I feel so naked...

and alone. My home computer bit the big one late this week and I really don't know what to do. I am torn between purchasing a new laptop which I have been wanting but by no means need to be doing at this time for budgetary reasons and spending money to get my computer fixed. It is completely non-responsive so it's definitely a hardware issue. I didn't realize how much I use it until this morning when I realized I couldn't check scores online when Baseball was on ESPN, my #1 video game World of Warcraft is also out of the question as well as my college football pick'em. Well I don't believe I have ever blogged two days in a row so this is a first but I just want to say GO BULLS! I told everyone in bama country how good I thought USF was even before they beat Auburn and as of last night they beat the #5 team in the nation West Virginia. A little consolation on a day that could be very bad for an Auburn fan. Auburn is headed into "The Swamp" today to play #3/#4 Florida but hopefully the boys in white will step up and play a game like they did last week and not flounder about for 60 min like the MSU debacle.

What makes a week a week...

is it the fact that they are broken up by days of rest and reflection because if so I have had one of the longest weeks of my life and it looks like it might only be half over. I am on day 19 of work in a row. It has been great, I have learned so much and been able to take part in some great and information filled jobs and events but I am tired and ready for a break. Maybe this weekend I will be able to take a day off but I wouldn't put any money on it. Also if the day is Saturday I'm pretty sure the Auburn - Florida game will remove any chance of quiet contemplation.

Most of the new shows started this week and man was I impressed with the season premieres. "My Name is Earl" and "Grey's Anatomy" (two of my favorites) both had great starts but the best show on television "The Office" had an AWESOME first episode. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't gotten to it on their DVR( or TiVo) so skip to the bottom of this paragraph if you haven't watched it yet. The fact that they left you hanging the whole episode about Jim and Pam was great and the scene where Dwight is telling Angela about what he found when he went to feed Sprinkles was priceless. This season should be better than last and it's already proving to be.

Also I wanted to drop a quote that I read in my current book which I should be ready to review next week so I won't spoil it but if anyone has ever told me that something was childish, asked why a grown-up would do whatever it was that they were doing I always defend youth or the action of being young or living young. Who decides what is grown-up which things make you "mature" (that was me doing big quotations with my hands for effect). This quote is phenomenal:

"Youth is not a period of time. It is a state of mind, a result of the will, a quality of the imagination, a victory of courage over timidity, of the taste for adventure over the love of comfort. A man doesn't grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal. The years may wrinkle his skin, but deserting his ideal wrinkles the soul. Preoccupations, fears, doubts, and despair are the enemies which slowly bow us toward earth and turn us into dust before death. You will remain young as long as you are open to what is beautiful, good and great; receptive to the messages of other men and women, of nature, and of God. If one day you should become bitter, pessimistic, and gnawed by despair, may God have mercy on your old man's soul.
-Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Wow. He says it all.

The Big Two Six...

started Sunday. Officially I have traversed into the second quarter century of my life. And honestly it couldn't make me happier. Sure, the first 25 were great don't get me wrong but, man, the possibilities in the next 25 are literally limitless.

I celebrated my birthday a day early this year since I had to work on the actual day. Now the football sucked (Auburn lost, UT lost, and UAT won - can it get worse? I submit that it cannot) but the company was amazing. Two couples we haven't gotten to see in far too long came in to town and we had a great day together eating junk food and amazing homemade camp stew care of chef J.

It just goes to show that good company can save a bad day. Hopefully AU can pull out a good season but as long as I got this group it really doesn't matter. Especially if this little lady comes back...Hopefully the next quarter century will see more amazing changes in my life and more growth in God and family than I can imagine at this point. Cheers to 85 more years.

The Rick and Bubba Code - (0.5 out of 5) I bought the book to get it signed and I really should have stopped there. I enjoy the morning show but the book.. ehh.

The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl (4 out of 5) Very Da Vinci Codesque. Set in 1865 around the first translation of Dante's Inferno by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from Italian into English. Someone is killing people like the judgements in Dante's Hell and the poets that make up the Dante Club are the only ones who can help.

War Damn Eagle...

for better or worse, in winning and in losing, in overtime and in regulation I will always love my team. Hopefully USF will turn out to be as good as Auburn made them look this weekend so we can save some face from that heartbreaking loss. It didn't help that the A/C in our house went out this weekend and my wife had to work most of the day Sunday either. For my last weekend before the big mill outage lets just say it could have been better. Luckily I got to spend Saturday with a good friend of mine watching football while our wives shopped. I haven't blogged in a while so this shouldn't be short but it is late (and hot since they weren't able to fix the A/C today) I will do better updating more frequently especially since so many people have commented on my lack of posting. Thanks for your loyal readership you will not be disappointed, I am going to attempt a once of week post and since I have said it has now become e-law.

A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson (5 out of 5) Definitely a book for outdoorsy folks to enjoy but everyone that has ever tried to do something they were entirely unprepared for can enjoy this well written book. Two guys that are in moderately good shape decide they are gonna thru hike the whole Appalachian Trial. That's 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine for anyone not familiar with hiking that's about 3 months straight of walking if you are in good shape. Lots of good flora and fauna facts as well about our Eastern US forests as well as the origin of the trial.