Sunday, December 31, 2017

New Year's Eve

Will and Mary-Clayton had a fun time in Nashville this week.
Today they spent most of the day in the Nashville airport
before boarding their flight to LAX.
Anna's longtime high school friend Josh Moran walked onto the UGA football team, and will be on the sidelines tomorrow in Pasadena.
Last night at the wedding I took a couple of pictures before my phone battery died. Below are the Halls: Andrew (a sophomore at UGA), Noelle, Reid, and Nathan (a senior at Pope). 
Today the Rams wore their throwback uniforms (below).
So did the Bills and Dolphins.
Next year the Titans and Jaguars debut new new uniforms.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

The Year of Weddings

Tonight we attended the first of at least six weddings in the coming year. Dates are approximate.

12.30 Josh Watkins & Maggi Adams in Roswell GA
02.17 Charles Norman & Annie Blass in Roswell GA
04.28 Zane Rollins & Laura Carrell in SC
06.02 Anna Gilbert & Zack Anello at Indigo Falls GA
12.16 Bethany Watkins & Ryan Austin near East Cobb
00.00 Sarah Murphy & Kyle Norton TBD

Three weddings are family related. Two are the sons of friends from college. The Watkins are longtime family friends.


Friday, December 29, 2017

Thrift Stores

Thrift stores come and go, especially the smaller independent stores. In the past few years Goodwill has aggressively expanded and upgraded their stores. Here’s a list of current stores I “frequent” (along with something I’ve bought at that store. With the long hours I’ve been putting in a work, I’ve bought less at thrift stores this year than in several years.  

Goodwill Atlanta Buford Hwy bobblehead
Goodwill Atlanta Northside Dr Nikes
Goodwill Augusta North shirt
Goodwill Augusta Southwest jersey
Goodwill Augusta Washington Rd bobblehead

Goodwill Buckhead Piedmont & I-85 bobbleheads
Goodwill Buckhead Roswell Rd bobblehead  
Goodwill Buford packers jacket
Goodwill Conyers bobblehead
Goodwill Covington bobblehead

Goodwill Cumming McFarland Rd golf shoes
Goodwill Duluth Pleasant Hill cap
Goodwill Dunwoody Perimeter Mall slacks
Goodwill East Cobb Lower Roswell slacks
Goodwill East Cobb Shallowford Rd warmups

Goodwill Johns Creek Old Milton & Jones Bridge sneakers
Goodwill Kennesaw crocs
Goodwill Lugoff SC joe Montana jersey
Goodwill Macon Northwest Columbia shirt
Goodwill Marietta Big Chicken pants

Goodwill Monroe NC sneakers
Goodwill Norcross Spaulding & 141 sneakers
Goodwill Roswell Holcomb Bridge & Nesbit Ferry sneakers
Goodwill Roswell Mansell & Alpharetta Hwy sneakers
Goodwill Sandy Springs Roswell Rd & Abernathy sneakers

Atlanta Union Mission Marietta Big Chicken sneakers
Park Ave Duluth PIB & Pleasant Hill sneakers
Park Ave East Cobb sneakers
Salvation Army Duluth fine art
Salvation Army Roswell sneakers
Value Village Conyers bobblehead
Value Village Marietta Big Chicken sneakers
Value Village Roswell Alpharetta Hwy sneakers

More Christmas

Desperate for a sweater to wear on Christmas,
I found this beauty at Park Avenue for half price: two bucks.
More Christmas videos: the parade of sweaters.

My phone crashed while I was taping
the annual Twelve Days of Christmas video,
just like the commercial. Here's the end of it.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

2017 Letter

Dear Friends,

Our family wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas. It is out hope and prayer that you can experience the true meaning of Christmas this year, giving thanks to God the Father for the Gift of His Son Jesus Christ. We hope this season finds you in good health, with family close by if not in proximity then in spirit. We have much to be thankful for in 2017.

We celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in September. We were able to take a rare weeklong vacation alone together to Destin in June, only to be chased inland by tropical storm Cindy halfway through the week. In July we had our annual Miller family beach trip to North Myrtle Beach, with almost fifty aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and friends coming and going.   

