Christmas in Dixie

well, it was a bit of a rough Christmas as my family passed a virus back and forth around the household. actual quote from my dad, "if that's what a virus feels like, then i've never had a virus before in my life." i had to step in and read the Christmas story due to his inability to perform on Christmas eve.
everybody did feel ok Christmas morn, though, and i did get a flexible keyboard and a cow that sings "tis the season" entirely in moos. later ronnie, katrina and madison showed up and we got to have our annual football punting competition in the backyard. i was able to take ronnie and jeremy out, one of my proudest sports moments.
anyway, the highlight was that ronnie received a remote control airplane. This is the story of that plane. The video tracks the planes from its nascent begginings where we learn that two heads are better than one and that i'd rather video tape them putting the plane together than help them put it together("where's the fuselage?"), through flight training (determining the launch angle), on to its first timid steps at flight, to its untimely demise ("land it, land it!!").
ronnie was pretty bummed afterwards so we bought him some fireworks to cheer him up. those we proceeded to shoot off in the backyard (again this is Christmas night) for an hour or so (and no todd, there was no breaking of sticks). i am just bummed that i somehow didn't capture video of our firework tank races. oh well, next time. a highlight of the video is jeremy setting the backyard on fire and having to take off to put it out. good times. and that's Christmas in satsuma, Christmas in dixie.

My Video Christmas Card

It's the most wonderful time of the year. actually....to be completely honest, christmas has more or less snuck up on me this year. as many of you know, i've been working early and late and weekends lately and have been struggling to stay afloat. i haven't even had a chance to watch "christmas story" or "christmas vacation" yet, but i hope to rectify that in the next few days. it really has been a wonderful year though; empirically it's been one of my most difficult, but for some reason it hasn't felt that bad. i've learned a tremendous amount and had a ton of amazing times, and i am so filled with hope for next year. i'm starting to get back into helping out a little with girls volleyball, my rehab on my shoulder and neck is almost done (from my wreck) and i'm running and playing a lot of sports, and i'm looking forward to us really ramping up our involvement in Nicaragua this year. i actually included a few pictures i took in Nicaragua in the video. i'm hoping to make it back down there before march and we're just finalizing plans to commission a study there.

aaaaaaand it goes without saying that i am SOOOOO looking forward to finishing up my project for the state of oklahoma and moving on.

i hope this post finds you all well and that you have every happiness this christmas. i'm about to get of town and spend some QT with the fam.

Click this link for my '06 video Christmas Card.

Auburn Game

well, i went to t-town with high hopes. i felt like we had a better team than auburn, and with the home field advantage we ought to have a good shot at winning. of course, shula is the x-factor and able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at any given moment, so you never know for sure.

the night before the game we went out to check out the new additions to the stadium. there's now a fancy walkway up to the stadium complete with statues and plaques. much nicer than waht we had before.....i like it.

we, of course, went straight up to the bear and got our picture taken with him.

no one not from the state of alabama can possibly understand how large a figure he was to me as a child. it was sort of like the president, mickey mouse and a tv star rolled into one person. here, i'm seen supporting the tide at a very young age, and looking for another beer in the cooler.

we then went over to check out Beebes (coach stallings). jason rolls out looking for a receiver. he's a lefty but he's rolling right. that's a tough throw to make!

i look the ball in under coaches watchful and approving eye, demonstrating the importance of catching with your hands and not your body.

later i spot a receiver open deep and let one fly downfield.

we then planted the flag in front of the stadium, claiming pre-emptive victory for bama. later that night (while playing the thumb on the table game - which Kent will readily admit and his wife would confirm he is not very good at) we finalized an idea i had earlier. we would all have "victory names" to use after the next day's game. for some reason i thought that might shake up our luck. i am unclear on why that seemed logical to me. kent's wife would be beveryly and for some reason kent was going to be named after one of the wiggles. i think jason was going to be called clint. i do not remember my victory name. i didn't end up needing to use it. : (

here's a photo of the sidewalk looking up at the stadium. this particular plaque commemorates the 92 championsip game.

here's a pic off the back of jason's house with the crew team rowing by.

then we were off to the game. we did a little pre-game napping at rocky's house, then headed in. we had good seats once again courtesy of jason's father in law. here's some video from the game. all in all the crowd on both sides was a little tame this year, but it was still pretty electric when tyrone prothro came out with the game ball. i'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle recovery for next season.

we lost the game, but the team played well. two missed blocks led to two turnovers, and basic math eluded mike shula but the team played hard and had a chance. i'm trusting that next season we will be reasserting ourselves nationally.

later that night we went out to the booth.

it is bar none, the stinkiest bar i have ever visited in my life, but it was a staple of college life. the two biggest "booth" acts from my colledge days were the jones brothers and wayne mills. as luck would have it, wayne mills was playing that night (which would be one of the booth's last nights in operation). that was a little bit of a bizarre trip down memory lane, but was a decent ending for an otherwise dissapointing day.

one game to go against OK State.....roll tide!!

