Possum Star 2000

Random band album cover

2011-11-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

About

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably done it or seen your friends do it plenty of times. Popularly known as Make Your Own Album Cover (or shortly “album cover”), this DIYgame first began as a Flickr group project circa early 2008 and subsequently crossed over to other social networking sites like Facebook through the following year.

Origins of CD Cover Meme [Incomplete]

In February 2008, the Flickr group “CD Cover Meme” was created and it currently holds the largest collection of randomly generated album covers with 2000+ submissions. Once again in early 2009, fake album covers leaped beyond its own expectations when Facebook users quickly caught on by posting their album covers as tagged notes, inviting their friends to create their own artworks as well.

How to Make Your Own Album Cover

1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

Spotted outside a noisy bar on Tatooine...

2011-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

Noah Singing

2011-10-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Noah Laughing

2011-10-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

T-Shirts I Have Known

2011-09-23T16:38:00.001-07:00

Diary of a Minion

2010-09-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

http://diaryofaminion.blogspot.com/

2010-09-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

More fallout today from that disappointing weapons test last week. The guys in the Gunnery Cell have been looking at the tapes from the mock engagement, and now they're screaming that the targeting problem was due to mech-fail with PC19, and not due to human error. They claim that the tapes show clearly that the gun was slow to respond when the X-drones were targeted by the computer, which is why PC19 was unable to hit any of the X-drones (we call them "X-drones" because the practice ships are always painted with big, red crosses on their hulls, presumably to make targeting easier). I say that the guys in Cell 19 are just pissed that Cell 18 is the one that gets to have the pizza party, and, that, anyway, you can't rule out human error just because no one in Cell 19 is technically human.

Whatever. I guess we're used to being the scapegoats. Looks like Sikes is going to have us run a full diagnostic of #19, like we don't have enough crap to do already. We're still working our way through the report from last week's audit, trying to correct all the DNCs that the helmet-heads found, plus, we just found out today that the Vizier is coming next week, so, holy gakk, you know, gotta get everything squared for that. So, yeah, just add "full plasma cannon diagnostic" to the stack.

Kind of a weird thing happened this afternoon. I was in the lounge, grabbing my afternoon coffee and bearclaw, when this dude bumps into me, nearly makes me spill my coffee. I'm all like, "Dude," but he just keeps on truckin', so, whatever. Then, later, when I'm back at my workstation, I reach into the chest pocket of my coverall for a stylus, and I find this little pamphlet. I don't know where it came from; the guy that bumped me must've stuck it there. I look at the cover: "The Good News About The Confederation". Aw, crap. I quickly wad some paper around the pamphlet and walk it over to the incinerator slot, where I toss it in. Don't want to be caught with something like that, not here. And, now I'm wondering if I should report the guy who bumped me. I mean, I don't want to; he's probably just a harmless hippie or something, but what if he's Imperator's Legion? What if he slipped me the pamphlet as a test of my loyalty?

Naw, he was probably just a hippie. Kind of smelled like patchouli, come to think of it.

Diary of a Minion

2010-09-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

Snap audit today of the entire PC department; we found out, like, 30 minutes ahead of time. Sikes was freaking out, ordered Leeson and me to throw on some suits and do a quick EVA to make sure the GUN WAS CLEAN (seriously). As if it takes only 30 minutes to clean a Mark VII quad-chambered, multi-inductive plasma cannon, but, whatever- we suited up, did the walk, tried to hit the dirtiest parts of the gun. Got back inside just in time to greet Chief Belz and the black-helmets from Fleet. Chief and Sikes led the three auditors around the department, pointing out the metrics board (good thing we updated it last Monday) and the document library (fully compliant with Imperial SOPs, thanks to yours truly), the auditors muttering to one another behind their face-plates and tapping on their wrist-PADs all the while.

After the little tour was over, the three auditors split up and poked around for another hour- never asking questions, just observing, muttering, and tapping. We tried to get on with our morning duties, but it was kind of hard, what with the helmet-heads looking over our shoulders the whole time. I considered stepping out under the pretense of needing to visit the Gents', but quickly nixed that idea. I knew the auditors would bio-scan me on my way out, and I didn't want the helmets to catch me in a fib. I have anough demerits as it is. In the end, I just waited them out.

Around breaktime, the auditors left with Chief Belz and Sikes, so I ran to the lounge to get a couple of coffees for me and Leeson. On the way back, I bumped into Ignazipom, that gakko from Navigation. He was whining about climate control issues at the K-section terminals, and I had to remind him that I'm not with VTT-4 anymore. He said he was aware, but that he hadn't been able to get anyone from CC on the horn and he was desperate. "We're sweating our lobes off down there," he said, "and I've already had to send two guys to the infirmary to have theirs reattached." So, what could I do, turn the guy down? I dropped of Leeson's coffee, ran down to K-section, fixed the climate control (stuck co-processor, of course), then made it back to Plasma in time for the morning weapon test. It's called multi-tasking, people. Some of us can do it, and some can't walk and chew gum at the same time (Graeme?).

Diary of a Minion

2010-09-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

Grand Navy of the Imperium
Imperial Third Fleet, Ninth Squadron
Gunstar-Class Battlecruiser "Vengeance"

Plasma Cannon Technical Team VTT-10
CT2 Armin Shale

Technician's Log
SID 23109.20
---------------------------------------------------------
Graeme was on me again today. First thing this morning, he was bitching about the column widths on the Weapon Test Report. I was all, like, "Graeme, I didn't realize the JWI for the WTR specified Imperium-preferred column-widths." Idiot. Then he gave me a hard time for ducking out in the middle of mid-morning department meeting. I'm like, "Dude, you should be glad I didn't hang around. Trust me. When I run out like that, there's usually a good reason," which, then, just led him to start whining about how long it had taken me. I'm like, "Uh, yeah, sometimes it takes a while, Graeme. It's not like I can plan these things." I swear, I hate that guy.

I don't hate that new blonde tech in AG, though. I don't hate her at all. Why'd she have to be in AG, though? "Most important tech team on the ship" my ass. Yeah. We get it. If the artifical gravity craps out, we all float around. Nobody can pilot the ship. The Star Lord gets pissed off, probably has someone executed. Ok. Look, I'm not denying that artificial gravity is important, but, hey, guess what else is important on a GUNSTAR? Yeah, that's right, the frelling GUNS. If the guns on a Gunstar don't work, well, then it's just, what, a medical frigate? Tugboat? So, yeah, cannon techs are pretty important, too. Anyway, maybe the dickishness of the AG group hasn't infected the pretty blonde yet. Maybe she'll get a clue that she works with a bunch of jerks and put in for a transfer.

