A Blog to be Named Later

Quick update...

2010-07-27T16:40:00.002-05:00

You know how when you're on a roller coaster that the climb to the top of that hill feels like it's going to take forever and then the ride is over before you know it?

Well, I'm pretty much at the top of that hill as far as grad school goes. Yes, I still have my comprehensive exam on Thursday and my last clinical shortly after that, but things are about to start going very fast for me.

- I'm expected to be "entry level" by the time I finish my last clinical. That means they actually expect me to be proficient with all this information I've amassed over the last 3 years. Scary.

- Sometime during my clinical I have to finish writing my dissertation. Not as scary as it was before my literature review, but still time consuming.

- Also, I have start sending out resumes while I'm on clinical. Talk about getting "real." I know I want to be in the Greenville area, but where to start looking for a job?! There are 2 places that seem promising, so I guess I should start there.

- Finally, I'm going to have to leave someone very special to me for 3 months. That'll be tough, but the beginning of November will be that much more amazing when I get back!

I'll post sporadically through the end of the year probably and I'll try to pick this up again full force after I'm a licensed PT (God willing!).

Hope everyone is doing well!

Last class ever!!!

2010-06-03T15:28:00.004-05:00

Well...that's it. No more classes in PT school! Unfortunately I'm not done though. Still have research, comps, and a final clinical rotation from August to the end of October. Still though, that's one more thing to check off the list!

Weekend Update:

-Heading to Raleigh to play in a golf tournament.
-Going from Raleigh to Greenville to see two old friends who have been in Singapore for the last 3 years!

Doesn't sound like much but it's a lot of driving. Plus I'll get to see my grandmother, play a round of golf with my dad and uncle, and see about 50 friends from college coming to Greenville for my friends in Singapore. Gonna be a busy but fun weekend.

That's it for now. If you've got any blog name suggestions, please submit them!

-Vance

One milestone down...only a few more to go.

2010-05-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I just finished the LAST official class test I will ever have to take in PT School! Now...I still have my comps to take at the end of July and my boards to take once I graduate, but I'm pretty much finished with actual class work now. Those 2 things plus finishing my research and completing my final rotation are all that remains between me and the real world.

How scary is that?!

Soon I'll be sending out resumes and setting up interviews for potential jobs! Didn't know if that would ever happen when I began this crazy journey called grad school.

For those that may read this...if you could, every now and then, just say a little prayer that 1) I'll get through with school and 2) that I will listen for God to lead me to the place I'd need to be after school.

While I'm thinking about it...

As I mentioned, I'm going to be looking for a new blog name. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments sections!

I'm not dead...

2010-05-17T21:53:00.004-05:00

...but I'm not ready to get back into blogging yet.

I've had time to post, but this just got put on the "back burner" in favor of a few other things. I do want to get back to blogging...just not yet. I've got to many other things going on right now with PT school to focus on doing this.

My hope is to restart the blog (probably under a different name - the explosion of The Blindside movie has kind of taken away the feeling of originality with this one) at the beginning on 2011 when I'm either a) a fully licensed PT or b) almost ready to take the board exams to become a fully licensed PT. Can't wait to be done!

I may drop in and post an entry while I'm on my last clinical rotation in the fall, but I doubt I'll do much more than than before next January.

Just wanted to let everyone (that still occasionally checks this blog) know what's going on. Take care!

My 1st Time in an OR

2009-07-06T21:10:00.004-05:00

It's like another world. TV's showing the x-ray films on every wall, a ton of lights, and two full sterile tables full of crazy looking tools designed to do some serious damage.

I didn't know if I was going to be watching a surgery or an extreme interegation.

Today was my first time in an OR and I throughly enjoyed it. I got a chance to watch a left total hip replacement with one of the nicest surgeons in the hospital. He even took a couple stops to show me stuff...like a completely removed femoral head (ligamentum teres included) and the finished hip replacement.

The surgery itself went about like I would have expected. I had to move around a lot to get some so-so views, but I still had a lot of fun.

I always knew why my patients were in so much pain following total joint replacements, but seeing the amount of trauma that goes into a replacement really gives you another perspective.

Overall it was a great experience. I could watch ortho surgeries all day and not get bored, but unfortunately, I had to get back to treating patients!

I'm off work tomorrow to caddy for my friend trying to qualify for my SC Amatuer. Should be a lot of fun and I'll try to do a write up on that.

Review of My MLB Predictions

2009-06-14T12:13:00.004-05:00

Eh...maybe I should just starting doing like Mike & Mike and start calling these "predictions sure to go wrong." Well...let's see what the damage is.

First, a look back at my predictions...

NL East
1. New York Mets, 2. Philidelphia Phillies, 3. Atlanta Braves, 4. Florida Marlins, 5. Washington Nationals

NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs, 2. Cinncinati Reds, 3. St. Louis Cardinals, 4. Houston Astros, 5. Milwaukee Brewers, 6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. Arizona Diamondbacks, 3. Colorado Rockies, 4. San Fransisco Giants, 5. San Diego Padres

AL East
1. New York Yankees, 2. Boston Red Sox, 3. Tampa Rays, 4a. Baltimore Orioles, 4b. Toronto Blue Jays

AL Central
1. Chicago White Sox, 2. Minnesota Twins, 3. Kansas City Royals, 4. Detroit Tigers, 5. Cleveland Indians

AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels, 2. Oakland Athletics, 3. Texas Rangers, 4. Seattle Mariners

With the MLB season a little more than 1/3 of the way through...let's see how I'm doing.

NL East: Well, at least we can start off with a positive note. I've nailed this one so far (5/5) which is a little disappointing since I wanted the Braves to prove me wrong. No such luck so far.

NL Central: Uh...yeah...that would be an O'fer. Not one team in the correct spot so far. The Cubs have been disappointing and sit in 4th place. I was close on Cincy and St. Louis...just had them flip-flopped. Milwaukee is the real surprise as they sit on top of the division. Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are just crushing it. I don't think they have enough to hold on, but right now...no one wants to step up and claim the division.

NL West: As I predicted the Dodgers are running away from the rest of the West so far. I think their magic number is already at 9....I kid, I kid...kind of. After that though I was almost completely backwards. San Fran has been a nice surprise as their pitching and hitting have finally started coming together. Arizona has already fired a manager and sits in last place. So much for those young bats and pitchers making strides. Only Justin Upton has shown improvement while Dan Haren is his steady, amazing self. The new manager thinks they're about to hit their stride though. We'll see.

AL East: Another O'fer, but I was a little closer on this one. Boston has a narrow lead with the Yanks right behind. Tampa is 4th, but they're finally starting to hit and Toronto is coming back down to Earth. Doc Holliday's injury doesn't help them either, but at least he's not going on the disabled list. Baltimore has a lot of nice young talent, but they're probably a year or two away.

AL Central: Well...I've got 2 right so far - The Twins in 2nd and Cleveland in last place. The friggin' Tigers have screwed me so far. Who knew they'd actually find some pitching this year? Despite Zach Grieke's amazing start, the Royals continue to disappoint me and my friend, Ben.

AL West: Another O'fer. Much like the Tigers, who knew the Rangers could find some pitching in that launching pad of a stadium? As long as they get good pitching, the Rangers will continue to do well b/c despite Hamilton's injury...they're still a very strong hitting lineup.

So, I got one division completely right, but that was cancelled out with 3 where I didn't get one right. Ouch. At least there's still about 100 games left in the season. I'll try to check again when the season is 2/3 of the way through.

FINALLY!

2009-06-10T18:38:00.003-05:00

Man...I didn't think that would ever end. I'm finally done with school work for my 2nd year of PT school as I turned in my last paper this morning! That was one of the worst months of school I've ever had. I had maybe 2 days off the whole month. Ugh. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Those people who say they'd leave their job to go back to school any day of the week are NOT talking about grad school. The really sad part is that all of my class views 40 hours of work a week for 8 weeks (without pay) as a BREAK. Crazy.

While I know I'm not fully prepared for this clinical, I am excited about getting a chance to practice PT again. I mean, that first time I have to clean up poop of whatever I'm going to wish that I wasn't doing this stuff, but I'm sure I'll get over it quickly.

Things really don't slow down for me though. During clinical I'm going to have to do an article review, a pharmacology project, and work on my dissertation literature review. Yikes. Oh well. At least I won't be studying neuro or cardiac arrhythmias!

That's all for now, but I'll try to get a few updates up here soon, including a look at how bad my projections for MLB are going.

My "Five"

2009-06-03T20:00:00.004-05:00

So, I've never been a big fan of Friends, but a particular episode came up while I was hanging out with a couple of friends at Ben and Carrie Beth's wedding. Actually, it was my friend Dan and his girlfriend, Lauren. We were watching TV and some attractive woman was on the TV. Lauren responded with, "she's in Dan's 5." Seeing as I don't watch Friends, I had to ask what that meant. Apparently "the 5" is the 5 celebrities that Chandler or Monica can sleep with without the other person getting mad.

While I certainly wouldn't advocate that sort of thing, it got me thinking about who my five would be in that given situation. Luckily, Maxim's Hot 100 just came out so I had plenty of...uh...research to go through to pick my five. I had a hard time picking just 5, so I've included several "tiers." Without any further delay... (one note though...this could theoretically change daily so don't hold me to any of this :) ).

My "Five"

1. Eva Mendes - I fell hard for Eva in Hitch, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. She's beyond sexy and belongs near the top of anyone's list.

2. Keira Knightly - This Brit is absolutely gorgeous (see her last real scene in Love Actually and tell me she's not one of the hottest women on the planet), and she has some serious acting "chops" to go along with her good looks.

3. Kristen Bell - A lot of people first got to know Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars, but I didn't see her until her appearances on Heroes. She played the dangerous and damaged half-villain, half confused teenager who's electric looks equalled the electricity coming out of her hands.

4. Jessica Biel - Biel's underwear scene in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry won the hearts of many young men, but most people probably became familiar with Biel from her appearances on 7th Heaven. The thing I like about Biel is that she doesn't fit into the ditsy blonde starlet category. She seems more mysterious and she has a little toughness to her that is appealing.

5. Elisha Cuthbert - The other "Elisha" (Elisha Dushku) seems to be the hot ticket right now, but lets not forget about Miss Cuthbert. She really burst onto the scene as a former porn star in The Girl Next Door, but most people probably first noticed her in her brief appearances in Old School and Love Actually. It's all about the eyes with Cuthbert. Her seductive glare could bring most men to their knees. She's had some pretty big duds moviewise since The Girl Next Door, but her recent appearances on 24 may be what she needs to get the momentum going again. Despite the poor quality of roles like House of Wax and Captivity, one thing is still certain...Cuthbert is stunning.

The First 5 Out (those who just missed the cut):

a-Carrie Underwood - Amazing voice to go with amazing looks
b-Mila Kunis - Hard not to see her as the uber-annoying "Jackie" on That 70's Show, but that doesn't change the fact that she is incredibly attractive. Her role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, makes up for some less than stellar roles
c- Malin Akerman - The pretty platinum blonde swede is starting to come into her own as an actress.
d-Mandy Moore - Don't judge me. She's very attractive. But more appealing than that, she seems to be a very smart person, and she's also a very talented singer and decent actress.
e-Scarlet Johansson - I can't quite put my finger on what makes this smokey-voiced, blonde star so attractive. I just know that she is.
EDIT: I'm breaking the rules a bit and adding ESPN's Erin Andrews to this part. Any guy who loves sports and ESPN probably also loves Andrews. Every guys dream...a gorgeous woman who loves sports as much if not more than he does. Awesome.

Others Considered:

- Amanda Bynes (again, don't judge me...I find her very attractive)
-Hayden Panettiere
-Avril Lavigne
-Jessica Alba
-Laura Prepon
-Arielle Kebbel
-Jennifer Morrison
-Diane Kruger
-Rachel McAdams
-Katherine Heigl
-Natalie Portman

Post #100 - Ben and Carrie Beth's Wedding

2009-05-29T21:35:00.004-05:00

Just a warning...this is a long post.

So, this past weekend I went down to Columbus, GA for the wedding of another roommate from college. I love to go to weddings of my friends. As much as I may joke about being bitter about single, I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I do look forward to the day when I find that person I'm meant to be with...especially if it means I can have a relationship like my two former roommates that are married now. But enough about me, this entry is about my friend and fraternity brother Ben and his wife Carrie Beth.

I got to Columbus around 3:40 on Friday after one of the most stressful drives I've had in a while. The construction and congestion on 85 was just stupid. The only consolation I had was that I wasn't going the other way. The other side of 85 was shut down at one point because of a wreck that backed traffic up for a minimum of 8 miles (I kid you not). Anyways, once I got to Columbus I was quickly reunited with a couple of fraternity brothers and several other friends from Furman. Considering how little of a social life I have and how little I get to see FU people, these moments are very important to me. The groom stopped by soon after just before we had to get ready to go to the rehersal and rehersal dinner.

Before I get into the real details of the weekend, you have to understand that Ben's mother is unbelievable at doing the little things that put something over the top. Also, Ben's family always does everything "right" if you know what I mean. The rehearsal dinner was done at a place overlooking the Chattehoochee River. The dinner was a really nice piece of steak, steamed vegetables, and a fairly unique apple pie type thing (with cinnamon or brown sugar ice cream). Following dinner, they showed a really nice slideshow of Ben and Carrie Beth from their childhood up until now. The crazy thing was that Ben's mother had done all of it! You would have thought a professional did it.

The next day was pretty uneventful up until the wedding. Ben, me, and another fraternity brother/ex-roommate Dan and his girlfriend went out for a relaxing lunch after we picked up the tuxes. The rest of the time before the wedding was killed watching TV. Although I did get to us some of my PT education to crack a few lumbar and thoracic spines. Dan and I were ushers since the wedding party was small, and since we are chronically early...we got to the church before any of the other guys and took care of a few things. I can safely say that we didn't screw the ushering up too badly. The wedding itself was very nice (and quick). The thing I like to do at weddings is to watch the groom as the bride is walking down the isle. That's a really special moment that you should check out if you think about it at the next wedding.

From there we went to the reception which was great. It was done in a renovated mill type building with nice exposed brickwalls and new hardwood floors. I could talk about the food for a while but I'll just give you the highlights: Coca-Cola glazed ham, beef tenderloin with a horseradish sauce, risotto croquetes with a basil cream, chicken tenders, and of course...wedding cake (2 types). Man...it was delicious. The jazz band was great and catching up with a lot of friends is always nice. These nights always go way too quickly though.

Luckily, Ben's mother had planned a "Bon Voyage Brunch" for the newlyweds so a few people could see them again before they went on their honeymoon to Paris. The brunch was nice as I got to see most of my friends one more time before the weekend was over.

I couldn't be happier for Ben and Carrie Beth. I remember telling someone about CB after the first time I met her. I told them that "if Ben lets her get away, he's an idiot...she's perfect for him." I meant it too. Sometimes you just know. This was one of those times. Congrats guys!

Weekend Update Coming Soon

2009-05-24T21:44:00.003-05:00

I'll get around to posting an update about my friend Ben's wedding this past weekend at some point this week when I finally get a tiny bit of free time. It was a ton of fun and very well done, so I want to give it the time that it needs.

PT school owns me right now. Back to studying!

Another Semester Down...

2009-05-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

Well, I just finished the Spring semester of my 2nd year on PT school. I can say without a doubt that it was one of the most miserable semesters ever. But whatever, it's done and I get a whole FOUR days of break before May-mester classes start.

I know my updates have been sporadic, but I'm hoping I can get back into the flow over the summer.

Check out the Philosophical Diatribes blog (see list on the right) for an awesome best/worst Nick Cage movie countdown.

2009 MLB Division Predictions

2009-04-01T18:15:00.002-05:00

So, I did this last year, and I think I should do it again. I'll look back at my results from last year tonight or tomorrow to see how I did. Anyways...here are my predictions for this year.

NL East
1. New York Mets 2. Philidelphia Phillies 3. Atlanta Braves 4. Florida Marlins 5. Washington Nationals

The NL East is going to be incredibly tough this year. The Mets probably the most complete team, but they still have to shake of the late season collapses from the last two years. I'm not a huge fan of the Phillies pitching, but they probably have enough offense to win their share of games. I'm obviously biased towards the Braves, but I'll put them middle of the pack and hope for the best. If their pitching remains healthy and they get a little more production from the outfield this year, they should be in contention. The Marlins are hard to place. They have a pitching staff with a TON of upside, but they still have a TON to prove. Young pitchers tend to have one of those extended slumps during the season, so I'm guessing that keeps the Marlins from competing. The Nationals will be better than I think probably, but there are too many holes to compete consistantly. Bye bye Manny Acta?

NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs 2. Cinncinati Reds 3. St. Louis Cardinals 4. Houston Astros 5. Milwaukee Brewers 6. Pittsburgh Pirates

Two things are for sure...the Cubs should run away with the division and the Pirates should be horrible. The rest of the teams will be in a pillow fight for 2nd place. I don't by that Cardinals pitching staff for a 2nd year in a row (they really played over their own potential last year). The Astros have issues after Oswalt and Rodriguez. Milwaukee's pitching staff is a complete mess.

NL West
1. Los Angeles Dodgers 2. Arizona Diamondbacks 3. Colorado Rockies 4. San Fransisco Giants 5. San Diego Padres

D-Backs probably have more upside, but the Dodgers are more proven and should sneak out a close division win. Rockies should hang around for a while. The Giants could surprise this year if the young talent comes along quickly. The Padres are going to be awful....just awful.

AL East
1. New York Yankees 2. Boston Red Sox 3. Tampa Rays 4a. Baltimore Orioles 4b. Toronto Blue Jays

I'm picking the Yanks first in hope of a reverse jinx. Both NY and Boston are really strong at most areas but still have a few questions marks that could sidetrack their year. If the Rays can somehow hang around until David Price is called up, the could make things interesting at the end. I don't think they'll have enough offense to win though. Orioles and Blue Jays have issues all over the place, so I couldn't pick a 4 or 5 team here.

AL Central
1. Chicago White Sox 2. Minnesota Twins 3. Kansas City Royals 4. Detroit Tigers 5. Cleveland Indians

This is probably the hardest division to figure out. I went with the White Sox because their lineup is solid and their pitching (rotation and bullpen) is pretty stable. The Twins will be tough with their pitching, but not having Mauer hurts their lineup and neutralizes some the effects of that pretty good pitching staff. I'm hopeful for the Royals, but I don't think this is the year they make that jump to the playoffs. The Tigers have serious pitching problems, and the Indians are still rebuilding.

AL West
1. Los Angeles Angels 2. Oakland Athletics 3. Texas Rangers 4. Seattle Mariners

The Angels lineup is very good, and if their pitching stays healthy...they should win the division. The A's probably shouldn't fall in at number 2, but they always seem to find a way to compete. Assuming Beane doesn't deal his good players at the trade deadline, they should hang around. I want to believe in the Rangers, but I just can't. They'll probably have the best offense in baseball this year, but I absolutely do not trust their pitching. Maybe their offense will win them all their games, but usually...you have to have some pitching to win in the long run. The Mariners have a few players, but they're still mostly a trainwreck.

1/4 of a Century

2009-03-26T12:58:00.003-05:00

So...first off, I'm sorry for being so slack on the blog. Thing have been crazy and I've been lazy. My bad.

Secondly, the title of the post refers to the fact that today is my 25th birthday. I was thinking about it last night, and it did kind of hit me hard. While I'm still young, I'm half way to 30. Whoa. For those older than me, I know you're ready to kill me for thinking that's a big deal. But when you're in your 20's, it seems like a big thing. Also, if you consider pre-school...I've spent about 1/3 of my life in school!! Ugh! How sad. Still hoping it pays off in the end (I think it will).

Also, I've really tried to appreciate being alive due to the course of events over the last couple of days. A person I know from tailgating at Furman had his 18 year old daughter pass away a few years ago. It's a heartbreaking reminder that none of us ever know when God will call us home. I know it's hard to do, but we would all (especially myself) be a lot better off if we just took a few moments each day to appreciate the fact that we're alive. It would really put things in perspective which seems to be needed now more than ever.

Please keep my Furman friend and his family, The Freelands, in your prayers over the next couple of weeks. No parents should ever have to bury their child.

PS - I know that's a pretty gloomy way to end my birthday blog, but that's what I felt led to type. Sorry! Another blog to check out concerning this situation is my friend Bennie's blog which you can read here.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!

I am so tired...

2009-02-18T21:17:00.002-05:00

So, I just finished 3 days of 3 big tests and I'm absolutely worn out. I think I got 14 hours of sleep over the last 3 days. Trust me, I'm catching up on a little of that tonight...

Anyways, I probably need to give a PT school update...

This semester was going along prett easy, but things are now starting pile up a little. As I said earlier, I just finished the 3rd of my 3 tests this week. I guess I did ok on all of them, but when you have a bunch of tests back to back...you can never truly give a 100% to one test. So all of them suffer a little. Oh well. I'm taking the rest of the night off then getting back to it tomorrow b/c I have 2 test next week. It just never stops.

On another note, I recently had a transfers experience (like moving patients from beds to chairs) at a local hosiptal. While I do like the fact that most of the acute care PT's don't see as many patients at outpatient PT's, I can absolutely not deal with the patients' uncontrolable bowel movements. 2 of the patients we saw had bowel movements while we were helping them transfer. A classmate and I even had to hold one of the patients up while the PT cleaned the patient. God bless all the nurses, orderlies, and PT's who can do that because I just don't think I can.

Moving on to more pleasent matters...

Baseball season is almost here! When I went off to Furman in 2002, I wasn't incredibly in to baseball, but I did keep up with the Braves regularly. At Furman though, almost all of my best friends were baseball nuts, so naturally...I now am one too. As someone who loves all sports (except pro basketball...gag), I don't like single one sport out as being more special than any other one, but there is just something about baseball. I'm not saying it's my favorite sport, but there is something undeniably different about the feel and experience of baseball. I think a few friends from FU and I are going to go to the Braves home opener this year against the Nationals. I already can't wait and spring training games haven't even started yet! Like last year, I'll try to post my division predictions before the season starts, and I'll look back and my predictions from last year (I'm pretty sure they were terrible).

That's it for now. Check back soon!

2 Year Anniversary

2009-02-02T21:38:00.003-05:00

Well, 2 years ago on this day I started this blog. I'm happy to say that's contributed almost nothing to the blogging community. Ok, I'm not really happy about it, but it's not what I set out to do. This was just supposed for me to be a place to jot down some thoughts and share a few experiences every now and then. It hasn't worked out exactly the same way I thought it would in my first post, but I'm just happy I've kept it up off and on over the last 2 years.

Honestly, I thought it would last about 3 months and I'd get tired of it. Admittedly, there were periods where I think I went 3 months without posting, but I always came back.

I have no great plans for my blog. I'll continue to report on PT school every now and then, as well as any movies or hobbies I may pick up. Maybe I can keep this thing going right on through grad school. Who knows?

Anyways, I got to get back to studying for a test. Happy anniversary to me ;o)

25 Random Facts...

2009-01-30T21:13:00.002-05:00

So, I refuse to post this on facebook like everyone else is doing, but I figured I'd go ahead an post it here. So...here goes.

1. Like Briton, I think I got facebook in November 2004 (the first weekend it became available to Furman). I’m pretty sure I saw an advertisement on the e-mail system or something like.

2. I’m pretty much at the point where I have to listen to my iPod at night in order to fall asleep.

3. I’ve never flown…ever. I could probably handle flying over ground (b/c it would be over quickly if we crashed), but I’m terrified of flying over water (b/c I’m terrified of drowning).

4. I really dislike driving over bridges. I got that fear from my mom I think. Those freakin’ rickety old bridges in Charleston didn’t help. I’m glad those stupid things are gone.

5. I love college football more than any person ever should.

6. I went to 13 of 14 Furman games (all but Chattanooga) my senior year (fall ’05) with my buddy Russell Dorn. The trip included visits to Jacksonville St (AL), Statesboro (GA), and Richmond (VA), and Boone (NC). Honestly, one of the best things I’ve ever done.

