June 2001 archives
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Friday, June 29, 2001
Oh, it's on!
I see that Ricky's been doing a little bit of gloating about his victory last night. That's all good...it's all part of the plan. First we give him the big head, then we swoop in for the kill.
And I also notice that while he mentioned ping-pong, he failed to note that he's also never beat me in racquetball. :)
Heh heh...
I just thought of the perfect wedding gift for Ricky and Tammy. Shh! Don't tell anyone!
The pressing on... summer tour continues
I'm now in Birmingham again. I'm staying a couple of nights with Ricky and going to Huntsville for a shower for Tammy and him on Saturday. We played tennis tonight...Ricky beat me 6-2. I figure that that's two games better than I thought I'd do. :) If I kept that up, I'd probably be in shape relatively quickly.
After that, I'll spend a couple more days in Birmingham, then make the trip west to Oklahoma! Yep, I called out there today, and it's been confirmed. I'll probably make the drive on Tuesday (or possibly Wednesday) and spend about a week out there. I haven't seen that part of my family since my sister and brother-in-law's wedding, and I haven't seen Oklahoma in at least 12 years. So I'm really looking forward to this trip. Well, all except for the drive, anyway. It will certainly be the longest drive that I've ever undertaken, beating any of my trips to Melbourne by at least three hours. But at least I'll see a bunch of new things along the way.
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Surrounded by history
For the past two days, I have spent the majority of my time moving, dusting, cleaning, and moving again furniture and boxes from my great-grandmother's house.
My great-grandmother died about four years ago at the age of 94. She was, among other things, something of a pack rat. (I guess that's where I got it from.) Consequently, among our finds so far have been drawings from the 1930's, sewing instructions from the 1920's, and letters from the 1890's. There's an old AM radio from the 1940's or so (which I've already asked to have when I get my own place). There are many pieces of furniture that are still in amazing condition for their age.
As I write this, I'm looking at her old Singer sewing machine (from back when the machine was itself a piece of furniture). My hands still smell of old wood and dust and history.
In our living room sits a table and chairs that my great-great-grandparents used. They're relatively simple pieces of furniture, but their life is in their history. In my bedroom is my great-grandmother's rocking chair: the one that she held my mother in, and my sister and I in as well.
My mother and I had a talk about how memories are kept alive in the things that are in the house, like the table and the sewing machine and so on. I tend to keep memories more from situations than things, myself. But in the case of that rocking chair, seeing it in my room and knowing where it's been is incredible. And I can remember my Maw-Maw Louise, matriarch of one side of my family.
Tonight, before I go to bed, I'm going to sit in that chair. And I'm going to rock for a little bit, surrounded by history.
Monday, June 25, 2001
Home again, home again
Well, I'm back from Florida. The drive was boring and long, as usual, but it's done now, which is a nice thing. It'll be nice to have the option to fly down there when I want to visit once I actually have some money. :)
My sister, brother-in-law, and I were planning to play golf sometime this past weekend, but unfortunately it rained pretty much all the time. On Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, we saw the sun come out for the first time all weekend (for all of 30 minutes) and harbored bitter thoughts. We were also going to see my grandparents (who were vacationing in Daytona) but my grandmother wasn't feeling well so we decided to let her rest. The best laid plans...
Friday, June 22, 2001
What's more fun in summer than...
Haiku? That's right...the form of poetry that you learned in grade school (didn't everyone have to write one of these at one time or another?) So...a little haiku expo. I'll start off with one:
"Phil. 3:14"
I am the runner
Forgetting what is behind
I am pressing on...
Let's find out who can write out there!
From the "now I've seen everything" file
I never thought I'd see the day that the Cookie Monster would become a crime victim.
My mood didn't change just now...
I had forgotten to update that. I've been checking for comments every now and then through the update pages so as to not inflate my counter, but for some reason the update pages don't reflect new comments sometimes. Just something that I'll have to figure out, I guess...
Wednesday, June 20, 2001
Itineraries
Today, I had to get out of the apartment. Not really a case of cabin fever so much as the fact that the apartment had paint removed from its tubs. Yes, that's right. The tenants before my sister and brother-in-law painted their bathtubs. O...kay. Anyway, whatever the paint remover was, the fumes from it were noxious. So I had to vacate the premises or risk a massive headache.
First I tried riding my brother-in-law's bike around town. Viera is one of those places where bike riding around town is not only safe, but commonplace. I was going to ride up to the grocery store and get a couple of things. However, the bike's tires were somewhat flat, so I didn't get that far. I didn't want to damage them, so I turned around and headed back. After I put the bike away, I decided to go to the beach. I hadn't done that yet on the trip, and I always like to see the ocean at least once when I come down here. So I made the trip over to A1A and drove to Satellite Beach. I didn't really do much there...got in the water for a second, found a shell, did some thinking.
I came back to the apartment to find the fumes, while still present, much more conducive to staying indoors. So that's what I did.
Tomorrow, I'm going to lay out again...my initial attempt has turned from pink to extremely light tan, so I'm ready for another round. I might actually swim a little too...haven't done much of that yet. Tomorrow afternoon, after Mike gets home from work, we're going to play soccer with some of his co-workers. This has the potential to be bad...