Oh, yeah, there was kind of a commotion this afternoon. Some Confederation losers snuck onto the ship, apparently planning to spring a prisoner that we picked up last week (a former big-wig from Kamalos, supposedly). Anyway, these geniuses somehow made it down to the brig, where they ran smack into 2 platoons of Ghataki, as well as the Star Lord himself (he was "interrogating" the prisoner). So, anyway, long-story-short- big gun battle, corridors blown to bits, 3 service bots smashed, plus these guys get away! With the prisoner! I don't know, man. I guess they're not cloning Ghataki like they used to. On the bright side, I guess there are now two new openings for Ghataki platoon commanders! Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I'm not interested in any job where being reprimanded involves a quick trip to the nearest airlock. On the other hand, at least I wouldn't have to deal with Graeme.

2010-08-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

Also awesome

2010-06-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Awesome

2010-06-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/star-wars-pancake-mold/?pkey=x|4|1||4|star%20wars||0

That is all.

Feeding the birds...

2010-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

Poo Poo Junction

2010-02-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

Mr. FiddyBo vs Mr. GoGo

2010-02-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

Biker

2010-02-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Snow Day

2010-02-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

Interesting fact: Auld Lang Syne means "old long since" in the Germanic dialect of lowland Scotland. Well, at least I think it's interesting...

2009-12-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

2010 is a blank canvas, a fresh start. 2010 is my chance to do better, to try not to screw up so much. 2010, if you'll give me a break, I promise I won't let you down.

Or, at least I'll try not to.

2009 wasn't really a bad year. It was, in fact, a pretty good ride. Noah turned 3, we sold a house and bought another house, Chauntelle got an iPod AND a stand mixer...all in all, not too shabby.

Still, I find myself a bit disappointed at the missed opportunities and dropped balls, at all the failures and half-successes and dead-ends. I feel like plenty of things happened TO me in the past year, but I didn't accomplish much myself. I'd like for 2010 to be different.

So, here's a list of benchmarks for 2010. I don't think of these items New Year's resolutions, exactly. There more like markers or signposts. If I'm meeting my goals, or even coming close to meeting my goals, then I know I'm moving in the right direction.

+Decide what to call the new year. Okay, this one I've pretty much already worked out: it's Twenty Ten, not Two Thousand Ten, or whatever.

+Lose 2 pounds of weight per month. I think this is do-able.

+Assemble a design portfolio containing 20-25 STRONG pieces. If necessary, ask for help with assembling it (and help will be necessary, I'm sure).

+Plan a celebration for every month. Ok, so this one may seem kinda weird, but I was just thinking that it would be nice to have a party, or cookout, or festive get-together every single month. Obviously, birthdays and holidays lend themselves to these sorts of events, but even during months where there is no natural celebratory occasion, I want to have one. (Happy August Day 2010!)

+Go to Walt Disney World in September. Several things have to align for this to become a reality, but I think this will be the first year that Noah would truly appreciate the experience, and so I'd really like to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

+Cook at home. We kind of got out of this habit during the summer and fall (i.e., the period when we were fixing up the old house and working to sell it), but we've got a great new kitchen, Chauntelle has a beautiful new stand mixer, and we both like to cook (certain) things, so it should be a snap to start doing this again.

+Be more patient. Ok, so the two personality defects that poison my life and make it impossible for me to succeed are my low self-esteem and my difficuly "right-sizing" my reactions to events that frustrate me. What I have determined this past year is that my angry, frustrated behavior is really just a manifestation of my severe lack of patience. This is one that I really need to conquer, especially now that we have a 3-and-a-half-year-old who likes to draw on the furniture and poop in his pants. I can't be lashing out every time Noah paints the cat. I need to maintain my patience and respond appropriately.

I'm sure I can think of other resolu-, er, benchmarks, but I'm pretty sure these are the biggies, and if I can meet them in 2010, maybe I won't feel like quite so much of a loser come December 31. At least I can try.

Rudolph, Rudolph, and Rudolph...plus, more Rudolph!!!

2009-12-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

Reading...

2009-08-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

We love Aunt Rachel bitty bitty bit

2009-08-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

What we did this weekend, part 1

2009-07-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Rocky Top and a Sea

2009-07-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Papa

2009-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Manduca sexta; or, It Is Regrettable That Some Tobacco Hornworms Were Harmed In The Making Of This Motion Picture

2009-07-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

Bike Parade

2009-07-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

Fun Park Play Time Dragon Golden

2009-06-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Noah Park Funtime

2009-06-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Lotus Tree Fun Noah Laughing Time

2009-06-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Crazy Noah Wacky Video Fun Time Dragon Ball

2009-06-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another (slightly different) version

2009-02-25T10:44:00.001-08:00

Six Five Design

2009-02-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

Purely theoretical at this point...bonus points for anyone who knows the significance of 6-5...oh, who am I kidding...it's pretty much only Mom looking at this blog anyway...

One more try...

2009-02-20T21:54:00.001-08:00

Take 2

2009-02-20T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a slightly different take...

I understand that a bar/ restaurant recently opened in the Sunsphere...

2009-02-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

And I've seen its logo design. Not bad, but I'd prefer something a bit more sleek and elegant.

I'm not sure this fits the bill, either, but it's a start...

Just for fun...

2009-02-14T19:19:00.000-08:00

If I had a graphic design business that specialized in graphic design for children, the logo might look something like this

February

2009-02-03T09:27:00.001-08:00

January

2008-12-28T13:14:00.001-08:00

Just for fun...

2008-12-25T18:40:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas.

2008-12-24T13:57:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to remember some of the favorite Christmas gifts from my childhood. I am old, and my memory fails me sometimes, but here are a few that I can recall:

*Starbird electronic spaceship.

*Dark Tower electronic boardgame.

*Coleco Pac-Man game.

*Split Second electronic game (yes, I was born at the dawn of the digital era).

*Kenner Millenium Falcon (surely you don't need a link for this one).

*Blue bicycle with black banana seat (I think I got this the same year as the Falcon. Good year for Chirstmas presents).

*Blow-up "Joe Cool" Snoopy punching bag.

*Commodore 64 with floppy disc drive (pirated games not included).

*TI-99 (with Tombstone City & Munch Man)

*Sanyo personal stereo.