7. One of my favorite things in the world is to call Briton after a Florida loss or a particularly depressing Furman loss, speak a couple of words to open the call, then listen to Briton go off on some random SEC team or Bobby Lamb for about 30 minutes. If you’ve never done it, you need to. It’s freakin’ hilarious!

8. The most angry I’ve ever been over sports (and Briton can attest to this) was one weekend in October of 2004. I was up in Boone, NC watching Furman find another heartbreaking way to lose to App State. If that wasn’t bad enough…that was the same weekend NC State was stopped at 4th and goal on the one to lose to UNC. Poor Briton had to listen to LSU come back to beat Florida (he then proceeded to beat up my dashboard…completely unprovoked :o) ). When I got back to the apartment, a friend had taped a UNC victory poster on my front door. That did it. I ripped off the poster, tore it in two, left it outside, slammed the door on the way in the apartment, slammed the door to my room, and was in a funk for the next week. I’m not even exaggerating. That’s when I realized that I couldn’t follow sports like that anymore. Losses still hurt, but it rarely bothers me for more than a few minutes.

9. One of the most confusing quotes I’ve ever heard was uttered by my friend Russell Dorn. We had been in Richmond all of 5 seconds, and Russell, after seeing 2 people riding a tandem bicycle, said “That’s so Richmond.” I still don’t know what qualified him to make a judgment like that. All I know is that Dan Sharkey and I thought it was particularly hilarious. I guess you had to be there.

10. I maintain my sanity by calling my friend Ben Wallace and venting about whatever’s going on. He does the same. It’s pretty amazing considering I really didn’t get along with him most of my freshman year. Now, it’s rare a week goes by when I don’t talk to him. Oh, and we usually greet each other by one of us calling the other a “tool.” It’s an odd dynamic.

11. My dream car is a ’67 Shelby GT 500 (or any classic Shelby)

12. My first job was cleaning and parking golf carts at the country club where my dad was the manager/pro.

13. I’m addicted to Coke Zero. I’ve tried to stop but I just can’t

14. I, like John McDaniel, am not a morning person. I don’t drink coffee, so the first couple of hours I’m pretty cranky. I’m much more of a night owl. Always have been.

15. I’ve recently (as in the last couple of years) really gotten into movies. I’m not as critical as some people, but I do appreciate the finer aspects of movie making. I’ve seen a disgusting number of movies (700+) and I have something like 200 movies in my Netflix queue.

16. I think Netflix is just about the best thing ever.

17. There is NO place I’d rather be than the mountains. Seriously, it’s the most peaceful, relaxing, spiritual place in the whole world to me. If I lived there I would literally hike almost everyday to a cliff and watch the sunset. Cheesy, I know, but I love it. I really do.

18. I have a small case of OCD when it comes to locking doors (apparently my classmate Brian Draddy does too). I sometimes have to walk back to my car 2-3 times just to make sure the door is locked. Same thing for the house door locks.

19. I really like to cook. I know that’s not a particularly “manly” thing to admit, but I appreciate what goes in to making a good meal and the joy that comes from someone enjoying what you’ve made.

20. I’ve traveled through a lot of the country making camps accessible for people with disabilities. It was part of a summer long philanthropic event from my fraternity’s philanthropy, Push America. It was the first time I had been farther north than DC and farther west than Nashville. A couple of things I learned: 1) Kansas is the most awful state as far as scenery goes (eastern Colorado wasn’t much better). I’m convinced that everyone who moves there becomes clinically depressed after only 1 hour. It’s that sad. 2) They really don’t serve sweet tea farther north than Virginia and west than Alabama. 3)Watching the sunrise at 14000 feet at the Continental Divide in Colorado was absolutely amazing. 4)They sell cheese almost everywhere (literally) in Wisconsin. 5) Texas and Alabama in the summer are too freaking hot to do anything (especially manual labor).

21. I would love to be the team therapist for a college football team (particularly NC State or Furman) sometime after I graduate from physical therapy school.

22. Like my friends Towers and Tim, I like scented candles. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’m not giving them up.

23. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as I used to during my fraternity’s chapter meetings. You put 60+ guys with odd senses of humor in a room for 2+ hours and crazy things happen. I don’t miss the business aspects of it, but I miss spending time with my friends every Sunday night.

24. I love Furman and the people I met there. It really is a special place. I know people get tired of me talking about it, but I don’t care.

25. My friends sometimes tell me I’m a walking encyclopedia of sports trivia/knowledge. I can hear something about sports and remember it instantly. Schoolwork on the other hand takes me forever to learn. Funny how that works huh?

"You Can't Drown in Sorrow..."

2009-01-25T12:00:00.003-05:00

Kay Yow - March 14, 1942-January 24, 2009

I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't shed a tear this morning when I found out that Kay Yow, longtime NC State woman's basketball coach, died this morning at the age of 66 after a 22 year on and off battle with cancer.

I have never met the woman, but I don't think anyone would have had to meet her to understand that Kay Yow was a special woman. I mean, there aren't many people who can say they fought off cancer for 22 years (3 recurrance). But that's only part of the story...

The numbers are impressive:

-737 wins (7th all time in women's basketball)
-Over 1000 games coached at one school (one of only 3 woman's coaches to do so)
-21 seasons of at least 20 wins
-Head coach of the US woman's basketball team that won gold in Seoul (assistant in 84 when they also won gold
-20 NCAA tournament apparences
-4 ACC tournament championships
-1998 Final Four team
-2002 inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame

But even that doesn't explain all you need to know about Kay Yow.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma once said of Yow, "She has a unique position in all of coaching, because there isn't a single coach out there who will say anything negative about her. Everyone loves her." Indeed, Kay Yow was respected, admired, and loved by everyone I've ever heard speak of her. That goes double for her players. An article stated today that when asked why many star women from states like PA, CT, etc picked to come play at NC State the one, resounding answer was, "Coach Yow." Kay Yow was the woman who took the place of a mother, aunt, grandmother, etc for the 4/5 years these women were at NC State. Not only did she teach them sound fundamental basketball, but she also taught them about life, love, hardships, and faith. Kay Yow was an amazing teacher/mentor in every sense of the word.

But even that doesn't tell the whole story of Kay Yow.

One of the most endearing things for me about Yow was that she was an unapolgetic woman of faith, always using it as a source of inspiration, motivation, and strength in her fight against cancer. There are a few quotes that Yow spoke of often during her battle with cancer, two of which really show the type of person Kay Yow was:

"You can't drown in sorrow – you have just swish your feet a little, then get out and move on."

"Every morning, I wake up and the first thing I think of is I'm thankful. I'm thankful for another day."

A fighter to the very end, Kay Yow truly embodied the words of her fellow NC State coach, Jim Valvano (who also lost his battle with cancer). Jimmy V told us to never give up, and Kay Yow certainly never did.

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the world is a little less bright today with Kay Yow missing from it.

Luckily, the memory of both Kay Yow and Jim Valvano will continue to live on not only through the lives the touched but also through their work in raising funds and awareness for cancer research. The Jimmy V foundation is doing amazing things in fundraising for cancer research. EVERY dollar given to the V Foundation goes into cancer research, something even many of the bigger foundations cannot say. ESPN and the V Foundation also recently set up a Fund in the honor of Kay Yow, so that her story can still help raise funds and awareness about cancer research even though she's left this world.

Kay Yow lost her battle with cancer early in the morning of January 24. She reportedly passed away peacefully after fighting so incredibly hard for 22 years. I know that beyond her family and close friends, the Wolfpack Nation and anyone who ever came in contact with Coach Yow are deeply saddened by her passing, and yet we can all find such strength and encouragement in the way she lived.

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/ncsu/womens_basketball/story/1381001.html

"For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optomistic"

2009-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I admit that I've always thought that celebrity crushes were pretty stupid. Sure, there have been actresses and what not that I've found attractive, but it was never anything to warrent what I would call a celebrity crush. At least not one that I'd admit to...

Well, I'll admit to one right now (if only b/c it honestly surprised me)...

Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore. (pic to the left)

I don't know why. Could be because I've a little thing for redheads. Could be because I always seem to find myself attracted to girls in the 5'1-5'4" range. Could be because she seems like she would be able to be both one of the guys and a girl's girl easily. Could be because I tend to like rock bands with girls as lead singers (see Flyleaf). Could be that she's definitely a southern girl (she admits as much). Maybe it's her eyes. I have no idea...

It could be any of those things, but I think AskMen.com sums it up pretty well...

"Definite proof that big things come in small packages, Hayley Williams has certainly managed to use her diminutive, pixie-ish stature to her benefit. She’s the kind of girl that one can easily imagine hanging out with the guys one minute and then getting completely glammed up for a fancy shindig the next. Hayley’s undeniable stage presence, coupled with her palpable musical ability, has lent her the kind of self-confident demeanor that is virtually impossible to resist."

I think I first noticed it, during the band's music video for "That's What You Get." She looks particularly attractive there. (pic on the right is from the video)

Well, there it is. I'm a little embarrassed but I put it out there. That's the first step to getting over this stuff right? ;o)

I guess I can't mock those people with celebrity crushes anymore.

PS - The post title is the name of one of Paramore's songs.

Back to normal...

2009-01-16T23:37:00.004-05:00

Yep. The first week of my 2nd year spring term is done, and things are business as usual. The timing of my schedule this semester really sucks by the way. I usually have classes from 11 to 12:30ish, then I don't have another class until 3:30 or 4. And Wednesday, don't get me started on Wednesday (class from 8:30 until 5...it sucks). The only good that's come from it so far is that I'm able to get a lot of work done in those big blocks of free time. It's left me with more free time at night than I'm used to having.

So, lately I've been filling it with some Wii Fit or Guitar Hero. The Wii Fit really is amazing. I was skeptical at first, but after playing around with it...you can really get a good work out if you know how to organize it. I don't think it's as good as a real work out at a gym, but it's better than nothing. I encourage any of you who haven't tried it yet to find a friend who does have it and give it a shot. I think you'll be pleasently surprised.

Anyways, I don't have much else going on so I'll finish with that.

Oh yeah, there's a possibility that I may be helping to run a Furman recruiting twitter thing, so I'll post a link to that if it works out.

Most Anticipated Movies of 2009

2009-01-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

I know, I know....another movie post?! Sorry. It's just what I'm interested in right now. Anyways, here's the list of my most anticipated movies for 2009. It's based from a list by Yahoo.com which you can see here.

1. The Watchmen (3/6): It's getting the type of hype that surrounded Zach Synder's other really big hit, 300. It's probably not a surprise the advertising campaign and release dates are similar too. It's based on the most celebrated graphic novel of all time which also made a top 100 list of the best novels of the 20th century. Knowing Snyder it will be full of slow-mo fight scenes and amazing, breath taking visuals. Should do well despite a relatively unknown cast. This will be the first big movie of the year and should set the pace for the rest of the summer blockbusters.

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (5/1): This is to be the first of some Marvel spin-offs about the beginning of some of the more famous characters. The beginning of Wolverine's, or Logan's, story has always been shrouded in a little bit of mystery (at least it was when I was growing up...they may have cleared it all up since then), so seeing where this movie goes could be interesting. Wolverine has always been my favorite X-Men, so I'm really hoping this doesn't flop. The preview looks really good, so I guess that's a start.

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (6/26): There's not a lot of information out there on this movie yet, but I love the Transformers. Michael Bay returns to direct this movie so we can be sure of one thing....there will be MASSIVE amounts of explosions and action. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too cheesy (I know that's saying something considering the premise of the movie concerns robots from a distant plant who can change into any type of machine).

4. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (7/1): I really love the characters in this CGI movie series. Scrat, who's just a minor character, is easily my favorite, but all of them bring something to the table. During my senior year at Furman, 2 of my roommates and I went to Ice Age 2 on opening night. We were the only people in there over 10 who didn't have children...and we were probably laughing the hardest.

5. Sherlock Holmes (11/20): Again, not much known about this movie, but you can it imagine it will take some from the original books. Robert Downey Jr. will play Sherlock Holmes, and I'm excited to see what he'll do with the character. 2008 was the big BIG comeback year for Downey, so here's hoping that 2009 is equally as good for him. Jude Law will play Dr. Watson and Rachael McAdams will play Irene Adler.

6. Terminator Salvation (5/2): This version of the wildly popular series finds John Conner, played by Christian Bale, as a 30 year old in the future as he leads the remaining human race against the robots. The problem is, this future isn't what his mother told him it would be. Bale has had a string of big hits recently (Batman Begins, The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, The Dark Knight), so it'll be see if he can deliver again.

7. Star Trek (5/8): This version of Star Trek is being done by J.J. Abrams who has produced Lost and Cloverfield. It apparently looks at the very early days of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise gang as it was just being assembled. Zachary Quinto of Heroes (Syler) fame will play Spock (a very good choice in my mind), and an actor named Chris Pine will play Capt. Kirk. Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog, Charlie Bartlett) will have a role in this as well as the Terminator movie.

8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (5/22): The movie looks pretty funny from the trailer. There's a darn good cast assembled too. Ben Stiller returns as the lead along with Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Robin Williams, and Dick Van Dyke. Throw in there Hank Azaria, Ricky Gervis, Ed Helms (Daily Show, The Office), Eugene Levy (Dad from American Pie), Jonah Hill, and Bill Hader, and you have a chance to have a frickin' hilarious movie. Bill Hader as General Custard looks particularly funny.

9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (7/17): I admit that I've never read the books, but the movies have always been enjoyable.

10. Taken (1/30): Liam Neeson stars as a ex-spy in this thriller. I think Neeson is a brilliant actor (his voice is something special...much like James Earl Jones), and he should do well here. Neeson's daughter is kidnapped in Paris, and Neeson uses he spy skills to track down his daughter's captors. The only thing I don't like is they give away where the daughter is taken in an extended trailer, but the normal theatrical trailer is good if you don't want to know (I think it's better not to know).

Best of the Rest:

Funny People (7/31) - I know almost nothing about it, but it stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan. Count me in!

Up (5/29) - Another release by Pixar. If their track record is any indication, it should be pretty good.

Public Enemies (7/1) - Johnny Depp is a legendary bank robber, and Christian Bale tries to catch him and other criminals. Apparently also has to do with the formation of the FBI as the first federal police force. Depp and Bale should make it a very good movie.

GI Joe (8/7) - Most boys my age and a little older grew up fans of GI Joe, so I'm interested to see how this movie will do. Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, and Sienna Miller among others make up the cast.

A Christmas Carol - w/ Jim Carrey (11/6) - I'm guessing the story line is going to similar to the book, but I'm excited to see wht Jim Carrey can do with this role. It's odd it comes out Nov. 6th though. I wouldn't be surprised to see it pushed back eventually.

My Top 10 Favorite Movies from 2008

2009-01-06T08:00:00.008-05:00

I wouldn't call myself a movie expert by any means, but I do like to watch movies and I try to appreciate all aspects of a movie (although not to the same detail as some critics). Since I watch a decent amount of movies, I figured I'd do a top 10 list about my favorite movies I saw in 2008 (all had to be 2008 releases).

1. Iron Man - Robert Downey Jr. was spectacular and Marvel's first venture into making their own movie was a smash hit. It had all the cinematic elements that made the first couple of Spider Man movies so good plus all of Tony Stark's sweet gadgets. Looking forward to the sequel.

2. The Dark Knight - This could definitely be #1, but I just enjoyed Iron Man more. If there was going to be anyone to challenge Downey's performance in Iron Man, it was going to be Ledger's new take on The Joker. Ledger absolutely knocked it out of the park! His version of the Joker will go down as one of the most memorable characters of all time (I don't think that's a stretch either). Sadly, Ledger died before the movie was released (which probably did help the popularity of the movie), so Ledger never got a chance to receive all the praise he deserved for his performance. Bale was ok, but I didn't enjoy his performance as much this time around. Aaron Eckhart did well as Two Face too.

3. Wall-E - Pixar did it again. Stunning visuals and a fun story with enough to keep all ages interested. It's hard not to instantly fall in love with the little trash compacting robot, and as per usual in Pixar films, the supporting characters steal the show at times with some of the movies funniest moments. This falls in at #3 because while it was an incredibly fun movie to watch, it didn't offer as much depth as the first two movies (which is ok b/c that's not what it was going for).

4. Definitely, Maybe - While the premise of the plot was a bit of a stretch (as most critics pointed out), this was one of the best, most unique, romantic comedies in a while. You got most everything you come to expect from a romantic comedy, but it all seemed a bit more genuine this time around. I like Ryan Reynolds, but he can come of a guy who likes his charactor (or himself) a bit too much in some roles. That was NOT the case this time around. Reynolds gave a good performance in which he made himself more vulnerable and believable, and it really worked in this setting. I hope we can see this side of Reynolds more in the future. I don't think we'll see it in the new Wolverine movie in which he'll play Deadpool, but his Rom Com with Sandra Bullock, The Proposal, has some potential.

5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Still has some of the raunchy elemants from a Judd Apatow flick, but Jason Segel's film, and his role as the lead character, just seem to work here. It's another romantic comedy, but it succeeds because it addresses some emotions that other romantic comedies tend to avoid. With that said, it still delivers the tons of laughs that we've come to expect from these characters. And for all the guys out there, Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis are absolutely gorgeous here.

6. Kung Fu Panda - A fun movie. Black's voice works well as the chubby, clumsy, but good natured Panda, "Po." The message of following your dreams and believing in yourself aren't original, but they are presented well here. The CGI visuals are very good as, obviously, they rely heavily on the beauty and eloquence often presented with ancient Chinese culture. Hoffman does a good job as the hardened (from what we are not immediately aware) master teacher, but the other bigger names (Jolie, Chan, Rogan, etc) didn't do that much for me. It's not that they did poorly, but Black steals the show and often overshadows their performances.

7. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Not as good as the first movie, as it features a lot of fighting with characters that we never get a chance to get to know or care for. It would have been better served to spend less time with the fight scenes and more time with character development. With that said, it's still a fun movie with most of the characters you've grown to love (and a few new ones...the little mouse steals the show at times). The religious elements from CS Lewis's books are still there, and they're part of the reason I enjoy the movies. The very end of the movie made me a little sad (but only b/c I hadn't read the books before), but overall I did enjoy the 2nd installment of The Chronicles of Narnia.

8. Tropic Thunder - You've got to get over the completely ridiculous first impression the trailer gives off. Once you do that you can truly enjoy this impressive slapstick comedy. The thing that makes this movie work is the completely over-the-top performances. The all-star cast of actors plays...well...a bunch of primadonna actors making a war movie in the mold of a Platoon. Things go wrong when the actors are taken to new area for filming but run into some people with real guns. Stiller's character is so deluded that he believes they're still shooting the movie even when it becomes painfully obvious to the others that something's not right. Robert Downey Jr's performance as a highly decorated Australian actor, Kirk Lazarus, who undergoes a skin-dying operation to play the troop's black leader is nothing short of amazing. The other characters all have their funny moments, but Downey is freakin' hilarious, and he's able to bring in a little something else to his comedy which makes it a little smarter and more subtle. Tom Cruise's character is also hilarious.

9. Marley and Me - This movie probably wouldn't have been as high if I wasn't such a big dog lover, but as it is, it really hit a chord with me. For anyone who has had a dog (or lost one for that matter), you can certainly relate to some of the hilarity the Marley gets into. It's the softer moments though that really stick with you and remind you just how loving and loyal a dog can be. The end of the movie may have been a bit overdone, but overall the movie was pretty good. Owen Wilson was accessible and funny as he is in most of his movies, and while I've never particularly liked Anniston's performances, she does well here as a stressed, yet supportive wife and mother. Even though I'm not married, I imagine most married couples will see a lot of themselves in Wilson's and Anniston's performances. I know I've seen it in some of my married friends.

10. Wanted - A fun "shoot'em up" movie and an interesting concept. A lot of fun scenes and a twist at the end kept me interested throughout. Relentlessly violent, yet somewhat goofy, this movie rarely has a down/breather moment. It can become almost overkill at times, but it works despite this. McAvoy does a good job as a beaten down, meek office worker turned master assassin. Jolie is enjoyable as the seductive assassin that recruits McAvoy into the fraternity, and Morgan Freeman does a good job in his typical wise, man-in-charge role.

Recap of the PapaJohns.com Bowl

2009-01-04T08:00:00.004-05:00

My mother, father, and I went down to Birmingham, Alabama from December 28-30 for the PapaJohns.com Bowl between NC State and Rutgers. That fact that NC State even got to go to a bowl this year was good enough for me considering how the year started, but considering I had nothing else to do...I figured I might as well go down and enjoy some time with my parents, eat some good food, and watch a little more football before the year was over.

Overall, it was a good decision. So, I guess I should give you the recap.

The parents picked me up around 9:30 on Sunday morning and we set of on the 6 hour trip to Birmingham. Not much to report about the trip...except that I thought my mom was going to kill some idiot. I think it's safe to say that my mom has some road rage issues. My mom was driving about 77 mph on I-20 (pretty good speed but not flying), when she got behind this guy that was intentionally messing with her. He refused to pass this other car so he was essentially blocking anyone from passing. Then he'd speed up then slam on breaks almost causing us to wreck several times. I don't think mom helped much, but what possesses people to be jerks like that? To make things worse, this guy had a Jesus fish on the back of his car and was wearing a WWJD shirt. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Way to represent us Christians moron. Anyways...

We met my Dad's aunt (Sharon), her husband (Craig), and my Dad's Cousin (Pam) and her husband (Jim) that night for dinner. Since Pam and Jim live in Hoover (the city we were staying in), we got some recommendations for places to eat. We eventually settled on a place called Firebirds, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions ever. This place was just great. The atmosphere was great...large wooden beams, great stonework, open floorplan so you could see everything. We had an amazing waiter who was spot on with all his suggestions. Speaking of those, this is what I got:

Mixed greens salad with a cilantro-line vinegerette and 2 jumbo lump crab cakes, a side of fried spinach (AMAZING!), and a slice of Creme Brulee cheesecake topped with a raspberry sauce (yum! - that's it to the right). I could talk about all of it, but the cheesecake deserves special mention. I don't know this for a fact, but I honestly think that is the best cheesecake in the world. I've never had a lighter, more delicious cheesecake anywhere. The flavor was amazing, and the caramalized sugar on top added a nice contrast in texture to the soft cheesecake. I'm salivating just typing about it! But back to the weekend.

The next day was gameday. We got to the stadium about 11:30 for the 2 pm game and made our way over to the Wolfpack Club lunch. It was ok. The food was nothing spectacular and the serving lines were a mess, but I guess it beat trying to fight the other 35,000 people for food somewhere else. The game was at Legion Field, and I can honestly say that it's a dump. Yes, it has tons of history (used to host the Iron Bowl - Auburn/Alabama - game every year), but it's in bad shape and it's in a HORRIBLE part of town. Sitting in your seats it seems ok, but anywhere else it's sketchy as heck (the whole stadium had barbed wire on top of the walls!). The game was pretty good though. NC State controlled it early, but we were doomed when our starting QB got hurt just before half. Theoretically, a team would still have a chance, but NC State has NOTHING behind our starter. I mean the back-ups are just terrible (and that's being nice). Anyways, it was still a good game to watch, and I got to see Rutgers in person for the first time.

We went out to Bonefish that night (a family favorite), then got up the next morning and went to the pretty popular breakfast place called the Ranch House for breakfest the next morning before saying goodbye to Sharon and Craig.

After driving to Raleigh on the 25th, back to Columbia on the 26th, to Birmingham on the 28th, and back to Columbia on the 30th, I was exhausted. It was worth it though, and overall a good experience.

I would have liked to explored Birmingham a little more since my last clinical rotation will be there, but I guess I'll just have to get back down there at some point to scope out some short term housing.

I'll try to have another post out in the next few days talking about my top 10 favorite movies from 2008.

First post of 2009

2009-01-02T21:14:00.008-05:00

Well, 2009 is here. It doesn't feel that different than any other year really. I don't know what 2009 will hold, but like most people...there are certain things I hope are different. I may get into that later, but let's look at what's on tap for me in 2009.

