Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero is amazing. Today, I picked up a second guitar so Amy and I could throw up the horns together in guitar-shredding unity. I predict that Jude is going to be the next Yngwie Malmsteen.

Hokie Hope

BT in the house

We had not-so-near, but very dear friends from Elyria, Ohio visit this weekend. Even though Samantha and Abbey couldn't make it down, Brian and Jessica came and we had a blast!!

God gave us an extra day because it was supposed to thunder storm Thursday, all day Saturday and then a dreary/rainy Sunday. Thursday was nice; Friday was brisk in the AM, but awesome the rest of the day; Saturday, which was supposed to be wet and nasty ended up being the day we spent almost entirely outside playing with the kids; then Sunday ended up being a decent day for a drive home for those guys.

What a refreshing and fun time! We played golf, shredded on Guitar Hero, had a nice cookout, played baseball, kickball, football, dodgeball and took the kids to the park... we all had a blast.

Sad News

Last weekend, Amy and I went to South Carolina for a funeral... for a 7 year-old. Amy's cousin, Jane, lost her son, Nicholas, in a car accident.

Below is an email from Amy's cousin, Carol (Jane's sister):

As many of you already know my nephew was killed in the accident on Monday involving the logging truck hitting a minivan in Richburg SC as the children left school. My sister's friend Alice Quinton was driving, her daughter Hannah (9), her son Timmy (7), my nephew Nicholas Cherry (7), my niece Taylor Cherry (5) were in the minivan. Nicholas and Hannah were killed instantly. Timmy was thrown from the vehicle and although he is making progress he is still in very critical condition, continued prayers please... they are working! Alice and Taylor were the least seriously injured. Alice was discharged today and Taylor hopefully in a few more days.

You can read about the accident on www.heraldonline.com or www.wcnc.com.

People have been asking what they can do. Funds have been set up for the families. The Quintons have very little if any insurance for expenses. People can mail donations, wire donations or walk into a branch office.

Founders Federal Credit Union
c/o Hannah Quinton Memorial Fund
607 North Main Street
Lancaster SC 29720
800-845-1614

First Citizens of SC
c/o Quinton Memorial Fund
3551 Lancaster Highway
Richburg SC 29729
803-789-6161

First Citizens of SC
c/o Cherry Memorial Fund
3551 Lancaster Highway
Richburg SC 29729
803-789-6161

For international donations, there will be a website for Hannah Quinton soon that will allow PayPal donations.

Thanks,
Carol Lambert

Below is Nicholas' obituary:

RICHBURG -- Master Nicholas Wayne Cherry, 7, of 3094 Lizzie Melton Road died Monday, March 26, 2007.

The funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday, April 2 at Greene Funeral Home Northwest Chapel, with Minister Wallace Beasley officiating. Burial will be at Forest Hills Cemetery.

A native of York County, Nicholas was the son of Wayne E. and Jane M. Cherry of Richburg. He was a second grader at Lewisville Elementary School. He was a member of Lesslie Highway Church of Christ and loved reading Bible stories with his mom every night. He loved fishing with his dad, who was his best friend, and was a loving child who enjoyed doing things for others. He loved his big brother and loved picking on his younger sister. He was mama's boy and will be greatly missed.

In addition to his parents, Nicholas is survived by his brother, William M. Patrick IV of Richburg; his sister, Taylor N. Cherry of the home; and his maternal grandmother, Barbara S. Williams of Rock Hill.
The family will receive friends Sunday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Greene Funeral Home Northwest Chapel, 2133 Ebenezer Road, Rock Hill and other times at the home.

Memorials may be made to Lewisville Elementary School PTO, 4006 Lewisville High School Road, Richburg, SC 29729.

Just today, it came out that the driver of the logging truck is going to be charged with wreckless homocide.

Isaiah

Just a couple weeks ago while we were up in Northern Virginia for a visit to see Amy's folks. While there, I took this picture of Isiah, one of about a dozen horses at their house and also my favorite. A few days after we got home from our visit we got word that Isaiah had become sick and died unexpectantly. All their horses are pretty cool, but Isaiah was the coolest and I was so bummed to hear that he was gone.

None of these pictures truly do justice to the size of this magnificent animal. He had to be totally bent over for me to be taller than him. When he was completely upright, he towered.

He was definately my favorite of all mom's horses and I'll miss him a ton. I'll try to attach a few other pictures of him as well.

Band Madness

So, with VCU and Wisconsin both eliminated from this year's NCAA basketball tournament we can shift to more important issues... MUSIC.

Rob turned me on to a great site that is set up like March Madness, but for music... BAND MADNESS!!!

Unfortunately, I'm posting this half-way through the voting of round one... sorry! But, it's not too late to go to the site and you can vote on head to head match-ups. The styles of music span the entire music spectrum.

A few examples:

Led Zeppelin vs Evanescence
Stereolab vs Faith No More
Decemberists vs Andrew W. K.
Steppenwolf vs George Thorogood
Creedence Clearwater Revival vs Carole King
The White Stripes vs Foreigner
Robert Palmer vs 50 cent
ABBA vs The Replacements
Johnny Cash vs The Villiage People
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vs Godspeed You Black Emperor

...and so on.

