Man, What A Year

Well here we are. The final few hours of 2008 have come. I would have to say that for DeAnne and I 2008 was a pretty good year. It's had it's challenges, but for the most part we had a good time. I think the highlight would have to be the string of short trips we made throughout the summer. Instead of just taking one whole week, we turned the summer into a 3 month procession of 3 day weekends that included trips to 4 different beaches across Florida and one of the most incredible concerts we've ever been to (Butch Walker). We really didn't slow down until we started the fertility treatments. That's where the challenging part of the year came in. I counted the other day and all totaled DeAnne made 20 trips to Mobile between October and the middle of December. It was a hard process to go through and then even harder dealing with the loss of the baby, but the Lord isn't called the Great Comforter for nothing. He saw it through with us and now we feel ready to try again in the coming months.

I also want to say that I consider this blog a success for the year. I started this little project (blogging every day) back on March 4th. Since that time, I've posted every weekday except for vacation days or days when I just couldn't get to it for one reason or another. This post will be number 216 for the year. That's not too shabby in my book. I'm still not really sure how many people read this thing, but for those of you who do, thank you. I'm looking forward to 2009.

So, tonight we're going to Bryan and Adrienne's to hang out and shoot fireworks. Other than that we don't have any plans. We'll be going to DeAnne's Mom's house tomorrow for the traditional New Year's meal. Then Friday, it'll be back to work and business as usual. I may blog tomorrow. I haven't decided yet. I know it's a holiday and I usually don't blog on holidays, but it's kind of sad at the same time not to start the new year out with something. We'll see.

Have a great Wednesday and a wonderful New Year.

--Paul

Seriously...

The saga with CenturyTel, long thought finished, has continued this week. As I mentioned yesterday, we've been having problems with our internet for the last week or so. The CenturyTel tech didn't even come out yesterday. He called and said that they're having problems all over the area and he thinks it's due to all the kids being out of school and being on the internet and playing games and stuff. That answer would be all fine and good if we were just having problems during the day when school is normally in session, but our problems are at night when kids are at home anyway, not just during the holidays.

Edwin and I tried again last night to play Gears and had no luck so I called CenturyTel back to get it on record that I was still having problems. As much as we pay them every month for our services, I expect them to work. I think the plan now is to do a speed test ever evening and call and complain until they get the problem fixed. If they've over-sold their bandwidth, then they need to do something about it in a hurry. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to get the speeds that I pay for, much less a connection that's reliable enough to use to play online games. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I'm really unhappy with CenturyTel right now. We went a whole year without a single problem and now it seems that from the moment I re-upped to keep getting the discount, we've had problems. Oh well, let's see what they say today.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

The Weekend Is Done

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday we went down to Graceville and swapped out some pants that DeAnne had bought me that were too small and then we headed up to Dothan to exchange some stuff that DeAnne had got for Christmas. We stopped by Lowes and used a couple of gift cards to buy a new light fixture for our bathroom. DeAnne did a little shopping with her Christmas cash. She got a new pair of jeans, a new pair of shoes and a new pair of dress pants and some new sunglasses. It was a good trip. Shopping always wears me out and I don't really enjoy it, but DeAnne and I always seem to have a good time on road trips.

Yesterday we just went to church and hung around the house. I was a bit frustrated yesterday as nothing seemed to go right. I tried to put up our new light only to find that the screws in that came with it aren't going to work with the way I have to mount it. Now I've got to try and find some at a hardware store that will work. On top of that, our internet connection has been acting up again. I first noticed it about a week or two ago. I was having trouble staying connected with playing games online with Edwin. I thought maybe it was just a temporary thing, but it reared it's head again yesterday. I called CenturyTel and they're sending someone to look at it today. Hopefully they'll figure out what's going on.

So that's about it. I'm going to be working all week except for Thursday so no major plans for the New Year's. Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Whew

Well Christmas has come and gone and we all survived another year. Actually, we had a really good Christmas. The Lord really is the Great Comforter. It was easy to see His hand in our lives this year.

I've already told you about my Mom's family from last Saturday. Our next stop was with DeAnne's Mom and her family on Christmas Eve. I got a nice shirt and some socks, DeAnne got a rug for our guest bathroom and together we got a little cash and a gift card or two. The food was good and it's always fun to see the kids opening stuff and seeing what they got.

Christmas day started out with me and DeAnne at home. She got me a new pair of black dress shoes, a bag of my favorite M&M's, a copy of "Beedle the Bard", a little key chain flashlight, and a couple of other little things. She got some new sheets for our bed, a copy of "Multiple Blessings" (the Jon & Kate +8 book), some candy of her own, some Burt's Bees chap stick and a couple of other little things. Nothing extravagent for either of us from either of us, but we were a little strapped for cash this year when it came time to buy each other presents and I think we did pretty well considering the circumstances.

We hit Dad's house for lunch. The food was excellent. There we got a decorative plate for the house, DeAnne got a new coat and I got a copy of Fable II (an xbox game). We also got a gift card to Lowes and a little cash. Here again, I think I had the most fun watching the kids open their stuff. There are some toys that haven't changed from when I was young, but then there are toys that are completly new. It's the new ones that I always want to play with myself. I can't help it, there's still a big kid in me.

Anyway, we wrapped up the day back over at DeAnne's Mom's house just hanging out and eating leftovers. We're done with presents, but we haven't seen all of the family yet, so I think we're heading back over there tonight. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

--Paul

Tis the Tuesday Before Christmas

...and I still have to work.

Okay, so maybe that's getting a little old the second time around.

Anyway.

DeAnne always kills me at Christmas. First, she can't stand anything to be a surprise. If she knows it's getting close to time for a present holiday, she'll try her best to find out what she's getting. She hasn't been bad about it this year, mainly because she knows we can't afford much of anything, but she also knows everything that everyone in her family is getting her. Second, if there is a present under the tree with her name on it, she can't stand to not open it, even if it's 4 days till Christmas. Take for example, yesterday afternoon. Her present from her sister arrived in the mail and after being home about 30 minutes with it sitting on the tree, she decided to go ahead and open it as her "one present to open today". It's slightly annoying, but it's also pretty cute and even a little funny to watch her around the holidays. I can only imagine what she was like as a child.

So this it for me until Friday. I hope you all have a blessed and merry Christmas. Be safe if you're traveling and I'll see you all back on Friday.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Tis the Monday Before Christmas...

...and I have to work.

A lot more depressing than the original story, huh? I've got to work today and tomorrow. We've got Christmas Eve and Christmas day off and then I'll be back at work on Friday and I imagine I'll be about the only one there. Oh well. I'll be blogging each day except for Wednesday and Thursday.

We had Christmas with my Mom and that side of the family on Saturday. We drove up to Tallassee and ate lunch and exchanged presents. We had a good time and got some good gifts. My Mom gave me a collectors set of the first 5 seasons of 24 that had a behind the scenes book and a t-shirt with it. Awesome. We each got a memory foam pillow. Awesome. And we got a lot of other cool little things. Awesome. It was great to see everyone. We haven't been up to Tallassee since around my birthday/Mother's day so it was good to talk with everybody and catch up.

I have to say, the Blackberry is pretty cool despite the fact that I'm toting work around with me. There's a gmail client for Blackberry, so I'm able to get my gmail on it also. There's actually a good bit of software available on the internet for it. Google makes some of the best ones that I've tried, but there's a lot of cool stuff out there. I'm still figuring some things out, but overall, the geek in me has taken over and now I'm pretty excited about having one. I guess that might change once we get the alert system fully implemented, but for now I'm geeking out over it.

Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Christmas Is Upon Us

We went and ate dinner with my Grandmother last night at Dad's house and had Christmas with her. She's heading back to Atlanta on Sunday, so we wanted to go ahead and swap gifts with her. Next up, we're heading to Tallassee tomorrow for Christmas with my Mom and her side of the family. So Christmas is here pretty much. It's hard to believe that the year is this close to being over. It's really flown by.

Not much to report otherwise. New regulations at work have required us to implement some new system monitoring and threat detection tools. Basically, you set up some software and train it to look for certain things and then if it sees that happening, it sends out an email to alert us as to what's going on. It was decided that an email alert isn't much good to us if we don't get it right away, so yesterday they issued our group Blackberry's. It's a cool device, but it'd be a lot cooler if it didn't have my work email tied to it. Of course, if it didn't have my work email tied to it, I'd have to be paying for it and then I wouldn't have it at all. Basically I'm torn between my inner geek that loves new little tech toys and the part of me that wants to leave work at work.

Anyway, have a good Friday and a good weekend. See you on Monday.

--Paul

Coming To A Close

Our trip to Mobile yesterday went about as well as it could have. We did one more ultrasound and there still wasn't anything to be found in the gestational sack. What really convinced the doctor though was that it looks like there's some bleeding starting to occur around the outside edge of the sack. So between that and her hormone levels, we feel confident that we've lost the baby.

It's been hard but I really think the hardest part of it all is that we've been dealing with it for two weeks now. It's nice to finally have a definitive answer so that we can go ahead and get through the grieving process and get back on our feet. That may sound cold, but we've been through such a long cycle of hope/grief/hope, that it's just a relief for it to finally be over.

