Two days in a row of being up before 7 is not going to be fun...

Sometimes in the morning when I am leaving for work or school Lucy realizes what is going on and hides under the bed because she doesn't want to be confined in just the sunroom. This morning as I was getting her food to leave in the sunroom with her she figured out what was going on and hid under the bed. It was bad; she wouldn't even come out for treats or anything. In times like these the only thing that works is using the word w-a-l-k. I spell it because Lucy understands it if I don't. So I asked her if she was interested in going on one and then opened the front door. She came around the corner slowly and approached suspiciously. As soon as she got to me I slammed the door and tried to get her. She was off like a shot with me in hot pursuit. We ran into the bedroom and just as she was halfway under the bed I dove a grabbed her hind legs. I dragged her out and took her to the sunroom with her growling the whole way. Victory was mine...at least for today.

I felt like I was a pretty efficient worker today. I did the light plots, changed the blue and green gels in the cyc lights, and moved hard drives to my new computer...all in one day! Joe brought me a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, which I was fairly excited about. It wasn't until I read his blog that I realized I almost was stuck with a chicken biscuit. I wonder why he didn't tell me the story...probably so I wouldn't read his blog and be like, "I already heard this." Sometimes when I want to tell him a story that was in my blog I have to ask; "Did you read my blog yet today?" It's really a kind of strange part of our relationship.

I left work right at 2:30 today and came home. I took Lucy for a w-a-l-k right when I got home because I didn't want her to be disenchanted with me. After that she hung out in the front yard with me while I did a little yard work. Our bushes seem to be doing well, but some of our pansies don't look so good. Mostly it's the ones under our Maple tree, which makes me wonder if the tree sucks up all the water. Oh well, it looks fine without pansies anyways.

Kristi got home around 6:00 and we left for the Boyds' house. Karen made dinner and then we passed out candy to the kids. Well, I didn't really pass out candy, but I did look at a few of the costumes at least. Chad and Jaime came and Chad brought an amp he just bought. It is a little Fender Princeton Reverb tube amp from the 80's I think and it is pretty nice. He got a great deal off of craigslist...unlike my weedeater. I am excited about micing it up on a Sunday, but I think next time he plays I'm not running sound, so sadly I'll have to wait.

After we came home Kristi and I just watched TV together. I just finished watching the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" which I had never seen before. It was really funny, so much so that I laughed out loud sometimes. Kristi had seen it, so she fell asleep before it was over.

Tomorrow is going to be rough because I have to get up before 6. There is a conference at Southside that Joe and I are working, so I will be there all day. I am really disappointed that I don't get to watch the Clemson game. I actually want to watch our games now, and I won't be able too. Oh well, maybe if we're done early enough I can catch the end, and either way I can see S. Carolina lose to Tennessee later on in the evening. This year just hasn't been a good year for watching football with my schedule. I guess if I had to pick though, at least it's on a year when we're terrible. Maybe tomorrow Dabo will pull out his first big win...I hope so.

Coffee, sushi, and queso dip...what a weird lunch hour combination.

The past few days have been busy; so much to tell, only so much I can write without completely boring you to death. Once again I took a few days off because of school. It seems as though my Micro class and my online Statistics class are on the same schedule as far as tests...but more on that later.

Several exciting things have happened in the past few days; exciting for me at least. For one thing I ordered tires from http://www.tirerack.com/ on Monday, and I got them Tuesday afternoon. The tires are Yokohama S Drives, and I really like them. I had gotten two already for the back of my car while in Columbia. My tires are low profile, so not everywhere carries my size in stock. I called Discount Tire in Greenville to see if they would match Tire Rack's price of 68$ on the tire. Their mounting and disposal fees are about 18$, but they sell the Yokohamas I like for 85$. If they would sell the tires to me for 68$ total that would be about the same as the deal with Tire Rack, which is 68$ for the tire, 9$ for shipping, and 10$ for mounting at Wal-Mart, totaling about 87$. At first the guy was like, "sure we match the price." He proceeded to check to make sure they had them, and then I told him Tire Rack's price, to which he responded, "well....that's before shipping and they don't have as good service as us, so really that's about 85$." So, I guess when he said they do match the price, really he meant they don't. I told him I'd just go with Tire Rack and then he gave me a 3 minute lecture on why their guarantees are better. Whatever, Yokohama will replace it if there is a defect, and I can get a flat plugged 2 times before I hit the same price as Discount Tire. If I ruin the sidewall, then I'm either dumb or unlucky. That's my logic at least. I can't believe the tires got here the next day. Joe and I laughed about his explanation, which was that they shipped them from Discount Tire. I bet it probably is true.

Anyways, the tires are nice. They are a little higher performance, which I have enjoyed. I noticed the back ones really helped my traction in rain, and with the front ones on now too I can really tell a difference in turning and even in acceleration. I've tried to make them slip a little on turns, but I haven't been able to do it yet. I don't speed because it's against the law and I can't afford higher insurance anyways. I just wanted to throw that in there as a disclaimer.

The other thing that happened with my car is that I went to one of these gas stations that advertises "ethanol free gas." I went because it was cheaper than the others in the area, but I think my car has been running better. I am measuring my gas mileage so I can compare, but if I do get better gas mileage I may start going there more often. I googled the situation though, and some sites say that law requires gas stations to use E10 instead of ethanol free, so I don't know if it's a hoax. I'll let you know what I find out.

My tests went ok. I got an 88 in Micro, which was a little disappointing, but I still have my solid A in there, so I try not to be too upset. My statistics test today was really stressful. I once again waited until the day before to even look at the stuff I was supposed to be learning, and this time the stuff was alot harder. Online classes are just not for me, I just can't make myself not procrastinate school work. Sometimes I sit down to go through a section of a chapter, and as soon as I do I think of 50 other things I'd rather do. The problem with cramming all 3 chapters in to 10 hours of studying right before is that when I take the test I have all these formulas swirling around in my head. I know how to use them all, but I can't remember which situations to use them in. I have to sit there for a little bit and look at the pages figuring out which chapter each problem comes from. Today my teacher really messed with me by putting them all out of order. Anyways, I pulled it together and I think I did pretty well on my test. I didn't feel as good as I did about the last one, but hey, I didn't do as well on the last one as I thought I did.

I did take a break from studying today to go to lunch with some guys from my community group. That was alot of fun. We went to TakoSushi downtown, and I got a Dynamite roll, which was...dynamite? Seriously, it was good...it had flash fried Tuna, Yellowtail, Snapper, asparagus, and spicy garlic sauce. The flash fried Tuna had a little breading on it, and it really was one of the better rolls I have ever had. Mark and Jay ate with me. Mark is an engineer and he and his wife both graduated from Clemson the same year as me. You would think I would have at least seen one of them before, but I guess that just shows you how big Clemson is. Jay works at a Feed and Seed store that his family used to own on Laurens road. He keeps giving me free flats of Pansies, which is amazing. I always try to pay for them, but it never works out because he just doesn't ring me up. Who says nothing in life is free? They are both great guys and I had a good time. On the way back to the house I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and had an iced Latte while I finished one of the mini assignments I had to turn in when I went to take my test. That was fun too.

When I got home I took Lucy outside for a little bit. She was really good all day, and didn't bother me while I studied. This fact is amazing because I didn't even take her on a walk. She ruined it this evening though. A little before I left for my test I took her out and she ran to the front yard to chew on something. I went and picked her up, and she growled like she usually does when I stop her from doing something. I always stick my face right up to hers so she knows I'm not messing around, and today she actually bit my face. I was not happy...at all. She didn't break my skin, it was just a nip, but it hurt. I ignored her for a while and I think she was sorry because she cried and sat there looking all sad. When I say that anyone else would have given up on this dog a long time ago, I'm not being sarcastic. She is a good dog, but then she just has these moments where she turns into the devil. Maybe she needs medication or something.

I left to take my test a little before 6, and got back around 7:45. Kristi didn't feel like eating out anywhere, but I convinced her to go to Chik-fil-a. I needed to get out and sit down somewhere. I tried the grilled sandwich with bacon and cheese, because one time Joe had it and it looked delicious. Mine was terrible, that's the last time I try that thing. You know who has great chicken sandwiches? Wendy's.

Since we got home from dinner I've just kind of laid around watching tv. I feel pretty worn out after all the studying the past few days. It's always great to get over the hump though and know that I have a week or two before I have to do any more real school work. I remember when I was a biology major at Clemson I used to walk out of my last final and feel so relieved that I was going to have no school work for at least a month. I never did mind my Performing Arts classes though.