Here's the opening of the official entry from the site:

"BAND MADNESS is a March-Madness style, single elimination tournament of pop/rock bands where the winners are determined strictly by fan voting. There are 512 artists from various decades and genres, all battling it out to determine once and for all which band is the voted-for-the-most-est!

The rules of voting are simple: vote for who you like better. That’s it. Not for who you think you should vote for, not for who’s more historically significant, etc. Just vote for who you like better, then go ahead and post some inflammatory comments about bands other people voted for. After a couple days, the voting wraps up, we move on to the next bracket, and a whole new round of voting and inflammatory comment-making begins. Simple enough?

The bands are divided into four brackets (check out the full bracket here) Right now, voting for Round 1, Bracket A is open now; the rest of the brackets will open as follows:

Round 1, Bracket A - Monday, March 12
Round 1, Bracket B - Wednesday, March 14
Round 1, Bracket C - Monday, March 19
Round 1, Bracket D - Wednesday, March 21

Pretty cool, eh? Better than basketball.

Go vote!

VCU defeats Duke

It's going to be a fun day at work tomorrow :)

I just watched my alma mater VCU Rams send my 'home-town' Duke Blue Devils packing 79-77.

Even though a majority of my co-workers are NC State folks, they all know I'm a VCU guy and it'll be nice to raise my VCU coffee mug in victory at our staff meeting tomorrow.

Well done guys!

Typical Monday...

A Monday wouldn't be a Monday without drama, right?

A little backstory first:

Back in October, a few days before our two-week trip to Wisconsin, my car died and was beyond what we could afford to fix but we were lucky enough to find a guy that would buy it for a small but helpful amount.

Amy and I managed with one car for 4 months. She would bring me to work, take the kids to school then go home, pick the kids up from school and then pick me up from work. Last week, we finally scraped up enough to get a cheap car for me to get to work everyday.

Well, that lasted just over a week. This morning, when it came time to go outside to warm the car up (yeah, there was frost on the car down here in Raleigh) the car wouldn't start. After we got someone to look at it, turns out to be a combination of the timing belt, alternator, and bad/wrong spark plugs. Comes out to be a bunch more money we may have to put into it.

Lame...

Great Concert

On Saturday night, Amy and I were able to go see Billy Joel at the RBC Center... for free.

Okay, a friend at work sent an email out to the company, "I have 5 free tickets to Saturday's Billy Joel concert. If anyone is interested, stop by." Needless to say, they went quickly... and before I was able to lay claim to two of them. She said she could make a call and land a few more. She ended up passing out 15 plus extra tickets for us at work... nice hook up!

What a great show! I liked him a lot when I was younger but lost interest over the years. When the ticket offer initially came up, I wasn't paticularly keen on going, even though the tix were free. I'm so glad I changed my mind, Amy and I had such a fun time. He was funny and engaging throughout the show, often poking fun at himself, his age, & his "auto-insurance rates".

I can't remember the order, but here's a set list of songs that I can remember:

Angry Young Man
My Life
An Innocent Man
Everybody Loves You Now
The Entertainer
New York State of Mind
Zanzibar
Allentown
Don't Ask Me Why
Movin' Out
Keeping the Faith
The Downeaster Alexa
Go to Extremes
She's Always A Woman
The River of Dreams
We Didn't Start the Fire
Big Shot
Root Beer Rag
You May Be Right
Only the Good Die Young
It's Still Rock N' Roll to Me
Piano Man (encore)

There were more that I can't remember, but as you can see he played a ton of his classics! I was hoping for my fav's "Pressure" and "Longest Time", but they didn't make it. And as an added bonus, their guitar roadie, "Chainsaw", came out and sang a uncannily Bon Scott version of AC/DC's Highway to Hell! Billy grabbed a Gibson Les Paul and shredded like Angus Young. For me, it was the highlight of the night.

I totally didn't expect to leave the show with my ears ringing, but hard as it is to believe, Billy rocked the joint.

Our free seats ended up not being bad ones either... Even though we were third deck, we were behind and to the left of the stage, which gave us a great view over the stage, plus with Billy's piano spinning around every few songs we felt like we were far from nose-bleed caliber seating.

Thanks for the tickets, Kim! You're the coolest.

Guitar Hero II

There's nothing like winding down at the end of a long day and shredding to some rockin tunes on Guitar Hero II.

About a week ago, we bought it and have been melting faces with pure rock adrenaline since. Even Amy has been into it... I have some pictures of her playing, but she won't let me post them :)

Dave, the next time I'm in Charlotte, you're going down!

Let's get rockin!

New friend for Kerrigan

The little kitty on the left is Princess Kitty Cat. She is forever attached to Kerrigan. Amy got her for Kerrigan a while back when she and Jude went on a trip to New York City.

When we realized how in love with her Kerrigan was, we searched for another one just like it... just in case she ever lost it.

Well, she never lost her, and the 'clone' was waiting in a bag in the closet for the fateful moment when Princess Kitty Cat came up missing. Amy and I thought that rather than leaving the new one in the dark, we'd tell Kerrigan that Princess Kitty Cat's sister came to stay with her.

