Sep
7
Charleston, SC = AWESOME
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This post is one that I should have sat down and completed well over a month ago. Back in July, Julie and I went to Charleston for our Anniversary. We only spent three days but they were fantastic. We spent a lot of time just walking around the old city and sight-seeing. We took over 300 photos and must have walked over 50 miles…or so it seemed. The both of us had a fantastic time and got a chance to refocus ourselves on some of our goals and desires in life. We also realized that given the chance, we’d move to Charleston to live and work. Why? It is a wonderful city to live in and just to see all that history or be able too each day would just be too perfect. Hopefully we will take another “mini” trip down there at some point this fall just to see it all again.
Aug
2
Protected: Dark Room w/o a Flashlight
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Jun
21
C&N (Chris and Nikkos)
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Remember when you were a kid and you would see a police officer or a fireman and think to yourself, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up? “ Well, I had one of those moments (not exactly like that) a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting in the Spartanburg Regional ICU with Jody’s wife (Erika) when in walks Chris, Jonna, and their 4 y/o son Nikkos. I haven’t known them a long time maybe 4 years or so and even then it’s only been here and there. I would say that I know them well enough to be able to hold a conversation with them without feeling awkward(they might though…lol). We all talked for what couldn’t have been longer than 30 minutes or so and I started to notice that Nikkos was becoming restless. Children usually don’t like to sit and be still for long periods of time and I could tell that his timer was about to go off. What happened next was both refreshing and, for me, very touching. Chris instantly picked up on the fact that his son was getting uneasy and without so much as a thought, he began to play with him. At one point he was holding him in his arms like a baby and tickling him and the laughter and the sight of the two of them playing and bonding just warmed my heart. A few minutes passed and I noticed the laughter had disappeared and instead had been replaced with a conversation. Chris was actually having a conversation with Nikkos about something on TV (Sponge Bob I think) and about Jody’s condition. It amazed me that at his young age that he was having, by all accounts, a very adult conversation with his father. I thought it was extremely mature and fatherly the way Chris dealt with his son and by doing so it allowed Jonna to continue to talk to Erika.
I’ve seen parents in general pay no attention to their children and let them run rampant in all sorts of places. Too often parents don’t know how to be parents and instead turn into horrible children with children. I hope that when I do have children that I’m fortunate enough to be as good with them as Chris is with his son. He doesn’t talk to Nikkos he actually talks with Nikkos. There is a difference and it is profound. Again, this experience just made a great impression on my life.
Want to see why we were at the hospital Check HERE
May
27
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One Rushed To Hospital After Motorcycle Crash
By Shana Smith
A motorcyclist was rushed to the hospital Friday after a crash in Spartanburg.
The driver of a 2006 Honda motorcycle was rushed to the hospital Friday after a crash in Spartanburg, according to troopers.The wreck, on Highway 11 just south of Chesnee, happened at 3 p.m.
According to Lance Cpl. Scot Edgeworth of the South Carolina Highway Patrol, 30-year old Joseph Gowan was traveling south on Highway 11 when he approached the intersection at Bill Lattimore Road, when the motorcycle overturned and Gowan was ejected.Gowan was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
Watch News Channel 7 and wspa.com for updates.
WSPA © Copyright 2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company.
May 14th, 2010 is the day that my long time friend, best-man, and co-worker had a motorcycle wreck. Unlike the story above would have you believe, Jody was wearing a helmet and he lost control because someone pulled out in front of him. I feel the need to also mention that instead of correcting their facts and issuing an apology, WSPA choose to simply take down the story. Moving on….
Jody is expected to make a full recovery in the coming weeks. Initially, he was at Spartanburg Regional Hospital for one and a half weeks. A week of which was spent in the ICU. Speaking of the ICU, his first nurse (Seth) rocked. He kept motivating Jody and kept his family and friends informed throughout the stay. He has now been moved over to Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital in Greenville. Apparently this is the best place for him right now. They are expecting him to make a full recovery and his stay with them should last between 10-14 days. Right now it’s all about whatever it takes to get him well and back to a normal life. He has a lot of friends and family and they are all supporting him and praying for his speedy recovery.
Mar
30
Wonderful Song with Meaning
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Mar
30
This weekend was a beast. It seems like I didn’t have one moment to relax and rebuild myself from the previous week. I just had a ton of things that I needed to get done and I stupidly tried to cram about 3 weeks worth of work into three days. YAY for me right?
I knew that it was going to be very busy but I had no idea to what extent. Friday night when I got off work, I went home and ate dinner with my wife. After dinner, I went outside and started working on the lawn mower. It hadn’t been started or moved since last summer so I was worried that it wouldn’t even crank. Fortunately it did crank right up with no trouble. There was a flat tire on it, so I went ahead and pumped it up with the air compressor that we have. By this time it was getting dark so I called it a night with the plan that I would come back in the morning and begin cutting my mother’s yard. I woke up about 7am on Saturday and made some coffee and sat at the table for about 30 minutes just waking up. When I got back to to mower, the tire was flat again. This should have been a sign of things to come. I pumped it up quickly and filled the fuel tank up and started cutting the yard. I made good time with the yard especially since it was the first cut of the year. On the way back to the building to put the mower up I hear a snap and I see shredded rubber flying everywhere. I turn it off and realize that at least one of the belts has been destroyed. It was about 10:30 and I was supposed to be on the road heading to Columbia by 11. Needless to say, the mower got put up without being fixed.