Matthew turned 19 in October. We celebrated his birthday with a family get-together in Athens. He finished high school this year. He continues to play music at house shows and other venues around town, including a concert at Georgia Tech. Matthew has worked at Whole Foods for over a year. For the first time in years he’s been able to find a diet that gives him energy while minimizing sniffles and colds. This year Matthew adopted Pluto, a grey cat who eventually warmed up to the entire family (except Barney). Having a cat prompted Matthew to move to the downstairs bedroom. He converted his old bedroom into a music studio, that doesn’t seem to bother the neighbors.

Anna turned 21 in August, which was cause for another family celebration in Athens (halfway between Atlanta and Augusta). She is a junior at UGA, and she’s loving it. Anna moved from her sorority house to a rental house on Milledge Avenue with six friends. She interns at Grace Athens church, cuts hair on the side, designs t-shirts, and takes portraits. She spent her second summer as a counselor at Camp Highland in the north Georgia mountains. Anna spent spring break in Florida and road tripped to St. Simons Island for the Georgia/Florida game.

Will and Mary-Clayton celebrated their first anniversary, and had a busy year in Augusta. Will finished most of his classwork by the end of the summer and began rotations in a general practice, the emergency room, and in surgery. They road tripped to New England, camping and hiking in Maine and catching a game at Fenway. They both went on mission trips: Will to Peru and MC to Washington with the high school kids at First Presbyterian. Will & MC also took separate trips to Texas. Will worked at The Masters shuttling dignitaries, and they rented out their spare bedroom for the week. They enjoy taking Okie for a swim in the Savannah River or Augusta Canal.

Ceil loves her job teaching art to kindergarteners and first-graders. Her classes have expanded from two to three days a week at two different schools. Ceil took more trips to Jefferson to spend time with her mother.

Dave enjoyed a less-stressful year at work, his 30th with the same company. He ran his 30th Peachtree Road Race, again accompanied by Will. Dave continues many of his same old routines, attending a dozen Braves games with various friends (Ceil even went!) and selling on eBay. Dave also made more trips down to Macon to see his parents.

Barney loves to play with his younger/larger/stronger cousin Okie, though Barney is thoroughly worn out afterward. His new goal in life is to meet Matthew’s cat Pluto. So far they’ve only seen each other through the window. Ol’ Barn is just now starting to show his age, sleeping off particularly active days downstairs by himself. His eyes aren’t what they used to be, though he’s still expert at catching popcorn in his mouth.

With the kids spending less and less time at home, we’re slowly trying to rediscover life as a couple. We joined a challenging Bible Study. In the winter we took a class on Wednesday nights, and during the summer took a dance class with friends.

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Apology

Just when you relax and think social media is your friend, it knifes you in the back. Sure, social media makes like more convenient. Even as an old guy I can see that. But you can never let your guard down. Like real life, you’d better watch who you associate with. I’m going to beat around the bush and ramble a little before getting to the main point. First let me review:

Facebook: I have lots of friends. It’s easy to keep up with what everyone is doing with a quick scroll. All my Twitter posts (mostly jokes) also post on Facebook. Sometimes I’ll also post my Instagram posts on Facebook, if I’m in a generous mood. Perhaps I should wish people happy birthday on Facebook, but I rarely do. If I really cared, I’d call them or send them something more personal. I also rarely like other’s posts. I’d rather keep as low a profile as possible. I’m weird that way.

Instagram: I have fewer followers, and follow fewer people. Less scrolling. People post pictures of other people, and themselves. I admit, I’m more of a loner. I consider Instagram a place I can be creative, posting interesting pictures. I’m tempted to post pictures of bobbleheads and shoes, and ballparks I visit. I try to be me.

Twitter: again, I don’t follow many. A place to get Braves info from beat writer Dave O’Brien, a little politics from a radio host (I forget his name). Christian insight from Andy, Louie, and a few others. Old school sports photographs. My NBA friend. And a few funny people: Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, a few professional comedy writers, and a few other funny people I’ve met along the way. 

