Flip-Flop Friday, The Shot Behind the TV Commentators

Alright, so here is something that I don't know that I will ever understand, when I'm watching a basketball game or any sport for that matter, why do I need to see the guys who are commentating? I hate it when they pan over during a timeout or during the halftime show, because there is always some jackhole doing something stupid behind them. It is just irritating. It's enough that I have to listen to their useless dribble! I don't need to see you to know what you are talking about.

About a month ago I was watching the Kentucky v. Alabama game and at half time, the commentators were analyzing the game. There was this kid, probably nine or ten and looked like his folks decked him out in every Bama item in their home. Frankly, the kid looked like an idiot! Anyway, the commentators are breaking the game down and this kid is just going nuts in his seat right behind them. His parents, sitting next to him (if they were his parents) acted like they didn't even see what was going on. It was classic, the two commentators got closer and closer together while the camera guy kept zooming in tighter and tighter, it looked like they might bump heads and the kid just kept getting lower and lower to stay in the shot. It was really irritating, but at the same time a hell of lot more entertaining than actually listening to the nonsense those two guys were spitting out!

The best though, is the guy who is in the shot on his phone, talking to his buddy who is watching. He keeps waving like his buddy is waving back. Watching this clown on the phone makes me think of two little girls talking to one another on the phone about a boy in school. The guys all giggly and all of his friends that are watching are just embarrassed. You're a grown ass man, act like it!

Why is this necessary?

If you watch a lot of sports, you've probably also seen the ESPN College Gameday set. I don't really know why this is necessary either. The only people that ever enjoy it are fans of the school that they are at. The rest of us could give a crap. Often it is really loud and i can barely hear what is being said, cheerleaders are flying up into the camera view and people make up the stupidest signs. It's kind of like reality television for commentators. Actually, sometimes I look at these guys and they look like they just want someone to put them out of their misery. I'm not sure why being there, as opposed to being in the studio, has any impact at all!

My Favorite Photos - Fallingwater

This shot was taken this past September on a trip to Lake George, NY for a wedding. I really love architecture and wanted to see Fallingwater, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmanns. It was a wonderful tour and I would recommend it to anyone. I would like to go back on a day when it wasn't so rainy and wet.

Not Enough Time

Have you ever felt like you are falling farther and farther behind? It's a hallowing feeling if you have a lot of responsibility and aren't just sure how to make it all happen. Unfortunately, when this is the case, you tend to have to give up all the things that you really love. Well one of the things that I really enjoy (I don't know if I'm in love yet) is writing entries in this blog. I think it has something, for me, to do with being able to just put thoughts down on the screen. Recently I haven't had the time to write to many entries.

So, I thought I would write a little bit about what happens to my time. It is possible to get your hands into to many different pies! I'm a Mechanical Engineer and I work for Lexmark International as a Senior Hardware Engineer. I've spent most of my career, until the last couple of years, designing and manufacturing mono and color laser cartridges for a wide range of laser printers. My current group is responsible for Paper Path and basically designs and understands the life of a sheet of media as it meanders through the printer...and what a life it has!

Engineers are dorks!

Engineering programs go through cycles like a lot of things. There are times when I'm so busy, it's tough to fit everything in. Then there are times when you can hear the tumbleweed blowing through the halls. Typically this is when I try to catch up on everything else that has fallen terribly behind. Right now is one of those really, really busy times and getting all of our testing done is difficult.

Also, with my job I've had the opportunity to travel in China. One time I tallied up the total amount of time spent there and it was almost 8 months of my career over about 12+ trips. Most of the places that we manufacture aren't the nice touristy areas...it's the real China as I like to call it. Sometime I will have to write about some of my interesting experiences there.

I love playing basketball at the factory

I'm also heavily involved with the young men's program of the church, as well as the Boy Scouts of America. It's kind of nice to be involved in things that you really enjoy and it's all possible if you have children also involved in those things. My wife and I have four children, and three are boys that are spaced just perfectly for me to stay involved for some time. I also coach select soccer on and off as I have time which isn't to often.