Tomorrow should be a good day. I will work in the morning, and then I think Kristi and I are passing out candy tomorrow night. I think kids in costumes might be Lucy's worst nightmare. That's why we're going to the Boyds' house...

Remember the talking stain commercial? Now that was a good one...

Bad news. I don't know if it was the rope thing or something else, but Lucy was sick this morning. I woke up at 7 and heard her getting sick, so I quickly put her on the floor and then went to get some cleaning stuff. She went and sat by the door while I cleaned and then when I went to let her out I noticed that she had gone to the bathroom all over the rug in front of the door. She never goes in the house, so I don't know if she didn't feel good or what. If she got sick because she needed to go so bad, she should have just let me know. She always lets me know in the middle of the night if she does by standing on my chest, so I'm assuming maybe she was sick or something. This is kind of a gross beginning to my blog post, but hey, it was a big part of my day.

After attending to Lucy I went back to sleep until a little after 9. I skipped Psych again. I've gotten a 100 on everything in there so far, and there is no attendance policy so I am very unmotivated to go very often. Not to mention that Psychology has always been one of my least favorite subjects. Instead I eased into the day and Lucy and I went on a walk. It had been a long time since I walked her without a leash on because she was pretty bad a few times, so I re-instituted the leash for control purposes. Today I let her off and she really seemed to enjoy it. She was pretty good too, so I'll probably start letting her off more often.

Around 10:20 I left for class. Micro lab was good today. Our teacher was back, so we got done early like always. She was going to some lecture out at the Northwest campus, so she cancelled lecture completely. We have a test Wednesday so it would have been just review. The cancellation was nice because I got home really early. I made some lunch and then Lucy and I went outside to do some more yard work. I had piled a ton of dirt in different areas of the mulch beds, so I had to even that all out, and then I also watered everything. I took some pictures of the progress. Things aren't looking amazing yet because of our red dirt and some plants not being in yet, but things definitely look better. I left the shovel in the ground so you could see where the red dwarf Japanese Maple is gonna go:

Like I said, there is still alot of things that need to get bought and planted, but just think of the potential.

After the yard work I got down to studying. I have two tests this week on Wednesday and Thursday, and since I work Tuesday and Wednesday nights I have to try to get ahead on Monday. I am mostly concerned about my Statistics test, as I have a low A in there, and I don't want a B. Originally I didn't care, but when I met with my advisor I found out it would really help my points for my application if I get an A. I'm just not good with online classes though, so we'll see.

I took Lucy for another walk before Kristi got home because she was getting bored. I studied for a little while when we got back and then Kristi came home for a little bit. Tonight she went to dinner and a movie with her family, but I couldn't go because I needed to study. That made for a pretty lonely night overall. I did download and listen to some stuff by Mark Mathis. I highly recommend his music. I started listening to him because his band, Public Radio opened up for Hannah Miller at Five Points Pub, who I played guitar and keys for in Columbia. They were so good. I don't generally love performances when I don't know the songs being done, but they really were amazing. His solo stuff is real laid back, but he is a really good song writer, and I really enjoy his music. Also, I don't know that I've mentioned Hannah before. I had the privilege of her and her husband playing/singing for me at Crossroads, and she really is amazing. Her husband is great too, he plays the mandolin and guitar mainly. You should definitely check out her music and then go see her play sometime if you like it.

For the rest of the night I mainly studied and watched Monday Night Football. I am so tired of Geico caveman commercials. There weren't really all that funny to begin with, and I find them more and more annoying with each one that comes out. I mean, they are even pretty much all the same. Whether getting upset about a sign at a tennis match or a keychain at the beach, it's the same idea, and it's not funny. Please stop producing them. I also thought about how it seems like most violent video games these days have commercials with non-appropriate music for effect. Like a little girl singing, big band, or classical stuff, it makes for this weird ethereal effect. Maybe they got it from movies where the big classical music song plays when everyone is getting shot, I don't know, I don't keep up with that stuff too much.

That was pretty much my day. I feel pretty tired actually, which is surprising because I didn't really do that much. I think studying must just make my brain tired. I'd better get some sleep because tomorrow will be another long day of studying, with some work mixed in there in between.

"These two guys at my work got in a huge fight...and now we have to fill out forms and stuff"

What a day. I woke up at 6:15, and surprisingly I wasn't the least bit sore. I must just be a beast when it comes to digging holes. I got to church right around 7 and got to work with some things I needed to finish up for the morning.Things did end up sounding really good. I didn't think the vocal sound was perfect, but it was pretty decent. One thing I have really been unhappy with is the bass sound. It seems like the low B and the E string are louder than the others, and the volume just fluctuates in general. I decided to completely slam it today with a really low threshold and a fairly high ratio, and it seemed to help. Another thing I thought of is that maybe too much of the signal is getting sent to the subs, so that when it gets above the crossover frequency it isn't as present in the mains. I may mess around with that next time to see if it helps.

I had this one weird problem this morning where my drum faders would randomly end up completely off or all the way up. I figured out that I had accidentally linked the CD faders to them, so every time I faded music in or out I was screwing up the drum faders. It was a big pain until I figured that out. I also miced Chad's amp this morning, which I thought sounded a little better than usual. I think it's just the fact that you are micing something that is pushing air that makes it sound a little better than a direct line. It doesn't matter that much though, it's not a mind blowing difference. A good guitarist is going to get good tone almost regardless of what he/she is using. And a bad guitarist will never sound good. Actually, that is the biggest thing I have learned about mixing and production. It's not really about the way the signal gets amplified as much as what the signal sounds like originally. If the source doesn't sound amazing, you can't make it sound good. You could be a Nuemann on a crate amp with an Ibanez, and it's still gonna sound crappy...but put an MXL on a Matchless with a Gibson or Fender or something, and it's probably gonna sound pretty great. Of course there are alot of qualifications that go along with this. Give me some powered JBL's and a Allen and Heath board and I will make your guitar sound better than I can through a Peavey portable sound system. It's when everyone is amazing at what they do and there is an unlimited budget for equipment that you really start to get to studio quality. Just my opinion though, take it for what it's worth

After church Kristi and I went to Zaxby's with the Hudsons. It was fun eating with them, and I really love Zaxby's. They just got a puppy named Remmy, we need to take Lucy over to meet him. They live in Mauldin, really close to where I grew up. Mark is an engineer (structural?), so I always want to ask him about work, but I know nothing about engineering. That seems odd as the title of my major was "Audio Engineering." That's why I always have to clarify with people by saying it was a performing arts major.

After lunch Kristi and I did some quick grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Grocery shopping has really become boring for me. Kristi and I always procrastinate it and then end up having to squeeze it in at an inconvenient time. The diet ginger ale has been on sale for 3 straight weeks, which is pretty sweet. Today the Schweppes was on sale instead of Canada Dry...but really I could care less which kind it is, they taste really similar. By the way, have you seen the Schweppes water balloon commercial? It is really cool, Joe showed it to me the other day:



After grocery shopping I went back to church to get ready for Refresh. There was really no point in me driving all the way home and then coming back immediately. I checked email and facebook and then changed out batteries and moved some things around. When everyone got there we started sound check, which ended up being a little stressful. The Yamaha digital board has a weird issue where sometimes the second layer inputs don't interface with the board at all. We had to reboot 2-3 times, and Joe had to take out the card and put it back in. It finally started working after the 3rd time I think. Tech stuff always seems to have issues. There is always a new ground loop or a new piece of equipment acting up. I guess that's why they hire pros like me. Actually, I just go ask Joe what to do most of the time, 'cause I have no clue.

The band ran through all the songs quickly and I took tons of notes. There as many as 10 singers at times, and a ton of songs and transitions. I was a little worried I would mess something up, but there ended up only being one mistake that would have been noticeable. For some reason the signal from a video we showed was quiet, so I had to bring it up slowly. I don't like to make mistakes, but I try to not to feel too bad about ones like that. Overall it was a good night. The band sounded good, the songs were pretty powerful, and everyone seemed really engaged.

Kristi and I left pretty quickly afterwards to go over to the Bunns' house. Today was the 5 year anniversary of my close friend Joseph Bunn passing away in a car wreck, and his parents wanted to have some of his friends over for a little get together. It's always a different type of day to look back and think about that time of my life. The only way I know how to explain it is surreal. The whole story of how God completely changed Joseph a few months before his death and how completely on fire he was for God is a pretty amazing one...you should ask me about it sometime.

One of my favorite memories with Joseph was when we played for a youth retreat in Myrtle Beach for some church from Aiken. Joseph, Tim, Daniel, and I all played with the now mildly famous Chris Sligh, and we got a gig playing a week retreat in Garden City. That was one of the funnest weeks of my life. Chris always got so mad at us, because we were only like 16 or 17, so we were pretty immature. Nothing is better than being paid to play music and act like idiots at a beach all week. I have so many good memories from that week...but anyways, it was good to see everyone and to be able to encourage the Bunns by going.