Occasionally I will retweet someone I know. Before retweeting someone I’m not familiar with, I’ll click on their account and check them out. Sometimes the stranger is profane, and I won’t retweet. Sometimes someone’s retweet isn’t really something I like seeing on my Twitter feed.

A few years ago I joined a bobblehead group on Facebook. The great thing is that all my regular friends don’t have to put up with all my bobblehead posts. A few of my bobblehead friends have become regular friends: we’re comfortable sharing our lives with each other. Being friends helps up better communicate with each other. Some of these “friendships” have also bled over to Instagram and Twitter. Some are Christians. Some aren’t. One is agnostic. I’d like to think relationships like these could lead to conversations about God.

Any time you connect with someone, you learn more about them. Some constantly post political rants. Some like photos and accounts you’d rather not see. One bobblehead acquaintance asked to connect with me, so now I see his bobbhehead posts on my feed. That’s ok. There’s a separate “suggestion” section where you see posts that people you’re connected with like. Distant relatives, if you will. Here I’ve noticed this bobblehead dude liking accounts I’d rather not be associated with.

On Instragram these likes don’t show on my main feed – but on Twitter they do. So what I like shows on the feeds of the people that follow me. Whereas Facebook exists the masses, youngsters theses days spend more time on Instagram and Snapchat. Twitter seems caught in the middle. People made up accounts and connected with me, but it seems like many might spend more time on Facebook or Instagram (but what do I know). Still I know from occasional likes that a few close friends are still on Twitter: Don, Lang, Rob, Travis, and Bill and his wife to name a few. Not sure about my kids and their cousins.

Follow a lot of people, and don’t check your Twitter for a while, and you “miss” a lot. Not sure if others take the time to scroll through everything they miss. Seems like a tough task when you follow a couple hundred people (I only follow fifty, and my feed is cluttered).

As you scroll Twitter and Facebook on your phone, if you’re not careful you might “like” something by accident. Most of the time that’s not the worst thing – everyone likes to get likes. But you might accidentally like someone’s political post you disagree with. Or something worse. And if you like something on Facebook or Twitter – even if you immediately “unlike” it, that record of your like is out there for all to see. So you’d better be careful. That’s what happened to me.

I check Facebook and Instagram more than I check Twitter. But Sunday while cooking I was checking Twitter, scrolling down my feed. At one point I set my phone down on the counter while I tended to the panini press. Then I reached over for my phone. My thumb hit the display, and I noticed I had swiped a photograph, changing the screen. I swiped back. To my horror, someone I barely knew had liked an obscene photograph or video or something, and my thumb had hit the like button. Just great.

I quickly unliked it. I’d never seen someone like something that obscene on my feed. The fault was mine, for several reasons. For not being careful, for sure. But mostly for associating with strangers in an unsafe place. What could I do? Who saw that I liked it?

Later I noticed my follower total had decreased by one person. I’m not sure who. I looked at my 103 followers, for the first time in a long time. Who are they? I listed them, and realized I didn’t know two-thirds of them – 60-70 people.

What about the people I follow, whose content (and likes) I allow on my feed? How well do I know them? I purposely follow people of both political persuasions, both Christians and non-Christians. For the most part I know where they are coming from, what they bring to the table, and take it with a grain of salt. On some I like to read people’s reactions to their posts, to see if people are agreeing, challenging them, or just hollering at them.

Is all this worth spending time on social media?  You know, some people aren't on social media. They seem to be doing just fine. A question for another day. But if you unfortunately received an eyeful because of me, I sincerely apologize. I was wrong. Know that I feel terrible. I have to be more careful in the future – especially who I allow in to my social media circle.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Anna & the Christmas Sweaters

A week or so ago I learned we'd all be wearing tacky sweaters to Christmas lunch this year. By then most of the stores and internet sites were mostly sold out. I shopped at six different stores and fought a suitable garment, knowing it would be hard to compete. 
After Matthew and I arrived at 10:30 Sunday night
Anna had found her award-winning jumper, which had been hand-made by Ceil long before Anna had been born.
Above: the best dressed family award went to Chase, Grant, Deb, & Dic.
As usual, the kids sang The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Close up: Ceil hand-painted the tree,
with ornaments attached with velcro.
In Cartersville Will and MC celebrated at the Gilberts,
with Rose Bowl tickets and gear.
Above: Zane and Laura are getting married in April.
Below: Anna and Matthew.
Below: Ben, Katherine, Kelly, Rusty, and Jordan.
Anna paired her Vans sneakers with her Christmas jumper.
Joan displayed all her Christmas carolers.
Here are some of them.
Last week Ceil made another batch
of homemade paintbrush cookies for her art classes.