I guess this has just basically turned into a bitch session about how little time that I have to do the little things, like things around the house. I wouldn't have it any other way though. All in all, I like it busy! It doesn't give me to much time to think, which could be a dangerous thing. Ahhhhhhhh.....I feel so much better! Thank you blog.

Flip-Flop Friday, Like, Like...Like what the hell?

So, the other day I was at my sons basketball practice, he's eight and in an upward league. I was sitting out in the lobby of the church where the gym was and as usual evesdropping on people's conversations. There was one in particular that prompted me to stop everything and write this entry. I can handle a lot of bad things in a persons ability to communicate to another. But, there are some words that people for some reason insist on over using. One such word is 'like'. When did 'like' become so popular?

This woman was having a conversation with another lady working at the check in desk. She was rather country and was discussing financial matters (that's a subject for another whole post, she won't be advising me any time soon) and must have dropped the word 'like' into her conversation no less than 20 times in a minute. I WANTED TO SHOOT MYSELF! It was actually disturbing and I wasn't even in the conversation.

What has made 'like' such a great word that it should be uttered nearly once every three seconds. I thought that I would look it up:

like
verb, noun, adjective \ˈlīk\
liked lik·ing

transitive verb
1: chiefly dialect : to be suitable or agreeable to ex. I like onions but they don't like me
2a: to feel attraction toward or take pleasure in : enjoy ex. likes baseball
b: to feel toward : regard ex. how would you like a change
3: to wish to have : want ex. would like a drink
4: to do well in ex. my car does not like cold weather

First off, I have to say, 'like' is pretty impressive. I mean, a verb, a noun and an adjective. Really how many words can make that claim. It's not a very long word, so it has to make up where it can. But, some of the examples that it gives for uses were not so impressive.

Ryan, from Waxed Red Threads would appreciate the the example in number 1, but the example for 2a made me laugh. Really that's what the example is, baseball! As an adult I could think of some better examples that I find attraction in or take pleasure in...if you know what I mean.

I found 2b to be confusing, maybe I'm an idiot, 'How would you like a change'. At first I thought maybe the 'a' was supposed to be a 'to', but than I thought maybe its a question for doctors asking a male that wants to be a female or vice versa.

As far as 3 goes, who wishes for a drink except maybe an alcoholic. I don't think that I have ever wished for a drink, if I had that better be some damn good RFK! Actually, I take it all back. I've been hiking more than once in the middle of the summer and I was dying for a drink! I stand corrected.

However, I thought 4 was the best. Unless this is Night Rider and my car's name is KIT, I'm pretty sure that my car could care less whether it was cold or hot outside. I know what you're saying, "You are way to critical on 'like'", not really. It has to live up to its definition!

So, anyway, i have to give 'like' some love, but it's overuse by young people is out of control and generally when it's used, I think it's being used improperly.

-"Do you like, know what I mean, like this guy said.."
-"I was at the super market like going down the aisle and like they were out of cheetos.."
-"Like, what did you say?"

I don't know, maybe I'm just stupid...but like I'm out!

Random Stuff on a Saturday

This is what it looked like in the backyard yesterday morning. I would say that we got around 3" of snow the night before. The kids were out of school again, so they are extending further and further into the month of June. They love to be out of school, until the spring hits and all they do is complain about the extra days they have to go.

I'll have to write a blog soon detailing the great pond project in the back yard. Hopefully this spring, I'll be able to get out and finish the rest of the detailing around the pond.

I also wanted to show some love to my one and only follower, Shelby. I really enjoy reading her blog, Falling Face Up. I love real people who can laugh at themselves and she's pretty funny too. But, I'm pretty sure she's not laughing about KUs loss today to Texas.

I also enjoy the insights of Ryan, straight out of the Bronx with WAXED RED THREADS. Sports, his lady and dog, and his job at the college (I think that's where he works, sometimes it's a bit hard to tell).

There's kind a theme here, but I mostly enjoy blogs that make me laugh. If someone is writing a book, I'm not going to read it. I don't read books now and whenever I read news stories, if they get to lengthy, I'm out! Another funny to the point blog is Simple Dude in a Complex World.