So that's where we stand. In trying to carry on with life, we watched Kung Fu Panda last night. It was pretty good. It had a couple of really funny moments and it had a nice moral to it.

Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

Just To Let You Know

We're heading back down to Mobile this morning to talk with the doctor. We don't have to be there until 9:00 which is why I'm posting this morning. I just wanted to keep you guys informed. Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Not The News We Were Hoping For

DeAnne's labs yesterday didn't go well. The gestational sack has grown some more but there was still nothing to be seen inside of it. Then yesterday afternoon we got her blood work results and her hormone levels have dropped. So it's not the news that we were hoping to get, but I'm thankful that the Lord has answered our prayers in that this trial is close to coming to an end. It's been hard and neither of us are looking forward to starting over, but we know that God is with us and we know that when the time is right, we'll have a baby.

I know it's short, but I just don't have it in me to say anything else today. Keep us in your prayers and have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Back To Monday

We had another great weekend.

Saturday night we had a Christmas party for our Sunday School class. We met at David's and ate dinner and then headed back to Ben and Mendy's house for a "Dirty Santa" gift swap and some games. We had a great time and really enjoyed getting out of the house and doing something different on a Saturday night. It was also a nice relief from all the stress we've been under lately.

Yesterday was the usual with church. The children presented their Christmas musical last night and it was really good. We had a great turnout and everything went really well. We had fellowship afterward and it was as good as ever, especially the sweets table.

I know that I've been avoiding the subject, but I'm going to go ahead and talk about the baby situation. We still haven't seen anything developing in the gestational sack. DeAnne's going back for another ultrasound this morning (her Mom's going with her). Hopefully something will be there today. On Thursday, the gestational sack was still growing and her hormone levels were still rising, so we've decided that until one of those two things changes or she actually starts to miscarry, we're just going to be patient and wait it out. When the time is right, the Lord will bring this trial to an end and it'll be the end that glorifies Him, so no matter the final outcome, it'll be okay. Of course, we continue to pray that something will show up and that everything is fine, but we're trying to prepare ourselves for the worst and at the same time, trust God that he's in control and that He knows what's best even if we can't see the end of the road just yet. Just continue to pray for us and we'll keep you posted.

Have a good Monday.

--Paul

At Least It's Friday

It's been a long week and I'm glad it's coming to a close.

We watched the remake of Get Smart yesterday. Overall it was just okay. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. There were a few throw backs to the TV series and that was kind of cool. There were a few moments that were pretty funny, but for the most part it was just okay. A decent renter if you've seen everything else that's out.

It's getting close to Christmas. It's still hard for me to believe that the year is pretty much over with. Time really seems to be moving pretty fast. In fact. I'm going to be late if I don't wrap up this short post and get going. I hope you all have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

--Paul

250

This is post #250 for this blog. It's also post #204 for the year. I've talked about numbers and all in the past, so I won't go into all that again, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

We finally caught up with Heroes last night. We haven't watched it since our receiver went out. We were 5 episodes back. We watched 2 of them on Monday night and then finished them up last night. The quality of the first season just hasn't been there the past two years and I'm really disappointed. I've read on the internet that after the beginning of the year they're supposed to start a new storyline that is more focused and less convoluted. I just hope that's true. I think their main problem is they have too many people who can wind up with the abilities of other characters and they rely too heavily on time travel. I'm waiting to see what happens after the first of the year, but I have to say, I haven't missed the show much in the 5 weeks we didn't watch it. Maybe they can get my attention again and get back to the great shows they were having in the first season.

So by catching up on Heroes, we've finally caught up on everything that we missed when the receiver died. The only thing I haven't watched that I've recorded since then is the 24: Redemption movie that came on a couple of weeks ago. Dad missed it and Bryan wanted to watch it with me also, so I've been waiting for a chance to watch it with one or the both of them. We've got until the middle of January before the show starts, so I guess there's no rush, but I'm still anxious to watch it.

No blog tomorrow. Pray for us that everything goes well tomorrow at the doctor. Have a good Wednesday and Thursday.

--Paul

So

As always, we had a good trip to Mobile. We went ahead and left on Sunday morning so that we could avoid some of the traffic and just take our time and not be in a rush or anything. We spent Sunday night with our ever gracious friends Courtney and Edwin.

The doctor's appointment went okay. He was expecting to see the heart starting to form but they didn't find anything. He said everything was fine, but kind of acted concerned at the same time. He wants us to come back again on Thursday, so that kind of has us worried. Hopefully, on Thursday, we'll be able to see something inside the gestational bag.

That's really about all that's going on. There won't be a blog on Thursday due to the trip back to Mobile. We'll have to leave the house about 5:30 to be there when we're supposed to be. We've got a pretty busy weekend ahead of us, but I'll get to that tomorrow.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Sweet Friday

One downside to all the driving back and forth to Mobile over the past couple of months has been that I've had to take a lot of time off from work. I could probably count on one hand the number of full 40 hour work weeks I've had in the past two months. That may sound great to some, but when you do finally work a full week, it makes it seem like it last forever. I'm taking off Monday to go back down there again so that's just going to make the week before Christmas really long. Also, there won't be a blog Monday, due to going to Mobile.

DeAnne hasn't really been showing too many signs of being pregnant yet. Her eating habits are starting to get a little weird, but the biggest thing is that she's been extremely tired all week this week. I don't know if it's that she's not sleeping well or what but I'm hoping she can catch up a little today. She's not been called to work yet, so maybe she'll have a day to rest.

It would also give her a chance to take the cat to the vet. We found an abscess on his head yesterday and it's needs to be checked out. He slept a good bit yesterday and didn't seem to want to go outside which is pretty unusual for him. Hopefully it's nothing major.

Have a good weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday with a baby update.

--Paul

Going To Be Short

I'm running a little late this morning. The nerd in me got the better part of me this morning. It looks like DISH is getting ready to fire up some new HD channels and they changed the encoding method for some older HD channels last night and I was checking the run-down over at satelliteguys.us. New HD always gets me a excited.

Anyway. Thanks to everyone that's sent their congratulations to us on the baby news. Everyone's been really excited for us and we just really appreciate it.

I've listened to the new Guns N' Roses album again and I'm starting to get my thoughts straight about it. I still don't like the song that's on Rock Band 2. Other than that, I think there's maybe 2 or 3 songs that are weaker than the majority of the album, but for the most part, it's a good album. Despite the fact that over half of what I consider to be Guns N' Roses is no longer in the band, it does sound like a Guns record. There are moments and a couple of songs that even sound like they could have been on one of the Illusion records had they been recorded at that time. I know I'm rambling, but I guess I'm just trying to make peace with the whole idea that Guns is back and Axle finally got the album out. It's not the band I grew up loving, but it's a band that I can enjoy today.

Have a great Thursday.

--Paul

After Yesterday...

After yesterday's big announcement, I'm not really sure what to talk about today. You'll have to forgive me if I fall back on baby talk.

To a certain extent our lives for the past two months have been consumed with doctors visits and driving to Mobile and waiting. I guess the chaos is just getting started, but it's still kind of strange. Most people who get pregnant would at this point probably still not know they were pregnant. We've known for since week 2. In a lot of ways it's going to be pretty cool. By the time week 12 rolls around we should have about 9 or 10 ultrasound images that show the weekly progression of the baby. I imagine that that's something most people don't get and it should make for some cool stories down the road. Talk about embarrassing your kids with baby pictures.

"Here he is at 3 weeks in the womb. Isn't he cutest little spot you've ever seen? Oh, and here he is at 4 weeks. He's really starting to get to be a big boy here." It makes me smile just thinking about it. This is going to be so much fun.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

The Big News

In case you don't have myspace, facebook or read DeAnne's blog, DeAnne made a major announcement yesterday. If you missed it, go here and catch up. I'll wait here for you.
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That's right, we're pregnant!

As DeAnne said, we've actually known for a couple of weeks now and some of you who read this blog probably already knew, but here it is for all the world to see.

DeAnne's post really covered most everything. We've been trying for over a year now. She was diagnosed with PCOS. We were referred to a fertility doctor in Mobile. He put her on a round of shots and then we did an IUI and here we are. We followed the steps, prayed it up, trusted God and He has given the blessing. It seems that we may be deemed witnesses for God's provision when it comes to matters of health. Every year we've been married we've seen him work in some matter of health in our lives. My heart surgery, DeAnne's back surgery and now becoming pregnant. Time and time again we've faced a fairly major health crisis and every time we've turned it over to God and every time He's provided. Now let's just pray he keeps DeAnne and I sane through the rest of the pregnancy.

We've still got to make weekly trips to Mobile for the duration of the first trimester. At that point, the fertitlity doctor will turn us over to a standard OBGYN and we'll actually get to see what being pregnant is like for most people as far as doctor's visits are concerned. In case you're wondering, this also explains the days that a post was missing. At one point DeAnne was having to drive to Mobile every day so that they could follow her progress on the shots. For her sainty there were days that I would go with her. We usually left the house around 5:30 so bloggin wasn't even on my mind. Thanks for being patient with me and understanding. I'll be going with her again next Monday, so there won't be a post that day. I'm trying to strike a balance between how much vaction time I burn taking off work and being there so that I don't miss anything. It's hard not going with her every time, but if I want to have any time to take off when the baby gets here, then I've got to keep some saved back.