Needless to say, Kerrigan was beside herself. She named her Princess Kitty Meow-Meow, and both of them are now forever by her side... so much so that she pretends to be a cat as well, her name is Princess Kitty Kerri.

Beyond the back yard

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but the Neuse River runs just a few hundred yards from our backyard. The cool part is that there is an excellent trail that runs along it's shore. If you follow it long enough, you'll run into a great park.

Along the way the other day, we took a detour on a less traveled path that we'd never been down before. On the way, we ran into a small waterfall. The kids loved it and we'll probably be taking that detour from now on :)

Jude & Kerrigan

Packers' Favre to return for his 17th season

Packers' Favre to return for his 17th season
February 2, 2007

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Brett Favre will return for his 17th NFL season, undeterred by his injuries and hoping to lead the Green Bay Packers back to the playoffs.
"I am so excited about coming back," the 37-year-old quarterback said Friday on the Web site of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. "We have a good nucleus of young players. We were 8-8 last year, and that's encouraging."
Packers general manager Ted Thompson confirmed Favre had told the team he plans to return.
"The Packers are excited by his decision and look forward to a successful 2007 campaign," Thompson said in a statement.
The team scheduled a 4 p.m. EST news conference Friday.
"My offensive line looks good, the defense played good down the stretch," Favre told the Biloxi newspaper. "I'm excited about playing for a talented young football team."
The news came as a surprise to Packers CEO Bob Harlan.
"I hadn't heard it, and I hadn't seen the Biloxi paper -- not that I read the Biloxi paper every day," Harlan told The Associated Press on Friday.
Favre last left the field in an emotional scene in Chicago after leading the Packers to a victory to finish the season 8-8.
He has started 257 consecutive games including the playoffs, an NFL record for quarterbacks. Favre broke Dan Marino's record for career completions (4,967) in 2006 and is closing in on Marino's marks for career touchdown passes (420) and yards passing (61,361).
As he has done in the past several offseasons, Favre returned to his home in Mississippi after the season to deliberate about his future. Last year, Favre waited until late April to tell the team he was returning.
Favre complained about nagging injuries and the drudgery of practice toward the end of last season, then choked back tears as he talked about missing the game and missing his teammates in a television interview immediately after the regular-season finale in Chicago -- leading many to believe he intended to retire.
Apparently, he couldn't resist one more chance to try to lead the Packers back to the playoffs after the Packers won their final four games and were in playoff contention until the final weekend of the regular season.
Favre has led the Packers to 10 postseason appearances, six division titles, three NFC Championship games, two Super Bowls and one championship following the 1996 season.
Favre was acquired in a trade by former Packers general manager Ron Wolf after one season as a backup in Atlanta in 1991. He completed his first NFL pass -- to himself -- on Sept. 13, 1992, catching a deflection and losing seven yards.
The following week, he replaced injured starter Don Majkowski in the third quarter and led the Packers to a come-from-behind 24-23 victory over Cincinnati.
Favre started in place of Majkowski on Sept. 27, 1992, beginning the streak he often has called his biggest personal accomplishment. The 237-game regular-season streak is nearly six seasons ahead of the Colts' Peyton Manning at 144.
Favre's accomplishments include winning three league MVP awards -- he shared 1997 honors with Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders -- and throwing two touchdown passes in a 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots in the 1997 Super Bowl to give the Packers their first championship in 29 years. Earlier in that championship season, Favre spent time in the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan., battling an addiction to painkillers.
Favre led the Packers back to the Super Bowl the following season, but they lost to Elway's Denver Broncos 31-24.

Me and My Girl

The 'Deserted Island' music question

Have you ever heard of the old question, "If you were stranded alone on a deserted island and could only have 10 cd's to listen to for the rest of your life, which ones would you pick?" Well, the question is a bit silly, as electricity would have to be part of the equation, but the point is not lost on me. What music could you live with forever? It's a formidable task to list only a few titles, especially for the music-lover. Before I give my list, a confession:

A couple months ago I posted a picture and message of my 'biography' (Thursday, August 17, 2006 to be exact). As thorough as I tired to be, I was remiss in not making my love for music more prominant. I think all I had was my djembe drum... oh, Doug, what were you thinking? I grew up with music, lots of it! Two of my older brothers were in rock bands when I was still in middle school and I remember mom and dad taking me to the bars and clubs back home in Oshkosh to go see them play. Music was always on in the house, and loudly. Often, mom's Willy Nelson would be cranked upstairs while my Van Halen was shaking the walls downstairs (yes, I was a cellar-dweller).

So, with a little consideration, I came up with a list that I think I could live with forever on a deserted island with my miracle hi-fi. I did, however, cheat; I could not bring myself to stay within ten, so I stretched it. It's my list, so there... and since we're on that note (pun intended), this kind of question is all but obsolete anyway, what with the ability to just download any song you want from iTunes. The new question may soon be, 'What 20,000 songs would you download to your solar-powered iPod if you were stuck on a deserted island?'... anyway on with the list:

1. A Perfect Circle, Mer de Noms (2000)
2. The White Stripes, Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
3. John Coltrane, Blue Train (1957)
4. Incubus, Make Yourself (1999)
5. The Beatles, Revolver (1966)
6. Faith No More, Album of the Year (1997)
7. The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out (1959)
8. Beck, Mutations (1998)
9. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II (1969)
10. System of a Down, Toxicity (2001)
11. Vivaldi, Four Seasons (1725)
12. Cake, Pressure Chief (2004)
13. Queen, Queen II (1974)
14. Morphine, Cure for Pain (1993)
15. Mad Season, Above (1995)
16. Hobex, Back in the '90s (1998)
17. Blonde Boy Grunt and the Groans, All Folked Up (1998)

I tried to write a short explaination on each one, but (1) I didn't want to bore you any more than I have already, and (2) it was taking forever.