Well that's all the randomnous for today. Kentucky is playing South Carolina and desperately needs to win this game. Go Cats!

Flip-Flop Friday, 'Photographs'

I noticed in a lot of other blogs that it is fairly common to take a day of the week, think of some catchy name for it and post some common theme on that day each week. Not to be outdone (not really, I could care less, but I think the idea of it is pretty cool), I have created Flip-Flop Fridays where I will post something that I find 'irksome' in this world.

Do you know what I can't stand? I can't stand when people dump all the photos from their camera onto FB without even looking at them. It's freaking ridiculous!

Photographs are a great way to help convey a story. Writing about it, is one thing, but when you can give people a snapshot into your life, it's a great tool to help them appreciate what you are doing. I love to take photos and I love to look at photos, but please for the sake of everyone's sanity, take a little time and weed out the photos that don't belong.

For instance,

I understand that you might think this photo of your freind doing there best strip tease impression on a moving train is cool, and it would be...IF IT WERE IN FREAKING FOCUS! Here's another one,

Again, I'm sure doing the rain dance in full indian garb is awesome, but if this is supposed to be in 3D, you're going to have to provide me with some of those cheesy 7/11 3D glasses!

So, Rule 1: If it aint in focus, don't post it, you're just wasting my time. This next photo actually breaks Rule 1 and Rule 2: If it's a picture that everyone is going to ask, "What the hell is it?" every time, don't post it.

This photo actually looks like the photographer was walking around and the camera accidentally shot this shot! Begging me to ask, "What the hell is it?"

The next rule, doesn't have an example because it doesn't need one. Rule 3: I only need to see a shot once to get the picture. One of my friends posted I don't know, like 20-30 shots of the same view of the Statue of Liberty! Are you out of your mind! Hey, when I shoot something that I think is worthwhile, I snap two to three shots to make sure that I've got at least one good one. I go home, download the photos and keep the one that is the best, not all three.

This next photo loosely fits under Rule 3, but there will be an amendment that says, you should limit the number of weird photos of the same type of thing or people will start to think somethings wrong with you. A friend (now I think she's weird) posted from a cruise several photos of things that the towels were made into. This was the weirdest of them all, which frankly I could hardly tell on any of them what the towel shapes were supposed to be.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sort of looks like a penis trying to escape the banana hammock that it's in. I REALLY don't need to see that, I'm pretty sure that no one else does either.

Rule 4 goes something like this, I've seen pictures, like the one below, that are in focus and I get what's going on, but I have to question, "Why this shot?". This in my opinion is a stupid photo. There are others of him that are in focus, from the front that show him opening the present.

What am I supposed to see here, the nicely wrapped presents, this kid's ginormous dome, the toy, the fact that he can tear the paper,....WHAT? Again, a colossal waste of my time.

So, next time you get ready to post those photos to FB that you just can't wait for your friends to see, STOP, take a moment, go through them and the four rules I've mentioned above. If they fail the rules, than don't post them. You'll be doing all of us a huge favor!

You've got to be kidding me!

There are a lot of things that make me say, "You've got to be kidding me!" This mornings was pretty good. I was downstairs, eating my cereal (man I love cereal) and watching the news. I was interested in the amount of snow that we are supposed to get today, but instead was served up this nugget of a story!



I hadn't seen the video, but apparently a lot of other people have! It didn't surprise me that this lady fell into the fountain, people do stupid stuff all the time like this!

What surprised me is that she is looking at suing the people involved for releasing the video. Come on! You fell into a fountain while texting! THAT IS FREAKING FUNNY!! Even I would be laughing at myself if I had done this. She said that she was upset that no one from security or from the looks of the video, NO ONE came to her assistance.

How could they, you realized that you made a terrible mistake, quickly got up from your bath and got out of the fountain. The only thing missing was someone to be there to hand you a towel.

I hate it when someone's ego is so bruised that they can't just admit that what they did was stupid and move on. When did we become so thin skinned?