So expect more posts in the future about the prenancy. We've got a lot to do in the next 8 months or so.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

War Eagle Anyway

I can't say that I'm surprised with the way the Iron Bowl turned out this year. It would have been nice for Auburn to at least get a field goal, but I guess that's the way it goes. I didn't really see anyone on the team who looked like they wanted to win. Even Tuberville just looked like he was going through the paces and seemed to have already given up before the game started. It's a shame that the season has been as bad as it has been. At least when you're at the bottom, you can only go up.

So much for getting the yard work done this past weekend. We had 3 1/2 inches of rain between Thursday night and Sunday morning.

I wanted to mention Child's Play again this year. Every year, gamers all over the world come together and raise money and buy toys and video games for children's hospitals all over the globe. I'm sure by now, you're all aware that I love video games. I'm also sure that you're aware of my heart condition and surgeries. Between the two, Child's Play has become pretty important to me. I wasn't able to give as much this year, and I know that you might not be able to either, but if you can, visit the Birmingham Wish List, pick something out and buy it for them. Not all the things on the list are video games. There's everything from movies to coloring books and crayons to playdough and board games. There's a lot of stuff on the list that's less than $10.

And in case you missed my full story about Child's Play: Here's a link to my 2006 post.

Have a good Monday.

--Paul

And So It Begins...Officially

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was really good. We had two really good meals and I over-ate at both of them. I was pretty miserable last night but I'm feeling better this morning.

DeAnne stayed with her Mom last night so they could go shopping this morning. They were still debating between Destin and Dothan, but I think they settled on Destin.

So the Christmas season is officially upon us. It's still hard for me to believe that this year is almost gone. I guess tonight I'll let DeAnne turn all our lights on. Of course, she may not be back yet, so I guess I'll turn them on for her.

I picked up the new Guns N' Roses album the other day. It's been 14 years since their last album came out and the only person still in the band from those days is Axl Rose. Given all that, I really wanted the album to be a failure. I didn't want it to be good simply because I don't consider it a proper Guns album without the rest of the original members (okay, well maybe just Slash). The thing is, it's not half bad. In fact, I'll just go ahead and say it. It's pretty good. You have no idea how bad it hurts me to say that, but it really is pretty good. I don't know if it's 14 years worth of good, but it's definitly not a bad album.

With DeAnne shopping today, we don't have much planned for the weekend. There's always that yard work I keep mentioning. Maybe I'll have the motivation to actually do it this week. Have a good Friday and a good weekend.

--Paul

Giving Thanks

So after all my ranting the other day about people getting Christmas up before Thanksgiving, DeAnne decided to put our Christmas up Monday. I told her that I would help as long as she agreed not to turn the lights on until Friday. Anyway, she's posted a few pictures of the tree over on her blog.

It's amazing to me that we're so quickly approaching the end of another year. As Thanksgiving goes, DeAnne and I both have a lot to be thankful for. The Lord has really done some incredible things in our lives this year. I think one of the highlights was the summer and everything that we were able to do this year. With no surgeries or illness during the summer we were able to take some great trips and have a lot of fun.

I also want to say thanks to all of you who read the blog. Back in March when I first started posting every day (well, most every weekday), I didn't know how long I'd keep it up. I wasn't sure if anyone ever still checked the blog since I was so far out from my surgery. But it seems that word spread and slowly I started having people tell me that they had read this or that on my blog. It's pretty amazing now. I'm not sure how many people check it every day, but I know there are a good many people who read it from time to time. I hope that I've been able to keep your interest and I hope that you'll all keep reading.

So no blog tomorrow. We're heading up to Montgomery for lunch with my Mom and then we're coming back down and going to Kinston to eat dinner with DeAnne's Mom. I'll have a full report for you on Friday.

Have a good Wednesday and have a blessed Thanksgiving.

--Paul

So, Did I Mention...

That posts may be spotty this week. Really, I was just lazy yesterday morning. Let's call it the "Thanksgiving Effect". I had all the intentions in the world of posting all week except Thursday, but I just didn't make it yesterday and I apologize.

Anyway, on to the weekend.

DeAnne went shopping again with her Mom on Saturday. Instead of being productive and doing the yard work I mentioned last week, I instead sat around and played video games and watched movies. I'm still working my way through the stoyrline of Gears 2 with Edwin. We're about half-way now I think. I'm also still playing some online multiplayer. I stunk it up Saturday, but I played one round last night and not only did I do well personally, but my team actually won the match. I don't know if I'm getting better or if I just got lucky, but it was nice to win for a change.

One of the movies I watched was The Incredible Hulk and I have to say, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. It was no Iron Man or The Dark Knight, but it was a thousand times better than the last Hulk movie.

I also watched What Happens In Vegas which was much more of a chick flick than I thought it was going to be. It wasn't bad though. Really, it was one of the better girl movies I've seen in a while.

I'm going to try and post the rest of the week except for Thursday. I'm going to be going to work all week, even Friday. I've taken about as much time off this year as I can stand and DeAnne's going to be going shopping any way, so why take Friday off just to sit at home by myself. Anyway, I'll see you back here tomorrow. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Can You Feel It?

It's Friday!

I don't know why I'm so excited about it being Friday. It's really been a good week. It hasn't just flown by, but it hasn't dragged on either. It should be a pretty laid back weekend also. DeAnne wants to take some stuff back that she bought last weekend, but I really need to get some yard work done. We've got plenty of pine straw down that needs to be picked up and put in the flower beds. I also need to knock down the weeds that managed to grow a little before the cold hit and killed them.

Not much else to talk about really and I think I'm going to leave it at that. I know it's short, but sometimes short is a good thing, right?

Have a good weekend.

--Paul

I Should Have Known

A big part of Gears of War 2 is the online multiplayer modes. In these modes, you're give an area where two teams of five compete against each other. After playing through the training section that describes all the game types, I thought: "Hey, why not give it a try. It's part of the game I bought. It can't be that bad." Boy, was I wrong. I don't know if I'm just that bad at the multiplayer stuff or if everyone else is just that good, but either way, I've been pretty much schooled the three times I've give it a shot. I think given enough time, I can get better and may be able to at least compete, but who knows.

Well, after all the griping I did yesterday about Christmas coming so early this year, I watched a Christmas special yesterday. There wasn't a whole lot of Christmas in it though. It was the Jeff Dunham Christmas Special on Comedy Central. He's a ventriliquist famous for his dummies like Peanut and Achmed, the dead terrorist. Personally, Achmed is my favorite. Anyway, his Christmas special was really funny. I'm sure they'll run it into the ground before Christmas gets here, so if you see it on, watch it.

It's Thursday. Were getting closer. Have a good one.

--Paul

Going Geek On Ya'

You'll have to forgive me, but today I'm going to have to get a little geek here on the blog.

Today is the release date for the "New Xbox Experience" or, as Microsoft likes to call it, the "NXE". What it is, is an update to the operating system on the Xbox 360. It's really more than an update though, it's more like a complete overhaul. They've completly redesigned the look and feel of the OS. They've also added a fair number of new features.

They're doing avatars now that look like a teenage version of Nintendo's "Mii" avatars.

One feature that I'm excited to try out is that you can now install a game to your harddrive. You still have to have the game in the drive to play it, but when you're playing, the game disc never has to spin. For those of you who don't have a 360, let me say that this is definitly something cool. The 360 is a fairly large machine and the amount of noise it makes while playing games is unreal. Anything to get it quietier is a worthy feature.

Possibly the coolest new feature though is that you're going to be able to do Netflix streaming to the 360. If you have a 360 and Netflix, you can log on to your account and add movies to an "instant queue". You then go to the 360 and you can cycle through your instant queue and watch any of the movies through the Xbox. They're also doing a small amount of HD material. I'm not sure how our internet connection will hold up to HD streaming, but you can bet I'm going to be giving it a try.

So forgive the trip down geed lane. Something like this always gets me excited though. I'm a sucker for new tech and new software. I guess that's why I do the work I do. Anyway. Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Christmas?

Something I've noticed this year: Christmas seems to have come earlier than ever. Wal-Mart had already started putting out Christmas stuff before halloween had even happened. I think it was a day or two after halloween that we were back in Wal-Mart and I noticed that they were playing Christmas music. The songs were kind of redone and a little hard to recognize at first, but once I stopped and listened, I realized that it was indeed Christmas music. I know that it seems like there's a big push every year to get Christmas going and start selling stuff, but it just seems to have come earlier this year. Here's what I'm thinking: the economy. With the economy in the tank like it is I think that the retailers have begun the Christmas push earlier this year trying to drive November sales. We all know that sales are going to be down this year, it's just a race between retailers to see who's sales go down the least. That means working for our money earlier than ever.

There's one aspect to this that really bugs me though. It seems that as people start to realize that retailers have already switched into Christmas gear, they've begun to decorate. There are several homes in Andalusia that have had their decorations up for more than a week now. People! Don't put up Christmas three weeks before Thanksgiving! I might could see doing it the weekend before Thanksgiving at the earliest, but come on! Three weeks? One holiday at a time, please.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Rollin' On

I hope you all had an excellent weekend, we sure did. It wasn't too busy but wasn't boring by any means.

