| 2008-11-29 19:03:53 876 Emily and I went to get a Christmas tree today. We decided to try out a tree farm this year instead of just getting a tree from Lowe's like last year. The only one in the phone book (and that Google knows about) is Swedenburg's Christmas Tree Farm that is just east of Columbus. Pulling into the place was like going up someone's driveway and just didn't feel right. We asked the old man at the end of the road if it was the tree farm and he told us where to park. We loaded up on a huge wagon pulled by Clydesdales with another family and rode about a quarter mile to the trees. The driver explained to us how it worked; get off the wagon, pick up a saw, pick a tree, cut it down, and then he would pick us back up. Emily and I looked at most of the trees and decided on a really full cedar. We decided on our tree after the other family had already started cutting on theirs and I still had mine down and moved over to where the wagon could pick it up way before they had theirs cut down. So rode back to the place and the guys there shook and bound it up while I went in and paid for it. We drove back across Columbus to buy another cookie sheet and potato masher at Belk. Ate a billion calories at the Santa Fe Cattle Company and then came back to Starkvegas. I got the tree's bottom limbs trimmed and cut off a couple inches from the trunk. Did some leveling of it at Emily's direction and then she got it wrapped in lights while I was the "light bitch" following her around the tree. I am not complaining, that cedar is "pokey." Oh I slighted the Tivo on that last post. It is 300somthing hours now! There are 40+ items in "recently deleted" that have not had to go away for the space yet! |
| 2008-11-26 17:34:23 875 So I have turned my Tivo 2g 40 hour into a 263 hour. I started out this morning going to Lowe's to get a cheap Torx set so I could open the Tivo. Turns out I needed a 10 and 15 to do everything and found a cheapo set of bits with a handle for $10. I pulled out the original drive, a 40G Maxtor and went about installing mfstools on Allard. At first I downloaded the mfstool beta source and compiled it. This worked perfectly for the backup of settings, but did no good when I actually ran the command to copy things from the old drive to the new. I then got a copy of the 2.0 statically compiled binaries and they worked great for the copy. Double yay for my SiI680 IDE controller because it is fast. I ran this command " mfstool backup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfstool restore -r 4 -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdc " to do everything and it worked flawlessly. I thought I might get a slight speed boost on the Tivo by running a 80 conductor IDE cable but that just resulted in a nonbooting Tivo. I put the old cable back in and everything is running perfectly now. |
| 2008-11-23 21:49:19 874 Lehman's bachelor party last weekend was a blast. I doubt I will ever be very good at golf but at least I have fun trying. Eating at Old Waverly was awesome. Thinking about that makes me hungry again. As of last Tuesday Emily and I have been married for two whole years. I sent her some pink roses from the University florist. They were superfast, it was less than two hours from the time that I ordered them until Emily called to tell me she had them. Emily worked until 7:00 so when she got home we went out to Restaurant Tyler. Emily had the ribeye rollintini (which hasn't been available the last two times we have been) and I got the special duck dish they had. It was very excellent. I just finished my last systems programming lab! So happy it works! |
| 2008-11-14 21:40:06 873 I bought golf clubs today. I decided I wanted to get a bag and some clubs for myself for whenever I get invited to go play golf. Guess it helps too that I am going to play golf tomorrow. Anyway at lunch I went over to Trulove's pawn to see what I could get. They had a ton of clubs and bags so the lady just told me find what I wanted and she would give me a good price. I looked around for a while and found a nice looking red bag. Managed to find a few irons with nice long shafts for a tall person like me that matched. Also picked up a couple drivers and two wedges. I assume that P is for pitching and L is for lobbing on the wedges. The store had absolutely no putters though! The lady looked over the bag and said "How about $30?" and that was what I expected the bag was worth by itself so of course I accepted that price. Once I got home I realized that the bag had the matching club covers for my drivers and the snap on cover to go over everything too. I went to my least favorite retailer tonight only because I do not know where else to buy a cheap putter on a Friday night. I made the best purchase ever, a putter, wiper blades, and shotgun slugs. Yay America! This morning was the foggiest ride I have ever had into campus. I could not see the signal light at Hwy 12 until I was within three or four car lengths from the white line. The ride home for lunch was wonderful because of the comfortable temperature though. Of course the rain started coming down before 5:00. My ride home was not the heaviest rain I have ever ridden in, but it was the heaviest rain I have ever ridden in once it got dark. I was running three flashing red taillights so I was not worried about getting run over. The rain had come down so hard that the worst part was the amount of water on the road coming up to get me. There is always a huge puddle across the road at the Comfort Inn on Russell and it got my shoes good. The car passing me on the left put up a good wave of water too so I was pretty wet after my first mile. The Whitfield/Ave of Patriots intersection was scary because it was under at least three inches of water. The end of Patton was the same way. I learned my lesson about 90 degree turns on wet pavement way back in 2005 so I am crazy slow when I make turns in the rain. Nothing like my usual 25mph+ turns where I lean in good enough to drag my toe clips on the ground when things are dry. |