1) I'll turn 25. I have to admit, that's a little scary. It really has snuck up on me. I don't know what I want to accomplish before that happens, but I feel like I need to do something big before then. We'll see if it happens...
2) My sister will turn 21. Holy crap. Talk about scary. She'll always be the little girl who used to sit in front of her tv and watch Mary-Kate and Ashley videos for hours (she'll probably hate me for telling you that...oops). I don't know if I'll be able to handle the fact that my sister will be 21. I guess I'll have to deal with it though.
3)I'll be one year closer to finishing PT school, including finishing my last full semester of classwork......EVER! This year I'll have my 2nd year spring term, a may class, my acute care clinical rotation, and my 3rd year fall semester. The fall semester will be my last full semester of classwork I ever have to take. I can hardly wait. 2010 will feature 2 clinical rotations and some other classes scattered in there.
EDIT: 4) I will have been "blogging" for 2 years. Well, I guess that's a little bit of a stretch since I haven't even posted 100 times in a little less than 2 years. However, I'm still trying after that long, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I guess that means I'll need to do a 2 year recap or something sometime next month (that's when I started).

Um...that's all I could think of right now, but I know there's something I'm forgetting. I'll post more if I think of them.

I don't make resolutions. There are things that I'm going to try to change this year, but I'm not going to make a resolution about it. I think resolutions put too much pressure on a person to keep that resolution instead of actually working on changing whatever they've decided to change. If you're trying to lose weight, the focus shouldn't just be on losing weight. If you go through the whole year and only lose a few pounds (as opposed to whatever larger # you set), shouldn't that be ok if you have developed better eating and exercise habits? You may not have lost all the weight you wanted to, but you're probably healthier than you were and the good habits will serve you better in the long run. I guess all I'm saying is it shouldn't JUST be about the resolution. People who become so focused on the goal of the resolution are often discouraged the moment something goes wrong. I think that's part of the reason hardly anyone keeps them. If people were to focus more on the process or "journey" of achieving that change, I think they would be better prepared to deal with the almost certain "slip-up" that comes with most of these resolutions.

I know that's a difficult concept to deal with. We as a society are so goal oriented that we lose site of the fact that it shouldn't JUST be about the goal. It's not our fault really. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with people telling us to make goals and work toward them relentlessly. Get into a good college and get a degree. Find a good job. Work like a dog. Save up enough money to retire comfortably. Don't get me wrong, there's NOTHING wrong with setting goals and working towards them. We all need goals. I'm just saying that we also need to focus on what goes into reaching those goals. For example, getting my doctorate in physical therapy is going to be great (assuming I get there). But will it mean as much to me if I don't if I don't take time to enjoy my classmates or get involved in the field outside of just classwork? Probably not. I think it's those "extra" experiences that go along with goal that help you get through the hard times (such as slipping up with a resolution).

Another example. If you were to hike to the top of a mountain, that would be a great accomplishment. However, would it mean more to you if you just kept your head down, constantly moving in your trek to the top, or would it mean more if you took a few moments to admire/enjoy everything around you as you work towards the summit. Don't you think that time you took to actually enjoy the hike would help in the times when the hike got tough and you felt like turning back?

Hopefully by now you get my point. Goals/resolutions are good, but you have to take time to appreciate what it's taking to achieve them. Celebrating the loss of a couple of pounds or going a month without eating sweets (or whatever you are working on) is likely going to help you appreciate your ultimate goal more when you reach it. And even if you don't, taking time to reflect on these small accomplishments keeps things in perspective and can help encourage a person to continue with whatever they're working on. Even if it takes a little longer to get there than they wanted.

Anyways. I'm done rambling. I never set out to post about that. It just kinda spilled over as I was typing. I hope everyone has had a good new year up until this point! I'm hoping to put out a few more posts over the next week before I start back with PT school, so keep a look out for them.

End of the Semester...

2008-12-13T22:22:00.003-05:00

3 full semesters, 1 summer semester, 1 clinical rotation....done!
2 full semesters, 1-2 summer semesters, and 3 clinical rotations left to finish.

Not quite half way through my DPT program, but there's still a lot of work left to do. This semester was one that I was happy to see end. Neuroscience, Exercise Physiology, and Wound Care were a pretty formidible trio. I did particularly enjoy my therapeutic interventions class. In there, we learned a lot of hands on stuff like mobilizations of the joints, soft tissue techniques, and grade 5 manipulations (stuff like chiropractors do - we're allowed to do them in SC). I also started my research project...it's going to be a TON of work. It is what it is though, so I'll just have to get through it.

But, for a few days I will rest. Take care of some house cleaning, watch a few movies, and do anything but school work.

The rest of my break will be interesting. I may be heading to the Shrine Bowl on the 20th then heading home on the 21st. After that, my family will take our usual trip up to Raleigh on Christmas day to hang out with the extended family. We'll leave there shortly and head down to NC State's bowl game in Birmingham. I'm excited to get to Birmingham since that's where I'll be for my final clinical rotation. Once that's over, I'll either come back to Columbia or stay home for just a few days. Next semester shouldn't be awful (16 hours), but I'm definitely not in any rush for it to get here.

That's all I got for now. I'll try to work on a top 10 list before the New Year.

A Funny List Brought to You by "How I Met Your Mother"

2008-11-26T02:38:00.006-05:00

So, if you've spent any time with me, you know I love the show "How I Met Your Mother." The other night focused on a couple of things...1) "The Naked Man" (see youtube clip below)

and 2) Lilly's List - an attempt to prove to Marshall that there are at least 50 reason people have sex. For fun, I thought I'd include the list below for your viewing pleasure. There are some pretty funny reasons on there, so check it out (I thought 28 was particularly funny). I also included a clip about it too. If you haven't checked out How I Met Your Mother yet...then you need to do it...NOW! Go...go check it out. Trust me now, thank me later.

Go To Hell Carolina! We're the Red & White From NC State!

2008-11-22T20:36:00.006-05:00

Well....it was a bittersweet day for me. My alma mater, Furman University, concluded a disappointing 7-5 season with a blowout loss to the nearby Wofford College. The funny thing is that I predicted a 7-5 season before it began. The problem is we played well at the start of the season and raised expectations. Otherwise, this wouldn't have come as much of a surprise. This FU started with such promise but degraded to an absolute mess. The team looks uninspired, the coaches seem incompetent, and the message boards are in full meltdown mode by now. Gonna be a fun off-season...

On the positive side, my childhood team, NC State, beat the ever loving crap out of the hated Tar Heels! NC State has played so well the last 3 weeks. It makes you wonder where they could have been if they hadn't been the most injured and snakebitten team in the ACC for most of the season. It's hard to believe now that there was ever any QB controversy at the start of the season considering how well Russell Wilson has played this year. He's only 5'11", but he plays much bigger than his height. I'd be shocked if he doesn't win the ACC rookie of the year. He'll have a good shot at claiming the ACC 1st team QB spot too.

Any many ways, the FU and NC State teams have had complete opposite seasons. FU came out on fire, while NC State was injured and disorganized. As the season wore on though, FU decayed into a mediocre football team and NC State turned into one of the teams playing the best in the ACC at the end of the year. It would be nice if they could both be successful for once. Oh well. For now I will just try to enjoy the rest of the college football season b/c goodness knows it goes by way too fast.

In case I don't get to post again before Thanksgiving....I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Safe travels!

A little bit of down time before the studying starts again...

2008-11-14T13:07:00.002-05:00

So, the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy with tests and assignments. I still have a test and a research assignment due next week, but I don't think it will be as bad as the last few weeks.

I went to a PT continuing education meeting last night and into the cadaver lab this morning, and I'm going to take it semi-easy the rest of the day. It's a much needed break even if it's only for a day or so.

I would post more, but I'm just too tired. I've got some serious sleep to catch up on. I know I promised a longer entry, but I'll have to put that on hold again. I will get around to a longer update sooner or later though.

Quick post...

2008-10-31T21:07:00.004-05:00

First, Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it was great.

Second, you should all go over to my friend's site, http://benandbenniewaddell.blogspot.com/, and see the AWESOME costume Bennie's son wore to school today. I'm jealous...seriously.

Alright, back to the grind of grad school!

This is getting old...

2008-10-25T21:59:00.004-05:00

If you are a Furman fan...this crap is getting old.

Furman lost to App State in Boone...again. We just can't seem to get over the hump there. If you have any idea about this rivalry, you know that Furman finds new, soul-crushing ways to lose in Boone, NC everytime they're there.

2002: My first away game as a freshman. FU scores what seems to be the game winning TD with 7 seconds left. FU goes for two to get a 3 point lead, Napier throws a pass to the flats, ASU defensive end picks it off, lateral's it to one of the SoCon's fastest guys, and 95+ yards later...ASU gets the two points..not Furman. We go from up 1 to down 1 in about 15 seconds. No game will ever top this one. You can see it on youtube. Just type in "miracle on the mountain" Ugh.

2004: ASU's QB Richie Williams sets an NCAA record for most consecutive completions (28) and goes 40-45 to lead ASU to a game winning TD with less than a minute left. FU scored too quickly and left 2 mins on the clock...Williams made us pay.

2005: After beating ASU in Greenville earlier that year, FU had to travel to Boone in December for a I-AA semifinal playoff game. FU continues to be cursed at "The Rock." Ingle Martin slips on the 3 yard line with NO ONE in front of him...FU doesn't get a TD. ASU's QB Richie Williams goes out with an injury, back up Trey Elder comes in and throws a TD on his first play. ####! Even with all of the bad luck and busted plays, FU had the ball in the last 2 mins and was moving the ball in ASU's territory. Ingle Martin rolled out and his hand was hit as he was trying to throw the football. ASU recovers and wins. Depending on who you talk to, the "fumble" could have gone either way. ASU goes on to win their first National Title....####!

2006: My first ASU game as a graduate. My friend Russell Dorn gets me a press pass and I'm on the field for the game taking some pics. Furman has the lead right before the half, 7-3, and they're setting up for a FG late in the 2nd. Corey Lynch bust through the line, blocks the kick, and it's returned for a TD...a 10 point swing. ASU goes on to blow FU out for the first time in a long time, 40-7. Sigh...

2008: Well, after all that, you can tell why I decided to stay home today. I figured maybe I was bad luck and if I stayed home, we would win. Er...didn't work out that way. FU played a very good game on defense, but turned the ball over 4 times on offense. ASU wins 26-14 (FU led 14-13 early in the 4th). I admit that I am least bummed about this game as compared to the other (probably b/c I wasn't there to watch the horror again), but it still hurts b/c we could have easily won this game. Now we have to win our last 3 to have a shot at the playoffs.

So...like I said, this is getting REALLY old.

It...never...stops...

2008-10-21T18:45:00.003-05:00

Seriously...the test just keep coming and coming! Sigh...

PT school is seriously cutting into my lazy time :).

Anyways, just thought I'd leave you guys with something funny until I can get back on here and do a legit post. (from www.icanhascheezburger.com)

Posts removal...

2008-10-17T12:47:00.003-05:00

Just in case anyone was wondering....

I was asked to remove the previous 2 posts in order to start to help the family and friends get past the situation in question...which I was more than happy to do.

Thanks to everyone who read them and offered up thoughts and prayers to the family. I know they very much appreciated them.

Sorry if the post is a little cryptic. I was just making sure to keep names out of the post. If you read the 2 entries before they were removed, you know who I am talking about.

PT School Update

2008-10-09T13:03:00.004-05:00

Finally! I have a few free moments to post a new blog entry! My life has been pretty crazy recently even though I have nothing in it to take up my time except for PT school...

I'm pretty sure it's this way with all grad schools, but post grad programs (especially in the medical field), absolutely kill your social life. Not that I was a social butterfly to begin with, but I can't justify going out for any extended period of time with all the work we have due every week. I know I need to make myself get out and do something, but it's hard for a shy worrier :).

This past week and a half was pretty much the worst one yet though. In the span of a week, I had a Mobilizations test, a Neuroanatomy and physiology test, an Exercise Physiology test, and Ex Phys lab report. Oh..and the Neuro test and Ex Phys test were on the SAME day! I think I got a total of 7 hours of sleep over the 2 nights before those 2 tests. Ugh.

Other than the heavy amount of work PT school is still going well. I'm really enjoying our Therapeutic Interventions class. It's a class where we learn a lot of hands on therapy (like manipulations, mobilizations, glides, etc). I wish I had learned some of this stuff before my 1st clinical. It would have really come in handy! The neuro ex phys classes are pretty tough, but I'm actually enjoying them more than I thought I would. It's funny...I got a degree in exercise science, but I'm just now REALLY learning some of the stuff that I know I covered in undergrad. Of course, a lot of that could have to do with the fact that I don't have a life here and I did while at Furman :).

Speaking of Furman, this week is Homecoming! A lot has happened over this past year with several of my FU friends. As you know if you've read my blog, on of my former roommates and fraternity brother, John Jantz, got married to one of my other friends, Caroline Huff. They're now living in TN while Jantz goes to Pharmacy school. Another fraternity brother, John Candeto, got married to the one and only CarrieBeth Wallace. Finally, another roommate, Ben Wallace, recently got engaged to a girl he met in Columbus who is way too good for him, Carrie Beth Barnett. I'm starting to feel like I'm the only person not in a relationship, engagaed, or married with all this stuff going on! Oh well...

As for this weekend, I'm heading up to Furman tomorrow a little before lunch. Friday will be pretty chill...just catching up with a lot of pi kapps at the pi kapp float. Saturday will be the game and then dinner with Dan, Ben, and CB later probably. Looking forward to not focusing on school work for one weekend! I'll try to get another post up next week after I get back.

Until then, watch your blind side...

I'm terrible at this...

2008-09-29T21:46:00.002-05:00

It's been more than a month since I posted. I just get so wrapped up in school work that I honestly forget a I have this thing at times.

I'm going to do my best to try to keep posting, but all my life is, is school right now. So I don't have a lot to contribute.

Right now I'm studying for 3 huge tests I have in the next week. So that means you won't hear from me again until at least next Wednesday (and it all honesty, it will probably be longer than that).

Oh well, like I said I'll try to drop in and update it when I can. Sorry I'm so slack.

History of the Shag...

2008-08-20T20:42:00.005-05:00

So...it took a lot longer than I said, but here is a brief history of the shag. It probably doesn't have everything I want but it was the best I could find without having to do any typing :)

"If you are from the South, and you do swing dance, you do the Carolina Shag. It is THE swing dance of the south. Moreover, Shag is imbibed with a certain mystique. As one old-timer describes it, "Shag is a warm night with a cold beer and a hot date." Even without the beer, Shag carries with it the nostalgia of cool wind and ocean waves on a warm summer's night, hand in hand with someone you like a lot.

Originating in the late '30s on the shores of Myrtle Beach, Shag has gained such a following that it is now the Official State Dance of South Carolina. Over 15,000 Shaggers attend the Myrtle Beach "Spring Safari" in March, with an almost equal number showing up to dance at the September "Fall Migration". There are more Shag Clubs in 4 states in the South than there are any other one type of swing dance club in the world.

The roots of shag can be found in the cross-pollination of black music and club dancers in Myrtle Beach with the natural openness of a fun-loving and carefree group of '40s white teenagers. The racially myopic mainstream radio stations of the '40s South did not play black music. The kids had flock to the beaches to hear it on jukeboxes.
Certain individuals, such as Billy Jeffers (photo) and "Chicken" Hicks are credited with developing the early aspects of the dance. These teens attended black night clubs and were allowed to watch from the balcony. In an era of segragation, this was called "jumping the Jim Crow rope." They adapted what they saw and liked. They are also credited with initiating the "Beach Music" phenomenon, by convincing jukebox owners to put R&B into the playlist. In the '90s, numerous radio stations have Beach Music-only formats.

Lindy Hoppers are familiar with the "Big Apple" dance and perhaps with its derivative partner-ish dance the "Little Apple". Both of these were born at Fat Sam's Big Apple Club in Columbia, South Carolina. It then drifted up north to the Savoy Ballroom where it inspired the famous choreographer and performance dancer Frank Manning. Jazz affected the Southern style directly, although its Savoy transmutations also returned home to the South. Early Shaggers called themselves "Jitterbugs". The music was fast, and it was big band swing. The term "Shag" came about over a decade later. By the early '50s, Shag had slowed way down and adopted the tempo and feel of Rhythm and Blues as its own.

In the post-WWII era, with the close of the Savoy Ballroom and demise of the big bands, the Lindy Hop lost most of its USA popularity (resurfacing in the '90s). However, Carolina Shag in the South grew and grew...

The shag basic is one of the most comfortable partnering basic steps in swing dance. The connection is relaxed, but steady: no subtle leverage and compression as in West Coast Swing. Compared to the East Coast Swing basic, it doesn't bounce: it glides. A lot of repetition doesn't tire out the beginner, as it does for those who regard the "Swing-Out" as Lindy Hop's basic. The shag basic is smooth, and really feels great with the right music. (No judgements here, just trying to describe... we do 'em all, we love 'em all.)

The dance has a variety of styles, depending on who is dancing, or on who describes it to you! For some, the dance is playful, with a lot of partner interaction, and both partners taking opportunities to "shine". For others, it is "mirror moves" galore. For yet others, the leader "peacocks" a variety of complex improvisations, while the follower performs subtle (or no) footwork variations. It depends on the skill level and mentality of each partner, as well as on regionality and decade. At the forefront of mutual partnering in shag are national shag champions many times over, Jackie McGee and Charlie Womble.

Mirror Moves: Often mentioned when attempting to describe Shag, complex moves involving both partners doing the same thing as if in a mirror are definitely an aspect of the dance. Advanced couples often develop their own personal repertoire of mirrored sequences using crosses, hooks, kicks, brushes, turns, spins, etc. These sequences are essentially unleadable, except by verbal call. It is fun to make these up and execute them. They are personal moments of a private language to rejoice in. However, there are also plenty of lead-follow moves. The shag basic itself seems to invite the creation of mirror moves, since it is itself a mirror step.
On Myrtle Beach, the Shag Contest phenomenon may be partially responsible for the high degree of development of complex couples' moves. But, there is also a large percentage of shaggers who are totally uninterested in competition!

Most shaggers today keep the action strictly in the footwork. But a few leaderes use the free arm, head, and shoulders in boisterious rhythmic improvisation. There can also be dramatic leader spins and drops. The footwork stays close to the ground. No high kicks. Also, no aerials or lifts. The partnering is warm, playful and affectionate, but not pseudo-seductive viz-a-viz a trend in '90s West Coast Swing. (Paradoxically, the Shag "Belly Roll" is the one really hot (as in "sex") move that '90s West Coast Swingers might seem to want to do, but don't!) "

Those people bolded towards the end are my Aunt and Uncle...they're 9 time national shag champions and legends in the world of shag. But I'll have more on them when I post my intro into the world of shag sooner or later.

1st Clinical Wrap-Up

2008-08-08T16:47:00.002-05:00

So, it's taken almost a week, but I'm finally getting around to my post-clinical rotation wrap-up.

Overall, my first clinical experience was ok. My CI (clinical instructor) was great, but it was just so SLOW at my clinic. I really didn't get to see or do a lot of things that I probably should have done on this first clinical. There's not much they or I could have done about it though. It was just bad timing. I did get to see some unique things, but I wish I could have seen more. I went into my clinical thinking I was at or slightly ahead of the level I should be at, and now I feel like I'm a little behind because I didn't get to see all the things my other classmates got to see.

I feel ok about my evaluation stuff. I need to brush up on some things, but overall I did ok. I'm feeling good about goniometry (at least of the knee, ankle, and shoulder), and my plan of care development definitely improved. I had a tendency to push people too hard at times and not hard enough at others, so I will need to work on finding that balance with each patient with future clinical experiences.

I was happy with the work aspect of it though. Some of the other PT's got kind of tired of it at times, but I guess maybe that comes with doing it for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to find a place that constantly keeps challenging me and keeps me on my toes. Maybe that will keep work fun and interesting.

Because my clinic was so slow, I'm somewhat ready to get back to school, but I am going to miss having my nights off. Boy...that was nice. I'm sure in about 2 weeks I'll be dying to go back to the clinic :)

Alright, I'll try to get to my first post about shag dancing by wednesday. Not sure if I'm going to do one long post or a couple of shorter ones. We'll see.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Jantz and Caroline's Wedding

2008-08-07T18:47:00.005-05:00

So, this past weekend I was in Greenville, SC for the marriage of two of my best friends, John Jantz and Caroline Huff. I posted about them in late March or early April, so if you want to check that blog entry out, check out the archives on the right of the page.

I got up there on Thursday night and hung out with John McDaniel (aka - Happy Meal, H Mizzle, Flid, and a thousand other names). We grabbed some dinner and then I tried to teach him some shag moves and he tried to teach me some swing moves. Neither one of us did particularly well with the other dance stuff, but it was still nice to learn a little something new.

The rest of the wedding party got into town on Friday just before the rehersal. The rehersal was very laid back, and after that we went over to Furman for the rehersal dinner in the Hartness dining room. All of that went pretty quickly (dinner, best man toast, maids of honor toasts, Jantz thanking everyone from coming...the usual).

So after all that, we set out on the bachelor party stuff. It started kind of odd because Dan took us all over to the Bell Tower to play some music for Jantz and Caroline using the keyboard in the "Old College." It didn't work out exactly like it was probably supposed to...oh well.

After that, we went back to the hotel and changed and made our way downtown. We started off at Tassey's where most people got a beer or a "tiger in the tank" (orange icey and everclear). Of course I was completely sober, as I always am. We met up with the bridal party and made our way down to Connelly's. It was just as crowded as Tassey's, but we managed to find a corner were we could all hang out. We chilled there for a while and then the girls left. Then things took a turn. I won't go into what happened after the girls left, but it was pretty funny. No there were no strippers or anything of that nature involved. Let's just say several members of the group were blitzed. Jantz may or may not have been involved. I'm not going to say for sure.

After getting back to the hotel and finally getting to sleep, we all kind of lounged around on Saturday. We started getting ready around 3ish and were at the church by 5. We did the usual thing...chill somewhere in the church until it was time to go.

The service was very nice and fit the bride and groom perfectly. The nicest part of the service to me was this one point where I could only see part of Caroline's face, but at that moment you could see the sincere love she had for Jantz. It sounds goofy, but sometimes you can just see those things.

After the wedding we took a few pictures and headed over to the reception at Saffron's in the West End. The setting was very nice. Cast iron railings on the stairs, nice hardwood floors, dark brick walls, and candlelight. Very classy, very romantic. The food was pretty darn good too. I was most pumped about getting to make my shagging debut. Sarah Garden and I got up to shag along with some other people and by the time the song was over we were the only two dancing. We got a couple of compliments, so it made that month of practice feel pretty rewarding...plus it was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I'm addicted now, but I'll get to that in a later post(s). Their leaving of the reception was classic Caroline: giant sparklers making a little tunnel while they run to the car. I've got to give it to her, it's something I've never seen before and it was perfect for the couple and the setting. It was pretty funny though when they were trying to leave and they couldn't b/c Jason, the best man, still had the keys...oops! Haha.

Anyways, the weekend was great, and seeing two of my closest friends get married is a pretty amazing experience to be a part of.

So here's to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jantz! May your marriage be filled of love and happiness for many years to come!

Going to be a Busy Week of Blogging...

2008-08-06T22:07:00.003-05:00

So...I've got a few things to get to.

1. Jantz/Caroline's wedding - tomorrow
2. My 1st clinical experience wrap up - by Saturday
3. My venture into the world of shag (and the obsession that ensued) - by next Wednesday

So, check back by tomorrow night and hopefully I'll have a recap of Jantz & Caroline's wedding. I'll finally get to an update on PT school after that, and then I'll have a blog (or couple of blogs) talking about me picking up shag dancing and my progression with that. As a quick note to that, I've been doing so much practicing the last week that I've sprained my extensor hallicis longus tendon (the one that makes your big toe pull up and back towards your shin)...at least I think that's what I did. So I may have to take a break from shagging for a few days.

Alright...check back tomorrow and maybe they'll be something of substance.

Sorry I've been gone for a while...

2008-07-30T21:59:00.002-05:00

So, I've been slack with the blog but I'll be better with it over the next few weeks.