*Gotcha guns (sucked- never worked properly. Paintball guns for kids- seemed like such a good idea).

Christmas Wishes to All!!!

2008-12-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

Noah, Of Course

2008-11-23T17:13:00.001-08:00

More school stuff...

2008-11-16T19:35:00.001-08:00

This is an image of the front and back covers of a CD booklet that I had to create for my computer graphics class. As you can see, it is perhaps not the most creative, imaginative design, but I think it does look convincingly like the sort of art one might find included in an R.E.M. record (yes, that's right, a RECORD- anything that has been recorded by someone is a RECORD, as far as I'm concerned).

First Photoshop assignment...not too great, but not too bad, either...

2008-10-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, I discovered the Internet Archive

2008-09-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

And, it has all of this public domain material, like educational films and movie theater advertisements from the 1950's and 60's.

Mmm, butter...

Jerry Reed, RIP

2008-09-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

More strong opinions about trivial things...

2008-08-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

*Off The Wall was better than Thriller.

*I don't like Rick Dees.

*I cannot stand the misuse of the apostrophe.

*Sometimes Angel was better than Buffy.

*Although I like the idea of writing with an ol d-fashioned wood pencil, I must admit that I prefer mechanical pencils over wood. Also, 0.5 mm pencil lead is a must.

*Peanut M&Ms are the best.

*If Coca-Cola marketed a less sweet version (not diet, just low sugar), I would buy that product.

*In order of awesomeness, the Star Trek movies may be ranked as follows:
1. Star Trek 2 (Wrath of Khan)
2. Star Trek 8 (First Contact)
3. Star Trek 6 (Undiscovered Country)
4. Star Trek 4 (Let's All Save Some Whales)
5. Star Trek 3 (Spock Goes Through Puberty)
6. Star Trek 7 (Yawn. Oh, We Crashed The Ship. Yawn)
7. Star Trek 1 (Alternative Cure For Insomnia)
8. Star Trek 9 (Insurrection? Did I See That One? Then Why Don't I Remember It?)
9. Star Trek 10 (Lame Lame Lame Lame-Ass, But At Least No Songs Around A Campfire)
10. Star Trek 5 (Oh Ah Must Look Away Eyes Burning)

Strong opinions about subjects that don't really merit strong opinions...

2008-08-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

You know, I may have not have an opinion as of yet reducing whether nuclear power is a smart solution for reducing our nation's dependency on petroleum, but I do have some unusually strong opinions about the following extremely trivial subjects. You'll note that many of these have to do with stupid TV shoes from the 70s and 80s. I am not ashamed, although maybe I ought to be:

*The first season of The Facts of Life, the one with a larger group of girls, the one with a roller-skating Tootie,the one with Molly Ringwald, was the best season of the show.

*I love Batman Begins, and I am certain that I will greatly enjoy The Dark Knight as well, but I still have a big, gooey soft spot for Batman Begins. My affection for that movie, flawed and overstuffed though it may be, probably has quite a lot to do with Michelle Pfeiffer.

*Vin Diesel has been in a bunch of terrible movies, but he was also the voice of the Iron Giant, so he gets a pass. I'll not speak ill of him, even if Babylon AD is as awful as it totally looks like it's gonna be.

*I can think of other actors and performers who get a pass. I should make a list of them.

*Star Trek Deep Space 9 is the best version of Star Trek on television (note, I said on TV), but only the 3rd best sci-fi show ever to air on TV.

*I won't say what are the top 2 sci-fi shows ever to be aired, though I will say that Babylon 5 is not one of them. Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze!

Noah at the Zoo- March: I can't believe how much he's grown!

2008-06-29T17:35:00.001-07:00

Ice cream...

2008-06-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Noah Singing

2008-06-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

Greenville...GOOOOOD

2008-06-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

I have a goal (or, at least, I think I have one), and I have a plan for reaching that goal. Sometimes, though, I worry that the plan is taking too long, that I'm not making enough progress, that I will never reach my goal. Now, for some reason, when that wave of worry and fear overtakes me, I start to blame my surroundings for my perceived failure to advance. And when I start to blame my surroundings, I start to shop for new surroundings.

Ask Chauntelle. She'll tell you that every weekday lunchtime brings a new barrage of facts and details about far-away (and not so far-away) places. I'll come home for my mid-day meal and begin peppering my good lady wife with moderately interesting factoids about destinations unfamiliar (Omaha, Louisville, Madison, Minneapolis), as well as destinations rather more familiar (Chattanooga, Clarksville, Kingsport, Asheville, Boone, and, er, Knoxville).

We should move here, she'll hear me say. Look at the zoo they have there. That city has a large Greek community; think of the restaurants! And, hey, they have a roller coaster!

And then Chauntelle will respond as so: But, we really love Greenville. Why do you want to leave Greenville? What's wrong with Greenville?

And the answer is: I don't really want to leave Greenville. Greenville is great. My odds for personal success will not be improved by a move- in fact, an ill-considered relocation might have a negative effect on my career plan.

Plus, let's all say it again- Greenville is great. How is it great? Well, maybe it would help to delineate (de-LIN-e-ate- that's for you, Chauntelle) its many categories of greatness:

+Okay, well Main Street is beautiful, vibrant, and prosperous. The Falls park is amazing. The West End is growing and thriving. In short, Downtown Greenville is a wonderful asset to the area and almost reason enough to move to the Upstate.

+As far as dining is concerned, Greenville is well appointed with restaurants representing every possible cuisine, and certainly has a more varied selection of eateries than many other metro-areas of similar size (Knoxville, Chattanooga). Let's put it this way- we've been in Greenville for 3 years and yet have eaten at chain casual restaurants maybe 5 or 6 times in those 3 years. Greenville has so many great local places that it seems shameful to patronize a chain restaurant, even a good one.

+So many grocery stores. Local mom-&-pop joints. Asian markets. Mexican mercados. Solid mid-range chains like Bi-Lo and Ingles. Slightly more tony grocers like Publix (good meat). Gourmet/upscale stores like Earth Fare, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and (a local chain) Garner's. Plus the big 3 warehouse chains. Oh, and Aldi. Aldi Aldi Aldi.

+Location. 2 hours from Atlanta. 1.5 hours from, Charlotte. 3.5 hours from Charleston, the beach, maybe a little more to Savannah (and the beach). 3.5 hours to Knox Vegas (the Couch). Roller coasters in 3 directions. Mountains nearby. 4.5 hours to Cheraw (just kidding).