November Weekend at Drew's Cabin

after losing in the city semifinals for Alta : ( i headed up to drew's cabin. obtw, in case anyone was unaware, i guess i could have mentioned that i was in a car wreck in early september, and we just getting back into being able to do anything athletic at this time. my car was totaled, but i like my new car a sconch better. it has nav and wood grain. i think that makes me a better person. that is a joke. i'm hoping my rehab will be done by january and i'll be back up at full strength.

the importance of that pails next to what the kids that we were going to be hanging out with at drew's cabin had persevered at age 5 and 6. drew and blake give tremendously of their time, and one of their organizations they volunteer with is lighthouse. they met a couple of wonderful kids and their mother (zack, zoey and marsha) at lighthouse this year and have stayed in touch with the family since. zack had leukemia from (and this will be close to right if not exact) age 2 to 5 and has been clear for 1 year. they are amazing kids, shy at first but just awesome little people who eventually decided that i was a suitable jungle gym.

charlotte (who last we heard from was showing us her belly at drew and blake's wedding) and her parents were there as well. we were fully stocked with kids. anyway, here's a picture of a little shed on the way into drew's cabin.

when i got there the first order of business was a canoe ride and some fishing. here zack is ready to angle!

here are the girls back at the cabin.

here, poor camera work sorta captures charlotte given love to her baby brother.

that night we roasted marshmellows by the fire. i was not very good at this. i ate 2 marshmellows, set 3 on fire and dropped 2. charlotte, however, was a natural.

it was a good weekend and it was really nice to get away from my email and my phone, and it definitely helped me refocus a little on how lucky i have had it.

Halloween

i guess there's a big timeline gap here since the previous posts. that's mostly because nothing too exciting happened to me during that stretch....a lot of time spent with work (crazy) and trying to understand and finalize the situation with Emily. so, we jump forward to halloween. i was working so hard that it sorta snuck up on me, but jessica was nice enough to pick up a sting ray for me at the aquarium. getting it was pretty funny, b/c i called the aquarium and asked if they had any "plush animals like, walruses or penguins or rays." i then asked how big they had them, and then zeroed in on the rays. they had the necessary accent piece for my outfit. i called jess and asked her to pick it up. i can't believe she consented to do it, b/c i'm pretty sure she didn't approve of my costume idea. i don't blame her.

halloween was pretty low-key this year, though. i went to a party at Rick and Rhonda's with Drew and Blake. Drew was a karate-man (he bleeds on the inside) and Blake was a girl in a running outfit (or Blake). here we all are at the party.

afterwards i went out and met folse at a party. i was immediately accosted by a girl who proclaimed my costume the best costume of all time. it was good to be appreciated.

here are folse and i at that party. he was the phantom of the opera. you probably would have guessed that.

The RuthNix Nuptials

i had the opportunity to serve mr. brent nix in a non-custodial position at his wedding to one sara (spelled without an "h") ruth (spelled with an "h"). i obviously leapt at the opportunity to participate. special note: sara's name now has no "h"'s whatsoever.

anyway, we showed up on friday and had the opportunity to see something i NEVER thought i would see. of course, i am referencing seeing stephen on an ATV

here brent catches a ride in to town in mark's "uncle jesse" truck.

brent was not being rude, but instead uses his tongue like a snake to sense the environment about him. it is not, however, biforkated as is plainly obvious in the photo.

we had the rehearsal dinner that night and got to listen to some really intriguing conversations.

drew did his "upper hand" toast and managed to avoid using the phrase "on top," a personal victory for mr. allvine.

i should mention that hendersonville was a lovely place and that after the rehearsal dinner we heard some pretty cool bluegrass at a cabin that brent and his dad had built. my only complaint with the bluegrass band is that nobody yelled out "man of constant sorrow!!!" which i would suspect is the bluegrass equivalent of yelling "freebird" at most other musical events; except, quite obviously, for a rap event. i don't think rap has a signature concert song. if i had to vote for one, though, i would vote for "mo money, mo problems."

the wedding was nice and the reception was at what i'm sure was a historic house. i really liked the mushroom caps and we all danced quite a bit. it was a good time. i didn't really take many pictures, but i did get this one.

somebody yelled out "cool, lap dances!" but i don't know who did, and i think that whoever did was crass.

i did, however, take some videos. here's one that probably warrants a youtube post. stephen disects a young woman(whose name has been redacted)'s story about him blowing her off at a birthday dinner for our same sara nix (formerly ruth). while her description was wrought with emotion and her sense of injury was obviously heart-felt, i remain agnostic on the incident in question.

here are some other random videos from the pre and post wedding.

there is no video of anyone drinking anything out of a bottle hidden in there tux. if there were, courtesy would prevent me from posting it here anyway.

oh, if you don't know brent and sara well, here they are.

i took this pre-wedding photo for them. they were excellent models.

brent and sara's wedding. a good time was had by all, and i am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the event.