So what's in the blog's future?

1. An update about the end of my ortho clinical rotation
2. Some other top 10 list
3. Furman/NC State season previews

But for right now...I've added a youtube video of my Uncle and Aunt, the 10 time national shag champions. Yes, I know it's sounds silly, but they are amazing. The video is from last year and my Uncle is in his upper 50's/early 60's and he's still moving good! I wish I had inherited some of those dance moves!

Freakin' A!!!

2008-07-14T16:10:00.005-05:00

Ever had one of those days where you feel like every bad driver in the city is on the road at the same time? I had one of those afternoons...

I got behind one of those people who thought it would be ok to drive 35 mph in a 55 mph speed limit area, I was cut off at least 4 times, and I had some jackass who thought it would be cool to tailgate me even though there were 6 cars in a row in front of me.......just to name a few instances. UGH!!!!

I kept my composure, but there were more than a couple of situations where I just wanted to scream at one of those bonehead drivers. Columbia drivers are not very good to begin with, but for whatever reason (getting off work, running errands, whatever)....they become infinitely worse between 4-6 pm.

Ok....I'm done. I just had to vent!

To leave on a lighter note: Here is a pic of a cat and a dog acting out a scene from one of my favorite movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Until next time, watch your blindside (that seems particularly appropriate considering today's topic)

My First Week as a Practicing SPT (student physical therapist)

2008-07-12T23:00:00.004-05:00

So...I'm finally getting around to giving an update about my first week out on my clinical rotation.

Overall, the first week went very well. My CI is very nice, and she allowed me to work at my own pace. That was pretty important to me because I wanted to observe a lot early on and then get a little more involved toward the end of the week. I was able to do a little more each day without feeling rushed which made me very comfortable. My place has 3 PT's, 1 OT, and 1 PTA. One of our PT's specializes in lumbosacral issues, and he is actually the only (or one of very few) person in the state who performs his type of therapy. I believe it's called arthopraxia, but I'm not sure. They're all pretty nice but quiet. I'd prefer a little more sociable atmosphere, but the quietness makes getting your work done pretty easy.

Our professors told us that working out in the clinic is almost nothing like working in the classroom and boy were they right. We spend a ton of time learning how to do diagnostic evals our first year, and then when we get into clinic the majority of what we were taught to do is irrelevant because the majority of our subjective info and diagnosis is already provided. The only thing I'm really doing when I do an eval in the clinic is finding the objective measures (strength, range of motion) and providing some form of treatment plan. It would be nice to get a patient where I actually have to try to figure out what they are suffering from, but for now I can live with what I'm doing.

Another big change has been learning to do my documentation on a computer. The place I am working doesn't use any paper outside of the 2 sheets the new patients fill out when they come in for their eval. Once I figure out how to use the system effectively, it should save me a bunch of time.

So far, I've mainly seen a bunch of rotator cuff repairs, impingement syndromes, and menisectomies. There's been a couple of frozen shoulders, hip, and ankle patients, but the previously mentioned conditions are what I'm seeing the most.

The big challenge for me this week will be to carry out a full eval (including the objective measures and treatment plan) without assistance. My clinic actually gave me a few patients for next week, so I will need to consider how I want to advance their treatment plans also.

Things I saw or did this week:
- Performed phonophoresis (ultrasound with medicine)
- Performed a couple of history parts of an eval
- Followed a current patient through her exercises, advanced difficulty as needed, and added a new exercise to her treatment plan (as approved by the supervising PT)
- Performed multiple goniometric measurements on the knee and shoulder
- Performed PA (posterior anterior) glides to a shoulder
- Performed passive range of motions to a rotator cuff repair and a frozen shoulder
- Observed Pes Anserine Bursitis, Rotator Cuff repairs, Adhesive Capsulitis, Impingement, Menisectomies, ankle sprains, hip labrum repair, and a fibula fracture

Anyways, that's it for now. I'll have more next week!

First Day is Done

2008-07-08T19:38:00.002-05:00

So I finished the first day of my rotation. It went fine. I've decided to wait to do an update until the end of the week because I have some classwork I need to get done at night (which is when I would do the update). So I'll provide some details about my first week this Friday or Saturday.

Hope everyone is have a great day!

Eve of My Orthopedic Rotation

2008-07-07T21:14:00.006-05:00

So, my first day in my first clinical (orthopedics) is just a few hours away, and I have to admit I'm a little anxious. Not as much as I thought I would be, but nervous nonetheless.

I've busted my tail this past year, and I know I have the information to do fine. But then again, that doesn't always ease the nervousness does it?

Everyone has told us how much fun the clinicals are, and how we won't want to come back to school once we get started. I hope that's true because if it's not...what have I been working towards this past year?

I think one of the things that is bothering me is knowing that this is it. While I won't be a full DPT when I start tomorrow (I'll only be a SPT - student physical therapist), it will essentially be the first work day of my career. When I did my internship at SSI physical therapy in Greenville, I knew I had another year of school left and graduate school. When I worked at the golf course in high school and after college, I knew it was just a temporary job. But tomorrow...tomorrow is the real deal. That may be a lot to place on a first day, but is it not the truth? Yes, I still have 2.5 years of school and 3 rotations left, but tomorrow is the opening to a big chapter of my life.

You may say, "what about the school part? wasn't that the beginning to this chapter?" Yes and no. Yes, the school was my intro to PT, but school is just school. I've done 17-18 years of it now (not counting preschool). It's not that it's not a big part, but I've done it before. I've never done what I'm going to do tomorrow. I've never had this much responsibility. I didn't have it at my internship, and I didn't really have it at the golf course. It's a big step.

I'm sure everything will be fine and I'm just being worrisome like I always am. Can't be sure though.

Looks like I'll have to report back tomorrow and let you all know how it goes.

Tuesday Morning Realization

2008-07-01T12:05:00.004-05:00

So, I realized something today. Nothing insightful, just an observation.

The only people at a Mall before noon are housewives (or stay-at-home dads) with small children or couples.

There were only about 5 people who didn' fit this description. I promise!!! No, this insight is really of no value to anyone, but I thought it was interesting so I decided to share it. If you think about it, it really makes sense. Who else is going to be at a mall before noon on a weekday? Anywho...that's all I got for right now.

PS - That was the first post in a while that was actually kind of in the "coming from your blindside/out of left field/wasn't expecting that" realm.

Addendum to My Top Movies List

2008-06-30T10:21:00.006-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to add V for Vendetta to my list. I'm not sure if I would have put in on the bottom of the top ten or in the honorable mention category, but it belongs on the list.

V for Vendetta is a really, really good movie. I originally avoided it when it was in theaters because people told me it was all about politics (a topic that I am definitely not adamant about). But I did eventually watch the movie, and I can tell you it's not "all about politics." Is there a political element to it? Yes, but I would urge you not to read too much in to it. V for Vendetta is, after all, a comic book written in the 80's (I assume that's right as Roger Ebert said it in his review), so let's not go thinking there is more to it than there is.

A definite must see if you like movies which actually make you think. Plus, there are some very good action scenes!

Summer Saturday

2008-06-28T16:16:00.004-05:00

As far as the blog layout goes, I think I'm going to stick with this for now. I don't really like any of the blogger templates, and I couldn't find one on the internet anywhere that seemed right. So...we'll go with this for now.

Today started pretty early as I had to be at the Public Health building for some research testing. Another classmate and I are assisting two 3rd years with their research. They're trying to find out if an abbreviated scale (manual muscle testing based) is as good at picking up true deficits as BioDex testing. My classmate and I will be "piggy-backing" on their research. We're not exactly sure what our research questions (what we're investigating) will be, but it will be within the realm of what we worked on today.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my break from PT School for right now. I'm having to work on some medical terminology stuff in my down time, but it's not so bad. I'm going to have to start doing some review next week in preparation for the start of my clinical.

It's storming right now in Columbia, so I think I'm going to run enjoy the sounds of a summer thunderstorm. It's odd how that sort of thing can be relaxing. Oh well, I'm off to enjoy my down time.

New layout...

2008-06-27T10:05:00.001-05:00

Going to be working on finding a new layout for the blog in the next few days, so don't be alarmed if it changes a few times over the next week or so.

Also, I'm going to try to post a couple of times a week during my orthopedic clinical rotation. I feel like I should be posting more about PT school, so I'm going to try to do that.

Favorite Movies as of June 25

2008-06-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

1. Tombstone - chalked full of badassness. Gets the edge over 300 b/c I've loved it longer
2. 300 - same as #1, the story of the spartans is one of great ones. The spectacular imagery also helps.
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail - I think you have to be a little bit off to get and appreciate this style of humor...luckily, I'm a little bit off.
4. Hitch - I'm a bit of a sap and this is my favorite of the "chick flicks." Will Smith is great and Eva Mendes is SMOKIN'!
5. Iron Man, Spider Man, X-Men, Batman Begins (newer superhero movies) - These take me back to my childhood, and Marvel Studios (not including Batman) has really done an unbelievable job with their movies. They've managed to make comic book movies enjoyable for more than just the comic book geeks.
6. Se7en - This is an amazing movie. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt excel in this dark thriller. The surprise villian at the end of the movie only adds to it's awesomeness :)
7. Fever Pitch - This may seem a little out of place (or maybe not...I don't know), but I do love this movie. I think a lot of guys do/would actually enjoy this movie because it is essential a romantic comedy for guys. It spotlights the obsession people have with their sports teams and ties a love story into it. Worth a look for any guy who refuses to watch a romantic comedy.
8. Gone in 60 Seconds - Very fast cars. '67 Shelby Mustang.......nuff said.
9. Gladiator/Patriot - Similar style movies. Both are very well done and full of good fight scenes.
10. The Sandlot/ Rudy/ Remember the Titans - all are classic, inspirational sports movies. If you like baseball and can't appreciate the Sandlot, there's something wrong with you. Rudy is...well...Rudy, shouldn't need to say much more about that one. Remember the Titans is newer but it's still a great movie

Honorable Mention: Office Space, The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Days of Thunder, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Game, Ice Age, Little Giants, Animal House, Lord of the Rings (series), Old School, Rocky I, Top Gun, Transformers, Troy, High Fidelity

John & Carrie Beth's Wedding

2008-06-22T07:56:00.006-05:00

What a great night! John and Carrie Beth's wedding was amazing!

I guess I should start by telling you about the two who got married. John Candeto is a younger fraternity brother and Carrie Beth Wallace is a former Rose (sweetheart) of Pi Kappa Phi and she pretty much ran everything at one point while at Furman (exaggerating...only slightly). Their story is too long for me to tell here, but as the pastor said at the wedding...they're both romantics and adventurers.

It was a huge wedding that took place in the Daniel Chapel in the middle of Furman's campus. The ceremony was very nice, and it went pretty well except for the best man semi-passing out. Luckily, some other groomsmen caught him before he hit the ground. I felt bad for the guy (he was the groom's younger brother). You know, every wedding is going to have something go wrong, you just hope it's something small and not something like the best man passing out.

The reception took place at the Ryan Nicholas Inn in Simpsonville. This was a nice place with a very classy feel. You can see pictures of it here. The food was great, the band was great, and the company was great.

It was so nice getting to see so many friends from Furman. My friend, Ben, and his girlfriend statyed at the same hotel as I did and we spent most of the weekend together. I also got to spend time with my other two roommates, John and Dan. Dan was busy taking care of the other groomsmen...b/c that's what Dan does. He's a micro-manager. John is getting married in a little more than a month. I'm really looking forward to that wedding as it will be a little smaller just all of our close friends...well, and John's and Caroline's families. I'll have more about that later though.

It's a very odd experience once all of your friends start getting engaged or married. It seems to be happening so much now that those of us who aren't even dating someone sometimes feel like we missed the memo. Of course this is ridiculous as my single friends and I are only around 23-25 years old. It's so hard to be patient and wait for the right person that God has picked out for you sometimes. Ultimately it just comes down to trusting in Him and knowning that he will provide for you in His own time...not your own. No matter how hard that may be.

In Greenville for the weekend...

2008-06-20T19:18:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Greenville about to go out with a couple of friends. It's good to be back in Greenville! I'll have a report about CarrieBeth's and Candeto's wedding sometime in the next few days. That's all for now.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-06-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

My great friend Caroline has tagged me to answer 20 questions, so I figured I would comply and answer her questions. So...her goes. I have a few other blog posts planned for the future including some lists, so I'll get to them before long.

These are the rules: At the end of the post, the blogger tags 6 people and posts their names or screen names, then goes to their blog and leave a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? In 1998 at this time, I was probably playing golf everyday and enjoying the summer before I started high school. I think I was still playing the junior golf tours then. I don't remember exactly. Probably spending some time at the pool too.
2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?

Study
Study
Pick up dry cleaning
Call my Ortho clinical site to ask if I need to shave my gotee for the summer :)
Do some laundry

3. Snacks I enjoy: salt & vinegar chips, 100 cal Lorne Doone cookie packs, fruit
4. Places I’ve lived: Johnsonville SC, Greenville SC (Furman), Columbia SC
5. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire: Tithe, buy my parents a couple of houses (one at the beach for my mom and one in the mountains for my dad), buy my dad his favorite classic muscle car, buy myself a '67 Shelby GT 500 (Silver w/ black racing stripes), design a golf course and have it built, do something nice for my sister...I have no idea what she may want though, donate some money to Furman, and I'm sure there's more stuff I would do but I'm blanking right now.
6. People I want to know more about: Any of the famous golf architects. I know a good bit about Mike Strantz, but I'd love to know more about guys like Allister McKenzie and AW Tillenhagst.
7. Name two things you have in common with Oprah: I honestly have no clue.
8. You can tell a lot about a person by… how they respond when it seems like everything is going wrong.
9. Are you a yeller when you get angry? No. I tend to be more of an internalizer. I know that's not a good thing, but I try to let it out in one way or the other a little later.
10. Have you ever danced in public? Yep
11. What did you do to deserve your first detention? Like Caroline, I don't believe I ever had detention. At least I can't remember being in detention.
12. What did you do deserve your first paddling? I don't remember my first paddling. Whenever it was, I'm sure I deserved it.
13. Name three things you like about the town you live in. Hm... 1. The Vista - the place with all the good restaurants in town. 2. State Capital is located here so a lot of big things/events come through 3. Relatively close to anywhere in SC. Columbia is pretty much dead in the middle so I'm not terribly far away from anything in South Carolina.
14. Name four things that you love to do. 1. Play golf 2. Go to college football games 3. Relax in the mountains 4. Spend time with friends doing whatever 5. walk around Furman in the spring or fall (ok, I cheated. I included an extra one)
15. Name something unusual you carry with you wherever you go. I really don't carry anything unusual. I always take my glasses, my wallet, a pen/pencil, my watch, and my keys. That's about it.
16. What’s your favorite website? I don't have just one. The uffp, the wolfpacker, packpride, netflix, facebook, icanhascheezburger are just a few of them.
17. Where and when was your first kiss? Movie theater in Columbia when I was 10th grade.
18. What would an enemy have to say about you? I honestly don't know.
19. Favorite childhood memory. I don't know that I have one per say. I always loved getting up Christmas morning and driving to Raleigh to spend Christmas with my Mom's and Dad's families.
20. Any regrets? Yeah. I believe we all have regrets in some form or the other, whether we admit them or not. There have been times where I said, "man, I wish I had done that" or whatever, but ultimately...I have very few major regrets.

Well, considering I don't have a lot of other blogger friends to tag, I'm not going to tag 6. I'll just tag 2 people. Briton and Bennie

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T13:41:00.003-05:00

Happy Father's Day everyone! That's my pops above with my sister and her boyfriend. Everyone remember to call fathers today and tell them you love them!

Crazy, Crazy Summer

2008-05-31T21:19:00.002-05:00

This summer has been absolutely nuts. The workload has been crazy, but the material is great so it makes it a little easier to handle. One of the classes is done now though, so I'm hoping that means I'll get a little more time to relax. My modalities class has been great actually. It's a lot of busy work, but it has been great to learn how to use traction, hot and cold packs, paraffin baths, ultrasound, massage therapy, etc. It should really help me out in my orthopedics rotation in a few weeks.

Today was pretty cool. I helped out with a research project this morning from 9-12:30, then I went over to a professor's house for the Summer DPT Pool Party. The party was great, but there was definitely some awkward moments. In all honestly though, I believe those times are unavoidable when you get a large number of people who are comfortable around each other together and then throw in alcohol. Overall, it was nice to relax for a while though.

That's all I can type for now though. Hope everyone else is having a good summer! I'll try to do a better update when I get a chance.

DONE!!!

2008-05-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

Finally done with my second semester of PT school!

Now I'm going to enjoy my 5 days off so I'll be rejuvenated for May-mester/Summer 1 and then my Ortho clinical rotation!

Semester Wind-Down Update and Sneaky Crows

2008-04-30T09:21:00.003-05:00

So, one exam and 2 practicals are done. I'm currently studying for my Fundamentals of P.T. final which happened to have enough notes to fill up 2 1" ring notebooks. Ugh. Still waiting on my Biostats professor to put up his take home final. Today is Wednesday and he told us he would have it up over the weekend. Yeah....this is not the first time he's done this. I'll start studying for the Aging class final on friday after I finish the fund. of pt final. That's pretty much it for now.

Oh, one more thing. Something pretty funny happened to a friend of mine yesterday.

So...me and 2 other pt students decided to go play some golf yesterday morning. We've already hit our shots on the 2nd hole (a par 3) and are on the green putting. I hear something over at the golf carts so I looked over. I saw a crow bouncing around and then he flew towards the fairway of the hole we were playing. No big deal right? Well, I think I see something orange in his beak so I asked my friend, "Brian or Scott, did you have something orange in your cart?"

Well, we came to find out that Brian did have something orange in his cart. It was a Reese's Whips that he was given for his birthday that he was REALLY looking forward to eating later. The crow had flew into the cart, hopped down into the basket on the back of the cart, and picked it out of Brian's cap. So, Brian and I go after the bird only to find a piece of the wrapper in the fairway. Those birds act fast... You may have had to be there to really appreciate it, but it was one of the funniest things I've ever experience on a golf course and I've played golf for a long time.

Anyways, that's really it for now. Got to get back to studying!

The Semester Wind-Down

2008-04-15T18:29:00.002-05:00

It happens every semester with about 2 weeks to go. If you've ever been to college you know what I'm talking about. The professors start trying to cram as much as they can into the last few weeks. Next two to three weeks are going to be rough, but I'll get through it.

Yesterday I had a quiz. This morning I got a TB test for my clinical and turned in my Aging class journal. Tomorrow I have a paper and presentation due on finger flexor tendon injuries. Thursday I have to turn in a practice exam as homework for my biostats class. Next monday I have a two page summary due on an article for Fundamentals of PT. Next Tuesday I have an actual test for Biostats. And finally, next wednesday I have a final lab practical for Fund. of PT. That's not even including all my finals. Ugh. Oh well. Just part of the gig I suppose.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll try to get a decent update together sooner or later.

-Vance

Quick NL Division Prediction

2008-04-08T20:16:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to give the rest of my division predictions before the season got too deep. Here's my NL predictions. I'll try to go back and do more extensive breakdown of the teams later.

NL West
1. Arizona Diamondbacks
2. San Diego Padres
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Los Angeles Dodgers
5. San Francisco Giants

NL Central
1. Chicago Cubs
2. Milwaukee Brewers
3. Houston Astros
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. St. Louis Cardinals
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

NL East
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. New York Mets
4. Washington Nationals
5. Florida Marlins

American League West

2008-04-01T16:35:00.007-05:00

I know the season's already started, but I am going to try to finish the predictions. Here goes the last of the AL divisions.

AL West

1. Seattle Mariners

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

3. Texas Rangers

4. Oakland Athletics

ESPN the Magazine's take on the division which echoes what I think...I actually found this after I typed up this write-up. I think it fits.

"If everything goes smoothly for the Angels and Mariners, then the Angels are better, says an AL GM. But if something goes wrong for the Angels-an equalizer like an injury-then Seattle can take them. The Mariners are that close."

1. Seattle Mariners: The M's have a very solid team. Are they spectacular? Eh...At certain spots I suppose, but not as a whole. The M's lineup is probably better than I give them credit for, but I'm definitely not it love with it. Ichiro is great and will continue to be a 200+ hit per year leadoff guy. Beltre, Ibanez, Johjima, and Betancourt are all solid, but not really game changers. Beltre has shown that potential at times, but everyone is still waiting for him to put it all together. J. Lopez, B. Wilkerson, and Richie f'ing Sexson really bring that lineup down. If the M's want to make any significant noise this year, they're going to have to get better production out of Sexson. The M's front end of the rotation is very, very good with the newly acquired ace Erik Bedard and "King" Feliz Hernandez leading the charge. Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn, and Miguel Batista are up and down, so the M's need them to be a little more consistant. The M's bullpen is pretty good with JJ Putz as the closer and it shouldn't be a liability this year. The M's traded away a bunch of their farm system for Bedard so it's pretty obvious that they want to win now. They've got a great shot to get out to an early lead in the division with the Angels top 2 pitchers on the DL.

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Before the ace John Lackey went on the DL and the news of Kelvim Escobar's lingering injury came out, I thought the Angels would have enough to win the division. Now...I just don't know. I like the Angels lineup. Vlad Guerrero (see left), Torii Hunter, Garrett Anderson, Gary Matthews, Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins, and Casey Kotchman are solid. The week spots of the lineup are Maicer Izturis and Mike Napoli. Napoli brings big power but is an average killer. Izturis is ok but definitely a step down from Orlando Cabrera. As Ben said, the Angels need "huge potential" guys like Kotchman to finally live up to the hype if they're going to stay in the race with the M's. With Lackey and Escobar, the Angels rotation is very good. Without them...er...it's kinda patchwork. Look, no team can lose their top 2 starters and really hope to contend for any kind of title. A huge load will fall on Jered Weaver, John Garland, and Ervin Santana to pitch above and beyond their abilities to help the Angels stay close to the M's until Lackey returns. The bullpen is just ok except for Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) who is a very good closer. The injury to Lackey and the continuing trouble for Escobar really were bad breaks for LA b/c they probably had enough to compete this year, but I think they'll dig just a little too big of a hole to get out of.

3. Texas Rangers: I really couldn't decide whether I thought Texas would finish ahead of Oakland. Yes, Oakland has pretty much blown their team up to rebuild, but they always find a way to be semi-competitive. In the end, I decided to put Texas at #3. The Rangers have some pretty good bats in their lineup. Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, and Hank Blalock can provide some pop. Kinsler is on the upswing and the often troubled Hamilton appears to finally have harnessed all that ability that made him such a coveted prospect. Young is an all around solid player. Blalock can still do some damage, but you never know what you're going to get out of him (ex. his power dipped a lot last year, but his avg. was up). The rest of the lineup isn't going to inspire a lot of hope. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was supposed to make splash with them this year, but problems with his defense start him in AAA. When he comes up though, he should provide another decent bat for the lineup. The starting rotation is pretty bad. Kevin Millwood is the ace, but Millwood isn't exactly ace material anymore. Vicente Padillia and Jason Jennings are a pretty weak 2/3 combo. Kason Gabbard (recently of the Boston Red Sox) has some potential at the 4 spot, so the Rangers will desperatly need him to step up this year. The bullpen is ok, closer CJ Wilson and top set-up man Joquin Benoit make up a decent back end of a the bullpen. Overall, the Rangers should probably hold off the A's for third in the division, but who knows. The bottom half of this division is pretty weak.