| 2008-11-10 21:50:05 872 Oh Paula Deen, you are bad. I made my on version of Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin tonight with a half of the huge pork loin that Emily and I purchased on sale on our massive Halloween night grocery trip. I made it my own by pulling sprigs of rosemary and thyme from the backyard. Ground them up with a mortar and pestle into kosher salt with a good pour of olive oil. Mashed some chopped garlic in it to finish and then rubbed that onto the pork. Roasted it in my big cast iron at 450 for 20ish, dropped the temp to 425 and covered it for 45, and then left it uncovered for 15 or so. Like Heaven. The best piece of pork I have ever cooked! |
| 2008-11-04 22:53:13 871 So I voted this morning. I bet I fell into a very small group of people, those who rode bikes to the poll and did not vote for Obama. The line was horrible; it wrapped around the front of the armory to the parking lot side. Luckily Russ Ward came up to the line just as I got there around 7:15 so I had someone to talk to for the 40 minutes it took us to get inside. So yay, my third presidential election to vote in and the first ever that it appears I did not vote for the victor. The OCH tax is hanging on by a thread. One precinct left to go and it is just going to be passed by .6%. Yay for higher taxes! Apparently there was no organized opposition to this bond issue. I do not see how OCH could afford the massive advertising campaign in favor that included a sign every ten feet, billboards, and even space in the Reflector. Anyway next time they ask for more cash I guess I will have to do something to get a resistance movement started. |
| 2008-10-21 21:32:04 870 Traveled to the Sessers' favorite city in proximity to Starkville this weekend, glorious B'ham. Of course Emily had class on Friday afternoon and then again early Saturday so she was in Jackson staying in our newest favorite hotwired hotel, the Staybridge Suites. She got back into Starkvegas a little after 1:00 and we headed out after pickup up Bryan. The ride over was nice an uneventful. We went directly to the shopping center north of the Galleria so Emily could go to the TJ Maxx. Bryan and I went to the Halloween store in the same place and decided not to part with loads of cash for mediocre costumes. However we were both able to find nice jackets in TJ Maxx to blow some cash on. From there we headed up to the Sheraton at the convention center. By my account this is at least the 4th time Emily and I have stayed there. I had pricelined a room for about 60% of the "special deal" I got in an email from Sheraton earlier in the week. We had a nice room off the back of the atrium that's window looked down on the atrium. Was a long way from the elevator but the way I understand things that is usually desired. From there we headed down to Five Points and met up with Jimmy at Surin West. The parking was really sketchy with what seemed like homeless people asking for $5 to park. Luckily we found street parking for us and Jimmy. Supper was freaking awesome. I have to recommend the sushi appetizer that comes as "chef's selection." The chef selected rather well. I ordered the spicy mixed seafood which had a 3 pepper of 3 on the Thai hot scale. It was excellent but not what I would call 3 of 3 on a Thai scale. I've never had Thai food anywhere else but I would at least hope that the highest value would make my eyes water a bit. It didn't get super hot until I loaded up on the cracked red pepper that Bryan requested. After that Jimmy rode with us to Sloss's haunted house. I remember it being absolutely awesome in 2003. In comparison it completely sucked this year. After waiting more than two hours to get in, it was horrible. Anyway from there we went back to Five Points to Dave's and the Blue Monkey and then called it a night and gave our farewell's to Jimmy. Sunday morning we got up and headed for breakfast. I really wanted IHOP so we went all of the way to Lakeshore to find an IHOP with a full parking lot and people lined up out the door. From there we headed back up Oxmoor to the Waffle House. Major disappointment that they did not have gravy for their new biscuits so Bryan and I missed out. After that we headed back to the block across from our hotel to go to the art museum. The Leonardo da Vinci exhibit was awesome. I have never had a chance before this one to see anything of his in person. The museum actually has a ton of stuff that would take Emily an entire day to view. So I dragged her away after a while (promising that we will be back) and we headed toward the Summit. On the way though we stopped at Vulcan and went up the tower to see all of Birmingham. After that the Summit was enough fun. Emily got to shop while Bryan and I walked around and finally made it to the Apple store. Right before we headed home we stopped for an early supper at SweetBones Alabama and had a meal that was like Dooey's crossed with Macaroni Grill. And as soon as I can reverse engineer their flat cornbread I can die a happy man. Of course from there we headed home on my sleepy full stomach and got back to Starkville before it got too late. |
