully because we're on a wait list for our tickets and the train was running about 12 hours late yesterday thanks to all the rain. Wish us luck.

Hello World

James and I need some new material on the blog.....

Fil, Where are the proud papa pictures?

Boner, Are you still alive?

Jeremy, How about a duck-n-chick update?

Henley, Tell us how last semester went, and are you chopping trees this summer?

Chandler, What sick sporting event are you participating in this summer?

Ryan, What triathlon are you doing next?

Charlie, I feel like we are growing apart. Where have you been lately? Have you left on your Alaska trip yet?

Kevin, Have you figured out how to post a message yet? You can download any live show in the world but you can't post to a simple blog...

Hope everyone is having a good summer.

US National Team Game in Nashville

I was there. It looked pretty bad.

Morocco's strategy was pack it in and try for a counter attack goal. They definitely were playing not to let us score. They play 5 across the back most of the game. We got stuck in the mud in the attacking third. Here are a few observations:

Reyna is key to the midfield. We do not have anyone else that can fill his role. Donovan is good but has a habit of getting lost during most of the game. He is not a strong presence in the midfield. John OBrien just doesn't have his game speed or touch yet. I think he has the creativity and the know how, he is just way to fragile and out of shape at the moment. Masteroni was gassed and just would not show himself in the back midfield to the sides to switch fields or to just let the play flow through the midfield. Beasley couldn't use his speed since they were so packed in and we played on their half most of the game. No where for him to run. I liked the late play from Convey.

The attacking was bad. We really only had about 3 real threats on their goal. They should know how to break down a team that packs it in. McBride and Wofl couldn't get any goods serves and couldn't do much when they got the ball. Eddie Johnson needs to find his form again. He had a nice wank about 12 yards in front of the net in the second half. He should have buried it. Overall, I'm not really impressed with our strikers - no creativity, no threats.

The defense was solid. Gouch, Pope, and Gibbs are fast. Gouch can physically control just about anyone he will face. Three in the back is good for the US.

Keeping, good aas usual. Late 1 on 1 was Cherundolo's fault. Easy clear out of bounds would have prevented the goal.

I really don't care that they scored. I would have been just as unimpressed if it was Nil-nil. The attacking third was pretty pathetic. This world cup is going to be difficult for us (aka France) if we don't get our act together. Hopefully the next two tune ups against really inferrior talent will get the team focussed.

A few things

First, Phil and Amanda are the proud parents of a 7 lb 3 oz, 22 in baby boy named Pierson Young Moyer. Mom and dad are doing well and should be heading home on Friday. Congrats Phil and Amanda. I can't wait to see Phil in action as a dad. It's going to be amazing.

Second, I have to read on Matt and Cece's blog to find out that Kevin and Angela are pregnant?? What is going on here?

Third, I just heard through the cellular grapevine that the Banks have added to the family!! A chicken (later determined to be a rooster) and a duck. Why are there not pictures on this blog with many, many stories?? Jeremy, this is an outrage.

Hope all is well.

Recipe

Ingredients:
Beer, rum (straight), beer, vodka (with orange juice), beer

Mix well in Matt's stomach then serve with dinner (spicy shrimp soup) in a toilet bowl about 4:00 am.

Yum.

Seito's Passing

Kevin had to put Seito down Monday around noon. Seito lived an incredibly long life for a big Shepard. Many of you knew Seito and can appreciate the joy and sorrow Kevin and Angie feel after the loss. Joy- Kevin had the opportunity to have one dog-of-a-lifetime. Seito traveled everywhere with Kevin (even into the fraternity house for a year). Seito could probably tell some very interesting an bizarre stories from his perspective/observation of Kevin's life. Sorrow- Self explanatory. The dog was Kevin's shadow for the past 12 years. Its tough to loss someone that has shared in your development from child to adult.

Here's to Seito. I look forward to petting your head and your velvet ears once I see you again at the entry to the Pearly Gates...

New Mix CD

I have a new CD done. I will send it out to those of you that want a copy. Its pretty good. All new stuff.

We want the real story

Boner,

I'm a little disappointed in your blogging efforts. You know its your duty to carry the blog. Poor James has been doing all he can to keep it live and real. We want to hear the real travel stories. Here are some questions I have for you.

1) What's up with the ambien? Dude your traveling the world. Why aren't you sleeping soundly at night? Anything your boys need to know about?

2) We are looking for stories like "The wackiest place to make love in China" or "What not to pack while traveling the world" or "The Strangest thing I have been offered while traveling in a third world country - Me Love You Love Time"

3) Did you eat any Vegamite while in Oz?

4) How much does it cost for you to go to an internet cafe? (This might be the reason why you haven't been posting since you are on a tight budget)

5) How is the budget working out for you. Are you over or under at this point? I will bet under until CC friend came to visit, now you are over budget.

6) Any good bands we need to know about?

7) Tell us your strangest hostel mate story.

8) Is Thailand really known as "Adult Disneyland"?

9) What is the weirdest thing you have eaten?

10) What is the international appearance of the US political leadership?

Just some ideas from your "starved for the real information" friends.

Smart Investment

Jen sent me this today. Makes complete sense to me.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now
be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank
all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND,
you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, my current investment advice is to drink heavily and
recycle.

It's called the 401 Keg Plan.

Well, I turned in my portfolio today for my teacher certification. Two years of work all condensed into one 3 ring binder. One more little presentation and hopefully I'll be official ok to stand in front of a bunch of teenagers and try and teach them about the wonders of math. Only 23 more days of school until summer...but who's counting??

Future in writing perhaps

After almost two years, I finally wrote something for the school newsletter (you may have to scroll to page 7 on the FlashPaper). We had some folks from John Deere come and talk about a career in engineering. It was pretty cool, and it was neat to see the kids reaction.

Yesterday I did an 8K put on by the University to raise money for the Athletic Department. Someone asked me if I had any qualms donating money to the UW after the bowl game. I thought about it, and yeah, I want my money back. Well, I guess it's too late now. Anyway, it was a fun event and I actually did a little better than I thought I'd do. Even more surprising, I'm not that sore today. Hopefully if Larry is preoccupied enough I can take him down this year!!

Speaking of Larry, how is the transition to the new house? Still haven't seen any pics.

Better late than never

One of my goals going into this school year was to have a webpage for my students and their parents. Well, I never was able to take a class on webpage design, and when I looked into teaching myself it just seemed overwhelming. A couple of weeks ago, my brother hooked me up with Nvu, a free program that is comparible to Frontpage and Dreamweaver. I downloaded it, and started to play around and I've finally got a pseudo-website. It's far from finished, but it's start. I hope to unveil it to the students next week. I don't have assignments up yet, but feel free to follow along if you need to brush up on your Algebra.