4. Oakland Athletics: As long as Billy Beane is in Oakland, you tend to believe that they'll put a competitive team on the field, all be it in a different way from everyone else. The GM who was the focus of the bestseller Moneyball, approaches building a team differently because he has to due to the limited budget of the A's. Even Beane has to know when to start over though and that's what the A's are doing. Rebuilding for the future. The A's moved Nick Swisher, Dan Haren, and Mark Kotsay in the offseason in an effort to start stocking up the farm system for the future. Daric Barton/Dan Johnson at first base are probably the best bats on the team, but only one will play since Jack Cust is the DH. With the move to the younger players, I wouldn't be surprised to see Johnson moved at some point if Beane thinks he can still a prospect. The rest of the team is ok, but nothing overly impressive. Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby are a solid up the middle at 2nd and SS, and Kurt Suzuki is ok at catcher. The front two in the A's starting rotation, Joe Blanton and Rich Harden (see left), are very good when they're on their game. That's about it though. The bullpen is actually ok. Alan Embree, Keith Foulke, Lenny DiNardo, and the closer Huston Street make up a decent bullpen. If I thought that Harden and Blanton were both going to be in Oakland the whole year, I might have considered putting the A's ahead of the Rangers. However, it seems as those one or both of those players will be gone at some point to free up some money and stockpile more prospects. The A's will be back though.

What I Did On My Birtday...

2008-03-27T01:03:00.004-05:00

1. Woke up at 6:30 to study for a test
2. Went to seminar at 8:30
3. Took a Fund. of PT exam at 9:30
4. Prepared for a presentation in Ortho at 12
5. Made a presentation on Fibromyalgia @ 3
6. Had Ortho Lab from 3-5
7. Came home and ate supper (it was actually breakfast casserole my sister made me...one of the high points of the day...)
8. Softball game at 7:30 in which we lost 15-2 (I feel like I'm still playing for Pi Kapp)
9. Studying for a Fund. of PT Lab Practical from 9-Now (2:07 am...technically not still my birthday, but the judges are going to allow it since I started before midnight).
10. Made a stupid blog post at 2:07 to show why I don't make a big deal about my birthdays.

Honestly, they end up like this more times than not. I'm ok with that. Just another day to me. Some people might say that's a bad attitude to have, but I have just never been comfortable with people making a big deal of my birthday. Maybe it's pride. I don't know. It's hard to have comeplete thoughts at 2:10 with active range of motion positions and muscle length test banging around the inside of your head.

What was I doing again? ................................

Oh, right. Back to studying. Can I have a birthday do-over?

Congrats to John and Caroline!

2008-03-23T00:44:00.018-05:00

Congrats John and Caroline!

So...I'm typing this blog up early Easter morning because I found out that two of my best friends in the whole world are engaged! I didn't want to post this right away because I wanted to give them a chance to tell people. It's tough to wait though because I want to tell all our friends!

If you know John ("Jantz" to anyone who's ever met him) or Caroline, the first response that came to your mind when you found out was one of two things. 1. Something resembling, "YAY! I'm so happy for them!" or....2. "It's about time." For those of you who may read this who don't know, Jantz and Caroline have dated on and off since freshman year at Furman University (so that makes it a little over 5 years now I think). There were definitely some rocky times, but I think I knew pretty early on that they would end up getting engaged. No matter what happened they always ended up getting back together. Since graduation, they've been going back and forth between Nashville, TN and Greenville, SC making the long distance thing work. They have my respect for that if nothing else because that has to be very hard.

My relationship with them both goes back before they were dating. Caroline and I went to the Governor's School Summer program in Charleston, SC between our Jr. and Sr. years of high school. Caroline and I had some medical class together and we actually became pretty close by the time the month was over. After little communication during our senior year, I found out she was also going to Furman. Although I didn't see her until a little later in the semester. Jantz was one of the very first people I befriended at Furman. Jantz, Me, and Amer and Ryan could usually be found hanging out somewhere on our freshman hall. Jantz and I lived together every year after that. Caroline lived on the bottom floor of the building where our 2 sister halls were. Caroline's room was actually the closest to the entrance, so Jantz and I would always bother her to lets us in the building. I'm pretty sure that's how the two met in the first place.

Back to the present. Jantz called me this weekened and told me he thought he was going to pop the question (probably on Saturday). So, I eagerly awaited the news Saturday. I finally got a test around 11:30 delivering the good news. Now, I don't have all the details, but from what Jantz told me earlier in the week...I think this is how it went down.

Jantz said he took off work early on Friday to drive down and ask her Father for permission to marry Caroline. Always a good move if you ask me. He said he had reservations at Restaurant O in downtown Greenville. Just so you know, O is considered one of the top restaurants in the upstate. So after what I can only assume was a great dinner, Jantz said he was going to drive just a few minutes up the road to our old stomping grounds, Furman.

A little background info...Furman has a pretty big lake and at one end of the lake is the famous bell tower.

So, once they got to Furman, I believed they probably walked for a little while until they got to the Bell Tower. I believe it was at that moment when Jantz popped the question. The Bell Tower is pretty popular place to propose (if both people went to Furman), and I thought it was a nice touch to tie in the place their relationship began to the proposal (Furman...not the bell tower).

You know, one of the first things you are told your freshman year at Furman is that 25% of Furman students end up marrying someone who went to Furman. Way to keep up that percentage guys! (I'm just kidding with you two :o) ).

Seriously, congratulations! I couldn't be happier for you guys! I'm already looking forward to the wedding :).

So, here's to the engagement of two of my closest friends! I love you guys!

-Vance

PS - Hope you enjoyed the random pictures of them.

American League Central

2008-03-15T14:08:00.003-05:00

Time for the second installment in a series of six baseball division predictions.

American League Central

1. Detroit Tigers

2. Cleveland Indians

3. Minnesota Twins

T4. Chicago White Sox

T4. Kansas City Royals

1. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers made some big moves this off-season acquiring Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and Edgar Renteria. Of course, they drained their farm system doing so (losing Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Gorkys Hernandez, and Jair Jurrjens...all 4 were top 10 guys..maybe top 5), but that doesn't matter because it's obvious the Tigers are trying to win right now. Just looking at their lineup would lead you to believe that they should have no problem doing so in 2008. Granderson, Renteria, Ordonez, Cabrera, Guillen, Polanco, Rodriguez, and Jones should be the most fierce lineup in the majors. What's the saying...only two things in life are certain, death and taxes? Well, you can add another one, and that is that the Tigers are going to score a LOT of runs this year. The rotation isn't bad either. Justin Verlander is turning into a very good pitcher and should be good for 17-19 wins this year. The rest of the rotation isn't spectacular, but they should be good enough to help the Tigers win the division considering the run support they should have. The one real weak spot on Detroit is the bullpen. Somehow, Todd Jones continues to be a steady closer, but the rest of the bullpen is iffy at best. In all, the Tigers lineup and starting rotation should be enough to win the division and mask any issues with the shakey bullpen.

2. Cleveland Indians: Nobody is talking about Cleveland because of Detroit, but the Indians are still a pretty good team. The Indians are also going to throw out a tough lineup with Grady Sizemore leading off and Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, and Ryan Garko occupying the middle of the lineup. Asdurbal Cabrera looks like he could be a good second baseman, but I'm not sure what kind of production they'll get out of him considering he's so young. I do know one thing, Cleveland is very weak at the corner outfield spots. David Dellucci and Franklin Gutierrez aren't going to scare anyone, that's for sure. Cleveland's starting rotation looks to be a little better than Detroit's. CC Sabathia is coming off a Cy Young year, and Fausto Carmona announced he was here to stay with a very impressive 19 wins in his first full season. Byrd, Westbrook, and Laffey/Sowers/or Lee should be a decent back end of the rotation. Cleveland's bullpen also appears to be better than Detroit's, but they have a tendency to make things interesting (for example, closer Joe Borowski's 5.00+ ERA last year despite 40+ saves). Cleveland will have a good team this year, but I don't think they have enough firepower to take down the Tigers. I think Cleveland's pitching will make the division race interesting, but it won't be enough.

3. Minnesota Twins: The Twins lost their #1 and #3 pitchers this off season to trades (Johan Santana to the Mets and Matt Garza to the Rays), so that's really going to hurt them. The starting rotation has promise, but they also have a ton of question marks. Francisco Liriano started off red hot 2 years ago, only to go down with an elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery. Liriano still has great stuff, but you honestly don't know what you're going to get out of him. Scott Baker and Boof Bonser have shown a lot of promise, but they're going to be thrust to the front of the rotation, so much more will be expected of them. Livan Hernandez is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but should be an adequate #4 guy. Kevin Slowey should be the #5 guy. He also shows a lot of potential, but will need to step it up this year. His good K's to BB's ratio is a good sign, but things will be tougher since teams have tape on him now. The Twins lineup should be fairly good. Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Lamb, Delmon Young, and Brendan Harris should be able to score some runs, but Carlos Gomes and Adam Everett aren't going to do much of anything. Jason Kubal and Craig Monroe should split DH duties and both should do ok there. The bottom part of the division is pretty close, but the Twins lineup should be good enough for them to finish third in the division.

4. Chicago White Sox: I admit I was torn between the decision of who to put 4th in the division. I don't think the White Sox are going to be that much better than the Royals, but Chicago has more experience, so I gave them the edge. Chicago's starting rotation is up and down more than a roller coaster, so you can't expect them to perform well enough to make the White Sox competitive. Their lineup is just ok. Swisher, Dye, Konerko, Thome, and Orlando Cabrera are good players. AJ Pierzynski is as bland as you can get (production-wise...not attitude/personality-wise), but he's not a bad catcher. I wouldn't expect a ton from Crede/Fields, Carlos Quentin, or Alexei Rameriz. The White Sox could be competitive, but so many things would have to fall just right for them to even compete for the division. All you Chicago residents who don't have a strong allegiance to either team might want to go to the Cubs side this year. Things won't be that great on the Southside this year.

5. Kansas City Royals:

ME: Magic Eight Ball, with all the hype surrounding the previously terrible Rays, will this also be the year the Royals start turning things around?

Magic Eight Ball: Outlook Not So Good

Well, you guys heard it yourself. The Royals are probably still a year or two away from crawling out of the bottom of the central. Things are beginning to look better though. The rotation, led by Gil Meche, is pretty young and they look promising (probably going to have to wait another year from top prospect Luke Hochevar to make the starting rotation). The lineup is just ok. Alex Gordon started slow last year, but finished strong, so expect to see an increse in production from him. Outside of Gordon though, the rest of the lineup is just a collection of servicable, cheap position players. Joakim Soria emerged as a pretty good closer last year, but there isn't much else in the bullpen besides him. Better luck next year Royals.

Off to the "High Country"

2008-03-09T21:37:00.002-05:00

Well. I'm off to the Blowing Rock, Boone, Valle Crucis area...otherwise know as part of the "High Country." I've mentioned it on here before, but I love that part of the country. It's not as spectacular aesthetically as the Rocky Mountains, but I love it nonetheless. I'll be up there from tomorrow until Sunday. Give me a call if you're so inclined. In the meantime, here's a taste of what I'll be enjoying while you're stuck doing whatever your doing ;).

I'll get back to the baseball predicitons next week. I hope to knock out one next week or 2 in the following week. We'll see.

American League East

2008-03-05T19:00:00.004-05:00

The World Series champion came out of the AL East last year, so it seems like a good place to start. Hopefully my friend Ben will be starting his predictions here soon too. Here's a link to his blog.

My Predicted Order of Finish:
1. Boston Red Sox
2. New York Yankees
3. Tampa Bay Rays
4. Toronto Blue Jays
5. Baltimore Orioles

Boston: The Red Sox should be good again this year. The sox are in good shape all over the board, but look for a few guys to come up at some point during the year and take over starting jobs. CoCo Crisp will likely start the year as the starting CF, but expect Jacoby Ellsbury to eventually win that role. With Schilling likely done, I would expect to see the amazingly talented Clay Buchholz start the year as the #5 guy. I got to see Buchholz play at the low class A Greenville Drive for a couple of months while I was in college, and you could just tell he was going to be a player (Red Sox certainly didn't miss on this 1st round sandwich pick). The Sox line-up is as good as advertised. If they can get any production out of Lugo and Drew, they could be very scary. The pitching staff should be tough too. Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Lester, and Buchholz is an interesting rotation. If the two young guns at the back end hold up through a whole season, the Sox should be able to win the division. Papelbon, Okajima, Tavarez, and Timlin should give the bullpen nice stability too.

New York: The Yankees are still going to be tough, but I just don't trust their aging position players and their very young pitchers. The line-up will be tough as always with A-Rod leading the charge. The question will be how well guys like Giambi and Abreu hold up. The Yankees pitching staff is iffy. Wang is a dependable starter, but he's not going to blow anyone away. Mussina and Pettitte are aging, adaquete middle of the rotation guys at best, and I still haven't seen enough out of Hughes and Kennedy to say they'll live up to all their hype. The Yanks will still make things interesting, but I just don't see them putting together a consistent enough season to win the East considering their question marks and the improving Rays and Blue Jays.

Tampa Bay: Consider me one of those nut jobs who has fallen in love with the potential of all the young talent in Tampa. You can also count me as one of those guys who thinks they'll finally start getting things together this year. Expect the Rays to flirt with .500 this year, which would be a nice accomplishment considering their history. Carl Crawford, BJ Upton, Evan Longoria, and Carolos Pena are a nice core for a decent Tampa line-up. Kazmir, Shields, and Garza are a nice starting 3, but Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine as the #4 and 5 guys doesn't exactly make me see a division title for Tampa. One thing is certain with the Rays though, they're going to be young and exciting. Here's hoping they continue to take it to the Yankees (they've enjoyed an odd amount of success against NY recently).

Toronto: A lot of people are high on the Blue Jays, but I'm just not buying it. Not yet at least. I think they have a good pitching staff, but Scott Rolen, David Eckstein, Lyle Overbay, and Aaron Hill isn't exactly the best group of infielders. Vernon Wells should bounce back and Alex Rios will only continue to get better. I really like Rios and Hill, but the rest of their line up doesn't do that much for me. Halladay, Burnett, Marcum, McGowan, and Litsch should be a darn good starting 5 if they all can stay healthy (which has been a problem for Toronto pitchers). The Jays should definitely be competitive with that pitching staff, but I don't think they have enough offensively to keep up in the AL.

Baltimore: Uh...well...they shouldn't be the worst team in the history of baseball. The youth movement in Baltimore will be rocky at first, but the O's do have a some decent young talent. Nick Markakis is an emerging star in the outfield and Luke Scott and Adam Jones should eventually turn in to good outfielders. Outside of that though, the O's don't have much. Ramon Hernandez is taking a down turn and Kevin Millar and Melvin Mora at the corners aren't exactly superstars. As far as the pitching goes, when Jamie Guthrie is your #1 guy...you're going to have issues. Adam Loewen and Daniel Cabrera have shown tons of potential. Loewen is still young and Cabrera hasn't been able to shake his erratic streak yet. Both could be good players, but it won't be this year.

Should be business as usual in the AL East this year. The Rays could make things interesting, but expect the Sox and Yankees to be at the top of the division at the end of the year. Remember to check out my friend's blog for his predictions. See the link at the beginning of this post or click on the link on the side bar to the right (Of Cabbages and Kings).

Yay March

2008-03-02T00:06:00.003-05:00

Ah...March. One of my favorite months. The weather starts to get nicer, spring practice for college football begins, spring training for baseball is in full swing, and my birthday is in March. And as an added bonus, Easter is in March this year! Huzzah!

Anyways, won't keep everyone long this time. Just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm going to be doing MLB division predictions sometime soon. You know, coming out of high school, I was convinced that I really wasn't that in to baseball....then I met Ben. Since then, I've gotten back into baseball, and I've really started to appreciate the game of baseball for the wonderfully complex game that it is. Speaking of Ben, I'm going to try to talk him into do the division predictions too, so that we can have a comparison and see how we do at the end of the year.

With that I'll leave you with a few baseball quotes I enjoy.

Paul Richards, Orioles manager: Baseball is made up of very few big and dramatic moments, but rather it's a beautifully put together pattern of countless little subtleties that finally add up to the big moment, and you have to be well-versed in the game to truly appreciate them.

Vin Scully (From For Love of the Game): After 19 years in the big leagues, 40 year old Billy Chapel has trudged to the mound for over 4000 innings. But tonight, he's pitching against time, he's pitching against the future, against age, against ending. Tonight, he will make the fateful walk to the loneliest spot in the world, the pitching mound at Yankee Stadium, to push the sun back into the sky and give us one more day of summer.

Been A Long Time...

2008-02-25T20:13:00.003-05:00

So...it's been a while since I've updated my blog. I started it hoping I could do a decent job of keeping it updated, but that's hasn't worked out so well.

I'm going to try to check in once week, but there's obviously no guarantee considering how long it's taken me to make this post.

So...I guess I should give an update on how PT School is going.

I'm about 2 months into my second semester and things are going alright. Fundamentals of PT and Orthopedics are great classes, but I could do without the Aging and Biostats class. For the most part, I'm not having to work as hard as I did last semester. So...I actually have some resemblance of a life this semester. One neat thing I'm having to do this semester is volunteer at an adult day care for my aging class. It's actually a lot of fun getting to interact with the seniors. Some of them are absolute trips. It's also interesting to see how people at varying ages go through the aging process. One person who's 84 might not appear to be as far along in the aging process someone who's 64. I don't know, I just find it interesting. I'm sure none of you care about that :).

Spring Break is just a little more than a week away and I can't wait. My friend Dan and I are renting this amazing house near Boone, NC. To me, there just isn't any place more relaxing than the mountains. I'm looking forward to a little hiking and a lot of down time. To make things even better, a bunch of friends from Furman are coming up to spend the weekend with us. It's so very rare that I get to see anyone from Furman, so I'm looking forward to catching up with all of them.

Ok...well, that's enough for now. I've got to ease back into this slowly. I'll try to check back in next week. Hopefully everyone is doing well.

Until next time...watch your blind side.

Really Busy. Hopefully I'll Catch Up Soon.

2007-10-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

Ben and Bennie have tagged me in a "meme," so I'm supposed to answer the questions from the meme on my blog. I meant to do it a few days ago, but it will hae to wait until tomorrow afternoon probably. So, be looking for that.

I've got an anatomy practical coming up on Wednesday, so I'll be busy until then. The week after will mostly suck more, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Once things calm down, hopefully I can get back to some football/recruiting/hockey/top 10 list/music or something of that nature. Who knows...

Also, I hope to let you guys in on some things from PT school once I can organize my thoughts enough to put them into a blog.

Hope everyone is doing well! Remember to watch your blind side!

Rough Day

2007-09-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

I had my first semi-free weekend since I started PT school, so I went to Greenville for the FU/Wofford game. That turned out to be a mistake...at least the game did. FU got destroyed. Boy it was bad.

The trip was good overall though b/c I got to see several old friends, which really lifted my spirits. Seeing old friends is always a good thing. Seeing your team get beat like they stole something.....pretty much always a bad thing.

More coming later. Thinking about doing another top 10 list b/c they're fun and don't require too much time or work.

Alright, until next time. Watch your blind side (that means YOU FU qb's! geez!)

Pretty Good Day.

2007-09-22T22:16:00.000-05:00

HOORAY! App. State lost!!! I had to lead with that because it makes me REALLY happy. Got to hand it to Wofford. They played a heckuva game. ASU is just a good (not great) team without Armanti Edwards. While I don't want the guy to be hurt, him being out certainly makes everyone else feel like they have more of a chance.

Ok...so, an update with me.

I've made it through my first round of tests and I did great (which helps take some of the pressure off). Anatomy is actually getting tougher believe it or not. The Head and Neck are BRUTAL!!! Ugh. I'll get through it somehow though. The other classes are pretty easy so far (hopefully that keeps up). As far as my classmates go, I think we're all a little stressed right now. A lot of us have hit a our low point over the last week, so hopefully we'll be on the way up over the next few. I think I'm starting to see a few cliques develop in our class which is a little disappointing, but not unexpected. We all still get along well though, so I guess that's all that matters. So...things are good with PT school.

My personal life is....oh...that's right, I don't have a personal life during anatomy. More on this section in January hopefully. I did get to go to the EDventure museum downtown today to see a friend and fellow blogger from the UFFP, Bennie. It was nice to get to see him since he hasn't been on the uffp much. I STRONGLY encourage you to check out his blog (click the link or see the list to the right "BenWah's Blog") and hear his and his son's story. It's really amazing, and he's a darn good artist too (I have a few of his pieces and will hopefully be buying more in the future). He's got some good stuff, so check it out and buy something :). I've got a picture from it, but I'll get around to posting it tomorrow.

Hope everyone is doing well! Until next time, watch your blind side (it's just appropriate on Saturday's isn't it?)

PS - I've posted the new Iron Man movie trailer at the bottom. Another superhero movie that should be pretty good, although they are going to have to build lots of hype b/c not many people will recognize the franchise. Check it out.

I'm Not Dead....

2007-09-21T23:49:00.000-05:00

...although it may have seemed that way. As I mentioned earlier, finding time to blog is extremely hard to do. I could probably find a few mins, but I always feel so guilty b/c I should constantly be studying (at least it feels that way). School is going very well. I'm working very hard, but my grades are actually reflecting it now (unlike when I was at Furman).

I'll try to post again tomorrow night to give a more in-depth rundown of what's been going on with me. As for right now....I'm beat. Time for sleep.

It's That Time Of Year!

2007-09-03T00:34:00.001-05:00

That's right folks. The next few months (Sept.-very early Jan.) are the greatest time of the year. "Why?" you might ask. Well, it could be that a lot of holidays fall in this time....but that's not it. The reason this time of year is so great is that college football is back!!!! That's right...the pagentry, the tradition, the tailgating, monster upsets (more on that later), beating your rivals, and school pride...all of this is what makes college football so great

With football starting up, I will try to update my favorite teams' progress as the season goes along...along with other parts of college football that interest me. Just a few items from this weekend.

1. App State shocks the football world!

- I've made it very clear to anyone who's ever had contact with me that I HATE App State. I can't stand anything about them....but, what they did this past weekend was more than extraordinary. Going up to Ann Arbor and beating Michigan in the Big House is something we will talk about for as long as football exist. As much as it pains me to say, congrats to ASU. You made the Championship Subdivision (FCS/I-AA) and the Southern Conference very proud. Absolutely amazing. (Picture from si.com - Sports Illustrated)

2. Furman welcomes Presbyterian to the FCS with a 40-16 pounding.

-Glad to see Furman get a win even though they honestly didn't play all that well. Furman is one of about 2 teams that may be able to beat ASU this season, so hopefully we'll be ready with ASU comes to Paladin Stadium

3. Different Year. Same Story....for now.

- Well, NC State started this year like they finished last year...losing a game they should have one. The positive thing is that NC State played great in the 2nd half, but they dug too deep of a hole to climb out of. With Louisville coming in next weekend, things might get worse before they get better.

4. Cock-a-Doodle-Doo

-Yep. Attended my first game as a USC DPT student (first USC game period in fact). I can't say I was overly impressed, but I'm really not getting into the USC thing yet. I know it'll grow on me over time though. Football as USC is certainly different from Furman though (no duh huh?). I don't know if I've ever seen so much beer and cleveage in one place. I'm trying to think of something to compare it to, but nothing comes to mind. I did have a good time though and I got to see an ok game (even though USC really should have played better). Traffic is a nightmare though. The worst I've ever seen at a game. I'm looking forward to the next one though...whenever I can get some more free time to make it to one.

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well and I'll see you back here next week.

Quick Update...

2007-08-19T17:17:00.000-05:00

So, I'm a week into DPT school and it's going ok so far. Gross Anatomy is the only class in progress right now, but I'm still studying most of the day just for it. Adding 3 more classes to it this week is going to be tough.

Working in the cadaver lab hasn't been a problem yet. My partner and I do our first dissecting starting tomorrow (Anterior Chest Wall and Breast), so we'll see how that goes.

I also have my first real quiz tomorrow (pray for me). I'm feeling ok about it though (still pray for me).

I really like my fellow DPT students. It seems like a good mix and we're all getting along great so far. We range from 22-35 years old, but I imagine our average age is around 23/24.

That's all I have for now. Wish I had time to type more, but I've got to get back to studying. Sorry for the long wait for a new post. They won't be as consistant until I get settled in with classes and everything. Thanks for your patience though!