The stench of the RKA!

So I had my birthday this past weekend and I'm to a point in my life where I'm really not sure if I'm supposed to look forward to it anymore, enjoy it or try to forget it! I don't really feel all that old, but when I deeply ponder things, I realize I'm responsible for a lot of crap. A lot!

I'm not really sure how this happens. I still feel like this 18 year old kid who just graduated from high school without a clue about....well anything! I know that's not true, but makes things so much easier. When you are young, you can't wait to grow up. As a matter of fact, I think a good portion of your childhood is spent looking at people older than you and thinking, I can't wait to be old enough to do that.

It's like when my youngest is in the bathroom and I'm shaving. He acts like he is lathering up, picks up his tooth brush and pretends like its a razor and makes the same motions over his face that I do. There's a part of me that is absolutely glowing inside saying, "That's my boy!", but then there's another side that wants to say, "Shaving sucks! I never really have time to do it and after you've done it three or four....ah....hundred times, you wish there was some weird male facial hair baldness that would set in!" Of course not, only on my head.

I could think of countless examples of things I couldn't wait to do, that I now wish I never had to do. So, comes the responsibility of getting older where at times you wish that you could get younger. When you turn 18 or thereabouts, you realize that YOUR LIFE is going to begin. Up until this point, it's really your parents lives that you've been a part of. You've got the stench of irresponsibility all over you and you don't care because in your mind, nobody else matters, but ME!

So, you set your life on cruise control for a while, you're just coasting. There are bumps in the road, some larger than others, but in the end those bumps are the greatest stories that you will tell (and it's amazing how over the years they get to be more unbelievable). Eventually though, something happens. Someone, for whatever reason, decides that you are responsible. Unfortunately, they don't come right out and say it (because than you could say NO and get back to cruising). Instead, they trick you and feed the responsibility Kool-Aid to you a little at a time, like from a shot glass.

The responsibility Kool-Aid (RKA) is more than likely given to you by one of three people: parents, cute girls or you're boss.

Parents generally try to get you to drink the RKA when they are tired of you mooching all of their stuff and they want you to move out! As a parent, when your children have reached a certain age, preferably between 20-24, they want you to move to somewhere else! Hell, it could be next door so long as it's not in your house. But, parents always screw up the RKA formula! They always dilute it with too much water and there's really no flavor and your back to square one.

Cute girls have the best RKA and it's potent. I think that instead of adding sugar to the RKA, they add crack. Once you've done a few shots, you're ready to move up the to the 32 ounce glass. You can't get enough! Next thing you know, you're an RKA addict and in hopes of securing the RKA, you get married! Now the RKA is the same diluted RKA that your parents were giving you. Damn cute girl RKA!

The last is the boss RKA. This RKA is probably like the office coffee (I'm not 100% sure because I don't drink coffee). Depending on who's making it will determine whether or not you decide to drink it. Some boss RKA is really good. It's given to you in doses that you can handle and if done correctly, you could work up to the espresso version of the boss RKA. Eventually with time you could one day be making the boss RKA. But, as most of us know, most boss RKA is made with a whole lot of BS. Sometimes, like the coffee, it's good, but most of the time you wouldn't give the boss RKA he's serving to your worst enemy.

Anyway, the point is that over time that "stench of irresponsibility" turns into the stench of responsibility and you are no longer in it for just YOU! At some point others become involved and what used to be a lot of meaningless decisions start to really mean something. Congratulations, you've been poisoned by the RKA!

So, here I am at another birthday, waiting for the stench to start to smell like roses. I imagine that won't start to happen until I'm almost dead. But for now, I'll just keep on doing what I've been doing and take my dose of RKA each day!

Flip-Flop Friday, 'The Mower Scam'

I noticed in a lot of other blogs that it is fairly common to take a day of the week, think of some catchy name for it and post some common theme on that day each week. Not to be outdone (not really, I could care less, but I think the idea of it is pretty cool), I have created Flip-Flop Fridays where I will post something that I find 'irksome' in this world.