OKC Memorial

Julie and i stopped by the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing when we were out in OKC for a client meeting (which, by the way, didn't go too well). Anyway, it was really weird to be there, though i have to admit, the couple of trips i had made to the WTC site previously had anesthesized me a little bit for this. Being in college, I didn't really experience the OKC bombing like i did the WTC disaster.

What DID really spook me, though, was the chairs that were out there. Each one represented a person who died in the explosion, and the little ones represented the children that died that day. Thinking that each little chair was some kids life was a little more sobering than even the wall of momentos outside. So, here are the pictres i took.

But first, the gear shift in my rental car.

i have no good reason for including that one, but i did.

here are the pics from the memorial

Brent-fest

sooooo, we had a little weekend for mr. brent nix in celebration of his imminent coupling with one sara ruth. so, we headed up to john's lake house. not the new one, the new one's not finished yet. thankfully they still have the old one. i think if i ever have a lake house, i too will make sure i have a spare; just in case i need to host an event and my regular house is unavailable.

anyway, the first night consisted of dinner at the toccoa river restaurant and then some beer pong at john's house, finished off by some late night jumping off of the dock and nearly burning the house down while cooking bacon after shotgunning beers.

john dressed up REEAAALL nice for the beer pong.

we had fun discussions like this one where stephen relays how john robbed him in nicaragua.

it wouldn't have been brent's bachelor party if brent didn't trot out his scottish accent..no wait; actually it morphed into english that time. weird!

then it was on to the beerpong.

beerpong is a damn fine game, and this was a great incarnation of it. you line up your cups like bowling pins. you try and ring the cup, and when a cup is rung, that cup is drunk. good times!! the first bit of that clip features tim rattling home an amazing shot. truly the greatest beerpong shot that my eyes have ever witnessed.

afterwards we were all pretty drunk, and then stephen's cell phone apparently looked at tim the wrong way. this led to stephen's cell phone getting stabbed to death.

the next day (after we got brent some waffle house) we played some golf and then went out on the boat

here i am cruising on the boat.

poor tyler. we kept him out past his bedtime on friday night. ergo, tyler took a lot of naps on saturday.

all in all a good day, and we finished it up with a night out in the bar at some random conference center. here's the always necessary "team photo."

and finally, we did a little more skiing on sunday before heading home.

it was a great time with great friends, and a fun send off for brent. thx to john for hosting. next update: the wedding!!

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

here's a VERY late post that has been modified from its original format.

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It sounds odd for me to read that title above, given that for months, i thought Jan 17th would have been that "first day." that was the day that Emily and i had gotten back together and had really re-committed ourselves to our relationship. as it turned out, we would break up again on June 27 and 5 months later we would determine we would not speak to each other again.

maybe if i was a better writer, i could scribble something that wouldn't fail miserably at relaying Emily's importance in my life. if i am now a better person (if not quite good yet), most of the credit is hers. if i someday am a good husband and father, it will be because of the lessons she helped me learn and because of the earnest sincerety and kindness and the core goodness that she displayed. she truly did teach me how an adult Christian relationship should work. she was a fresh wind that blew across my life and changed the entire landscape in its wake. i will be forever thankful for the time that we were blessed with.

as a status report; all things considered, i'm doing quite well. one of the most important lessons i have learned in the last year is the need to be content whatever the circumstances. i am not yet satisfied, but i am content.

my favorite poem since i was about 12 (and yes i've had a favorite poem since i was 12, but i could also probably kick your ass, so remember that before you mock me) was by Longfellow. it resonated with me from the very first time i read it, and in the last few hours i keep thinking about the last stanza, so i'm plopping the poem in here. (and on a complete tangent, someone long ago had this framed for me - probably the most thoughtful gift i have ever received in my life.)

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

i guess i'm learning to labor and to wait.

aaaand if anybody feels like reading what i wrote bleary eyed the morning after the breakup you can do so here.