Nice Postcard, Boner

I would like to thank Boner for the beer coaster postcard. Nice! I wish I could drink beer around the world and laugh when I think about all of my friends hard at work. I can't wait for the real stories to come out (the ones that can't be posted to the public travels blog).

Spring glorious spring

Well, Spring appears to have arrived hear in Wiskey. It was up to 74 degrees today! Of course, it could very possibly snow again...who knows. Tomorrow starts my official "Spring Break". We get Friday, Monday and Tuesday off. I probably mentioned this, but our district opted not to go for the week long break this year. I've got a ton of work to do on my portfolio so that I can graduate and be an officially licensed teacher.

Just thought I'd put some feelers out for potential get-togethers in the near to not-so-near future. We will be heading down south at some point for sure, but at this point we don't have any dates planned. Maybe we should wait until later in the summer since there is a good chance the Moyer's (all 3 of them) will be in Huntsvegas. Since I didn't know that Phil took a yearly trip to the beach, I'll ask anyone and everyone, if they know the dates they will be in Florida. I may have mentioned before, but my folks have talked about getting a place down there for a period of time and I figured it would be awesome if some of yu's guys were down there.

Hope everyone has an awesome Easter.

Closing on the new hosue

We are closing on our new house on Tuesday afternoon. Yee haw. Life is crazy right now.

Midwest Swing

Nelly and Eminem aren't the only hardcore Midwest rappers. I was reading about this guy in the Madison paper. Apparently he is from Madison and is looking to create a buzz about rappers from this part of the country.

Parental Advisory: The lyrics aren't quite PG so use caution if little ears are around.

The IronFamily

Well, Ryan and Lace should have arrived in Arizona today. This Sunday is Ironman Arizona. I can't believe Ryan has gone from the Huntsville sprint tri to the real deal holyfield. The link will take you to the website where you should be able to track their misery...I mean progress.

Larry, what's the deal?? Are we doing a half this year or what? I'm contemplating a 20-mile run in May. It's associated with a festival celebrating this small town's Norweigan roots. It starts at the state capital and makes it's way to the downtown area of Stoughton, WI.

Slow motion

Well, the blog has all but come to a halt. I figured I'd post something just for the heck of it. Things are warming up here and with daylight savings time I've been able to get out and do some running. Hard to believe I've only got 10 weeks of school left. Hope everyone is doing well.

Cyclone LARRY

Boner, I can't take it anymore. Aren't you going to mention the greatest force in Australia - Cyclone LARRY!!! Come on, I totally interupted your vacation. Where is the story?

Seriously, Did LARRY interupt your trip?

More Utah pics

I was having trouble uploading the pics so I created a flickr account for sharing pics. Click on the link to check them out.

The Pow Pow is Schwank at Brighton

An actual quote on the back of the shuttle that runs people from the base of the mountain to the resort. Wow, what a trip to Utah. I think it snowed over 20 inches during the three days we were there. Of course, this is becoming standard for Utah. Nothing against other locations, but it is amazing to wake up and look at 6 different snow reports and make your decision on where you want to go that day. Anyway, we had a blast and no one got hurt, which is good, especially for Ryan since his Ironman Arizona is less than a month a way.

Here are some pics to docmument the adventures:

It's hard not to smile in conditions like this.










Ryan dropping in.

Quick Hello

Hey Fellas! Hope everyone is doing great. Good news about the house Larry. I can't wait to check out the new pad. I'm sure Kevin is happy that he gets to repay your efforts in moving him in. Larry...I have a couple of songs for you to download and check out. The Living End is an Australian band that is pretty good. Check out their song, "Wake Up". It's pretty solid. Also try and find a song called "Flaunt It". It's so bad it's hysterical. It's a total dance club song. Just terrible.

We just got back to Canberra from Tasmania, Melbourne, and the Great Ocean Road. Great week and a half trip. We've done a lot of great little day hikes and seen some amazing scenery. We have about 600 pictures so far and we'll start uploading some pics on our blog soon. Larry, even if we had made it to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) we couldn't have seen your name. Since they turned it back over to the Aborigines they have stopped letting people climb the mountain. It's a sacred area to the Aborigines and they don't let anyone up there anymore. Oh well...your name is sacred now. Don't let Hollywood hear about that.

Have a good one fellas...we'll talk to you soon.

Future Larry's of America

Well, I just got home from the Conference Math Meet. Our students don't take as much pride as other school's, but it is fun to watch teams compete. For example, there was a guy who had totally dressed up as a "nerd." Classic stuff. Then, in the room where I proctored the test, these guys were discussing the individual test, comparing what they had done. All I heard was, "I knew it was a phase shift to the right" as they high fived. Typically we don't fair too well, but had some 8th graders place in the top 5 on the Algebra I test. I had them last year and often felt intimidated by their quest for knowledge. Ok, not really, but they are fun students to teach.

Great 50th Anniversary Weekend At Church

You guys missed a great 50th anniversay weekend in church. Saturday night service was lead by Mac Buttram. Gibson BBQ dinner Saturday night - they are also celebrating their 50th anniversary as a company. After dinner was a multimedia celebration in the New Room. The multimedia celebration had pictures from over the past 50 years. A few nice ones from choir tours from years past. I participated in a short drama. The drama was about the original three deciding to start a new Methodist Church in the south part of town. Jane Daniel loaned me one of her dad's skinny ties from that era - Coolest tie I ever wore. I greased the hair back and wore Harry Carry glasses. I could have been a great rocket scientist in the 50's. Claire didn't even recognize me.

Sunday had Larry Dill leading the sermon in the New Room and Willis Vickery leading the service in the sanctuary at 11:00. Vic lead the choir. The service ended with our favorite "Walk Along". Jeremy, Amanda, and Carrie represented our choir tour era.

Overall, it was a great celebration for a great church

YES! Another Round For the Boys.....

Finally, Beer drinking is justified and even supported scientifically!

Support your local (Wisconsin) teacher

Typically I'm not a big fan of online polls, but hey, what the heck.

Well, We sold our house........in three days

God has a really funny way of balancing out the highs and lows of life.

High Point: We sold our house, and almost got our asking price (Which was a heck of a lot more than I thought we could ever get out of the house)

Low Point: I left work today with explosive ..... uuhhmm you get the picture. I've been in bed since 3pm this afternoon. Hopefully its only a 24 hour bug.

