Sure is monday

Hope you had a good weekend my readers. App won and is in the NCAA FCS Playoffs! If we win 3 games we are playing for the national championship again! I'm still trying to figure out how much faith i have in this team, going on the road could cause us to trip up, but we shall see! The panthers looked like they were going to destroy the lions, then decided they weren't acting like themselves and choked away the game. AGH!!!

The parental units are up here in boone for the week so that's exciting, and the rest of the fam is coming wed or thur. Gonna be an awesome thanksgiving!

Got another short story in the slow cooker at the moment, but i cant say more til its ready.

Thanks for reading!

Weekend!

We've all been working for the weekend, its finally here! Goin to albemarle on my last saturday off until next year, ah the joys of being in management! If App Wins in football today they are pretty much assured a bye and a home game for the 2nd round of the playoffs! If they win in basketball, then they have a winning record again, woot! The heels have the day off since they lost on thursday to VT, but at least they made it close unlike my mountaineers earlier this year. Hope ya'll have a great weekend!

a little bit of mirth

Tim Hawkins is a HYSTERICAL Christian comedian. Here are a couple of my favorite bits.

Chick Fil A

ADD

Old Rock Stars

enjoy!

Short Story

Well, i never made it back on the computer yesterday but here is what I've been kicking around in my head lately. Finally got it on paper/computer. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it. Feel free to comment, let me know what you like / don't like. Hope Tuesday treats you well! Off to work!

LL Kool K

“Alright family, come here.” My dad gathered us up in a group hug (back then his arms were long enough to do such a thing) and we all just sobbed. We had lost someone my parents had known since their marriage and my sister and I had literally known our entire lives. I knew even then that it was the right thing to do. His level of living just wasn’t where it should be. He was in a better place, one without hip problems and a controlled bowel.

As a child I prided myself on not falling asleep unless I wanted to, except one night after my bath I came downstairs, Jason was sprawled out on the floor, I couldn’t resist laying down with him. My wet hair made me cold, and Jason was always so warm, before I knew it I was out like a light.

I’ve only won two races in my life. One was the Mile run in Kindergarten. The other took place on my street right before a baseball game. Jason wasn’t allowed to play in or even attend the games, even though he could still outrun most people and cheer real loud. We were piling in the car, and someone had left the door open to the house. Jason saw his opening and took it. Now my reflexes aren’t the fastest I’ll admit, but they were spot on that day. I dropped my glove and bat and took off after him, hoping to at least keep him in sight until he decided it was time to come home. To my surprise I actually caught up to Jason four houses down the street! As I walked him back to the house I explained that we would be home soon, and I would try to hit a home run for him. I was the first thing to catch up to Jason, but I would not be the last.

One of my first responsibilities growing up was making sure Jason got his breakfast and took his meds. He was usually really excited, he knew they were good for him, and didn’t taste too terrible when mixed with his food. One day I remember coming downstairs and fixing up his breakfast and pharmaceuticals and calling for him, but he wouldn’t come. I took his breakfast to him but he didn’t seem interested. It terrified me. He ALWAYS got up for breakfast.

We all have accidents, some when we are young, supposedly we can have them when we are older as well. Jason started having lots of accidents. He was usually so good about asking to be excused to go to the bathroom. One accident, two accidents, “Um may I be excused?” Two steps backward one step forward. This went on for a couple weeks, his hip would bother him more and more, breakfast was served in bed more and more. My parents sat Hannah and I down to discuss how best to put Jason to rest.