So, if you're still reading, there you have it. It will probably be different next year...

Jude's teeth

This picture was taken this past Saturday at Chloe's birthday party.

Sorry it took so long to get a picture of Jude's missing chicklets... He's bought a couple Hot Wheels cars with his Tooth Fairy money so far. :)

Kids & Santa

No Marines this time to keep Jude from seeing Santa.

The line was long, but Amy had the brilliant idea of grabbing Happy Meals and eating in line. It was easier than you'd think and when the food was done the kids had a little toy to keep 'em occupied.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas

Hello Friends and Family!

I was able to get out a number of Christmas Cards, but not nearly as many as I would have liked. I realize every year how few addresses I actually have written down. I found myself getting addresses from the envelopes of folks who sent us Christmas cards first (the ones who planned and sent them out early, unlike myself).

Anyway, please forgive me if you didn't get a card.

Love and Peace to all of you, and a sincere hope for an excellent 2007!

~ The Smiths

The Tooth-Fairy

I regretably do not have a picture of this yet but Jude has now lost his bottom two front teeth. Not only that, but his top two front teeth are loose as well (one of them he can bend straight out). Within the next month, he'll have all four of his front teeth out.

Can't believe how big he is getting. [sigh]

Santa vs a Marine

Something interesting happened today. Stay with me for a minute because this may take a minute (and more than a little sensitivity) to explain.

Before Amy and I started dating, Amy's brother, Eric, died while in the Marines. In fact, Jude's name is in honor to him as Eric's middle name was Jude. Jude knows him only by a few pictures and many of those pictures are of him in his dress uniform. Obviously, everytime he sees a Marine he says they look like Uncle Eric.

Anyway, this afternoon we head out for Kohl's for some shopping. In the lot, a truck for toys for tots is there. We decide to pick up some toys to donate and go over to see the Marines. It was a nice little set-up: Santa was there, someone was taking poloroids of the kids with Santa and giving them out for free, an elf making balloons for the kids, a little train making laps around the parking lot and a couple Marines in their dress uniforms receiving the donated toys. Kerrigan wants to go see Santa while Jude was a bit shy and didn't want to. A woman took a poloroid of Kerrigan giving a hug to Santa so I asked Jude if he wanted a picture with a Marine instead, to which he smiled and said 'yes.' The Marines were great and were so nice to Jude and took a great picture with him. They said it was the first time a kid wanted to be with them rather than Santa.

Amy cried and Santa let out a comical comment about getting passed up for a Marine, to which we all laughed. Jude may not know how special that moment was right now, but I'm glad we got a picture. It's something Amy and I will never forget.

Miss you, Rick. As far as I'm concerned this is a picture of Jude with you.

Merry Christmas.

Nearly 11 years ago...

I was in our closet yesterday and I came across a card I had given Amy to say 'Happy 1 year & 10 months' since we had started dating. It is dated 3 October '97.

In a few days, Amy and I will have been together for 11 years. I'm looking at her right now as she's asleep on the couch and she's as amazing now as when I first met her... no, more so! I am so grateful for her and wish I could be with her another 90... then another 900!

Below is the card I had given her then. It was blank, so I created a story to go with the cover. It barely fit, but I remember how fun it was making that story up.

"Once upon a time, there was a boy who lived in the countryside in a small house. He occasionally would play in the trees surrounding his house, or perhaps walk along the stream that slowly stirred down the rolling hills.

"Although he was a content boy and happy, there was a world of emptiness inside. He had the trees to play in and his friends, the rabbits, but there was a pain and loneliness deep in his still heart that even the deer and butterflies couldn't fill.

"There was no color in his world. The boy had never seen color before; at least not in the rich, full color that comes from true joy that you or I may see. One day he saw a small puff of pink and splash of bright blue while he'd been laughing and playing with the rabbits. He stopped laughing and looked at the sky in awe at the new sight, but it had faded away as quickly as it had come. Questioningly, the boy sighed and sadly plopped down beside a tree and cried, thinking about the wonderful thing that had lit up the sky for a sweet moment.

"That afternoon, just before his mother was about to call him in for dinner, he was wading his feet in his favorite part of the stream, looking for playful fish or perhaps a smooth-sparkly rock he could skip. His child-like eyes widened as he sighted a conch shell propped up against a large rock at the bottom of the stream.

"A shell? he thought. In my stream?

"He knew that conch shells only came from the magic places his father would tell him about during his bed-time stories, but he never thought he'd see one. Especially in his stream.