Kristi and I didn't stay too late because they live way out near Cherrydale, so we had drive back to Southside to pick up my car and then come home. Lucy has been a little hyper tonight because she didn't have any company today. I am not sure if she chewed up her rope or ate it, but I am thinking she is going to be in trouble if she ate it. Hopefully this won't cause any delay in leaving for school tomorrow morning...

I chewed my fingernail tonight and noticed my hand tasted like Miracle-Gro.

Today was a very long, but pretty good day. Kristi and I had planned for today to be super landscaping day. Our yard looked pretty terrible when we moved in, and we had pretty much no landscaping. I won't be seeding the yard until spring, but we have made some good progress as far as mulch beds. Today was the day we wanted to plant most of the shrubs in the front yard.

We got up at 9 and headed to Lowes first. We had a gift card and a 10% off coupon, so we wanted to get as much as possible there. We got a ton of soil and compost and also found a few of the plants we wanted. Next we headed to Home Depot, which had an amazing nursery section compared to Lowes. Strangely we didn't end up getting anything there although the choices were way better. The only thing we definitely needed after Lowes was a Crepe Myrtle, and all the ones at Home Depot grew pretty tall. My parents made that mistake with one in front of their house, and now it is as tall as their two story house. So, they made sure to stress that I check the heights on the Crepe Myrtles.

I called my parents to see what we should do, and they said that there was a coupon for a nursery called Underwood on my mom's email, and that they would have a better option for a Crepe Myrtle. Kristi and I dropped all of our stuff off at home and then ate lunch. I had one small piece of pizza...this becomes important later in my day. We then went by my parents' house to get the coupon. They are on vacation this weekend, but I found the email pretty easily and printed out a coupon. I also got the pick from their basement before I left which turned out to be a lifesaver later on. We left for the nursery, but stopped at the Humane Society on the way. Kristi really wants a kitten, so we will probably be stopping there each weekend until she finds the one she wants. They didn't have any kittens she was interested in, but they did have a really cute puppy. I think he had some Bassett in him, because his skin was so loose and his paws looked like Bassett paws. He was almost all black with some white and brown, had real floppy ears, and had spotted paws. He was also really sweet and friendly. It was hard for us not to get him, but there is just no way we have the time to train another puppy right now. It makes me sad just thinking about it because he was such a sweet dog...Lucy would have loved him.

Underwood was a really nice nursery, and they had alot of options when it came to Crepe Myrtles. They had some smaller height ones, but then I was really excited when the guy showed us one called a "Hopi Crepe Myrtle." It only gets 7-8' in height, and he said it would still look like a tree as long as we trimmed the lower branches. I made sure of this because I didn't want a shrub like one. They only had one left, and it was pretty big, too big for the Camry. We decided that we would pay for it and then Kristi would drop me off at my parents' house so I could get my dad's Explorer and pick up the tree. All in all, we weren't actually home to start planting until 2:30.

I got started right away, and it was a rough process. Our house is fairly new, and it is on top of solid fill dirt and clay. I often think I am digging in rock just to find out that is just how hard the clay is. You would think digging wouldn't be too bad, but my arms are definitely as tired as they have ever been. It was a good thing I had the pick or I never would have made it. My arms would have gotten too tired, plus I'm sure my shovel would have broken. I would dig a shallow hole, use the pick for a while until I broke up enough ground, and then dig the loose ground out. All in all I dug 14 holes, but the Crepe Myrtle hole was ginormous. Lucy stayed outside with us most of the time. We bought a little stake and cable for her so that we could have her out their with us and not have to worry about her getting hit by a car. She enjoyed it for a while, but for some reason the wheel barrow makes her really nervous. Once I started using it to move dirt around she just looked scared most of the time.

Kristi went in with Lucy at about 5:30 after finishing the pansies, and I continued to work. I didn't finish planting until 7:30. I was so tired, not to mention extremely hungry. I cleaned up everything and then took a shower so we could go out.

Kristi needed some jeans, and by the time we stopped at my parents' house to drop the car off it was already 8:30, so we went to the mall first. I got a new shirt and Kristi found some jeans on sale at Express. By the time we left it was after 9:00 and I thought I might pass out from hunger. I had only had that one piece of pizza at 11:30, and It was now almost 9:30. I seriously don't know if I've ever been so hungry before, which I guess means I've lead a pretty spoiled life. We had decided to go to MiMi's Japanese Steakhouse because we had a free dinner coupon, and it was pretty good, but extremely slow. But the time we starting eating it was around 10:00. Not a good idea after working hard all day.

Dinner was really good at least, and we left a little before 11. I was hoping to catch the end of the Penn State/Ohio State game, but I didn't make it in time. I can't believe I didn't watch any football today...I must be getting old. I got into bed almost immediately, and I told Kristi she has to make sure that I wake up tomorrow. I am really bad about not hearing my alarm when I am really tired. Right now I am trying to catch up on all the scores from the day on Sportscenter.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day because I get to mix sound all day. I am mixing the three services in the morning and then we have Refresh tomorrow night also. I felt like the mix was pretty good by the time we left Wednesday, so I think tomorrow morning should be really good. I think we are going to a kitten sale at Petsmart tomorrow too, so maybe tomorrow will be the day. We'll have to warn Lucy.

Did I mention that I really enjoy food?

I guess I kind of slept in this morning. I woke up at 8, took Lucy out, then played with her a little. I started watching Sportscenter as I like to do in the mornings, and Lucy I guess was sleepy 'cause she started snoring beside me. I drifted off to sleep too around 9 I think and woke up again a little after 10. I'm not sure if that is sleeping in, or a nap, but either way it felt good.

I got up and got ready. Lucy tried to chew on my computer power cable again, and we had a chat about how that is seriously not acceptable. After I got dressed we went for a walk. It was really chilly and I was glad I wore shoes and not flip-flops. I love flip-flops, so the cold weather makes me a little sad as I know it soon will be shoe weather every day. My friend Caleb says that he never sees me wear shoes with shoestrings, and oddly enough, I really don't ever wear shoes with shoestrings with the exception of when I play sports. Ever since Birkenstocks were cool I have just preferred shoes that I don't have to tie. It's just more convenient.

After we got back from the walk I got started doing some cleaning. Actually, I think I ate lunch first, but the pizza was not very appetizing, so I didn't really eat much. Anyways, I did start cleaning, which took a while. I swept, vacuumed, mopped, and dusted, and everything looked quite nice when I was done. I called me mom while I cleaned. She had some tests done today, so I wanted to make sure she was feeling alright. She wasn't supposed to drive, but I wanted her advice on some landscaping ideas, so we decided that I would go pick her up at 3 and look at all of her plants while I was at her house.

I left around 2:45 and left Lucy in the sunroom. She has been doing fine with the baby gate up blocking her from leaving that room, and I figure being in a small room with your bed and all your toys has to be more fun than being in a crate.

When I got to my parents' house Mom and I walked around their yard and she pointed out all the different plants to me. They have very large mulch beds, and it was always so time consuming to weed them, blow leaves out of them, and mulch them each year. You would think having large mulch beds would be easier than grass, but trust me they are a pain. I would much rather mow a little more grass every week or so. I can't remember every plant she showed me, but I noted the ones that I really liked. When we were done she came home with me and looked at our new mulch bed shapes. She gave me some good ideas on what to plant.

Kristi came home early, and then her mom and grandmother came over. Karen had also been working on ideas for our landscaping and had even graphed some stuff out on paper. Both our moms are very knowledgeable about flowers and shrubbery, and they both have very nice landscaping that they have maintained, so I feel like we can't help but do a good job on our yard. We went through the ideas that Karen had and then decided to go over to the Boyds' house to look at their plants also. On a side note, Lucy was really good with the visitors. I think she has finally become comfortable with Kristi's grandmother, who is a person she used to growl and bark at. It could be all the treats she kept feeding her...I'm not sure.

We all headed over to the Boyds' house and looked at the plants. While we were there the Starrs brought their son over to Kristi. Kristi was also going to babysit their daughter, but she didn't need to be picked up from where she was until 7:30. Since I had to drive Mom home I ended up going to eat with her and Dad while Kristi just ate with the kids. That wasn't really ideal because I don't get to eat with Kristi on Tuesdays or Wednesdays either, but we couldn't think of a better way to do everything. My parents and I went to Applebees, which was better than I remember. They had this Garlic chicken breast on the Weight Watchers that came with roasted potatoes and broccoli. I thought it looked really good, but I was concerned that it would be a really small portion. I ended up getting some pasta, but my mom got that item, and it really did look amazing. I pretty much was envious the whole time, which I think made me not enjoy my meal as much. Oh well, at least now I know what I want to try next time I'm at an Applebees

I got home a little before Kristi and just watched The Office and some football until she got home. We will need to talk through our final decision on landscaping before Saturday, but I was tired of thinking about bushes for the day.

