The Braves are playing 10 pm games this week in
Went swimming with Matthew last night. We also went to Kroger.
Found all these stamped envelopes in my desk that have been there for a while, so Will will be seeing a lot of weird envelopes and stamps soon.
Hope Will can get some rest when he comes home over the holiday weekend. he’ll get back late Saturday, then NP and PCC on Sunday, the Peachtree Monday morning, and whatever else he wants to do.
Pretty slow weekend…not much happened Friday night. Saturday morning I took Anna up to NP…she was in Bus 12 (out of 13). The A/C guy was finishing up when I got home. I just did some miscellaneous cleaning. That night I took C and M to Trader Joes to get orange chicken for supper. Matthew reboxed Harry Potter, and I watched the Braves beat up on SD 10-1. Ceil went to bed early Saturday, after napping in the afternoon.
Sunday was good. Andy used an OT passage to say how we shouldn’t question God’s methods. Next week he’s preaching “God & Our Country”, what NP’s political stance is, & why.
On the way home I gave away two old bikes and lots of other old stuff. Worked out, and watched the Matt Damon movie “Hereafter” from Redbox. C and M stopped by Harry’s on the way home from NP, and didn’t get back til 2 pm.
Overflow crowd at PCC to see Matt Redmond. Thunderstorm hit during the service. Louie preached on how God will answer prayer on His timetable, but He will exceed our expectations. Stopped by Willy’s on the way home, not because M was begging, but to make sure C ate enough. Outside there was this huge, complete, double-rainbow. Back home we watched Marley & Me.
Been reading a biography of Keith Green, a Christian singer from the 70’s who had a huge impact, especially with college students. Started out as a drug-using hippie. He’d send out detailed newsletters, and have free concerts and give away albums. Then he died in a plane crash.
Will’s Peachtree number should be up close to the front, making for his most fun race ever (& fastest). Hopefully mine won’t be too far behind.
I’ve been working out on the elliptical machine after work, so the noise won’t wake Ceil up in the morning. Running has been hurting my knee, so I’ve been staying away from that.
Thursday afternoon I started sneezing, and I felt terrible the rest of the night. Got home from work and talked to the A/C man…his wife teaches at Veritas. Then we all jumped in the car and I drove down to Buckhead. Dropped M & A off at
Then we went made a quick trip to Lenox so Ceil could go into Anthropologie. Since I felt so bad I stayed in the car, with the window rolled down. A lot of the time I had my head down, but once I looked up and saw a guy breaking into a car with a slim jim. I didn’t see him walk up, so he might’ve actually driven up in the car and walked around to the passenger side. He calmly took the backpack, closed the door, and walked away. Not sure. Lenox sure has changed since the mid-90’s. There was an old car with 26” rims. I have no big desire to go down there and fight the traffic.
Traffic on Peachtree was light. On some straight stretches you can see several lights ahead, and you can see the yellow blinking countdown crosswalk lights. I was tempted to speed up so I’d make the light…making me think of Derek Lowe, who was caught for speeding a few months ago.
We got back to the park and sat for a while as the kids finished up. I enjoyed watching the non-competitive coed softball game…sure looked like fun. Met several Passion people, who came up and introduced themselves, including Louie’s right-hand man (who hadn’t heard of Jaliscos). When we got home we had to set up Anna’s bed (she finished painting her room). Then I crashed.
Just read an SI article about what might’ve happened if Steve Bartman hadn’t interfered with Moises Alou’s catch, and the Cubs went to the World Series. Bartman became a hero. The writer wrote a What If? book on politics…including JFK, RFK, Carter, Ford, and Reagan.
Wednesday night I worked out in the heat…the new A/C wasn’t finally working until Thursday AM. After supper I took Matthew swimming, until it started raining.
Anna wanted to watch “So You Think You Can Dance” so I started reading a new book: the autobiography of Keith Green. Good so far. Later she flipped to “Toddlers and Tiaras”, which was pretty sick. When Anna flipped over to the Braves replay. McCann was up. I told her he was going to hit a home run, and he did. I had known he hit one, but I didn’t know what inning.