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Best Bowl Matchups

The bowl games ranked by lowest total Saragin Rating. Of course the two playoff games top the list. A surprise at number nine: the Camping World Bowl.

The average bowl game pits two teams each with a ranking of 42nd in the country. In other words: unless your team is playing, there are a whole bunch of unwatchable bowl games.

Highlighted: the games I just might watch, depending on the time and day it comes on.

313 Celebration Bowl 168 Grambling v 145 NC A&T
281 Cure Bowl 127 W Kentucky v 154 Georgia State
212 Arizona Bowl 84 Utah State v 128 New Mexico State
191 Camellia Bowl 105 Middle Tenn v 86 Arkansas State
189 Gasparilla Bowl 78 Temple v 111 Florida Intl
186 Bahamas Bowl: #119 UAB vs #67 Ohio
172 Potato Bowl 87 Central Michigan v 85 Wyoming 
172 Frisco Bowl: #71 SMU vs #101 Louisiana Tech
169 New Orleans Bowl: #72 Troy vs #97 North Texas
166 New Mexico Bowl 89 Marshall v 77 Colorado State
163 Boca Raton Bowl 106 Akron v 57 Florida Atlantic
133 Independence Bowl 30 FSU v 103 Southern Miss
131 Military Bowl: #62 Navy vs #69 Virginia
126 Dollar General Bowl 50 Toledo v 76 Appalachian St
119 Armed Forces Bowl 64 Army v 55 San Diego State
114 Hawaii Bowl: #56 Fresno State vs #58 Houston
106 Quick Lane Bowl: #38 Duke vs #68 Northern Illinois

85 Cactus Bowl: #51 UCLA vs #34 Kansas State
84 Foster Farms Bowl: #49 Arizona vs #35 Purdue
84 Music City Bowl: #65 Kentucky vs #19 Northwestern
74 Texas Bowl: #28 Texas vs #46 Missouri
74 Belk Bowl: #29 Wake Forest vs #45 Texas A&M
80 Heart of Dallas Bowl: #37 Utah vs #43 West Virginia
69 Las Vegas Bowl: #36 Boise State vs #33 Oregon
64 Sun Bowl: #24 NC State vs #40 Arizona State
63 Outback Bowl 21 Michigan v 42 South Carolina
57 Liberty Bowl: #26 Iowa State vs #31 Memphis  
54 Pinstripe Bowl: #22 Iowa vs #32 Boston College
52 Holiday Bowl 27 Washington St v 25 Michigan St
43 TaxSlayer Bowl 23 Louisville v 20 Mississippi St
31 Camping World Bowl 17 Virginia Tech v 14 OK State
28 Citrus Bowl: #10 Notre Dame vs #18 LSU
24 Peach Bowl: #8 Auburn vs #16 Central Florida
23 Alamo Bowl: #11 Stanford vs #12 TCU
22 Orange Bowl: #7 Wisconsin vs #15 Miami
17 Cotton Bowl: #13 USC vs #4 Ohio State
15 Fiesta Bowl: #6 Penn State vs #9 Washington
08 Rose Bowl #5 Oklahoma vs #3 Georgia
03 Sugar Bowl #2 Clemson vs #1 Alabama

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Baseball Glove Wallets

In 2010 a father and son started a part time business repairing baseball gloves. They send old clothes to Leather Works Minnesota to sew into wallets. Cool wallets. I've ranked them from best to worst. 

