Slow Past Few Days and Thoughts on Grad School

I realized that it has been a good while since I last updated, and that most people don't want the first thing they see when they get on my blog is the Full House gang. So here is a picture from After Graduation 2003. My old friend Sam(on the right) recently added it on Facebook, and frankly, I just needed a picture to move Danny, Jesse, and Joey further down the page. I was a straight balla in high school(or so I thought when this picture was taken). Samantha and the guy in the back, my boy Tooley, are now married, and the girl in the middle, Constance, got married a few weeks after this picture was taken and now lives with her hubby on an Army base in Hawaii. And yes, I did think I was that cool.

So this past weekend was fun for me. I love the NFL Draft, and luckily, I didn't work this weekend, so I got to watch most of it. My Packers did some great work. Since the weather was really warm, I also got in some great runs. Living where I live can be really frustrating, because there are no sidewalks near where I live, so I have to run in the road. But the lake is really close, so there is alot of RV and boat traffic. A 2-lane country road with no shoulder leaves me running in the tall grass too much for my liking. Hopefully it will calm down a little bit.

Church on Sunday was great. I have been checking out Campbellsville Baptist, and the message was exceptional. It was definitely the kind of sermon that every person in this town needs to hear, including me. The pastor spoke on unity in the Body of Christ. Campbellsville has had alot of issues with churches under cutting other churches, especially after the big church in town was rocked by a scandal with the pastor. And this town also has alot of racism still going around, and Shane talked about all of it in a very poignant, scripture filled way. It convicted me alot, because I know that I cut down other churches alot. I have been getting in scripture alot lately, and a message like that just really drives home alot of the points that God is showing me need to be fixed in my life.

This afternoon was fun, because I got to see me cousins Jordan and Hunter play baseball. Jordan is a senior, and Hunter a sophomore in high school, and they live a few counties over, but were in town to play Taylor County. They got embarrassed, but the two of them played well. I relate to the two of them more that anyone else in the extended family. Jordan even wants to go to WKU, but may have to wait, because his parents don't want him going to a public university. I'm thinking he will end up there, though.

As for my school situation, I have been looking into grad schools and the GMAT alot. My ideal situation would be to get on with TVA and go to UTC for grad school. If that falls through, I am looking at WKU, because they have a full-time, lock step program that gets you done in a year. It is a great program, and I would be done quickly. University of Florida also has a Masters in Entrepreneurship, but the school would be a little out of my reach money wise. I looked at other schools, but I am down to UTC and WKU, with UTC being my tops right now. I really want to be back in Chattanooga, and that would get me there the quickest.

Well thats all. Have an awesome week.

Bromance Fest 2009

This past weekend was Bromance Fest 2009. If the ominous picture wasn't enough of a give away about how goofy the three of us are together, the trip ended up being great. Ben, Joe, and I left BG around 8 am on Good Friday. We left early so we could get checked in to our hotel and get to Turner Field early for Opening Day festivities. It turned out that our early departure also helped us beat the deadly tornados that ripped through Murfreesboro. We got to the park a good hour plus before the gates were even open, and it turns out that there isn't much to do outside the park before gates open.

When we got in, we hit up the Clubhouse Shop and Ben and Joe picked up some Braves gear. We then spent a good amount of time looking for our seats. Ben found our tickets on Stubhub for 26 apiece. So we are thinking upper deck and actually walk to the upperdeck, only to go the wrong way and end up at the Casino Lounge. So Ben and I both looked at our tickets and thought we saw section 231, and when we found 231 saw that it only went up to Row 17, and we were in Row 21. So we walked down to the right field fence and watched BP for a little while. I asked an usher where we our seats were, and he pointed to the 6th row behind the right field foul pole. Turns out, Ben and I both read our tickets wrong, and we ended up with amazing seats. So as we are sitting there marveling at our awesomely cheap amazing seats, we start chatting up the family in front of us. While sitting there, some Japanese media members asked to talk to Ben and Joe about the Braves newest pitcher, Japanese star Kenshin Kawakami. They sent the camera crew to me because they didn't know much about him. I only know what I had read on the Braves website, which turned to be more than anyone else in the section knew. So after a few minutes of being interviewed, they interviewed the girl in front of us(who had to ask what to say). Any Japenese player brings a huge media following. Since Kawakami was such a big star in Japan and being the first Japanese player on the Braves big league roster, it was a big deal. Needless to say, I'm a big star in Tokyo. I spent the rest of the weekend waving at any person of Asian decent that we saw. Not sure if Ben and Joe liked it, but the fans call......just kidding.