Saturday, DeAnne went shopping with her mom. She managed to get several Christmas presents out of the way and got me a few (much needed) pairs of pants. So while she was off doing that, I did some laundry and proceeded to play as much Rock Band 2 and Gears of War 2 as I could manage in one day. I also watched the new Indiana Jones move. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed with it. It was better than Temple of Doom, but not by much. It just reached a point where sense kind of went out the window and it got silly. There may have been moments where Indiana Jones was campy, but this was just too much. I just hope they don't ever make a movie based around his son's character. That guy was fine in Transformers, but I was not a fan for Indiana Jones.

Also on Saturday, my mom stopped by for a visit. It's always good to see her and we had a good visit. She brought Emma a new coat for the winter that is just adorable. DeAnne took some pictures that I'm sure she'll post sometime this week when she gets a chance. I'll let you know when she does.

Sunday was good too. After church we went and ate lunch with DeAnne's mom, made our weekly Wal-Mart run and then I found out how terrible I am against strangers online in Gears of War 2. It was pretty brutal. After evening services, we ate at Beef O'Brady's with some friends and then headed home. I got in one more hour of Gears co-op online with Edwin and then that was it.

So like I said, busy, but not too busy and definitly a fun weekend. Here's to hoping the week is just as good. Have a good Monday.

--Paul

C'Mon Friday

Alright, we made it. For whatever reason (maybe because the phone didn't ring at 4:00 this morning), I'm feeling pretty good today. I just wish I could say the same for DeAnne. She's still fighting a cold and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better.

I think I've mention Hulu before, but I'm going to talk about it again. In trying to figure out the best way to catch up on some of the shows we missed, I decided to check and see if Hulu had any of them. Not only did they have them all, but they were commercial free and really good quality. It's pretty amazing acutally. When you start to think about it, in a couple of years, the standard methods of recieving television shows may be completly gone and replaced by web distribution. DVRs have completly changed how people watch tv. They're no longer have to watch a show at the time it comes on, but they do have to set a timer to record it. Web distribution takes that a step futher though in that you don't have to even set a timer, you just go look for the show you want to watch when you want to watch it and it's there. When you consider that cell phones are getting close to having full blown web access (or already do in the case of the iPhone), being able to watch what you want when you want where you want is just a matter of time. The biggest roadblock is can the studios find a way to make money off of it without making it so much of a hassle for the users that the users don't want to bother with it. So far, Hulu is a good start. Let's hope the studios keep an open mind and attitude about pricing and advertisements.

Have a good Friday and a good wekend. Oh, and War Eagle.

--Paul

Moving At The Speed Of Snail...

...Or at least that's how I feel like I'm moving this morning. It's probably got something to do with the crazy night I had though. It started early on. I had gone to bed and I was just about good and asleep when I realized I couldn't remember if DeAnne and put the meat for tonight back in the fridge or not. She had put it out to help it thaw and she had gone to bed before me and was good and asleep, so I couldn't ask her, so up I got, went to the kitchen, and sure enough, she had put it back in the fridge. So, back to bed I went. Things were pretty standard from there until about 4:10. That's when the phone rang. I think most of you know that my job includes being "on call" every couple of weeks. Well, I'm on call this week, so of course, the phone rings and it's still dark, my first assumption is, "it's work calling, something's wrong". So I jump out of bed, rush over to the phone and the caller id says "Besthda, MD" or something like that. Wrong number. There was a screaming kid on the other end. So, back to bed again. I get good and back to sleep and then just before 5:00, the cat starts making a ruckus. The cat has yet to adjust to the time change and thinks that I need to be up at 5:00 and that it's time for him to go outside. So, I get up, let the cat out and return to bed one final time. Now I'm running late.

Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

Let's See...

Not terribly sure what to talk about today. Wait, here's something.

Bryan and Adrienne called yesterday evening and invited us over to watch the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie that was just released. It seems like for the past month or so either we've been busy or they've been busy and we just haven't been able to get together and do anything so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them.

As to the movie, there's been a lot of reviews that haven't been happy with the movie but I thought it was pretty good myself. Maybe I'm not as hard-core of a fan as the fans that weren't happy with it, but I enjoyed it. The movie sets up the show that's been airing on Cartoon Network. We've been watching the show and we like it (I think I've mentioned it here before) and it was nice to see how they set up the show with the movie.

Speaking of TV, we're now less that 2 weeks away from "24: Redemption", the two hour "movie" that sets up the next season that starts in January. I'm pretty excited about 24 this year. They didn't have it at all last year because of the writers strike, so it's been nearly two years without 24. Hopefully with that much time, they've come up with a great story and it'll be a good season.

Well, I came up with a few things to talk about after all. We're halfway there. Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Two Things Today

Today is kind of a strange day for me. There are two musicians that I'm pretty obsessive about. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that they are the Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan) and Butch Walker. In a strange twist of fate, they both have new projects coming out today.

Of course, I've mentioned Butch's new album countless times the past couple of weeks. We pre-ordered it so we could get a poster and t-shirt along with the CD. I've listened to the album online at Butch's Imeem site and it's great and I think you should all go and get it.

The reason I haven't mentioned the Pumpkins' new project is that I didn't feel like anyone who's not a fan would really be interested and anyone who is a fan should already know. They've got a new DVD coming out today called "If All Goes Wrong". It has two parts to it. The first is a documentary following the band as they prepare for a two week string of shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The other part is a series of live performances from those shows at the Fillmore. It's been getting good reviews from fans, so I'm sure I'm going to love it, but I just didn't think it would have the mass appeal that the new Butch album has. Hopefully I'll be able to order it in the next week or two.

So, an exciting Tuesday for me. Two of my favorite musical acts have new stuff coming out on the same day. Pretty awesome, I say. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

I've Set A Goal

I'm going to try my best to post a blog every day this week. I'm not sure when the last time that happened was, but I believe it's been a while. I think I can do it this week though. I'm still waking up early due to the time change (and so is DeAnne for that matter), so barring any unforeseen craziness, I should be able to pull this off.

Courtney and Edwin came up Saturday afternoon. We had a great time as usual. While Courtney was hitting the two showers for Jessica (DeAnne went with her on Sunday, but stayed behind on Saturday), Edwin and I were hitting Gears of War 2 as hard as we could. We had a great time with it and I think I've just about convinced him to buy the game so that we can team up online. Other than the showers and Gears, we just cooked and ate and had a good time. We played dominoes Saturday night and had a good time with that. It was just one of those all-around good time weekends.

That's it for today. Tomorrow's the release date for Butch's new album. Be sure to go listen to it at the website I mentioned a couple of days ago and then download the album or buy a CD from his website tomorrow. Butch deserves it. Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Now It's Friday

At long last, Friday has come. Let us now put this crazy week behind us and rest. Maybe a little rest will help get this time change thing straightened out. It's getting better. I didn't wake up at 4:30 this morning thinking it was almost time to get up. Also, it was after 9:00 when we went to bed last night.

When Rock Band 2 was released they promised everyone that bought it 20 free songs. The list of what they were going to be was released a week or so ago and they came out yesterday. I don't recognize a single band on the list so maybe they'll be good. At least they were free.

Speaking of Rock Band 2, our old bandmates, Courtney and Edwin are coming up this weekend. Courtney's sister is getting married and has a couple of showers this weekend so they're going to let us repay them some hospitality and stay with us while they're here. We're really looking forward to it and it should make for a fun weekend.

I hope you all have a great weekend too. See you on Monday.

--Paul

What Day Is It?

It's only Thursday but it feels like it should be Friday for some reason. I think it's the time change still messing with me. I don't know why, but this years change seems to really have taken its toll on DeAnne and I. We went to be last night at 9:00. That's about the latest we've made it all week. I would say that the problem is the way they moved the change back a week, but this is the second year it's been like this and I don't remember it being this bad last year. Who knows. Maybe we're just getting old.

We pre-ordered the new Butch Walker album yesterday. If you pre-order you get the album, a poster and a t-shirt. Check it out here. After listening to the album yesterday I have to say that it's as good as I hoped it would be. It would be really awesome if this is the album that get's Butch out there and get's him some recoginition for something other than his production work on other band's CDs.

That's about all I've got for today. Have a good Thursday (even though it still feels like Friday to me) and I'll see you tomorrow.

--Paul

Butch

You can listen to Butch's new album that I mentioned in today's first post here.

Get Ready

Here comes Obama. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with how poorly McCain did, but at the same time, I'm not surprised. The congressional elections didn't got that well either. At least the Republicans can still filibuster in the Senate. It should be an interesting, and long four years. Hopefully the Dems will overreach and make enough people mad that it'll only last four years. Who knows what kind of damage they'll do in the meantime, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

So now that the election is over, we can leave that topic. On to bigger and better things. Or at least things that aren't so depressing.

Gears of War 2 comes out this Friday. I preordered it and I am really beginning to look forward to it. The first one was amazing and from what I understand, this one is just bigger and better all around.

Also coming out soon is Butch Walker's new album. DeAnne and I heard a lot of the songs on it at the show we went to in Atlanta. They were great live, so hopefully they'll translate over to the album well. In recent interviews, Butch has seemed like he's really happy with the way it turned out and I think there's a lot more excitement for this album than there was the last one.