+I sort of feel like my job opportunities are a bit limited currently, but it seems that, compared to other places, job opportunities are pretty abundant here.

+The city is relatively diverse, and seems to welcome and appreciate its diversity (for the most part). Lots of different kinds of folks live here, and the city is the better for it. I will say that on Main Street you have an excellent chance of hearing French, or German, or Arabic spoken; and of seeing folks from every conceivable cultural, religious, socio-economic background and/or sexual orientation. Again, I think that's good.

+Home prices are still pretty reasonable, despite the increased growth in the region.

+The local schools are among the best in the state. Of course, SC is supposed to have some of the worst public schools in the nation...

+Several good hospitals.

+Several colleges in the area, including a large private college, a large campus of the state college, and an excellent technical college.

+A great library (and library system), a science/nature center (with planetarium), and a soon-to-open children's museum are all in the area, along with a children's theater. Oh, and a symphony orchestra. And the state art school is downtown. All good stuff for our little guy.

I'm sure I can think of some other reasons to never leave, but for now, it's just good to remind myself that Greenville is where people want to move to, not from. And to remember that the problems that trouble me the most will always travel with me wherever I go. A new city won't change who I am- only I can do that.

Postie postie postie postie...

2008-06-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Just posting 'cause I promised myself I'd try to post every day...hey, here's Lego Boba Fett!

2008-06-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking at thatarticle about Knoxville (or, as I like to call it, "The Big Couch") that was recently published in the New York Times, and I happened across this other article about Knoxville. Reading it, I realized that I would love to attend this "world's fair" and have an opportunity to see this Sun Sphere for myself...

April 25, 1982
KNOXVILLE UNVEILS ITS WORLD'S FAIR

WENDELL RAWLS Jr. is a correspondent in the Atlanta bureau of The Times. By WENDELL RAWLS Jr.

It used to be that the only time the camper-trailing, boat-hauling, roof-racked, kid-squalling vacationers from the Northeast or Midwest considered Knoxville at all was when they got trapped in a bottleneck traffic jam on the way to the Smoky Mountains or the white sand beaches of Florida. But this year millions of people will be visiting this powdered and painted-up old industrial, mining and college town of 180,000 on purpose. They probably will stay awhile and Knoxvillians hope they will like it enough to come back again and again.

For Knoxville, this is World's Fair summer, which, the calendar notwithstanding, will begin next Saturday and continue until Oct. 31. In between will be 184 days of parades and performances; fun-FAIR cuisine, pageantry and propaganda, and international government and corporate exhibits with energy as a theme and virtually every kind of electronic computer, gadget, widget and whatzit.

Officials of both Knoxville and the fair hope that those millions of tourists who used to drive past will pause in the city for a couple or three days and take a look. They've spent about $110 million trying to make it worth the stop, and they say they believe about six million people from around the country and the world will make the turnstiles click some 11 million times during the six months.

The fair will open with a visit by President Reagan and about 100,000 others and the attendant grinding traffic jam similar to those occurring every other weekend during the fall, when the University of Tennessee entertains almost that many football fans at Neyland Stadium, which adjoins the fair site.

The first thing the President and the ensuing crowds will see is the 266-foot-tall Sunsphere tower that looks like a giant gold golf ball atop a blue steel tee. Then there are the bright yellow, orange and blue tension-fabric tent tops, the array of international flags fluttering beside a seven-acre manmade lake that winds through the fairgrounds, and yards of wide bunting streamers in shades of purple, blue, orange and red flowing from the balcony of a renovated candy factory.

Seventeen nations will present individual exhibitions under the theme ''Energy Turns the World,'' and six others will share space in the European Community Pavilion.

China, participating in a world's fair for the first time since 1904, will display four terra-cotta warriors and horses from the tomb of Emperor Ying Zheng, a 20-foot solar-powered dragon boat, scores of jade and soapstone carvings, tapestries of pearls and clams, and ancient porcelain. Much has been made of the exhibit of ''an actual portion of the Great Wall of China,'' the first piece of the centuries-old 1,500-mile structure allowed out of the country. But the exhibit measures only 15 by 20 inches and, though cited as one of the fair's highlights, it probably provides insufficient reason alone to attend the exposition.

Saudi Arabia will present a solar energy model and an animated diorama of the Grand Mosque. Australia will have working windmills, solar-energy displays, moving sidewalks, eucalyptus and fern trees, and, of course, kangaroos. Hungary will display the world's largest Rubik's Cube - invented by the Hungarian architect Dr. Erno Rubik - which will solve itself mechanically every several seconds. South Korea, celebrating the centennial of its association with the United States, is showing a hot-floor heating system that can be adapted for cooking and a master plan and model of a maritime city planned for the 21st century.

The French exhibit will be a hexagonal-shaped solar collector. Mexico will emphasize its growth as a major oil exporter by using visual images to simulate an oil pool and oil production. West Germany's exhibit will include a working model of an 18th-century waterwheel, solar models and displays stressing nuclear power. Japan will have robots that walk and talk, a robotized arm like those used to build cars, and countless other computerized and electronic operations, including a theater on a moving floor with an oval-shaped dome and a spherical screen for films. Egypt is presenting artifacts from the tombs of King Tut and Ramses II.

Among the corporate exhibitors, Federal Express, the Tennesseebased air freight carrier, will give laser-beam demonstrations and exhibit advances in communications and transportation. United States Steel will show working models of oil and gas drilling equipment, and Union Carbide Corporation will provide more than 150 battery-powered toys and games that children and adults will be allowed to operate. Ford Motor Company will feature futuristic cars and alternative fuels. Control Data will offer hands-on educational computer systems in such languages, among others, as Japanese, Arabic, Chippewa Indian and Inupik, which is spoken by Eskimos.

Virtually all of the exhibits will employ film demonstrations and multimedia presentations and displays. The United States' six-story cantilevered, solar-powered pavilion, for example, will house video terminals and talk-back computers and a movie screen that is seven stories high.

The foreign exhibitors are expected to devote considerable time and space to history, culture, art, handcrafts, folklore, dress, customs and souvenirs that will enable the visitor to travel the globe without leaving the banks of the Tennessee River. Korea, China, Mexico and Hungary, for example, will provide native cooking and restaurants in their pavilions.