"He excitedly rolled up his sleeve and dipped his small hand into the cold water. His heart welled with tears as he picked up the wonderful, colorful shell. Colors of every kind danced and flowed over the surface of the shell and as he looked inside there was a pool of color so deep and wide, so deep and bright that he thought it was heaven. As he was holding the shiny shell, it began to change; it became a beautiful brush. He himself began to change as he took on the very colors the brush was radiating. On the opposite side of the stream was the ladder his father had left where he'd been picking apples before he had gone back to the house. The boy ran to it, brush in hand, and climbed to the very top of the ladder. Stretching his arms out and smiling as wide as the sky, color as beaming and as beautiful as his wildest dreams shot from the brush across the dull sky. It was amazing.

"In that blanket of color, the boy saw a girl as radiant as the rainbow itself and he reached out for her. She came to him smiling.

"Soon the whole land was filled with the rainbow's radiance and the two sat together with their feet wading in the stream's brisk-blue water.

"He never heard his mother call for him, for he had found his friend. His heart was now alive and he felt it beat for the first time.

"He was with Amy.

xxoo

3 Oct 97 Happy 1 year & 10 months!

D.

Happy 11 years since we started dating, Ames.

I'm still holding that brush. You and the kids give me so much life and the color you paint my world leaves me open-mouthed. I am so grateful for you. I love you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone,

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Given our recent extended travels, we stayed at home for this holiday and had an amazing dinner for two here at the house (the kids had PB&J). Amy's cooking is top-notch! Friends of ours came over for dessert later in the day and that was great as well, albeit it didn't end well. Thier daughter, Chloe, took a tumble down our brick steps on their way out and she got a good scrape on her upper cheek and a nasty bump on her forehead. We drove to the closest hospital in cased she was concussed. They called a short time ago to let us know she is fine, but a possibility that she may have slightly fractured her cheek. Just glas she's okay...

Only a few weeks till Christmas!

Last Part of Our Vacation

Abbey, Kerrigan, Jessica & Jude at the park in Elyria, OH the day before we headed back to Raleigh.

Kids in Elyria

Brian & Sam's girls with Jude & Kerrigan.

Thomas' and Smith's

Abbey, Jessica, Jude & Kerrigan.

Thomas' & Smith's

Jessica, Kerrigan, Jude and Abbey in Elyria.

In Elyria, OH

The last leg of our vacation was a stop near Cleveland to visit dear friends. This is taken at a park close to Brian and Sam's house where we played for what seemed like hours. Visiting the Thomas' was the perfect ending to a great vacation. Amy suprised me with a date and the four of us went to my favorite live blues restaurant, Fat Fish Blue, and had a blast.

Camp Randall Facade

This is the facade at one of the end zones in Camp Randall.

Camp Randall in Madison

Like I said earlier, I was able to go to a Badger game when they played Penn State. This is taken from our seats during the pre-game band performance... what a great time! We stayed for the fifth-quarter performance as well and I got the entire 'Space Badger' bit on video. Classic.

Red Arrow Park

Trails of Red Arow Park.

Red Arrow Park

In the trails at Red Arrow Park.

Red Arrow Park

The kids at Red Arrow Park in Oshkosh.

Kerrigan and Elijah

Jude and Elijah

Jude and our nephew, Elijah, during our vacation to Wisconsin.

Kerrigan and Sophia

Kerrigan with our niece, Sophia, during our vacation to Wisconsin.

From our seats at Lambeau

From our seats in Section 135 as the players are being introduced.

Amy and I at Lambeau Field

Amy and I at Lambeau Field vs the Cardinals

Fun in Wisconsin

It's been some time since my last blog because it seems that internet access is hard to come by in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I am currently at a Sears 'Grand' store using a computer in their complimentary internet lounge. Amy and I have been making trips to the library for internet use, but that has been thin as well.

I have tons of pictures I hope to upload soon. I probably won't be able to get them up till I get back home but I'm sure the two or three of you reading this won't mind the wait.

A few highlights of our trip so far...

* We received a frantic call from our next door neighbor in Raleigh while at my mom's house. We had given her a key to our house just in case, and she had thought to turn on some lights in the house... what we forgot to tell her was that we have an alarm system on the house, so when she called all I could hear was the alarm. Amy and I were cracking up, I felt bad. I told her the pass code and I could hear her fumbling with the buttons while the alarm is blaring. I'm not doing the story justice, but it was pretty funny. I don't think she turned on the lights.

* Amy and I went to the Packers game this last Sunday when they played the Cardinals. What a blast. Green Bay won, Brett Favre did his first ever Lambeau Leap, we had brats with sour kraut and beer, and just had an all around excellent time.

* Not only was I able to go to a Packer game, tomorrow I'm going to a Wisconsin Badgers game in Madison, where they'll be playing Penn State! Sweeeet.

Lots of other great stuff as well. Getting to see my family, mom is having a great time with the kids... just a really great time.

Pictures to come soon.

Essay on the Goodness of Cigars

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted, but I've been waiting for something good and I've got it, oh boy do I got it.

A friend of mine, Byron, sent this to me for no reason at all... It's brilliant. Enjoy.

People always ask me,

Byron, do you have dreams?