Frank Robinson Triple Crown
Pete Rose Rawlings
Rawlings Holdster
Hank Aaron 715
Willie Mays
Alvin Dark
Catfish Hunter
Early Wynn
JC Higgins Don Blasingame
Mike Schmidt Rawlings
Fred Lynn Wilson
Mike Piazza
Ivan Rodriquez Wilson
Rawlings logo
Preshaped Model
Dwight Gooden
Catch A Hit
Wilson Logo
Lance Parrish
Rawlings no logo
Flex Action
Holiday
Double Play
Hawthorne Montgomery Ward
KMart K Leaguer

Sold Out:
Harmon Killebrew Wilson
Ken Griffey Junior Finest in the Field
Reggie Jackson Rawlings
Minnesota Twins
Andre Dawson Wilson
Wilson Boss
Made in USA

Friday, December 22, 2017

Game Night

Now that it's nearly Christmas, I finally figured out what I wanted for a present. What's more traditional than socks and a wallet?
Wednesday: worked until six last night (actually 5:50). Mailed some letters on the way home. Need to do some shopping but due to the rain I went straight home.

Was headed down the hill to the river on Eves Road when a car turned left in front of me, then decided to stop in the middle of the road right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, but since I was going down a hill on wet pavement naturally I skidded. I tapped my horn but had to keep both hands on the wheel so I wouldn’t slide all over the road. For a long second I thought I wouldn’t be able to stop in time. Finally the car continued on into the school driveway, but it was like they never saw or heard me. For the rest of the way home it seemed like I kept encountering bad driver after bad driver.

C cooked baked chicken, kidney beans, rice, green beans with potatoes, and small potatoes in a cheese sauce. Both M and Anna ate with us again. Tonight Will joins us. We watched Gomer Pyle and Pitch Perfect, a movie Ceil likes. 

Sometimes I think every day is a Monday for me. Two team members are off today and a third leaves at lunch. Spent all morning fiddling with a report. I’ve cleared off a bunch but I have a lot of filing to do.

We got two days off for Christmas and two for New Years. The days depend on the calendar. This year we get off the 25th and 26th, and Friday the 29th and 1st. Never the second, unless the first is on a Thursday.

Thursday: Will made it to our house before 5 pm, so I left shortly after five to be with everyone. Got home and no one was there. Anna had gone to the Avalon to see Emily, and C, M, and W went to the grocery store. They are got home soon. W and M cooked fish tacos. Also tofu tacos and chicken tacos. After supper we played a board game with a deck of playing cards, where you had to get five cards in a row on the board. We played until 11:30, when MC and Okie arrived.

Today C, Anna, and Barney drive to SC. W&MC head to Cartersville. Tonight and tomorrow I shop and clean.

Drew Kelly was all over that Wofford/UNC game. He is a Wofford grad. Guess I’ll need to bug him about Wofford the rest of the year. If they can beat GT and NC, they should go undefeated in conference, right?

17 years ago Dec 21 was a Saturday. I had worked the day before, wearing a green J crew shirt, charcoal khakis from L.L.Bean, and j crew loafers. I might still have those loafers. That Friday we had our Christmas lunch at work. C cooked pizza for dinner, and we went shopping. Saturday we ate hot dogs. Sunday after church at North Point the five of us ate at El Porton, and for dinner we had chicken & dumplings. The Falcons played the Lions.