"Alright...We'll Call It A Draw." - A Review of Tobacco Road

2007-07-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

A Review of Tobacco Road

So, as I mentioned before, I got a chance to play Tobacco Road today. You'll also recall that their website says "some come to the pinehurst area for a tranquil game of golf...others come to do battle." Well, if today was a battle, it would have to be a draw.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm going to do myself to give a decent review of the experience. I'll admit right off the bat that I'm a little biased since I love Mike Strantz's course, so, you'll have to factor that in to the review. So how will I review the course? I'll be rating Amenities (Clubhouse, putting green, driving range, etc), Course Maintenance/Condition, Aestheics, Difficulty, Value, and "Wow" or "Buzz" factor on a 1-5 scale. Finally, I'll give a little recap of my actual round. So let's get to it.

Amenities: The clubhouse gets high marks from me not because it's really big or extremely nice, but because it fits Tobacco Road perfectly. It comes off as an old country house (nice for the area) and the inside seems rustic and modern at the same time. It feels very relaxed inside which is also a big plus to me. The driving range gets negatives marks because it's an irons only range. To me, all ranges should be big enough for players to hit drivers and fairway woods. The putting green was great as it is was exactly the same at the greens on the course. That's a big deal because if you can get the right speed and start to feel comfortable on the putting green, you'll usually have success on the course (which I did). Overall, the fitting clubhouse and the very nice putting green gets it 4 stars.

Course Maintenance/Condition: The guy at the desk told me that they really needed the rain they got yesterday, so I was expecting the course to be a little firm and maybe a little brown in a few spots. Boy was I wrong. The fairways were just firm enough for a little roll and very green. The greens were maybe a little too soft, but they were in great condition. Good speed and a true roll is about all you can ask and Tobacco Road more than delivered on that part. The sand/waste bunkers were about what you would expect...a little inconsistant on firmness, but overall not terribly penal if you know how to hit fairway bunker shots. One of the great things about Tobacco Road is that it seems to look very raw...for lack of a better term. Bunkers look ragged, wild long grasses grow all over the place, etc. People don't understand how much maintanence goes into making the course look "unmaintained" (I don't even think that's a word, but you know what I mean). Strantz has done a wonderful job of making it look as though people were just walking through the area and discovered a golf course. Of course, all good architects do that. They design the golf course with the flow of the land. All this leads to 4 1/2 stars for the course's condition/maintenance.

Aesthetics: Going along with what I just said, Strantz was able to find the absolute best features of the land and then design the course around them. The guy I was playing with said it was probably the most scenic course he has ever played (outside of the ocean holes at Pebble Beach). That's pretty high praise from a guy who's played St. Andrews, Pebble Beach, The Dunes, etc. Stantz was one of the most creative architects of his time. He has a way of making the shot look infinitely harder than it actually is (something he took from Allister McKenzie (sp?) who's considered the greatest architect of all time). Massive waste bunkers and long wild grasses frame almost every hole, ridiculously long or large greens make you play to the correct part of the green, and blind shots make you trust your swing and yardages. Strantz and McKenzie both believed the golfer got more enjoyment out of successfully hitting a seemingly impossible shot as opposed to accomplishing a straight forward shot. It's hard to argue with their logic after you pull off one of those shots. Golf purist will most likely be quite critical of this course (and all over Strantz designs) because isn't classical or traditional. That's what makes it so special to me. Those classical style course all seem to blend together after a while to me. I like seeing something that makes me go "whoa...that's interesting/different." I give Tobacco Road's aesthetics 5 out of 5 stars.

Difficulty: Golf Digest said that Tobacco Road was the 10th hardest course in the country based on rating and slope. After playing Tobacco Road, I have to say that I think the list may be a little off because T.R. isn't that hard...if you don't get greedy, play the correct set of tees, and play to the large landing areas that Strantz has wonderfully set up. "The Road" is a great test of golf in my mind. It takes the driver out of your hands sometimes, which is ok. The risk/reward options on The Road are spectacular. If you trust you swing and your yardage, you can really go low (like my 31 on my second 9). The green complexes can seem unreal/unfair at first glance but they really aren't that bad and they force you to play to the right part of the green. I still give The Road 4 stars for difficulty because I can see how it would be absolutely brutal to someone who was playing the incorrect tees or really struggling.

Value: My round cost $59 which is an absolute steal for the quality of the course. It's peak price is around $115 I think. I would have a hard time paying that for it (or any course outside of the classics). If you play it in one of the non-peak months though, it's definitely worth whatever the cost is. 4 stars

Wow/Buzz Factor: Almost every hole has that "wow" factor that makes playing a Strantz course such a fun and intersting experience. There are a couple of holes that will just take your breath away with their beauty/desigh. If a course has one of those holes, it's pretty happy, but The Road has more than a few. As far as it's "buzz" goes, Tobacco Road got a lot of pub (whether it was good or bad is a matter of how you look at it) when it was named one of the 10 hardest course in the country by Golf Digest. It was also named a 4 1/2 star "Places to Play" course by Golf Digest. 4 stars out of 5.

My Round: I started on the backside and fought my swing the whole time limping in with a 5 over 41 on the back. As we started the front side, I told the guy I only needed a 30 to tie my lowest 18 hole score ever. Well...I was close. I shot a 4 under 31 on the front side (my best 9 holes ever) to shoot a 1 over 72. Not bad for my first time doing battle with The Road. So, as I said, we'll call the round a draw since I won the front side and The Road won the backside. The overall experience was great. I would literally play that course everyday if I could afford it. If you're in the area and you DON'T play this course, you should have your head examined.

Off To Battle...

2007-07-30T08:56:00.000-05:00

As the website says, "Some come to the Pinehurst are for a tranquil game of golf...Others come to do battle."

Well, I'm off to do battle with Tobacco Road golf course. Golf Digest's #10 hardest course in America has been called "Pine Valley on steroids" (Pine Valley is considered the #1 course in America by the way). So, I'm a little nervous about the round, but I can't wait to play the course. I'm also a huge Mike Strantz's golf courses, so that's another reason for me to be excited. See everyone Wednesday!

I've Got Nothing...

2007-07-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

So, I've been trying to think of something to post, but I haven't been able to come up with anything. My life is relatively calm right now, although, things will start to pick up pretty steadily from here on out.

- My last week of working at the golf is this coming weekend. It can't come soon enough. Don't get me wrong. I love that course. I'd give anything to see it succeed, but I'm tired of working there. I feel kind of bad leaving my dad there to deal with everything, but I don't have much of a choice since...

- I start PT school in a few weeks. I'm really excited to start, but I'm also really scared too. I mean, I know it's going to be tough, grad school is supposed to be....but it doesn't mean it doesn't worry a little bit. Trying to learn to live and get around in a big city and a large state school is a little unnerving too (I came from an itsy bitsy town and a small, private college...big city, state school isn't exactly my cup of tea).

- The house in Columbia is coming along nicely. We still have some things to do, but I'm happy with the way it's turning out. I actually am excited about spend the next 3.5 years here.

- I've been doing some reading on golf course architecture recently. I didn't realize how much I still had to learn about course architecture. Don't get me wrong, I knew I wasn't an expert or anything. Surprisingly, I've found out I share a lot of the same ideas about course setup with some of the great architects of all time. That's probably not all that uncommon with the golfer who has played a lot and knows what he likes, but it's been nice either way.

- I'm heading up to NC next week to play a course called Tobacco Road. It's a Mike Strantz design that was named one of the 25 hardest courses in the country. It's visually intimidating and a great test of golf from everything I've heard, so I'm excited.

Well, that's about it for now. Sorry I don't have more stuff to post more often. I'll try to do better I swear.

Until next time, everyone take care and remember to watch your blind side.

I Love Dogs & Remembering Jimmy V

2007-07-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

I am, without a doubt, a dog person. There are very few dogs that I've come in contact with that I didn't like. If I see a dog walking on the side of the road, I have to fight myself not to pull over and pick it up. I'm incapable of watching those commericals about adopting a pet from the pound....they make me cry (espcially when they have a Sarah McLachlan song playing in the background...come on!!! That's just not fair).

So...why did I post this? Well, a friend of mine had to put down his dog of 13 years this morning. I know he's an absolute wreck. I would be inconsolable. Some people hurt as much when a pet dies as they do if it's a relative. I know that when I found out my first dog died of complications from cancer, I was devestated. It's amazing how much of a bond we can develop with out pets. I still miss my first dog from time to time even though our new dog is awesome too. That's her (the newer dog) on the left and right.

Thinking about my first dog and his battle with cancer reminded me that this past week, ESPN did their yearly Jimmy V Foundation fundraiser. ESPN has been amazing in helping to carry on and promote the foundation. In 2005, the first year they did the Jimmy V Auction, ESPN and it's affiliates raised over $200,000. Last year they raised over $450,000. This year....this year they raised over $800,000 for cancer research! Oh, by the way, they made 1.3 million dollars on the same day at the yearly golf tournament. That means ESPN helped raise over $2 million IN ONE DAY!! That truly is amazing. Another amazing fact, with the Jimmy V Foundation, 100% of the money raised goes to cancer research! As the guys on Mike and Mike said this morning, most non-profit organizations are happy if they can get to 80% of the money going towards the cause. 100% is unbelievable! All of their costs come out of another fund that has been built up over the years. Just in case you were wondering. Oddly enough, another great NC State coach is in a fight with cancer right now. Kay Yow, considered to be one of the great woman's college basketball coaches is once again fighting breast cancer. She's already gone though several reoccurances and seemingly beat them. From everything I've heard, this time around doesn't look as promising. It's not just NC State coaches though. Indiana's football coach, Terry Hoeppner died recently after battling brain cancer. While it was on my mind, I thought I would remind the few of you that read my blog to please help with the fight against cancer. Even if it's only a few dollars. Everything helps. You all know that nearly everyone of us will know someone who's been effected by cancer. For me, it was my dad's cousin James. He was an amazing, fun-loving guy. Like Jimmy V, he fought to the end, but the battle with cancer is one we just can win....for right now. I hope I live to see the day when we beat cancer, but it's going to take the continued support from people like you, me, and ESPN.

To close, a few sayings to remember from Jim Valvano. Take them to heart and remember them.

"There are three things we should all do every day. Number one is laugh. You should laugh everyday. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is you should have your emotions move [you] to tears. Think about it, if you laugh, you think, and cry, that's a full day. That's a heckuva day."

"Don't give up. Don't ever give up."

"I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind. It cannot touch my heart. And it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever."

I Got an Award!!!...and a Challenge...

2007-07-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

So one of my Furman football fanatic friends, Bennie, has passed along an award to me (see the Awesome Guy Blogger pic to the right). Thank you BenWah for bestowing this award on me. I will continue to "rock out" like you in your mullet days ;o). Apparently this award comes with a catch though. I have to pass it along to other people, and there's this thing called a meme challenge where I have to post 8 new or interesting this about myself. It'll be tough as I'm pretty boring, but I believe I owe it to Bennie and the other 4 or 5 people that actually read this blog to try. So....here goes.

1. I used to play the bass guitar. Seriously. I wasn't very good. I could only play songs that people showed me how to play or ones I taught myself through tabs. I couldn't hear a song and just pick it up though. I thought that little bit of knowledge would be nice to pass along since there is a guitar on the award.

2. I'm afraid of bridges. Don't ask me why. All I know is I get that from my mom. I think it really started though when I was young (around 8 or 9 probably) and I was watching something on tv where this car went through a bridge (as in straight down through it) and fell 400+ feet. Since then, bridges make me uneasy...especially old ones. The old bridges going into Charleston scared me to death. If I was in a car when we went over them, I'd have to close my eyes. I'm glad that rickity old bridge is gone. The majority of bridges don't bother me that bad though, thankfully.

3. I have a secret desire to be a chef. I'm not a great cook, but I can hold my own in a kitchen. I can do simple stuff, but I like doing more challenging things from time to time. I'd say my best dish though is an oreo cheesecake. I'm testing other flavor combos in a cheesecake...no luck so far though. I'll get back to you about that. While I cook simple things, I don't prefer simple ingrediants. Like, instead of using chedder cheese, I'd rather use provolone. Or instead of making an alfredo sauce for pasta, I'd rather use pesto and olive oil. Yeah....so....moving on.

4. My other secret desire is to be a golf course architect. You could have probably picked up on that from other posts of mine, but what you don't know is that I've designed more than 30 golf courses on my graph paper. No, it's not as in-depth as real hole design plans, but I put as much detail into it as I can. I don't try to specialize in any one design. I like a little bit of everything. Links styles, Mountain styles, modernized/visually striking styles, and simple/classical designs. I don't have one designer that I draw inspiration from. Instead, I try to take a little from a bunch of guys. One design type that I really do love though is Donald Ross's "turtleback" greens (like at Pinehurst...which I pointed out two blogs ago). I think it was also Ross who said he likes to easy players into thier rounds....which is something I also believe in. None of my opening holes are ever that hard. After that though...I make no promises :o).

5. I'd like to live in Colorado (specifically Denver) for a few years. Mostly because I'm a big Colorado Avalanche fan, but it would also be a nice change from where I've lived my whole life (near the beach). Plus, playing golf in the rockies has to be amazing.

6. Going along with the last point....I want to retire in the mountains. There is just something about the mountains that makes me feel whole. It's a very spiritual place, and I think I'm more relaxed there then anywhere else I've ever been. It's not that I don't like where I grew up, but I'm really not a beach person (my excess weight could have something to do with that). There mountains are just the place for me. Plus, my beard goes well with the whole mountain man persona :o) (don't expect me to be dressed like Paul Bunyan or anything like that).

7. I like my facial hair. I know some girls don't like it and other people think it looks unprofessional, but I don't care. I get that from my dad I think who had a mustache or a gotee for most of my childhood. My dad has toned it down some, but he still rocks the soul patch from time to time (I know you'll like that Bennie).

8. I love hanging out with my fellow UFFPers. The UFFP is the Furman message board on the internet. Through various conversations and meetings on there, I met some amazing guys who love Furman sports (just like me). They were nice enough to invite me to tailgate, and ever since then, whenever I'm in Greenville for a football game I hang out with those guys the whole day before the game. Probably doesn't sound like a big deal at first, but when you factor in that most of these guys are mid 30's to late 50's, I think it's pretty amazing that they let a 23 year old into their circle. They're nuts...but they're really good guys. As a side note, Bennie is one of those guys I met through the uffp.

Ok...nothing special, but I'd say I fufilled the requirements of my "meme" challenge. Now I just have to pass along this "Awesome Guy Blogger" award to a fellow guy blogger. Hm....my choices are limited as my friends Ben (not Bennie) and Briton rarely post on there blogs. I'll think about it and let you know who I pass the award along too.

Again, thanks again to Bennie for the recognition. If you haven't checked out his blog, you really need to. Also, you need to buy one of his paintings. They really are good. I have one of the Bell Tower at Furman, and it's my favorite decoration/work of art in my room.

Ok, until next time, watch your blind side.

Long Time, No Blog...

2007-07-05T23:36:00.001-05:00

Sorry about the long time off guys. Things have been kind of busy for me recently. I've been working a lot and I've spent some time in Columbia trying to break in the new house. It sucks not having internet or cable yet. I thought of a couple of things to blog about while I was up there, but I had no internet. Sad.

Since it's been a while and it's kind of late, I'll just do a brief run down of some things on my mind.

1. The new Transformers movie kicks @$$! Michael Bay might not be a great direct, but dang...he can blow some stuff up. Lots of humor and action. I'd highly recommend this movie to anyone. You don't have to be a transformers fan to enjoy the movie. At least I don't think so.

2. Why is it impossible for ice cream places like Marble Slab and Coldstone Creamery to offer SMALL portions? I went to Marble Slab while I was in Columbia earlier this week and asked for the smallest cup of ice cream they have (which wasn't that small to begin with). I tried to make sure I emphasized one small scoop. Apparently the workers' idea of "small" is horribly warpped. I just want a taste of ice cream people, not a pint of ice cream! I guess the real point of all of that is that every now and then, you get a disturbing reminder of how messed up America's view of portion size is.

3. Got my first Physical Therapy school assignment the other day. Oh, by the way, I'm still more than a month away from starting PT school. This thing just got very real for me. Ugh.

4. I haven't plugged my friend's blogs in a while, so......check them out (on the right side of my blog page).

5. NEEDTOBREATHE, a band based out of the upstate of SC (2 guys went to Furman with me), has a new album coming out on Aug. 28th called "The Heat." You guys should check it out along with their first album. The guys are really nice and they're super musicians.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll try to post more regularly in the near future. Oh one more thing, a fellow blogger and Furman football fanatic said he could get me on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Score....now if I could only come up with $305 dollars to spend on one 18 holes of golf. I'm not going to lie...I'd most definitely pay it. I just can't afford that right now....I don't think. We'll see...

Everyone take care and remember to watch your blind side!

Top 10 Golf Course I Want to Play During My Lifetime (1-5)

2007-06-20T20:43:00.001-05:00

Alright, time to finish the list. Here we go...

#5. 3 Creek Ranch

3 Creek Ranch was named the #1 course in Wyoming by golf digest and one look at the pictures will show you why. It might have the most beautiful surroundings of any golf course I've ever seen. Purple mountains shoot out of the ground around the golf course. Long, wispy yellow fields of tall grass lie just off the rough. The views of this course will take your breath away. The chances of me playing it though are slim as it is a very private course. If any members of 3 Creek Ranch read my blog and will let me be their guest for a day, I might just have to fly up to Wyoming :o). You can see more pictures of the course here .

#4. Pebble Beach (or Cypress Point)

Pebble Beach is one of the most historic courses in golf. It's hosted numerous USGA championships and was named the #6 course in the US by Golf Digest. One of the reasons I love Pebble Beach (and Cypress Point) is that the course is built on the rocky cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful Cypress trees and views of the ocean are all over Pebble, oh...and the golf course is a spectacular design too. This is another one of those courses that almost all golfers fantasize about playing one time or another. The great thing is anyone can play it...for a price (can get up to $600 a round!!!).

#3. Pinehurst #2

A spectacular Donald Ross design that is the most famous of the 8 courses in Pinehurst, NC. People might recognize Pinehurst #2 from the breath taking finish to the 1999 US Open. Phil Mickleson, who was wearing a pager awaiting the birth of his first child, was in a battle with the charismatic Payne Stewart which went right down to the very last putt. Needing a 15 footer to save par and win the US Open, Stewart drained the putt and his fist pumping, leg swinging celebration is an image that will stick with golf fans forever. As they embraced on the 18th, Stewart told an obviously disappointed Mickleson, "you're going to be a father," and sure enough Mickelson's first child, a baby girl was born the next day...a day after Father's Day. Unfortunately, Payne Stewart was taken far to early in a trageic plane crash, but his dramatic victory at the 99 US Open cemented his legacy. Back to the golf course. The most recognizable part of Pinehurst #2 is the crowned greens with false fronts and edges. It's greens require absolute precision and accuracy with your irons as you have a very small area on each green in which you could land the ball. A spectacular golf all around.

#2. Kiawah Island - The Ocean Course

As far as golf course design goes, this is probably my favorite course. An absolutely brutal Pete Dye design that has literally made professional golfers cry. A masterful course that weaves in and around massive waste bunkers and marshlands, and don't forget that the beach is never more than a few hundred yards away (seriously...). The golf course is hard enough but then you throw in the wind that is coming off the ocean right beside you, this course can be down right cruel.....and I love it. The #37 course in America and a 5 star course according to Golf Digest, this course has hosted some very big events. The 1991 "War By The Shore" Ryder Cup matches, the 2007 Senior PGA Championship, and the 2012 PGA Championship. If the #1 course on this list never existed, this would be the my #1 course in a landslide. Like Pebble Beach, anyone can play this course...for a price. I'm 99.9% sure I'm going to pay the money to play this course one day.

#1. Augusta National

The Mecca of golf. The holy land of hackers everywhere. One of the few courses that some golfers would give up a body part to play :). Augusta National is THE golf course. No, it's not the oldest course, but it may be the most beautiful. The host of golf's first major every year, The Masters, the course is always in pristine shape and the azaela's are always in bloom. Bobby Jones masterpiece is the only course that host a major every year. The tradition and history of Augusta National is only rivaled by St. Andrews. Unless you've actually been there, it's not possible to comprehend the beauty and difficulty of the course. Even if you HAVE been there, you still can't find the words to describe it. My dad got the chance to live out every golfers dream and actually play Augusta National years ago. I'm incredibly jealous of that as I will most likely never get to play Augusta National. A guy can dream though...

Top 10 Golf Course I Want to Play During My Lifetime (6-10)

2007-06-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

As promised, in honor of the US Open here's my top 10 list of golf courses I want to play at some point during my life. I know I won't get to play some of them, but hey...a guy can dream can't he :o). Ok...here goes...

#10. Shinnecock Hills/Oakmont (NY/Penn.)

2 of the the most recent US Open course and 2 of the top 5 golf courses in the world according to Golf Digest magazine. Shinnecock Hills and Oakmont are two masterful, yet brutal, test of golf in the world. Both are pretty open (very few trees), and the rough is...well...diabolical. Both have seen their share of spectacular US Open moments. Oakmont was the place for Johnny Miller's amazing final round 63 to win the US Open in 1973. A US Open record that still stands today (well...it's tied with another 63, but it's still the lowest round in US Open history). And Corey Pavin's 4 wood on the 18th hole of Shinnecock Hills in 1995 to seal his victory is still one of the best ever. Shinnecock's 18th (left) and Oakmont's famous "church pew" bunkers on #3 (right).

#9. Muirfield Village (Dublin, Ohio)

Another spectacular golf course with a ton a history. A Jack Nicklaus design that is nestled in the woods of Ohio. It host Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament every year and it's also hosted the Ryder Cup matches and a US Amateur. Golf Digest rated it the #18 course in the world.

#8. Whistling Straits (Wisc.)

A magnificent golf course located on the bluffs of Lake Michigan's shoreline. This Pete Dye design played host to the PGA Championship in 2004. A course that has been compared to Pebble Beach can more than hold it's own with the world's great golf course. I've always loved courses on the shores of oceans/lakes and this one is no different. The wispy fescue rough (?) and Lake Michigan's ever present breeze (or gale force winds) make for a great test of golf.

#7. Harbour Town (Hilton Head, SC)

Quite possibly one of the most recognizable golf courses in the world, this wonderful low country course host the Verizon Heritage golf tournament every year. Another Pete Dye design that is as beautiful as it is challenging. The 18th hole at Harbour Town is one that most people will recognize as Harbour Town's candy cane like lighthouse overlooks the 18th green and the marsh that runs down the left side of the hole. Some fireworks can definitely happen at this closing hole (and they have...Bob May's victory and Boo Weekly's chip in to win this year come to mind). Golf Digest rated it the #93 course in the world.

#6. St. Andrews, The Old Course (Scotland)

Ah....as Keith Jackson would say, "the granddaddy of them all." The oldest golf course in the world has been called the home golf and it host the British Open Championship (also called The Open) most often in their rotation. If you're looking for a "mecca" for golf, if it's not Augusta National, it has to be St. Andrews. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have said it's their favorite course in the entire world. That's high praise from quite possibly the two best golfers of all time. A traditional links style course (well...guess it can't be "traditional" since it was THE original links course) where the wind and pot bunkers absolutely play havoc on the best players in the world. To give you an idea of how hard the wind blows there. I once saw Tiger Woods have to hit a 4 iron (probably 230 yard avg. club for him) to a green 160 yards away....yo, that's strong. If you care anything about golf, you've probably fantasized about playing St. Andrews. (The view up the 18th fairway and the famous bridge where the likes of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus said goodbye in their last British Opens - right).

Sorry For the Wait...

2007-06-13T14:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry it took so long to post again. I really didn't have all that much to talk about, so instead of posting just to post...I just decided to wait. Anyways, back to this past weekend...well actually, Sunday and Monday.