We will be moving around April 12 (Happy Birthday Amanda, here's your house). I can't wait to have the entire gang over to break-in the new house.

It's got to end some time

Well, the mighty Trojans saw there basketball season come to an end tonight. We won our first regional game, but then ran up against the 6th ranked Marshall Cardinals. We fought hard, but in the end they just had too much for us. It's tough to look at the seniors and see that pain when they realize there high school career is over. It's like our coach said, only one team gets to finish the season with a win. On a positive note the freshman (my guys) ended the season on a three game win streak including a win over our arch rival's JV squad. It wasn't an "official" game, but we crushed them. The great thing was that there is a 6'4" freshman that played for our JV all season, but came and played with us for this game. He was a stud, scoring 17 points in limited action. It wouldn't have helped him be a better player, but if we had him all year I'm not sure we would have lost a game. It's like Coach Stapler used to say, "you can't teach height."


Did you see this story? Nice. Are guys saying, wow, he's lucky, or man, she's giving herself an out to hook up? I just don't understand why people get married if this is there outlook.

LARRY Update

Next time you guys come to Huntsville, don't go to the house on Willingham. We won't be there.

Five people in a house with 3 bedrooms and no office was starting to get crowded. We knew we needed to move, but we didn't know where we wanted to move to. We are not big fans of Hampton Cove or Madison. We really like English Village, but most of the houses are too small for what we wanted. We weren't in a big hurry to move.

Last Friday Amanda got a call from a friend that lives one street over from us. She knew of a 2 story house in the newest part of the neighborhood (2 streets over from where we currently live) that was opening up. We went and looked at it Saturday. Amazingly, it met everyone of our criteria: 3100 sqft, four bedroooms, office, play room for kids, side entry garage. One of the biggest benefits is that the back yard opens up to the soccer fields at Redstone Park - the little park at the end of Redstone Road. I can't wait to come home from work, grab the ball and kick around with the kids - sweet!

We talked it over, and made an offer on Tuesday. The family selling accepted the offer as is. We are closing on the new house on April 12th. Yee Haw! The only down side is we now have to sell the hoise we are in. Holy Crap! My entire family is coming over this weekend for our own version of Extreme Home Makeover. Lots of paint, tile, and mulch. We are trying to get our house on the market March 1st. Let's hope it goes fast.

Funny, 7 days ago I didn't really know we were looking for a house. Now I've got 1 and am on the hook for another. Funny where life leads you sometimes.

That's the LARRY update. It would be nice to hear how the rest of the gang is doing.

Calling all Henley's, Calling all Henley's ........

Down to the wire

Well, the Trojans won a thriller on Monday night. We were playing a team that we've played three times already this season. The first game wasn't that close, we got thumped the second game and then we lost the third game by one. So we went in with nothing to lose (except another game). Anyway, we were on fire in the first half scoring 26, which is pretty high for a freshman game. Then we started to pull away in the 3rd quarter, going up by 9 at one point. However, in true Trojan fashion, we allowed them to get back in the game and eventually go up by 3. Still, we didn't quit and we scratched and clawed until we were down by 1 with the ball in our hands with 25+ seconds remaining. We worked it around, showing patience, almost too much. I'm screaming that we've got to get a look before the buzzer. Well we pound it inside and get a great look...no good, we rebound and go right back up, basically a freebie...no good, same guy gets the rebound goes back up and is fouled with 4 seconds left. He hits the first, nothing but net and the call a timeout. So I draw up the defense, clearly explaining what we will do "after the make." So we're back on the court shot goes up, cling, clang, dink, donk...it drops after hitting the rim what seemed like a dozen times. They try a last second heave, but come up short. It was a real confidence booster going in to the final game of the season this Friday.

Larry, I just received my copy of Donald Miller's new Searching for God Knows What. I've only read the first couple of pages, but I think it's going to be as thought provocative and entertaining as Blue Like Jazz. I highly recommend Blue Like Jazz, as I think Larry would as well. It's a fresh view, that causes you to think and laugh (out loud at times) about being a Christian in today's world.

The camera work is amazing in this commercial. I just don't know how they were able to superimpose that guy in place of Phil.

Hope everyone is having a great week. We've got Friday off. Paarrrrttttaaaaayyyyy. Well, not really. I still have to drive to school for our b-ball game.

Snow Day!!

Well, snow day #2 for this year. Of course, I had already showered and shoveled, but hey, I can't complain. There's actually a chance we could miss school again tomorrow. They're saying the heavy stuff hasn't even gotten here yet. Man, my back hurts already with all the shoveling that's in store. It's kind of good in a way. The 8th graders had a chapter test yesterday, so now I can work on grading those babies. Get out the red pen!! Just kidding, I use purple now after Larry told me how it made students feel bad seeing all the red. I'm not sure how he knows, he probably never had any red on his paper.

Ok Larry, this is the best I could do. The snow wasn't very conducive to making snowballs. Man, missing school is one thing, but shoveling is a nightmare. Thankfully, the neighbor across the street saw my pain and "borrowed" me her snowblower. That's right, here in WI you don't get loaned something, it is borrowed to you. Anyway, it's supposed to keep snowing, but I can't imagine getting another day off from school. I could never be a superintendent. I'd be like, well, they're talking about snow so we should probably cancel school.

So Long Fellas!

Well...it's finally here. We leave tonight! I was actually able to go out and play 18 today with Sam. I actually didn't play that bad either. I drove the green on a par four and ended up shooting a 91. Temps are in the 70s or 80s out here in LA. It's nice.

I can't believe I won't be seeing you guys for six months. That's so crazy. I just wanted to take a little time to say thanks to Jeremy and Larry for bringing their families out to see us in Huntsville. I know Phil and James would have done the same had you been in town.

Don't forget to check our blog regularly and keep me up to date on email. And please feel free to start planning an Auburn trip for the fall!

Take care!

Crime Stoppers

Well, things have been quiet on the blog lately. I just spoke with Boner and they were leaving Cece's Dad's house on their way to the Grand Canyon. Pretty crazy. Sounds like you guys had a good time at the send off party.

I figured I needed to share my experience on Thursday night. Being a small school, the teachers are required to work at the extra-curricular events, e.g. basketball games, track meets, etc. Well, Thursday night I was selling tickets to the girls basketball game. Typcially, these are fairly uneventful events. Well, just after the third quarter started, three students from the other school come through the door. They stop at the table where I was sitting and ask if they still had to pay to get into the game. For the record, it's $2 for students. I said, yes, up until the 4th quarter you have to pay. I don't necessarily agree with this, but the rules are the rules. Anyway, they are obviously disgusted and say that they don't have the money. So I said, well, just sit over there until the 4th quarter. Now, during this exchange I also noticed that they hadn't been drinking coke, both by the smell and the way they were acting. So, they turn to leave and of course make a scene as they go out the front door.