Tuesday, June 19, 2001
Movie stuff
I've watched a couple of movies while I've been down here. The latest is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; you can find my take on it in the runner. I've also seen Cast Away, a movie that I thought was slightly overrated. It was good, but I don't know. Afterwards, my sister and brother-in-law debated over whether 4 1/2 years was enough to make someone begin treating a volleyball as their best friend. I personally don't think so. But then again, I've never been stranded on a desert island for 4 1/2 years.
Sunday, June 17, 2001
The folly of censoring C.S. Lewis
The folly of censoring C.S. Lewis
I don't know about you, but the Chronicles of Narnia were some of my favorite stories growing up. I've read each of the books at least four times, and the stories are wonderful in that they are great adventures.
However, now it appears that Harper Collins publishers want to remove the Christianity from these books and republish them. I don't understand this. The author makes some good points in the article...allow me to make a couple of connections.
He mentions that they would like to remove the fundamental Christian subtexts from these works. This is wrong for many reasons. First, any revised version is not the way Lewis intended the works to be read. He obviously wrote them that way for a reason. Secondly, the writer of the article is right...removing these subtexts reduces the books to really nothing more than comics. They become commonplace. One of the best things about these works is the very fact that they can be read on different levels!
But the point of this is to capitalize on the revival of kids reading books, the way led by the Harry Potter series. Hm, I wonder...would J. K. Rowling object to the removal of all things witch in these books? After all, there are people who are offended by such things, and who would not read or buy the books as a result. But that's the whole point of the books, you protest. What's the big deal about Harry and his friends if that part of the story's not there?
My point exactly.
There are so many grounds that I'm opposed to this on that it would really be long-winded of me to write them all down. But one of the most glaring is that if Harper Collins publishes these books under the pretense of not offending anyone, they will have effectively stripped away the essence of the books, leaving only an empty hull of an adventure tale.
Thursday, June 14, 2001
Indoor golf
It seems like it's been raining a lot since I've been down here. Every time I want to go out and do something outside, it seems like it starts thundering. Oh well, I guess that I shouldn't really complain. After all, I've always got Jack Nicklaus 5 in here to keep me company. I've been playing around with trying to design my own holes; the game comes with a course designer. It's tough to translate what you want in your mind to what's on the screen in a way that looks good and plays fair. So I've only finished one hole so far. :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Seasons in the sun
I don't like sunbathing that much. It's just not fun to me, because I can't do anything but lie there. I've tried reading a book, but positioning oneself for concurrent optimal reading comfort and effective body coverage is pretty much impossible. So I don't sunbathe very often.
Well, after getting home and having my mother ask me if I've spent my last few months underground, I decided to bite the bullet and do it. So this morning, after coating my sunburned areas liberally, I went out and laid out there for an hour. Half an hour on each side. That's probably about all the sun I can handle at a time right now without turning myself into a giant lobster.
It wasn't that bad, I guess, but I still feel like I didn't really do much of anything. Then again, I didn't really do much of anything yesterday, either...
Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Wouldn't you know...
Today, every time I wanted to get outside and do something, it started raining. I finally just gave up on it and stayed indoors.
I found out last night that my brother-in-law made it into the master's program at Georgia Tech. He'll be taking courses via distance education while he works down here. This is not a surprise at all. Mike's a very smart guy. Had to be...he married my sister. :)
Monday, June 11, 2001
Interesting web stat
I subscribe to a weekly e-mail newsletter that talks about all things Net, and reading it this afternoon, I came across an interesting statistic. Of course, we all know that 41% of statistics are made up on the spot. :) Furthermore, it's even tougher to determine an accurate statistic about online things because of the very nature of the Net itself. But I can buy this one. See what you think.
CNN just released a study that suggests over 50% of the total time users spend online is dominated by only four companies - AOL/Time Warner, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Napster, in that order.
I'd provide links, but we all already know the addresses, don't we?
Quick updates
A couple of things:
First, I received my diploma. I have my closure. :)
I'm also growing my goatee again. This might just be a temporary thing (in fact, given the upcoming wedding that I'm participating in, it's almost certainly a temporary thing), but I figured, why not? I'm on vacation.
Sunday, June 10, 2001
Back to Florida
Once again, my travels have led me to Viera, Florida, where my sister and brother-in-law live. I drove down here today with them, going through a couple of monsoons along the way.
My goal for the trip, according to my sister, is to find a golf club that is a good bargain and fun to play. I haven't been able to secure funding yet for this task. :)
Thursday, June 7, 2001
The big 5-0
My father turns 50 today. To celebrate, he's going to take a half-day off. It's the first time off that he's had in five years.
My father is one of the hardest-working people that I know. I doubt that I know every sacrifice that he made for me, but I do know of some. One of the biggest was the time that he worked in another state during the week and drove down on the weekends to see us because he didn't want my sister and I to have to move during our high school years.
He means a lot to me as a father and as a role model. I hope that he knows that. Happy 50th, dad.
Wednesday, June 6, 2001
College closure
I still haven't received my last bill from Alabama. Until I get my bill, I can't pay it. Until I pay my bill, I won't receive my diploma. Until I get my diploma, I won't have closure. I want closure, man!
Monday, June 4, 2001
Sporadic
I realize that recently I haven't updated as much as I normally do. Winding down from moving has seen to that. To catch up: I've played three rounds of golf (and done miserably all three times), done some yard work (and became sunburned in the process), and probably watched more television than I did all last semester. Not a whole lot.
Soon I will start thinking about traveling around some. My sister and brother-in-law are coming up this weekend, so I may follow them back down to Florida.