So, I was leaving at 1 pm Sunday to head up to Greenville to see some friends from college, and about 11 am I came to the realization that my phone is messed up. People could hear what I said, but I couldn't hear anything on my end. It really was sad. I had that phone for 3 years and I never had any trouble. That's why it makes sense that it breaks on the day I'm making a road trip...ugh. So all this meant that I had to get a new phone, so I stopped in Florence at the Cingular store (or the NEW AT&T...whatever) to buy a new phone. Buying a decent phone straight up will hurt your wallet in a bad way. Then you buy a case and a car charger....it really starts to add up. So I get in the car and drive through Florence to get on I-20. A few miles outside of Florence, I discover that the car charger the woman sold me doesn't work. Wonderful... So I have no phone for the other 3 hours of my trip. A bit unnerving? A little bit. How did people drive without cell phones? I mean, if you don't have one now, you're always worrying about what you'll do if something goes wrong. Anyways, so I get to Greenville and try to exchange the car charger at the cingular store there. Well what do you know, they can't exchange it....WONDERFUL! So after dropping another 30 bucks on ANOTHER charger, I FINALLY get the phone to work. Spectacular.

The middle part of my trip was actually very good. 3 friends and I went to Mellow Mushroom for pizza (best pizza ever...) that night The next day, Jantz and I played some golf in the morning and went and saw Ocean's 13 that afternoon with Amer.

So after the movie, I headed home. Most of the ride home wasn't so bad, but two things did happen that managed to tick me off.

1). I pulled into a near empty rest stop (one other car), and parked my car away from the other guy. So, I go into the bathroom and when I come out, a guy has pulled up RIGHT BESIDE ME!!! For the love of Pete, all the freakin' space in the world and the guy has to park right beside me! I really don't get that...why do that? Why not park on space over and space things out a little. It's not like he needed to park beside me. Geez, I was pissed.

2. I'm driving on the backroads getting close to home at a pretty good clip. I see this car pull up to a stop sign and come to stop. So, when I get about 100 feet from the stop sign, the freakin' idiot tries to pull out. Ugh. I had to slam on breaks and swerve/slide to miss him. I was so pissed I couldn't even hit the horn. All I was able to do was slam my fist at the window towards him. It was actually a funny picture looking back on it now, but I was fumming. Freakin' idiot drivers. Stuff like that makes me want to hunt those people down, pull them out of their cars, and punch them in the face. Haha...ok, it's not that bad, but you know what I mean.

Anyways, just had to vent. Thanks for listening :).

With the US Open starting this weekend. I'll be rolling out my top 10 places I'd like to play golf at some point this weekend. So...yeah, get ready for that :).

Until next time, watch your blindside.

What A Weekend!

2007-06-04T21:20:00.001-05:00

So, this past weekend my friend (Dustin), my Mom and Dad, and I went to Blowing Rock. Dustin, my Dad, and I were there for golf....my Mom was there for shopping or something. Our paths didn't cross much during the weekend :). Anyways, I can honestly say it was the best weekend I've had in a long time (not saying much considering I'm usually working). It really was a lot of fun though, and I now see why guys plan these golf excursions.

Before I talk about the courses let me just say that the mountains are just spectacular. Don't get me wrong, I like being so close to the beach, but I would choose the mountains almost every time. Every visit to the mountains is almost like a spiritual revival for me. I mean, how can you look around at the wonderful beauty of the mountains and not be moved? Anyways, on to the weekend...

Since day 1 was mostly driving, I'll skip right to day 2.

Day 2 - Olde Beau

Day 2 began far too early as I had a very hard time sleeping and ended up getting up around 5:30 (ouch). We left the house around 8:00 am and ended up driving about an hour and a half to Olde Beau. I like the mountains, but there are times I could do without all the winding roads. Talk about a long car ride. Geez. Anyways. After getting there and hitting a few range balls, we took to the course. We were actually really lucky as there was almost no one at the course that day, so we were able to enjoy our round at our own pace. Anyways, things started off well for me as I drove the first green, with a little help from the cart path (380+ yards, downhill, pictured to the right) and two putted for my birdie. Things wouldn't get much better from there. I'd like to blame my bad score on the fact I played from the back tees (otherwise known as the tips), but I just didn't play that well. Luckily, the views around the course were absolutely beautiful, which made our bad golf a little more tolerable. My first experience with mountain golf was...well...interesting. I really enjoyed it, but man it's tough to get used to all the ups and downs as far as distance control goes. More than a few times I hit shots I thought were good that ended up being really short or long. I knew I had to adjust for the elevation changes, but it's easier said than done. the views around #14 and #15 were breathtaking (#15 fell off the side of a mountain just past the green...sweet. See the pic on the right, #15 green from 14 tee box...Dustin actually hit a ball from there to the green to about 15 feet, very cool). While I'd like to talk about every hole, I don't have that kind of time and you guys don't want to read all of that so, just enjoy the pictures!

#2 on the left

#15 green ->

<- The view down to #17 green (at least 100+ feet)

Day 3 - Mountain Aire

Mountain Aire golf course wasn't quite as far away as Olde Beau, but it wasn't as good either. Don't get me wrong, it was nice little golf course, but it wasn't worth the $46 we had to pay (as opposed to the $37 we payed for Olde Beau which was a STEAL). It was right in the valley of some tall mountains though, so the views were very nice. The adjustment to the elevation changes came a little easier this day and I played a little better. The one thing about Mountain Aire I will remember is the view from #6 tee box (pictures left and right). This hole is just nuts. The tee box we played from is at LEAST 400 feet above the fairway...crazy. Let's just say hitting it 300 yards on this hole was pretty easy (I hit it about 350 yards). It was a spectacular hole on a decent golf course. There was another view I thought was really cool (see below). Overall, it was another decent day of golf even though we all struggled again.

To summerize, I'm really glad I planned this outing. It allowed me to spend time with a friend going active military in the next few weeks and I got to enjoy some good golf and spectacular views. If you haven't been to the mountains in a while, you owe it to yourself to get up there and spend a fews days.

As an aside, I saw Knocked Up this weekend too and let me just say it is farggin' hilarious! I probably should have had it higher than #4 on "my movies I want to see in 2007" list. Seriously, if you don't mind crude humor, you need to check it out. Very good movie (even critics gave it mostly A-'s...that never happens!)

Until next time....watch your blindside.

Oh...My Back...

2007-05-25T20:17:00.000-05:00

23 and I've got my first case of lower back pain. That's just peachy.

I don't even know how it happened. I was playing golf yesterday (something I've done a thousand times before) and somwhere around #13, my back started to hurt. Fast foward a little more than 24 hours and I'm struggling to stand up straight. Again....just wonderful.

I mean...it's not like I have a golf trip planned to the mountains of NC with my friend who's going active military in a month. You know...a trip I've been looking forward to for 2 months. Oh...wait...I do! Grrrrrrr.

Here's hoping I'm well enough to play next weekend b/c I'm going to play those golf courses. Even if it means I have to shoot something in the 1oo's (something I haven't done since early middle school).

The moral of the story....take care of your lower back (85-90% of Americans have lower back problems in their lifetime).

Sorry...just had to rant. It's been a frustrating 24 hours.

My back and I would appreciate any prayers and well wishes you can send our way :).

My Newest Investment

2007-05-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

So...I made quite the purchase today. I did something very unlike me and spent a bunch of money on a non-essential item.

So what did I buy? Well...uh....I bought a new driver. Um...a $450 driver. I know what you're thinking. I was thinking the exact same thing ( "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!). It's crazy...I know. But that's just the way the golf club market is. If you buy a new driver...it's going to cost you...a lot.

I guess I should walk you guys through the long process that was me buying a driver.

So I decided about a month ago I should look into buying a new driver because I wasn't satisfied with my old one anymore. Sure, I still hit it ok, but it doesn't go as long as it used to and it's way behind the times technology-wise. My first stop was to Golf Digest Hot List. A list of the hottest, newest club for that year tested by some good golfers and people in the golf equipment industry. After going over that what seemed like 100 times I settled on 3 drivers I was interested in looking at: the Ping Rapture, the Ping G5, and the Titleist 907 D2. After I settled on these three, I stopped by my favorite golf superstore at the beach to check them out. After I looked at them and was satisfied with how they looked at set up, I went on to search the internet for comments and reviews from other players about the clubs. I also read up on the new technologies and shafts to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into.

After getting a decent paycheck and saving some money, I decided it was time to buy a new club. So I took a friend with me to the golf superstore to do my final testing to see which club was going home with me. When I got to the golf store, I asked a guy about the different shaft options. After figuring that out I grabbed 4 drivers: a 9 degree Ping Rapture with a stock Ping shaft, a 9 degree Ping Rapture with an Aldila VS Proto shaft (shaft goes for about $170 on the market), a 9 degree Ping G5 with an Aldila NV shaft, and a 9.5 degree Titleist 907 D2 with an Aldila VS Proto shaft. The machine they have for testing is absolutely crazy. It shows you your distance, the shape of your shot, the launch trajectory, the ball speed, the club speed, and your smash ratio (basically shows you how close you are to hitting the center of the club face). After testing all four I settled on the...

The 9 degree Ping Rapture with the Aldila VS Proto shaft

I'm not going to lie. It was VERY hard to lay down so much money for a club. I'm not going to tell you how much....you can always look it up if you REALLY want to know.

Overall, the driver search wasn't too bad. I got up-to-date on the latest golf technology and I think I got the right driver for me, which is what this was all about. Here are some more pics of my newest investment :)

The Wonderful World of Netflix

2007-05-17T16:09:00.000-05:00

In the second installment in my "wonderful world of" series, I'll look briefly at Netflix...or more generally, online movie rentals.

You'll remember from my last "wonderful world of" entry that I talked about podcasts, how fast they're growing, and how there is one out there for everyone. So what's so special about Netflix/online movie rentals and why are these services growing so fast?

For movie lovers, online movie renting might be the greatest thing since sliced bread. No longer do you have to leave your local movie store disappointed b/c they don't have the movies you're looking for. You subscribe to a payment plan, put a few movies in your queue, and BAM...movies are in your mailbox before you know it (no the dog to the left doesn't deliver them). Netflix offers something like 75,000+ movies and tv series(over 40 million total discs in stock), including some older or rarer movies. Want to relive your childhood by watching the whole Saved By the Bell series? You can do it (even the dreadful Saved by the Bell: The New Years spinoffs...*shutters*). Maybe you're more into the Indie or Documentary thing...no problem. Or maybe you just want to get all the new releases fast and conveniently. Bingo. Here in lies the great thing about online rentals. Sure, you might have a short wait, but you don't have to worry about timing things just right so you can get to the local movie rental store to try and snag one of the two copies of the latest new release (you might as well just wait a month...). It's quick, convenient, and if you watch enough movies...surprisingly cheap.

So by now you can see why this market is doing so well. A good product is just a part of it's success though. So what other reason is there for the boom in online movie rentals? The rise in the number of DVD players in homes across America due to increasingly affordable prices, is a very big part of it (maybe the biggest). Without the increase in the number of DVD players, it's likely online movie renting never really takes off. An obvious conclusion, I know, but it's still important to look at how one thing affects another in our economy/market.

One more point to look at is the growing debate about which is better, Netflix or Blockbuster? Initially, it would seem like Blockbuster would be the better choice since you can do in store movie pick-up and drop-offs, but there is more to that. With Blockbuster, the in store pick-ups are still subject to late fees and must be returned to the store instead of mailed(per a CNET review http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11445_7-6325775-1.html). Also, Netflix offers more movies and more movie rental plans than Blockbuster. To me, the better option is clearly Netflix, but it really is up to you. If you live near a Blockbuster, that might be a better option for you.

One thing is for certain, I'm addicted to online movie renting. Having the ability to access and rent movies you might not find at the local store is a big plus to me. Also, since Netflix suggest movies you might like based on past ratings, I've rented, watched, and enjoyed movies I might not have given a second look at before. So, whether you're a movie buff or just enjoy the occasional rental, online movie rental companies have something to offer you. Check them out. You just might like it (like the couple to the right here...see netflix makes you happy and makes your dating life a blast! ;o) yuummm....wine and popcorn. Can you say classy!).

That's it for now. Hope everyone enjoyed the entry. I'm working on a few more top ten lists, so expect one of those to be rolled out in the near future. Hope everyone is doing well and remember to watch your blindside.

Keeping My Promise

2007-05-14T09:21:00.000-05:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, I promised you random ramblings about nothing in particular when I started this blog and random ramblings you should have! Here are just a couple of thoughts that have been on my mind recently.

- If I had to do something other than Physical Therapy, I would have tried to be a golf course architect.

- Keeping it touch with people after you graduate college is hard...at least for me. Why is that? It really shouldn't be so hard. Especially with cell phones, e-mail, facebook, instant messenger blogs, etc. It's not like we're all so busy we can't take a few minutes to call/e-mail a friend just to say hey and catch up.

- I would never work at a golf course full time as a career. It's just too taxing. No it's not physically strenuous (except for the fact that you're literally on your feet for 11 of the 12 hours you'd have to work a day. I saw my dad have to deal with it was young, and now that I'm working at the course almost full time, I see why he grew to dislike it so much. It's nice being at a golf course and interacting with people, but the job is just exhausting.

- When it comes to making a decision about spending big money on anything (tv, golf clubs, etc), I really can't make a decision. I need to stop over thinking everything.

- I often relate myself to characters on tv. Ok, I know that's not all that uncommon. For example, I'm on a "I'm like John Dorian off of Scrubs" kick b/c I constantly find ways to sabotage relationships. I can't "stay out of my head" as they say on Scrubs.

- In relation to the last thought.....Scrubs is awesome. Definitely one of my top 5 favorite shows of all time. I believe there will be one more season (season 7) and then that will be it. Sad...

Ok...that's all for now. Hopefully you all enjoyed the random ramblings.

PS - I've added a couple of new blogs on the right side of the page under "Friends and Other Blogs of Interest." The Paladin Walk is a guy I know through a Furman football message board, and Katie is a good friend from Furman who I will be joining at USC for physical therapy school this August. Check them out.......NOW! Do it....do it! :)

Got a house for next year & golf superstores

2007-05-11T20:31:00.000-05:00

So...we got the house we really liked in Columbia. I'm psyched! It's a really nice house with a lot of potential. It also has a decent size backyard for a house in Columbia (it's at least big enough where I can chip a few around the yard). We've got some work to do, but it's still pretty new, so everything is in great order for the most part.

As I mentioned before, the whole house hunting thing has been a very good experience. One that should help me out a ton later in life. Boy a lot goes in to it though. I'm certainly not in any rush to have to deal with that (which is probably why I'm going back to do 3 1/2 more years of school...haha).

Golf equipment superstores....those places are dangerous. Not physically dangerous, but if you aren't careful, you can blow a grand in there in a blink of an eye (assuming you play golf that is). I went in there planning to get a few things for dad and maybe a dozen balls for me. Next thing I know I'm dropping a 170 down (and I didn't even buy in any clubs! That was all balls, gloves, etc). I'm telling you, that stuff adds up quickly. Just think about this. If you went to one of these places (I'm near the beach so we'll say Martin's...local golf megastores) and you bought a good, new driver, set of irons, wedges, a putter, a dozen balls, and a glove....you're going to be coughing up around $1600. Yikes. I bring all of this up b/c I've never really had to deal with all this stuff before. With my dad being a golf pro, he got free golf balls and drastically discounted clubs all the time (which I eventually wound up taking to use for myself :) ). I always knew golf was an expensive sport, but man....that's steep. I guess there wasn't really a point there, but I felt like sharing. Like I said at the beginning of this thing though...these are just my random thoughts. Hopefully they're dumb enough to at least slightly entertain the few of you that might still read this thing :).

I think I'm going to do another top ten list pretty soon. I know you'll be on the edge of your seat waiting for it :).

Until next time, watch your blindside.

Getting Called "Sir" and House Hunting in Columbia

2007-05-05T18:41:00.000-05:00

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! I don't look that old do I? Yes, the beard makes me look older and I've always looked older than my age, but dang....I'm not old enough to be called "sir" yet.

I should offer the story I suppose. So I'm working behind the desk at the golf course during the High School State Class "A" Tournament when a group of young players came in (around 9th grade I suppose). They pay for a few drinks and I make small talk. I guess I asked one if they were in the nth grade or something that required a yes or no answer...then one said "yes sir" (gasp!). I was so stunned that I froze. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal, but I think it finally hit me that I'm at an age where some people in society might refer to me as "sir." It was an unnerving experience :o). Just more evidence that I'm slowly moving towards the real world and the rest of my life I guess. I don't like it :op.

Also, the 'rents and I went to Columbia today to house hunt. It actually was quite exciting and a good learning experience for the future. What I learned from it was that I'm really low maintenance. There were a couple of houses that were really nice (and decently priced) and all I could think was....this seems like a bit much. In all honesty, I would probably be fine with a TV, a bean bag chair, a small fridge, and a hot plate (a shower too, but you guys know what I'm getting at). Anyways, we found 3 houses we liked and one we really liked. We'll probably make an offer on that one pretty soon. It's exciting to think I'll be living in a house on my own (well....my sister and her friend will live there too, but I'm not betting on them being there that much).

Ok, I guess that's enough for now. I still suck at updating this thing, but at least I'm still making the effort. No sports update this week. Sorry :o). I'll get to the netflix thing soon, I hope...

The Masters and More Baseball

2007-04-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

As someone who's been to the Masters on a Sunday, I can tell you that the place is absolutely electric. The ground shakes and the hair on the back of your neck stands up when a roar goes up from somewhere on the course. Going into Sunday though, this year's Masters didn't have the same feel. It was cold. The course was tougher than usual. And let's be honest, watching the best golfers in the world make pars and bogies is ok for the US Open...but we want to see birdies at the Masters. Sunday was pretty much back to normal with guys making birdies and eagles down the stretch to make things interesting. Congrats to Zach Johnson by the way. The guy starred Tiger and Augusta National in the eyes and came away victorious. Very impressive showing indeed. I was also really happy to see the guy was very open about his faith and that he reeeeally understood how big of a deal all of this was. Most of the time, America wants to see the big names do well. The ratings show that. But every now and then, seeing a cinderella story is good for every sport.

Ok, back to baseball. The first week of baseball was pretty normal I thought. About half the pitchers were lights out and the other half couldn't keep the ball in the park. There are a few surprises though. The Pirates and Baby 'Backs in Arizona are leading their division. It probably won't stay that way all year, but both of these clubs have very good young players. If they can get some reliable pitching, they should be competitive. On the flip side, that Nationals are bad....really, really, really bad. The should have no problem losing 100 games this year. Heck, they'll probably push 120 losses.

Continuing the from the last post....top performers in the first week in major leage baseball.

- As much as I hate to say it...A-Rod has been very good the first week. 4 homers, 11 RBI's, and clutch hitting all lead to very happy Yankee fans....for now.

-Eric Byrnes (Arizona): Byrnes (seen left) has been very good as one of the few vets. in the baby 'Backs lineup. He's he .355 with 2 homers, 7 RBI's, 3 BB's, and 4 stolen bases.

- Vlad Guerrero (LA Angels): Vlad the Impailer has been spectacular so far hitting .440 with 3 homers and 10 RBI's

- Johan Santana (Minnesota): Johan has been great, no surprise there, but Santana is a slow starter, so his fast start his Twins fans and his fantasy owners very, very happy. 13 IP's, 2 Wins, 2.77 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 10.38 K's/9.

- Jake Peavy (San Diego): Most people who follow baseball knew this was coming. After a disappointing year last year, Peavy was bound to bounce back. On a personal note. I think Peavy has stuff as good as any other top pitcher, he just needs SD to give him some run support. 13 IP's, 1 Win, 0.69 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 6.23 K's/9.

- Salomn Torres (Pittsburgh): Afte the departure of Mike Gonzalez to Atlanta, that opened the door for Torres (seen right)to be the closer. Torres was out of baseball for a while, but he's been solid since he's been back. With that said, his leash was very short to start the year. After the first week, I'd say he's got a little more room on that leash. The pirates are a surprise 4-2 and Torres has saved all 4 games. If the Pirates are to be competitive this year, they'll need Torres to keep up his solid work.

I keep forgetting to update the blog so forgive me if I miss a week. I'll try to post at least once every week.

Coming up next week (hopefully), minor league reports for the Braves farm system, the Greenville Drive, and Furman and NC State players.

Until next time, watch your blindside.

Start of MLB Season

2007-04-03T07:23:00.000-05:00

I meant to get to this yesterday, but better late then never right?

Thank goodness the baseball season has started. With basketball and hockey winding down, baseball is what is going to get me through to football season. Baseball really is an amazing game, and there aren't many things better than spending an afternoon at a ballpark. With all the talk of steroids and what not in baseball, the game is still pure. Guys still bunt people over to play small ball and a perfectly turned double play is still one of the most beautiful plays in any sport. Welcome back baseball. I missed you.

With the start of the MLB baseball season, that also means minor league baseball will be starting up soon. If there is a minor league team near you, go watch a game. It's fun, cheap baseball and a good way to kill a few hours. You never know...you might be watching the next superstars in baseball.

Top Performers From Opening Day:

- Hanley Ramirez (left) : 4 for 6, 4 runs, 1 RB, 2 stolen bases

- Adam Dunn: The boy is country strong...2 for 4, 2 runs, 3 rbis, 2 home runs

- Edgar Renteria: Game tying homer in the 8th, game winning homer in the 10th. Big day for Renteria. 2 for 5, 2 runs, 3 rbis, 2 home runs

- Elijah Dukes (right): the often trouble, but talented outfielder for the Devil Rays was a surprising opening day starter in CF. So what did he do? His first major league hit was a homer in Yankee Stadium. Not bad young fella. 1 for 3, 1 run, 1 rbi, 1 home run

- Felix Hernandex: King Felix is in his second year in the Bigs. Oh..and he's only 19. Also, he went 8 innings only giving up 3 hits and striking out a dozen. Young gun was on fire yesterday. Very good things in this kid's future.

- Gil Meche: Everyone ripped the Royals for spending 55 million on Meche, who has never really put all his skills together. Well, yesterday Meche gave people a glimpse as to what he's capable of. Meche helped lead the Royals to a shocking 7-1 win over the Red Sox going 7 1/3 innings, striking out six, and givng up the one lone run. Meche's curveball was just nasty yesterday. His season still probably won't look that good b/c well..he's on the royals, but at least for one day Meche earned his lofty contract.

- The Braves Retooled Bullpen: The bravos bullpen was dreadful last year, but after completely redoing it over the course of a year, it looks like the bullpen is going to be a great strength. After a rough start for the newly acquired Mike Gonzalez (walk and a double), he combined with Soriano, Wickman, and Paranto to throw 4 innings of shutout baseball to give the Braves a chance to win. If the braves get to the 6th with a lead, the game is all but over.

- Ben Sheets: A complete game 2 hitter (one an early home run). Darn good opening day start.

Happy Birthday to Me

2007-03-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

So....birthdays really aren't a big deal to me. It kind of comes back to the fact that I just don't like people making a big deal about me (or my birthday in this situation). It's been ok. Very relaxed...mostly birthday messages on facebook. And that's fine by me. That's pretty much the way I like it. Although, I probably should be enjoying these birthdays now since I will grow to hate them in about 15 years :).

Anyways, thanks to everyone who offered happy birthday wishes. I really do appreciate it, and it's nice to know people haven't totally forgotten about you even if you live in the middle of nowhere like me.

Also, I haven't been posting as regularly as I would like, but rest assured that I will keep the blog going. It really is nice to get on here ever once and a while and just put down some thoughts. So...

Coming up next will be another "wonderful world of" entry.

Until next time...watch your blindside.

The Wonderful World of Podcasts

2007-03-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

When I first heard about podcasts, I didn't really see the point. I must admit though, they're pretty addicting. I mean, I listen to music on the radio, but when I have the option...I'd rather listen to sports radio (or some other talk radio that I'm interested in). Podcasts deliver that to me for FREE and on my own time. I don't have to be in my car at a certain time anymore to hear my favorite sports radio shows. I can now get Mike & Mike, Baseball America, The Melrose Report (hockey), and many other things through itunes on my computer. I synch up my iPod and iTunes then plug my iPod into my little iPod stereo and I'm all set. It really is a wonderful thing.

It's not just about sports podcasts though. You can get everything from NPR and CNN news to Strong Bad Emails video podcasts. There really is a wide range of shows to choose from, so everyone should be able to find one thing they're interested in.