“He is going to get a shot from the doctor, and he’s going to fall asleep forever. Then he’ll be cremated and we will have a box of his ashes, we could even spread them out under his favorite bush if you wanted.” We agreed it was the best thing for Jason that we could do. It’s hard watching someone you love so dearly struggle through the basics of life (IE eating and eliminating.) We got out of school early one day, and went to the doctor with Jason for the last time. We were given a couple minutes with him before the shot was administered. I’ve always been an emotional guy and this was no different. I was losing my closest confidante! I don’t remember who let out the first sob. I do remember my sister being the last one to lose her composure, but it was not due to a lack of emotion. The doctor came in and administered the final shot and let us be with Jason in his final minutes. He was very gracious for all the love we had shared with him over the years. You could tell he appreciated us choosing to let him go to a better place, for his happiness over ours. He looked at each of us a final time and took his last conscious breath. The doctor came and took him away, and we slowly exited the office. In the parking lot we gathered in for our first family hug without Jason.

“Alright family, come here.” My dad gathered us up in a group hug (back then his arms were long enough to do such a thing) and we all just sobbed. We had lost someone my parents had known since their marriage and my sister and I had literally known our entire lives. I knew even then that it was the right thing to do. His level of living just wasn’t where it should be. He was in a better place, one without hip problems and a controlled bowel.

We will always remember him. You never forget your first pet.

RIP Jason Keely!

It sure is monday

Good Monday er morning!

This is shaping up to be a Mon-Friday blog because on the weekends I would rather spend time with my wife than staring at a computer screen. Love you guys, but I'm sure you understand. It was a good Friday-Sat for my teams, unc and app are undefeated to start the basketball season and app retained "The Mountain Jug" again from western. Doesn't a rivalry usually involve both teams winning?

The panthers had a bye week last week, not many teams get worse when they have a week off, but the panthers showed us huh. Im actually glad i missed the game, would have put me in a terrible mood for a rare evening with the wife unit.

Had a short story in the crock-pot for the last few days, might take it out and show it off, stay tuned!

Stay Classy

Interesting

Before i type anything else, need to send a shout out to my grandma, Happy Birthday Grandma Keely!
84 years young, still gets up earlier than i do and is more physically active than i am too. Kinda sad on my part haha.

Someone else who is 84 is Joe Paterno, Head Coach at Penn State. It is TERRIBLE what took place there. My only issue right now, is there seems to be a key firing missing. The actual criminal = fired. President of the University = Fired. Head Coach = Fired. Employee that saw actual crime taking place and did NOT take immediate action to stop it, other than waiting a day to go tell the head coach = still has his job. THAT IS BULLSHIT. If you are going to fire the actual criminal and a guy who heard about the crime from a witness, you damn well better fire the witness. That is all i have to say about that.
Mike & Mike on ESPN radio made an excellent reference as to why these people are being fired. It is a quote from "A Few Good Men"
"What did we do wrong? we did nothing wrong!?"
"Yes we did. We failed to protect those that couldn't protect themselves."

I feel thats the perfect way to frame this.

Had more to say but have forgotten in light of the emotional news mentioned above.

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Monday is a Terrible way to spend 1/7th of our lives!

I realize that it is not Monday, but i'm too impatient to wait until next Monday to use that line!

So, as everyone knows i am a sports junkie. ASU, UNC, Panthers, Bobcats (when the NBA has a season). It is football season, well we are in the final 4th of the regular season. There are two levels of Division 1 football, FBS and FCS. I have a team to cheer for in both. UNC in the FBS and ASU in the FCS. Neither team is having a stellar year so far, but far from terrible. UNC is currently bowl eligible (not going to get started on how much better playoffs are than bowls) and ASU is one win away from being Playoff eligible. I have been spoiled by being an ASU fan since 2004, when you only lose what 10 games in 6 years, you get used to it. ASU lost this weekend to Furman, pretty much dashing our hopes of a RECORD 7th straight conference champions. But hey there is more to play for than a bowl game. All we have to do is go on a 5 game win streak and we are playing or winning (depending on how the playoff field works out) the national championship! UNC looks like it will be heading to the usual Meineke bowl in charlotte, at some point it just has to get better, and as pumped as i was to have an ASU alum coaching the heels, he dropped the ball against state, and his players dropped it against Clemson. We shall see if he gets to return with the new Athletics Director.