Tomorrow I've got work like usual, and then tomorrow night our community group is having a date night with the couples. We are going to Carrabbas, which I am excited about. Actually, the meal that I think I am best at making I completely copied from a meal I had at Carrabbas one time. It was so tasty that I looked at the description on the menu and then tried to copy it. It didn't end up being exactly the same, but it is delicious. The great thing about getting it at Carrabbas is I don't have to cook it!

With all those fumes from the butane soldering iron, I was starting to feel pretty good...

Today was humpday, which has definitely turned into more of a hump than usual with my new schedule. I dropped Lucy off at my parents like usual this morning. There is a guy doing some renovations on their house, and he calls her the "barking beagle," because she barks and growls at him. When we got there today he said, "well there's the crazy one." Lucy proceeded to bark.

I got to school a little early so I sat in my car for a few minutes. I've been listening to Augustana's newer CD again...I really like it alot. Psychology was not my favorite as always. We talked about school systems and lower class vs. middle class schools. I just don't really enjoy the class discussion because no one in the class is an expert on anything we discuss, so it is mostly people throwing their opinions out there. Oh well, at least it's not a hard class.

Micro lab was not fun today. Our teacher, Ellen Gower, is a really to-the-point person, so normally our labs get out early. Today we had a sub, and this lady belabored every single point, and it took forever. It made me really happy to have Mrs. Gower as our usual teacher. I was planning on going to lecture, but after the experience with the sub in lab I decided I would rather not. My friend Nate felt the same way, so we decided to go to lunch. His little brother really wanted to hang out with him, so Nate picked him up on the way. He was only 12, so he was a little immature, but he was pretty cool for the most part. I was pretty amazed at how much he idolizes Nate. I also found out that Nate's mom has some pretty serious cancer. She has been getting some type of gamma ray radiation, and has been feeling better, but it didn't really sound too good overall to me. Cancer affects so many families it seems.

After lunch I went to work. I thought about going to Wal-Mart, but I didn't want to waste the gas, so I just went to work early. Today I spent a good portion of my work day fixing an XLR cable. It had been popping, so I re-soldered the ends on. First, I mis-numbered the pins, so I had to solder a second time. Then, I realized that it had something to do with the female connector, so I had to solder a different one on. After that it finally worked, but it was quite an ordeal. I also did some other random things and then ran sound for rehearsal tonight. Things didn't really go too smoothly, but I think that I should probably just realize that most Thursdays will be like that. Usually by Sunday most kinks are worked out and things go much better...hopefully that will be true this week. I thought it sounded decent by the time rehearsal was done, so I'm sure it will be fine. The sound changes so much after the chairs get set up and a bunch of bodies are in the room that it is really tricky to mix to what it will sound like on Sunday. It seems like if things are just barely a touch on the harsh treble side, then on Sunday alot of those highs get sucked up and it sounds good. Too much highs though and it stays harsh...not enough and it gets muddy.

The band had to practice for Refresh and for Sunday morning, so I didn't end up getting home until 10:30. I didn't get to see tonight's HGTV Househunters Tropical Paradise edition, and I'm betting I probably missed the Aruba edition. It's just the way things go for me. Kristi was in bed when I got home, but woke up to talk a little, and Lucy was very excited to see me like always. It's such a nice feeling to have a pet cry with excitement every single time you come home. I guess that's what having kids will be like...I mean if they like me.

Tomorrow I don't have too much to do. My mom is going to give me some advice about plants for our yard, and then I think Kristi's mom is too. We are going to buy some tomorrow so that we can do some landscaping Saturday. I think we are also babysitting the Starrs tomorrow night. Babysitting isn't really my thing, but Kristi loves it and it's extra money, so I'll survive. I haven't broken the news to Lucy yet.

I had to pull down the collar on Joe's sweater to make sure he was still commited to "Tietober."

I woke up before 9 again today. I keep wanting to sleep in until 9 or 9:30, but I always wake up between 8 and 8:30. Maybe Thursday will be the day.

I took Lucy out and then took a shower. When I got out I found Lucy chewing on my laptop power cable. She likes to do this from time to time despite my yelling every time she does. Why can't she just chew on the 15 rawhide bones we have bought for her? I picked up the cable and we had a short discussion about how she should show me some appreciation by not chewing on my things. She also chewed up my favorite Sennheiser in-ears a few weeks ago, which was extremely frustrating. I think they are on sale on NewEgg right now, so maybe I will get some more.

I didn't end up taking Lucy for a walk this morning, because I wasn't in the mood and I had an advising appointment at 11 anyways. After getting ready I just played drums for a while and then left for Greenville Tech. The advising session went well. I have to apply for clinicals by December 15th. If they accept me I will either start in the summer or fall of '09. If they don't I have to wait until spring of 2010. That would really stink, but I hear alot of people don't get in their first time. Hopefully God will work that one out for me, but I guess He knows best.

After my advising session I called Trenton Stokes about meeting for lunch. We decided to go to a Thai restaurant called Sweet Basil, which I have wanted to try for a while. It was way fancier than I thought, and at first I was a little disappointed because they put me at this little table parallel to and only a few inches away from a table of six people. It felt like I was part of their table, and I was having a hard time imaging Stokes and I having good conversation. I don't like to be a picky person, but I got up the courage to ask if I could move to a table close to where I was. There were tons of open tables, so I don't think the lady minded too much. Just in case I made sure I was super friendly the rest of the time. My Siam Fried Rice with chicken and beef was decent, but it sure wasn't Red Bowl. I sure do miss Red Bowl...too bad I was their only regular customer.

Lunch was great, I hadn't talked to Stokes in a while and it was really good to hear what he has been up to the past few years. I have alot of respect for him, and he had a big influence on me in high school. I don't really want to call him by his first name now, but it feels weird calling him Mr. Stokes, so I have settled on Stokes for the time being.

After lunch I went straight to work, and saw that Joe had left the stage setup on my chair. I documented the past weeks setup like we have started doing and then starting tearing down the stage. I have become very efficient at tearing everything down and setting it back up. That is pretty much what I did all afternoon, so I was done around 6:30. Not going out to eat on most work days has also helped my efficiency I think.

I tried to contact AKG about some microphones I have been using as drum overheads at work. They look old, and all they have on them is the AKG logo and the model A51. They sound warmer to me than the SM81's we had been using, but I don't know anything about them. I would really like to know if they are omni or cardioid, as that would affect my placement, but when I google them nothing substantial comes up. I am also not sure if the A51 is the mic model, or if it is just the swivel adapter. Anyways, AKG mostly has out of the country contact phone numbers, so I think I will email them instead. Hopefully they will be able to help me with that. Interesting note, I have always like the AKG D112 in kick drums, and we use the Audix D6 in ours. We have a D112, so last week I switched them out and didn't like the D112 as much. It had tons of slap in it, but I could not get the low end for the life of me. It was very defined, but it wasn't hitting me in the chest at all. I put the D6 back in for now, but I may try a different mic placement at with the D112 later. Joe suggested using both, which I think is a great idea, but I don't know if it's worth the trouble. I switched the Audix mic on the snare out for a 57, and so far I am really liking that change.

After work Kristi and I decided to go to Marble Slab in Simpsonville. The girl working was very cheerful and she told me I had the most creative choice of the day, which made me feel good. I always get coffee ice cream with raspberries and oreos mixed in. People always think it's gross, but seriously it is so delicious...just try it. I was going to give the girl a tip for being so happy, but I didn't have the option on my receipt, and I generally don't carry cash. Oh well. Kristi got sweet cream ice cream with caramel, bananas, and walnuts. The girl also thought hers was very creative. We took Lucy along and she growled at all the kids who walk by. People are always shocked at how mean she is, and it's always embarrassing to tell people that they can't pet her because she isn't nice to strangers. Kids have a really hard time understanding that. Lucy had the last bit of my ice cream, and I think she agrees that it is delicious.