Today's flip-flop has to do with my marriage. Don't get me wrong, I'm a happily married man, but there are things about marriage that are total scams. One of the greatest of these scams is the 'Mower Scam'. I'm a pretty hard working individual, I enjoy physical labor and find it rewarding. I find mowing the lawn to provide the right amount of physical challenge and also an opportunity to think amid the sounds of the engine and whatever toy that's been left out on the lawn by my kids getting chopped to bits.

When we moved into our current home, we took on a larger lawn with a challenging hill in the back yard. A major 'physical' challenge if you will. It doesn't help that I'm cheap, so our mower was your basic push mower (motor, four wheels, blade, no self propelled). And no, I'm not so cheap that I have the manual mower that takes twenty passes to just mow one area of grass all the way!

Cheap, but not this Cheap

After mowing the lawn the first few times, my wife seeing that it was a lot of work from inside the air conditioned house, says to me, "If you buy a self propelled mower, I will help to mow the lawn."

Inside, foolishly, I was jumping for joy thinking this was a great idea. The mower that we had was getting old anyway, so this would be a good time to buy a new one. I didn't go crazy with the cost, but dropped a pretty penny on a new self propelled mower. I brought that baby home, put her together and couldn't wait for the extra time I would have to do other things in the yard and around the house.

To this day, I think that I can count on one hand the number of times that my wife has helped mow the yard! And there you have it, 'The Mower Scam'. Just another reason for me to quietly mumble to myself, "Stupid stupid man!"

Why is it so hard to get up in the winter?

When is it going to be spring? Getting up and going on early winter mornings sucks! You would think it would be just like any other morning in any other season, but for some reason it isn't. My wife would disagree, but it's not like the house is cold and I need to stay under the covers for fear of frost bite. The worst is when I know I need to get going, but I just lay there dreading the inevitable. Maybe it's the knowing that it's cold outside and lets face it, who really likes to sit down in a cold car seat to go to work.

Maybe it's because it is still dark outside even though we are slowly gaining daylight back each day. Maybe it's the sinking feeling that I'm going to get up in the dark, go to work during the best parts of the day and come home....in the dark! After all, who really likes the dark, besides evil doers and well, Batman? OK, I like it when I want to sleep or watch a good movie, but other than that I really prefer for it to be light.

This has been a long winter and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of letting up. We are only half way through January and have our worst month still to come, February! For now, I'll just have to keep telling myself that it will be over eventually, the snow will melt and signs of life will return to the snowy bluegrass that I call home.

I'm watching the NCAA Championship Game between Oregon and Auburn. It has been a good game thus far. I didn't see most of the first half, I had an indoor soccer game tonight. I play in the 30+ Coed League and love it. My glory days are definitely over, and I can't stand guys in the league who think were still playing in the Premier League. You just want to grab these guys and say, "Dial it down about 15 notches, there are no contracts on the line and I want to go home in one piece!" But, it doesn't matter, these jackholes tear around like we're playing for the World Cup. I digress.

Anyway, if you didn't go to a school in the SEC or didn't grow up in SEC, I think it is hard to completely understand the love that SEC fans have for their teams and normally if their team isn't playing, most guys pull for other SEC teams. There just aren't the number of pro teams in the south, like there are on the east and west coast. And before you say, "What about the state of Florida?", well Florida doesn't count and if you've spent any time in Florida, you know what I'm talking about!

Key of the game so far has been the big goal line stand by Auburn in the 3rd quarter. Auburn really needed to score again, but they just aren't moving the ball well enough and the late 4th quarter fumble by Newton has proved very costly as Oregon has taken advantage and scored. Then a pivotal 2 point conversion has tied the game. This is Cam Newton's opportunity to cement his legacy in college football. Will he go down hero or chump?