This is an exciting time for us college sports fans, as basketball season is starting on Friday. ASU has a home game and UNC will be taking on MSU, with a twist in that the game will be played on the deck of an Aircraft Carrier. That is not a misprint. I truly think app will be MUCH better in Jason Capel's (UNC Alum) 2nd season at the helm. I think the biggest difference will be the return of our starting Center Ike Butts. The only thing i dislike about his game is he wont ever fricking dunk the ball! Something about fundamentals and not showing off, i dunno. UNC of course is STACKED and i'm hoping they bring home another National Championship (unless ASU does haha, what can i say i'm an optimist!)

Well for you non-sports people i'm sure this was a boring read and for that i apologize, but i must shuffle off to get ready for the work day at Hallmark.

Type to ya later!

Catching up

Well, 3 out of 5 ain't bad, unless its the first 5 days of the new blog one has started and one has already missed posting 2 days in a row. Oh well, i kinda have an excuse. This past weekend was the Holiday Open House at Hallmark, it was successful thus far, still got a week to win the contest. More importantly it was my wonderful wife's 25th birthday! We celebrated by doing a portion of the "Art Walk" held in Boone on Friday nights, followed by dinner at Makotos! Jennifer's bestie came up for the weekend, and she joined for dinner and spent the day Saturday with Jen while i worked. Saturday after work i had a surprise din for Jen with a couple friends which was a blasty blast. Then Sunday Jen and i spent the day on the couch, her sleeping in between sneezing fits and me watching whatever i could find on tv. Our down time together is so rare that i actually loved just having nothing to do but lounge with my wife, however it is much better when she is not sick. I will have some commentary on sports tommorrow, gonna go nap b4 the midnite shift at the teet tonight.

Yo~

Thank you for your continued loyalty to reading this blog. (inside joke between me and Verizon) Today is a big day, marks the beginning of Jennifer's birthday weekend (amazing how our birthday celebrations grow in length sometimes) and also today through Sunday is Hallmark's Holiday Open House. In regards to the latter, i came across a song from AGES ago (namely the 90's) that perfectly explains how i feel working 3 retail jobs during the last 3 months of the year. I do hope it provides you mirth to start or end your day!
The Night Santa Went Crazy

In regards to Jennifer's Birthday celebration, i have a few surprises up my sleeve (tho i have none on at the moment) that i need to get started on. One of which is my ability to wrap presents instead of putting them all in gift bags (thanks hallmark.) I can not give more information out at this time as Jen may read this before her presents are presented to her. Hope you all have a great Friday and weekend!

LL Kool K

Got to start somewhere!

Readers~

 I hope you find this blog is worth the time it takes to read it. I won't be posting the same thing every day, but i do want to post SOMETHING every day. The reason I have started writing again is because I find it to be much more healthy and positive than succombing to my addiction again. So here goes nothing! For this first post i'll leave you with  a "monologue" that i wrote for theatre class 3+ years ago. I think its pretty good. Feel free to edit and comment!

“I calls it the Black Snake Moan”
The lyrics of the song made a home in my brain,
as my eyes visited the pages of my school book.
Alas the visit was over,
time for the next trip,
to my organizer and chaos of my mind.
Chaos is a simple word
for the smorgasbord of
thoughts, images, and sound-bites that reside
forever in the crevices of my mental cave.

A greeting drags me out of my sea
of thoughts and onto the solid,
yet shifty ground of communication.
Sounds swimming back and forth,
I laugh,
she laughs,
and brilliance shines from our smiles.
A moment is all I need,
a moment I escape.
Life is just a pattern of escapes.
I escape from
people
work
thoughts
the wild and rambunctious insanity
that this world provides daily.
Beep Beep Beep
Smokes me out of my thought-filled abyss.
Time for class.
I gather my thoughts and my books
and shuffle on to my next escape.
“I… I’m still alive.”
Word.

"Catch ya on the Flip flop, LATER!"