I've Been Tagged

Quick Update: Yes I am still alive. Thanks for caring. I will post about my insane week and then everything else I promised to post about soon. But before Ashlee messages me again insisting that I am leaving her hanging I will respond to her tag. :-)

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I have to pick 5 or more of the following occupations and post my answers here. Then, I tag 3 other people to post their answers on their blog. Got it? Sounds like fun, huh? Here goes....The "questions":
If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...If I could be a musician...If I could be a doctor...If I could be a painter...If I could be a gardener...If I could be a missionary...If I could be a chef...If I could be an architect...If I could be a linguist...If I could be a psychologist...If I could be a librarian...If I could be an athlete...If I could be a lawyer...If I could be an inn-keeper...If I could be a professor...If I could be a writer...If I could be a llama-rider...If I could be a bonnie pirate...If I could be an astronaut...If I could be a world famous blogger...If I could be a justice on any one court in the world...If I could be married to any current famous political figure...

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If I could be a scientist, chemistry would be my field, the study of chemical compositions and the equations to make and break down different chemicals. Not sure what I would want to solve but I am sure that I would find something interesting.

If I could be a missionary, as Ash said, we are all called to be Missionaries in our daily lives wherever we may be. Though I would also love to travel across the world and spread the good news, care and love, and help those in need, and meet wonderful people all over the world.

If I could be a librarian, I would be in organization heaven because everything has its spot and a rhyme or reason for why it is put in that spot. I could learn tons about so many different areas of life. It would also enjoy asking people to quite down so other people could concentrate.

If I could be a professor, definitely would be a math professor and maybe a computer science class here or there, but mostly concentrating on the math side of the sciences. I would also enjoy teaching leadership and athletic classes.

If I could be a doctor (medical field), I would want to be doctor that studies athletic injuries and helps to find ways to enhance muscles with exercise and proper workouts instead of drugs.

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Tag 3 people, okay most of my blogging friends have already been tagged. So I tagged Rachel H, if anyone else reads this blog and has not been tagged yet, please take this as you being tagged :-)

Sunburn

Its officially Spring and well crazy silly me, managed to get my first sunburn of the year. I have a feeling my left arm is going to be on fire for a few days. Oh well.

Now truthfully, nobody will probalby even realize that I have finally posted on my blog again after so long. I start to wander if its even being read at all sometimes.

Updates:
- Contacts - Okay after three different trial pair. I am currently wearing the right contact from the first trial and the left contact from the third trial. So far its going fairly well so we will see what happens. Another trial pair is on its way as well.

- Basketball Tourney - Sorry that I failed to post much during the tourney it was a very busy and crazy time. So an update on how I did. I had a bracket on ESPN where I was actually ranked in the top 99% for several rounds. Including a 57 ranking after Friday night of the Sweet Sixteen prior to the last two games. After those two games I dropped down to 251, until the end of the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, I went into the Final Four with only 2 teams, though they were Illinois and UNC with UNC winning. I finished 97% with that bracket. It was a great achievement for me. I have never done well in those on-line brackets. As for work, not sure how I finalized out, probably not very good because I had Georgia Tech upsetting Louisville and UK getting beat at least in the Sweet Sixteen if not earlier. The majority of my brackets did have the correct Final 2 with UNC winning all of them. I never imagined that would happen and kept shooting myself in the foot for putting both teams in the final game, but it came to be a correct decision.

- Career and Life update to come soon.

Happy Easter!

Wanted to wish all of my readers a Happy and Joyous Easter! Those who are traveling please have a safe trip back to wherever you are headed. I personally will be returning back from Paducah tomorrow at an undetermined time because enjoying lunch and being somewhere to actually see the UK game is not very feasible. So not sure how that will all play out. Most likely, I will be in the car as the game is being played.

Happy Easter!

Re-arranging

Okay, here goes nothing. If you dont see me online all weekend or responding to anything, its because I am moving the computer into the living room and I havent completed yet.

Not sure if this is a good or a bad move but I need a change so here goes nothing.

Catch ya in the other room :-)

Crispix

As I sit here eating my bowl of Crispix, I think which story should I put on my blog first. Not that any of them are very interesting but still. And does it really matter because do I still have any readers. Probably not many at least, but oh well here goes nothing.

Time out...Need to reload the cereal bowl...Okay thats accomplished

A few weeks ago, I went to get my eyes checked. It had been 2 years since I had last gotten them checked and my glasses were all 3 years old. Since I seem to wear my glasses a lot more, I thought I might better get them checked to make sure I dont need a stronger perscription. Luckily, my eyes havent changed much from the 3 yr old perscriptions which was a good thing.

While there I asked about contacts, they said that I could definitely try them and see how they work. So today was the big day. I flew in from work and went straight to the eye dr to try on contacts. Truthfully, it didnt take oh 40 mins max to put them in, take them out, and put them in again. Definitely different, though I think I like the idea of not having glasses again. My eyes are quite use to them yet but we will see how things go. I can wear them 4 hrs today and increase 2 hrs per day up to 14. Then I have to go back to the dr for him to do something. So we shall see.

I do have a quandry...do I put them on prior to going to work, which will require more time in the morning that I already dont have :-) or do I put them towards the end of the day at work and wear them all night til bed. Any suggestions especially from those who have contacts is much appreciative.

Tonight has another fun twist to it as well. After graduating from college, I moved back to campus and was an RD in the Phi Mu Sorority house for 3 years. During that time, I was always around Phi Mu so I really didnt think much about joining the alumnae chapter. After moving off campus, life was still busy and not much time for other things plus I was still involved on campus with other groups. In the past year, I stopped all direct campus involvements though I am still involved at other levels with some organizations. So I contemplated joining the Alumnae chapter here in Lexington, then as you all know I got a new job and life was all up in arms of where I was going to land. (Which is another story that I will share shortly). but the short of it is that I am going to stay put for a little while longer. Being that I decided to see about getting involved in other things though only as a participater as life is so busy already. So tonight will be my first Phi Mu Alumnae event, which is taking place on the Transy campus in the chapter room. I am excited to see people that I havent seen in awhile as well as meet other fellow Phi Mu ladies in the area.

Well this is long enough for now. More stories to come. Hope everyone is doing well. And those enjoying sunny Floriday...please bring the weather back with you. We have had 5 inches of snow in 3 days...and more expected tonight. Granted it all melts away quickly with 50 degree days but still. I love my winter but I am tired of looking at barren ground and brown trees for 2 hrs a day :-)

Federal Tax Refund

Thanks Chris for the heads up that my refund might be in. I logged into my banks new okay old but new online account setup and sure enough my refund was deposited yesterday. No the chore of not spending it all in one spot :-)

Which Playing Card Are You?

Take the quiz: "Which Playing Card Are You?"

The Queen of Hearts
Loving, caring, but sometimes Vain, You are the Queen of Hearts.

Fire Destroys Clubhouse

Turn on my cellphone this morning to call someone at Chruch. A voice mail message had been lefted on my phone. H's message says the clubhouse has been gutted by a fire and he cant get to work because 5 fire trucks and waterhouses are blocking his way.

I only got a glimpse in the darkness of the tragedy but it does look pretty bad. Click the title for a link to WKYT article.

Thank God, noone was hurt and it was the clubhouse and not an actual apartment building.

Additional Link: WRVQ 36 Link about the fire.

UK Senior Night

Tonight was the climax end of two UK Wildcat Men's Basketball players time at Rupp Arena. Though the season is far from over, the last home game of the season has concluded.

I was fortunate enough to be a witness of Sr Night tonight. This was my first time to experience the excitement and festivities around Sr. Night. It was an emotional and touching night for a lot of those involved.

Josh Carrier - KY Mr Basketball - He came out to play tonight, Scoring a career high 9 pts off of 3 - 3 pointers, and getting to start in his first and probably only UK game.

Chuck Hayes - From Sunny California - came with a full heart and a lot of emotion. Scoring 13 pts, in which 9 of them came in the last 5.5 minutes to pull KY away from a 55-55 tie.

UK won 73-61 but not after a sloppy and not well played game. My view of the game came from the top of Rupp Arena center of the basket on UK's end. The second half offense was hilatious. I saw maybe 2 offensive plays run against the man to man defense. The rest of the time, it was a lot of standing around and moving the ball btwn about 2 people and not penetrating the defense to free anyone up. Rebounding was atrocious again tonight as well. I don't know how many times I saw TN on offense be btwn the defense and the basket. Defensive rebounds don't come with a player btwn you and the basket.

Those are my observations for what they are worth.

Thanks to my friend who accompanied me to the game tonight. It was a lot of fun, though nail biting.

The Legend of Robin Red Breast

Following comes from "The Little Black Book Six-Minute Meditations on the Passion According to Mark" by Bishop Ken Untener. I don’t know that you will find this book around anywhere but its full of very interesting facts and meditations.

"A legend or a fable is a story that doesn't pretend to be historical, but simply teaches a lesson. The events surrounding the suffering and death of Christ gave rise to many legends.