A major attraction of the fair is expected to be the Folklife Festival, which will present the history, heritage, customs, arts, crafts, foods, entertainment and people of the southern Appalachian region. Among the festival's activities: bluegrass music, fiddling contests, gospel singing, clog-dancing, square dancing, tinsmithing, barrel-making, basket weaving, quilting, wood carving and a working moonshine whisky still.

As plans are so far, almost all of these exhibits, as well as the strolling magicians and musicians, mimes, jugglers, and a variety of folk, country, contemporary, nostalgic and symphonic music - but not food, drink and souvenirs - are included in the one-day general admission ticket price of $9.95 ($9.25 for those over 55). For children between 4 and 11 years, the price is $8.25. A two-day ticket is available to everyone for $15.95, and at least two days would be required to enjoy all the exhibits and have a beer or two at, say, the German Festhaus, a pre-Civil War foundry that has been converted into a German-style beer hall offering oompah bands, German dances and dishes and costumed waitresses.

But the admission price does not include rides on one of the 24 four-passenger aerial gondola cars or on one of the 114 two-passenger chairlifts that traverse the one-mile fair site. Round-trip tickets for these rides cost up to $2.50 for adults and to $1.75 for children under 12. A trip to the top of the five-tier Sunsphere, which houses two dining areas and two observation decks, is $2 for adults and $1.50 for children. If you eat in the Sunsphere, the cost of the elevator ride is credited to your food check.

For children under 12, and for many over 55, the Family Funfair amusement area with its 13 rides and electronic video games arcade may be the most appealing attraction. Tickets for its rides, including a 17-story Ferris wheel that is said to be the largest in the country, the giant pirate ship, the log flume and double-deck Venetian carousel, cost between 50 cents and $2, although a book of ride tickets offers a slight discount.

According to fair officials, reasonably-priced international dishes will be served in 54 restaurants, snack bars and cafes scattered about the fairgrounds. The offerings will include barbecue specialties, European sausage, Belgian waffles, country ham and biscuits, bagels, egg creams, submarine sandwiches, fresh fruit cobbler, Filipino treats, New Orleans cuisine and a New York-style deli, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Greek dishes. In addition, the restored candy factory will house an Italian terrace restaurant with a make-your-own pasta bar, and an international buffet featuring Polynesian and French-Canadian dishes. A renovated turn-of-the-century railway station has a restaurant offering American food.

While most entertainers will be performing on the grounds at no extra cost to visitors, major shows and special events will take place at other sites and separate tickets must be purchased. For Bob Hope's performances on May 29 and 30, tickets will cost $13 apiece; for Johnny Cash's appearances July 1 to July 3, tickets are $11; and for the Rudolf Nureyev and Boston Ballet performances of ''Don Quixote,'' May 4-8, they range from $15 to $30.

The traveler to this first World's Fair in the Southeast should anticipate that the extravaganza could well cost a family of four more than $100 a day in addition to food and lodging. Another consideration is the likelihood that the fair will carry far more appeal for adults and older teen-agers than for children under 10, who may regard some exhibits as somewhat tedious and find most interesting those activities that cost extra.

Lodging, while supposedly ample in the region, already is becoming scarce near the fair site and should be secured before arrival. Many rooms are already reserved as far away as Chattanooga, about 110 miles southwest on Interstate 75. However, fair officials insist that about 40 percent of the available lodging in surrounding communities remains vacant, although such space may involve a trailer, mobile home, camper, houseboat or a room in someone's residence.

Prices will be generally high as hotel and motel owners try to take advantage of what is perceived as a lifetime opportunity. Expect to pay from $60 to $125 a night for an average motel room with two double beds. Many motels will require two-night minimum stays. The World's Fair office offers a housing service for hotels and motels (615-971-1000) and for such supplemental housing as apartments, condominiums, unoccupied single-family homes, campsites or dormitory rooms at the University of Tennessee (615-971-4000). The dormitory rate is $14.50 a night.

The World's Fair is not the only dish on a smorgasbord of vacation opportunities within about three hours of Knoxville. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the country, and some nine million visitors are expected there this summer. The Smokies have more than 600 miles of horse and hiking trails.

Across the mountains from Knoxville and Gatlinburg is Cherokee, N.C., which is a Cherokee Indian reservation and the site of a working Indian village restored to its early 19th-century condition. Farther east in Asheville, N.C., is Biltmore, the former estate of the Vanderbilt family with original furnishings and 34 acres of formal gardens.

About 30 miles from Knoxville is Oak Ridge, Tenn., which was the top-secret World War II base of the Manhattan Project for the development of the atomic bomb, and now the site of the American Museum of Science and Energy, the world's largest energy exhibition (admission is free).

To the west lies Nashville, known as ''Music City U.S.A.,'' the home of country music, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Opryland U.S.A., a theme park with rides, a petting zoo and live musical productions in jazz, blues, pop, rock, country and gospel. Opryland also is home to the Grand Ole Opry, the longest running radio program in the nation. Other attractions include the Hermitage, the antebellum home of President Andrew Jackson, Vanderbilt University and the Parthenon, a replica of the Greek structure.

Chattanooga, the scene of three Civil War battles, offers an incline railway up Lookout Mountain, the Rock City Gardens on top of the mountain and the Choo-Choo Hilton Inn, where patrons may sleep overnight in converted railroad cars.

Atlanta, farther south on I-75, has the largest airport terminal in the world; another successful theme park, Six Flags over Georgia; and the tallest hotel in the United States, Peachtree Plaza. How to get to the fair For travelers driving to the World's Fair, traffic and parking offer the potential for migraine headaches. Parking will cost between $6 and $10 a day, but those who try to drive as close as possible to the site before parking are likely to find themselves in long traffic jams and without parking space. Good parking areas are available away from the grounds, with regular shuttle bus service for the hours of the fair. A similar service is offered from the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge resort area, about 20 miles southeast of Knoxville, which has accommodations for 25,000 people. The main routes to Knoxville for drivers are Interstate 81, from Virginia and Washington, and I-75, from Ohio and Indiana to the north. Eastern Airlines is starting a direct service from New York to Knoxville on May 1, the fair's opening day. A flight will leave La Guardia every day at 7:15 A.M., arriving at 10:09. The round-trip ''super saver'' fare is $314. Delta and other airlines serve Knoxville, but connections are required in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and other cities. Knoxville is served by Greyhound and Trailways buses but it does not have Amtrak rail service.