My Boca Grande Fishing Trip

all right, here are the photos and some video from Boca Grande where John, Stephen, Tim, and Tim's friend Eric went on our tarpon fishing trip. the weather was sunny (except when it was freakin storming - more on that later) and we had a great time. our days consisted of get up, eat breakfast, fish all day, eat dinner, go to sleep. that was about it.

anyway, before we headed out the first day, john and stephen got slathered up with sunscreen.

i just couldn't leave that picture out.

john brought in the first fish (and only) fish of the day. this tarpon was probably about 120 lbs.

that was about it for fish that first day. it was a SLOW day, but that didn't stop us from feeling like we deserved to enjoy a beer or two at the end of the first day

the next day the weather was gorgeous. we set out under blue skies and on green seas looking to have "captain rodney" lead us to the big fish.

john looked hard, but didn't see any tarpon

so, instead captain rodney showed us some dolphins and manatee.

they were cute, but didn't exactly sate my desire to catch some fish. we saw a few tarpon and john got one of them on the line, but that was before he had bought into the concept of bowing to the fish(more on that later). eventually the tarpon convinced him of the value of respecting the fish. we were all pretty down by mid-afternoon and captain rodney's angry music didn't help. i eventually got captain rodney to agree to switch us over to some U2 and that seemed to help a little, but no fish in the boat.......until the storm came.

it started to get darker and darker, and the temperature dropped considerably. we knew it was going to get ugly, but weren't really bothered until we noticed that all but two of the fifty boats that had been out had gone in (our two). here the storm starts to really roll in.

as the storm approached a funnel cloud appeared overhead. this is where it got a little frightening. the rain started coming down in huge heavy drops and the wind started to absolutely wail. it was blowing so hard that it was blowing the tops off of the waves and creating a heavy fog that extended 5 feet off the top of the water. it was at around this time that captain rodney grabbed me by my rain jacket (boy doesn't john wish he had a rain jacket?) and yelled at me while waving his homing device in my face. "IF WE GO DOWN, I WILL NOT LET GO OF THIS, SO YOU DO NOT LET GO OF ME. THE COAST GUARD WILL FIND US!!" that was actually one of the scarier moments of my life, and the only time in my life (that i can remember) when i actually prayed something like, "Lord, please don't let me die here, and if i do die, i hope emily and my family know i love them." i think it may have actually impacted my thinking a little. i'm not sure.

anyway, once the storm subsided, (and yes that is video of the storm as it was subsiding. for the 30 minutes prior to then it had been much much worse.)

then the fish began to hit. it was amazing. the moment that we could see in front of us there were fish everywhere. it was one hit after another until dark began to fall on us. huge fish that often took as long as 20 or 30 minutes to reel.

here's my first catch of the weekend.

here john reels in the last fish of the day as the sun sets over the ocean.

there was a rainbow on the east horizon,

as john and i took one last photo.

boy, doesn't john look cold? it's too bad about that rain jacket!

here's the view of the sunset as we went through the pass on the way back into the dock.

and here are some of the rainbow and the coloration of the sky on the ride back in.

and here's a little video of the ride back in.

the next morning stephen was not in the mood to get out of bed

once we got him moving, we headed out for our last day of fishing. this time we were with captain pete. he tried to start a fight with several other captains, but did get us on some nice fish....something captain rodney had not been quite as good at. here some tarpon almost attack tim and eric while they fiddle with their rods.

here stephen reels one in.

weeeeellll, he almost reeled it in, until this guy came along.

and he absolutely LOVED stephen's fish.

here's what's left of stephen's fish after the attack.

we sat next to the carcass for about 10 minutes waiting for something else to eat it, but we had to go catch some more fish. we did take a break to take a look at this guy on the way in. apparently it was hungry time for the hammerheads in the area.

stephen can't believe he lost another fish to the monsters of the deep.

as you may notice from the photo of the hammerhead above, it was starting to get dark again out on the water.

before that storm hit, i got this fish on the line.

and then stephen interviewed me about my technique as i sit down, completely exhausted from fighting with fish all day.

luckily this storm was no where near as bad as the previous day's storm, and while our boats were still the only ones that stayed out, we were actually able to fish our way through it. it must have been the excitement from all the lightning, but i got my second wind when i got one last tarpon on the line. i managed to reel him in without getting electrocuted right as the storm was wrapping up.

here're tim and eric with captain rodney after the storm

and a few final shots on our way back to the dock and after docking the boat. the sky looked just like the sky in a painting salvador dali did on the ceiling of his museum in Figueres.

oh, btw, back to the subject of john bowing to the fish, here are a couple of his "greatest hits." the super-bow and the not-quite-bow.

anyway, it was a great time, and thx to stephen for setting this one up.