It's Wednesday. We're halfway there. Have a good day.

--Paul

Is It Really Election Day?

Sorry about the lack of a post yesterday. I know, I promised to be back to normal last week. The time change has got me really messed up. As bad as it has me messed up, I think DeAnne's in worse shape than I am. She was ready to go to bed last night at 8:00.

Election Day has finally arrived. If I had to bet though, I'd say it's going to be a while longer before we find out who actually wins the Presidential election. If it's as close as some people are saying, there will be plenty of recounts and lawsuits to go around for a couple of weeks. At least the TV ads and the road signs will be gone.

I didn't catch the actual show, but I saw the clip on the internet of John McCain on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. I actually thought he did a better job than Palin. I also thought that the show was a little easier on him than they were on Palin. It was really good though and if you haven't seen it, you can watch it on nbc.com.

So go vote, have a good Tuesday, and I'll see you back tomorrow to talk about the results.

--Paul

Taking It Back

The house guests are gone and the TV is operational once again! I apologize for there not being a blog yesterday. I just didn't have the time. Hopefully today begins a return to a regular schedule.

So DeAnne's Dad and his family left yesterday. We enjoyed seeing them and having them here, but we were ready to see them go also. It's amazing how similar the girls are to what I picture DeAnne and her sister Sara being like when they were small. While they were here, we also discovered that we will have no need for a baby monitor when we have children. Between the house being so small and the floors not being carpeted, we were able to easily hear Anna when she woke up in the night, even through two closed bedroom doors.

We also got the TV back yesterday. The new Dish receiver finally arrived, we hooked it up and now we just have to reset the eight million settings and recording timers we had set on the thing. It'll probably be days before we get everthing back in order. We've still got to figure out a way to see the shows we missed that don't rerun, but other than that, we're back in business.

Have a good Friday and a good weekend. Oh, and happy halloween.

--Paul

It's Amazing

It really is amazing how strange it is not to have TV. Even if we had it, we'd be watching cartoons for DeAnne's little sister, but still, it would be TV. Instead, we've had to watch a steady stream of Disney movies. This is much worse on DeAnne simply because she's here during the day so she has more exposure to it than I do.

Her Dad did get a building and got the majority of his stuff moved yesterday. He should finish up moving today and then I think they're planning on leaving either Thursday or Friday. It's really been a lot of fun at times. The children are starting to really warm up to DeAnne and I, Cindy (the oldest one) especially. We've had a good time with them, but it'll be nice to have the house to ourselves again. We've enjoyed the company that we've had lately and we're glad for it, but at the same time, you miss just having time to yourselves. I know that if we ever have children, that will be a permanent change, but with children it just seems like it would be different. Of course, I could be wrong. Who knows?

The election is only six days away. The closer it gets, the more news items seem to come out directly tying Obama to socialist ideals. Fox News has had a steady stream of articles detailing Obama's connection to socialist thinkers such as William Ayers. It's beyond me how anyone can vote for Obama after looking at this guy's history and record. I guess there's just that many people in this country that have gotten so lazy that they're to the point of looking to the government for a handout. Now that's sad. Go vote next Tuesday.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Crouching Blog, Hidden Post

I managed to get a post in today. Things are going well. DeAnne's dad, step-mother and two half-sisters are staying with us. So far things have been pretty cool. The girls are precious, DeAnne's step-mom is nice and her dad...well, he's her dad.

The biggest problem we've had so far is that the Dish receiver died yesterday. It won't even come on. So now we have a three year old in the house and no TV to entertain her with. Normally, I wouldn't consider this to be a problem but, since their just visiting, they didn't exactly bring a toy chest full of toys for them to play with. So last night we had to bust out some of the kids movies DeAnne has picked up for her classrooms.

I'm a little upset with Dish. I called and after jumping through all kinds of hoops to appease the tech so that he would finally declare the receiver dead, he told me it was going to be 3 to 5 days before we got the replacement. Already, having it down last night hurt. We missed Chuck, Heroes, Little People, Big World, Jon & Kate and 17 Kids and Counting. There's nothing on on Tuesday, but Wednesday has Pushing Dasies and Private Practice and Thursday is Ugly Betty and Grey's. So if it takes three days to get the new receiver, we're out pretty much an entire week of our shows. I guess we'll have to turn to steaming versions on the company websites. I think the worst part of all of this though is going to be redoing all the timers to record the shows when we get the new receiver in. There's no way to transfer the settings from the old receiver to the new one.

So that's what's been going on. I think I'll be able to post the rest of the week, but if I miss a day, then don't hold it against me.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

So Far, So Good

Looking at the connection stats on our modem, it looks like the connection hasn't dropped since the CenturyTel guy came and did whatever. Maybe this afternoon I can try and get the router going again. It'll be nice to be back to fully networked.

It's Friday!

Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.

Auburn tried to play last night. I didn't even watch a second of the game and I'm kind of glad I didn't. Just looking at the stories this morning, it seems like we did about the same thing we did against Vandy: a decent first half followed by nothing. Evidently we still haven't figured out a running game other than "let Burns keep the ball every other play". He had 111 passing yards, but he also had 82 rushing yards. That was on 15 carries. Brad Lester had 13 carries but only managed to get 37 yards out of them. Meanwhile, the running back for WV averaged 12.2 yards per carry. I would say our defense is terrible, but I think it's just that they've been on the field so much this year that they're beat up and just can't keep going. If we had had some sembelance of an offense the first 7 games, then the defense would probably still be in good shape and wouldn't be making the mistakes they're making now.

Alright, end Auburn rant. Nothing really planned for this weekend. DeAnne's dad and his family are supposed to be coming in this evening. I'm not sure how long they're staying. It's going to be crazy. There's five of them, so with me and DeAnne there will be seven people living in our house. I imagine insanity will insue shortly. Touching on that, I'm going to try and blog next week, but it's highly likely that there will be someone making a bedroom out of the office. If this is the case, then blogging at home will probably not be a possibility. I may try and go in to work early so that I have a few minutes to post some short messages from there each day. Either way, I'll try and let you know what's going on on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

--Paul

Getting Somewhere...Maybe...

I would like to think we're getting somewhere with the internet problems. The guy came yesterday afternoon and checked the line and the log on the modem. He also bypassed my surge protector. Either way something seems to be making a difference. My modem up time goes back to the last time he reset it. It was getting disconnected every couple of hours or so, so the fact that it's been up for 18 hours or so is a good sign. I may not need a new router after all.

So it's been two days since I managed a real post. I apologize. My grandmother headed home yesterday. We're now looking towards the weekend and the potential visit from DeAnne's dad and his family.

We finally watched "Facing the Giants" a couple of nights ago. If you don't know, the movie was made by Sheerwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. All the actors were volunteers from the church membership. The acting was a little hokey to start with, but they seemed to hit a stride about a third of the way into the movie and it got really good. It was a really inspirational movie and we really liked it. The church has a new movie out called "Fireproof". We're not going to make it to the theater any time soon, but we'll be renting it when it comes out on DVD.

The week's almost over. Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

Problems Abound

Internet connection issues abound. I'm on the phone now with CenturyTel. I managed to get a connection long enough to get this in. Hopefully the guy will come on out today and we can finally get this fixed. I've about had enough of these problems.

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. I feel like I let you all down. Anyway, hopefully tomorrow things will be better.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Let The Week Begin

Well, we're back around to Monday again. We had a good weekend for the most part. DeAnne got sick Friday night with her sinuses. The air turning cool like it did really messed her up. It always does. You can always count on her getting sick in the spring and the fall when the temperature makes big swings.

We've been having a good visit with my grandmother. She's heading back to Atlanta either Tuesday or Wednesday. After she's left, the real adventure should begin. DeAnne's dad, step-mother, step-sister and two half-sisters are coming down and staying with us before the end of the month. Most of you that read this have probably been in our house before. Now try and picture it with seven people living in it for a week. Talk about crazy.

And speaking of crazy, or well, just being dumb, Auburn didn't play one of the Mississippi teams this past Saturday. In fact, they didn't play at all. Alabama played one of the Mississippi teams (Ol Miss to be exact) and they nearly let the game get away from them. I would have to say that Auburn had a good day though. They couldn't loose.

Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Just When You Thought It Was Safe...

I'm having internet issues again this morning. I'm not sure what's going on, but it's really beginning to get aggravating. I think I'm going to call CenturyTel back one more time before I buy a new router and see if there's anything else that they can do for me. At least it's Friday.

Nothing really major to report still. My grandmother's coming down today and staying with us for a few days. Auburn named Kodi Burns the starting QB this week. I don't know if it's really going to make a difference. We're playing one of the Mississippi teams this week. I'm not sure which one, but either way, it should be a game we win. Weather or not we will, who knows, but hopefully things will go well.

Other than that, it just the same ol' same ol' around here. Have a good weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

--Paul

The Final Countdown

Well, we didn't watch the debate last night. Looking at the headlines this morning, I may regret not catching it. It sounds like McCain tried to take a more aggressive approach than in the previous debates. Maybe it'll do some good. I just wish he had been aggressive from the start. When you're dealing with someone as good an orator as Obama, you've got to be aggressive and convincing if you want to get an edge. I think that's something that McCain has struggled with and hopefully he'll get better at over the next 2 and a half weeks. It's kind of hard to believe that the election is that close. With the campaigns beginning in the summer of '07, it seems like it's been election season for forever.