Aldi Aldi Aldi Aldi

2008-06-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that I love Aldi. I'm not even really sure why I love the place so much. The fact that we save a lot of money by marketing there certainly explains some of the affection I feel for the place. Also, though, I think I just really like shopping where most people don't shop. I feel the same way about my choices of computer operating system and web browser. I like knowing that my Aldi and Linux and Opera are as good, or better, than the Wal-Mart and Windows and Internet Explorer that everyone else is using. It makes me feeli like I am a memeber of some kind of super-cool secret club. And, by the way, I am fully aware of how stupid and shallow these feelings are. Aldi is not a super-cool exclusive club. Aldi is a place where you have to deposit a quarter to check out a cart (you get your 2 bits back when you return the cart to the pen), where you have to pay for bags, and where you will only find brand-name items if they happen to be on special that week.

But what's strange is that I love all of those strange little kooky aspects of shopping at Aldi. The cart thing is done so that employees don't have to spend all day wrangling carts; if you want your quarter back, you have to return your cart (or hand it off to the next shopper for a quarter, which is considered good etiquette). The bag thing is great- we should all be reusing our shopping bags anyway, so just bring some old bags with you when you shop at Aldi. And the no-brand-names thing, well, we've been buying store brand items for years, so for a whole store to be just store brand items does not phase us.

Plus, Aldi's stuff is almost always as good or better than name brand (and some of their items likely are produced in the same plants as name brand goods).

In fact, her's a long list of items that we have bought at Aldi, along with our impressions of them:

Milk- well, it's milk. No different from any other milk, except $1 cheaper per gallon.

Chocolate- Choceur is their in-house brand. Dee-licious. Tastes like Lindt.

Potato Chips- Their premium, kettle-style chips are called Cowboy Ted or some such. Excellent. Aldi has fantastic junk food.

Pretzels- Just your regular pretzels, but cheap, cheap, cheap.

Snack mix- their usual choice for a Chex Mix-type snack is a bit too salty (really, it's true) for me, but they recently featured a BOLD variety of snack mix that I quite liked. Also featyred at the same time was their version of the SWEET 'N' SALTY mix that Chex introduced a few years ago. Also good.

Cereal- All of their cereal options are as good as, or better than, the name-brand versions. Really, though, all that matters is that their koko krispies are acceptable (and, of course, they are).

Peanut butter- I really like the Aldi peanut butter, and I especially like that it contains no high fructose corn syrup. So, to review: it's cheap, has no corn syrup, and tastes good on bread with grape jam (which does have corn syrup).

Frozen pizza- Okay, this is no lie, Aldi has some of the best frozen pizza we've ever eaten. Their Margherita Pizza is fantastic, and some of their specialty, once-every-three-months pizzas are better than pizzaria pizza.

Pasta- Pasta is pasta, but theirs is good and cheap, so we buy and eat a lot of it, often in combo with Aldi's Grandessa pasta sauce and F'n'A turkey meatballs. F'n'A!!!

Salsa, chips- Staples. Again, good chips, decent salsa, and cheap. It's not like going to the Tex-Mex restaurant, but their salsa and chips is as good as any Frito-Lay products.

Cola, root beer- I guess I've reduced my consumption of soda pop to such a level that I can no longer detect significant differences between Coca-Cola and Koka-Kola. I just can't tell much of a difference between name-brand and generico, so I like the Aldi versions fine.

Canned fruit and veggies- Not a huge selection, but everything we ever need, and then some. Like their green beans, carrots, potatoes, and their fruit cocktail. I really like their citrus cocktail, which is somewhat extravagant at over $1 per can, but, you know, sometimes you have to live large.

Fresh fruit and veggies- Ok, I won't lie- the selection is limited. The sad fact is, however, that we really don't eat a huge amount of fresh fruits and veggies. We should, and we will try to do so, but for what we typically need (apples, bananas, bagged spinach) Aldi serves us well.

Jelly beans- Alright, back to the important stuff. Around Easter every year, Aldi sells their own variety of gourmet jelly beans. I bought a few bags of these earlier in the year, and they were great. Not exactly like Jelly Belly, but pretty darn close. In fact, some of the flavors were better than the Jelly Belly versions (buttered popcorn, I'm looking at you). Unfortunately, this is a seasonal offering only.

Fruit juices- All good. Apple, grape, mixed berry- no discernable difference in quality from name brand options.

Drink mixes- Kewl Aide. Some of the flavors are a little wacky, but, c'mon, this is sugar water-flavoring that we're talking about. I'm not particular. It's impossible for Kool-Aid to taste more authentically like fake fruit than the competition. Fake grape is fake grape.

Coffee- For some reason, Aldi offers more options for coffee than for any other type of product. You have your mega-cheap, Maxwell House-type coffee in the giant can. You have the Grandessa German coffee, which I purchased for a while. And you have 2 different kinds of Beaumont premium coffee. Recently, I have been buying the Dark Roast Breakfast Blend and have been extremely pleased. I am certain it's the best $3.99/lb coffee I could find around here.

Tea- The tea selection is poor. They carry green tea and black tea. Haven't tried the green, but the black tea is typical and unremarkable.

Mac & cheese- Okay, if you're really down and out, broker than broke, but you have some mac & cheese, some ground meat, and some ketchup, you can cook yerself up a hearty meal known as the redneck casserole. I can tell you honestly that I have rarely felt as thoroughly satisfied in my life as I feel after consuming a man-sized portion of the fantastically rustic dish. Oh, and, ALDI MAC & CHEESE RULEZ ($.29!!!).

Beer, wine, et al- Our Aldi carries a limited selection of beer (limited in the sense that they carry only three kinds- German pilsner, knock-off Heineken, and knock-off Corona) and wine. I have tried 2 of the 3 kinds of beer, and have been satisfied with its quality to price ratio. We have also enjoyed some of their wines, although Chauntelle once broke out into a red rash after trying one of their Chardonnays, which was odd.

What else-

Aldi has weekly specials of all sorts- food, mostly (Germany week, Mexico week, Italy week, China week), but also: computers, GPS systems, DVD players, exercise equipment, plants, toys, and clothing. At first, I thought it was weird that a discount food store sells digital cameras, but now I think it's cool. Hey, we have a swimming pool in our back yard that we bought from Aldi. I look forward to the weekly sepcials. Aldi sends me emails to tell me about them.

Also, since Aldi is a European company (European? No, I'm a peein'!!!), their stores offer a surprising variety of certain items that you wouldn't expect to find in a small discount store. Like meusli. Or gourmet cheeses. Or schnitzel, tiramisu, and black forest cake. Or chocolate/hazelnut spread. The fact that Aldi carries 2 kinds of olive oil is also a testament to its European heritage.