About 5-7 minutes go by, when one of the guys comes back through the door pulling out his $2 ready to pay to go in. I ask about his buddies and he says he doen't know what they are doing. Figuring they are up to no good, I keep an eye down the side hallway, when sure enough here they come. They had snuck in through side door and were coming in through a side entrance. I couldn't get up to stop them because I was the only one at the table with a couple hundred bucks right there. So I finally get the Athletic Director and notify him of what happened. So we go in the gym and find the guys. By this point, the local police officer who is at the game is also involved. So they take them out of the gym and to the front of the school and right away he can tell they had been drinking. Well, of course now the kids are pleading there case, saying here's my $2, can I just pay to get in. Too late my friend, the cop gets his breathalizer and two of them blew a 0.08. So to end this story, they were issued citations and there parents were called to come get them from close to an hour away.

I feel like I did the right thing, but I hate having to do stuff like that. The crazy thing is, if they had snuck in from the beginning, I might not have said anything, but the fact that I had talked with them and told them they had to pay kind of tee'd me off.

My basketball team is having a rough season. We are now 2-11. We had a 3 point lead in the 4th quarter last night and couldn't hold on. I had a guy who didn't get in the game, which I feel horrible about. It's tough at the freshman level to balance trying to win and getting everyone some playing time. This is even a tougher situation because the student is from Germany (foreign exchange student) and had never played organize basketball before. I feel for him, but he just doesn't know what to do when he gets out there. Still, this group of guys has been fun to work with. They are respectful and fun to be around. Ultimately, that is the fun part.

Well, sounds like everyone is doing well. I'll be glad win Feb. is over and I can start thinking about Spring.

More for My Case

Check out the new Adam Sandler/Kevin James movie. This may be the big break I'm looking for. Why did they choose the name LARRY for a hetero posing as a homo?

LARRY

Figure 1. Name Track For LTL Immediate Family

I have started a new vein of research into my lawsuit with Hollywood. You can go to the Social Security website and lookup the rankings of registered baby names for the past 125 years. I used the website to provide the ranking of "Larry" as a baby name for the past 125 years. The plot revealed some interesting facts about the popularity of the name LARRY.

1) Just as I have been preaching to you guys over the past 10 years, something happenend in the late 70s/early eighties that really damaged the name LARRY. I searched IMDB.com for all characters names LARRY. I was surprised at the response. Hundres of characters named LARRY. But, if you look a little deeper, no hero is names LARRY. LARRY is the name for the goofy guy next door, or the shoe salesman, or the dim witted cop. I don't think the 3's company is totally to blame for the downfall of LARRY. I haven't quite found my missing link, YET.

I decided to search IMDB.com for plots that include the name LARRY. To my surprise, I found a few titles with leading characters (notice i didn't use the moniker hero) named LARRY. Here are a few of my favorites

"Trouble with Larry, The" (1993)During his honeymoon, the irrepressible Larry Burton is dragged off into the jungle by a large-sized male baboon and is presumed dead - eaten by apes. However, defying all odds, Larry survives and, after many comic-strip-type adventures, returns home to re-establish himself as head of the household - little realising that his wife, Sally, has married the staid and conservative Boyd Flatt during the intervening ten years, and that she is now the mother of a bright and lively nine year old daughter. Larry's return home causes considerable upheaval and consternation for the family - not least being his subsequent attempts to woo a reluctant Gabriella, his former sister-in-law, who had taken a distinct dislike to him prior to his disappearance and is still definitely opposed to the idea of getting to know Larry on a more intimate basis
(Not exactly the hero story)

Aerobic Man (2000)Larry Snorkendorf, a uncoordinated nerd boy, walked into an aerobics class changing his life forever. While at the gym he confronts Cindy the evil aerobics instructor and vows to defeat her. Sandy trains Larry while Igor eats Funnyons. Eventually Larry becomes the mighty Aerobic Man and
(I shall now and forever be know as "Mighty Aerobic Man")

Personal Hygiene for Boys (1952)Larry, a popular young boy, is looked up to and admired by his friends. it turns out that the reason he is so popular is because of his personal hygiene habits. He constantly washes his hair, cleans between his toes, lines public toilet seats with paper, and has other somewhat disturbing obsessions. As the narrator says, Larry's squeaky-clean hygiene habits "are
(Maybe this was the LARRY downfall)

Life of Larry, The (1995). The story deals with a slob named Larry and his companion, the talking dog, Steve. Larry worries that distance is forming between himself and his son Milt, so together with Steve, he looks for a way to bond with the boy. The short is full of flashbacks, and scenes which would eventually end up in episodes of MacFarlane's breakout series, "Family Guy". It also allowed for MacFarlane's first break into the industry. The short won a student film award from Hanna-Barbera who eventually hired MacFarlane. It paved the way for his first televised animated short "Larry and Steve" for Hanna-Barbera which
(I actually want to see this one. If its by the creator of "The Family Guy" its gotta put LARRY in the right)

2) Almost as interesting is what caused LARRY to launch from a 300 ranking in the early 20's to a top 10 name in the 50's. More research is required. Who was the LARRY that inspired a generation of popularity. Who is this LARRY and what happened to him?

3) The name track appear to be cyclical. I guess parents don't want to name their kids after themselves, less the legion of Jr.'s in the world (like Phil), but grandparents names are valid. Amanda's name fell from grace and then rebounded with a vengence. I think I need to calculate the rate of change in the name rakings to see if any other names rise and fall within as short amount of time as LARRY. James, if you could get your class to perform a regression analysis, I would really appreciate it. I could fit an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model to the name track to predict the future trend (Another project for your class James). Clearly more analysis is required, and I probably need to increase the sample population of names included in the analysis.

4) Other interesting name tracks:
Dorothy - Very popular in the early century, no where to be found today
Many of the names that are currently in the top ten jumped in popularity between the 40s and 50s. I attribute this to WWII.

In conclusion
I am still trying to figure out why LARRY has become the name of choice in commercials for "the IT guy that doesn't understand that Dell is best" or "the Christmas elf that buys all the worng stuff for Christmas" or "the goofy cucumber cartoon character". I'm tired of it. I challenge anyone to find a name that is picked on more that LARRY. I and the rest of the LARRYs of the world have to fight the Hollywood stereotype of the geeky, dorky, low self-esteem sidekick. I am sure there is a book in Hollywood that has suggested character names for specific roles. I am on a quest to find this book. LARRY will be a hero's name someday. My analysis has just begun.