Well, I know it's short, but that's really all I've got today. I'll try and do better tomorrow. I promise. Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

It's Confirmed

Something has definitely gone haywire with my wireless router. I played around with it some more yesterday afternoon and every time I tried to put it in the mix, the modem would loose it's connection. I guess it's time for an upgrade.

Not much going on. It's Wednesday, so we're halfway there. It looks like my Grandmother's coming into town this weekend and is probably going to be staying with us for a couple of days. We haven't seen her since we went up to Atlanta in July for the Butch Walker concert, so it'll be good to see her.

Other than that, there's just not a lot going on. The final Presidential debate is tonight. It'll be interesting to see if either candidate tries to up the ante any from the first couple of debates. The second one was pretty much just a repeat of the first. I'm ready for some new questions on topics other than the economy and the war. I thought the woman who moderated the VP debate did a good job covering a lot of topics. I'm not sure who's doing tonight's debate, but maybe they'll take a cue from her and try and keep things moving.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Continuing On

A couple of other things I wanted to mention from the weekend.

Friday night was the church sponsored fall festival at Pleasant Home. It went really well. There was a good crowd. It started about 4:30 and we went to almost 6:00. Our Sunday school class was in charge of the ring toss. We had can drinks sitting out and if you rung one, you got it. They weren't cold, but the kids were tearing into them. It was a lot warmer than I thought it would be and the kids were all pretty hot from running around. After the football game, they had a band play and give testimony and present the Gospel. DeAnne and I didn't stay, but from what I understand, there were a good many teenagers saved that night.

Saturday we watched a couple of movies. The first was "Run Fatboy, Run". It was pretty good. It's about a guy that leaves his pregnant fiance at the alter and then tries to win her back five years later by running a marathon. It was pretty humorous and fairly touching at the same time.

The other movie we watched was "You Don't Mess With the Zohan". At times it was almost crossed the line of so stupid you couldn't stand it, but it always seemed to back off just as it got to that point. Overall it was pretty funny, but definitely just a renter.

DeAnne's party went pretty well last night. She had a good turn out and got a pretty large order. For all the trouble she earned a good bit of "free" jewelry. All she has to do now is pick out what she wants.

That's all I've got for today. I've got to get my blood drawn this morning and I'm already starving. Here's hoping 7:30 gets here fast. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

I'm Better Now

We had a pretty good weekend. DeAnne woke up sick yesterday, but other than that, it was nice. We didn't do much of anything, but I think that may have been part of what made it nice.

A tech from CenturyTel came out Friday and looked into our DSL problem. After working with him for about an hour, we came to the conclusion that it was something to do with my wireless router. We left the router out of the equation and my internet connection has been fine all weekend. I'm going to try playing with the router some this week and make sure that it's the problem, but right now I'm leaning in that direction.

Saturday was a day for visitors it seemed. We started off the morning by cleaning the entire house in preparation for DeAnne's jewelry party that's tonight. As part of that, Dad and Sherry came by and picked up a couple of things that we wanted to get out of the house. Not too long after they left, Mom stopped by for a while. We had a good visit with her and she bought some jewelry from DeAnne since she's not going to be able to make the party. After Mom left, we headed to Wal-Mart for the weekly trip and then when we got back DeAnne's Mom and Wayne came over and dropped off some chairs for the party. It was a pretty busy day, but it was all contained at the house so it didn't really feel busy.

Yesterday we just finished cleaning in between church services. DeAnne stayed at home trying to stave off her sickness. We're not sure what she's got, but it's probably just sinus and allergy problems.

There's a couple of other things I want to talk about from this past weekend, but I'm out of time today so they'll have to wait until tomorrow. Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Now I Am Annoyed

Our internet connection has gone even further downhill. I don't know what's dropping faster, the Dow Jones Industrial average or the reliability of our internet connection. I called CenturyTel yesterday and had a good conversation with a really knowledgeable tech support agent who amazingly enough was American. Anyway, they're dispatching a field tech to look at the lines and all today, so hopefully they'll find something and get us back going again.

So, I've been waiting 20 minutes for the connection to become steady, so this is going to be short. We've got Fall Festival at PHS tonight. Our Sunday School class is sponsoring the ring toss, so we're going to go work that for a little while. Other than that, it should be an uneventful weekend. Mom's coming down on Saturday, but that's about it. I'm on call, so we're not going anywhere. Auburn's on pay-per-view, so that's out. I may just have to listen to it on the radio. I'm kind of scared to know how it goes though.

Anyway, here's hoping that this posts. Have a great weekend and I'll see you all back on Monday.

--Paul

I'm Almost Annoyed

Short post today. I've been fighting with the internet for the last 15 minutes and so far it's a draw. I finally got a stable enough connection to get into the blogger system, but who knows if it'll last.

Not much to talk about really. We've just been watching more TV. I finally watched Pushing Daisies from last week and it was pretty good. We also watched the first episode of the new Star Wars cartoon and it was pretty good too. I was really impressed with the way it looked. DISH picked up Cartoon Network HD a couple of months ago and I'm glad they did now.

From all I've heard, I didn't miss anything by not watching the debate from Tuesday. It's disappointing that they really didn't do anything new and just asked the same questions over again. I think there's one more to go. Maybe we'll get something good out of that one. I just hope that John McCain steps up and starts doing better or it's going to be a long 4 years.

So Auburn kicked Tony Franklin to the curb yesterday. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. It's definitely a sad though that the season's been so tough that we fired a new offensive coordinator after having him for just seven games (counting last seasons bowl game). Maybe Tubberville can right the ship and get the team looking better. I just worry about the effect on the recruiting. Hopefully it'll all work out though. At least things can't get much worse.

Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

Still No Good

Still having problems with titles. Oh Well.

We didn't watch the debate last night. I recorded it, but I doubt that I watch it. I'll probably just read a couple of recaps on the internet this morning. Neither of them are going to say anything to change my vote at this point. I don't necessarily agree with everything McCain's talked about, but Obama can't be allowed to become the President.

We did watch "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" last night. It was a little raunchy, but it was pretty funny too. A good renter. I also started watching the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon. I didn't get very far though because DeAnne has no interest in it and shut me down so that we could watch the movie. What I saw looked good though.

I don't know how much more of anything we'll be watching this week though. DeAnne's having a jewelry party next Monday and has plans for the house that should keep us busy for the rest of the week. We've also got the Pleasant Home Fall Festival that the church is sponsoring on Friday night. So we've got a full second half of the week coming up.

I thought it was going to be short today, but I managed a decent post after all. Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

What To Say

Titles are really becoming hard to come by.

Last night's Heroes was by far the best episode this season. The first couple of episodes were okay, but I was hoping that they would get better once they got a little further into the season. Last night was episode four and it was awesome. Hopefully they keep up the good work.

There's another Presidential debate tonight. I didn't get a chance to talk about last weeks VP debate because of the internet trouble and being gone on Friday, but suffice it to say, my position still stands. I thought Palin did a pretty good job and held her own. She made some good hits and she took a couple, but it wasn't a K.O. for either side. The biggest thing that caught my attention was Biden's comment about letting the courts meddle with mortgages if someone files for bankruptcy. In case you missed it, he said that he and Obama would advocate for the backruptcy courts not only being able to adjust the interest rate you pay on your mortgage, but they would also be able to adjust the principle amount you owe so that you could afford to keep your home. I'm not a fan of either measure, but at least when you mess with the interest rate, your just affecting the amount of profit the banks make off the loan. When you start monkeying with the principle though, you've gone off the deep end. You've destroyed the value of every piece of property in the country. It's one of the scariest things I've heard the Obama/Biden camp say. In a free market you just can't do something like mess with the principle on a mortgage. It undermines the entire market and all your left with is the government setting the price on property and telling people what to pay for stuff. Oh wait, that's communism. Now that's a scary though.

Anyway, end political rant. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Monday Already?

Say it ain't so! The weekend flew by and we had a great time. We left for Mobile around lunch on Friday. I actually went to work for a little bit. I was going to blog Friday morning, but our internet connection was still flaky, so I wasn't able to get one up.

The doctor's appointment went fine. He really didn't do anything other than ask me how I felt and draw blood to check my thyroid levels. A waste of $30 if you ask me.

After the doctor, we headed over to Courtney and Edwin's. We went and met up with some of their friends, Harry and Heather, ate dinner and headed out to Bayfest. Friday night we saw Candlebox. They're an old band from the 90's that had a couple of hits. They've got a new album out but they still played a bunch of old songs. Overall they were pretty good. After they played, we just walked around and checked everything out then called it a night.

Saturday we saw P.O.D. (meh...), Puddle of Mudd (best all weekend), a little bit of Kid Rock (or Kid Country Cover Song) and Buckcherry (not bad). Overall, not a bad lineup. I was disappointed with how poor P.O.D. was. I thought that after all these years they've been around that they would be pretty good, but they were really pretty terrible. A good time was had by all though.

When we weren't at Bayfest, we were hanging out at the house and mostly playing Rock Band 2. We had a great weekend as we always do when we go down to Mobile. Thanks to Courtney and Edwin for hosting us again. We love you guys. The only thing about it is that it goes by too fast and then it's time to go back to reality.