The game turned out to be awesome. The Braves won in ten innings on a walk-off single. Derek Lowe made his home debut and Yunel Escobar hit a huge homerun.......unfortunately, there was a 2 1/2 hour rain delay after the 3rd inning, and we left, thinking that the game couldn't be resumed. We still had fun, though. The next day, we tried to go to World of Coke, but it was packed, so we decided to just head to the Varsity for lunch. I enjoyed it much more this go around. After lunch, we headed to Marietta to see Kristin, Ma and Pa Slug, and Mitzy. The Mardis family is pretty amazing, and Kristin's mom is incredibly hospitable. She always fixes cookies, so we knew we couldn't drive by Marietta without stopping in. After spending some quality hangout time, we headed to Chattanooga. We had wanted to have lunch with Reilly on our way through on Friday, but he was still sleeping after noon, so we were planning on meeting up on Saturday. Turns out that Saturday was the Falcon's birthday and they were having a big family dinner at Olive Garden. So we got to see the Falcon and Falconness, Reilly and ......girl......Chris and Lindsay Slaten, and the Walker parents and Liner parents. We only stopped in to say hi, and stayed maybe 20 minutes. Chuck wanted to swing by and say hi, so we met him and Gator in the parking lot for a few minutes to chat, which was great. After that, we drove back to BG to end Bromance Fest 2009. All in all, a great trip.

I went to Living Hope with Ben on Easter morning and the service was amazing. I love and respect the way the church is run, and I have so many people that I love to see there. I didn't see everyone I wanted to, but it was great. For lunch, Joe and I met up and went to Buffalo Wild Wings. After lunch, I went to the Nick for the WKU baseball game. I hate that I haven't been to many games since I left, so I couldn't leave town without going. WKU beat New Orleans 14-4. This is the best team WKU has had and they have all the pieces to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Afterwards, I stuck around to say hey to some of the guys. After standing around I heard a loud yell and Terrence Dayleg dropped his gear and ran over for a man hug. Terrence is a senior and a star shortstop. We got to be buddies as soon as he got the the Hill, and its always fun to see him. We stopped using names.....just going with "best friend" instead. I got to talk to all of the guys from the Bible study, which was awesome. I even got word from Wade that he won't be back for his senior year and will instead sign after he is drafted in June. In college baseball, if you play for an NCAA school(juco and NAIA not included) you cant be drafted until after your junior year. Wade has been a star since he got to the Hill, and I'm gonna hate to see him go. I spent an hour after the game hanging out and catching up with the guys, and will hopefully come back to BG for a week and take Chadcock up on his offer to crash with him and hang out with the guys for a weekend and catch more games. After I left, I headed back to C-Ville to resume normal life.

Other updates:24 was amazing this past Monday......word came out that Friday Night Lights, one of my favorite shows ever, will be back for 2 more seasons. It was uncertain if they would be picked up, but it is a done deal......I will be painting the city pool this week-woohoo!!!.....more posts to come later. Sorry this one was so long, but it happens. Have a blessed day.

A Day in the Life

So I have noticed that most of my posts lately have been about one particular thing. Either sports, work, family, working out, that kinda stuff. But here ya go-a day in the life.