Stupid is as stupid does

Apparently there was a report on 20/20 about how America is throwing money at public schools and out kids are consistently being out performed by international students from less afluent countries. I didn't see it, but I read through the article. Kind of interesting, but I just feel there is so much more to it. I personally believe that the decline of family in this country has as big an impact as anything. Our kids are raised by pop music, celebrities and Everwood. It's like we have to entertain kids to teach them. Sure, I think we should teach in a way that engages them, but should they learn math because a celebrity said they should. My experience is unique due to the communities that my kids come from. I'm going to be in for a surprise when I get into a district where parents don't understand why their kid made an A- and are yelling at me for not giving them an A. Anyway, since my friends are much more educated than I, I'd thought I'd see what you thought.

Thinking of our public education makes me think how much I took it for granted. I coudn't stand highschool when I was in it, but now I realize that I was very, very fortunate. I had a lot of opportunities and I felt very prepared for college.

Boner Visit Plans

When are you going to be in Huntsville on the "I bid you adou" tour? I think its the first weekend in Feb. I will be on a church retreat Friday night. Are we planning to get together somewhere on Saturday night. I will volunteer my house for Saturday night if there aren't already plans that I have not been invited too.

By the way, I would clean house on Beauty and the Geek!

Moves

Gotta few moves for you fellas to watch. I think I saw Phil in there a couple of times.

A star in the making

So Jeremy calls me tonight and makes me turn to the WB to watch Beauty and the Geek. Apparently one of the "geeks" is someone we know. So I flip it on wondering how Larry filmed the show without his family knowing (just kidding). Well, I couldn't guess it from just seeing him, I needed help. If you haven't heard the story, which I'm sure you probably have, here's his bio from their website. Click on meet the contestants and look for Wes. Classic stuff.

Youth Sexuality Workshop

Amanda and I are group leaders for the Youth Sexuality workshop next weekend. We had our training tonight. There is some crunked up stuff going on in the lives of young kids today. James, do you know what playing "snap" is all about? Its pretty eye-opening. I bet if we surfed this website, pretty soon we would come across a teens blog with very questionable info. James, I read where schools have blocked all blog sites and live journal sites because kids were on them all the time at school (Thats why you can't access our clean, wholesome blogsite). I'll let you know how it goes. James could probably enlighten us with his stories.

Slight change in plans

Well, I was planning on working through the end of the month. Instead, today is my last day at eFunds. I was going to tell my boss about the trip and my plans to resign on Monday morning. Unfortunately some other events took place today (another co-worker resigned unexpectedly) that forced me to reveal my intentions a little earlier than planned. I told my boss and he said we'd talk Monday about how we would work the transition the rest of the month. About an hour later he called me into his office and told me he'd talked to HR and I'd get paid for the next two weeks but that today would be my last day. I was a little taken aback at first, but then he called Robyn in and told her the same thing. They just want to really start fresh and reassign territories Monday morning and have people start working our prospects. I will lose about one week of pay we were expecting but I will have much more time to work on the trip, plan for a career change when we return, and we'll probably save the same amount of money I would have earned in gas savings alone. I no longer have the 55 mile round trip commute!

So anyway, direct emails to my hotmail account starting this afternoon.

Championship Game

Did anyone see the Trojan marching band performance at halftime? The tribute to Michael Jackson was priceless. The played "Beat It", and acted out parts from the video - fight scene, moon walk, croth grab - it had it all. I was our band was that cool. They have been playing the Emperial March from Star Wars and Crazy Train for well over 12 years now.

Stanely Mclover is skipping hiw senior year to go pro. I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to play for a splineless defensive coordinator either.

Hey Charlie

A little birdie told me that you still check the blog, so I thought I would send you a shout out.

Are we still driving to Alaska this summer??

Hope Everyone had a Merry Christmas

Christmas has again come and gone for another year. It is amazing how fast it goes by after all the anticipation and planning and traveling. For those who traveled or are still traveling, I hope everything went well/is going well. James, you sir, are a trooper; twelve - fourteen hours in a car with your wife, mother-in-law, and dog. Man, I don't know how you do it. Cece and I can rarely go from Atlanta to Huntsville or Evansville without at least one little argument (the key is traveling late so the wife falls asleep for most of the trip).

I am thankful for the time Cece and I got to spend with James and Jen. You two are truly some of the strongest people I know. I pray for you both often and you are always in our thoughts. I hate that we didn't get a chance to visit with the Lowes (we were very happy to see our Christmas card featuring your three adorable chirren upon our return to Atlanta). The only saving grace there is that I know we will see you in about thirty-four days. I want to see if we can plan a dinner for one of the nights we will be in town. I hope it works with everyone's schedules. Remer...I wish I could have stuck around an extra day to see you brother. I miss you man. We did have a good time Christmas night over at Paige and Chad's house though with Paige and Jenny. They ALWAYS tell their favorite recent Remer stories. Those two absolutely love you (no jokes please) and the tales of your crazy escapades. They giggled and cackled when they told us your Supper Club revelation about not knowing the truth about Santa Claus until you were twelve years old. Good ol' Remer. I can't believe I missed a chance to party with Henley and Joe King as well. That would have been an experience. Phil, I heard about your and Amanda's Christmas present to yourselves and I gotta say...that sounds like the best Christmas present anyone could give themselves. I loved the idea and can't express how happy we are for you. Good luck with the next few months and getting ready for fatherhood. I feel so blessed that I'll have so many good role models as close friends to turn to for advice when the time comes.

Looking forward: we have about 20 or so work days left before the end of our employment. We're currently working out the itinerary for New Zealand and Australia. Any suggestions?

Quote of the Day

"A guy bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas. After hearing about this extravagant gift, a friend of his said, ‘I thought she wanted one of those sporty four-wheel-drive vehicles.’ ‘She did,’ he replied. ‘But where was I going to find a fake Land Rover?"
- Unknown

Good wine, great memories

So, last night, after dinner I went downstairs to finish a glass of wine and watch a little TV. Then, for whatever reason, I decided to put in the state championship game against Vestavia. Man, it is fun and painful to watch that now. I only watched the first half, but still, we had no business winning that game. It was definitely a team of destiny. Larry was so silly that game. If you had shown that tape to college coaches I'm thinking scholarships would have been filing in daily.