When we got home I went to check my email and needed to plug my laptop in since the battery was almost dead. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cable wasn't working because apparently Lucy chewed through close to the coax DC end. I was extremely frustrated, especially because I wasn't sure there was enough room to solder the end to the cable. I spent a little time working on it, and it is working good so far. It was actually a pretty difficult soldering job, and I impressed myself by doing it successfully. I had to solder each of the 3 cables at the same spot instead of staggering because the cut was so close to the end, so I am a little concerned about a short. I covered it with electrical tape the best I could, but I am still worried. I don't know if it would fry my computer or what. My friend Bryan says I should replace it, but I don't really feel like spending the 30$...what do you think?

I had a really hard time choosing The Office reruns or HGTV's Househunters International in Tropical Paradise tonight, so I watched some of both. I can't spell the island HGTV was at tonight, so I won't even try. Some night this week they are doing a Househunters on Aruba, which I am excited about since I have been there twice. Hopefully it won't be tomorrow night, because I probably will fall asleep in the middle of it.

If "Demon-Dog" won $10,000 on America's Funniest Home Videos, I wonder if we could do the same with a video of Lucy?

I had pretty good intentions of going to class this morning, but after weighing my options I decided to skip Psych. I just had a test in there, and my lab was going to start late anyways, so I figured I could use a skip. I got up around 8 and lounged around for a bit, took Lucy for a walk, and then headed to school. Lab got out way early, so I decided not to go to lecture. Seeing as how my skips before the last test didn't really affect my grade on the test any, I feel pretty comfortable skipping Micro.

Leaving early also gave me the opportunity to stop at a Feed and Seed store on Laurens Rd. I found out my friend Jay from community group works there, and Kristi and I needed another flat of pansies. We planted some around our mailbox yesterday, but wanted some more to plant around our maple tree. Jay was there and we talked for a few minutes. He showed me the pansies and I picked some out...and then he told me I didn't have to pay for them. That was really kind I thought. We are planning to eat lunch next week, so hopefully I can buy him lunch in return.

When I got home Lucy was even more excited than usual to see me. I had put a wooden gate up and left her out in the Sun Room. For some reason if she is home alone and not in her crate it seems like she gets really nervous. Actually...funny story, yesterday we left her in the Sun Room with the gate up, and I guess she knocked it over 'cause when we got home it was laying on the floor. We think it must have fallen on her because when we got home she was hiding behind her crate shaking uncontrollably. She would not come out for anything until we took the gate and put it in the closet. It was pretty hilarious. Anyways, it's probably good that she's nervous, because it prevents her from chewing on anything.

I took Lucy on another walk when I got home, because I wanted to do yard work and didn't want her bored inside the house while I did. I sprayed some more grass in the back yard. We decided to extend the future mulch bed all the way to the patio, so I wanted to kill the grass where the mulch will go. After that I mowed the lawn. It was so nice not to get bitten by fire ants this time...in case you didn't know, I have been wreaking havoc on fire ant mounds in my yard the past few weeks.

By the time I was done it was almost time for Kristi to get home, so I went inside and took a shower. When she did get home we took Lucy to Petsmart and got her a stake and a cable so that we can have her in the front yard when we do yard work. It's not that she would run away, she just doesn't understand that getting hit by a car is bad, and it's a pain to constantly have to make sure she isn't in the road. We also went to Lowes to get some fertilizer for the pansies and rose bushes I transplanted. This weekend is going to be extreme landscape makover, so I will take some pictures when we are done. Things are already looking better and we haven't done the big parts yet.

After Lowes we stopped at Little Caesar's and got some pizza. I am starting to get really tired of pizza, but I am trying to stick to the plan of using the leftovers for lunches and dinners at work for the rest of the week. I can't think of any cheaper way to do things.

Since dinner I've just been watching tv and playing some of my instruments. I tried to clip Lucy's toenails, but she completely freaked out again. I think anyone else would have given up on this dog a long time ago. If she were ever to go the pound as a stray they would put her to sleep because she is so aggressive. She doesn't ever break my skin, but tonight she definitely was so mad she was snapping at my hands. I am going to try again sometime, but tonight was obviously not the right night. Last time I clipped them she seemed uncomfortable, but was pretty good. I don't know if I cut one too short and she doesn't like it now, or if she just started not liking it.

Tomorrow will be a pretty busy day. I have an advising appointment at 11, and then I'm eating lunch with Trenton Stokes, a high school teacher of mine who now works at Southside with me. After that I work for the rest of the day. I wonder what kind of tie Joe will wear to work tomorrow?

How is it even possible to have 2 QB's with injured shoulders?

So I've decided that I may try to just post 4-5 times a week. That way if I have a particularly boring day or am extra tired, I can not post and still maintain a good bit of consistency. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Today was a really enjoyable day. Kristi and I got up around 8 and got ready to go to the Clemson game. I ended up getting the tickets from that guy, so I was pretty excited. We took Lucy over to my parents house and then set out for Clemson. Kristi bought an orange shirt last night that she looked good in, and I wore my typical orange of course. I took the back roads I like to take to Clemson, and at one point got a little confused because they completely changed on of the intersections. I figured it out though, and it only took us about 50 minutes to get there. We parked where I used to live (Clemson House) and then made our way towards the stadium.

Zach had told me that he and his wife were going to tailgate, so we went by their tent on the way. A few other friends of mine were there, and we had a good time talking and eating a little food. Twelve o'clock games are weird because you don't want to eat alot before you go in, but you get out a little before dinner, so it's good to have a little bit. After eating we went in a little early and found our seats, because I enjoy watching the team run down the hill and singing all the songs.

The game was a good one. I was really proud to be part of such a supportive crowd. Everyone was pretty loud and supportive considering what all has happened this week. I don't know if they will end up giving Dabo Swinney the coaching job, but so far he has done a good job bringing some excitement back to the program. He held a Clemson Walk this morning where the players walked from one part of campus to the stadium, and fans lined the streets and cheered for them. We weren't there in time to see it, but I saw a video and heard from others that it was a really good experience. I think it really helped the players feel some appreciation and support from the fans. The play calling was definitely better in the game. We ran vertical plays for the most part instead of all the dumb side to side stuff we used to do. It was pretty obvious that our offensive line needs some serious help. Willy Korn also showed alot of potential I though, but injured his shoulder in the second or third drive...just kind of the way this season has gone.

We were down in the first half, but came back and took the lead in the 3rd quarter. GT went up by 4 with 5 minutes left and we weren't able to put a drive together to win. There was one really lame holding call when we converted a 4th down that did us in. Talking to people watching on TV, apparently the refs really screwed us over with a bad call. Sadly we lost 21-17, but for the first time in a long time I felt sad and not frustrated afterwards. Clemson Tiger Football has alot of work to do, but hopefully we are headed in the right direction. Even Dabo's comments post-game about being proud of the kids and teaching them to play with pride over the next 7 weeks I thought were really good. I hope we still pound the lamecocks....i don't know though, they are looking pretty decent vs. LSU right now.

After the game Kristi and I went over to Diego's townhouse to check the place out and visit for a while. We then went downtown to Ancheaux's to eat some dinner. Originally a group was going to go, but it ended up just being us. The place was one of my favorites in college, they have this great blackened spicy chicken sandwich called the Blackjack that is delicious. Kristi had a burger which she said was really good. Kristi's sister Callie stopped by for a little while while we ate and then we drove her back to her car. For those of you who don't know, she is actually the president of the student body at Clemson, so she is a pretty big deal. After talking to her and taking her back to he car we headed home, picking up Lucy on the way.

Since being home we've just watched a little football and hung out. Lucy has been sleeping non-stop since we got home...apparently she had a pretty tiring day. Sometimes I think we should get another dog just to help her behavior. Being part Jack Russell, she is just so full of energy, and if I don't have time to play with her she gets bored, and that's when she's bad. At my parents she gets to play with Molly and so she is almost never poorly behaved. I just don't have time to train another puppy right now though. Kristi really wants a Westie, so maybe in the next few years we can get one.

Tomorrow I will get up early and go run sound. The stage looks awesome this week, and the band is a small one which includes a saxophone. I am pretty excited about running sound, I think it's going to be sweet. I think I may plant some pansies around the mailbox tomorrow...that will be fun too.

Warning...somehow this post turned purely into a Clemson post...but it's good I promise

Another week with not many blog posts...by now the number of people that actually read this thing probably dropped from 3 to like 1. Maybe that's too negative, maybe I still have 2. I didn't really intend to skip this week, it just kind of happened. Monday I had a terrible headache and got in bed before 9, Tuesday I was up until 2 studying, and Wednesday I was just exhausted from staying up late, getting up early, and then being gone for 14 hours straight.