| 2008-10-17 19:14:27 869 So I sat down to post, and then the Gallop poll called the house phone. I got to spend 15 minutes telling a lady with a Minnasota accent how conservative I am through a series of yes or no questions. I did give an affirmative for Obama being a more green candidate, but I did not get to back that up with the fact that we are certainly economically doomed with his environmental ideas. The weather yesterday was wonderful for riding to work. There was a slight mist in the air and the temperature was perfect. On the way home I rode the long way, out to the south down Lynn Lane. Things were going great. I was able to keep up with the car I was behind from campus until I turned off of South Montgomery where I actually got to pass them for a second in the turning lane. Lynn Lane and Industrial Park were uneventful. Then I pulled out onto 12 and I felt something slip out of my bag, slide down my side, and hit the pavement. Traffic was nuts so I just quickly prayed that it was my extra tail light that had somehow fallen out of my bag. After I pulled into the first turn to Green Oaks I checked my bag to find that it really was my phone that had fallen out. I headed back out into 12 and played frogger to find the remains of my three week old phone. I found the main body and battery but no SIM card or back cover. After riding home I found that it will not even power on. Luckily I still had the phone I had borrowed from Sesti a few weeks back when my Sony-E died. I thought I had my extra SIM card on campus so I rode back to work only to find that I had only taken the outer box and not the inside piece with the manuals and new SIM card. So after back home, I got on the phone with ATT and got my new SIM card activated and in the backup phone. So once again I am on the backup phone with no numbers because iSync does not support it. I did find out some good news from the ATT call rep. Because my main cell line is still in my mother's name I am planning on changing it so I can bundle it with the home line and Emily's phone. Once I get that changed I will only have 11 months until I am upgrade eligible for another reduced rate phone. Even though, I am still on the market for an unlocked reasonable phone that will work with iSync without too much fuss. |
| 2008-10-06 22:57:05 868 Crazy week last week. I had the pager so I was on edge every night. It was also Kary's last week at work with us. I also ended up having both a test and the huge lab 2 of programming languages due on Friday. Due to all of the stress I cancelled my camping trip with the Waldroups. After Tuesday night, I decided to submit my lab late and just concentrate on the test. I know that was the best decision but I did not do the best on the test. The Garraway got up with me Friday morning to see if I could hawk DVDs for him at the Tupelo band clinic. Since I had already traded pager duty for the weekend and had cancelled the campout I was clear to go. We had Kary's farewell lunch at Mugshot's. Of course I was late to show up because of my test but David had put in my order for me, the Cory approved Gamble of course. I then finished my hellish week of trying to move big endian Sparc rrd files to little endian Intel Linux without losing all of my hair. We went out to eat with Garraway when Emily got off work at 7 at Rosey Baby's. This was my first experience at the 2.0 rendition of this classic Starkville establishment. The food was decent but the service still grants a medal. In order, the Abbey gets the gold platinum plated medal of suck ass service in Starkville. Rosey Baby's 1.0 is a distant silver to the Abbey and Rose Baby's 2.0 is right on the heels of 1.0 with its bronze. We picked that place because Garraway had not been since he had been married off. We will not go back. Ever. Maybe to try Rosey Baby's 3.0 when it opens up after closing for spring break in 2009. So then it was Saturday. Really really early. Like so early Emily is leaving for the ER and I am up kinda early. David came by and picked me up before 7am. We headed up to Tupelo high school and got his sweet rig setup in the press box of the football stadium. We then setup a table with a TV (actually a tiny little monitor with a bazillion inputs) on it near the restrooms/concessions so I could have a base station to sell DVD's. It was a long long morning and I think I had all of two sales. At the lunch break David came down and helped me move to the shade in front of the restrooms. In the afternoon sales picked up a lot. If I had sold one tape to every fifth kid who came to ask me to show the Tupelo show, Garraway and I could now retire. Anyway he had the best setup ever in the pressbox. Basically a DVD factory based off of two Sony cameras and some magic mixer boards that do magical things with video and it all ends up on a DVD. It was seriously an all day event because we did not get packed up until nearly 10pm that night. Made it back to Starkvegas pretty late and David was the guest of our north wing. On Sunday we got up and went to Kidz Church where David gave me some pointers on how I could make the sound and light a little better. I love free advice. Then he had to run off to the Catholics with his inlaws. All afternoon and night Sunday I spent working on my programming languages lab and finally got it done around midnight! I turned that 100% working piece of coding hell (1600 lines of C++) this morning. Now I have until Friday after this one to get lab 3 completed... |