Well, hope everyone had a good weekend. I spent most of yesterday cleaning since this house is out of control. Jen had an exam, yes, on Saturday, and still has three more to go. We'll both be relieved come Thursday. She hasn't had a real "break" from school since last Christmas after she spent most of her summer getting caught up on Spring semester.

We are pretty much not doing Christmas cards this year, so if you don't get one I hope your feelings aren't hurt. We think about all of you quite often and I look forward to saying Merry Christmas in person. I'm feeling sort of like Ebaneezer this year, no lights, no decorations, well we did go to one Christmas party, but other than that not a lot of Christmas spirit, at least by America's standard.

Larry, do you want to make a tee time for Monday morning at Muni??

Words to Live By

This guy knows what he is talking about

Remer has his profile pic

Now when he leaves his once a week response to a post we can see him chugging a cold beer.

Bama's new unis
This picture has been approved by Boner

The two greatest words in a teacher's vocabulary...

SNOW DAY!! That's right, I got the call about 5:45 am this morning letting me know that there would be no school today.

I think I have an idea of everyone's schedule for Christmas except for the Lowe's. Larry, are ya'll around the whole time. Sounds like I'll be picking Jeremy up on Monday sometime from the airport. Should we try and play a round on Monday morning before Boner leaves??

Seriously

Chuck Norris is a badass.

Also, check out the trip blog for an update.

War Eagle

Tough Draw

USA got a tough draw for the World Cup. Italy and Czech Republic along with Ghana. Italy and Czech are solid.

Oldie But a Goodie

Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity: applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,

A Troubled User.
________________________________

Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem that men complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.The best course of action is to enter the command C APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway. Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 ! WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Best of luck,

Tech Support

Welcome to Wisconsin

Just took this pic about 10 minutes ago. I know that deep down there is a part of each of you that wants to get out in 15 degree weather and shovel a little snow. It builds character and makes your back feel like @#$&.

Potential Remer Profile Pics

New Post

Hey blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger, blogger.........swing blogger

Anything going on with anyone?

Yesterday at lunch I had already accumulated 40 hours this week. Yee haw. I might get a Christmas tree up this year.

Or...

We could do a Championship Game weekend special. One player/squad from each of the teams in the big three title games + USC/UCLA.

QB: Vince Young
RB: Reggie Bush
RB: Maurice Drew
WR: Massaquoi
WR: Bowe
WR: Chris Davis, FSU
K: Mason Crosby, CU
D: Va Tech

SEC Championship game JLM

QB: Shockley
RB: Lumpkin
RB: Vincent
WR: Bowe
WR: Davis
WR: Massaquoi
K: Coutu
D: UGA

Off to California

I am off to California for a 1 hour meeting tomorrow morning. Yippee. I'm sooooo excited to fly for a total of 16 hours for a 1 hour meeting.

Oh Sweet Mercy

Watching the total destruction of Crodie will NEVER get old.

Where's the Weekend Hunter?

Remer...I need my fix. Fill me in on the goings on in the world of wildlife and gunfire. I thought about you yesterday morning. I was reading an outdoors column in the Evansville newspaper and the subject was "staged" hunting shows and how they are nothing more than glorified murder. The writer was a hunter, not some whack job animal rights activist. His point was that some of the hosts of these shows are unethical schemers who are really just trying to sell you their books/premium web sites/etc. by showing these great hunts when the action really takes place in an enclosed area with no real hunting. Anyway, I found it interesting and I have no doubt you would have as well.

On the subject of being in Evansville... The tornado damage in Newburgh is ridiculous. I remember the destruction and damage of the November '89 Airport Road tornado. Granted that was a long time ago and my memory is not quite as good in my old age, but I don't think the damage there compares to what I saw. Entire streets up there were virtually wiped out. There were literally homes with one or maybe two interior walls standing. Huge trees that had to be decades old were ripped apart and snapped into pieces. If you did a quick drive through the affected area and were asked to guess how many people were killed in Newburgh, given the fact that the storm came through at 1:30 in the morning, by taking the home damage into account, you would guess at least 15-20 lives were lost. The total: zero. Not a single person was killed. One of Cece's Pop's friends woke up and was staring at the sky; his roof had been torn completely off. I saw the house and that man has no business being alive. A couple got a call from someone in Evansville and were told of the tornado. They pulled their mattress over their heads as they took cover in a bathroom. The next thing they knew a fireman was touching their arm in the middle of the street, asking if they were okay. They had no recollection of being thrown from their home. There were tons of stories like theirs. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to go through that. Just another thing that leaves you in awe of the staggering power of mother nature. Well that, and a huge set of knockers.

And on a lighter note, went to my first Indiana gay bar Friday night. After we shut down the smokiest bar in Evansville, the girls wanted to go somewhere to dance. So we ended up at "Someplace Else" and danced amongst the queers and lesbos of the River City. Not a good looking chick in the place (except for the straight SBBs I was with). Kinda disappointed. Although there were a bunch of dudes kissing each other. Kevin would have been up at the bar making eyes at the fellas to get free shots.

Good read re: AU vs. ND for Fiesta

One team has three wins over opponents with winning records, two of those from non-BCS conferences, and lost at home to a team that will finish the season with a losing record. The other team knocked off back-to-back Top 10 teams in its last two games and lost to the current No. 3 and No. 24 teams in the polls.

Both teams are 9-2. Which deserves to play in a lucrative BCS bowl? The answer would be obvious in most situations.

Auburn beat Georgia on the road and Alabama at home in its last two games and finished 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference. It lost to No. 3 LSU on the road in overtime. Notre Dame’s “signature” win was over four-time loser Michigan. Auburn’s strength of schedule is far higher than Notre Dame’s.

But we all know what the outcome will be when the two BCS at-large bids are handed out. One will go to Notre Dame. No questions asked.
Why? Because it’s Notre Dame.

That’s not fair, of course. Never has a team gotten so much credit for a game it almost won as Notre Dame did for losing 31-28 to USC. The Irish leapt into the polls after beating Pittsburgh in their first game, a Pittsburgh that turned out to be woeful.
Didn’t matter. It’s Notre Dame.


Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn has put the Fighting Irish in position for a BCS berth.
There is no question that Notre Dame is the biggest name in college football, no question that its nationwide following is far larger than that of any other school, no doubt that first-year Charlie Weiss has brought an infusion of energy.

But the hard truth is that the two at-large bids should go to Auburn, winner of 23 of its last 25 games, and Ohio State, the Big Ten co-champion. Oregon, at 10-1, seems to have an argument until you look at who it has beaten and discover it has beaten no one of consequence.
Sadly, rewarding the players who have earned those rewards on the field isn’t what this is all about. It’s about cold, hard cash. An Auburn-Ohio State matchup in the Fiesta Bowl would generate a lot of interest, but not as much as Notre Dame-Ohio State.