Crazy first down play by Auburn, Dyer rolls over the defender isn't ruled down and the play goes for 37 yards! Auburn is well inside their football kickers distance, but NO it's not needed, Dyer takes the ball in for a touchdown! But, the play is being reviewed. The ball will be placed on the half yard line. Auburn is going to go for the field goal! Just punch it in for crying out loud! Time out Oregon, trying to ice the kicker. Change in plans, Auburn is going to go for it! Don't FUMBLE!!! Two seconds left and everything rides on the kicker, Byrum (All time points leader at Auburn). GAME OVER, Auburn is your new National Champions!!!!

Go SEC! Five years in a row, LSU will make it six! Auburn's defense won this game.

2010 Annual Winter Hike, Day 2, December 28

Our first night on the trail was a cold one, but we survived and had fun listening to 'Techno Mouse'. It's amazing what the sun can do to the down spirits of young people on a hiking trip. This isn't the first hiking trip that I've been on where after a rough first day, there are murmurings about going home from the young participants. One time, I told the boys that I didn't have the keys to the car with me, that when they picked us up they would bring the keys. Totally bogus, but they didn't know and had a great hike.

We must have been really tired because we slept in and didn't get out onto the trail until probably 9:30 or 10 o'clock. That's a late start on a winter hike. We had a tough 7.5 miles ahead of us, including a climb to the top of Wayah Bald. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with a lot of good views. We continued to break trail in the snow and some pretty big drifts on the ridges over the trail.

Hiking past Siler Bald

Because we were behind and had such a rough finish to our first day, I decided that we would take the road up to Wayah Bald. It was a longer route, but a truck had been up the road and had packed the snow down, which made for a better climb. We found the truck that had helped pack the snow about 1/4 of a mile from the top. It had gotten stuck in a particularly deep snow drift and I'm not sure what happened to the driver. It was difficult to tell where he/she had gone, but they weren't frozen in the cab.

What a relief it was for all of us to get to the top of Wayah! There were bathrooms with no toilet paper and trash cans. It's always nice to deposit your trash that you've been carrying. There's a fire tower at the top of Wayah that we all climbed up into and had a good rest and snack. The views were spectacular and I think all of the boys appreciated the accomplishment.

Looking out at Wayah

Leaving Wayah Fire Tower

We left Wayah and started our trek to Wayah Shelter. It is a relatively new shelter and wasn't on my map, so I wasn't exactly sure how far we had to go. Thank goodness it was only about a mile down the trail to the shelter. We still had 2-3 hours of daylight left, so we had plenty of time to gather firewood (not easy in snow), get water and get a good fire going. Without a small fire when it's cold, all you can think about is crawling into your sleeping bag! When you do that at 7-8 p.m., it makes it very difficult to sleep through the whole night and you spend a lot of time just laying there. Our small fire extended the night to almost 10 o'clock. What a great way to end the day!

Wayah Shelter

Random thoughts Jan. 8, 2011

I got up this morning early to travel into Lexington for an all day staff training for our upcoming Wood Badge Course (BSA), to be held this spring. We've had an unusual amount of cold and snow already this winter. This was what my drive in looked like.

Northbound I-75

I love driving in the snow, I hate driving with all the other people out there who turn into freaks! It's not that difficult to drive in the snow. A vehicle actually gets fairly good traction in the snow, just don't make any sudden movements. It's not necessary to slow down to the speed of snail! I drove by this one lady who looked like she was going to rip her steering wheel off! My guess is that most these folks could call someone and say, "Hey, I'm not coming" or "Hey, I'm going to be late, I'm like a 2 year old trying to learn how to ride a tricycle when it snows".

One thing I especially like about driving in the snow, is when it is coming straight at you and it looks like your making the jump to hyper space!

Not Northbound I-75

If only that were the case, it would have made my trip a lot shorter.

I watched the Cotton Bowl last night and the second half dismantling of Texas A&M. Let me be one of the first to say, if LSU is able to retain all of its players, they will be very very good! In fact, they will be contenders for the National Title. I really like Les Miles, he seems to really love the game of football and his players. I don't think that all coaches have that kind of relationship with their team. He does have a tendency to make really stupid decisions late in close games.