Wake: Alarm goes off at 8:15 am. I wake up to Gabe Dixon's "All Will Be Well" off my phone. I usually roll around and complain to myself about needing to skip Jimmy Fallon at night and just sleep. Around 8:25 I open For the Love of God and start my daily devotional and Bible readings. As soon as I finish, my phone rings. I shouldn't be getting calls that early, so I knew who it must have been-Chuck. He thought I had died because he hadn't heard from me in a few days and he was wondering how the state of Big Blue Nation was with the hiring of Coach Cal. My response......."I think Jesus came back....." In all seriousness, aside from his questionable recruiting tactics, Coach Cal never breaks the rules, his players, coaches, and administrators love him, and he wins.

9 am: Don't worry, I won't give hourly updates on my day. Not enough goes on for that. I enjoy....well, enjoy may not be the right word.......but I tolerate a few soy sausage biscuits, scrumptulesant yogurt and orange juice. The UK press conference introducing Coach Cal is at 9:30, so I'm kinda waiting around for that. I hear my dad's phone ring. I know who it is-uncle Dan. He calls to make sure my dad is going to watch the press conference so he can update him while he is at work. We watch the press conference (which more people in Kentucky watched than the Super Bowl, I'm sure).

10 am-noon: I lounge around and stay busy. I clean a little bit, check the mower blades because I have to mow the next day, and basically wait on my dad. We go into town to run some errands. Not much exciting.

2pm-4pm:Not much after noon. But at 2 I checked out the Campbellsville University Job Fair. Now I have been to job fairs before and know that they can land you some great leads. This, however, was not one of those job fairs. There were 20 booths-4 branches of the military, 3 banks wanting you to open accounts, 8 advanced education booths offering to help you learn Microsoft Office and stuff like that, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Kroger's, Enterprise, and Aflac. That was it. So I met with Enterprise and Aflac, and the Aflac meeting went well. Learned alot about the company, had a good rapport, and may have gotten a lead. Not sure if it's anything I would have interest in, but it went really well.

4-5:15pm: Came home, changed, and started my latest Netflix movie-Fireproof. I'm overly critical of acting in films and on stage, and the christian film sector especially annoys me. Don't get me wrong, they must be done. They have a phenomenal message and touch alot of lives. The first night after my mom got back from her treatment last January we watched Facing the Giants, and it was great sharing that with her. But the quality usually isn't great. But Fireproof was much, much better. Kirk Cameron gets it and has some acting chops, and the script and other actors were much better. There were certain scenes that I laughed at because they were corny, but I really enjoyed what I saw of it.

5:30-8:30 pm:Went to my cousin Zach's freshman baseball game. Zach doesn't have an older brother, so I guess I kinda took up that. I took him to a WKU baseball game last year and we sat with the redshirted and injured guys who keep the charts and speed gun in the stands, and he was in awe. And he knew who they were, because some of them were the State Tourney MVP, Mr. Baseball runner-up, and big players in the state. So he has thought that I was pretty ok since I was friends with those guys. So I go check out all of his games and am right now helping him choose his plate music. He's only in 7th grade and starts at short and hits 2nd on the freshman team. Given, the team isn't good, but he has talent and potential. But when Zach isnt batting or getting anything in the field, I sit up in the stands and steal the other team's signs. One of the things that I picked up from working with the guys at WKU was how to steal signs. The coaches never talked about it, but the players not in the game would try to figure them out. It's all part of the game and a cool skill that won't be applicable for anything else in my life. Since the dugout is right near where I sit, if the game is out of reach I will motion to Zach what the signs are and he will see if I am right. If he is in the field, I will see him watch the 3rd base coach between pitches and just laugh because he knows what the signs are at that point. And it's easy for me because freshman coaches don't change it up and are usually obvious so as not to confuse their own players.

9pm-10:15pm: At home I did my daily workout (Plyometrics) and am really wiped.

10:15-11pm: Read for a little bit, watched some Fox News, and about to hit the hay.