Anna leaves Saturday on the NP youth trip, to
Getting a new AC today. It’s been real hot upstairs…I finally put the screens back in the windows. When cleaning out the garage utility closet Saturday I discovered something had leaked out and made everything stick to the floor…including half the screens. So busy last night that I missed almost all of the Braves game. C took A shopping for a swimsuit…Saturday she leaves on “The Walk”, the 5 day NP HS beach trip.
Anna redboxed that “I Am Number Four” movie Monday night, but only she and M watched it. I’d like to see The Adjustment Bureau, The Source Code, and The Conspirator. Maybe even Hoodwinked 2, since I enjoyed the first one.
M’s back was hurting Monday night. Could be growing pains…he’s already much taller than C or A. Could be trying to get out of work. He didn’t want to go swimming last night.
Thursday we’ll go to Jalisco while M and A are at Passion youth group. I’m starting to feel like the guy riding the lawnmower saying “help me!’ But this next school year hopefully we won’t have school tuition for A and M. Matthew goes for testing next week. The Civic needs work, and taxes are due the first of August. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!
The other day the game was tied in the ninth, and everyone was trying to hit a home run instead of just get on base. One strikeout after another. The Rangers got a runner on base, moved him over, and drove him in. Ball game. Matthew has never seen the Rangers, but I doubt we’ll go this week.
I think I enjoyed my first
At Fatz is was a typical menu. My BBQ bacon burger was OK. Will’s chicken sandwich looked good, but it had avocados. The kid’s chicken tenders and fries weren’t any good at all, but Ceil’s salad looked OK. We seldom have burgers at home, but Ceil cooked them both Thursday and last night. I think someone defrosted the wrong meat package.
The fourth EZGo co-worker has been permanently moved to the Quality Department in the other building, reporting to the brand new Quality Manager. Another quality employee is quitting, to follow her boyfriend to his new job. Our old QM accepted a position in
SUNDAY JUNE 5TH
Leave home at 8 am, stop at Dunkin Donuts for Ceil.
Arrive in
MONDAY JUNE 6TH
Mansion…we had 9:50 am tickets, but we were let in at 9:30, before line formed. Back with Will the line stretched out for 30 minutes, under the trees. When we exited mansion there was a long line of tour bus kids going in.
Grounds…sketch, graves, dock, crops, sheep, pigs.
Drive to
White House & Visitor’s Center…a real beehive on the grounds.
Leave at 5 pm, but make great time home. Lasagna, then we drive downtown for Carl’s ice cream.
TUESDAY JUNE 7TH
Ceil goes to UVA with D and E for appointment, lunch.
Breakfast: CFA biscuits, Gatorade. We take the Metro train, arrive at 9:30 am.
Library of Congress. Take tunnel to new Capitol Visitor’s Center.
Capitol Tour…not as extensive as the first one I took. Coffin platform used for the 16 who laid in state, 100 statues, including Sacajawea.
Supreme Court…I remember the spiral staircase from last time. Walk around capitol, ate hot dogs.
Walk to Bureau of Printing and Engraving…get 3 pm tickets, but don’t go.
Board train at 2:30, get home at 4:40 after stopping for gas and Taco Bell. Grill chicken.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 8TH
Breakfast: CFA biscuits, Dunkin Donuts coffee. Drive in to
House Where Lincoln Died was closed…under renovation.
Ford’s Theater…ranger dressed as chief of police talks to us. Museum downstairs has the clothes Abe was wearing that night.
Old Post Office…stamps, ice cream.
Archives…wait in long line. Ceil sees someone she knows from Veritas.
WWII Memorial…baby ducks swimming in the fountain.
CAM to
Drive to
THURSDAY JUNE 9TH
Ceil stays with D again. MA and I leave at 8 am, long drive to
Eat at Subway, buy a $7 Orioles BP jersey at Goodwill. Walk around
Drive to Dulles, to
Traffic bad, but GPS helps me find Myron’s back way home. Anna gets book at Borders.
FRIDAY JUNE 10TH
Pack up and leave around 9 am, and drive to
Lunched with Brett & Donna at mall food court. Left mall at 1 pm and hit several bad traffic patches on the drive to
Arrived home just before 11 pm, after stopping for gas in
Got a lot done this weekend. Friday night Ceil ate somewhere in
Saturday Ceil and Anna went to Margaret’s baby shower. I got a lot done around the house, cleaning gutters and utility closets.