That’s life in college football’s bowl season, and it’s really not the fault of the BCS. Notre Dame was the bowls’ darling long before the BCS came into existence.

Athletic director Jay Jacobs will do all he can to convince the Fiesta Bowl that Auburn is the best choice, but it would be a major upset if he is successful. Auburn seems destined to spend the holidays in Orlando for a Capital One Bowl matchup against Wisconsin.
On what had to be a maddening weekend for Auburn coaches and players, things almost fell into place for the Tigers.

Arkansas, needing a field goal to beat LSU and send Auburn to play a rematch with Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, was at the LSU 35 in the final minute in Baton Rouge. One run, one incomplete pass, one sack and one interception later, LSU had escaped.

No one can say LSU hasn’t earned its spot in next Saturday’s game, but the Bayou Bengals must have been carrying around a load of horseshoes. They beat Auburn 20-17 in overtime when John Vaughn missed five field goals. They beat Arkansas 19-17 when the Razorbacks missed two chip shots. On top of that, the winning points came courtesy of a safety on a bad snap.

Nevertheless, LSU has won nine straight games. First-year coach Les Miles, though, needs to stop saying LSU would be unbeaten if it had not blown a 21-0 lead against Tennessee. Far more ifs went LSU’s way than against it. LSU had six games--Arizona State, Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Florida and Arkansas--that could have gone either way. It won five of them, largely because of events over which it had no control. Sometimes things just go your way.

Far to the west Saturday night, Stanford scored with less than two minutes left to take a 31-30 lead over Notre Dame. A Cardinal victory would have ejected the Irish from BCS consideration and certainly would have enhanced Auburn’s chances.

It didn’t happen. It took Notre Dame less than a minute to score and lock up its $14 million payday.

Life isn’t always fair.

By any measure, this has been an Auburn season to remember. A win over Wisconsin would mean a 10-2 record and a lofty national ranking. Of the three SEC teams that have gone 13-0, Auburn would be the first one to lose fewer than three games in the season that followed.
Regardless of what happens in the bowl game, Auburn is almost certain to go into next season ranked in the Top 10. These are good days for Auburn football.

For what it’s worth, here’s my guess at the bowl destinations for SEC teams:
Sugar Bowl: Georgia/LSU vs. West Virginia; Capital One Bowl: Auburn vs. Wisconsin; Outback Bowl: South Carolina vs. Michigan; Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Texas Tech; Peach Bowl: Georgia/LSU vs. Florida State or Boston College; Independence Bowl: Florida vs. Iowa State ...

Moving on...

What was already a bad season became a disaster Saturday for Ole Miss. It’s not easy to give up 35 points and more than 300 rushing yards to Mississippi State, but the Rebels managed to do it.

First-year coach Ed Orgeron hit town talking a good game. A 3-8 record says more than words ever could...

For all the glowing talk about the strength of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the league isn’t looking so hot down the stretch. That Florida State, outscored 69-21 in its last two games, is going to the championship game has to be a bit embarrassing. The ACC had two shots at the SEC on Saturday and lost them both...

JKLMNOP Week 69

Team LooksLikeItsJustMe...HopeIDon'tLoseThisOne

QB: Shockley UGA
RB: Mcfadden ARK
RB: Norwood MSU
WR: Jackson FL
WR: Bowe, LSU
WR: Milner, UGA
K: whoever kicks for Ole Miss
D: LSU

Happy Turkey Day

Well, we're heading over to Michigan in a couple of hours so I probably won't have computer access until we get back on Sunday. Pray for my sanity as we deal with Chicago traffic. I can't wait! Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I'm sure there will be some text messages to be sent over the next couple of days.

Greyhounds in Madison

James - The Greyhounds are headed your way.

Tremendous Video

Do yourself a favor. Go get a cold beer and prepare to watch the best moments of the most dominating defensive performance in Iron Bowl history. Trust me. Get the beer.

Honk if you sacked Brodie

Tight Times in Week Twelve

Well, I definitely wasted $.10 on that text message I sent to James Saturday morning with my line up. If only I'd followed suit and gone with McFadden instead of Little! Here's the recap:

James:
Cox 17
Irons 16
McFadden 29
Monk 10
Pope 7
Rice 12
Wilhoit 6
LSU 9
Total: 106

Larry:
Shockley 31
Irons 16
McFadden 29
Aromashodu 2
Bowe 1
Rice 12
Hahnfedlt 3
Ark 9
Total: 103

Matt S. (the S is for Sucks):
Shockley 31
Little 2
Irons 16
Aromashodu 2
Massaquoi 2
Bennett 22
Jackson 4
LSU 9
Total: 88

I don't know what the totals are heading into the last JLM(occasionally P) tilt of the season but I figure it's a tight race between James and Larry. Games this week are spread over Friday and Saturday. Arky/LSU, UT/KY, UGA/Tech, FU/FSU, Sis/MSU. I'll be in the atl till Wednesday night but I'll try and get my line up onto the blog so I don't have to waste anymore dimes on worthless text messages.

Youth Specialties

Amanda and I went with a few other fellow Trinity Youth workers (Jenni, Sam Sullins, Henry Everitt, and about 5 others along with Tony the Youth Minister) went up to Nashville for the Youth Specialties convention. This is the National Youth Workers convention. It has three stops each year. A lot of amazing stuff. All of you need to check out the David Crowder Band. Unbelievable. They led the worship music for the two general sessions on Saturday. Music that had 9000 people on their feet singing at the top of thier lungs. Definitley not your typical Christian music. During Saturday's noon session David Crowder Band was playing a 4 song set on one side of the stage. On the other was this large hunk of clay. As the band started, this guy walked out and started sculpting. After a song you could start to see a face, next song eyes/beard - obviously Jesus, next song hair and crown of thorns, the last song - big climax song stage lights going crazy, everyone singing/shouting at the top of their lungs, the sculpture guy breaks out red paint and starts steaking the scupture of the thorn crowned King. I can hardly talk about it. It was a demonstration on how absolutely powerful art can be.

Also went to a break out session on youth and pop culture. Great talk by Rich Mueller of the Mars Hill foundation. Excellent speaker (James, you need to check out his stuff on the site). Basically said we can't turn our head to the stuff teens are into today. We have to "swim in their soup" in order to understand them and ultimately minister to them. I can't even begin to summarize his 2.5 hour lecture. Very very good.