Bowl Picks 2 of 2


12.27 Independence: #30 FSU (-14-1/2, lost coach) vs #103 Southern Miss

12.27 Pinstripe: #22 Iowa (-3) vs #32 Boston College. Prep school boys can't handle the farm boys.

12.27 Foster Farms: #49 Arizona (-3-1/2) vs #35 Purdue. Smell another upset here.

12.27 Texas: #28 Texas vs #46 Missouri (-3). Might be a tie.

12.28 Military: #62 Navy (-3-1/2) vs #69 Virginia

12.28 Camping World: #17 Virginia Tech vs #14 OK State (-6-1/2).
Hokies can't keep up with Cowboys.

12.28 Alamo: #11 Stanford vs #12 TCU (-2-1/2)

12.28 Holiday: #27 Washington State vs #25 Michigan State (-3)

12.29 Belk: #29 Wake Forest (-3) vs #45 Texas A&M: fired coach.
Not sure the Aggies will show.

12.29 Sun: #24 NC State (-6-1/2) vs #40 Arizona State

12.29 Music City: #65 Kentucky vs #19 Northwestern (-8)

12.29 Arizona: #84 Utah State vs #128 New Mexico State (-3-1/2)

12.29 Cotton: #13 USC vs #4 Ohio State (-6-1/2). After missing out on the playoff, will the Buckeyes show up?

12.30 TaxSlayer: #23 Louisville (-6-1/2) vs #20 Mississippi State: lost coach & QB

12.30 Liberty: #26 Iowa State vs #31 Memphis (-3-1/2). 

12.30 Fiesta: #6 Penn State (-2-1/2) vs #9 Washington

12.30 Orange: #7 Wisconsin (-6-1/2) vs #15 Miami. Canes continue to slide.

<![if !supportLists]>1.01   <![endif]>Outback: #21 Michigan (-7-1/2) vs #42 South Carolina.
Wolverines will be too much for Cocky.

1.01 Peach: #8 Auburn (-9-1/2) vs #16 UCF: lost coach. UCF wants to finish undefeated, but Auburn will beat them in their sleep.

1.01 Citrus: #10 Notre Dame vs #18 LSU (-3).
Bayou Bengals peaking at the right time, but their best player is sitting out.

1.01 Rose: #5 Oklahoma vs #3 Georgia (-1). Hoping for the Heisman jinx (a.k.a the UGA defense)

1.01 Sugar: #2 Clemson vs #1 Alabama (-2). Tigers peaking at the right time. Long day for Jalen Hurts.

1.08 Championship: Georgia vs Clemson. Dawg D shuts down Tiger offense.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Two Facts One Lie

No matter how hard I try I never seem to be able to get out of the office before 6 pm. Stopped by Target and TJMaxx. Didn’t find a tacky Christmas t-shirt but did find a Star Wars Chewbacca jumpsuit.

Arrived fashionably late to our Sunday School Christmas party – but everyone else had arrived on time and were finishing up their meal. Later on we played Two Fact One Lie, then sang Christmas carols and shared prayer requests.

After playing “Two Facts, One Lie” last night, I learned I need to be better prepared. Here are some amazing facts and lies:

Carried the Olympic torch.
Played baseball with Joe Pepitone.  
Kicked the game-winning field goal in my high school state championship game.

Impersonated Elvis
Sang King Tut - on roller skates - in front of a thousand people.
Sang with Up With People (the national anthem).

Swallowed a goldfish.
Sang in the Air Force Academy cathedral.
Performed stand-up comedy at the Punch Line.

Hit a golf ball on Turner Field.
Was once hit by a moving car.
Fell off a 40 foot ladder (from the second rung).

Was visited in the hospital by Bob “Gilligan” Denver.
In college I dressed like Gilligan every day for a week. No one noticed.
Was bitten by a poisonous snake.

Weighed 160 pounds as a high school senior.
Took me over 6 hours to get home during Snowmageddon.
Was stuck in an elevator for four hours.

Kicked a football in front of a sold-out crowd in the Georgia Dome.
Won a trip to LA for the debut of MC Hammer’s “Too Legit to Quit”  
Selected as a contestant on The Price is Right game show.

Was knocked unconscious on the football field.
Thomas Jefferson is a distant ancestor.
At Tech I performed as Buzz, the costumed mascot.

I’ve watched the movie “You’ve Got Mail” over one hundred times.
Comic strip character Mark Trail was based on my Uncle John Wayt.
Made a half-court shot at a GT basketball game. Won a year’s supply of Coca-Cola, which was delivered to my apartment all at one time.

I have a list of every sporting event I’ve attended since 1977.
In the movie “Charlie’s Angels” the role of Charlie was voiced by Bill Murray.
While in the gallery of the BellSouth Classic, Paul Azinger fired his caddy and picked me out of the crowd to carry his bag the rest of the round.

Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States.
Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.
While on midnight patrol in the Solomon Islands my PT Boat was split in half by a Japanese battleship.

Ate Log Cabin syrup in my father’s Lincoln.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Dan Cathy: Superman?

Interesting that CFA fed five thousand people at the airport. In fact they only started with five loaves of bread and three chickens.