After the Sunday 9 am service we drove up to see Will, and ate at the Fatz Café in Jasper. Later he showed us around his camp. He said in the first two weeks only three kids had gone to the hospital.
We left the camp and drove straight to
Went home and watched Miss Congeniality. Mom likes Sandra Bullock, so she loved it, and didn’t say anything about the questionable parts.
Matthew wrote his baptism speech. Not bad.
The Braves released Joe Mather, because he was hitting .071. They brought up Wilken Rameriz, who they got from the Tigers last winter. His Gwinnett numbers weren’t too good. McLouth returned and reached base twice. Played LF…Prado is still on the DL.
This weekend Heyward made two bad plays. First he let a worm-burner roll under his glove. Then with a runner on 1st he topped a little 2-out grounder the third-baseman charged. When he saw the throw go to 2nd, Heyward slowed up. But the throw was off the base, so the only play the second-baseman had was to throw to first. Made Heyward look bad. Freddie told him to not assume anything.
Read a Sports Illustrated article on baseball’s hottest pitch, the cutter. Some pitchers can learn it easily, but not everyone. The article shows how to throw it, so I printed it out for Will.
Interesting day on AJC.com. As Will was telling us about rafting the Ocoee, a 16 year old died there Sunday…the second drowning this month. The Hurts are down near
Thursday afternoon Buck & Kincaid were talking to a northerner who runs a scouting video website, about Terrell Pryor. The guy saw him play in high school and Pryor was the best he'd ever seen. Said teams were talking about using a 6th round pick on him, but that as a tight end he would be a 3rd round pick. Glad the Falcons are staying away from guys like him.
The Braves are the same way, mostly sticking to the higher moral guys. Guys like Lofton, Justice, and Sheffield stand out, though Justice and Sheffield were competitive and wanted to win. Sheffield was better behaved playing for Cox.
This morning I just read the Sports Illustrated article about a good guy…Stanford QB Andrew Luck. Losing millions by staying in school another year, because he wanted to finish with the guys he came in with…and get his architecture degree. Also the University of Washington QB who stayed an extra year, supposedly losing value as a draft pick.
But all most high school athletes can think about is making it into "the league" and making money. If they would plan better, they could have a college degree and a longer pro career. Many are poor, and are coddled from the time they're eight, and have "experts" advising them to go pro…so the "experts" can mooch money off them.
All the tattoos and guns and stuff just turns me off. But it's refreshing to read about a Tyson Chandler happily enjoying remaking himself into a low-scoring defender, to help his team win the championship. Or the injury riddled Andrew Bynum working hard to develop his game, while working to become expert in building computers. Or Pau Gasol doing community service and preparing to become a surgeon after his days as a basketball player. Or Phil Jackson trying different, creative ways to motivate his team, celebrating championships surrounded by family. After a lifetime in basketball, can you blame him for wanting to do something else at 65?
Certainly makes me an old codger, doesn't it?
When we got in the long dollar ticket line around 4:40 I posted on Facebook that we were at the Braves game. John Parkes was just ahead of us in line. Just after we bought our tickets, they sold out of the dollar tickets. During Batting Practice the temp was still in the 90’s, but then it started to cool off.
Being down at the Braves game, I didn’t realize how bad the storms were. Around 7 pm they put the tarp on the field, well before the rain started. Game didn’t start until after 8:30. Then there was a second delay, during which we left. After stopping at the Howell Mill Taco Bell, we were almost home by the time the game resumed at 10:50.
Got a text from Mary-Clayton…she was coming to the game with the Hurts. Matthew and I stood around during the delay and talked to the Hurts. Then it started to hail…so much you could see the accumulation in the outfield grass.
David was in rare form. When someone walked by wearing a box (to stay dry from the rain), David quipped “It was a gift!"
Here at work the high winds ripped a big hole in our warehouse. Ceil said the storms were bad at the house, but there wasn’t a huge amount of debris.
Thursday night I took Matthew down to Buckhead for a Passion youth activity. JJ and Connor were there. Brett Yonker was wearing a Braves cap, and recognized Matthew’s as a Crackers cap.
Thursday the Braves had the lead thanks to Chipper’s 5 RBI and Shafer’s 5 hits, but needed a Conrad HR with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th to send it to extra innings. With 2 out in the 11th Diory doubled and took third on Shafer’s infield single. With Heyward up the pitcher balked, ending the game.