Sorry

I had to post the pic again after renaming it to meet the 68 character url limit.

JKLMNOPQRST Week 34

Team MakeThatFiveWinsForLTL

QB: Shockley
RB: Irons, AU
RB: McFadden Ark
WR: Aromashuho, AU
WR: Bowe, LSU
WR: Rice, USC
K: Hahnsfeld, V
D: Ark

The pic we've all been waiting for

As soon as I get back from Nashville, this will become my profile picture.

FOAM SHORTS!!!!!

FOAMINATIN THE PEASANTS!!!!!

Shouldn't have helped him out Shug

Auburn-uat

Once upon a time in the 1970s, Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan went fishing together. The fishing was slow, and the Bear sort of wondered out loud whether he could really walk on water, the way Tide fans said he could. Why don't you find out, Shug said. And so Bryant, never one to back away from a challenge, stepped out of the boat -- and promptly sank to the bottom.
As he swam to the boat and reached up to grab Jordan's hand, Bryant said, "Shug, promise me you won't tell Alabama fans I can't walk on water." "Sure nuff," said Shug, "just as long as you don't tell Auburn people I saved you from drowning."

THis is it

Maybe

Trying to set up a profile pic

You can't watch this enough times

Some classic Red Sea defense.

You may have to "save as" the clip to your desktop and then play it. It's worth it.

War Damn Eagle!!!!!!

Burninating the Peasants!!

WOW

Phil decided not to mess around with his first win. His QB and RB beat James by 17 points themselves. By far the highest scoring week of PJLM ever. Quick Rundown on the devestation applied by Phil's squad:
QB - Cutler 52 points
RB - Little 45 points
RB - Darby 11 points (worst score on his team...other than Ole Miss losing)
WR - Jackson 16 points
WR - Bennett 39 points
WR - Rice 11 points
K - Coutu 14 points
D - lil 'sis -3 points

That's a PJLM record of 185. For the record I believe this is the first time in our history that a team has been outscored by over 100 points (James had 80).

Larry and I had a spirited battle for second place. On any other week we would have blown the field away. I finished with 137 points to Larry's 125. Larry was led by Little's 45 and had five others in double figures. I only had five players score in double digits and I had a big, fat Vandy player ZERO, but I had Cutler's 52 and Kenny Irons' 32 to lead me.

If not for James' pick of Irons his score would be embarrassing. Oh wait, it was anyway.

The last two weeks are upon us. I suppose at some point today I could go back and record all the scores and see where we stand. We'll see.

One Down...One More to Go

I can't wait for the Iron(s) Bowl...War Eagle!

Trogdore - The Burninator

Everyone must view the follwoing website. Enter the site. Go to toons. Click on Bad Man Email. Find Dragon. Enjoy! TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOORE

Goin' Commando

Whoops...I accidentally posted this to the other blog this morning.

Goin' Commando
Don't you just hate that feeling of going through your gym bag after you get out of the shower and you realize you don't have any underwear? I know we've discussed it on here before, but I did it again today. And I had a big bowl of Raisin Bran last night before I went to bed so I have some good fiber farts brewin'. Every time I let one slip I'm going to be scared it's wet. Dammit.

Enough is enough

Team NoMoreLastPlaceFinishes

QB: Cutler vs ky
RB: Irons vs uga
RB: Foster vs memphis
WR: Rice vs uf
WR: Jackson vs cocks
WR: Davis vs ky
K: Vaughn vs uga
D: LSU vs uat

If you got the time

This is an interesting read from espn page2. The guy is a pop culture author.

Also, thanks for the calls and emails checking on Cece's mom and pop and the SBBs. Everyone is okay and healthy with no damage to homes as far as we know. I'm still waiting for definitive word on the status of the Knob but judging from the reports I've read and my knowledge of the topography of the Newburgh area I think it is fine.

Leak Carries Larry to Big Win

Larry: 115
James: 89
Matt: 80

I don't like this whole last place thing. It sucks. Leak's huge night (helped by the officials and overtime) of 48 JLM points was too much for James to overcome...even with Irons' 29 points (all in the first half). Larry's LSU tandem of Vincent (14) and Bowe (13) sealed the deal.

The Weekly Trojan

Well it's been awhile, but I thought I would share some stories from this week. First of all, we had state testing all this week, which made things hectic. Each morning the students tested for 2 hours then we crammed 8 periods into the remaing 5 hours. In a way, it was kind of nice since I was able to get a lot done during the testing. The whole testing thing is kind of a crock, but I guess it's a result of the No Child Left Behind bologna. Apparently the results help us determine what kind of school we are. That's great when you hear kids say things like, "I was tired so I just guessed on most of the questions." Thanks.

Anyway, here are two real conversations that I had with 8th grade students. Emphasis on 8th grade.

First, I over heard two students talking and one was discussing his sister and her work.

Me: What does your sister do?
Student: She's an exotic dancer.
(Awkward silence)
Me: Maybe we shouldn't discuss that in class.
Student: Well, she brings home a couple of hundred dollars a night. Of course she has to, to pay for a rack like that.
Me: CLASS DISMISSED!

Ok, I made the last line up, but how do you respond to that statement?? On a side note, the 3 towns that make up our school district probably total to about 6,000 people. Well, there are two gentlemen's clubs. Let's just say you feel like taking a shower after driving past them.

Second coversation occurred this morning after I see a student who looks as if she's in a bad mood.

Me: How's it going today?
Student: This is a terrible day.
Me: It's only 8 am, how can it be terrible?
Student: My friend forgot to pick me up for school so I went to ask my mom if she would take me. She was drunk (just a reminder this occurred before school!!) and started yelling at me, so I called my grandmother to come get me.
Me: Well, it's early, I'm sure your day will get better.

So these are two examples of the type of home lives some of our kids come from. It puts things in perspective especially when they are acting up or doing poorly in school. It's not necessiraly an excuse, but it definitely makes your heart go out to them even when they act like knuckleheads.

Well, that's all for this week. Have a great weekend.

Joshua as Dash

Amanda did well with the home-made incredibles outfit

Snow White with a black eye

Claire's face hit a table during Sunday school

JKLMNOP Week 10

Team GottaGetBackonaWinningNote

QB: Cox, vs ky
RB: Darby, uat vs msu
RB: McFadden, arky vs cocks
WR: Rice, SC vs arky
WR: DJ Hall, uat vs msu
WR: Aromashodu vs ky
K: Hetland, fu vs vandy
DEF: ls-poo

New Bathrooms at Jordan-Hare

Those renovations sure are paying off.

Chest Brockwell
This picture has been approved by Boner