Hope you all have a good Monday.

--Paul

The Intertubes Are Jammed!

Having to email this one in real quick this morning.  Our internet connection at the house was down this morning.

Really not much to talk about.  We're heading for Mobile tomorrow for the weekend.  We're going to be going to Mobile's Bayfest with Courtney and Edwin.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We always have a great time in Mobile.  On top of that though, I've not been to a festival type event since the last time I went to Pensacola's now-defunct Springfest back when I was in jr. college.  That was around 8 or 9 years ago now.  The weather should be great for it and while there's no one that I'm just dying to see, there are several acts that I'm looking forward to. 

We watched a movie called August Rush last night.  The ending could have been better, but overall it was a pretty good movie.  It's about a boy that gets placed in foster care at birth and when he's 11 he tries to find his parents by creating music.  It's in that sappy, love-story vien of movies, but it was one of the better ones I've seen.  Plus it has Robin Williams in it.  It's not a comedic role, but I've always loved him and I thought he did a good job in this movie.

No blog tomorrow, so have a good weekend and I'll see you back on Monday.

--Paul

At A Loss

It seems like yesterday, I had a plan for what to write about today, but now I can't come up with anything. That's going to drive me crazy the rest of the day.

Well, if Monday was a busy night for TV, then Tuesday is evidently our night to catch up because there wasn't anything on last night that we were interested in. There's a couple of shows coming on tonight.

Tomorrow's the Vice Presidential debate. I'm really looking forward to this one. We watched the first Presidential debate last Friday and I really felt like it was just par for the course for both the candidates. I think neither of them really said anything to sway voters one way or another. It makes the VP debate even more important. Biden is known for being tough, but he also has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth. If he messes up and Palin really goes after him, she could really help McCain out. I guess we'll see tomorrow night.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

TV Is Back!

Starting last week and continuing into this week, a good number of the shows we watch are beginning their new seasons. After the disaster that was the writer's strike last year, I'm hopeful that we'll get some nice, full length seasons this year that are a better overall.

Heroes started back last week with a two hour premier. It was good, but not as good as the show has been in the past. I thought last night's episode was better though, so maybe given a couple of weeks to get going, things will get better.

Chuck started back last night and was as good as it's ever been. I'm sure no one understands why I like a show about a nerd who gets a CIA database downloaded into his brain and then becomes a goof-ball spy would appeal to me, but, you know. I really do like Chuck and I think it's a good lead-in to Heroes since it's a little more light-hearted.

Two of DeAnne's favorites started back last week also. Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. I watched the first season or two of both of these, but they both reached a point where I just didn't care anymore. DeAnne has since taken to watching the shows with Adrienne since Bryan doesn't care anything about them either.

Other than that, for me, Pushing Dasies and the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars start this week and then for DeAnne, Private Practice comes back. Until 24 and Lost come back on in Janurary, we should be set. All I can say is thank goodness for the DVR.

Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

Week To Week

Last week I missed four posts and made one. It looks like this week is going to be the exact opposite. I'll make four and miss one. We're heading for Mobile on Friday. We're going down to see Courtney and Edwin and to go to Bayfest, the annual Mobile music festival. I also moved a doctor's appointment from later in the month up to Friday so that we could do that while we're there. It's the thyroid guy again. He wanted to see me back in six months and believe it or not, it's been almost six months.

While looking forward to the coming weekend, the past weekend wasn't terrible. Saturday was a bit rough football-wise. I know Auburn won, but the offense still looks as bad as it ever has this season. I had hoped by now that they would be showing some signs of improvement but I'm not even sure if they realize they're on the field when they go out there. A win is a win, but the defense can't win every game for us and I'm afraid we're going to run out of luck sooner rather than later.

Top that off with Alabama beating the snot out of Georgia and the only good football feeling from last week was USC loosing and that was on Thursday.

Other than that though, it was a pretty good weekend. Just the usual being lazy. The weather sure has been great though. I hope it holds out for this weekend. Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Business As Usual

I'm back from Hattiesburg, and glad for it. It was a good trip, but it's always good to come home. Hattiesburg wasn't a bad town. It's the home of the University of Southern Mississippi, so there's all the usual college type places. The class that we were going for was good. The new software we're getting is fairly complex and there was a lot to learn and I'm sure there's a lot I'm going to forget, but I'm glad I got to go.

One of the best things about business trips is the food. The Cresent City Grill was a New Orleans style restrauant and was so good we went twice. We also ate at a place called Chesterfield's and it was just as good. We also had an incredible, home cooked meal thanks to the parents of one of the guys that was on the trip with us. They live just north of Hattiesburg, outside of Laurel, and had invited us to come eat with them. They had grown everything themselves except the meat and you could tell.

So for the weekend, we don't have anything planned. We'll probably just watch football on Saturday and hang out. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've really been enjoying the weather the past week or two. It would be fine with me if would stay like this year round. We could use a little rain, but other than that, it's been a great week weather-wise.

Have a good weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday.

--Paul

Off And Running

Friday's off to a much better start than yesterday got off to. The alarm clock worked this morning. My lunch is still where it's supposed to be in the fridge. And, it's Friday, which just makes it a better day in general.

Not much going on this weekend. We'll probably just watch some football and play Rock Band. We're having a birthday party for DeAnne's Mom on Sunday at lunch.

That reminds me. I'm heading to Hattiesburg, MS for work on Sunday at 3:00. We've got some new software we're getting ready to put in and the coop in MS, SMEPA, went in and bought it at the same time we did. They're holding a training session next week at SMEPA, so there's a group of us from PowerSouth heading over there for that. I always have mixed emotions about work trips. I hate being gone, but at the same time, I usually have a good time while I'm gone. This is espically true if someone goes with me, as is the case this time.

So, being gone means no blog posts though. I'll be taking the PSP with me, but there's no way I would even think of trying to type out a blog post on that thing. It would take me all day. We'll be coming back on Thursday, so I'll probably post a trip report on Friday morning. I've never been to Hattiesburg before, so I'm looking forward to that aspect of it.

Have a good Friday, and have a good week next week. I'll see you in seven days.

--Paul

Guess What...

Yup.  I did it again.  The alarm clock failed to go off this morning.  I really think someone's conspiring against me this morning.  Either that, or I did some heavy sleep-walking last night.  I know I set the alarm clock last night.  I also know that after we ate dinner, I put the leftover hotdogs in the fridge.  When I went to get a couple to bring to work with me for lunch, they were gone.  Some crazy stuff happening around our house last night.  Anyway, don't feel to cheated.  I posted the video for Butch Walker's new song "Ships In A Bottle" last night, so scroll down and check that out.  It's a really good song, and the video's pretty good too.  Have a good Thursday.  I'm just going to try and survive mine and get to tomorrow.

--Paul

Ships In A Bottle

This is the video for Butch's new song "Ships In A Bottle". It's one of the songs I mentioned he had up on iTunes. It's a really great song. Enjoy.

-- Paul

Butch Walker "Ships in a Bottle" Music Video

I Don't Know

It's mid-week and the rock has continued without ceasing. DeAnne wouldn't join me last night, instead choosing to play "The Sims". I've opened up a little over half of the songs now and I'm starting to get into some more difficult stuff. I have to say, for the most part, the songs are awesome, but there are some that have had me wondering who picked them for the game.

I'll try not to talk about Rock Band tomorrow. I promise.

Butch Walker has put out two new songs from his upcoming album. They're on iTunes. Get them.

Also, I have a new musical obsession beside Rock Band. It's a band called Coheed and Cambria. They're a really interesting band and have a different sound that's hard to describe. Most people think of the band Rush when they first hear them because the lead singers voice is fairly high-pitched. The music is heavier than Rush though. They consider them selves to be progressive-rock and that's about the best category you can lump them in, I guess. They've put out four albums and they're all incredible. What got me into them was Rock Band. They had a song on RB1 and I really liked it. I started listening to some of their stuff and the more I listened, the better it got. The interesting thing about Coheed is that all of their albums fit together and tell an over-arching story that the lead singer wrote. They've also done some comic books that tie-in and fill in details of the story. Really cool stuff. Check it out.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Still Rockin'

I got DeAnne to join my band last night and rock the house with me for a bit. She was watching me play and decided that she wanted to create a character. All the characters start out with just a t-shirt and some denim shorts, so after she created her, she wanted to play some so she could get some money for some new clothes. We played for a bit and then stopped so that we could watch our shows that come on on Monday night.

DeAnne's favorite aspect of any game she plays is always character creation. Her favorite game of all time is "The Sims" series, mainly because a lot of the game is creating people and building houses. She does play the game, but she probably spends as much time building the houses, furnishing them, adding on and then remodeling them as she does actually playing the game. There's just a part of her that enjoys customizing something and making it her own. Being able to do that is a big part of a lot of games these days, so that really appeals to her.