| 2008-09-30 21:57:19 867 Two wedding in two weekends. Not as bad as the summer of 2005 but still seems like a load of people getting married. Anyway started off Friday night by having a social "watch the debate" gathering at Bryan's in front of his slightly big TV. Then on Saturday Emily and I got out of town after some takeout City Bagel and headed to Jackson. Hit Target to get some presents for the couples and then headed back toward Starkville to get to the church. This made the first Catholic wedding I have been to in a modern chapel. I was a really nice wedding with a wedding party that challenged the Muncie's in size. We left the church and headed nearly to Carthage to Cathryn's parents' weekend home for the reception. It was wonderful with so much food and the creepy photographers from the Sesti wedding, only this time the creepy dad was playing creepy DJ too. The girls had loads of fun dancing and I participated by taking pictures. After a while we packed up and headed to Philadelphia. On a whim Emily and I had reserved a room at the Hilton Garden in Saturday's AM. Bryan came down from Starkville and met us there. After a bit we caught the shuttle to the casino and met up with the other girls. We headed straight to the table games and orbited several times looking for a $5 blackjack table. There were none so we settled on a $10 table. Jennifer managed to get a little ahead as I completely blew my bank. About the time I ran out of money Emily came in and got us way back in the black. Since we were way ahead, we decided to quit and Jennifer asked for comp buffets. The pit boss gave them to the three of us even though I had not played a card for a while. Later on we went and hit the buffet. Bryan nearly had to pay but some crazy guy was in front of us with an extra freebie. That was somewhere in the AM of Sunday so we called it a night and caught the shuttle back to the hotel. Got up Sunday morning and got Emily back to Starkvegas just in time for her to go to work at 11am! |
| 2008-09-21 21:55:04 866 I left for work early Friday morning because I was driving. Parked at Butler and walked to work. After a bit the bottom fell completely out with crazy hard rain. Of course my umbrella was in the truck so David loaned me his to get to class. After class I headed over to Bryan's and picked him up. Sesti ended up coming and picking us up at my house to kill some time because Kallie was being a girl (causing things to take longer than scheduled.) Made it to Southaven and got to the church just a little late. It was a nice little Episcopal church. The rehearsal was the shortest ever; we practiced walking in and back out only once. From there we went to the new So we got up earlyish on Saturday and got ready. I was supposed to be at the church at 10:00 to change into my tux but we ended up running late after grabbing some breakfast. So Sesti calls me and tells me at 10:15 that they are all waiting on me for pictures. Of course I am never late so I get upset and somehow figure out a way to point the blame at Emily. I get there a few minutes later and no one else is dressed. Sesti certainly can be a jackass. After a long while we took pictures and that was a blast except for the whole smile muscle cramps after the first hundred or so. I cannot wait to see some of the "groomsmen on the playground" pics. The wedding finally took off at 2:00 and the ceremony seemed to go perfectly. As usual the rental tux shoes sucked and we were all dying halfway through it trying to stand still. Luckily no one collapsed and we were all able to walk out unassisted. Well assisted by bridesmaids but that doesn't count for much. From there we made a beeline to Josh's Pilot and got it messed up real nice. Pulled the patented "David Sesser" and threw an entire bag of wedding shape confetti throughout the car. We still have visible confetti in ours! The biggest thing we were lacking was aluminum cans. Three do not really make much of an impression but they are better than nothing. This was most definitely a "nice" car decorating compared to what is in store for Jeremy Gray when he gets married in 2525. After the decorating we went into the reception for a while. The groom's chocolate cake was most wonderful. The wedding cake was cupcakes and the groom's cake totally kicked their asses. Josh did not seem to be too upset with the condition of his car. After a while the newlyweds headed out and the Sesti's, Bryan, and us went straight to the elder Sesti's to get out of the tuxes. We were all starving so we went to Colton's and ate a lot of meat. From there everyone else went home and we went shopping. I found a shirt, belt, and socks in Marshall's in about fifteen minutes of taking my time. I left them with Emily and headed up the shopping center. I managed to purchase ten pounds of rabbit food for Mr Snickets at Petco, got a copy of Bully: Scholarship Edition at GameStop, and bought a Vtech three handset phone from Office Depot. Emily was still not quite done at Marshall's, in fact she had not tried anything on. So she tried things on quickly and of course decided to purchase none of them. So she ended up only buying a single pair of heels and I got three things. Female shopping is a mystery I hope to never unravel. That was enough for us so we headed back to Starkvegas and got home a little after 10. So the Berryhill's should have gotten into Jamaica sometime this afternoon and I hope that the rain and hummingbird mosquitos leave them alone and everything works out good for them! |
| 2008-09-18 22:10:47 865 In twenty-six hours I'll be headed out in the Sestimobile to be in yet another wedding. Number five including mine to be in the wedding party. There was Muncie's, then mine, then quickly my brother's, and then Sesti's last summer. At least these are weddings and not baby showers because those are death sentences to freedom. Especially when the only pet I want is a free range rabbit because it can take care of itself for the most part. |
| 2008-09-13 23:35:03 864 Losing 3-2 to the #9 ranked Auburn fools almost feels like a win. Most horrible offense ever. |
| 2008-09-03 20:28:55 863 Re-registered this domain today so now I am good until Thursday, Sep 19, 2013. |
