Persona Non Bloggus

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven:

…a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

Ecclesiastes 3, v.1 and v.7

Two years ago yesterday, I launched out onto the “bloggy cybersea.” Somehow I managed to survive the use of that horrible turn of phrase and go on to write 526 other posts in 64 categories which generated 4,195 comments. Some of those comments came from me, a good deal of them from pesky spammers hawking everything from cheap, cheesy porn to counterfeit Nike shoes (those have been fried for the most part by my Super-Duper Askimet Spam Zapper and don’t figure into the total count), but most came from the likes of you, my beloved Fusioneers, whom I have come to appreciate very much.… Read the rest

It’s All About “The Process”

Now that the Crimson Nation has suffered through “The Recent Unpleasantness,” it’s time for a sobering return to earth via the good folks at RollBamaRoll and realfootball365.

Okay, Tiders, stop sucking on those Kool-Aid straws. I hate to say I told you so, but, well, I did. I predicted several losses and now I see us finishing 8-4 or maybe even 7-5 after the last two weeks have revealed significant chinks in the armor. Conference USA champ Houston will be coming to T-town this weekend for Homecoming (we have tickets–woo hoo!), and this test will be a real barometer of the direction of the rest of the season.… Read the rest

Happy Birthday, Eyegal!

eyegal.jpg
** years ago today, Eyegal was born. The world has not been the same since. Especially my world.

Eyegal, I just want you to know that those arbitrary chronological units based on the orbit of the Earth around the Sun mean nothing to me. You’re still hotter than a Fourth of July firecracker. Period.

Happy Birthday, Dear Heart. Everybody now: Happy Birthday, Eyegal!

… Read the rest

Pray for Lamar

I realize that very few of you know Lamar Jackson, but take my word for it: He’s a great guy. Lamar played club and high school soccer with Number One Son, and he is a sophomore pharmacy student at Ole Miss. Like many college kids in town, he had come back to Huntsville to rendezvous with friends at Big Spring Jam. On his way back to Oxford, he apparently fell asleep at the wheel and was injured badly in a single car accident near Tupelo Sunday evening.

Things were touch and go for a while and he was on a respirator, but he is now able to breathe on his own.… Read the rest

That’s the Way Soccer Should Be

Watching 16-year-old boys play soccer at a very high level is not for the faint of heart. They are insanely quick, closing down the available space in the blink of an eye; if you find yourself thinking about your next decision of what to do with the ball, it’s already too late. And the physical contact? Brace yourself, because it hurts just watching. They are young kamikazes in colorful kits who have no regard for their own bodies or the bodies of their opponents. They are young rams testing their mettle in head-to-head combat, guarding their turf as if it were a matter of life or death.… Read the rest

Home! Sweet Home!

I was up way too early this morning, the insomnia calling out to me like the cock’s crow.

But as I made my way through the hall and toward the coffee pot, I noticed that the doors to all three of the boy’s rooms were shut, meaning that they were all home (Number One is visiting from T-town this weekend to attend Big Spring Jam).

I must say, knowing that all of us were under one roof for the first time in a while left me with the deepest sense of satisfaction and joy.

Home! Sweet home!

… Read the rest

Ivy League or Bust at Age Seven

Eyegal has just started doing some substitute teaching at a local, K-12 prep school that has the reputation (well-earned, I believe) of providing the finest academic training in North Alabama. There the sons and daughters of the area’s doctors, lawyers and corporate heads begin their long odyssey of learning which will someday lead to them taking their rightful place on top of the socioeconomic pile.

And there are others too who are not quite so well off, the sons and daughters of faculty plus those who are there on scholarship, trying to rise above bad starts and bad situations. She’s been teaching first and second graders, and overall, she’s found the kids to be bright, polite and charming to a fault and eager to learn.… Read the rest

Thank God for Incarnation–and iPods

People cross this world
Over and then back again
Never even one time lift their eyes
Or think of what they say

But I hear it in your voice, love
Like someone sweetly willing
The hope of all these years,
the prayer of a time
that we don’t even know

But it’s a hard road that we follow
The saddest cities, and the darkest hollows

But I hear it in your voice, love
The strongest sound
I’ve ever heard
Like water from a well
so deep in the ground
I’ll never thirst again

–“Hollow” from Hem’s “Eveningland”

And if God doesn’t get your attention with a good joke, them maybe some music will do the trick.… Read the rest

I’m the Dog on the Right

dog-joke.jpg

–Bunny Hoest and John Reiner

I know it’s probably not that funny, but for some reason it struck me so. The laugh that ensued–a soul-cleansing guffaw– sprang from a deep, wounded place, and the tears flowed freely like a baptism of mirth, washing away my weekend woes (and no, they had nothing to do with football).

Sometimes God uses a burning bush, and sometime He just comes along and whacks you up side the head with a good joke.

In case you don’t recognize me, I’m the dog on the right. And yes, I do occasionally play dead. But I tell you one thing–under no circumstances will I ever roll over.… Read the rest

Eventually Saban Provides National Title

With the resurging Tide catapulting back into the Top 25 for the first time since 2005, ESPN College Gameday will be broadcasting live from Tuscaloosa tomorrow morning. That should give Number One Son a good reason to roll out of the sack long before his usual Saturday wake-up time of twelve noon. It’s my understanding that many will be camping out tonight in the hopes of getting some face time with Chris, Corso and Herbie, but Number One says he will not be among them. As a result, he will likely be more toward the back unless he gets up really early (highly unlikely), and that means he’s going to need a large-print, creative acronym sign in order to leave his mark on a national TV audience.… Read the rest

Video Angst

Apparently it’s not just baseball managers who fret over stolen signals and suffer video angst. In the wake of the New England Patriot/Bill Belichick imbroglio over sideline videotaping, the Georgia Bulldogs have closed their football practices for the first time in seven years.

Why now, you ask? Well, as the Atlanta Journal and Constitution reports, Crimson Tide HC Nick Saban used to work as (are you ready for this?) the defensive coordinator for Bill Belichick during his Cleveland Browns days. And to top it off, Saban and the Dolphins were accused of stealing signals last year from none other than the New England Patriots (the NFL investigated and found the accusation to be baseless).… Read the rest

I’m An Optimist–I Just Have to Work At It

In case you haven’t noticed, I try to remain fundamentally cheerful and optimistic on this blog. I figure that the world is full of enough overwrought, rant-filled, spiteful fare, so I aim to provide a little counterweight. Plus, it’s an exercise in self-discipline, for I am by nature fundamentally pessimistic and sometimes downright morose.

So, this morning, I pause to take in a lungful of crisp, autumn-tinged air and give thanks for the following:

  • My wife, who rather than committing me to the local mental hospital, playfully joined in my craziness last night and helped me track down and destroy that nasty wood roach (the mere sight of which caused me to go apopleptic) which managed to slip inside when I opened the door to the garage
  • Number One, who, despite being involved in two, count’em, TWO car wrecks (plus a close encounter as a pedestrian with another car which he has not seen fit to tell me about yet–I have my sources) since arriving in Tuscaloosa, is nonetheless in good health.
… Read the rest