To go one step further, people are even using podcasts now in education. From wikipedia, "Podcasting is becoming increasingly popular in education. Podcasts enable students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. Teachers can record book talks, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters (podcast pals!), music performance, interviews, debates. Podcasting can be a publishing tool for student oral presentations. Video podcasts can be used in all these ways as well."

Podcasting really is a pretty sweet thing. I'm just upset I didn't catch on sooner.

Interesting fact: On June 30th, 2005, iTunes said that there had been 1,000,000 podcasts subscriptions within the first 2 days podcasts were released. Pretty amazing.

A Review of "300"

2007-03-13T22:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I decided to wait a few days to post again as I allowed the rest of my top 10 list to sink in. Time to get things going again though.

First off, 300 became the year's first blockbuster by pulling in $70 million over it's openning weekend. That's the most over for a March release breaking Ice Age 2's old record of $66 million. It's really oustounding when you consider that 300 was in 850 less theaters than Ice Age 2 and it carried an R rating which prevented most teenage guys and probably parents with children. That's quite an accomplishment. You can read the article on Yahoo at this link: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20070311/117367200000.html

Review of "300"

I don't claim to be unbiased. In fact, if you've been reading, you would know when it comes to this movie I've been anything but unbiased. So, obviously, don't put too much stock in what I say. Also, I'll be doing this based on how Yahoo Movies does reviews: story, acting, direction, visuals

Story (B+): It's kind of hard to do anything too original with a story that has already been written...2500 years ago. I've seen a pretty split group. I've seen several people say the movie is so far from the truth it's ridiculous. I've also seen history buffs or professors say the movie stays close to what we actually know about the battle. Of course Hollywood always exaggerates or twist things, but from everything I've read or seen, I think the movie generally sticks to the story. Again, some people say the Persians are potrayed badly and the whole movie is propoganda, but I really don't think it is. Movies like this alway have a protaganist (the Spartans) and an antagonist (the Persians), and like the visuals their features are exaggerated to make the movie more interesting. A positive part of this movie, which caused more femaile interest than what was originally predicted, was the potrayal of Queen Gorgo as a complete equal with Leonidas. A strong, confident woman who doesn't take any s### from anyone (you'll really see what I mean if you go see it). With that said, it's hard to give it an A just because it can't be that original. I do love the story of the 2nd most famous "last stand" in history though, so I'll give it a high B.

Acting (B+): A lot of movie-goers said this was the weakest part of the movie, and they're partially right. I mean, there's a reason most of this case is relatively unknown. However, I think the acting is better than people give it credit for. As with the story, you have to go into the movie knowing that almost all of the movie is exaggerated (including the acting). If you can accept that, then the slight overacting at times really isn't that bad. I did think Gerard Butler and Leah Hedley did a very good job though. Oddly enough, I thought Rodrigo Santoro (the most famous actor of the relatively unknown cast) was the worst actor. Part of that could have been because they totally changed his voice and made Xerxes so extravagent it was hard to take him seriously. I just thought he was hokey at times. One thing to keep in mind, which I think is what makes the acting better than people recognize, is that practically all of the acting had to be done against a green screen. That can be really hard to do. I also gave the acting a high B.

Directing (A): Admittedly, I don't know too much about directing, but I know what I like. I really liked how both Sin City and 300 were shot and how they felt though, so I'm giving Zach Synder high marks. I thought Synder's choice of camera angles really added a lot to a bunch of scenes. That's about all I know of directing though, so I'll stop now before I make myself look like a complete moron (probably too late though). Synder gets an A.

Visuals (A+): This was one of the most amazing films I've ever seen as far as visuals go. Most people, regardless of how they feel about the movie, give high praise to the look of the movie. I really don't think there is a scene in the movie (not counting the inside of Leonidas's house) where Synder isn't trying to "wow" you. It really does look spectacular. The earthy golds and browns of the scenery and the Persians is really contrasted well with the bright, vibrant red of the Spartan's capes (err...and all the blood). It's really hard to describe. You get a nice idea from the trailers, but you have to see the whole movie to really appreciate how stunning this movie looks. All the CGI really comes off great, so it gets a very high A.

Overall Grade: Ok, I'm biased, but I LOVED this movie. I'll probably go watch it again (maybe in IMAX). Becasue of that it get's an A in my book. I highly suggest you go see it.

#1 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-03-09T13:59:00.000-05:00

300 (March 9th, 2007)

Synopsis: Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, '300' is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller's (Sin City) acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.

Why I'm Excited: FINALLY! This movie is the reason I started this list. I've been pumped to see this movie for about 5 months now, and the time is finally here! I don't even know where to begin. Well...let's just start with the actual story. There is very little from the actual battle that we have to go on, and most of it (maybe all of it) comes from Herodotus. The numbers have been argued over and over again, but the main point is a small number of Greeks (not just Spartans) stood up to a massive Persian army. Here's a run down from wikipedia...

"In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of history's most famous last stands. A small force led by King Leonidas of Sparta blocked the only road through which the massive army of Xerxes I could pass. After three days of battle, a local resident named Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by revealing a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. Dismissing the rest of the army, King Leonidas stayed behind with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers. Though they knew it meant their own deaths, they held their position and secured the retreat of the other Greek forces. The Persians succeeded in taking the pass but sustained heavy losses, extremely disproportionate to those of the Greeks. The fierce resistance of the Spartan-led army offered Athens the invaluable time to prepare for a decisive naval battle. The subsequent Greek victory in the Battle of Salamis left much of the Persian navy destroyed. Xerxes was forced to flee to Asia and leave his army in Greece under Mardonius, who was to meet the Greeks in battle for one last time. The Spartans and other Greek allies assembled at full strength and decisively defeated the Persians in the Battle of Plataea, ending the Greco-Persian War."

A heroic story indeed. The Spartans and the remaining Greeks essentially sacrificed themselves (and were happy to do it), so that Greece would have time to rally and defend themselves against Persia. Thus, ensuring that Greece would remain free. To a Spartan, nothing was better than dying in battle, which is possibly what made them so tough to go against. They didn't care if they died, in fact they welcomed it...but not before they took out 50 to 100 of the enemy. They were arguably the best trained soldiers in the world. In other words, they were badasses.

Another reason I'm excited about this movie is the incredible CGI work that went in to this movie. Every critic that has seen it, no matter if they liked it or not, has said that the visuals are stunning. Think Sin City, but not as dark.

Some might disagree with me here (since most of the story was already written), but I'm excited about the writing. While I've only seen trailers, I've heard so many good lines that I was ready to strap on some armor, find a xyphos (spelling? short spartan sword), and start fighting someone. Here's a few of my favorites, most from King Leonidas:

"Spartans! Tonight we dine in Hell!" - King Leonidas
"Give them nothing, but take from them everything!" - King Leonidas
"This is where we hold them! This is where we fight! This is where they die! Remember this day men, for it will be your's for all time" - King Leonidas
"Persian: The thousand nations of the Persian Empire descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun! Stelios: Then we will fight in the shade."
"Xerxes: Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill half my own men for victory. King Leonidas "And I would die for any one of mine."
"The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle is over...that even a god-king can bleed." - King Leonidas to Xerxes
"Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight we dine in hell!" -King Leonidas before the last day of battle

Man...just try to tell me you wouldn't fight for Leonidas. The guy is a badass in this movie. There is something endearing and fascinating about a leader that is willing to give up everything, even his life, for the men he leads

Lastly, the movie is generating a lot of debate about how the Persians are potrayed. People have said this movie is just propoganda against the people of Iraq and Iran. To me, I just don't buy that. Don't get me wrong, to assume that some movies don't have an agenda is just foolish, but that doesn't mean every movie is trying to say something political. How has it gotten so bad that we as a nation can't even enjoy movies anymore? It's just sad. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly certain that this movie isn't going to make me hate people in Iraq and Iran. For people to tell me that's what this movie is doing is insulting to me because that's saying you don't think I'm smart enough to know the differnce between entertainment and historical facts. But, for those who said that the Persians were nothing like what the movie potrays...um, well, they did try to conqure Greece so it's not like they were saints. Get over yourself and learn not to take everything so seriously (I know most of that doesn't apply to the people reading my blog...just had to say it).

In summary, I'm glad the movie is finally here because I couldn't wait another day for it. Make no mistake though, this movie isn't for everyone. There's massive amounts of killing and fighting....it's a testosterone-fest. If you can handle that sort of thing, I imagine you will enjoy the movie.

Excitement Level: ***** (out of 5)

Official Movie Site:
http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/

Check out the trailers at the bottom in The Blitz.

#2 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-03-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

Spider-Man 3 (May 4th, 2007)

Synopsis: (from yahoo) Peter Parker has finally managed to strike a balance between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers, it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality that he is struggling to control. Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident and starts to neglect the people who care for him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet, Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.

Why I'm Excited: Another movie series with it's third installment coming out in May. I know...it's crazy. Looks like I'll be heading to the movies every weekend in May. Spider-Man is another one of those characters that takes me back to my childhood. It's hard not to like Spider-Man's character. He's wasn't a cool or athletic guy before he got his powers. He was...well...very normal (just like most of us). That's why I think Toby Maguire plays the part so well. He captures that "average joe" feel that I think is necessary to play the part. Another reason to be excited is the cast/new characters. Thomas Hayden Church and Topher Grace come aboard to play two of Spidey's most well known/loved villains. Church plays "Sandman" and Grace plays the Spider-Man's most popular villain (at least recently), Venom. Venom is da man when it comes to villains, and I'm glad to see the made it in to this movie despite Director Sam Raimi's initial rejection of the character. Sony has released no shots of Venom (not any that I can find at least), so I'm excited to see how they are going to CGI him. There's a very good chance this is the last of the Spider-Man movies. If so, I'm hoping this one goes out the a bang (which it seems they are trying to do considering they have 3 of Spider-Man's most famous villains along with Parker's fight with his inner demons).

Excitement Level: **** 3/4 (out of 5)

Official Movie Site:

http://spiderman3.sonypictures.com/

#3 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-03-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

Quick posts today and tomorrow so I can get to my #1 movie by Friday...So...#3

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (May 25th, 2007)

Synopsis: (from movieweb) In the follow-up to the record-breaking smash 2006 hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," we find our heroes Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) allied with Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in a desperate quest to free Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from his mind-bending trap in Davy Jones' locker - while the terrifying ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman and Davy Jones, under the control of the East India Trading Company, wreaks havoc across the Seven Seas. Navigating through treachery, betrayal and wild waters, they must forge their way to exotic Singapore and confront the cunning Chinese Pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat). Now headed beyond the very ends of the earth, each must ultimately choose a side in a final, titanic battle - as not only their lives and fortunes, but the entire future of the freedom-loving Pirate way, hangs in the balance.

Why I'm Excited: Not a lot to say here. I loved the first 2, so I'm hoping for good things in #3. The cast is great. Keira Knightly is easy on the eyes ;). The theme music is good. Not a lot of negatives with the series so far. While I think most of the characters do a good job in their roles, Depp is the one that really brings it home. The eccentricies in which he uses with Sparrow's character really add something extra to the character that might be missing with anyone else. Every now and then, there are actors who do a part so well that you just couldn't see anyone else playing the part. Depp does that with Sparrow. Should be a great movie who will battle the #2 movie on this list for the top box office number this year.

Excitement Level: **** 1/2 (out of 5)

#4 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-03-03T16:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, probably a bit of a shocker since there hasn't been that much publicity for it yet. I know my friend Ryan will be upset this one made it ahead of Shrek the Third, but like I told him...it's my list, not his :). So anyways...on to #4

Knocked Up (June 1st, 2007)

Synopsis: On the heels of 2005's blockbuster The 40-Year-Old Virgin, writer/director Judd Apatow again mines hilarity from the relatably human in a comedy about a one-night stand with unexpected consequences: Knocked Up. Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy, Roswell) joins Virgin alums Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann for a comic look about the best thing that will ever ruin your best-laid plans: parenthood.Allison Scott (Heigl) is an up-and-coming entertainment journalist whose 24-year-old life is on the fast track. But it gets seriously derailed when a drunken one-nighter with slacker Ben Stone (Rogen) results in an unwanted pregnancy. Faced with the prospect of going it alone or getting to know the baby's father, Allison decides to give the lovable doof a chance.An overgrown kid who has no desire to settle down, Ben learns that he has a big decision to make with his kid's mom-to-be: will he hit the road or stay in the picture? Courting a woman you've just Knocked Up, however, proves to be a little difficult when the two try their hands at dating. As they discover more about one another, it becomes painfully obvious that they're not the soul mates they'd hoped they might be.With Allison's harried sister Debbie (Mann) and hen-pecked brother-in-law Pete (Rudd) the only parenting role models the young lovers have, things get even more confusing. Should they raise the baby together? What makes a happy lifetime partnership after all? A couple of drinks and one wild night later, they've got nine confusing months to figure it out...(from rottentomatoes.com)

Why I'm Excited: So like I said, a little bit of a shocker, but from the trailers I've seen, I think this could be a very funny movie. First off, Seth Rogan (You, Me, and Dupree & Anchorman) is an extremely funny guy. I'm not saying he's a great actor, but he plays a slapstick humor character very, very well. Secondly....Katherine Heigl. Need a say more? This blonde bombshell from Grey's Anatomy is provides a nice contrast to Seth Rogan's goofy, laid-back character. It seems like it's inevitable that this trial dating period b/w the two is destined to fail, but I don't think the movie is supposed to be about that. It's supposed to be about the ridiculous things these to polar opposites have to go through while trying to make it work. No, that's not an entirely original idea, but I think Rogan and Heigl will excel in these roles and provide a lot of laughs. The final reason I'm excited, Judd Apatow. Apatow is really starting to hit a hot streak. He co-produced Anchorman and co-wrote and directed The 40 Year Old Virgin. Both movies did very well and were hysterical, so I would suspect this one will do well too. To sum it up, it should be another hilarious romantic comedy (emphasis on comedy).

Excitement Level: **** 1/4 (out of 5)

Official Movie Site: http://www.knockedupmovie.com/

#5 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-02-28T12:45:00.000-05:00

Shrek The Third (May 18th, 2007)

Synopsis: (From Yahoo Movies) When King Harold falls ill, it is up to Shrek to find a suitable heir or he will be forced to give up his beloved swamp for the throne. Recruiting Donkey and Puss, Shrek sets out to bring back the rightful heir to the throne, Fiona's rebellious cousin Artie. In Far, Far Away Fiona's jilted Prince Charming storms the city with an army of fairy tale villains to seize the throne. But they have a surprise because Fiona, together with her mother, Queen Lillian, has drafted her fellow fairy tale heroines to defend themselves. As Shrek, Donkey and Puss work on changing Artie from a royal pain into a future king, Fiona and her band of princesses must stop Prince Charming to ensure that there will be a kingdom left to insure.

To add to that from Wikipedia: While Shrek is away, Prince Charming attempts to take the throne of Far Far Away. To do that, he assembles a coup d'etat made up of Captain Hook, The Wicked Queen, a Cyclops, Rumpelstiltskin , Mabel the Ugly Stepsister, and Little Red Riding Hood as well as an army of witches and walking trees. The pregnant Fiona, her mother, Queen Lillian, and Doris the Ugly Stepsister recruit four of Fiona's closest princess friends, Show White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Cinderella to help them hold off Prince Charming's quest for the throne.

Why I'm Excited: As I stated at the start of this, I'm not an intense critic of movies. I do like compare movies at times, but with the Shrek series, I don't really worry about that. Some people say the first one was better, but I really don't know. I liked both of them. With that said, where do I begin with Shrek the Thrid? Well, the first two delivered a lot of laughs and I bet this one does too. The material is important, but as I've said before, the actor really makes good material great. Shrek the Third has a great cast consisting of Mike Myers (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (Donkey), Antonio Banderas (Puss-n-Boots), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), John Cleese (King Harold...Cleese is one of the Monty Python guys), Julia Andrews (Queen Lillian...she was Mary Poppins), Regis Philbin (Mable the Ugly Step Sister), Larry King (Doris the Ugly Step Sister), Eric Idle (Merlin...also a Monty Python guy), Amy Poehler (Snow White...SNL member), Cheri Oteri (Sleeping Beauty...known from SNL), and Justin Timberlake (Arthur). It looks like a solid cast, and I'm REALLY excited about having TWO of the Monty Python guys in the movie. You can't beat those guys...they're awesome. Another reason to be excited is the apparent hero/villain battle similar to X3. Shrek the Third brings in a bunch of the famous fairy tale characters (Snow White, Captain Hook, Merlin, etc). Some might think adding this many new characters could be overkill (again, see X3), but I'd argue that's not the case with Shrek. With the characters from X-Men, a sufficient back story is need to do the character justice in the realm of the X-men/Marvel world, and to help clarify things for the average movie-goer who has little to no knowledge about X-Men. With the Shrek characters, you grow up knowing their background from bedtime fairy tales stories your Mom or Dad reads you. Another reason to be excited, the already pretty good CGI in the series has supposedly been improved which is exciting to think about. Not a big deal, but then again, it's usually the little things that help push a movie over the top.

Interesting Fact: Shrek the Third releases in May along with 2 other 3rd-of-the-series blockbusters, Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (you might see one or both of them on this list..who knows :o) ).

Excitement Level: **** (out of 5)

#6 (err..7?) Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-02-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, first off, after getting caught back up with the Transformer series and doing research on the #6 movie, I probably should have had Transformers here, and this movie at #7. Oh well. So, to sum it up....6 is 7 and 7 is 6, but they're pretty close so we'll just go with it. On to #6...err 7....whatever.

#6: Rush Hour 3 (August 10, 2007)

Synopsis (from Wikipedia): Hong Kong Police Chief Inspector Lee’s (Jackie Chan) latest assignment is to escort and protect Chinese Ambassador Han as he delivers a major address before the World Criminal Court Summit in Los Angeles. In his speech, Han is expected to reveal important findings on the world’s biggest crime syndicate, the Chinese Triads. While delivering his address, however, he is shot and nearly killed. Meanwhile, former LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), who has recently been demoted to a far less flattering position of a traffic cop, just happens to be listening in on the radio when the tragedy occurs. He rushes to the scene of the crime to help, but instead interferes with Lee’s pursuit of the culprits. Determined to reclaim his Detective status, he teams up with Lee once again to help track down the assassins. With the trail leading the duo on a chase to Paris, France, both will find themselves in unfamiliar territory. With the famous city also chosen as the site of the next World Criminal Court Summit and additional lives at stake, the two will be forced to battle the French police, the Triads, and the foreign culture if they are going to solve the mystery in time.

Why I'm Excited: Well, all the excitement about this one comes from the other 2 movies. I really liked the first two. Chan and Tucker make a great duo (for whatever reason). I just hope the script is good enough to allow them to be as funny as they were in the first two. There's nothing really original about the series; Chan and Tucker are what really carry it. The lack of a decent trailer, no offical website, and all the problems that led up to the making of this movie make me worry a little, but I'm holding out hope that the end product will still be good. Like I said, this movie should probably be #7, but we're just going go with it.

Interesting Fact: Sun Ming Ming, the Chinese basketball player standing in at 7 feet 9 inches will fight Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in Rush Hour 3 recreating the Game of Death sequence that saw 5 feet 7 inches Bruce Lee take on the towering 7 feet 2 inches tall Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Excitement Level: *** 3/4 (out of 5)

Check out the teaser trailer below. Nothing all that special there, but at least it's something.

#7 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-02-20T19:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, things are going to start heating up now. I'm pretty darn excited about the movies from here on out. So, time for #7.

Transformers (July 4th, 2007)

Synopsis: The interstellar battle between the Autobots and Decepticons rains destruction down on planet Earth as director Michael Bay adapts Hasbro and Takara's popular Transformers franchise into a big-budget, live-action summer tent-pole extravaganza in this ambitious sci-fi action feature starring Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Bernie Mac, John Turturro, John Voight, and, of course, Optimus Prime and Megatron. Enormous aliens have chosen the third rock from the sun as their ultimate battleground, and as the villainous Decepticons struggle to obtain the key to unlimited power, a young Earthling named Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) may stand as mankind's last hope for survival.

Why I'm Excited: This takes me back to my childhood. I admit I haven't really even thought about Transformers since the early 90's, so I don't remember many of the names or much of the back story. I do remember how cool I thought it was that trucks and planes could turn in to robots and battle it out though. So, I guess I should give you the basic plot(from various sources). Long story short, in the 1800's this guy named Captain Archibald Witwicky chips away at a massive sheet of ice, only to break it and fall into an abyss, landing on a robotic hand partially buried in the ice. He finds the eyes of Decepticon leader Megatron staring back at him, who burns a map showing the location of the life giving AllSpark into Witwicky's eyeglasses. These are handed down to his descendant, Sam, in the present day. The Autobots and the Decepticons fight over this thing called the AllSpark (Autobots try to keep the Decepticons from getting it). The Autobots protect humans, while the Decepticons will do whatever it takes to find the AllSpark, including killing humans and destroying anything in their way. It's not an Oscar worthy storyline or anything like that, but it's not supposed to be! It's just supposed to be a fun, action-packed summer movie.

So what else makes this movie exciting? Michael Bay is the director (Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor), and the early word is he did a very good job (action similar Independence Day from what I hear). Add to that Steven Spielburg as the executive producer, and this movie has a lot of potential. I hear there are a ton of sweet effects (of course there would have to be considering there are transforming robots). The updated look of the Transformers is cool too, although a couple have been butchered supposedly. But as you can see above, the new Optimus Prime kicks @$$.

There are still a few things about the movie that have the potenial to be bad (like Tyrese and Bernie Mac as actors....haha), but overall, I think this will be a fun summer movie. Trust me, I know this is all very nerdy and cheesy, but there's just something about the fictional heroes from your childhood (Spiderman, X-Men, etc) that just draws you in. Check out the trailer at the bottom in The Blitz.

Excitement Level: *** 3/4 (out of 5)

http://www.transformersmovie.com/
http://transformerslive.blogspot.com/

#8 Movie I'm Excited to See in '07

2007-02-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

DOH!

#8 The Simpson Movie (7/27/2007)

Synopsis (from Moviefone): Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the rest of the cast hit the big screen with this feature-length version of the animated TV show. The movie is being helmed by longtime 'Simpsons' director and animator David Silverman.

Why I'm Excited: Ok, I admit it. I've never really followed The Simpsons closely, but I've always enjoyed the show. I've heard from big Simpsons fans that the more recent seasons haven't been as good, but from everything I've read to the trailer, I feel like the movie will be pretty good. A lot of people also so this is the end for The Simpsons. While it wouldn't surprise me, The Simpsons has been on for so long, I won't believe it until I actually see something that says The Simpsons is done. For me, the wide range of characters has always been my favorite part of The Simpsons. Moe the Bartender has probably always been my favorite, but there are a lot of good ones. So, all in all...it should be a fun movie to see during the summer.

Excitement Level: *** 1/2 (out of 5)

Valentine's Day...

2007-02-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

So, when it comes to Valentine's Day, I'm often very confused. On one hand, I'm a hopeless romantic. I just am. I don't know why...that's just the way I'm wired. On the other hand, I really could care less about Valentine's Day (if I ever had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day that might change). It just seems to me that Valentine's Day is too much. I mean, why do we need one day specified where we are supposed to lavish the ones we care for with gifts and tell them we love them. I do that all the time... Don't get me wrong, it's nice we have a holiday that gives us an excuse to be disgustingly romantic, but it just seems like Valentine's Day is too...commercial (?). I'm not one of those guys who says Valentine's Day is just another way for the card, candy, jewelry, etc. companies to get us to spend a lot of money, but doens't it feel like that at times?

I just don't know. Some people live for Valentine's Day (most of them are probably fellow hopeless romantics), but that's just not me. Maybe I'm just jaded towards Valentine's Day.

There are some parts of Valentine's day I appreciate...like the history of Valentine's Day and Saint Valentine (a christian martyr). Here's a brief history:

"There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine."

Anyways, I really do hope everyone else had a happy valentine's day (despite my jaded attitude).

About the picture...I don't HATE valentine's day. I just thought it was appropriate for post.

**#8 on my list of movies is coming tomorrow. Keep an eye out for it**

Until next time...watch your blindside.