| 2008-08-16 22:55:13 862 I just cannot stop thinking about Emily getting back! I did get to "talk" to her twice this week when she bought 10 minutes of internet at the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday. So that means I have not talked to her since Fay formed and rained over the island. At least it has moved west to Cuba now and does not seem to be delaying any flights out of the Dominican Republic. Anyway when I talked to her, she was having a blast and just wishing I was there. The "nurses" like me so maybe they'll let me tag along as "one of the girls" next year. I can dream at least. It rocked having Delta miles this month. 7718 from miles from the Cleveland trip and big purchases like the outside building! I was disappointed to find out that miles do not accrue for award tickets so Emily's trip is not earning us anymore miles :( |
| 2008-08-16 22:32:49 861 So my last whole day without Emily here was pretty productive. I got up this morning and cooked a heart healthy breakfast of sausage, eggs, and grits. Then I got to work in our nearly new storage building out back. I had already put up a frame for a work bench out of 2x4's and one 2x6. Emily's dad had brought me some scrap plywood that was used for shipping containers to hold MRAP parts. He had already cut it to the right width for me, I just cut notches in it to fit around the 2x4 studs of the building. I put plenty of screws in it and it seems really sturdy. Above the bench I build a long shelf that is deep enough for paint cans. After that I took a while emptying stuff out of the utility room. It still looks like a wreck in there but at least there is more floor space. I even got some of my bike stuff moved out to the shed so Emily should be pretty excited to see the results. After that I did some dirt work in the front yard so that water coming off of the roof will have a better chance to run out into the yard instead of carrying dirt over the concrete. In exactly 24 hours Emily should be at the Jackson airport! This crazy week started for me a week ago when I was already in bed at this time. We got up at 2AM Sunday morning and I got the car loaded. We got out on the road a little before 3AM. It was so crazy dark because there are not many houses along Hwy 25 and it was cloudy enough to completely hide the moon and stars. I only saw one deer and he stayed still for me. Then there was the suicide opossum that crossed my lane left to right and then made a sudden u-turn so I had to dodge him. Shortly after we saw "Ole Sniffy," an opossum posing like a prairie dog turning his head this way and that apparently looking for something smelly. I managed to dodge him too. Made it to the airport and I got Emily dropped off at the door. By the time I parked she had gotten checked in so we got a seat near security to kill 30 minutes. So then I had to put my sweet Emily on the first leg of an international flight all by herself. I was pretty bummed out. Anyway I made it back to Starkville without incident and fell asleep, completely missing church. So I'm doing Kidz church in the morning and then going out to Greg's house for a gathering. Then on to Jackson to pick up my Emily! I now know why she gets upset with me when I got on my 3-4 day trips without her. This house is really big and lonely when you are here by yourself. |
| 2008-08-13 23:03:08 860 So biotech companies are fun to invest in. Especially when they are working on a nasal spray version of Viagra. Win win right? Not when the FDA comes down and says no. Then their stock tumbles from a nice $2 to $.30. Not so bad, we only had 100 shares. Of course now they have dipped down to .13 a share. I will pay twice as much in commission to sell the crap than I can get for it at this point. Sadly my fantasy portfolio is rocking. Started out with ALSK back in May which I "got rid of" in June for a nice profit. Then I proved that July 15 was the day to invest every cent possible into BancorpSouth. That's right, I'm only up 54.48% in less than freaking 30 days!!! But in imaginary money so it doesn't really matter. If I had invested $1 of real money I am sure things would have gone the opposite direction. |
| 2008-08-13 21:22:45 859 Yay I got to talk to Emily for 10 whole minutes today on gtalk. She's having a great time even though she has to pay no telling what for internet. |
| 2008-08-12 22:03:20 858 I love NBC's coverage of the olympics. The barely shrouded "she was taken away from her family at the age of three" referring to Chinese gymnastic athletes is awesome. Bunch of Commie cheaters making up birthdates for kids with fake passports. Oh well the London olympics will be better because the Sesser's and Waldroup's will both be there! |
| 2008-08-10 21:30:23 857 Best digg quote ever: "GLOBAL WARMING!! FEAR FEAR!! FEAR! YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!! FEAR!! GLOBAL WARMING!!! VOTE DEMOCRAT!!" |
| 2008-08-09 19:36:35 856 Last Sunday was Cedar Point day. We got up and out of the hotel pretty quickly and got breakfast on the road at a fast McDonalds. After parking we headed straight to Millennium Force. It took us about 45 minutes in line but it was worth it even though it was so crazy tall and scary. From there we headed to Maverick but the line was extremely long. We quickly knocked out Mean Streak and the Cedar Creek Mine Ride. During the day we managed to ride nine of the coasters. For the most part they were all amazing. However Disaster Transport is the lamest "coaster" ever built, especially after having to wait 30+ minutes to ride it! We also did not get to ride Top Thrill Dragster. After waiting in line for an hour we had made good progress. Then it went down for mechanical reasons. We waited around a bit and right after we got completely out of the line, it