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Nov 6, 2011

I (still) Can't Believe What I Just Saw

One of the greatest home run calls could easily be applied to the last 6 weeks of Cardinal baseball. A season that appeared to be lost with injuries and mediocrity, turned into arguably the greatest season in Cardinal history. After a little over a week, I am still stunned and amazed.

Oct 11, 2011

Wow!

Oct 10, 2011

Almost Grown Up

Our little Suki has grown from under a pound when Nikki found her to over 5 lbs now. It's so good to have another pet around. Especially to watch her learn about things like the printer and seltzer water. She tends to sleep wherever she falls and still wants to 'pet' Cooper, but all of that goes with the fun of having a kitten. Coop seems to enjoy the company, unless she is having a fit too late at night. The only downside is that she is impossible to photograph. Oh well, we still love her.

Oct 7, 2011

Happy Flight

Oct 4, 2011

Pa-paw

Leslie "Pa-paw" French

April 30th, 1926 - Sept 28th, 2011

After having a stroke a couple weeks before, my granddad passed away last Wednesday. I have several images of him in my head over the years, but the blurry one below is one of the most enduring. I started thinking about him about what he meant to everyone on the flight home. He was most likely responsible for a bunch of Cardinal fans and several people catfishing on the banks of Kentucky Lake. He never met a stranger and there were probably very few moments where he had little to say. But through it all he never forced his opinion on anyone, it was more of talking to an old friend. He probably never knew it or thought about it much , but he left a great blueprint on how to be person in this tough world. He will be sorely missed and even after all his talks and tales, I still feel like there were more to hear.

The winner is...

Glenn. What a way to end the fantasy baseball season. I was leading with 2 days to go when Glenn passed me, then Justin got me on the last day. If he would have had one more game, I think things would have turned out differently. So after 162 games, there was 6.3 points separating 1st and 2nd and just a single point between 4th and 5th. Interesting to say the least.

In regular baseball, what a way for the Cards to close out the season and make the playoffs. Good luck in the next couple of games.

Sep 28, 2011

Down to the Wire

The Cards finally caught the Braves and Fantasy Baseball is shaping up to be a great finale. With one game to go in the season, things are very tight. It's fun to see the wild card races come down to the end. But in Fantasy news, Glenn passed me yesterday to take first place after 161 games. 53 points is all that separates 1st to 3rd (Justin) and then ladies have their own race. Nikki leads Amanda by 1.7 points and Kathy by 22.7. Pretty amazing after close to 7000 points by the leader, we come down to such tight races going into the finale today. Plus we have some good regular baseball also. Go Cards.

Sep 8, 2011

Employed

Well the big news? As if everyone who reads this doesn't know, I am back to doing what I guess I really love. Most know that the last couple years were rough at times, but also a lot of fun (in a weird way I guess). Even though there were times in the previous years where I had to dig deep to accomplish what I was trying to do, the last two made me dig deeper. I realized (or reaffirmed) that I have a great social network and support group of family and friends. Everyone knows how self-reliant and stubborn I can be, but there were quite a few times in this down turn where I really needed some friendly advice or encouragement, even if I wouldn't admit it. Those people that aided and stuck by me through all of this really showed me what friendship should be. Hopefully I learned a lot through people's kind gestures and care.

The last couple months flew by. I have had firms interested in hiring me over the entire time, but things fell through or the timing was just not right. Plus I had my heart set on staying in the Justice field as long as I could afford the Vienna sausage. (Those that know me, know I would prefer to skip that stuff). In January, I started consulting with McCarty Company in Tupelo, MS. I have known about the firm since about '98 through my fellow goat herder Justin. Interest picked up with another firm in August and low and behold I had two offers within a week. After a lot of antagonizing thinking, I decided to follow my gut and join the firm in MS. Yep, we will be moving some time in the near future. So I have been officially employed for a couple weeks now. Feels weird at times, but very satisfying at others. I really like the firm and the people that work there. I was always looking for the right fit and this appears to be the place for me.

Over the last couple years, I thought about how things could have turned out differently and what the future holds. Yep I tediously think a bunch. That's probably where Cooper gets it from. Some times things just happen, no matter how much of yourself you give. It hurts but that's life and you have to realize that it isn't necessarily you when you see it happening all the time to good people. My goals are to always be learning and giving back. If I can keep those two things in front of me, I will be a happy camper. We will see what this next chapter brings me, Nicole, Coop and Suki, but I believe it will be just fine when you have good people looking out for you.

Sep 6, 2011

Time to Update this Blog

I guess I have been busy for a bit or ignoring this blog. There is a quite a bit to talk about, but I need to do it in small doses. There is some big news that probably everyone knows, so I will get to that in a few days. But first something serious and something light.