Sure I've got dreams. Who doesn't? I have a dream of my beautiful little offspring looking up to me with those big inquisitive eyes and asking me,

Daddy, did you ever get to go to the Annual High Roller Open Invitational?

I'd smile, one of those proud, tear-fighting, cocksure smiles when a parent finally knows that their little baby has started growing and begun understanding the important things in life. It would be a smile for a question to which I knew the answer. I'd crouch down down humbly with endearment and reply with a shaky voice,

I was an Original. I was at the 1st Annual High Roller Open Invitational.

Time would go by and I would find my little bundle of joy peeking into the awe-inspiring chest of leathery wooded canes of enigmatic eminence. Little did that child appreciate the root aprehension to which they would find peace, meditation, and the preternatural assuagement that is found in these shafts of smoke. We'd drift about, conversing about the more important things in life - Golf, the Dodgers, Supply-Chain Management, Daddy's ol' Thug Life in Inglewood. My excited little rugrat would ask me about the important things in life,

Daddy, what's a full-body cigar? Daddy, where do cigar's come from? Daddy, don't cigar's cause cancer?

No, child, cigarettes cause cancer. God smiles and kicks his feet up every time the crisp midnight air is scortched by a flame harmonizing with with tightly wrapped tobacco leaves. No, no, cigarettes, marijuana, and crystal meth, these are the things that cause cancer. Cigar's are natural; from the earth.

I'd show that little tyke how to take a long draw, straight to the dome. Without inhaling, I'd show that squirt how to maximize the heavy cloud to that which can only be compared to a nuclear fallout. This one's lucky because they'd be observing a man that earned the name Cheech by some of the greatest men alive. Without missing a beat, that whippersnapper would anxiously reach for a their own mind-opening experience and unveil the joy that can be so hard to describe.

The emotional animation derived from the hyper zealous desperation to learn more explodes with a thirst for wisdom that can only be snared through snipets of advice of the child's father. The kid will inquire further; on past the shallow surface that was scratched in our short saunter,

Daddy, what's the best kind of stogie? How do you put the hole in it? How long does it last?

I'll snicker to myself as I patiently lay out the technique for caring for a spicey Monte Cristo No. 2 that excites your palet with an impressive aroma. My little beginner would come to know the basics of cutting or punching the tip, and it's important to learn from a veteran smoker. A couple of quick puffs to get it started, then taking in a long stream of goodness, I'd watch my seed grow into a leader of understanding. Most would call me an extremist; a bit too hard pressed to get a light. I'm sorry folks, it's in my nature, I don't choose to be a High Roller. The same reason that a midget uses the short urinal in the john. He doesn't want to use the little one, but he's not gonna pretend to be something he's not and get a stool for the big person stall. He uses it because he belongs there. It's where I belong.

Keep Smokin',
BTrain

Smith's & Handy's in Charlotte

Me with the Richard Petty car

Yesterday was a very cool day. I won a free pass to the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC. Since Dave & Tari live there, the kids and I drove there the night before and stayed with them. They were also able to come to the track and watch.

So here's the deal as described on the website: "Your hands are on the wheel, your foot is on the gas, and you're in the driver's seat for 8 laps around the speedway in a 358 cubic inch V-8 NASCAR style racecar that roars with 600 horsepower. Prior to driving, students will go through 2 elements of safety and instruction training, in-car and on-track instruction. After driving like the "King", students will receive a graduation packet that includes a time sheet with a breakdown of each lap driven." Sweeeeeeeet. It was all that and a big ol' bag of Spicy Habanero Dorito chips.

Even though I started slow (only 110MPH or so) I got it up to 135MPH and finished among the top of our 30 person group! The way it works is that you are alone in the car (I got to drive in Kasey Kahne's #9 car) and must follow a pace car; no other racers go at the same time as you and the pace car, otherwise there would be a ton of accidents.

So I'm harnessed up in the car, turn the engine on and it growls. I am by no means a race car guy, in fact they said Micheal Waltrip was there, but I had no idea who that was so I missed a signature opportunity... Anyway, the engine is rumbling like 50 Harley-Davidsons, so I goose the gas just to hear it. All I can say is that if I hadn't gone to the bathroom before the race, I may have in that car. That car Roared! All you can do is grin, nod your head and say, "Yessir, 600 horsepower, thank you very much."

Right after that the pace car pulled in front of me and then took off... my pit guy gave me the 'GO' and I was off. First gear hummed till I was pushing 2500RPM as I was hitting turn-1. I was in third before I hit turn-2 and dropped it into fourth as I hit the first straight-away. I wasn't keeping up with the pace car for the first two laps and the flag-guy kept signalling me to get the lead-out. By the third lap, I was getting to feel more comfortable hitting those turns at 100+MPH and dropped the hammer. My score chart they gave us said my average MPH was 118.75 and that my top speed was 135 with a lap time of 45.47 seconds on a 1.5 mile track.

I wish I could have propped up a camera or something in the car while I was racing because that was incredible! I am very fortunate that it was free because I don't know if I could have dropped $400, but I can tell you I'd be temped to just to do it again!

I'll try to drop some more pictures here later.

Zoom-Zoom

Me with the kids before my race

Richard Petty Driving Experience

Just before I took off...