was back up. Emily made me ride Sky Hawk which was the only non coaster we rode. We sat down long enough to see the wild west can-can show and the "extreme sports" skateboard and bmx show. After eight hours in the best park ever we were exhausted and decided to leave for Cleveland. That night we had supper at Panini's.Of course I called Garraway to brag about my sandwich. Downtown got really weird when the Neil Diamond concert got out so we called it an early night. Yesterday we got up and had breakfast at Al's Deli. Then we walked over to the Great Lakes Science Center where we got to see the Einstein exhibit that had a lot of his handwritten papers and even his Nobel prize medal. We also watched the "Omnimax" showing of a movie about the Mars rovers. From there we walked back to Tower City so Emily could check out some shopping. After buying nothing we got the car and headed toward Blossom. About two miles from the exit from the interstate traffic was stopped in the right lane for the exit. I had the bright idea of skipping the exit to take the next and make a u turn to come up the less used side. That did not end up working because it was six miles away. We managed to get the Garmin to route us a pretty decent path which got us around the traffic until we were three miles out. From there it was crawling bumper to bumper. Finally we got parked a little after 8:00. We were parked so deep in Blossom that it was a short walk in. There were so many people; the amphitheater and lawn were both packed. We had apparently completely missed the opening act of someone I had never heard of anyway. The Radiohead show is by far the best live show I have ever seen. Nothing else even compares. They only played twenty-five songs including encores. The red lights with National Anthem was about the coolest thing ever. Somebody got a decent picture of it. We were a little farther back and a little farther left. Stupid me had thought maybe cameras were not allowed so we did not bring anything. At least I can find plenty of other people's pictures on flickr. Cleveland.com has a good article about it today. After the concert we were stuck in traffic for a while but it was not nearly as bad as getting there. We made it back to the hotel after midnight and had to hunt for a valet. So exhausted that we feel asleep as soon as we made it to the bed. Got up early on Tuesday morning and out of the hotel. Used the Garmin to look for a place to eat on the way to the airport. Option one, the "Wild Bean Coffee Shop" ended up being a Shell station with coffee. Option two ended up sending us through a sketchy neighborhood that we turned back from. We ended up finding Somers Restaurant as we exited from the interstate. After returning the car the lady at the Delta counter let us know that our flight would be delayed and there was a chance we would not make it to Atlanta in time to catch our flight to GTR which of course was the last of the day. She set us up an alternate flight into Jackson from Atlanta as a worst case backup. Our plane actually left Cleveland only about 45 minutes late, and we were able to fly directly to Atlanta instead of around the storm system that had caused the delay. In Atlanta we had time to sit down at a Chili's and get some food. Then of course our flight out from there was delayed for mechanical issues. Luckily we left before too long and made it back to GTR before 5:00. So this was my second time to Cleveland, the first big vacation for Emily and I since the honeymoon in Jamaica, and our first time to see Radiohead. Most wonderful trip and yay for Travelocity making it cheap! |
| 2008-08-02 21:58:08 855 Emily and I made it to Cleveland safely on Friday. Sitting in Atlanta for four hours sucks but we lived through it. I even got to have a Nathan's hot dog. But it was in Atlanta and cost $6 for the combo and there is no way it could be nearly as good as the original. Made it into Cleveland and went to pick up our Alamo rental car. I was stoked because I had checked in online and knew I just had to go find a car and drive away. So we walked out to the lot and there were no mid sized cars to be found. We went back inside but the line was a mile long. Outside again, we found an attendant and he directed us to three cars that would fit the bill; an HHR, a Vibe, and a VW something tiny. Emily picked the HHR. We headed downtown and with only two U-turns I managed to get the car valeted at the hotel. We walked around and explored the Arcade even though everything was closed except the convenience store and the coin store. We found a neat place to eat, the Great Lakes Brewing Company. The food was excellent and we ended up taking the free tour of the place. We ended the night by taking in a comedy show at Hilarities. Today we got up and went to the zoo. It was freaking awesome. Afterward we drove out to Mentor, Ohio to meet up with Becky for lunch because she has moved back to Pennsylvania. We randomly picked the Rock City Bar and Grill to eat at. The food was really cheap and pretty decent. $0.17 wings! Seriously! You cannot afford not to buy at least a dozen for $2something. The service was not the best because the girls' food was messed up for both of them and it took a while to correct. After we got done we drove to a park on Lake Erie and checked out the waves and strong breezes. We took Becky back to her car and said our good bye's and then headed back to Cleveland to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Emily and I spent a few hours there and had a great time. Best thing is that we had free parking. We drove back to the hotel and then went to Tower City to watch Hancock. Not the best theater but we had fun watching the movie. Now we are sitting downstairs in the hotel after finishing some food, greasy beef quesadilla for me and a salad for Emily. Now we are planning out our day tomorrow at Cedar Point! |