The Legend of Robin Red Breast

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, a plain brown robin happened by and saw how much he suffered because of the nails in his hands and feet.
The robin felt sorry for him. It flew to one of his hands and began trying to pull the nail loose. He tried and tried, but it was a large spike driven deep into the wood.
It was some sight to see, this small bird trying so hard to do what everyone knew was impossible. Those who were heckling Jesus started to make fun of the robin too. They pointed at him and made jokes.
But the more they laughed the harder the robin tried, pulling and straining for a long time until, exhausted, he fell to the ground and lay there with his eyes closed, unable to fly or even stand.
Soon, Jesus writhed no more. He was dead. And the robin, so they thought, was dead too.
When the robin awoke, all was quiet. He looked down at his breast and saw that it was crimson with the blood of Jesus.
From that day on the robin has borne the mark of mercy on his breast.

Happy Belated Birthday!

happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday dear rachel h
happy birthday to you

Alright I didnt even type this...thanks to the writer, you know who you are.

Sorry Rachel for missing your birthday. I hope you had a wonderful one.

What extreme sport should you try?

Don't Laugh Too Hard....Sometimes these quizzes are dead on...

You Should Try Car Racing

You've got an unbelievable need for speed No little fear of crashing will stop your lead foot

What Extreme Sport Should You Try?

2004 Taxes Complete

Wow staying ahead of the game for a change. A new outlook on life is to try to stop procrastinating and get things done more timely. Therefore, I wont be bogged down with everything all at once, which is happening at this moment at time. Deep breath...exhale.....Go...

So after doing some pretty major cleaning this weekend for the Tupperware Party next weekend. By the way, girls you are invited at 1:30 Sat March 5 at my place. Guys I pretty much figure you are not interested :-) though that may not be true for all.

I decided to work on my taxes and get that out of the way especially since April is not going to be the best month to try and finish taxes. Plus the nice check from Federal will be a welcome to my savings account.

Couple tasks down just a 50 left to go :-)

Off to get more things accomplished for a change.

What a Tuesday?

Driving down I-64 to work, running a bit behind, I was noticing the uniqueness of all the different cars as I passed, as I normal do when conscious enough. When I came up behind an automobile with a unique Official Kentucky State Department license plate. As I got closer, it was the automobile of a State Senator, sure enough it was Damon Thayer, State Senator from Georgetown. Reason I know is because his pic is in the Georgetown NewsGraphic on a rather consistent basis. Don't believe that I could say I have came across a State Senator before driving down the road.

Then driving down I-75, approaching Newtown Pike from Georgetown, I began to approach a car with a Georgetown College license plate. These always interest me because I always wander if I know the individual in the car. The license number was still a bit blurry especially after having had my eyes dilated not 40 minutes earlier. When I finally got close enough to read the plate, it read 0001. Sure enough there was the Georgetown College President, Bill Crouch. He ended up following me to downtown Lexington, where the lights ended up separating us.

All of this happened after being awakened at 3:30 am to update records in production for work. It was an extremely long day all starting with me getting to work around 9 and having to leave at 3:30 to get my eyes checked.

Good News...my eye sight has not gotten much worse in the past 3 years. Woohoo. I am going to try contacts, and finally remembered the reason I would kind of like to be able to wear contacts. Playing sports...my eye sight has worsen enough that I really do need to wear glasses when playing basketball or tennis, or I am sure other sports. That's just too dangerous to me, plus the glasses get all sweaty. So maybe with contacts I will exercise more. :-)

ESPN College Basketball Game Day at Rupp

So ESPN is spending the day around and outside Rupp Arena today. I really am not familiar with this program but it sounds like a lot of fun. Plus I better remember to avoid downtown today, altogether.

If you have ESPN on your TV dial, you can tune into shows now, 8 pm, and midnight tonight. And well of course the game is at 9 pm on ESPN. Dick Vitale, everyone's favorite commentator will be on hand as well.

What Random Object Represents You?

You are Windex. You are a neat freak. Quite plain and simple. If you walk into an unorganized area, you go insane. Most of your free time is spent cleaning and organizing, when you aren't having fun with you friends. Even though many are annoyed by your constant organizing, some see it as a quality of neatness, and that is something most people envy about you. The opposite sex sees you as clean-cut and pure, though you are too shy to express your true feelings for them. You keep a list of goals and priorities in your life, and in almost all cases, accomplish them. You are the over-acheiver, most intelligent in your class, and strive to do all that is in your ability. Some people may try to take advantage of you, however, so don't let them make you clean up their messes. "Just put some Windex." Most compatible with: Toothbrush. Click here -- What Random Object Represents Your Inner Self?

(Note: All of the quizzes that I post on here are found from someone else's blog. Usually Chris's. Thanks Chris)

Busch Stadium - Home of the St Louis Cardinals

Have you ever gone to watch St Louis baseball in Busch Stadium? If not, you better check out the schedule and start planning a road trip to St Louis this summer. It will be the last year that you will be able to watch the Cardinals in Busch Stadium (the old) or say that you saw a game in the original Busch Stadium. The new stadium will also be called Busch Stadium as their key sponsor Anheuser-Busch has agreed to a 20-year deal. Click the title for more details about the new ballpark.

I hope to make a road trip, one weekend. Though I have seen a game or two (okay many) at Busch Stadium, I would love to go again for old time sake before its torn down.

Big Blue hits "Mile" stone

Big Blue for those who do not know is the nickname of my V6 Honda Accord. Today on the journey to work, the odometer rolled over to 50,000 miles. A monumental point in the life of a car that I own, usually it takes several years to hit this point, but it only took 2 years and almost 2 months.

For this "Mile" stone, Big Blue received yet another oil change and a bath. I need to figure out if there is anything else it needs besides new tires very very soon.

I will say (knock on wood) that this has been one of the better behaved cars that I have ever had. Though just because it has 50,000 miles, doesnt mean that its that old and all the issues have come to the surface just yet.

Don't be suprised, when next April, there is not another post about Big Blue hitting the 100,000 mile mark. Yikes.....thats the most troublesome thing about not moving to Louisville.

What Kind of Intelligence are You?

If anyone is suprised with my results, they do not know me. Definitely a logical-mathematical person. Though I will say I was a bit scared of what it was going to say about me.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

You are great at finding patterns and relationships between things. Always curious about how things work, you love to set up experiments. You need for the world to make sense - and are good at making sense of it. You have a head for numbers and math ... and you can solve almost any logic puzzle. You would make a great scientist, engineer, computer programmer, researcher, accountant, or mathematician.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Happy Valentine's Day!

A little history about St. Valentine:

The actual origin of St Valentine Day and the number of St Valentines remains a mystery to this day. Though it is believed that there were at least two Valentines, both of whom were martyred around 269 AD. One was a priest and physician who, legend says, sent letters of love and encouragement to the early Christian community in Rome during the time of his persecution. Another Valentine may have been a bishop who was also martyred for the faith.

The feast of St. Valentine was dropped from the Roman Catholic calendar in 1969.

The actual custom of sending Valentines on Feb 14 is thought to have started in the Middle Ages. It was a day for love, for it was the day when the birds began to mate.

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To all my dear friends, I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day. May God's love shower down upon you today and forever.

What a Crazy Week

Okay this has been one crazy and busy week. It was fun, frustrating, stressful, and almost over. Tomorow I leave for Clarksville, TN for a ODK Province X Conference that I have been working on for the past several months. It is finally here and I am really excited. Except that my alma mater is not sending anyone :-(

Work is very very busy and the tension is mounting for some reason and I have no clue why. I just remember to take a deep breath and smile. Trying really really hard to leave work at work and you know what for a change its working....yeah.

Tuesday, I acquired 2 tickets to the UK/Florida game at Rupp Arena. I never knew that it would be so hard to find someone to go to the game with me. I will be honest...the first attraction to going to the game would be the game. Though the second attraction to going, would to hang out with me. I wasnt decline only once or even twice, but 4 guys declined the inivitation (all are friends, nothing else) and 2 gals declined. I thought a 3rd gal was going to decline and leave me to take desperate measures in order to not go to the game alone. Thanks Ash for finally deciding to go to the game with me. It was tons of fun and wonderful to see you again. Minus the lady in front of me :-/

Well its approaching 9 and I have tons of things to get together and pack for my weekend adventure.

Are Guys Interested in.........

Tupperware Parties

Back in December, I was asked when was I going to have another Pampered Chef party. I replied, "Not having a Pampered Chef party but a Tupperware Party instead." A guy in the room asks if he can come. I really couldnt tell if he was joking or not. I joking responded back saying you can come if you want to.

Now the question is...was he just joking or would he really be interested in coming to a Tupperware Party. I thought I would throw the question out to my readers for response, especially since several guys do read my blog.

Guys would you be interested in a Tupperware Party?
Girls would you want guys at a Tupperware Party?
Any other thoughts and comments are welcome.

Feast of the Presentation of Jesus

On February 2 all the talk was about Groundhog's Day, but February 2 marks a very important date in Christian history, the presentation of Jesus in the temple. According to the Laws of Moses, a woman was not to touch anything holy for 40 days after the birth of a son or 80 days after the birth of a daughter. During this time the woman was being purified from the uncleanliness of giving birth. (Leviticus 12) After the time of purification was up, the woman was to bring a yearling lamb for holocaust and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering. If the woman could not afford a lamb, she could bring two pigeons or turtledoves, one for the holocaust and one for the sin offering. So Mary as required by Mosaic law took Jesus to the temple with her offering, 40 days after His birth. (Luke 2: 22-38)

February 2 is also known as Candlemas Day. You can read the link for a full story about Candlemas Day, but it was a pre-cursor to the groundhog legend of predicting the rest of winter.

First Online Bill Payment

Okay so I have finally given in at least once, we will see if all the information was correct and the bill actually gets paid on Monday. Why the breakdown and giving in to paying online? Well my current banking situation it's a bit odd and crazy, but that's okay. My savings and checking are in two separate banks in two separate towns. So when my checking account runs out of money, I have to go get money out of one bank and move it to the other. I know insanity but it helps to keep me from spending so much money. The issue has arisen that I am out of money in my checking again to pay my credit card bill. So I decided why not see if I can just pay it online from my savings account. We will see if it worked on Monday, when it will finally post. Who knows maybe I will use it again. Though that allows for easier access to money that is in my savings account, not a good things.

On the same subject, I have been paying my cellphone bill via phone lately. Seems to work pretty good plus it goes on my credit card and I earn points. Win win. I decide to try to pay my home phone bill the same way. No such luck...you have to pay $1+ extra to pay it via phone. The electric bill is the same way. What is all of that about. It is easier for them than getting it by mail, a lot less processing. Makes no sense to me.

The Cheese Drawer

For those of you who know me or have been to my house lately, you know that the cheese drawer, YES I have a cheese drawer, is usually full of cheese. Apparently I have been eating a lot of cheese lately because there is almost a cheese crisis. Hopefully I make it back to the grocery before it really does become a crisis.

By the way, I dont like cheese and its great for my health :-)

How Nerdy Are You?

Thanks to Jeff for finding these wonderful quizzes.

College Memories

As of late, Chris keeps on bringing up college memories. So I thought I would dedicate a post to some of those memories. Please feel free to add as you which.

Multiple Memories
- Midnight Brunch in the Cafe, being served by Faculty and Staff.
- Sunday Dinner Chicken Planks
- Breakfast in the Cafe
- Late Nights in the Old Art Building, Developing Pics
- Miss Emma in the Cafe
- Nertz
- Unnamed person throwing my shoe out the door of Cal class. (Unless they want to confess who they are)

Single Events
- Flood of 1997
- Presidential Candidate Bob Dole
- Snowstorm of 1998
- Rush/Pledge of 1998

Okay I am sure there are tons more, so please share.

What Age Do You Act?

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Belated Happy Birthdays!

Belated Happy Birthdays go out to Jennifer L and Susan R whose birthdays were yesterday.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear JL and SR
Happy Birthday to you.

Also happy belated birthday to MG, who celebrated his birthday on Sunday.

Personality Test

You Have A Type A- Personality

A- You are one of the most balanced people around Motivated and focused, you are good at getting what you want You rule at success, but success doesn't rule you. When it's playtime, you really know how to kick back Whether it's hanging out with friends or doing something you love! You live life to the fullest - encorporating the best of both worlds

Do You Have a Type A Personality?

Mark's Gospel Live

This sounds really interesting and I plan on attending if anyone else is interested in joining me.

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Friday, Feb 25th, 7pm. Performance in the Cathedral of Christ the King.

The actual words of The Gospel of St. Mark memorized & performed as a play by actor and priest, Fr. Joseph Morris. A first-century drama of love, betrayal, and newness of life. Great for both children and adults!

2 acts separated by a 30-minute intermission
Admission: free will offering.

Father Joseph first took an interest in the Gospel of St. Mark in graduate school. In his first years as a parish priest, he and 16 performers performed the Gospel as a set of consecutive one-actor performances--in 100 minutes for local churches. After breaking his leg in 2001, Joseph took the recovery time to memorize and stage Mark as a one-actor production. He’s been doing it ever since—on his days off, on holidays, whenever and wherever possible.

http://www.gospelofmark.us/

Freaky DVD Player

Okay, as some of you know, I got a DVD player for Christmas. I was really excited about this because I have come to realize that to rent anything from Blockbuster, its almost imperative that you have a DVD player because they have no VHS movies anymore.

So on New Years Day, I pull out the DVD Player and hook it up. All looks good so I turn it on and proceed to hit the Open/Close button for the DVD drive. Nothing happens. I try again. I try the channel changer that came with it nothing happens. I become very bummed out. I try everyday for several days and then finally give up. KP stops by and I tell him about it. He tries, no such luck. That was just this past weekend.

Today, I decide randomly to try it again. I turn it in, the screen does a few different things, then I hit open/close button. Wala...it opens up. Now is that freaky or what.

Now I am scared to use it afraid that it will decide to stop working again. All my technological friends what do you think?

Goals 2005

These are in random order and a quick draft because I have to go work on a couple of them :-)

- Loose 30 lbs that I have gained the last 6 months.
- Excercise More
- Eat Healthier
- Make a decision about where life is headed next.
- Complete the execution of a successful ODK Province X Conference in February.
- Be more prepared for Bible Study
- Have Fun, but not too much
- Save money for that next life decision
- Read More
- Finish 1 of 3 Cross-stitches for my cousin's kids in 2 weeks, and hopefully finish the other 2 by end of year :-)

Okay I better go start working on this list.

Car Woes Continue

So I get home after church and decide to attempt to get the grime off my windshield. I am still not sure what it is and it doesnt come off easily. There is still a bit stuck on the windshield but I was tired and hungry so I quit. Any solutions are welcome.

As I cleaned the windshield, I found a nice chip out of the passenger side of the windshield. So how long til this goes from a small chip to a nice crack? Guess I am going to have to figure out how to get that taken care of as well in the next few months depending on how fast the crack grows.

I definitely dont have luck with cars but I will take these woes over mechanical woes like my other cars have had.

Rental Frustrations

Wed Night, I took my car in to Don Jacobs to get the rearend repainted (Accident on 12/11) as well as get a clearcoat patch on the front bumper fixed. In this whole process, you already have the frustrations of taking your car in and having to find another form of transportation. Thankfully the person who hit me insurance paid for the rental car.

I get a nice size rental car which surprised me because the lady said that the insurance had paid for something in the class with Cavalier, Corolla, and Focus. I ended up with a Chrysler Siebring, 4 door. It was okay no big shakes and definitely had no power behind it.

I leave the parking lot and go the Catholic Bookstore maybe a block away. Find some nice books and come back out to notice the front right tire low. Being a rental there is no tire gauge, so I really cant tell what the pressure is. So I go to the nearby the, surprised to find FREE Air :-) Granted no tire gauge so I fill it up as much as I think it needs and go on my way to Bible Study where I knew someone would have a tire gauge.

25 lbs of air. :-( So I call the rental 800 line and they send out AAA to fix the tire. All they do is put the donut on the car. Now what the heck good is that going to do me trying to get to Louisville in the morning. Absolutely none. But I was in the middle of attempting to lead Bible study so I went back in to finish. Afterwards, I called the rental company again. All the branches were closed. The one in Gtown opens at 8 in the morning. They can replace the car.

Great, now I am going to be late to work. I already left early Wed and had to leave early on Fri to handle all the car issues. Plus my officemate was going to be late. Unfortunately nothing that I can do about it.

So I go to the Gtown branch, Thurs morning. They have a new Mazda 6 in the parking lot but the paperwork is not completed, so they cant send it with me :-( Probably a good thing. Instead they take the car next door and get the flat repaired. The flat had not 1 but 2 nails in it. How the heck do you give a customer a rental with 2 nails in the front tire? The guy at Gtown was really nice and helpful. So the tire was fixed and I went on my merry little way to work.

Thankfully I made it safely to work, stayed in town, and made it safely back yesterday afternoon to get my car back.

Big Blue...has two nice and shiny bumpers now, along with some chips filled in on the hood. And it cost me nothing, thankfully. No the fun of keeping it cleaned in this weather and not using the automatic or high pressure washes. That could be fun.

Happy New Year - Welcome 2005

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe evening last night to ring in the new year.

May this year be full of blessings and wonderful memories.

Christ Blessings be with each of you.

UK Basketball

I have now been spoiled for the entire basketball season and I am going to be lost for the next month and half. My dad came across some UK tickets on Ebay around Thanksgiving time. It was a set of 2 tickets for the next 4 home games. Though they were not big name teams, its always worth going to watch a UK game in Rupp. That is for the right price. I am not one to pay over the top for tickets unless they are really worth it. I then still have my limit.

Thanks to those who accompanied me to the games. I had a blast and hope you did as well. If you find me outside Rupp, next Wednesday, please show me the way home. (Okay you wont next Wed but the following Sunday) Please show me the way home because those tickets will be way out of my price range.

GO CATS!

Back Home

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back home safe and sound. The WK was still basically one lane and it wasnt always the best. And the fast lane was so messed up that you couldn't go fast enough to pass anyone at least not without a 4wd in my opinion.

Thankfully it only took me 4.5 hrs to make the trip. .5 hr extra isnt bad.

Safe Travels to all those left to head back.

Christmas Allergies

I really dislike whatever allergies I have around this time of the year. We believe it is live Christmas Trees. After the third evening this season spent with a Christmas Tree, I think it might have finally taken over. Please pray that I will not feel too bad tomorrow or at all this season.

Tomorrow I plan to start my journey back east. I spoke to my cousin who left today for the 'ville and it took them 5 hrs in a 4wd vehicle. The WK is apparently still really bad so I am trying to pump myself up for a 6 plus hour drive back tomorrow.

The Heartache

I know I left you all in midstream of my travels. Sorry about that. It was late and I figured the previous post was long enough.

So I hit the WK at Beaver Dam..oh my goodness...at first it was fair but not great, and then it turned worse. I was holding on and fighting the car ever inch of the way. Both lanes had been grated off smooth...smooth as glass almost. The snow was packed down tight and you could see the ruts from the day before. It wasnt chunky or broken up but smooth top with ruts. It was almost like glass. I kept telling myself I was dreaming. The car was shaking and bumping so bad.

At one time I was talking to my aunt and she asked me if I was cold I was almost in a chatter. It was the car shaking and bumping that bad.

I thought to myself on numerous occassions..."How far has it been since the Natcher, can I turn around and go back, how many more miles is it going to be this bad, should I keep on going?" I battled with myself for probably a good hr.

Three times I found myself sideways and having to catch myself and straighten back up. I saw cars in front of me get squirly as well. Luckily, I never hit anything, anyone, or got stuck.

We did stop once outside of Beaver Dam because a car had slid off and someone was helping them back out. I had my foot on the break and felt like I was still moving. I looked at the car and determined I wasnt. But then I put it in park and after a few minutes. I noticed that I was starting to slide down the road. Plus I saw a guy get out of his car and he about slid straight down the road. I knew at that pt it was really really slick out there.

It took me an 1.5 to get from Beaver Dam to Providence/Dawson Springs exit. Which encompassed approximately 40 miles of road. I have never wanted to go back home so bad and not worry about it. I started to think how crazy was I. Apparently pretty crazy.. Though I also thought that maybe I was just being a wimp, but I think a few others have confirmed that I wasnt just being a wimp.

So I finally made it to Paducah around 2 pm CST Christmas Eve. After Providence, the parkway was clear and I-24 was clear at least one lane. The first part was only one lane that went from the right to the left to the ctr and back to the right. Even the section of 2 lane did that as well. Driving along two lanes of traffic and next thing I know I am crossing the white center line going into the other lane with a car to my right following the same path to the shoulder. It was crazy.

The interestate in McCracken Co was clear and dry almost. I was going 70+ and so excited.

Well that was my journey. Now I have another day plus before I hit the roads again.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May your day be merry and bright. The Lord has come to save us, Let us rejoice and be glad.

I hope everyone has made it safely to their family. If the weather has kept you away, don't be sad but rejoice that you are safe and sound, wherever you may be.

God Bless Each of you.

Holiday Travels Take 3

First of all, I am safely at my parents house in Paducah. I arrived around 2 pm CST yesterday. (Merry Christmas)

This journey took about 26 hours to complete. (It was not all spent on the road so don't worry) Thanks to N for agreeing to let me follow him from Lexington to the Natcher PKWY off of the WK PKWY. As we left town on Thursday afternoon, the interestate to Paducah was closed. But I figured I would brave the roads to the exit to Owensboro and then make a call from there, to continue or make a pitstop.

The roads to the WK where passable at least one lane and went fairly smoothly. The WK was definitely down to mostly one lane and a lot more snow covered and I dont think had been touched by the plows. It was nearly 4 CST when we hit the Natcher and darkness was starting to fall upon us. A rough calculation of at least another 3 hrs ahead of me by myself, sent me on up to Owensboro to hang out with my friend Rachel and her mom.

The Natcher wasnt too bad minus being only one lane and a red Chrsyler Lebaron driving 25 miles per hr and no way to pass. They had only scrapped one lane the other lane still had a foot plus of snow.

We arrived safely in the 'Boro around 5 CST and then the world became small again (Story to follow in another post)

After a nice nights sleep, some Nertz and speed, it was back on the road. After a slight adventure getting out of the street, I made it successfully back to the Natcher. It was now double clean though the outside lane was less traveled than the inside. It went smoothly and pretty much on target.

The heartache .....

Storm 2004

Wow what a storm the state of Kentucky is getting hit with, at least parts of the state. Personally I have been in the rain slicked areas of central KY all day. Luckily, I took today off work to run errands prior to going home tomorrow.

But as I look towards my drive tomorrow, I see alot of obstacles in the way and the worst thing is I am not sure where the obstacles will be starting. Granted tonights location and tomorrow morning's locations are going to be totally different.

What I do know is that Paducah has already been hit by a foot of snow and its still coming down. The worst thing is that the wind is blowing so bad that its drifting really bad.

Talked to a friend who is in Owensboro at the moment and she says the crews there have gone in for the night because the plowing is helping because of the drifts. She made it to almost the Natcher before running into major trouble. Though she had sleet and rain a good bit of the first half of her journey.

For those who are safe and sound with their family, glad you took off early and made it there safely. For those of us still to leave, I pray for your safety, patience, and mindset when its all said and done.

Though the weather is frightful, I am glad that I stayed around today and this evening. The journey home will be slow but worth it. Though I was really hoping that Thanksgiving got the travel blues out of the system, but apparently not, tomorrow is going to be quite the trip.

Talk to you next from the foot plus of snow.

Car Wash!

I go out this morning to pay my car registration and licensing. Afterwards, I decided that it would be nice to wash the car prior to putting the new license plate on.

Arrived at the usual car wash in front of Wal-mart. Nothing abnormal there, until I put in the money and push "Pre-Wash Soak". The water is dribbling out of the spout, so I try the "High Pressure Rinse". Still just a dribble. Well by now I have already put $2 in the machine and am not interested in wasting it. I figure that all the guns cant be that bad, so lets see if the foaming brush works and wash the car and then move. After soaping the car down, I drive to another slot and put $1.5 in. Again no water is coming out, but the one next to me the guy was having luck. So I rinsed my car the best I could with the dribble and when he left switched spots.

YEEPEE....Initial success. Get the car rinsed off but it still has a few dirty spots. So I get the foaming brush out and brush down a few spots. Turn on the "High Pressure Rinse". Maybe 10 secs of high pressure and it dies again. By this point, I am rather frustrated so once the time was over. I drove down the street to another car wash and successfully rinsed the rest of the car off.

Hopefully nobody noticed me driving down the street with soap on my car :-(

Now Big Blue is cleaned and decked out with a new license plate, supporting my alma mater "GEORGETOWN COLLEGE". It looks sweet, now I just need to decide what I want to put on the front end.

Weekend

What a Weekend........Awesome, Great, Okay, and Bad

Friday Night:

I made dark chocolate chip cookies for the first time. To my knowledge it is the first time in which I have made cookies from scratch by myself. I am sure I have helped my mother in the past but that doesn't count. They turned out great and I hopefully making a lot more cookies before the night is over.

My friends and I have started a Christmas jigsaw puzzle as well. I am trying to avoid the living room because I don't want to get trapped working on it.

Saturday:

GO CATS!

As you all know from the blogs, it was my birthday on Saturday. Yikes another year older. It was for the most part a wonderful birthday.

Saturday evening, I had a birthday celebration. 9 friends came out for dinner at Johnny Carino's and then bowling afterwards. I had a great time. Thanks to all who made my birthday wonderful.

Though the birthday did not come without the bad, as I was headed to Carinos early to get our reservation in, I was sitting at a red light when thump went my car. The only thing I could think was "No this just didn't happen and not on this particular day of my life." Unfortunately, it had happened, though fortunately, it was not a hard hit and the damage looks to be minor and it wasn't my fault. We will see the pain that I have to go through to get it fixed though. My poor car might as well have a full paint job at the rate its going because soon it wont have any original paint on it :-(

The rest of the evening was fabulous and we hadn't been seated by the time that I gotten there, though the entire party was there awaiting dressed in their favorite country attire. Some did a lot better dressing than others, though everyone did put some thought into the evening which is all that matters.

Sunday:

With the two fun evenings and little sleep, I did a lot of sleeping with work and church squeezed in the middle. Work is another story. Apparently, my password expired at work and my account was locked solid. Not good when you have a deploy to complete nor when the pager goes off at 12:30 am and you have to wake someone else up. Though we got it all done and I finally got my account unlocked so hopefully noone will have to be awaken tonight.

Happy Birthday to Many!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Callie!
Happy Birthday to Lindsey R and L2's Mom!

Exercise

Okay so I have been the biggest slacker since I started this new job. Though I wasn't doing the best prior to the new job, at least I was walking about 4 times a week during lunch with some officemates at my last job. It wasn't speed walking or anything like that, but it is amazing the difference that it does make.

Now I ride, sit, ride, sit, and sleep. Definitely nothing in that routine that burns too many calories. So I have been debating on how to fix this. I am always so tired or it is way too late when I do finally get home that getting dressed and going down to the gym in the apt complex seems to be too much energy. My parents have an XL Glider, which they purchased a few years ago. It has no motors and can be packed up and put to the side fairly easy taking up little room. I kept debating about ordering one but they are fairly expensive. While I was home over the holidays, K's Merchandise had them on sale for the cheapest price that we had ever seen. I decided that was a sign for me to get one and start working out again.

I put it together last Sunday evening though tonight was the first night that I actually got on it to work out any. It was nice to get some exercise for a change. Hopefully, I can keep doing this several times a week and loose the 20 lbs that I have gained in the last 5 months.

By the way, though you may not think the little walking at lunch or on breaks does any good. I am here to tell you it definitely over times makes a big difference. You don't have to do anything major just get some nice brief exercise and your body will be appreciative.

UK Game and Randomness!

As I stated on Ash's blog, my first Ebay purchase occurred this past weekend though I am not sure it was my exact purchase since I still dont have an ebay login but I was apart of the bidding process. This process ended up winning me tickets to the upcoming (and now past) UK ballgames, for slightly below cost.

A college friend of mine and current co-worker of mine joined me Tuesday night to watch the UK vs Tennesse Tech game. After work, we got in the car to head towards Lexington in one of the slowest by not the slowest ride down 64. People cant drive in the rain (side note). Because of the slow traffic, we were running slightly behind. I decided that I would take S to Sawyers downtown. She had never been there and I quite enjoy it.

Nothing random for me occurred at Sawyers though S was quite puzzled that everyone there seemed to know me. Its because the sport car club goes down there once a month for our meetings and one of the members is the owner of the establishment. It is fun going into a restaurant where the people recognize and know who you are as well as what you are going to order. Darn people of reputation and readability :-)

Because of the drive and dinner, we ended up a bit late to the game, but successfully found our seats and started watching the ballgame. Oblivous to those around me, I watched the majority of the first half, when I turned to my left. There were several open seats btwn me and the next individual in the row. The first glance caught me by suprise and I had to take a second look to verify the first glances sitings. Sure enough sitting to the left of me was K. K worked at the last company though not directly with me. He and M (my American officemate) were good friends and K usually joined M, others, and I for lunch almost weekly. K also had not realized that I had come in and was sitting next to him and his father. It was fun times.

The game: Yikes that was a close game for the first half. And they still have not learned the art of blocking out yet. This seems to be a continual problem for Tubby Smith's teams in my opinion. I dont know how many times I saw players basically underneath the basic trying to get rebounds. Trust me that doesnt work for getting rebounds just the ball after its count on the scoreboard. Players these days rely way too much on there jumping ability and arm stretch to get the rebounds. Its not going to work against better teams. The true first test of the season comes this Sat at noon.

Afte the game, S and I headed back to the car, trying to stay dry and warm. Luckily it wasnt really raining when we left like it was on our way to the game. We briskly walked towards our car through the crowd. As we crossed through a parking lot in attempts to shorten our route, we walked by two individuals. The young man looked at us and we looked at him and not until we passed one another did we realize that we knew one another. So we stopped to say a friendly hello to J and finished our journey to the car.

It was an overall fun and exciting evening and I think one of the first times that I have ever gone to a UK game and actually ran into someone that I knew. I have always known of others who are in attendance but never see them. It seems quite odd considering the number of people there. I am half way guaranted to see K again as his father has season tickets just a few seats down from where my tickets are for the next few games.

Go Cats!

Additional: When I sit down in my seat, I check my phone to make sure the fam had not called and I had a text msg. Not sure who it was from I checked and Ash had messaged me, telling me if I stayed up to watch the game that I might see her. I replied to say Im here as well so I wont see ya on the tv though maybe on the big screen. I never saw her :-( . Maybe next time Ash :-)

Traffic Take Two

Okay so I just thought that the trip to Paducah was long. It was nothing like this evening's trip back from Paducah. Around 4 pm CST, I headed out and back to my humble abode. Though it was a rainy and soon to be dark ride back to the bluegrass, it really was uneventful at least I thought. When I hit I-65, I debated whether or not to go the BG or on up to Louisville. Considering that the BG would have taken me along some wide backroads through Versailles and Midway, I decided it was safer to go through Louisville. Though the change in scenery would have been nice, a good break from my day to day driving of I-64. Plus there was this person (known as my father) in my head telling me that Louisville route would be safer, though I would prefer you wait til morning. So I headed up and through the outskirts of Louisville, half and hour from home and that is when trouble hit.

Luckily for me, I had not left a few mere minutes earlier because about 1 mile pass Graefenburg/Lawerenceburg exit everything came to a complete halt. Not really knowing what was happening except that traffic was not moving at all. After a few minutes of no movement, the car was put into park. Thinking that something might happen soon, I waited a few more minutes and still no movement. So I decided to turn the lights out and the car off. Four state troopers came down the side with there lights flashing. I few more minutes went by and I decided I needed to find something to do. So I got out and found the cross-stitch that I was working on in the trunk and started working on it using the overhead light. Half and hour had passed and still no movement. I could see the lights from an ambulance or firetruck flickering off of a semi up ahead. I figured the wreck was not too far ahead of me. I called a friend to say hello and continued work on my cross-stitch. Every now and then I turned the car on to warm up and make sure the battery wouldnt run down with the light on. Minutes upon minutes passed by....a half an hour later or so, a flatbed tow truck drove by. I figured that was definitely a good sign that the accident was starting to be cleaned up. Another half an hour went by, as I talked to my friend and worked on my cross-stitch. Then all of a sudden the guy in front of me turned on his lights and put on his brakes. First in a bit of shock and disbelief that we might actually get to move again, I put away the cross-stitch and started up the car.

Next thing, I knew we were going 30, then 40, then 50, and soon about 60. It only took a few minutes, maybe 2.5 miles until I was driving through a bunch of broken glass. It surely didnt excite me to drive through all that glass, though I was glad to be moving again. And extremely glad that my bladder was still making it. Since the last stop was at Beaver Dam and I got a drink to go at that time. Yikes... that could have been really bad, especially being alone in the dark stuck. Luckily, I made it home safe and sound and it actually wasnt raining when I got home. So I was able to unpack the majority of my car without it getting wet again.

This adventure took 5.5 hrs to complete. I think this is two of the longer trips that I have had in my many journeys back and forth. Definitely, the first trip to have problems going both ways.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope everyone has a safe and blessed holiday weekend.

Addition #1 4:48 pm CST:

Two Thanksgiving Dinners in one day...how do I keep on doing it? I am ready to explode. I had one decent size plate of food at my aunts house around 1 pm CST and in less than a half and hr I will be eating a second plate of food with my dad's family here at my parents. This plate will be small and hope that there will be leftovers for me to eat the rest of the weekend.

Though when I was younger, I know I could eat a lot more food at both places and never feel so full. I guess its a good thing that we cant eat as much as we get older because we get sedentary and dont work all the food off.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful time with their family.

Thanksgiving Travels

Jeff I hate to say its not always big cities that have traffic issues though most of the time you only get the troubles you had around bigger cities.

So now that I work in Louisville, it means that it only takes a bit over 3 hrs to get from work to my parents in Paducah because I am already an hour closer than usual.

So today I head out of the big city of Louisville around 1 pm Eastern expecting to hit Paducah around 3 pm Central TIme. All was going smoothly until I hit the rest stop outside of Beaver Dam. Next thing I know there is only one way to go upon reaching the Beaver Dam exit. Which is down the exit ramp and into Beaver Dam. :-(

It was then off on an adventure with no map. The first part of the detour was not too bad because I was following all the traffic. Took a right on 231 and headed towards town. Hung a left onto 62 and figured if all else fails, I can just follow 62 all the way home though it might be quite a lengthy ride. Then I hit Central City and a four lane rd and all of a sudden everyone dispersed and I was not seeing any clear way to go. I kept following the normal route and next thiing I know I am on 189. Okay now I am truely confused. Luckily at that time, I was on the phone with my cousin making sure he wasnt headed this direction to warn him about the situation. He was already in Paducah but was willing to help me find out where the heck I was.

Apparently 62 turns into 189 and then runs back into 62. I finally found 62 again and which ran into the Pennyrile just south of the WK. Woo hoo I was back on the main rd and headed home. Unfortunately that put me an hour behind and much need of a restroom. Should have made that full stop outside Beaver Dam but who would have known.

So 4 hrs later I arrived at home. Guess it was a good thing I left earlier that I had anticipated.

By the way apparently there was a double accident outside of Central City and WK was closed from Beaver Dam til the exit past Central City.

Christmas Decorations

Early I stated that I finally made the big purchase of a Christmas tree. This past weekend I put my first personal Christmas tree up with the help of my parents. First we had to rearrange the living room to find place for the tree and I actually like the new layout of the living room.

So I know that you are all screaming because I have put my Christmas decorations out prior to Thanksgiving. If you really want to know the truth, I totally agree. So you ask why did I put it up. Here are the reasons:
1. Needed help rearranging the apt and getting the tree out and up and my parents were here to help.
2. My mom is looking for an artificial tree herself and wanted to see what mine looked like once it was put up.
3. My mom also wants me to stay this coming weekend at home to help her put there Christmas decorations up and if mine wasnt up I was planning on coming back early to put it up.

So my Christmas Tree and decorations are up at least what parts of them are here. But I have not had the Christmas Tree lights on yet and havent pulled out the Christmas music. That will all happen after Thanksgiving.

I do have a stipulation of the latest day that Christmas decorations can be put up. I request that the decorations are up prior to my bday. Its been a tradition and one I plan to continue.

Go Cats!

Yesterday afternoon, I attend my first UK basketball game of the season. It definitely was a new experience for me. In the past, I have been extremely lucky to obtain tickets in lower arena. This was the first time to be setting up in upper arena, and it wasn’t just upper arena but the second row from the top. Definitely took me several minutes to figure out where I was sitting and get my full bearings about me. But once I figured out where I was, the seats really were not that bad. The view from the top is not a bad view. I could actually still see the players and they were not ants running around on the court. I would definitely take the opportunity again to attend a UK Men’s basketball game in about any seat in Rupp Arena.

This was also the first time that I was able to snatch up 4 tickets together for a UK game, so I invited the ‘rents up to watch there first UK game in Rupp Arena. I think they enjoyed the experience. Even my mom seemed to enjoy it and she is not a huge sports fan.

I know the 4^th ticket did not go to waste J You are very welcome for the opportunity, Ashlee. I totally agree with Ash about the player intro music. It was about to lull me to sleep. There is definite need for a change in player intro music. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens the next home game.

Granted this was the first game of regular season, but I felt that the crowd was definitely energized with this team. I was impressed with their 3-pt shooting abilities though I will wait to see if they can do it consistently week after week, against all caliber teams. I feel confident that this will definitely be a good basketball season. If Kentucky fans need anything, it is a good basketball season after the lousy football season.

Go Cats!

Late Nights and Early Mornings

It is 5 o’clock in the morning and for almost the 10^th straight night, I am up doing something for work, earlier or later than normal. The first several days of this stretch were okay because it was mostly dealing with something that I had implemented on Friday last. There were a few complications not in my implementation but in differences btwn test and production environments. All issues were resolved by Monday evening and things were running a bit smoother.

So you ask why am I up tonight? Well you see, this past week I did some analysis of drive space on some of our servers in particular production. Come to find out that a drive was getting low on space and a database needed to be moved. The only timeframe to complete is of course early in the morning or late at night on the weekends. Since I found the problem, I get the joy of fixing the problem. It’s really not too bad except that I really need some major sleep. Unfortunately, I will not get that needed sleep this weekend because the parents are in town.

YAACK Amazing Race

Saturday afternoon at 3 pm, 13 young adults and the activity leader met at church for a couple hours of adventure. The young adults were split into two teams (several unexpected people showed up and there was only enough clues for 2 teams, but that was okay, all had fun), Blue Team and Red Team. Each team split into their respective automobiles and were given their first clue, keeping in mind that no clues would take them outside of New Circle, with the exception of the final eating destination.

Teams came prepared with maps, phone books, and cars full of gas. J even brought Trivia Pursuit for his team to have continuous entertainment. Apparently, the game became a bit more involving after reaching the 2nd clue and Trivia Pursuit was put away, until later in the evening.

I was part of the blue team which consisted of 6 team members, 2 female and 4 males. The red team also consisted of 2 females but 5 males. The red team split up into two cars while the blue team packed into CM's Explorer, 2 in each row.

Other key things about the race, the first team to arrive at the final destination received 5 pts, the team with the fewest miles received 5 pts, and there were 3 bonus pts for 1 pt each. The next clue was found inside a brown envelope that was attached to a stake in the ground.

First clue took us to the intersection of St Ann and St Christopher.

Second clue took us to Memorial Coliseum with a bonus question.
The teams were neck and neck heading towards clue number 4.

Third clue landed us at the Newman Center at UK, unfortunately the clue had disappeared from this location. After searching by multitudes of individuals, we called the organizer and she gave us the 4th clue.

Clue four took us downtown to the library to get a magazine from circulation. Inside the magazine was taped clue number 5.

This is were things got a bit interesting. Car number one of the red team took off a good bit prior to us. As we set there trying to decode the clue and figure out where to go, car number two of the red team took off. We decided that we might better start heading in some direction.

Clue - 1775 the Frontiers set up a camp after hearing about some victory, and the bonus was to find the woman in which the fountain was dedicated to. (The clue was actually written better than that but those were the main pts) The only fountain we could really think of was at Triangle Park though that didn't sound right, but we headed in that direction anyway. Not seeing the stake with the next clue, we drove up to the Hyatt and set in the parking lot across the street.

At that pt, a couple great ideas came out of the group. KK suggested calling the commerce dept, CM reminded us about the phone books in the car. I had totally forgotten that we had phone books, since I didn't bring one. Who would have ever known that in the front of the Alltell Phone Book was a section devoted to historical museums, parks, seating for all the major complexes, and etc. As I started scanning through the section, KK called the commerce dept. Suprisingly on a late Sat afternoon, someone actually answered the phone and she tried to explain to her best ability what we were looking for. About that same time, I came across a park that had something to do with frontier in the 1700s. After double confirmation of the correct solution, we were off to get clue number 5.

As we were headed that direction, CM's phone rang. It was his wife calling to verify that we were not lost and had resolved the last clue. We informed her that we were on our way to get it now. (Reason why she called...car number two saw us sitting at the Hyatt, and one of the guys thought that MM might want to call us to make sure we were not lost.)

Clue number 5 then took us to Gratz Park on Translyvanias campus. Since the Newman Center, I had been sitting in the far back of the explorer. At this pt, I couldn't take sitting in the back any longer, especially after the guys couldn't seem to follow the instruction of going to the middle of the park to find the clue. So I said forget this and jumped out the car and went sprinting (well as fast as I possible could). The guys in a big group (3) all ran in front of the bldg and around, while the clue was stationed actually on the other side of the park. As they came around the right side of the house, I had already emerged around the left side and was headed towards the clue. Upon grabbing the clue, I started running back towards the car. I was accompanied by 2 of the guys, who said that DP had ran back to tell CM to come pick us up. I knew that would take too long plus put too many miles on the car because of all the one way streets. I said no we are running. We can get back to the car before he can even attempt to come get us, which proved to be totally true. Upon arriving back at the Explorer, I kicked SK out of the drivers seat and took over as navigator in the front, instead of navigating in the back. I have no clue what the next clue was because my lungs were ready to collapse (YES I am horribly out of shape. It was quite pathetic. And I spent most the rest of the event coughing up my lungs or at least trying to :-)

Clue 6 took us to Red Mile
Clue 7 then to Landsdown
Clue 8 to the final destination

By this pt, we assumed that we were way behind in terms of time and all we could do is try to keep the mileage as low as we could. The last 4 locations the red team had beaten us to the punch. Upon arriving, at the Z's for dinner, we were immediately asked if we had gone to McConnell Spring's. We responded well of course, didn't you guys? The answer from the Red Team was No. Apparently, they picked a park with a fountain and it just happened to be Gratz park were clue 6 was found and kept them on the correct path to the finish. But they missed the correct clue that would have taken them to Gratz park.

Therefore the Blue Team was victorious by finding all 8 clues and completing a half an hour behind the Red Team, who skipped a clue.

It was a blast and stories were flying once we all got into the house. You could feel the competitive juices and psyched up people, ready to go again.

Unconciousness

I promise no clarity or continuity in this post but I thought for those who actually read my blog that I might actually update you on the happenings of my life.

Last weekend was definitely a busy weekend. I attended two ODK initiations, in which I presided over the second one. (Transy and GTown) We had a nice going away party for Fr P who has been assigned as a pastor at another church in the Diocese. The other big thing was attending the last autocross of the season though I did not participate. It was a sad though I did ride with several individuals which was a lot of fun. I had to leave early and ended up sleeping in. I really have no recollection of what I did last Sat. Oh well.

This week has been an insane week at work. Lots of things to be done. I got two new projects which put me into mtgs all day Thurs. Friday I had to finish wrapping up another large project which is why I am up still tonight :-(. Its all working great just a couple small quirks. The speed increase is awesome so I can handle staying up a bit longer to fix the small quirk and then get some sleep. After only 5 hrs of sleep last night, I am beat tonight.

Today has been an awesome day. Thanks to so many people.

A special thanks to Ashlee who came over and helped me reorganize my pantry/utility closet. It looks 100% better. Plus I finally rearranged the closet to get the winter stuff towards the front bottom and the summer stuff pushed towards the back/top. Make finding clothes a bit easier.

The rest of the day was spent at YAACK functions. First of all, we had a YAACK Amazing Race. Then we all went to the Z's for potluck dinner and hung out til late playing several different games. It was all a total blast. I did manage to make it home safely though I am not totally sure how. I think part of it was my mom on the other line talking to me to make sure I made it home safely. She had called 6 times totally trying to get ahold of me all afternoon so I figured it would be good to call her back and let her know that I was still alive.

More info on the YAACK Amazing Race to come.

Jaguar Rally Weekend !! (Day 2)

Sunday morning brought day 2 of the Jaguar Rally. Thanks again to DM for being my driver. By the way both events started out from Franklin Square plaza in Frankfort, KY.

Day 2 was a much better day than Day 1. We again were car number 1 and headed out at 9:31 am for our adventure. We hit the first timing control 14 hundredths off, which equates to about 8 secs. All scoring is done by hundredths of a minute. For every .01 or 1/100 of a minute off you get one pt. The second and fifth legs were both DIYC (Do it Yourself Controls). At DIYC, you get to calculate what you believe should have been the exact arrival time at that control and that is your in time for that leg. Your out time for the next leg is exactly 2 mins after your in time. We received 0 on both of our DIYC legs. Leg 3 resulted in 24 pts and Leg 4 resulted in 15 pts. Leg 6 ended out being thrown because of a mileage error in the directions. First of all, we hit Washburn and figured that was most likely the right spot though the directions said Wash. We completed our DIYC Leg 5 and headed down the rd but never found the next turn before we had hit two stop signs and a major rd. Thinking well maybe there was another rd pass Washburn called wash. We headed back the other directions. Passing every single other car in the rally. Of course all asking what the heck is going on. We backed tracked and found no other rd in correct proximity so we whipped back around and headed back where we first became confused to recheck the mileage. In the meantime, two others had followed us. Amazingly the same two cars that followed us yesterday. Apparently they did not learn there lesson from day one. We got back to the lost spot and were still rather confused so we took the rd to the left following what was the next instruction and following another car who had stopped and asked a local something. Apparently the local was of no help because we had to turn back around and head the other direction. Finally we found where we were in the instructions and continued at lightening speed to follow the directions. Not knowing at that time that the last leg had been thrown. We passed the last leg some 10 mins behind schedule according to the numbers on the rally sheet.

But in conclusion, we finished the weekend with the best one event score. I am not sure where that put us overall for the weekend. We concluded with 53 pts and the next team had 150 something pts.

1st place day 2 and 5th place on day 1. Overall not a very bad weekend and a lot of fun, minus the whole working Saturday night thing.

If your interested in participating in a Road Rally, let me know. I am currently usually in need of a driver for the events and we are always encouraging more teams to come out and participate. I am not sure when the next event will be but I will let you know.

Jaguar Rally Weekend !!

What a wonderful weekend this was. I got to spend both days of the weekend not only in a Jaguar but also competing in one of my favorite activities, Road Rally.

So yes you are all asking what the heck a Road Rally is and assume its one of those crazy car things that I do. Well I guess in some ways you are correct, but I tell you its a whole heck of lot of fun.

Simple Description: A road rally is an automotive event in which two people, driver and navigator, attempt to follow an unknown route and arrive at timing controls exactly on time (Unless a Monte Carlo Rally these are at unknown locations).

There are a lot of different types of road rallies. This weekends set of events were both Tulip Rallies. Tulip rallies have drawings to depict the direction which you are suppose to go while non-Tulip Rallies are worded directions (Ex/ Turn Right at the T). All speeds are below speed limit, and the rallies occur on back country roads with very little traffic for the most part. Usually, all rallies end up somewhere for dinner or lunch and last 2-4 hrs depending on the setup plus eating time.

How did I do?
First of all, I was lucky to find a gentleman in the Jaguar club who attended the events without a Navigator. Since I was unable to find a driver, it would have been a bit difficult to actually compete in the events without this luck. So Thanks to DM who was my driver for the weekend.

The first day was a bit rough. Driver missed one turn during the ODO run which luckily doesnt cost us anything but some prep time. Combo mess up during the first leg of the race took us about a half mile out of the way and cost us almost 2 mins on the first leg. The second leg was a lot better minus the navigators miss of a .5 min pause (I didnt miss this once but twice). First during the rally and the second time last night trying to determine where we landed.

The Third Leg.....
We were headed down through the main road of Midway and we were tinkering on the edge of having no gas. I knew of a close gas station. So we kept going straight instead of hanging a left. Interesting to watch the two cars behind us as they continued to follow us straight pass the turn. Fortunately they did realize they had missed the turn and went back. We continued on to get gas and ended up about 6 mins behind. We headed back through town and got our bearings straight and took off at about 90 mph on some old country rds. Catching up to the two cars that had followed us and passing them. Then catching up to the now first car since we had gone through leg 1 as the second car instead of the first. Realizing that they were also behind we went passed them and made up basically all of our time before the end of the 3rd leg. I think our final score was about 315, 190 (Leg 1), 57 (Leg 2), 68 (Leg 3).

We ended up at Woodford Reserve, where we went on tour and had a sample afterwards. Very nice though small facility. I learned a lot that I was not aware of.

The rest of my evening was not as exciting as I spent most of the night on the computer with work.

Mozilla FireFox Security Bulletin

I know several of you use the Firefox browser. I came across this security bulletin in my emails today and thought I would pass the information on to you.

Security Update for Firefox Preview Release
If you're using the Mozilla Firefox Web browser, you might need to
install an update to protect your systems against possible attacks. On
September 29, Alex Vincent reported a vulnerability that might let
intruders delete files on a user's system. Mozilla issued an update
for the browser on October 1.
http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/44139/44139.html

Christmas Tree

For the past year plus, I have leaved in an apartment that was finally potentially large enough for a Christmas tree. I have debated back and forth about purchasing an artificial tree, but really didn't want to give in because I love real trees so much. The thing is that I am highly allergic to real Christmas Trees , which is not a good situation.

Since Christmas is my favorite season of the year, I decided that I should take the leap and purchase my own Christmas Tree for my apartment, especially if I found a good deal. Today my mother calls me to tell me that their is a 7.5' tree on QVC with 1200 lights (600 multi color and 600 white). I looked around briefly on the internet and back in my mind from the last time I really looked at trees. It seemed to be a pretty good deal for less than $200 so I took the plunge and bought myself a Christmas tree. It will be arriving in a short week and by Dec 11 it will be up and hopefully full decorated :-)

Which File Extension are You?

Okay here is another one for the geeks in us. I dont know that I totally agree with this one. These are definitely not as realistic as our other personality quizzes but oh well.


Which File Extension are You?

Which OS are you?

For the true Geeks in each of us, here is just the quiz. Found this on H's blog this evening. I am not sure I should be in this Geek world with the OS I am. :-) I am a bit outdated.


Which OS are You?

Survival

Wow that seems what the past month has been all about, Survival. Sleep is very lacking in my life right now. I did crash this evening around 6:30 and was awakened by a dear friend at 8. I really did not mind the awakening though it did bring me back to reality and the mess my apartment is in.

A brief synopsis of my life in the last 3 weeks.
Sunday Sept 19 was one of the longest days of my life in a long long time. I was awake though barely at times and at work for 22.5 hours. I know this seems insane and you all probably think that's just crazy. Though I do agree, I will have to say it was nothing like the 26 hrs and the atmosphere at my last job. On Monday, Sept 20, after going to bed at 5 am in Louisville (Thanks to my dear friends), I awoke 4 short but hard sleeping hours later to go back into work. I totally crashed in the late afternoon, though not after making it back home safely. The rest of the week was a very long week with the total lack of sleep.

The next weekend, I went and helped with kids games at Oktoberfest with my church in Lex. That was a lot of fun and someone mentioned to me that all these kids would keep any young person without kids from wanting them. Maybe I am strange but all the little kids were so cute and just made me more aware of how much I really want kids of my own. I continue to wait patiently for God's calling in that aspect of my life. Saturday, was then a fun filled day at KY Kingdom with Ashlee and so many others. Though that did not happen until after I spent several hrs on the phone with work. The reason for going to KY Kingdom was because of a work Family Day Picnic. It was great to have a family picnic sponsored by my work. I really don't understand companies, especially large companies that do not do things like that. (Maybe that will be another story one day) It was a great time and the food was very filling. Sunday became a day of rest and relaxation for part. I set down and watched TV for the first time in ages. I had taped Friday night TV and watched it. Then I spent the evening planning for the upcoming YAACK Retreat, with the other individual helping me.

The week was a very busy week getting many things down at work for the upcoming release, retreat planning, and ODK Newsletter completion. It was a successful week though a bit crazy. Those who know me, know that if I am not busy with some sort of organization or group then I am out of my element. I enjoy the church and ODK things, I just wish that work wouldn't always take away from the time to do those things.

Then we come to the crazy of all crazy weekends. I knew going in that it was going to be a long weekend, though I had hoped by Sat night, things would be done and I would be at home. Unfortunately that was not the case, though I did get to Lexington on Sunday for the last Autocross pts event of the year. (Another story)

The original release for the weekend was postponed but since we had new hardware, plan B which we were not aware of came to be. It was to swap out the current hardware with the new hardware. This required two stages from the DBA staff. First stage was to take all of the databases down and hand over to networking to get the new hardware up and the files copied. Because of the process and unknowing of when we would have to go back into work, they put the other dba and myself up in the nearby hotel. It was nice not to have to worry about driving far or bothering anyone. Luckily though maybe not so luckily, we got to sleep from about 12:30 am Sat morning til about 8 am. Though it was not a solid sleep since I kept waiting for my phone to ring and afraid that I had missed it. Saturday was a very long day again, working from about 8:30 am til 1 am Sunday. I did get one more night of sleep in the hotel and awoke early Sunday morning to drive to Lexington for the last pts autocross event. It was great though very tiring.

As I spoke a couple posts ago about OE, thus far OE has not been an issue and the week was rather quite minus Wed when I was by myself, nothing seemed to work right. The week was busy though calm. Another post to come is dinner Thursday night. I was busy every night either preparing for retreat or doing some other organizational thing.

Then this weekend, I took Friday off though it was not much of a day off. I got up early and packed my car with all that I had thus far for the retreat. Met some friends for lunch before doing the final grocery shopping and heading off to Lebanon, KY for the retreat. It was an awesome weekend and I will tell more later. Though again it was a weekend with very little sleep, but it was totally worth it. I am relieved that it is all over now though that just means time to plan the next big or little event.

So that has been my life the past 3 weeks and why you have not seen or heard from me in ages. Not sure how much my life is going to slow down the next few weeks but we will see. I do know my living room has no walking space because of everything piled up from retreat and other things that just haven't been put away. So that I guess is the next big project.

Take care and God Bless

Welcome Baby Abigail

This morning I received a phone call from my mother telling me that my cousin's wife is in labor. I am really excited for M and R and the arrival of their first child. Abigail was born around 2:30 this afternoon. With a full head of black hair. I forget the dimensions and sizes those are sitting at work. She is cute as a button.

I am also excited of the fact that I can actually see this little one grow up, unlike the rest of my cousins children who only see me on holidays.

Mom and baby and Father are doing very well.
Congrats and welcome to the family!

Safe travels to all the family members who are headed back home tonight.

Two Weeks have Passed

Wow it has been over two weeks since I posted and this is going to be short.

Work has been insane the last 2 weeks. Hopefully this week is going to slow down but I dont expect that to be the case with OE starting tomorrow :-) (OE - Open Enrollment, the time that you start applying for all of your benefits for the new year)

Besides work I am planning a retreat for the young adult group which I am apart of at church. The retreat is this upcoming weekend. ODK Province Leader has been keeping me busy as well planning a conference in February and getting a fall newsletter out, which did hit the mail on Friday :-) Plus the other everyday parts of life.

So that explains a bit why you havent heard from me much the past two weeks.

I have tons of stories but no time to write. I will try to get to it as soon as possible.

Here are a few things:
1) Drug Stores
2) Work Experiences
3) Autocross Pts Event #6
4) Retreat
5) Homecoming

Have a wonderful day and week!

What's Your Animal Personality?

Thanks to Chris for another fun quiz!


What Is Your Animal Personality?
brought to you by Quizilla

What Happens when the lights change the road directions??

Tuesday afternoon, I was headed to a doctor's apt off of Nicholasville Rd. For those of you familiar with Lexington, you understand that Nicholasville Rd has different traffic patterns depending on the time of day and probably a few other things like UK Football games.

So it was Tuesday afternoon around 4 pm when I got onto Nicholasville Rd. I realized that the traffic was not setup for afternoon rush hour. There was still too many lanes heading in town and not enough for heading out of town. I wandered to myself how do they change the lanes and when they do what happens. Well it did not take long until I found out what happened.

The first thing that happens and is the green arrows and red X's change around. Then once, the traffic at the stop light is let through the lights change around. So that's the traffic lights but what happens to the people. Evidently, only a few people pay attention to all the Arrows and X's and the stoplights. When I had pulled up towards the lights, I had realized that the X's and Arrows had changed so I stayed in what I assumed was going to be the new turn lane. Though I was really debating on what really was going to happen because the light to the left was still on. But as I sat there the light on the left went out so I knew that I was in the correct spot. All at the same time, people trying to go straight piled up behind me and people trying to turn decided to get in the lane to the left of me, which was for through traffic now. Everything worked itself out in the end but I really don't know how more accidents don't occur during this lane switch. Mostly because so many people are not paying that much attention to what is going on around them while they are driving. They are too wrapped up in other things or just going with the flow.

So always be aware of what is happening with all the lights around you. You never know what might happen.

Hotmail Issues

Okay for almost two straight days now, I have been unable to log into my hotmail account from the internet. I get the login page and type my login information. Then when it tries to redirect to another website, it times out trying to get there. It is passing the login section because I can go to msn.com and I am logged in. The other thing is I can download my email to my outlook express at home and trillian recognizes I have new email. This is occurring on two different computers under two different isps. I can get to another hotmail account via the web from this machine as well.

It is all very interesting and very frustrating.

Dish you LOVE, Ingredients you DON'T Like

Last week, I was in my kitchen cooking for a change because I was really craving Mexican Bean Dip. I don't like to cook as much anymore because I am not a big leftovers person. And when cooking for one person, there usually is a lot of leftovers.

So as I put the ingredients into the the mixer, I kept thinking to myself I don't like refried beans, nor do I like cream cheese, nor do I like sour cream. With these three things being the main ingredients, in Mexican Bean dip, one would ask oneself why the heck do you like Mexican Bean Dip so much? I really have no answer to that question. All I can think of is that it is well blended together with some Enchilada mix and hot sauce and then topped with grated cheese, which I do like those ingredients. Then it is baked all together and becomes a delicious Mexican Bean Dip that I ate for the past week.

Have you ever thought about something that you eat but if you ate the ingredients separately or not well mixed that you would never eat it?

There is one other dish, zuchinni strognaff, that I love as well that has sour cream in it. I guess because its all cooked in the taste is not as strong and so its manageable.

Life is about to be real crazy

I know, I know...you haven't heard a lot from me lately and well don't really expect that to change much. I am enjoying life, maybe too much at times. I am trying to enjoy the younger years of my life and have fun with friends. Plus as winter approaches, I will start to hibernate a lot more. I can already tell as the days are getting shorter that my inclination to go climb in bed and go to sleep has gotten earlier and earlier. I mean its not quite 9 and I am having that inclination to get ready for bed. Though I havent accomplished anything that I had planned on accomplishing tonight, except for making plans for tomorrow night. Oh well.

Besides enjoying life, work is about to become or actually already has come extremely busy. The one thing about being in IT and especially in development, is that when you change something in an existing project, you have to deploy those changes in off hours. Which means for the next two weekends, I will be working some part of the weekend. This weekend is an early 6 am on Sunday morning. Eeek. It wont be too bad as long as we are actually done in 6 hrs like the other DBA says we should be. The last time he said that we were there for another 3-4 hrs. So we will see. As long as these deploys go well and production is still smoothly running. I wont have to worry about anymore off hour deploys because development halts for Open Enrollment Season. It will just be making sure the databases are up and running and that they are not all locked up with so many transactions hitting it at once. So we will see how that goes.

Then my normal busy life involved in different organizations. I really enjoy my involvements and wish I could put more time towards them. I am really looking forward to concentrating more on my ODK Province Director duties and visiting some schools now that I am not as concentrated on the circle at Gtown.

Well I need to get to some of these other tasks and then to bed. Have a wonderful day, week, month! I will try to say hi, every now and again.

Autocross Points Event #5

While the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team was out playing football, the Central Kentucky Division of SCCA was having its on game of sorts at Commonwealth Stadium. 91 drivers participated in this holiday weekend event, which was on a shortened course per normal for the UK site. Unfortunately, students did not read or were not made aware early enough about needing to clean out the lot. So we only used half of the normal full size parking lot.

Though the course was short, it definitely did not slow down the speed much, making it an extremely fast course. FTD (Fastest Time of the Day) was set by LB at 24.9 in a Modified Miata. I heard a few people say they were going close to 60 at the finish, which is extremely fast for one of these events. I say usually the fastest spot in a course the max speed is about 40 mph.

The course started with a couple lane changes into a sweeping curve, followed by a tight u-turn into another curve that probably was sweeping but I never got out of the u-turn smooth enough, into a very fast finish.

Though I was not overly pleased with my time and overall positioning, some of the more experienced individuals in the club said that I did will considering my car and the street tires.

For the most part, I did steadily improve the entire day with a couple lapses the worst coming on the last run. I lost my focus and blew it. I should have been able to break 30 but instead I slowed down on the last run.

Times in order of runs:
32.133
32.113
31.202
31.340
30.738
30.916

My main competition was down to 1 for this event. (Please pray for BR's father who is not doing very well. And that she will be able to make it to the next event.)

GR finished her last run in 28.943 with her previous fastest being 30.419. I was on her tale all day just not quite fast enough. Though it is exciting, I am becoming a bit more competitive with at least one of the ladies in my class. Makes me feel like a have a chance.

G-Stock class beat my tale as well. Congrats to RR for winning G-Stock not only in this event but for the season. Go MINI! His winning time was 27.46 with a PAX of 11th out of 91. The slowest in G-Stock was 30.557 just squeaking past my best time of the day. CS in the Honda Accord Coupe finished with a time of 29.194.

Scary thing is yesterday after I finished, RR said that if wanted to check out tires to let him know and he would help me out. (By the way RR is taken and has children my age. So dont get any ideas. I know what some of you all were thinking out there.) The true scary part of that conversation is what was going through my head about how nice it would be to get some race tires. I AM HOOKED :-) Maybe that will be my present to myself next year. We will have to see how much it would cost me.

List of things I would need:
Tires
Rims
Jack
All the tools for getting the tires off easily. (I know there are several things needed there)
Jack Stands
And of course a garage to store all of these supplies.

So it would be a bit of an expensive adventure.

THANKS to Ashlee who came out to cheer me on for the first couple of runs. I think she had a lot of fun though I couldn't get her into the car for a ride, maybe next time :-)

In Memory

This post is dedicated to a high school classmate, who lost his life this past Sunday.
Prayers and Sympathy go out to his family.

From the Paducah Sun:
Christopher Lucas Martin, 26, of Black Mountain, N.C., formerly of Paducah, died Sunday morning, Aug. 29, 2004, in a bicycle-automobile accident in Black Mountain.

Mr. Martin was a 1996 graduate of St. Mary High School, where he was a member of the St. Mary Soccer Team. He was also a member of the State Soccer Olympic Development Program Team in 1995. He was a 1999 graduate of Heartwood Institute of Massage Therapy. Mr. Martin was a painting contractor and artist with his wife in the Black Mountain community. He was also skilled in the art of batiking. He had a passion for life and the environment and will be dearly missed.