Chickfila opens on Sunday to help out at the airport. The pictures showed them pulling wrapped sandwiches from the big black square stay-hot travel pouches, so they probably made them at a Hapeville location. Possibly the original Dwarf House on Virginia Avenue or even at corporate headquarters, which is just across 285 from the airport. The article said Dunkin Donuts also handed out donuts. 

The airport thanked CFA, then the media reported what CFA did. CFA wasn’t tooting their own horn. But still people complain, like that every single person on every concourse and every stranded plane weren’t given free CFA. And that some are allergic to the peanut oil it’s fried in. Some complained they had to go without food for seven hours. Unless you are diabetic, that shouldn’t really be a problem for most people. An inconvenience for sure. Some people are gonna be unhappy no matter what you do. Thanks goodness the emergency wasn’t worse – a massive earthquake, the power grid going down for months, or a nuclear attack from South Korea.

Recently Twitter was tooting the horn of a corporate watchdog magazine that published a list of the 100 most customer friendly corporations, and CFA wasn’t on it. Starbucks and Apple made it, mostly because of the global warming initiatives they support. But I didn’t hear anything about Starbucks handing out coffee at the airport yesterday.  

With nothing to bring for lunch today, I had a coworker pick up a CFA sandwich.


Of course, people were complaining about the Matt Kemp trade as well – a win/win for both teams. The Braves opened up a spot for rookie sensation Acuna, got a Gold Glove caliber backup SS/2B/OF, and one or two pitchers they didn’t have previously, while freely up money for 2019 that they previously didn’t have.  


Tackling the ball instead of the runner - so dumb to try and cause a fumble. Maybe the second guy can do that, but the first guy better go for the tackle. Only exception might be when a guy is running for a touchdown. Inside the ten yard line the momentum is going to take the ballcarrier into the end zone anyway, so why no try and punch the ball out like the Bills Don Beebe did to the Cowboys Leon Lett in the Super Bowl so long ago.

But respected defensive coordinators like Dan Quinn and Kirby Smart teach tackling the ball. One of the key plays in this last Super Bowl was the fourth quarter Tom Brady pass that was batted into the air, and the Pats receiver made the miraculous catch while lying on the ground surrounded by three Falcons. Asked if the Falcon defenders should’ve knocked the ball down instead of going for the interception, Quinn said his defenders were taught to do what they did – go for the turnover. In the old days defensive backs were taught to bat the ball down.

In 2015 Auburn came back to beat Georgia on the miraculous pass that the UGA defender went for the interception instead of knocking the ball down. Instead the ball bounced off the defenders hands further downfield – right into the hands of the Auburn receiver for the game-winning touchdown.

Another close lucky win for the Falcons. They may be living right, but it would be no surprise to anyone who’s paying attention – the Falcons could lose to both the Saints in New Orleans as well as the Panthers in the season finale. The defensive linemen get worn down and are too tired at the end of the game. That’s something else that’s changed about football. Linemen used to weigh 250-270 pounds. Now they’re 300 pounds. Harder to maintain conditioning at that weight.

Linebackers are a chiseled 240-250 pounds, faster and stronger than the Nobis’s and Butkis’s of yesteryear. They hit harder, causing more injuries to themselves and others.

Speaking of fumbles, last night Devonte Freeman was gaining ten yards at a pop (because . Seems like players play harder on Monday Night Football, thinking their peers are watching. I bet most NFL players don’t watch MNF, TNF, or SNF. Instead they’re out partying, playing video games, and studying for their next game. But at least twice Freeman fumbled – once just before tumbling into the end zone for a touchdown. That had to kill him, and then a couple of possessions later he fumbled again.

Left work at six and stopped by North Point Mall. Didn’t find what I was looking for. Got four more stores to check.

Mexican for dinner last night. Both Anna and Matthew were there. M was strumming on his guitar, and we all played various songs we thought about: Amie by Pure Prairie League, Secret Agent Man, the Beach Boys, and others. Didn’t finish up until 9 pm. Flipped back and forth between the game and Barney’s favorite movie: You’ve Got Mail (he knows all the scenes the dog is in).  

Sunday School Christmas party tonight, not too far from our house.