But do not despair! I am back, and better than ever. I did well on my tests I think, and I had a chance to play a guitar amp that I've been wanting at Guitar Center. I have been waiting for them to get one in so I could try it, and I really liked it. I only have 2 amps other than practice amps, and neither is practical for playing shows and at church. One is a 1956 Bassman Combo Amp, which is extremely valuable and sounds amazing, but it is heavy and I also do not want to do the smallest thing to hurt it because of it's value. The other is a solid state Marshall head. It also is very large and heavy (because you also need a cabinet), and although it sounds alright really isn't anything special. Plus it has been having issues which I think may be from driving speakers that might only be 2 ohms. I'm not really sure what they are, but I have a suspicion it is low, and I think the actual amp might have overheated or something. Anyways, this amp I want isn't too much money, and I think I will sell the Marshall on Ebay (mentioning the issue of course). That along with $150 in gift cards I've saved, and also asking for all gift cards this year for Christmas should make it fairly easy to get. Here's a link if you're interested:
Fender Blues Jr. Tweed

The other thing I missed was Tommy Bowden stepping down as Clemson's head coach. This is a huge deal, he has been there for 9 and 1/2 seasons, and done some good things for the program. The fact that he has never even been to an ACC championship game, and has constantly had a team that underachieved made the fans extremely restless, especially as Clemson was ranked #9 pre-season this year and had already lost 3 games. I had/have very mixed emotions about the whole thing. On one hand, I definitely think it was time for him to go. I actually have had a facebook group for over 2 years entitled: "How Long Is Tommy Bowden's Contract Again?" In this group I put recaps of each game during each season, and posted other very telling facts such as ACC record over his coaching period, record against ranked teams at home, and I even had some quotes from Tommy himself. In that sense I was really excited when I heard that he had finally stepped down, and for the record I do think he stepped down. TDP, Clemson's AD would have let him finish out the season, but Tommy thought it best to step down now.

While at first I was purely excited, I quickly found myself reflecting on my time at Clemson, the good things Tommy had done, and how hard it must be for him to leave. For one thing, I have some great memories of Clemson football with Tommy as coach. I remember when we beat FSU when they were ranked something like #3. My roommate didn't even go to that game because he thought it would be a blowout. It was crazy! It was actually the last game with wooden goalposts, so I was there for the last time goalposts were torn down, and I also helped carry them out of the stadium. I remember the year we broke the sound dB record level in the overtime Miami game. The crowd was so loud that I literally could not hear myself scream, and something in my ears was literally distorting. I remember watching us beat Carolina 63-17, and then also completely dominating them the next year. Probably the greatest memory was when ESPN Gameday came my senior year. We played Georgia Tech, and I think we were ranked #12 and they were #13. Those numbers could be wrong, but they're close if they are. I remember waking up so early to go down to Bowman where they were broadcasting and cheer. It was one of the largest Gameday crowds ever, and we were so impressive that even Kirk Herbstreet said on a radio show the following week how much he liked Clemson and how it would be a great school for his kids. That night the atmosphere was amazing, such a clear night, the crowd was all orange, and everyone was loud. Our team wore all purple which was unique, and while non-fans of Clemson don't like the all purple, it seriously looked amazing, especially in contrast to the field and the crowd. I can't even describe what it was like when the team came down the hill. I hear my friends from USC talk about how their bird in a cage and 2001 thing is a great tradition, and our hill and Howard's rock isn't....but I think really they are just delusional. There is so much history in our entrance, and opposing players find the whole thing pretty intimidating. I tried to find some youtube videos of the entrance to give you an idea of what it was like...they don't really do it justice, but here they are:




I wish the first one had the audio from ESPN left in, but the second gives you a small picture of the loudness. Here's some pictures of me from that night...

As if things couldn't get any better, we completely demolished GT. It wasn't even really a game. Somewhere in the video a few rows up in the student section, my group of friends and I are going nuts with the rest of the crowd...what an incredible memory.

There were many other huge wins during Tommy's time at Clemson, but it wasn't just the games. He was a really good guy, most likely a Christian from his comments and reputation, and ran an extremely clean program. He had very upstanding staff, brought in top-notch players both athletically and socially, and always represented the university well.

I also thought of how hard it must be for him to leave. I probably have a special amount of empathy for him because of my situation this past year. I know how hard it was for me to pour my life into worship team members and a music ministry for a year and then leave it behind during less than desirable circumstances, and I can only begin to compare that to Tommy's situation. It has to be so hard to pour yourself into coaches and players, build those relationships, give yourself to Clemson as a university, for 10 YEARS and then have to leave during a really rocky time. People keep making comments about him being fine with his 3.5 million, but I know there has to be a huge hole in his heart from what has happened. From what I saw of the press conference, he was very classy in his comments. I hope that he does take away mostly positive from his time at Clemson, and I hope he feels the appreciation of the fans, but more importantly of the players and staff whose lives he influenced. But anyways....

So I was going to write about my day today, but this blog post is so long I'm just going to leave it at that. The only other thing I'll mention is that I finally found some lower deck tickets to the game this Saturday for face value. I've been looking for the past few days to no avail. I think the crowd is going to be really into it because of the new coach, and because Willy Korn is starting at QB for the first time, so I want to be in the thick of things. I wasn't planning on going until all this stuff took place this week, and I figured I just don't want to miss such a momentous day. Since I live in Greenville and have the time, I figure I should take advantage. Kristi is coming too, which will be really fun. I don't think she's been to a game this important, so it should be fun for her even though she's not really a football fan. I'm supposed to meet the guy tomorrow morning to buy the tickets...hopefully everything works out right. A bunch of my friends and Kristi and I are going to eat at my favorite place in Clemson called Ancheaux's afterwards too, which will be great. Clemson is such a beautiful place and it has so many great memories for me. The other night when we had to say the most beautiful place we'd been at the worship team meeting, I half jokingly said Clemson, but really it is one of them. Where I lived I could see the Tillman Hall clock tower, the stadium, Lake Hartwell, and the mountains. I saw some of the most amazing sunsets from that room. I think sometimes we get so used to the vegetation and scenery where we live that we miss how beautiful this part of God's creation is, and we find other places more amazing just because of newness. So really, while I do think Oahu is beautiful, I might really think that Clemson is even more so.

It is going to be an amazing weekend, don't forget to where your orange tomorrow! And sorry for all the nostalgia.

I had to look up instructions on how to embed YouTube videos for this post...I hope it works correctly...

I've really been slacking off on posting lately I guess...I didn't really mean to miss last night, somehow I just didn't end up posting. Saturday was a good day. I did some yard work, moved a piano to my house from my parents' house, went to Pat's birthday party (my sister's boyfriend), and went to a party for Daniel and Ellen. I am so happy that they are getting married, they make such a good couple. Needless to say, all that made me tired today, especially since I get up a little after 6.

Today wasn't too busy. I didn't have too much to do this morning at church. I ran Video Toaster and helped out with some other random stuff here and there. I kind of felt out of it most of the morning, I think just because I was tired.

After church we went to On The Border with Kristi's family. I have been trying to eat less, so I made a conscious effort to not pig out on chips the entire time. I think I ate less chips than usual, but man it was so stinkin hard. Salty things like chips and fries are my downfall, and it is almost impossible for me to avoid them. I am happy to say though that I think I've lost a little weight since starting to eat less. My pants are kind of loose, and shirts that had gotten too small for me are starting to fit again. Now I just need to start getting myself up early enough to run again. I really miss running, but I used to run late at night, which isn't going to work anymore. I have never been a good early riser. Supposedly it gets easier as you get older, but I don't think so. On one hand I have no issue getting up really early to fulfill responsibilities, but when it comes to voluntary things I just can't get myself out of my wonderful bed. When I used to run with Graham I got up because I had to meet him...maybe I just need him to drive up every morning from Charleston or something.

We got done with lunch and went to Wal-Mart to grocery shop on the way home. I have never considered myself a really healthy eater, but when I buy groceries at the Simpsonville Wal-Mart and see other people's carts, I feel alot better about my eating habits. Kristi's and my cart has some fruit, some diet drinks, and some other food items like chicken and bagels and frozen lunches for her. You should see some of these other carts. All these nasty frozen fried foods that don't even look good in the picture plus tons of snack foods and tons of high calorie drinks. I don't see how people survive. I feel like I'm being super judgemental, but seriously I cannot believe some of the carts I see going through the line. I enjoy my fried high calorie foods a good bit, but if I lived off of what people have in their carts I think my stomach would constatly be having issues.