Umm, can I think of anything else...Oh, yeah, they have been know to sell Tagalong and Samoa cookies under their own brand. I don't mean to imply that these cookies were interpretations of the Girl Scout cookies in question- I mean that the cookies sold by Aldi were identical in every way to Tagalongs and Samoas, to the extent that I'm sure they were produced by the same folks who produce the Girl Scout cookies. But no Thin Mints- arrrrghhhh!

I can't help thinking that Noah would have loved this place...

2008-05-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

Magic World!

This will change your life...

2008-05-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not, but it is cool...

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

2008-05-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

One more, and then I need to go to bed...

2008-05-11T21:03:00.001-07:00

No, I did not draw Pablo- I scanned a wall cling and manipulated it, and I added the other elements myself...this is a t-shirt for Noah...

Chauntelle's Mother Day present

2008-05-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

I hope she doesn't mind if I share this here...

More fun stuff...think souvenir shop, Knoxville, circa June 1982...

2008-05-11T21:00:00.001-07:00

Some stuff I have been working on...for fun, etc...

2008-05-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hulu makes me happy...here's a very old, very dumb episode of Buck Rogers...

2008-04-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

Alone...

2008-04-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

Chauntelle and Noah left for Florida today. They will be visiting Chauntelle's parents and grandparents for the next 7 days. They made it Orlando safely, and with a minimum of drama (miraculously, some might say). Noah was bored and squirmy during the flight, but he didn't experience any pain in his ears due to the pressure change, which is a blessing, I guess.
Anyway, I'm glad they made it to Florida safely. Oh, yeah, and by the way, I am so frigging bored. I mean, I don't want to make everything about me, but this is my blog after all, so I guess I will make it all about me. I'm bored and lonely already, and it's not been 8 hours since I last saw my family.
Good thing I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend. The yard needs mowing. The house needs cleaning. I have molto homework to do. Plus, a guy will be coming early tomorrow morning to install a new back door, which means that I will be up early on a Saturday morning, which should force me into an industrious and productive mindset (early bed, early to rise and all that).
Once the week starts, I'll be too busy with school and work to spend much time feeling sorry for myself. I will probably be pretty glum by Thursday, but at that point, I'll have only 2 more days to wait for my little family to fly back to me. So, it won't be so bad...

This is a real post...

2008-04-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog post. This is a new post to my blog. I have not composed a blog entry in some time, but today, I am composing a blog entry. Why have I not done so sooner (not composed and posted a blog entry, that is)? Well---I don't know. I'm busy? Is that a good excuse? I have a lot on my quote PLATE unquote? Is that a good enough excuse?
Okay, here's the deal. Here's the straight shit. My time-management skills are very poor. In fact, some observers have argued that I have, in actuality, no discernable time-management skills of any sort, an argument that I struggle to refute. As a result of my limited ability to manage my schedule, I find that I am unable to do many of the activities that previously brought me joy during that earlier, Noah-free portion of my life.
In other words, and more simply, because, as you all know, simplicity is, and ever shall be, my hallmark, as I am not one to add unnecessary elaboration to that which would be better in a simpler state, no sirree, not me, I...um, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, to cut to the chase- I suck at managing my time. Between Noah, work, and school, stuff is just dropping off the radar and/or falling through the cracks in the wayside (I'm trying to use up all my cliches at once; it's more efficient that way). But, I'm trying to get better. I'm trying to make better use of my time. I'm trying to spend fewer hours trolling the internet for bikini photos of Gillian Anderson or restaurant guides to Lexington, Ky (oh internet, why do you mock me with your vast tonnages of delicious data?). I'm trying to spend my time responsibly, on a variety of activities.
Blogging is one of the activities that I'd like to make time for again, since it truly is therapeutic for me to open up my head and smear its contents on the electronic page of virtuality (too much?). It's good for me to have an outlet for all of my mental garbage. Sure, Chauntelle listens to me, but it seems unfair to dump everything on her. It's unfair to her to ask her to pretend to be interested all the time.

Long, but worth it...

2008-04-05T21:50:00.001-07:00

Christmas, Part One

2008-01-01T19:01:00.001-08:00

He Walks!!!

2007-09-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Flowers

2007-09-16T19:15:00.001-07:00

2007-09-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Grandparents' Day (and Great-Grandparents' Day) from Noah!!!

This has nothing to do with anything, but it made me laugh...

2007-08-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hot and bothered...

2007-08-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, here in sunny Carolina, we were blessed with multiple diurnal intervals of surpassing heatitude, a truly expansive warmness of transcenturial character the likes of which I had not previously encountered. Yep, it was dang hot.

Too dadblame hot for me.

It seemed hottest on Monday and Tuesday, but maybe that's just because I kept the truck windows cranked down and the AC turned off those two days (trying to conserve fuel and save the universe, etc). Got too hot to do that for long, so by Wednesday I was chillin in frosty comfort as I rattled down I-85 in my aging and unpredictable Ford Ranger pickup truck.

I was back at my home base today, and don't expect to be asked again to travel. And, hey, it's only supposed to reach the upper 90s this week, so I can start letting the dust build up again in my AC vents.

"Daughter"

2007-08-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

This is a song by Loudon Wainwright III called "Daughter", which has almost made me cry on a couple of occasions, despite the fact that I do, in fact, have a son, and not a daughter. I know just a little bit about Loudon Wainwright. I know that he is a singer/songwriter. I know that he appeared in an episode of M*A*S*H years ago. I know that he was a castmember of a TV show I liked a lot called "Undeclared". I know that he appears in a recent movie by many of the same folks behind "Undeclared", the title of which is "Knocked Up". And I know that this song plays over the closing credits of that movie, which is where I first heard it and where I was initially almost brought to tears, despite the fact that I have a boy-child, and not a girl child. Enjoy, and be sure to point your eyes away from the keyboard when the waterworks (inevitably) start.

Floormonster 2: Electric Floormonster

2007-08-02T04:11:00.001-07:00

Floormonster...attacks!!!