Lastly, the NCAA could be the most crooked and corrupt organization on the face of this planet. Yesterday they ruled that Enes Kanter will be permanently ineligible to play college basketball at the University of Kentucky. This decision is absolutely criminal. Young Enes grew up playing basketball in Turkey. For those of you not familiar with youth basketball overseas, it's not like in the U.S. where we have an extensive program that provides opportunities to young men like Enes.

Enes Kanter

Through the process of providing a program and opportunity for Enes to grow in a very limited basketball environment,he played on a professional team for very limited compensation. The NCAA ruled that he received approximately $33,000 more than what was needed from the team. The minimum salary for an NBA rookie is $473,604 (Kanter is a projected 1st round NBA pick). So, playing professional ball in Turkey under amateur status, Kanter received 7% of the 'minimum rookie salary'. Being a first round pick, he would make no less than $2.5 million a season.

From NCAA.org, the sites states,

THE NCAA's CORE PURPOSE IS TO govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.

Huh! Are you kidding me! I can't believe that there is no mention of money and lining their pockets anywhere in that statement. "Educational experience" being included in that makes it an even bigger joke. If that was true, Kanter, who is enrolled at Kentucky, is a good student, is trying to better himself and who had absolutely no control over the circumstances in his past is being denied by the NCAA an opportunity to reach his full potential.

On the other hand, if it will make money for the NCAA, the rules and regulations somehow don't really apply. I've stated in a prior post that I'm an SEC guy through and through, but Cam Newton probably has no business playing in the National Championship game on Monday night. Neither did five from Ohio State, including Terrelle Pryor, that played in the Sugar Bowl, who broke NCAA rules and got caught. But, what do you know, the Sugar Bowl, a BCS game and potentially large money maker for the NCAA, was played with all five players.

Maybe, Coach Calipari should have lined the NCAAs pockets!! Where's the justice!

Winter Hikes Flashback: 2003 - Present

I thought that it might be interesting to take a quick look back over the years of our winter hike.  We first went in 2003 and have gone every year since.  It has been amazing to see some of these young men grow up.

Dec. 2003, AT at Goshen Prong Trail, Great Smoky Mountains NP

Dec. 2004, Mollies Ridge Shelter, Great Smoky Mountains NP

Dec. 2005, Mount Collins Shelter, Great Smoky Mountains NP

Dec. 2006, Alum Cave Trail Head, GSMNP

Dec. 2007, Clingmans Dome, GSMNP

Dec. 2008, Peck's Corner Shelter, GSMNP

Dec. 2009, Fontana Shelter, Fontana Dam, NC

Dec. 2010, Wesser Bald Fire Tower, NC

2010 Annual Winter Hike, Day 1, December 27

This was the 8th year in row that we have had the winter hike and this one met or exceeded my expectations even with some of the issues that we encountered.

This year I decided to go back into North Carolina and finish another section on the Appalachian Trail (AT). The section decided on was from SR64 in NC to Natahala Outdoor Center (NOC), which is close to Bryson City, NC.  The hike would be right at 30 miles and we would do it over four days.

We left to drive down at 6 a.m. the morning of December 27.  I had dad's Tom Tom and it said the easiest path to get there was through Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) on 441 past Newfound Gap, the highest point of the pass. So, to get there, it is necessary to go through Pigeon Forge and Gattlinburg, TN, both absolute nightmares! There had been a lot of snow the weekend before and I new that I should probably call the park to make sure the pass was open, but didn't.  HUGE MISTAKE!  Of course the pass was closed, so to make a long story short, we had to go around, which added easily 2-3 hours. One of these days, I will write a blog about how pathetic the National Park Service is when it comes to cooperating with the state to get these roads cleared.

 

Looking down a snow covered AT

In the winter, it is especially important to get hiking as soon as possible.  The days are so much shorter and hiking in the dark and cold is miserable, especially with youth.  We started hiking around 2 p.m. which gave us about 3 hours to reach our first shelter.  No one had been on the trail since the snow had fallen, so we were forced to break trail in 8-12 inches of snow.  If you've ever walked through snow, you understand how laboring it can be, now do it with a full pack (30-55 lbs.) in the mountains.