So that is a day in the life of a bored Campbellsvillian(if that is how you spell it......looks more like I'm a villian from Campbellsville.....where is Ross to correct my grammar and spelling....)

Get your hands off our man, Kentucky!!!

Well the state is in limbo right now with the news that Billy Gillispie was let go by the University of Kentucky. Being a Gators guy, I immediately panicked over our main man, Billy Donovan (seen above). Donovan played college ball for Rick Pitino at Providence, played a little bit in the NBA, then worked on Wall Street in New York. But he missed basketball, and called his old coach for a job. Pitino was at UK then, so Donovan became the lowest coach on the totem pole. He worked his way up, and ended up getting the job at Marshall, before resurrecting that program and then going to Florida. He was considered the wrong man for the job shortly after his hire. But he led them to an improbable title game appearance against Michigan State, and eventually back to back National Titles.

But because he is so high profile and used to coach at UK, everyone and there mom claims to have spotted him in Lexington recently and that it was a done deal that he was coming. His wife reportedly was in Lexington looking at real estate, although at the exact same time she was in Gainesville on national television for the Gators NIT game. And then he was seen at the country club. And Donovan was spotted at Fazolis. And apparently he was leaving flowers at Adolph Rupp's grave. And then he was spotted buying royal blue ties from Men's Warehouse. No joke, these were the reports. WKYT out of Lexington showed a graphic of all the places fans had spotted him at in Lexington the last two days. It looked like Bigfoot was on the loose.

But Billy Donovan has always been a Pitino guy, and not so much a UK guy. He said in November when asked about UK that he loved his time there, but that he felt more connected to Louisville because Pitino is there. And news came out quickly that UK officials had contacted Billy Donovan's agents about the job. And then the rumor mill sped up. News even came out that he had resigned from Florida and was flying to Lexington......

BUT MY MAN BILLY CAME THROUGH. "In response to the rumors circulating about my interest in other jobs, I wanted to address this as quickly as possible. I am committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here." He came out quickly and turned the job down. If you wait around, recruits worry, boosters worry, fans worry. So he hit it quickly. I will admit that Florida has no where near the tradition that UK has. And as far as fan base, there is no fan base on any amateur level in the world that is as rabid and passionate as UK fans. After all, there are no real professional sports teams in Kentucky, and no other college team or program that has been successful, so basketball is all there is. I would compare the level of passion to European soccer. Florida is a football school, but Donovan is committed to making basketball right up there as well.

So thanks Billy Donovan. Glad to have you back.

The Knockout Blow

Since I have gotten back to Campbellsville, I have tried to be more conscious about what I eat and my workouts. I have more down time than normal, so I can focus on it more. I have started a new workout plan, and it is definitely kicking my butt. But the diet is always the hardest part for me. But as I have grown older, I have learned how to tolerate foods that I don't really like. Yesterday, I actually fixed a mushroom omelet. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but it was healthy, and I ate it. I have stopped mindless snacking during the day, instead going with nuts and celery, which I like.

Which takes me to Saturday. I was really excited for Saturday, because the Hilltoppers were playing Gonzaga in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. I had picked up some cashews, which I grew up eating and always loved. As I'm watching the UNC-LSU game, I'm just kinda snacking on them. And then I just got a brutal migraine. I don't really get bad headaches, but this was one of the worst that I have ever had. My face got really hot and red. And about five minutes later, I looked down, and both of my hands had swelled up like a guy who just finished an MMA fight. I knew immediately that my I was having an allergy attack. So I took the cashews upstairs, popped in some aspirin and allergy meds, and hit the sack. I missed the 2nd half of a great Carolina game, but did it so I could get some rest for the WKU-Gonzaga game. I woke up just in time for tip-off and got to watch the guys drop a heartbreaker on a last second lay-up. I really couldn't enjoy it, but stayed up for the game, and then went to bed.