2007-08-01T20:02:00.001-07:00

AldiAldiAldiAldiAldi

2007-07-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

This may sound strange, but I am having fun finding ways to stretch a dollar. Saving money has become like a game for me. I think a long-dormant 'spend-thrift' gene has been recently awakened; all I know is that nowadays my seratonin levels spike whenever I realize that I can save 35 cents on a can of green beans, or that we can borrow a movie from the library instead of renting, or that Chauntelle can turn a half-pound of ground beef into 48 meat balls that comprise the cores of 3 different meals. This stuff makes me crazy happy, for some reason. It's fun.

So, I went to Aldi today, just to look around. For those that have never been to one, Aldi is a chain of very strange discount grocery stores. The company is based in Germany, so some of the oddness may just be due to cultural differences. For example, you check out a shopping cart by depositing a quarter to unlock the cart from the cart-rack. To get your quarter back, you have to return the cart. Not a big deal, and it eliminates both the problem of carts in the parking lot and the need to hire staff to retrieve said carts. Easy peasy. Also, bring your own shopping bags, or be prepared to pay extra for them. Another European touch: the cashiers (really, cashier singular, since I've never seen 2 employees working at the same time) sit at their registers, just like at ASDA in Trowbridge (ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart, by the way).

Ok, so you've checked out your cart and you're now in the store. First thing you notice- no shelves. No racks. Dry goods and canned goods are left in their cases. The cases have been cut open and stacked in columns and rows. Everything is visible and easily accessible- just not on shelves. Next thing you notice is that almost nothing is a name brand. The whole store is store-brand, with some exceptions. That said, it probable that many of the store-brand items at an Aldi store are actually name-brand products incognito.

You'll also notice the odd German beer that you've never heard of, and European chocolate (real European chocolate) for, like, $1.25. See, that's the big thing about Aldi- everything is really cheap. So, yeah, they don't have Campbell's tomato soup, but the tomato soup they have costs 32 cents. So, if you are already used to buying store brands without complaint (which we are), the fact that you will not see the words "Kraft", "Nabisco", or "Coca-Cola" in the store won't bother you.

This was a scouting mission, plus I had a restless 13 month-old with me, so I limited my purchases to some German beer ($4.99, hard to beat that for a six-pack), sugar, cola, and vinegar (thumbs up on the cola and the beer). Barely cracked $8.00. Crackers and dairy products looked good, canned goods seemed fine, and their coffee is supposed to be good ($2.99 for the premium). The meat selection was meager, but hey, they have great prices on ground beef, and I know I can get cheap chicken at Bloom, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'll have to grab some of that chocolate next time.

Cataloging.

2007-07-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

+Chauntelle is in Georgia tonight and will be there for the next 2 days attending classes on the art of "staging" a house, which means that when she returns on Wednesday evening, she will have a heightened sensitivity to all that is wrong with the way our home is decorated. Also, she should be adequately qualified to host a show on HGTV, which I suspect is her true motive for taking the classes.

+Chuck and Liz are in Florida this week to oversee the regrading and re-graveling (?) of the driveway to their Carrabelle house. Which means that...

+I am sole caregiver to Junior Melonhead! Since my employer does not permit preverbal, prepedal, urinally-challenged individuals on the work premises, I will be taking tomorrow and Wednesday off to hang out with He-Who-Gums. I suspect that I will spend some of that time...

+Waiting for a call from Costco, Inc, since I applied and interviewed for a part-time position at their new store in Greenville. The interview was this evening, right after work. I rushed home, changed into the interview-wear that Chauntelle had selected (thank you, Chauntelle), grabbed the folder containing my resumes that Chauntelle had compiled (thank you, Chauntelle), and headed off to meet the folks from Costco. I think it went well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It could be a good thing. Chauntelle has been working courageously to hunt down leads and host open houses and compile information packets, driving ex-coworkers around the greater Greenville metroplex for hours on end, fielding countless interminable phone calls from her "partner", but so far has not closed a deal. The market is tough right now, and the result is that our current income is less than expenses. We have been working very hard to tighten our budget, and we've done a great job with clamping down on our spending, but we're still in the hole, and we need another source of income. Costco is a great company, the pay sounds like it will be more than fair, and I will be happy to take the job. Dig us out of the hole, and build up a nice reserve (again), and this time not fritter it away...

The end, the beginning, and a bunch of other stuff-

2007-07-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

'The End' means that I am no longer working at Volvo, no longer traveling to Asheville daily, no longer traveling for IDG at all except for a few miles in the morning, a few more at lunch time, and pinch more at 5 PM. If I gas up my family truckster today (July 4), I shan't need a refill until this time next month at the earliest. "The End' means that I am done with the out-of-town shuffle.

'The Beginning' means that I am home now, finally, and for good. Now we can start some stuff. Now I can rub my hands together very vigorously and get down to brass tacks, whatever that means. In essence, I have been working and traveling for 2 years to reach a place where I can start to move from having a JOB to having a CAREER. 'The Beginning' means that I can start trying to have a complete life.

'A Bunch Of Other Stuff'- So, do I mean that I don't think I have a complete life right now? Am I not thankful for my smart, beautiful, patient, loving wife? Or for my handsome, clever, funny, miraculous son? Or for the countless other gifts with which I have been blessed? Absolutely. I am very thankful for my blessings, none of which I particularly deserve. But, full though my life may be, I'm not sure that it is complete. I haven't done many of the things in my life that I'd like to do. The truth is that in my adult life, I've never really pushed myself or worked hard for any purpose. By virtue of my having met and married Chauntelle, my life is full in a way that I could never have imagined. But I have never proven to myself that I can be more than just some guy that some great things happened to.

Father's Day

2007-06-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

On June 5, 2006, I became a father. Or, I should say, on that date I officially began the process of becoming a father. I am utterly unqualified to be a Dad, thus I absolutely have no idea what I am doing. Nevertheless, I seem to be doing it, somehow.

So, now it's Father's Day, and I'm a Dad. I'm a big ole Dad on Father's Day, because I have a son and a wife and I am, apparently, a grown up person. Despite the fact that I still love Star Wars and video games and roller coasters and Nutter Butters, I am an adult, responsible for the health and well-being of this tiny little guy.

It makes my brain to think about the reality of the situation. I am managing not to be utterly terrified, which is good, I think...

Happy Father's Day, Dad (& Papa)

2007-06-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

Quickly-

2007-05-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

I will post much soon, but just know that all is well with me, etc, etc...

2007-04-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

2007-04-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

Crazy people have so much to teach us...

2007-04-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Cats

2007-04-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Noah Laughing

2007-04-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

Possum Star = Pig Party...discuss

2007-04-16T14:19:00.001-07:00