If you haven't caught the Discovery Channel Series Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero, I would highly recommend it. The link below is similar in nature and equally inspiring plus a fitting tribute.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/31/us/sept-11-reckoning/skycowboys.html

The second link isn't serious at all, but something I wanted to post to lighten the mood a bit after the first link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BudhFVnN2o0&feature=like-suggest&list=UL

I will try to get to the rest of the updates in the coming days.

Jul 25, 2011

Amen

Interest in NASCAR and religon would be up with more invocations like this one.

Jul 24, 2011

#9

Some little bulldog turned 9 yesterday. His new best buddy was there to help him celebrate with some frosty paws.

Jun 18, 2011

Meet Suki

I had the "Movies" post in the think tank (ha) last night when I got a surprise. So today you get a twofer on posts ...

Nikki went for a walk last night, a little later than normal. I was working (playing) on computer stuff, like the other post, so I didn't go. She wasn't home in her normal time, so I sent her a text. The reply surprised me. She said that she found a very young and small kitten up by the road close to a shopping area. I didn't hear another response from her, so I decided she may need help with it or something else might have happened. I was loading up supplies and food when she walked in with the tiniest black cat.

Suki, what we are tentatively calling her now, is basically skin and bones, but playful. We have checked around and can't find any signs or evidence that anyone is missing a kitty. Cooper may just have a new roomie.

Cooper is happy about whatever in the world he thinks the small thing is.

We started exploring this morning. She seems fine and eating all she can. Poor little thing is adorable and loves running around and playing. She could really care less about the beast that outweighs her by 65 lbs. She was courageous enough to get within a foot of him before bounding off.

Cooper does watch her and his belongings.

She found his food though...

And she enjoys TV time.

Plus sleeping a bunch. No telling what she thinks but her world is totally different from 24 hours ago. She was about 10 feet from 5 lanes of traffic. I told Nikki she was smelling Bojangles and you really messed her up. Ha.

Nikki is out walking again, but claims to be ignoring the sounds in the bushes tonight.

Movies

It's no secret that Nikki and I really like relaxing with movies. With work being slow right now, even though there appears to be some good news on the horizon, we took in a few movies over the last month.

Hangover 2 - The first Hangover has to be close to being my favorite comedy of all time. I think it had been awhile since I had seen such a fresh comedy. Well, in my opinion they kept the same formula for the second one. Even if it is a bit predictable and in the exact same mold, I still laughed a bunch. Good movie to see, but I left the theater hoping for more.

Super 8 - Nikki's choice, b/c I hadn't seen much about it. Good, campy movie in the style of Goonies or something. I think I went in thinking it was going to be a little more of a thriller than a campy film. It was decent, but not worth the price of admission.

X-men:First Class - Comic movies are usally a big miss with me. But this one really caught my eye. I can say I really enjoyed this movie. I loved the ties to historical events and introducing the backgrounds of characters that I read about way back when. Great movie and it really seemed to have a control on the visuals and special effects which I enjoyed.

But now to what I can't wait for.

I saw this trailer a few weeks back while looking up what David Fincher was up to. Fincher has been one of my favorite directors since Se7en and Fight Club. I had heard of the books, but never found the right time to read them in my backlog of reading material. It appears that I need to read the first one before X-mas. Maybe I am a schmuck for interesting cover music and flashy images, but I have watched this trailer several times already.

And one more trailer that appeals to me. Probably only me, b/c of the subject matter.

Jun 8, 2011

New Cardinals

No wonder the Cardinals are doing so well!

(sorry the embed isn't working)

http://mlb.jibjab.com/view/3zdVFkrPnI8hdS7m

May 4, 2011

Guy Arguing with an Ibex

Courtesy of Justin

May 3, 2011

Random Phone Pics

One of my simple pleasures in life is always having a camera on me. Here are a few random phone shots from the last several months.

Its so easy to antagonize Cooper and we both like doing it.

More margay pics from Honduras

Nosy neighbors at one of my friend's house. But they are cute.

Another friend has beaver problems.

Self checkout extreme style

A nice, miserable day but we were at a Cirque du Soliel show

Did some relative make it famous enough to have a sign?

You might want to rethink the position of your attachment

I see this lizard picking at a larger one and I realize this may not end well for the little one. But after a few minutes he did escape with only a bruised nose.

Ms Sweet Pea posing from my recent trip to MS.

Kaylie said she liked traveling this way.

Dad's little helper on the tractor restoration project.

A couple pics from my trip to Dallas. The infamous book depository is on the far right.

And more pics of Cooper.

Apr 12, 2011

Miami

Before we knew it we were back stateside in Miami. We had a little over a day in Miami on our way back home to see the beaches and to walk around some more. We were fairly tired and missing the boat so we didn't take many pictures. But it was fun to see a beach a couple more times on the trip, even if they were the nastiest beaches I had seen in awhile.

Well that is it. One last goofy picture of us on the boat. The trip seems like a distant memory now, but it was so much fun. We may or may not do another cruise with Carnival, but I am sure we will cruise again some day, hopefully in the near future.

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