Other than Rock Band 2, there's not much going on. Dad picked up a pretty nasty virus on his PC over the weekend, so we went over to his place yesterday afternoon and ate dinner with him and Sherry and I worked on his computer. It wasn't as bad as it sounded over the phone and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. I need to cut the grass, but I'm trying to put it off until at least Thursday. I'm going to be gone next week for work and I'm trying to work out the timing so that it'll need cutting a day or two after I get back.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

For Those About To Rock...Again,

Rock Band 2 is...well, it's Rock Band, but slightly improved and refined. I love it. I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with it yesterday, but what I did get was pretty awesome. It's really not all that different from RB1 (Rock Band 1), but that's really not a bad thing. The gameplay is exactly the same. They've polished up the visuals some, but other than that, there's no real change in that area. The game modes is where they've done the most work. No matter if you're alone or playing with others, you go through the same tour. Characters can now be in multiple bands and they're not tied to any one instrument. There are now challenges that have certain parameters for you to play in. The more you do, the harder they get. I also tried out the new drum trainer. It just scrolls a beat down the screen and you can change the tempo and just keep practicing. They've got a ton of different beats to go through and some of them were pretty challenging.

But the music. The song list looked great on paper, but actually playing the songs, they're just incredible. I believe they've also ramped up the difficulty ever so slightly. Not a lot, but enough that there were parts of songs while playing on medium that I was a little surprised with.

So that was Sunday. Saturday we just laid around the house and were lazy until time for the Auburn game. I'm pretty disappointed with Auburn's offense at this point. Winning a game 3-2 is just pathetic. The players on offense should be made the defensive players slaves for a week in thanks for winning us Saturday's game. Without the defense, we wouldn't have the half of a team we do have. Let's hope they get their heads together in time for LSU this week.

Have a good Monday.

--Paul

Now That The Weekend's Here...

I'm really starting to get excited about Rock Band 2. I can't wait to go get it Sunday. As much as I'm excited for it though, I wish it wasn't coming out on a Sunday. By the time we get out of church and get to Enterprise, pick it up and come back, go to evening services, we won't have much time to play. I guess we'll just have to pick up on Monday and really dig into it.

I'm just getting the game this time around and I'm going to use the instruments from the first Rock Band. I'm hoping though, that eventually I'll be able to sell or trade in my drum set and get the Rock Band 2 set. It's wireless, which automatically makes it worth while in my book, but it also has the cymbal expansion slots, the pads are supposed to be quieter and the foot pedal is a little sturdier.

Other than Rock Band, there's not much going on this weekend. We've got an engagement party to go to. There's always football on Saturday night. And that's about it. I guess summer really has come to a close for us. It sure was a good one though.

Have a good Friday and a good weekend.

--Paul

150

Today marks post number 150 for the year. I know I talked about the numbers and all a while back, but it's still amazing to me that I've kept this up this long. I'm actually kind of proud of myself. For those that are still reading, thank you for coming here and reading this. I know I'm not the greatest writer in the world and I'm sure you don't always enjoy the topics I write about, but I appreciate your presence and look forward to the rest of the year.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention what everyone already knows. Today is the 7th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. I know that we're all going to hear about it all day long, but it just can't be ignored. I remember in high school, teachers would talk about those moments in history that define a generation and that people remember where they were when those things happened. Things like the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination. September 11 is without a doubt that moment for my generation.

I was in my first semester at Troy and I had classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday so I was at home the day the attacks happened. I got up that morning and like I always did, I flipped on the TV, turned it to the Today show and started getting my breakfast ready. It was just before the first plane hit. I won't go into the details of my memories, but I can pretty much recreate that entire day in my mind. There are very few days I can say that about. My wedding, graduating from college and a few other major events in my life are about all that can claim that feat.

So say a little extra prayer today for the families of the victims of September 11 and say a prayer for the soldiers that are still fighting the war against those who would do us greater harm than was done on that day.

Have a good Thursday.

--Paul

Wednesday, Wednesday

Half-way through another week.

We finished painting the guest bathroom last night. I've got to do some touch-up work on the trim and then we've got to put all the accessories and mirror and everything else back up on the walls and put the toilet back together and we'll be done. This one's gone by a lot faster than the other rooms. I guess it helps that it's probably the smallest room in the house.

We also watched the movie "Baby Mama" last night. It was pretty funny. It had some of the standard chick-flick elements to it, but because of the story, it wasn't a total chick-flick. We both really liked it. The language was a little rough, as usual, but other than that, it was a good renter.

As you can tell from my afternoon post-via-email yesterday, Apple had an event yesterday. They brought out new Nanos that look pretty cool and they revised the Touch. I've always wanted an iPhone, but ATT doesn't have service in our area, so there's no way to get one around here and get a local number. The Touch is basically an iPhone without the phone part, so since the iPhone is out, I've naturally turned to wanting the Touch. The refresh yesterday just makes me want one even more. One can dream, cant' he?

Anyway, I've got to go wake DeAnne up. She's going in today. It was scheduled last week, so it's kind of nice in that she knows she's going and can get up and get ready and not be rushed at the last minute. She got called in yesterday also, so that's two days this week.

Have a good Wednesday.

--Paul

Drool...

Apple announced new iPods today.  Behold the second generation Touch.  (For those counting, this marks Christmas present possibility #2.  The first was The Tales of Beedle the Bard.)

--Paul

I'm Up!

I managed to turn my alarm clock on last night and this morning, I'm right on time.

We had a pretty uneventful weekend. Mom was in town on Saturday and stopped by to see us for a little while. After seeing her, I headed over to Bryan's to watch football and Adrienne came over here to help DeAnne prime the guest bathroom.

I don't think I've mentioned it, but we're re-doing the guest bath. It's going to be the same color as the living room and hallway and we're changing all the hardware out to be silver. DeAnne put the first coat of paint on yesterday. She should be able to finish up today if she doesn't get called to sub. I'm sure she'll post pictures on her blog when we're done.

Rock Band 2 is supposed to be released on Sunday. I guess we'll have to make a run over to Enterprise after church to pick up our copy from Gamestop. I really wish Andalusia had a Gamestop. There's a perfect place for one next to Maurice's over in front of Wal-Mart. Somebody just has to convince them to put a store in.

That's about all I've got. It was a slow weekend and it looks to be a slow week, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Have a good Tuesday.

--Paul

This Is Getting To Be A Habbit

And it's not one that I'm proud of either.  I failed to turn my alarm clock on last night.  Thankfully, this time, I managed to wake up about 6:20.  I had time to get a shower, get dressed, and get out the door and still be 5 minutes early even.  However, this means that this is all the blog you're getting this morning.  I apologize and I promise to make sure I set the alarm clock tomorrow so that I can give you a proper post and not have to email in an apology.

Have a good Monday, or at least one that's better than the way mine started.

--Paul

Wrapping Up The Week

Going back to topics I talked about earlier in the week:

I found a feature that Google's Chrome browser is lacking that I can't live without: a spellchecker. Firefox has a built-in spellchecker that works kind of like Microsoft Word. If you misspell a word in the browser, it underlines it in red. You can then right click on the word and get the correct spelling. It's an incredibly useful feature for blogging and it's enough to have brought me back to Firefox for now.

We caught about 2/3rds of McCain's speech last night. I don't know if he did as well as Sarah Palin, but I thought it was good. Towards the end he seemed to loosen up a bit and begin to really get into it. I think the protesters that tried to rush the stage also got him fired up. Probably the best part that we saw was when he talked about his time as a P.O.W. It was very moving and very inspiring. It's hard to imagine that anyone that's ever served in the military wouldn't vote for McCain, espically after hearing his speech last night. Heck, it's hard to imagine that anyone anywhere would rather vote for Obama than McCain after his speech last night.

That's the last of the politics for now. I promise.

We watched a great movie last night called "Son of Rambow". It's not what you're thinking based on the title. It's about two boys that become friends and begin making a home movie to enter into a film contest. It's was really funny and just a good movie. It had some language in it, but other than that it was well worth watching.

Have a good weekend and War Eagle!

--Paul

Let's Get Political

I guess that as you get older certain things happen that you can take as signs that your priorities have changed and that this shift in priorities is in turn a sign of getting older. Last night, one of those moments occurred for me and DeAnne. We watched about 2 hours of the Republican National Convention.

Now, dont' get me wrong. I've always enjoyed politics to some degree. I've voted in every major election and the majority of the minor elections that have occured since I turned 18. This, however, is new, uncharted waters. For DeAnne, who's never cared a thing about politics as far as I know, it's a whole new universe.

I should have seen it coming though. I tried last week to watch some of the DNC and after a few minutes, I couldn't take it anymore and turned the channel. This was different. I guess it's easier to watch people speak when they're saying things you agree with. We saw Mike Huckabee, the man I voted for in the primaries, give an excellent speech. I really think it's a shame that he's not the Presidential candidate. Next up was the current Govenor of Hawaii. She did a good job and had some good points, but she ran a little long and lost us towards the middle of her speech. Rudy Gulianni was next. I've never been a big fan of Rudy but I can see why he was mayor of New York and why he's still a player on the national scene. He gave a great speech, the best one we saw last night, and served as a great introduction to Sarah Palin. If Rudy was good, the Sarah Palin was incredible. I expected her to do a good job, but I think she really nailed it. She did a good job making a case for her experience and did a good job of telling the media to back off. I'm actually pretty excited about her now and I'm hoping that she'll be a major help in getting McCain elected.

I'm running late and I know it was a long post, but last night was just too interesting to not talk about. Have a good Thursday.

--Paul