Friday night Ceil is going out to eat for
In the White House photo above, Matthew rocks my old Atlanta Black Crackers cap. The Braves wore this cap last month in the Civil Rights game.
Ceil and Matthew pose with Washington Chief of Police Pinkerton in front of Ford's Theater. The chief took time from his busy schedule to discuss what he saw the night of April 14, 1865 while seated in the front row of the theater. The brick building across the street is known as The House Where Lincoln Died.
We only took the Metro Tuesday, though it worked out well. We did stay busy, but all the walking and heat were almost too much for the kids. Had I been more thoughtful, we could’ve taken the Metro for shorter trips around town.
Monday I’d planned to drive to
Ceil stayed back in
Like me, I think Matthew liked the things that involved the presidents the most. Much of the museum stuff wasn’t as interesting to me the second time around. M had asked where the Nationals ballpark was, so I pointed it out to him while we were looking out of the
Got through a day early, but instead of coming home Thursday I took the kids to Missed seeing the Orioles, but I bought an authentic # 78 BP jersey at Goodwill…orange with black lettering. Friday we stopped in Averaged almost 40 MPG for the trip…not bad considering we ran the air conditioner the whole time, as well as all the traffic we were in. Sunday we went to After swimming five straight days before we left, Matthew didn’t swim once in Anna posted most of the real pictures we took. I tried to avoid being in the pictures, but failed a few times. Out of the 27 days since school got out, Anna has spent at least 22 with friends. During that time she spent 13 nights away from home. Saw pictures from Will’s first week with the campers. Looks like he’s having a good time. His beard is back. Looks like most of the other male chaperones are growing them as well. Tuesday night we flipped on Food Network and Iron Chef was on. It was the one where Isabel was sitting next to Keyshawn Johnson. We watched the whole thing again. The other judge was a comedian, so it was up to Isabel to voice all the expert food opinions…she didn’t get much help from the other two. Louie spoke to the Southern Baptist Convention. That’s a huge deal, considering how conservative they are. I guess since he was best buds with Andy, they let him speak. Andy’s dad used to be president of the SBC. Pops is finally home, and doing much better. Already walking around the yard picking up gumballs. He’s back driving short trips to the store. |
Our first stop Monday was at George Washington's Virginia home. We arrived early, and beat the gaggle of tour busses.
Thursday I dropped the fam at the Spy Museum, then parked near the Jefferson Memorial. While walking cross town I noticed that police had blocked traffic. A few minutes later the President's motorcade roared past.
Great talking to Will on Thursday. Glad he is getting to hang around older, mature people. Who he hangs around can greatly help or hinder your progress. Said he wanted to go on some road trips.
Road trips are great. This is the time of your life he’ll have the time to do things like that. It’s tough when gas is so expensive. He has to be careful about staying out of bad neighborhoods. After attending a game in old
Choir tours:
Mission trips: Upstate NY,
With Ceil: Bermuda,
Work Trips:
Other trips:
Going to the beach every year is great, but if I had the money I’d want to tour the
Shaq is probably going to retire. He’s the 5th all time scorer, and won four rings. I remember when he was a freshman at LSU, and GT’s coach Bobby Cremins called him “Shannelle O’Neal.” Last night the Mavericks won game two in
Beards, like road trips, are fun while in college. I had one, off and on. Just remember, you will always be meeting people that can help you along the way, and later in life…like that camp director guy. You always want to look your best (except perhaps on road trips). They look best when you keep them trimmed.
Went swimming again last night with Matthew. Friday night he’s going to the
Another "Wiz" picture: Anna and the Tornado Dancers.
We always go to Bonefish when we’re at
Went swimming last night with Matthew. Without baseball, I imagine we’ll be swimming almost every night. I’m putting off my summer projects until we return from
This morning I texted Lang…“On Opening Night next season the Lakers will unveil at statue of Shaq.”
Good SI article on the two left-handed relievers on the Rangers. Another good SI article on the Mets owner. I have to remind myself to read many of the SI articles I consider “marginal”…about people I don’t know, or am not big fans of. Almost all have great stories. I still rarely read hockey articles.
Spent most of last Sat & Sun in
Matthew has been wearing my old ABC Crackers cap, like the Braves wore against the Phillies last month.
| Prepping for the |