| 2008-07-31 06:37:23 854 Going to be on a plane to Cleveland this time tomorrow! |
| 2008-07-28 23:29:43 853 It has been a month of trips and work. Ended June with the trip for Emily's birthday. Started hard on July doing demolition on the hallway bathroom on the 2nd and 3rd. Replaced the tub and did a load of sheetrock work on the 4th. Also did some work on replacing the front and carport doors. Every night that week I was a busy boy working on something. Then Thursday morning the Garraway came through Starkville and picked me up to go to Province Governor Convocation in Evansville, Indiana. It was a wonderful educational experience, plus I got to go to the Gerst Haus three times. We made it back to Starkville late Sunday night and the bathroom had been painted and the window had been installed. Made it through the week and then it was time for the "Berryhill is going to get married" trip. That Thursday, Bryan and I met up with Sesti in West Point and rode up to Southaven. We got up early Friday morning and picked up our rental minivan at the Memphis airport. Everyone met at Sesti's and we actually got on the road on schedule. Made good time up the road and had fun touring Budweiser. We stayed at the Hyatt across the street from the arch. Most of Saturday was spent in trying to get up the arch until we had a wonderful supper at Jake's Steaks. When I got back Sunday night, all of the tile was done in the bathroom. Then during the week there were the final touches of putting up trim and installing the vanity and toilet. Cory and Sarah made it here Friday afternoon to see the house in its current state. That night we carb loaded at City Bagel. This past Saturday started at 4AM for Cory and I. We did our usual food cramming routine and then got the girls and bikes loaded up in the Escape. Drove to Louisville and got all setup for the race. The Heart o Dixie has to be my most favorite triathlon ever even though it was the hardest and I was no where near placing. There was more roadside support on this race than any other I have been in except for maybe the St Jude half marathon last December. Anyway it was hot, but I still finished somehow. Cory and I beat the girls to the finish, and they were in a car. We met up with them after a while, purchased some Piggly Wiggly ribs from a trailer and got out of there as fast as possible. Once back in Starkville we tried to go to Sushi on Main but they are not open for Saturday lunch. Settled for Mugshot's and the usual Gamble for Cory and I instead. After a good shower, some rest, and a visit from Garraway, we watched the best Batman movie ever. We tore into the ribs later on for supper and called it an early night after some Wii. On Sunday I played with the eMac that Garraway so graciously brought me and straightened up the ancient iMac g3 500 for Cory for a garage computer. (in fact I am on the sweet sweet eMac right now!) So Cory and Sarah had to leave after spending mere hours with us. I'm special because I get to hang out with them again in two weeks but Emily will not be so lucky. So there has been enough travel, remodeling, and events to last me a while. However this weekend is the Cleveland, Ohio trip for Emily and me. I will get to see freaking Radiohead at the Blossom Music Center!!! Today's project was "buy a storage building." I succeeded in buying an 8x10 building and it was installed this afternoon. My lawnmower appreciates the wide open space but I'm hoping to put up some shelves and clean most of my tools out of the utility room. |
| 2008-07-14 22:31:47 852 Emily's birthday trip was great. Started out with a bang Thursday afternoon when our front storm door shattered when Emily opened the front door. Apparently I must have started it cracking from a rock thrown on Wednesday by the weed eater. I took off a few hours on Thursday to get home and get packed to be ready at 3:00 to go. Emily's parents were on time and we got out of Starkville. Made it to Atlanta before it got completely dark and made all of the turns indicated by the newly obtained Garmin 350 except for one "stay left, oh and in 300 yards turn right, but I won't tell you that until you are on top of the intersection." I had hotwired the Hilton Garden near the Perimeter Mall. Ate that night at Wild Fire. The food was pretty good, my Parmesan covered NY Strip was great, however our server was mediocre at best. We ended the night by watching the Hulk. The Iron Man tie in at the end got me pretty excited about what might come out next summer. On Friday morning we got the girls to the mall asap. Mr Joe and made a quick loop though the mall, breakfast at Chik-fil-A, and then we drove around the outskirts of the mall and checked out some other stores. After a while we caught the MARTA to get to downtown. It was a fun ride. We came out at the Peachtree Center and walked though Centennial Park. There was so much damage to the buildings from the strong storms that went through a few weeks ago. The entrance to the CNN center nearest the park was closed from the damage so we had to walk another half block to get into it. We did the CNN tour and it was pretty interesting. Not sure if it was worth $12 each but it was neat to see the actual studios. After that we walked over to the Coke place and did that tour. The 4-d show was pretty neat and some of the exhibits were interesting, but the best part by far of course is the tasting at the very end. European Coke products taste like ass but most of the African ones were pretty good. Everything else was hit or miss. After that we rode the MARTA back up north where