Heading to Lambeau Field

Amy and I are spending our vacation up in Wisconsin to see my family at the end of October. Amy, being the amazing wife she is, scored us tickets to the Packer game when they play the Cardinals on the 29th! This is the second time I'll have been to Lambeau, the first being when I was in middle school and too young at the time to appreciate the experience. Granted, the Pack wasn't quite in their glory years at the time... I think Lynn Dicky was still QB for them? Well, I guess you could say they're not quite in Post Season form now either, but I'll get to see Favre in perhaps his last season. Good or bad, it will be an amazing time.

Thanks, Amy. You are the best!

Wendy's Cannot Do Breakfast

Wendy's should stick with burgers.

When I saw that Wendy's was finally going to break down and serve breakfast, I was pleased. I like Wendy's if I'm on the road and in the mood for a good burger, I'd keep an eye out for ol' Wendy before hitting the golden arches or the more expensive Hardee's.

However, when the day finally came when I had an opportunity to check out how Wendy's breakfast could stack up next to BK & McD's, I was severely disappointed.

I ordered a southwest egg sandwich combo. The hash rounds are nearly identical to BK, and the coffee was alright. The sandwich left a lot to be desired though.

A few weeks later, I decided to go back and give it another go. This time I ordered an omlette dipper meal. They looked like large hash rounds, but with egg on the inside. Seemed like a good idea when I ordered them. They tasted like wet sand. I took a second bite, convincing myself that I wasn't going to waste it. I ended up not taking a third. Never again.

Sorry Wendy's. You're burgers rock, but leave breakfast to the other guys.

Richmond Church 10-Year Anniversary

Yesterday, we were able to drive up to Richmond, VA for church. Why would we drive 3 hours to go to church you ask? It was the church's 10-year anniversary; Amy and I had been on the team that went there to plant the church back in '96. We got to see a lot of old friends, some of whom we hadn't seen since we had move from there.

In the picture, we are with old friends, Ruben and Barbara Marbury and their three daughters. Soraya is next to Ruben, Krista is next to Amy, and Bryana is in front of Barbara. We were only in Richmond for only six or seven months when we moved with Ruben and Barbara to Cleveland to help with a church up there.

Before I even met Amy, she was good friends with the Marbury's. She would nanny for Krista when she was just a baby. It's because of them that Amy and I are together. Ruben has been like a father, brother and best friend to me and I am so grateful for their friendship to Amy and I through the years.

Friends from out of town

Amy's friend, Michelle, was in town and stopped by to visit. They were buds back in Virginia Beach and her and her husband moved to Elizabeth City, NC a few months before we moved down here to Raleigh. We invited them to spend the night because the kids were having such a great time together. Michelle's daughter, Faith, is reading a story to Kerrigan and her sister Micah at bedtime. What a great time we all had together!

Amy, Tiffany & Bethany during our impulsive visit last weekend. We went up to visit Rob and Tiffany since she had her last (yeah!) chemotherapy treatment. It happened to be Rob Rafferty's birthday, so we went over to celebrate with them. Happy Birthday, Rob! Glad we made the trip, we had a really great time.

Slip N Slide

Having fun in the back yard.

Kerrigan's Birthday

Well, last week was Kerrigan's birthday and she got to spend it in the hospital.

Last Friday she started throwing up and throughout the day it didn't get any better. By that night, Amy had had enough and took her to the ER. Her tummy was tender, so they suspected for a moment that it may be appendicitis (sp?). They ended up staying until Sunday afternoon. By the end of it, they just guessed it was a nasty little virus. Poor girl.

She got a new bike, helmet and knee & elbow pads when she got home though.

Happy Birthday, Kerrigan!

Bio Project

For fun at my job we were all given an opportunity to make a collage to describe ourselves. When everyone's project was finished and collected, they were all put in a photograph album and set out in the lobby for clients to look at. Being an Architectural / Design firm, there was no lack of creativity - I wish I could post everyone's creation here.

Anyway, above is mine. I intentionally didn't explain the meaning of the images so if someone was curious, they could ask. You learn more about a person that way. However, for this post, I put numbers on the image so i can put a brief description there for you - though I think most of them will be easy guessing, especially those of you who know me well. For fun, see if you can tell what everything is before looking at the 'answers'...

1. "More Cowbell" is a reference to the classic Saturday Night Live skit: "VH1's Behind the Music: Blue Oyster Cult". By far my favorite skit. Gotta have more cowbell!

2. If you read the small seal closely, it says, "Alden Kindred of America Incorporated." Through my paternal grandmother's side of the family, I am a direct descendant of John & Priscilla Alden, who were of the original 100+ pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower back in 1620. Pretty cool.

3. A humble wooden cross. The center of my life.

4. My beautiful kids, Jude & Kerrigan.

5. A djembe drum. I love all music, especially percussion But more than anything, I love the simple primitive sound of a djembe.

6. Putto Musicante by Rosso Fiorentino, circa 1500. My favorite piece of art.

7. 'Jesus Shaves' is... muti-dimensional. People often overlook the humor and automatically see Jesus Saves, but no... he shaves. I think many will see this as sacreligious, but I think it's funny.

