Monthly Archive for May, 2006

Today was Memorial Day, of course…a day in which we pause to honor those who have gone before us and died so that we all enjoy the freedoms we have today. I spent a good part of the early afternoon at the Springfield National Cemetery and snapped some photos of the gravesites and decorations that people had put up for Memorial Day. It was a sobering scene, especially seeing people who were directly related to those whose names were inscribed on the headstones honoring their memory. God bless the families of all who have died for freedom’s sake.

After that, I went to a couple places I needed to go, only in all of my brightness to find that they were closed for the holiday…so this sentence is an entire waste of blog space.

Tonight we all headed off to John and Benita’s place in Diggins (population 258!) and visited with them and some folks from church. It doesn’t get any better than watching the U.S. Paintball Championships on ESPN2, especially when the Portland Naughty Dogs won. Oh, and I saw a bunch of Amish people heading down that small road that passes by their house. The Amish are cool. If I ever get close to one I will shake their hand and thank them for conserving energy.

I am leaving tomorrow morning after a quick meeting with Pastor Pace. Wish me a safe trip, and throw a prayer out there for me!!!! God bless, it’s been fun here in the buckle of the Bible belt.

Only 178 more days until I move down here.

QUICK NEWS FLASH: Pat Robertson is at it YET AGAIN. This time, he’s claiming he leg pressed 2,000 pounds (for those of you who don’t know, that is one ton). When will this whacko televangelist leave public life. He makes legitimate Christianity look bad.

If you live in the Northwest and you listen to Seattle Mariners games, then you no doubt know who Ron Fairly is. He played some awesome baseball for 21 years, then took some time off and came back as a broadcaster…since the 1990s he’s livening up Seattle Mariners games with his commentary.

But it’s not just any old commentary. Ron, known affectionately to many Mariner fans as “Captain Obvious,” seems to feel that he knows everything about baseball and his audience doesn’t. The result is absolutely hilarious, with some of the best quotes I’ve ever heard. Because of this, I feel compelled to list some good old Fairly quotes from years past that I have collected from across the Internet.

Here they are:

Bruce Sutter has been around for a while and he’s pretty old. He’s thirty-five years old, that will give you some idea of how old he is.

He fakes a bluff.

If I had to name the number one asset you could have for any sport I’d say speed. In baseball, all a guy with speed has to do is make contact.

Last night I neglected to mention something that bears repeating.

The Giants are looking for a trade but I don’t think Atlanta wants to depart with a quality player.

The wind at Candlestick tonight is blowing with great propensity.

It’s 5-0, and Edgar’s on third base. If he scores, it’ll be 6-0.

There’s two strikes. One more strike and he’ll be out.

When a pitcher can’t get that last hitter out, it opens the door for big innings.

In order to win, you must score more runs than your opponent.

In all the years I played, he (Stan Williams) was the only guy who ever scared me and he was on my team.

The bases are loaded and there is zero outs. Now, who is in trouble here? Well, the pitcher is in trouble.

If that ball would have gone over the wall, it would have been a home run.

Gotta love Fairly. For you football folks, if you’re on the West Coast and catch Pac-10 games, you get to hear from Dan Fouts. Some of his stuff soon to come…

Jason and I ran around Springfield today and visited a few places. The Springfield Conservation Nature Center, a park off Battlefield Road, and Nutty Munkey Frozen Custard were victims, just to name a few places. It was really nice to have the now-rare opportunity to spend some time with my younger brother alone and be able to talk about some important life issues, as well as go hang out and go nuts in the process. Jason’s a great guy to hang out with and it was a great evening. There will be more times for him and I to hang.

Tomorrow I get to go out to eat TWICE with folks from Crimson House Ministries, the COGOP-affiliated church here in Springfield that I will be a part of come November. The first is at Lambert’s Cafe in Ozark. Remember when Johnny Parker came on here, loudly trumpeted his own horn on the shoutbox and said my Seahawks would not win one playoff game??? We bet on that, and since I was actually right for once, he owes me a Lambert’s Dinner. I’m going to have to get the most expensive thing on the menu.

The second time is after church when we shall all go out for an informal dessert at Braum’s, a dairy store/fast food-type chain here in the Midwest. That will be fun. Come one, come all.

Anyway, I’m off to bed. Make sure you keep checking the PhotoCenter for more photos that I shoot every day from Springfield.

My parents now have two guests at their rinky-dink apartment in Springfield, Missouri.??ᬨ‚Ć Mark Hobson, a youth minister and super cool guy whom my mom and I had the privilege of meeting at the COGOP’s International Youth Camp in 2002, flew in from Houston last night.??ᬨ‚Ć I joined him by arriving a bit later than him, after driving a colossanormous distance from Newport News, VA.??ᬨ‚Ć 1,135 miles, to be exact.

Glad I’m here, though.??ᬨ‚Ć Today I went to the Crimson House church to help with their Angel Food Ministry, which is a program in which church members and non-members can order boxes of food.??ᬨ‚Ć It was neat seeing folks like Jody, Angie, Ted, Diane and Shauna (even though I only caught Diane and Shauna for a couple minutes at the end).??ᬨ‚Ć I also got a chance to meet some new folks at the church as well.

Around 7 tonight we all waited for an hour and a half to get into Lambert’s Cafe in Ozark.??ᬨ‚Ć Not worth the wait, in my opinion, but still great food and it was good times just sitting there chatting with my parents, brother and Mark for a bit.??ᬨ‚Ć I don’t get an opportunity to do that much and I appreciated every minute of it.

So now I’m about to go to bed, wake up tomorrow and watch the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant’s cooling tower, which stands in the town in which I used to live, go down in a hail of smoke and explosions.??ᬨ‚Ć I’m not kidding.??ᬨ‚Ć They’re gonna implode the local landmark, a 499-foot cooling tower.??ᬨ‚Ć Amazing.

Peace and I’ll write more tomorrow.??ᬨ‚Ć I’ll also update photos as I take them.

In a little over twenty-four hours (thirty, to be exact), my trusty 1995 Chrysler Cirrus will transport me to a faraway land known as Springfield, Missouri.??ᬨ‚Ć To reach this enchanting land, a wise sage tells me I must drive seventeen hours westward on the great Interstate 64.??ᬨ‚Ć I shall pass through great cities such as Charleston, WV; Louisville, KY; and St. Louis, MO.

Tonight I packed, cleaned my room a bit…and now tomorrow I have to wake up around 10 AM, clean my room more, do a final load of laundry, pack that, and clean my car out.??ᬨ‚Ć The reason for this is that our office has to shoot video at the Air Force Association Gala tomorrow night (meaning I work from about 1 PM – midnight or so).??ᬨ‚Ć So right after I get home, I’m gonna plop into bed and get about seven hours of sleep, then hit the high road.

My weapons of choice to keep me alive, awake and alert are as follows:

• Six 20-ounce bottles of Mountain Dew.
• A six-pack of Starbucks Mocha Frappucino.
• Four packages of Jack Link’s Hickory Smoked Beef Jerky.
• My iPod, which can be directly connected to my car’s stereo.
• Jesus Christ sitting in the passenger seat.??ᬨ‚Ć He’s great to talk to.

So as you can see, the trip to Missouri is going to be great.

I can’t wait.