We got home after shopping and I took Lucy for a walk. We hadn't been on our walk in about two days, so she was extra excited. I decided to lengthen it all the way to the other side of the neighborhood since she was so excited, and that was a big mistake. There were alot of kids outside playing together down on the other end, and we have already established that Lucy doesn't like kids, especially kids she doesn't know. A girl asked if she could pet her, and I said she wasn't very friendly while Lucy growled behind me...how embarrasing. But that's not the worst part. We started walking back and two kids started skateboarding towards us. If there's one thing Lucy hates more than kids, it's kids on skateboards. She completely freaked out, jumped around until she got out of her collar, and took off down another road in the neighborhood. The problem was she had to run through a group of kids to get there, which freaked her out even more because they all tried to stop her. I must have looked silly just walking slowly up the street, but I have learned that if Lucy has a nervous breakdown and I run after her she thinks I am chasing her, and then she'll never stop running. It was quite a production. Eventually I caught up to her once she had gotten away from all the commotion and slowed down. I put her collar back on and we walked back to the house where she decided she needed a nap. I wish I could fix her nervousness and distaste for strangers and kids, but I don't know what else to do. She's been exposed to plenty of them as a puppy, and she's never had a bad experience, so I don't know what her deal is. I guess it's just her genetics or something.

Anyways, Kristi and I went to small group and then came home right afterwards. I've been spending all night watching youtube videos of people playing drums and checking out some of my favorite music artists in live videos on youtube. I find it funny that really flashy people who aren't very good get tons of comments about how good they are, and then the solid people generally don't get much notice. For instance, I found this kid and he seems really solid to me, but no one really comments on his playing:

I also have a fascination with Jon Foreman, the lead singer of Switchfoot. I have liked them every since their first CD, and I really have alot of respect for him specifically. I think he is one of the more broadly talented musicians and songwriters out there and he seems to carry himself in a unique way that brings alot of respect. He just seems to have a ton of humilty and love for other people mainly I think. He's been doing alot of stuff with this girl named Molly Jenson lately, so I am thinking about buying her CD. There is alot of talking in this video, but when you finally get to the song it's pretty awesome:

I think the reason I love Jon Foreman's music so much is that I identify more with his songwriting than anyone else I've come across...not even just from a lyrical standpoint, but even from a melodic standpoint. One of my favorite songs he's written is called "On Fire" which has the lyrics:

"When everything inside me looks like everything I hate
You are the hope I have for change, You are the only chance I'll take"

Another newer song that I love off of his EP called "Your Love Is Strong" goes like this:

"I look out the window, the birds are composing
Not a note is out of tune or out of place
I walk to the meadow, and stare at the flowers
Better dressed than any girl on her wedding day
So why should I worry, why do I freak out?
God knows what I need
You know what I need
Your love is strong"

Seriously, can you think of many lyrics better than that? Anyways, I didn't really mean for this blog to turn into some huge plug for Jon Foreman, I guess I got a little carried away.

That was my day today. Tomorrow I guess I will go to school, and then maybe I can finish digging up the dead grass tomorrow afternoon. I was sad at first that it would dry out before I would finish, but then I thought...I have a hose, and I bet watering it down with that would be really similar to rain. I know, I'm a genius, you don't have to tell me. Monday night has become Little Caesar's night too, so I can always look forward to that!

I bet there aren't many cities that can do things as nice as Fall for Greenville...

Today was a pretty great day, although it got off to a rough start. I woke up while Kristi was getting ready because once again Lucy decided to get sick. I don't know what her deal is, it hasn't happened since I started feeding her late at night over a month ago, but I guess her stomach was too empty this morning for some reason. So that was alot of fun. I had to put some stuff in the wash and then get her to eat some food. After that she went back to sleep and I slept a little until 8:15.

I texted Joe to ask what time he was coming in. I figured if he wasn't going to be in until 10 or so, I would get some extra sleep...the week of school work wore me out quite a bit. He suggested that we go to breakfast, and I thought that sounded like a good time, so I met him at Perkins. I like hanging out and talking with friends, so getting to eat meals with Joe is always a good time for me.

Work was pretty uneventful today. We ran some cable up to the stage and I did a few random things like setting up an EasyWorship schedule and locating all the tv carts, but really it was pretty slow over all. I ended up leaving just a few minutes before 2:30.

Since it was so nice outside, I had already decided that I wanted to take Lucy to the dog park when I got home. Kristi said she didn't really want to go, so I didn't wait for her to get home. Lucy did a little better this time. She was still extremely nervous, but she interacted with the dogs a little more. You can tell that she really loves some of the dogs, because when certain ones come over to where she is to say hi her tail starts going and she acts like she wants to play. For some reason though she just isn't bold enough to go play with the big group. I think that she enjoys going though, and maybe eventually she'll be confident enough to play with all the dogs. We walked through Cleveland Park a little after the dog park, and then came back home.

On the way home I saw a blimp flying over Simpsonville, which seemed weird to me. I couldn't think of anything going on in Simpsonville that would warrant a blimp. I actually did a speech on blimps in college for my communications class, and there aren't a ton of them around. The speech was pretty amazing though, I drew a sweet diagram and everything. I actually did alot better on that speech than my serious ones, because my teacher never agreed with my point of view, so he was really picky. Whatev.

Kristi got home a little later and we took off for Fall for Greenville. We stopped at a carnival going on at her school first, but didn't stay too long. I wore the new class t-shirt, and I felt a little silly to be honest.

Fall for Greenville was a really good time. We got downtown and everyone was charging 5$ to park everywhere, so I figured we would see if the parking garage was free. It is usually free on the weekends, which I think is a great idea, but I wasn't sure about special events. We had to fight our way through a few parking lots and side streets because of streets being shut down to traffic, but eventually we got there and sure enough it was free. I had to laugh at the boy scouts across the street trying to wave the cars into their 5$ lot, and pretty much every car ignoring them and going into the free parking garage. Sorry kid, I don't know you, and I was never in boy scouts anyways.

Once we parked we walked through the little courtyard and out to Main where Coffee hits. There was quite a crowd, so we got a map to scout out whether we wanted to get food from booths or eat at a restaurant. There were some pretty good options, so we decided to do the booth thing. We spent 20$ on tickets and got some really good food. There were so many choices that it was really hard to decide what to get, but I love variety so that was fine with me. I ended up getting some MiMi's Steakhouse shrimp and fried rice, some spicy shrimp rolls from Sushi Muriyaki, and a drink. Kristi got some MiMi's as well, some soup from Soby's, and a smoothie from Liquid Highway. We ended up having 4 tickets left over, and instead of finding something random that we wouldn't really enjoy we gave them to a family in line to buy tickets. They seemed like they appreciated it.

I hadn't been to Fall for Greenville for a few years, and I really enjoyed it. The food was good, and I saw a ton of people I knew too, including an old friend from Clemson, one of my swimmers from when I coached, and John from the worship team at Southside. It was a great time.

We came home and stopped at Bi-Lo on the way. I wanted to see what my options were for 1.00 DVD rentals from their machine. There were no good options, but there was a huge collection of Policemen and Firemen in the parking lot around this van in the back. They had yellow tape up and everything. I asked a guy what was happening, and he said he didn't know, but had heard they found a dead person in the van. I called my friend Nate from Greenville Tech. He is an EMT and I knew that if he was working he would know what was going on. Sure enough he said his friend Alex had made that call and that all they knew was that someone was dead. The coroner was on his way to check things out. I am looking forward to finding out more about that on Monday.

Since we didn't rent a movie, I put in Rudy when we got home. I hadn't seen it in forever, and I just bought it for 5$ from Target the other day. It is such a good movie, which I find slightly ironic as I don't really like Notre Dame. Really though when it comes to teams other than Clemson I usually like them or don't like them depending on their coach. I'm not a big Charlie Weiss fan, and I feel like Tyrone Willingham got shafted, so that's probably why. Oh, and I know some pretty obnoxious Notre Dame fans too. I really enjoyed watching the movie, and Kristi watched most of it with me. She doesn't really get into the whole football thing though, so alot of her watching involved sleeping. After the movie we both got into bed, and I figure I'll watch some Leno and Conan since I don't have to get up early tomorrow.

My plan is to dig out all the rest of the dead grass tomorrow and then go get some soil and compost to put down. I'm excited that it is raining outside because the ground will be soft. Although, I hope it stops by tomorrow so I can actually do the work....

I wonder if we'll be able to squeak another ACC win out against Duke?

Geez Louise...this has been a long week. You may have noticed that I have not posted for quite a while. I'd like to say that I was on a secret mission as a black op and just couldn't tell you where I was, but actually I was just so far behind on school work that I was up very late every night studying. I figured it would be nice to take a break from blogging since I would be fairly tired and busy until I was through my tests. I'm sure many of the three of you who read this blog were overtaken by the sadness of not being able to read my wonderful words each day.