the girls were still in the mall. After another hour or so they were ready for supper. Emily had read of Jalapeno Charlies and was interested in trying it out. So of course I plugged it into the Garmin and we headed out not realizing that it was back downtown. Driving though Atlanta is apparently always an adventure. Doing it on Friday afternoon at 5:15 is insane. Everything was pretty smooth until we got to the toll booth. Either something malfunctioned or the first car didn't have $.50 to throw in the bucket. We were three cars back with another car behind us so we were stuck. After a while the car behind us finally moved and we reversed out of there. I made it to downtown without much issue but had to make a block to find parking once we found the restaurant. The crazy thing is that we were within a block of where Emily's dad and I had come earlier in the day. The traffic was not nearly as bad on the way back but the Garmin's directions were sketchy. I had to turn around at least twice to get going the right way. The girls went for even more shopping and we ended the night by going to watch Iron Man. Started off Saturday morning with a McDonalds breakfast. Drove to the mall and we all caught the MARTA to downtown to do the aquarium. Going to the aquarium in the summer on a Saturday is a very bad idea. We decided against it after seeing the hour line to get tickets that best case would be good in two hours. At least we walked through the CNN center and caught the MARTA on the other side to head back north to the mall. We drove out to Discover Mills which ended up being the largest mall I've ever been to. First time I have seen a Bass Pro Shops as a mall anchor store. After a while we headed back to the Perimeter for a while and then ate at Hudson Grill which was decent but had excellent spinach dip. From there I drove us up to Blue Ridge and made it to the Comfort Inn somewhere around 10PM. It was the nicest Comfort Inn I have ever seen, almost like a mountain lodge. Well it was kinda in the mountains so it makes sense. We got up early and headed up to Ocoee Rafting after another McDonalds breakfast. Going rafting is pretty much hurry up and wait. We finally got on the bus headed to the river. It turned out that our guide was the bus driver and was in charge of the whole tour. The man was awesome, he could put that boat anywhere he wanted in that water. It was tons of fun, it was only the four of us and two young guys from Alabama. I cannot wait to go back. From there we started the long trek home through Chattanooga and Birmingham. It was a fun trip except for all of the waiting during the shopping expeditions. |
| 2008-06-11 06:34:33 851 A schism in the universe has occurred. The Abbey, which I declared the worst restaurant in Starkville, has closed. Rosey Baby is apparently open again! I have yet to try Rosey Baby 2.0 but let's just say I do not expect much in the way of service. Also the Abbey's replacement is restaurant Tyler. I already have one strike against it; Emily and I were excited to try it out last Friday and walked up to the door to find that it was closed because their A/C was knocked out by lightning. Nice way to start out! Already I cannot wait to see what that location will bring next. |
| 2008-06-11 00:43:15 850 Kevin is a tool. This is an update. |
| 2008-05-22 05:23:59 849 Got to talk to Cory the other day! He called me from somewhere on the other side of the globe. Since it was 4:30PM here, I have no idea how late it was there. He is doing much better than me on triathlon training, actually taking care of the swimming/running part of the deal. The final bedroom is finished! Emily and I painted it last week. On Saturday I got the baseboards down and caulked them on Sunday. This week I changed out all of the outlets to white ones and put up new cover plates. I messed up the threads in one outlet box, but I got Steve to help me get it back together. Next home improvement project is the hallway bathroom.... |
| 2008-05-15 06:23:43 848 So I have been riding some ancient Look Pedals from the early 90's since I picked them up used in freaking 2005. I got a set of Look 3.1's from Nashbar. Nice heavy Al body but they sure feel sturdy. I feel like I am putting so much more force down on the pedals since they have a nice footbed that is right under the cleat that the old ones lacked. I think I am going to move my cleats just a little forward because it seems that the axle is in a different place. |
| 2008-04-30 22:55:13 847 So the ancient mower made me angry. I went to cut the grass and there was no start. Went through cleaning the carb and checking everything and still no go. Sprayed a ton of carb cleaner in and around the carb and let it sit overnight. Yesterday it cranked like a champ. I got the yard mowed next to the driveway and made one loop around the front before it died. At that point it did not take too much convincing for Emily to see that the rate of return on continually working on it vs. buying a new one was not favorable. So I had in mind the specs of all of the <$200 mowers from Lowe's from their website with a good idea to buy the $199 Troy-Bilt. We headed to the evil Wal-Mart so I could compare. Inside I found a Yardman for $209 that would compare to the one I had in mind from Lowe's; but this one had a Honda engine. I like Honda's, so I bought it. After getting it home I did find several glowing reviews of this particular mower. Turns out that Lowe's carries a Troy-Bilt with a Honda engine for $20 more than this one. They are the same exact mower made by the same manufacturing company! Anyway I cannot wait to try it out on the front yard. After the many inches of rain from this past weekend it is getting pretty thick out there. |