8. Our wedding day: July 3, 1998. This is our favorite shot from that day. I remember we were the first one's out of the church and we were alone for just a moment. Kimber Brownlee, our photographer, caught our only real private moment of the day between us. It would be an understatement to say that was a really great day. We are more in love today than we were that day.

9. Tabasco rules. It belongs on everything.

10. 'Shaun of the Dead' is one of my favorite movies. Probably my favorite comedy. You've got red on you.

11. Jack Black rocks. This is him in 'School of Rock.' One of my fav's.

12. Amerigo Bonasera speaking with Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather". Never get tired of The Godfather.

13. I am a closet Harry Potter geek. I have all the movies, hardback books, audobooks on disc narrated by Jim Dale and even the UK versions on disc narrated by Stephen Fry.

14. Hidden in the background is an 'Oshkosh B' Gosh' logo. I was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, though the brand is no longer centered there. Most locals are pretty bitter that they left... who am I fooling, they're all bitter.

15. Star Wars. I'm such a nerd. I love it.

16. Baseball cards. Though I haven't seriously collected since I graduated high school, I still have all my old cards. Even though I do not own any of the following, these are some of my fav's:

16a) 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie card

16b) 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card

16c) 1968 Topps Johnny Bench rookie card

16d) 1909 T206 Honus Wagner tobbacco card

17. Moe's Southwest Grill is my favorite mexican place.

18. BEER! My fav's are Labatt's, Honey Brown, Rolling Rock... but mostly Miller Lite.

19. 'Ecstasy' by Maxfield Parrish. Both he and M.C. Escher are my favorite artists. Many people mistake Parrish as a Renaissance era painter, but he was actually born in Philadelphia, PA in the late 1800's.

20. NFL Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Pack has three of these puppies.

21. The famous Bucky 'effing' Dent home run in the 1978 season ending tie-breaker game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The Yanks went on to win the World Series that year. I love being a Yankee fan! Though I must say that I am deeply a Brewers fan at heart.

22. If you've been on this blog at all, you've seen how I feel about the Packers. The only major league professional sports team in the US that is community owned. They may not always be great, but they are by far the best team in the NFL... regardless of the standings.

23. Back to baseball, this is "The Catch." Willie Mays made this catch in the first game of the 1957 World Series off the bat of Vic Wertz. The Giants ended up sweeping the Indians in four games for the championship. One of the greatest catches of all time.

24. This is the logo of the A-6 Squardron I was in while I was stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. VA-35 Black Panthers.

25. Another Navy reference, classic WWII military propaganda... er, I mean poster.

26. A-6 Intruder logo. This is the type of aircraft I worked with while in the Navy.

27. Old-style Milwaukee Brewers logo. Like I mentioned earlier, the Brewers are my home team. I grew up with Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Gorman Thomas, Rollie Fingers, Pete Vuckovich (et al.). I am just now starting to like the Cardinals... I have hated them indiscriminately since 1982.

28. The Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams. Being a Yankee fan, albeit a transplant fan, I respect and love all the old Red Sox greats: Ted, Carl Yaztremski... uh, are there any more? Anyway, Ted was amazing, even though he is cryogenically frozen in a Scottsdale, AZ lab. Way to go John-Henry.

29. Bucky Badger. I did not attend the University of Wisconsin , but as far as college loyalty goes, they are my team.

30. Just a football... thought it looked cool.

31. Max, from 'Where the Wild Things Are.' My favorite book as a kid and now.

Hope you enjoyed and learned a little more about me.

I had fun making it.

Packers Wallpaper contest # 3

This was my third and final entry.

Much more simple than the others, but fun to make.

Post Script: You can tell by the 'post date' how late I stay up making these stupid things!

Kerrigan took this picture of Jude and I.

Miami Dolphins Wallpaper

Here you go, Rob. As requested, a customized Miami Dolphins wallpaper just for you... and whoever else wants it.

Packers wallpaper 02

This is the second desktop wallpaper I put together for the Packers.com wallpaper contest. It's an ode to their three Super Bowl victories: 1967, 1968 & 1997, though they also won 9 others before there was such a thing as a Super Bowl - 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, & 1965. I thought the images of Vince Lombardi & Mike Holmgren balanced each other excellently. Pressure and frustration leading to winning their respective championships, being carried away by the team. I like this one better than the first.

Packers Desktop Contest

This is one of the Wallpapers I made and submitted to Packers.com for a contest. If you like the Pack, feel free to download it and grace your desktop with it's chessiness!

Hope we beat the Chargers tonight. It may be a long season.

Jude & Kerrigan on 'Cars'

Can't remember if I've mentioned this, but the kids are absolutely in love with all things 'Cars' by Pixar. As a treat, I thought I'd surprise Jude and Kerrigan with a little picture of them with their favorites... I put it on the computer's desktop, so they saw it right away this morning. They were so excited to be 'riding' on King and Sally!

If any of you happened to get the McDonald's happy meal cars and have extra or don't mind parting with them, we missed Lightning McQueen, Ramone, Fillmore & Sally. We have extra Mater & Doc if you're up for a trade as well.

KaChow!

The Reverend in Rhythm

I would love to hear this album!

Nice pipe...