Trace in a good mood!

We made good time and got to the side trail that led down to Siler Bald Shelter (0.5 mile) right at dusk.  This is when things started to unravel a little bit.  The side trail went on a path to the other side of the mountain which simply meant a greater amount of snow.  Our lead guys that were following the blue side trail markers mistakenly got off of the trail about 0.2 miles in.  I, being the leader, always bring up the rear and realized their mistake and called for them to come back as I started down the right path.  The drifts gradually got taller and taller until it was almost up to my waist (I'm 6' tall).  I moved along rather quickly because I wasn't 100% sure that this was the right way and needed to make sure the shelter was there.  It was getting dark and cold very quickly which really worried me.

Siler Bald Shelter the next morning

In about five minutes, I finally reached the shelter and got my pack off and set it down.  It was obvious that no one had been there in a while, so I took a small broom that was there and swept out a light dusting of snow that had settled on the floor of the shelter. I was there for about three or four minutes when MJ showed up and looked half frozen and was convinced he had frost bite. I assured him that he didn't, but as a precaution, we got out his sleeping bag so it could loft and I told him to change into his dry clothes.

It wasn't long after that when my son, Trace, arrived.  He was visibly upset and without his pack, not a good sign.  He had slipped on some ice about 0.25 miles back and thought it was a good idea to leave his pack.  I was sympathetic to his being upset and set off to get his pack. I hustled up the trail and found his pack in the middle of a snow drift where Trace had fallen. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Craig or Jeff, my two most experienced hikers!  I picked up the pack and hurried back to the shelter.


When I got there Trace had helped MJ get into his bag to start warming up. Trace followed suit and got his bag out and dry clothes.  I was able to get things situated and started heating water for warm drinks and dinner. But, still no sign of Craig or Jeff.  I wasn't all that worried, both know how to take care of themselves and I was about 100% sure that they were together.


About a half an hour later, both showed up in good spirits. We got MJ and Trace warmed up, I had some delicious chili mac and hot chocolate, and we settled in for a long cold night, with temperatures dropping into the single digits. It was very cold, but it didn't stop the mice form scurrying around int he shelter looking for food. There was one particular mouse that we all had a good laugh about that was making a sound like a scooter revving up. I'm not even sure how he was doing it, but it was freaking funny and I could hear everyone laughing! We named the mouse 'Techno Mouse'.

The 2011 Sugar Bowl

Last night I watched the Sugar Bowl between Arkansas and Ohio State University (OSU) and first let me preface this by saying,

"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how the game was played because in the end the team with the most points wins, unless we're golfing."

I went to an SEC school and always pull for the SEC. I especially pull for the SEC when they play OSU. I loathe OSU fans. They all think that they are so much better than everyone else. Even when you mention OSU, they would prefer that you put "The" in front of it as if it is the only university in Ohio (it's not by the way).

I didn't always feel this way until I started working with some guys who went to OSU. They're always talking crap about how good their team is, that is until they get a beat down from a top SEC team. In fact until last night OSU had lost its previous nine bowl games against SEC opponents. You don't know how badly I wanted the razorbacks to make it ten in a row.


Unfortunately, Arkansas decided to self destruct and basically hand OSU the win. It's really sad when OSU fan acts as though they won the game, but in fact, Arkansas lost the game as they played that poorly. So, to all the OSU fans out there, enjoy this win because 10% winning percentage aint all that great!


It's amazing how one or two plays effect the outcome of the entire game emotionally. Late in the game, with just over a minute left to play Arkansas blocked the OSU punt (pictured above). If the ball had just bounced 6" higher, the Arkansas player easily picks the ball out of the air and walks into the end zone, capping a great comeback. But, it wasn't to be and two plays later, Ryan Mallett, the Arkansas QB, throws an interception...game over!

I do have to give credit to the OSU defense, they were pressuring Mallett all night and made it difficult for him to pass accurately. On the other hand, OSU Coach Jim Tressell should buy all of the Arkansas receivers steak dinners for all of the passes they dropped, many of which even I could have caught!