I rushed through a shower and getting dressed and got on the road by 11:15. We literally fly down the road to Columbia for a birthday party for one of our good friends children. It was Savannah’s 1st birthday party. We arrived around 12:40 and had a blast at the party. We hated to leave so soon but there were things that needed to be done so we left about 4 in order to make it to Lowes to get the replacement parts for the mower.
We literally pulled into the drive way at 6pm. I ran in the house and changed cloths and proceeded to start working on the mower. It was at this point that I realized how HORRIBLY PLANNED out these belts, pulleys, and tension rods are placed on all these mowers. Did you know that you have to be have at least 25 fingers, 6 hands, arms that can bend in no less than 7 places, and be able to suspend your entire body off the ground by 4 inches so that you can reach all the places you need to? Yeah, me either. I fought with the thing until 9pm. Just in case you didn’t know, 9pm it is dark outside. So I was working with a flash light to finish this thing. Speaking of working around something let’s discuss how Poulan’s website doesn’t even recognize their own Serial Number in order for me to find the belt diagram. I think it’s crappy, no wait…shitty that they print a nice label with all the spare part numbers and the tractor serial numbers and place it right on the back of the seat but apparently you can’t find any information on the mower using the numbers, A+ effort guys. I realize that the tractor is over 12 years old but I couldn’t find anything in the “Archived” section. So apparently they are betting that the mower wont last longer that 5 years and if it does…it’ll be in the “archived” section.
I finally finished the mower about 9:30 and went and passed out. Woke up late on Sunday, and Julie cooked lunch for my mother and I. It was fantastic. After lunch, she and I along with 5 others went to the range to do some shooting. The place was packed beyond belief. We didn’t even get on the range until ten till 4. Spent one hour shooting my XD, my brother’s .40, and .38. Julie shot every single weapon that we had brought and she did well. She got 4 shots in the 10 ring. That might not sound that great, but for a girl that hasn’t shot a gun in over 8 years and has Carpal Tunnel in her wrists…so it was a nice accomplishment. I was proud of her. I’m hoping that we get to spend some more time at the range soon. I’m planning on attending the class soon for my CWP.
So that was my weekend. Busy busy busy and frustrating up until the end.
Mar
24
XD’s First Range Trip
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This past weekend was fantastic. The weather was perfect both Friday and Sunday and because of that I was able to get a ton of things done around the house that needed to get done. Sunday wasn’t that pretty. It turned out chilly and rainy weather….ewwww. Especially after coming off of a near perfect Saturday. That being said, I did get to take my new toy to the out and put some lead down range. Granted it wasn’t nearly as much as I wished however it’s all the wallet would allow at that time. As you can see me and my pistol did pretty well. I thoroughly enjoyed the time at the range. Hopefully I can get some more range time soon. YAY!
Mar
15
I’m back at my desk after been out for two days last week and then having the weekend off. It has only been 4 days out of the office but boy it feels like I’ve been gone for over a month. I know that sounds weird but it’s just how I feel. I half expected to come in and there be a thin layer of dust on my desk…well okay, that could just be because our cleaning crew is horrible but whatever. I digress, I don’t have a lot of pain at all anymore, I am just in a loopy kind of mood since I am trying to get back up to speed on things in the office. I feel fine, however I do still have some swelling and some tenderness. Oh well, I guess that’s to be expected.
For now I am back at my desk doing what I do best.
Mar
10
Here Toothy Toothy
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Today marks the last working day of the week for me. Under usual circumstances I would be excited and happy due in part to the short work week; however, this time it’s because I have to have “minor surgery” done. Now, I feel bad even using the word surgery in the same sentence with what I’m having done because it simply doesn’t feel right to me. When I think of surgery I think of knee surgery, heart surgery, organ replacement. Instead of those “manly” things, I’m going to have two wisdom teeth taken out. That’s right, I’m 27 and I’m just now having my wisdom teeth taken out.
Some people never have problems with their wisdom teeth and then again, some have problems early on and have to have them removed at a young age. Well obviously I didn’t have problems with them at a young age but here I am. So the date has been set, and the time has been secured. Tomorrow morning @ 8:30 am these two babies are coming out one way or another. All I can hope for now, is a speedy recovery…and LOTS of pain meds.
Mar
8
It’s been an extremely long time since I last posted here. The reasons run the gamut; however, it all basically boils down to I didn’t know where I was going with this blog. I wanted to do a couple things. I wanted to have a safe place that I could go and rant and rave about all the crazy things I hear and see in my daily life. I wanted a place place that I could write personal opinions regarding material I found on the internet or a product I’ve tried. I wanted a place to put some of my personal self out there on the internet and see what I got in return, and in trying to do all these things at once I realized that I wasn’t doing any of them really well. So I had to take a couple months away and just think about how I wanted to organize things and how wanted to prep the site.
So, here it is. I’ve turned back on the creative juices so to speak and I’m putting myself back in the game. I’m going to be posting more things, more often and I’m going to do my best to use tags and categories where relevant to help you wade through all the information. If you have any questions or comments, I welcome them and I will take them all. Thanks.