The good news is I came through with flying colors. I wrote a pretty good paper for Psychology, made a 94 on my Micro test, and I'm pretty sure I nailed my Statistics test today. At first I was sad that my 94 wasn't a 102 like last test, but then I was like, it's a 94. I think my wife's overachieving spirit has started to rub off on me or something. Anyways, I do have two tests next week too, but they shouldn't require as much intense studying as the last two. That's what I get for not looking at my Statistics book since the test before.

I can't even remember all that happened since I last wrote. I remember I wanted to talk about running sound on Sunday. I thought it ended up sounding pretty decent. I really think that going through all the channels on Thursday helped a bunch. I have also found that I really enjoy running sound. It's something that I feel like I am fairly gifted in because of my ear and knowledge, and I also really enjoy making something good behind the scenes. I don't think most people really even think about it consciously, but I think that really good sound just helps the service flow and helps people get more engaged. I also know what it's like to be on the stage side and feel uncomfortable with the sound. I find alot of fulfillment feeling like I can recognize the full potential of the talent and hard work from the musicians and singers through the sound. I still do miss the creative musical aspect sometimes though.

There were a few other things of importance that happened. Kristi's class t-shirts came in, and they look pretty good, so good that I think I'm going to wear the one she got for me on a regular basis.

Today was a really long day in itself. I got up a little after 9, got ready, and then took Lucy for a walk. I wasn't going to let her get muddy, because I didn't want to give her a bath, but she slipped and fell in the mud a few times when running around in front of a house with drainage issues. Seriously, they just pressure washed the driveway, and since it rained it is completely covered in mud again. Sooo...I had to give Lucy a bath when we got back, which was no fun like usual.

After that I literally studied for 6-7 hours straight. I hadn't even opened my Statistics book since my last test, so I had to learn everything. I had gone through a few sections the last night when I got home, but left most of it for today. I left either ESPN or HGTV on in the background so I didn't go completely crazy. By the way, Charter now has HGTV in HD. I like to think that my phone call prompted them to move forward with that.

A little after 4:30 I had finished the two assignments I had to turn in when I took my test, and had finished studying so I left to take the test. The testing center closes at 7, and you have to get there by 6 to be allowed to start, so I was cutting it pretty close. The test seemed pretty easy. I would say that I made a 100, but I didn't know one of the fill in the blank questions. I love math, and it frustrates me that there is so much short answer and fill in the blank on these tests. Actually I think my favorite class at Clemson when I was a bio major was probably Calculus. I just like working with formulas and numbers. I definitely had some Performing Arts classes I liked more, but that was a completely different world than Biology.

Kristi got home a little after I did and we went to Moe's to dinner. I love Moe's, but their ice maker wasn't working tonight. That was pretty disappointing, because it you know me you know that chewing ice is pretty much my favorite part of drinking drinks. This is why I never use a sissy stick (or a straw for those of you unfamiliar with the term). The food was good though, and the Diet Coke was cold, so I survived.

After that we rushed home so I could watch the Clemson vs. Wake Forest game.

What can I even say about the game. I have become very hardened and apathetic to Clemson football the past few years, and usually I feel indifferently disappointed about the losses. This game for some reason was like old times. I don't know if it's that Wake Forest tried to hand it to us, or because I saw so many players on our team that should be going high in the draft with their talent level, or that we only scored 7 points, but I was just completely and utterly disgusted with the game. I think another thing that adds to it is the comments on ESPN. All day I heard about how people predicted Clemson to be an outside shot at the BCS title game this year, and about how much of a disappointment we are. During the game I heard about how bad the ACC was, and how disappointing we were. Then, and I kid you not, the announcers were making references to it being time for Tommy to go. It's just sad.

Anyways, I guess it's just football, as depressing as it is. Tomorrow I'm going to work, and then I don't know what is happening tomorrow night. I would like to see that new "Body of Lies" movie if it is clean enough. Maybe I'll see if Kristi wants to go see that. Then again, it would probably have to come out of my allowance...

Maybe I could at least drain the gas out of the weedeater to save a little money...

Somehow I always end up rushing to work on Friday. I always feel like I get up in plenty of time, but then I remember something I have to do, or Lucy won't do her business outside...there's always something. Today the rushing was mainly Lucy's fault. Although I did also start to fill out the voter's change of address form, but I needed a copy of my ID, so I gave up really quick. I think I have to have it post-marked by tomorrow or I can't vote. I really don't know that it matters that I don't vote, I don't really even feel gung-ho about either candidate, but I don't want to be unpatriotic or a bad steward or whatever.

When I got to work the only things I really had to do were tasks I had been putting off because I didn't want to do them. I found a few other things to do first, like changing out mics and other things on stage, but eventually I had to do something from the list. I picked re-writing the instructions for the sound systems in the cafe. The other option was making an updated list of TV carts, but that sounded like less fun and I also want to have my laptop when I do that so that I can type everything out as I go from room to room. The instructions I wrote were incredible. I am pretty sure that someone from the 1800's could use the system with these instructions. Somewhere in there I took a break for my lunch, which was 2 slices of left over Little Caesar's. Eating is definitely one of my hobbies, and I have to say that packing a lunch or dinner is definitely a little dull for me. I did save money this week though, and I think I ate healthier, so I guess I will continue with the plan.

After I finished the instructions I was kind of out of things that I could do with the short time I had left. I decided to go through each channel on the console and check EQ, compressor, and pan settings. During rehearsal I had to do so much troubleshooting and so much gain correcting that I could never really get around to looking at much of that stuff. Since I have a good bit of knowledge about what settings I like, I decided to set channels up the way I would think I would want them, and then work from there on Sunday. The sweet thing about a digital console is that all my settings are saved, so no one can screw with them. I am also learning how to compensate for the room at Southside. I am not sure if it's the room or the system, but everything sounds really harsh. Even if you play an mp3 with no EQ or anything, it sounds like all treble and bass, no mids. I have learned that I am pretty much never going to do any boosting over 4-8k because it just makes the problem worse. I wasn't really happy with the way things sounded on Wednesday night, but hopefully with some of the changes I made I will find things more workable on Sunday.

When I was done Joe let me go since there was really nothing else I could do. It was only about 30 minutes early, but still it was nice to have the extra time. I stopped by the mower repair place and got my worthless weedeater, which I promptly threw in the trash when I got home. How can a company make an engine that isn't serviceable? Why did I buy a broken weedeater? Questions that get me frustrated these days...

Once I got home Lucy and I went for the usual walk. She was really hyper and it was one of those days where even after her walk she just barked at me nonstop. It is extremely frustrating when she is like that, but I guess that's what I get for getting a half jack russell. I got a few things done that I needed to as I waited for Kristi to get home. She got home a little earlier than usual so we could leave for the Southside staff outing.

The staff outing was tons of fun. First of all, the food was from Outback Steakhouse. How often do you get to eat as much grilled chicken, coconut shrimp, steak, wings, bloomin onion, and potato soup as you want? I really had to refrain from stuffing myself, because I didn't want to feel sick later. They catered it at The Channel, so Kristi and I walked to TJ Maxx after a little while to get a present we needed to get. From there we headed to the bowling alley.

I really love bowling. I guess I pretty much love any kind of physical competition, but bowling is an especially fun group activity. I didn't feel like I did my best, but I did pretty well. Kristi had 4 strikes in the second game, and scored 111. She doesn't really like competitions, and I thought that was pretty good for being nervous.

Now at this time you might think my night was over, but you would be wrong. My good friend Diego had called me and told me that a group of my friends was playing poker after 10. I haven't been able to see many of them or play poker in a long time, and Kristi was OK with me going, so I went. It was a really good time, I enjoyed seeing everyone, and I have always enjoyed poker, even though I didn't do too great tonight. We used to have a weekly game at Clemson House, where I lived in college. We called it "Clemson House Poker," and at one time we would have 10-20 people come from week to week. I don't think you realize how much time you have while you are in college. It's only once your out with responsibilities that you realize what your parents had been telling you all those years. We playing until about 1 and then I came home.

Tomorrow I will probably end up sleeping in a little since it is so late right now. I was going to do alot of yard work tomorrow, but I think some of the schoolwork I'm behind on is more important. We also are going to Diego and Melissa's engagement party tomorrow, and then to Kristi's parents' house for dinner. Originally it was going to be date night, but her aunt is in town. Really it's a good thing though, because I didn't realize the Clemson game was a night game, and I would like to watch it. Since we lost an easy home ACC game, I'm assuming we will win this tougher one away at Wake. I'm sure then we'll probably lose at home to Georgia Tech. Seriously, why does our coach have a contract through 2014? Oh well, at least I can usually count on beating the Gamecocks.