The next day I talked to our neighbor and family friend Allen, who is in charge of the emergency medical services in town. His 3-year old daughter Jenna comes over to play all the time, so we know them all really well. I talked to him about it, and he thought that I was allergic to sea salt, which is now in all Planters peanuts. Since I last had cashews less than a year ago, he didn't think I could have developed the allergy in that short of time. So I went and got some non-sea salt cashews. As soon as the headache started coming back, I knew that it was cashews. So no more cashews for this guy. Luckily, I'm a big almonds fan.

Hopefully, I won't have any random allergies to new foods that I'm eating. The diet and new workouts should help me gear up for the Memphis Marathon in December, which I am focusing on. Now that I have my friend K-Lew running it as well, I know that I have to keep pushing it. Watch out Steve Prefontaine, I'm coming for ya.

The Time Has Come for #1

With the NCAA Tournament upon us, it is now time to reveal my favorite NCAA Tournament moment of all time. It's not really a surprise. This play made the phrase "Kick it to me" the coolest thing for elementary school ballers in Kentucky to say. So for those of you who have been waiting (mainly Joe, because I think he is the only one following), here you go. Sorry for the poor quality, but YouTube pulled alot of NCAA clips leading up to the tourney. But this one has a little music in it that you may like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfXGVnENqnE

And in the spirit of big shots, I am including this clip. I may be the only hardcore sports fan who missed this. If you hate sports, you still have to watch it. This is probably the funniest prank I have ever seen. If you dont watch anything else, watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI7AUgp5fPI

Lastly, GO TOPS!!!!

World Baseball Classic and NCAA Moment #2

USA 6-PUERTO RICO 5

So the World Baseball Classic has had a ton of criticism. It was started by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to try to expand the game globally. It is wildly popular in every country but the USA. And that blows my mind. I am jacked up about the Classic, but American media members continue to question the US player's heart and desire and will to play and win. They have been accused of not caring and rolling over to the Latin and Asian teams. Sure, the WBC does have its issues. It is played every 3 years and the whole tournament takes place during Spring Training. Pitchers are not in shape yet, and hitters havent seen much live pitching. And teams are worried about their players getting hurt there, while they could get hurt just as easily with their MLB team. In 2006, the USA finished 8th. Now a disclaimer:many teams, including Cuba, are filled with players who are midseason, so they are in better game shape. And that US team didnt care as much. It was mainly a team of big names without much concept of team.

Enter the 2009 crew. There were only a few players back from the 2006 team (including Chipper Jones and Derek Jeter). From day one, these guys said it meant alot. The American media still questioned them, especially after a 2nd round loss to Puerto Rico, leaving them one loss from going home before the semifinals. They rebounded to knock off the Netherlands, setting up a rematch with Puerto Rico, with the winner going to the semifinals, and the loser going home. It was an intense game, with both teams squandering scoring chances. The pitching was good for the most part, and the defense was outstanding. In the 9th, with the USA down 5-3, they went to work. Back to back singles got men on. After a flyout, a stolen base, and a walk, the bases were loaded with one out. Another walk brought home a run, making it 5-4. A double play could still end it. But David Wright (the guy in the picture) came up to the plate. He has been the most vocal American supporting the WBC and saying how important it is. In fitting fasion, he knocked a tough down and away slider for a single, scoring the tying and winning runs. The USA mobbed each other near 2nd base. Now every journalist says how much fun the USA is having, and how important it is to them. It had to be important enough before now, otherwise they would have gone home. But it was one of the games that I wont forget. And yes, I'm not the average fan, but the casual fan or just anyone would have been excited watching the team after the winning run came in. I can't wait for the semifinals.

And now we are on to NCAA Tournament Moment #2. I know many people probably arent following my choices, but I persevere regardless. This play was one of my earliest tournament memories. My dad actually called my school and told them I was sick so we could stay home and watch the games. And this happened. Enjoy #2. #1 comes tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZiJWVoQvJM