Today is my Father-in-law's birthday. Happy Birthday Roy. At his request we went to Harbor Inn for supper. He had his all time favorite thing, something he doesn't get often, fried catfish fillet. My mother-in-law got the combo platter with popcorn shrimp, whitefish and crab-cakes. A baked potato and hush-puppies. That was my choice also because I couldn't pass up the special. Kristie's grandmother got the catfish too, and Kristie since we were at a sea food place ordered the natural thing. Hamburger steak! Please !! Harbor Inn is not my favorite place, but I'll freely admit it was actually pretty good. And there was way more than I could eat and at a good price. But the open noise filled rooms make it hard to relax and talk. Am I odd in that when I go out I'd really enjoy it if we could actually talk together? Anderson could use a few more quality places. Nice quiet and dare I say..romantic. Something other than food bars,Steak and Racket Roadhouses, and the party look-like Apple Ruby Fat O' Chilly Bee Tuesdays that are everywhere along Clemson Blvd.

The wins were split tonight between Anderson University and the
Queens College. Our Lady Trojans were on the court first and
did their jobs. With several players in double digits A.U.
rolled to another win 79-68. The Lady Trojans are again
ranked back at number 20 in the country. WhooHoo GO A.U.
For the second game in a row Drew Keenan hit a last second shot
to tie the game at 22 before the half time break. Our guys
won the last game at Erskine and it was looking great tonight.
And Queens is a much better team to beat. But in the second
half the Royals had a 24 to 10 run that the Trojans just could
not over come. Final score was 49-59 but it was much closer
than that seems.
Joel and Ashley came tonight and Ashley was able to go out on
the floor with the Squad as a guest cheerleader. She did
better than great. Her mom was home with the flu. Get well
soon Amy.
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell Qualley better known as movie star Andie MacDowell was at the game tonight. She lives in Biltmore
Village Estates area of Asheville and her son Justin Qualley #
22 plays for the Queens College Royals. We all got photos and
autographs with Ms MacDowell who was very kind and gracious.
And very beautiful.
Don't you wish you'd been there?

Yes that is Justin a few years ago

Had to call in the plumber today. The old water heater has bitten the big one. Notice I did not say the HOT water heater. You don't need to HEAT hot water ... I had basically two choices. Go to Lowe's,or Home Depot ( I checked ) and buy one for $395 plus tax with a six year warranty. Hump it home and into the house. Empty the old one, cut the water lines. Splice the water lines, grunt and groan and sweat how to remove the old one. Clean the mess it left. Figure a way to muscle it onto my truck. Take it to the dump. Pay the disposal fee and heave it off the truck. Go to the drug store and buy $15 dollars worth of back rub ointment to relieve the pain. OR Call the Plumber and watch TV while he does all this for $470. Plus I have been wanting to up grade my drain lines for the heater and also revamp the washing machine drain lines. I called the plumber and $560 dollars later after only 3 TV court-room shows I have a new heater and an 8 year warranty. Plus I did not have to crawl under the house where the evil night monster sleeps during the day.

Tonight was First Wednesday. Perry taught on Signs. Seeing and hearing what God is saying.

You have go to see these signs

avclub

Thanks Ken

Today I spent a little of my leftover Christmas " money " which was in the form of Best Buy gift cards. I picked-up the Robert Plant - Soundstage dvd. Yes I really did see Led Zeppelin.... Twice. Atlanta and The Forum in L.A. Oops I must have been only 4 at the time.
Robert Plant is one of Rock and Roll’s true royalty, and in my opinion, his solo career also truly shines. With Zeppelin Plant proved that he was an amazing vocalist and performer. As a solo artist he has proven to be one of rock’s true innovators. He covers a wide variety of material during this performance and the whole group's ability to adapt everything and make it cohesive, let alone different from the versions we all know note for note, speaks volumes.

The new band The Strange Sensation plays a set that features both brand new material from his Mighty Rearranger album, as well as dramatically revamped versions of his classic Led Zeppelin songs. The set opens with a stunning East Indian-spiced version of his the Zep Classic "No Quarter". At that point I realized this was going to be an amazing show. He continues with a soulful rock treatment of "Shine It All Around," The band morphed other Zeppelin numbers into completely different animals, while still holding onto the essence of songs like "Black Dog,". Where guitarist Justin Adams delivering a slowed-down funky groove over an arrangement that contained just a little country twang along with metal crunch to make it feel like "a runaway Louisiana Hayride heading over a cliff". They include a modernized yet still rockin’ rendition of "Whole Lotta Love." At age 56, I gotta admit, the man can still wail. The bonus performance footage includes some really amazing covers, such as Bob Dylan's "Girl From The North Country" and a heavy metal, psychedelic version of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe," ( by Joe South ) which featured keyboards injecting an spaced out synthesizer line that was as menacing as it was disorienting. This DVD travels to new musical places and it’s amazing to see. Don’t miss out.

We traveled to Due West South Carolina tonight. Did you know you can't get there from anywhere? It is not quite that bad, but it is in the middle of no where. The second match-up of the season between the Trojans and the Flying Fleet was held in Belk Gym at Erskine College. They had remodeled some small thing there since last year, but it still ain't home. No matter Solid Gold turned out in force tonight and made us proud. And we were loud too. The A.U. girls jumped out to an early 12 pt lead and kept it all the way to win the game. 62-45 Our Lady Trojans are now firmly in the National Rankings and looking to climb a few notches this week.

The boys were next up and if you remember the last meeting was very close with a last second shot by Erskine to win. The boys battled back from behind with the good rebounding we've been needing to win 56-53 with just a few seconds left. "I'm extremely happy and really proud of my guys," said Anderson head coach Jason Taylor. "They have continued to work and play hard.

We are all very proud too. Our guys deserve some W's

Good game guys !!! Good game Ladys !!!

My amazing bride arrived home just in time for our great big homegroup Super-Bowl party. Because of the timing I went to the early service this week. BTW didn't Jack just nail it? And now the writing is on the wall too.

We all agreed that it was to to be a BYOP night. ( Bring Your Own Pizza ) so we phoned Dominos and picked up our pie on the way. Homegroup was a grown-up only party tonight. Alvin was out of town but Sheila came for a short while with her " Date " for the night a good looking Jackson ( her son who is 5 years old. ) Eddie and Monika came also but left a little early to take advantage of a kid free night out themselves. Amy and Joel could not come. Joel's brother was in town from Washington, D.C. and celebrating a birthday after more than a year away the Army Guard. Tim and Tessa missed the fun too, but the rest of us had a great time. Oh and Jackson picked the games outcome correctly for the right reasons. I was one of a few who agreed with him all the way. SO which ad was your favorite? Me I'd say a toss up between the rock, paper sissors, the Dorritos airbag, and the rabbit and mouse, computer issue.

How did you like Prince? Actually I thought he did pretty good. Backwards do-rag and all. At least there was no wardrobe issue like last time CBS hosted the game. I liked his cover of the Foo Fighters Best of You.

When we got home we discovered our water heater was leaking again. I think it is just around the heating element and can be fixed fairly easy. But who knows? Plumber pants ....eeek I hope not.

Kristie is out of town this weekend so that leaves me home alone.

I'm taking advantage of the time by blowing the cobwebs out of my stereo and catching up on movies. At about 11:45 last night I watched War of the Worlds. The Tom Cruise version. I saw it when it first came out at the theater but found it cheap at Rainbow ( little free plug ..Mark ) I paid for the late night by sleeping in this morning. I did not get up until 10:55. I jumped up shaved ( sorta ) showered and dashed to the YMCA for the Monk's 11:30 basketball game. They played well today and Ashley had a big cheering section once again. Her Mom, Amy's mother and Father, Grand Mother and Papa Fred. And naturally ME her number one fan. Joel was there helping coach the little Tigers.

After the game I headed over to the Rec Center gym. I set a personal best today. 7.81 miles in thirty on the bike, plus 2 miles on the track.

This evening I plan to rewatch the Passion of the Christ again. I love that movie and I will admit it always makes me angry and that I cry a little too.

I had planed to go flying this afternoon but with this wind 20-25 kts it would just be too bumpy to be fun. Maybe later this evening around sundown.

NewSpring in the morning, homegroup superbowl party tomorrow night. I need to go to bed before dawn tonight so I had better get started on that movie. First I have to make my salad then sooner or later do the dishes.

Later:

A.U. at Erskine Monday night Go Trojans .... sink the Fleet.

My Homegroup is one of the best. The people in it make it. I have come to count on them as friends. I learn and get meaningful things from it. Our group is blessed with kids too. So we banded together and got a group sitter ( who also teaches the kids at NewSpring ) where we can study, pray and fellowship as adults. But we always spend a little time with the kids in the beginning. That too has led to new friendships. One of the kids in our group is a couple years older than the average and has a lot of interest in planes, tanks and military stuff. He also has a talent for art. He was drawing this last time the group got together and I told him it was cool. When he was done he gave it to me . I am proud to put it on my office door. I wanted to share it with you too. I covered his name because I did not ask him ( or his folks ) if it was ok to post here. I used to draw cartoons when I was a kid. But I never had any actual talent.

You need to click it to see it full size.

GOOD JOB !!

PENTAGON ANNOUNCES END OF WAR BY FRIDAY

The Pentagon announced TODAY the formation of a new 500-man elite fighting unit called the United States Redneck Special Forces (USRSF)

These CAROLINA boys will be dropped off into Iraq and have been given only the following facts about terrorists:

• 1. The season opened today.
• 2. There is no limit.
• 3. They taste just like chicken.
• 4. They don't like football, pickups, country music or Jesus.
• 5. They are directly responsible for the death of Dale Earnhardt.

The Pentagon expects the problem in Iraq to be over by Friday.