Weekend visit

Had a wonderful visit this weekend from my mom and my niece. Quincy is on spring vacation with the grandparents, so mom brought her up to our house for the weekend and we went to Carowinds yesterday. It was windy and very cool, but she had a good time. Mom took a picture of us together while waiting for the hot air balloon ride to start. I am also including a picture of her on Easter Sunday before church.

We had a great time putting togther puzzles, playing with Aunt Martha's little people house and garage, and we also played with the bingo game my mom bought. She is a lot of fun, but she will keep you going all day long! As soon as she got out of the car Friday afternoon, she asked for the 'cars'. She loves my little people garage that I bought off of ebay as it is like the one I had as a child. It is the one with the elevator that dings and comes with 4 cars - red, yellow, green, and blue, and has the gas pump to fill up the cars with gas. She loves it and asks for it right away at my house.

I missed the basketball game that Davidson played Friday night as we were preoccupied with bingo and SpongeBob. That is ok though - visit with Quincy was worth ten basketball games. I did watch Davidson get beat today though :(. Watched that alone - it's basketball alone time for me again today. At least Jim likes football. We could not be married if he didn't like football. That would be a deal breaker.

Great Basketball Weekend

I love March Madness!! The only bad thing is that I am a basketball widow. No matter how hard I try to get Jim interested in basketball, he just does not care. There was an amazing game on yesterday - Davidson and Georgetown. It was so exciting to see Davidson come back from shooting 27% in the first half and behind by 17 early in the second half to win. What a great game, but Jim was just so ho hum about it. How can anybody be so ho hum with that kind of game on?

Miami was also down early yesterday but rallied late before losing to Texas, the Tennesee and Butler game went to OT, West Virginia upsetting Duke on Saturday, and Villanova beating Clemson late Friday night was amazing!

I know I get it honestly. Last weekend at my parents, my Dad was going off on Chapel Hill making mistakes all over the place and trying to lose the ACC Championship game before finally beating Clemson. I know where I get my game commentary skills from. One of my fantasy jobs is to be a football broadcaster. I play this game where I count every time I make a comment on a football play and then the broadcaster says the same exact thing right after me. I know I could do that job! Jim says I would have to be on tape delay though because I use colorful metaphors - but that is only for Carolina games as I get emotionally involved in those games!!! I don't curse at the other football games.

Went to Columbia and experienced bad weather

St. Patty's day was fun, but abbreviated. We had a good time while we were there, but I only had 1 Killians as draft beer hits me quickly and I had not had much to eat at all before getting it. I did also have 1/2 a Yuengling as we stopped to grab a bite at a restaurant/bar on Harden St.

We left about 3:20 or so as the wind was really picking up and we figured it was probably going to rain soon. Good thing we did as by the time we got to my parents house, all hell started breaking loose with the weather. I heard the first tornado warning for Newberry county just before we got to their house and didn't realize how bad it was going to get for the area on Saturday. Fortunately, we did not have anything but heavy rain at their house as the weather report was rather vivid as to what all was going on as we watched.

I actually did pretty well all things considered as I had a very bad storm phobia that I finally got a grip on about 4 years ago. I had a very bad experience when I was little (about 5 or 6) as we made a beach trip and we were in a very bad storm and it hailed on the car - you know hail on a car makes a horrible sound and scared me very badly. My parents put the tent up in the rain that night as we had finally arrived at the beach and it turned out they had actually evacuated the campground earlier that day because of the severe weather. That phobia got worse with age and fortunately it's not nearly as bad now. I really feel for people that have panic attacks though as it is a miserable feeling.

I didn't feel too bad about having left 5 points when I read in the paper the next morning that they had to shut down the festival around 4pm because of the bad weather in the area. It was bad to see all of the destruction from the 15 or so tornadoes that occured too.

At least I got that one really good Killians and got a great draft beer buzz!!

Killians and St. Patty's Day

So I am looking forward to Saturday and going to Columbia for the first time since Christmas. of course, the visit is coinciding with the annual St. Patty's Day festivities in 5 points. Can't wait - the Killian's beer truck is calling my name. Last year I was thirsty and found the Yuengling Black and Tan truck first so by the time I finally found the Killian's it was alomost time to go home and I didn't have one. Of course, I am the driver because Jim can and does drink way more beer than me.

Jim always ends up parked at the Guiness truck. He likes the darker beer (it's that German thing) and plus the Guiness is not carbonated and is easier on the tummy. But me, I love that Killian's Irish Red, hanging out, listening to bands, bumping into people I know and just enjoying a good time. My favorite experience in 5 points was in 1993 when I lived in a duplex just off of Harden Street on Wilmot Ave. It was a short walk to 5 points so I hung out all day and didn't have to worry about driving home. I left about 4:30 or so that afternoon - my cue was when I spilled a beer all over my shoe. When I started spilling beer on myself I knew it was time to go home.

Classic Albums

To wake up on the way to work in the morning I often put in AC/DC Back in Black. That is one of two albums that I know back to front - the other is Boston. Back in Black is just a totally classic album all the way through beginning with Hells Bells and all the way through to Rock and Roll 'Aint Noise Pollution. My favorite tracks are You Shook Me All Night Long and Givin' the Dog a Bone. The only indication that this album is not fresh is the hiss even on the CD since it was released in 1980 and has (gasp) an analog recording vs. digital!

The Boston album is one I bought about 20 years ago (I was in college then - eek) and I played that thing to death. Even though that album was already 12 years old then (released in 1976) it still seemed fresh. It begins with one of my all time favorites - More than a Feelin', and ends on a really high note with Let Me Take You Home Tonight.

Another classic album that I love is Van Halen II. It does not have quite the same appeal as the other two as with Back in Black and Boston I just play it start to finish and know all the words and all the hooks. However, Van Halen II has a few favorites like Dance the Night Away, Somebody Get Me a Doctor, D.O.A (Dead or Alive), and Beautiful Girls. The original Van Halen release is good too, but I prefer Van Halen II as I never ever get tired of Dance the Night Away. I just wish it was longer than 2 1/2 minutes!

On the Bicycle again

Well I've taken about a week and a half unintentional break from working out and last night I got back on the exercise bike. Wow - it feels good to have worked out again. I usually ride for about 40 minutes and can ride about 10.5 miles in that time. Then, I do about 30 minutes of upper body, abdominal, hip, thigh, and derrier exercises that are difficult but really work.

After that, I enjoy a well deserved shower and relax on my upstairs sofa which usually involves falling asleep watching tv. Last night I DVRd American Idol upstiars so we started watching it about 8:40 while I was on the bike. It was right at 40 minutes without commercials too. When American Idol was over, my timer was winding down. I need to do a better job remembering how good it feels to exercise and how good I sleep as motiviation. Plus, if I exercise like that 3 or 4 times a week I can really tell a difference in how I feel, energy level, tighter stomach, etc. Felt like a million $$ this morning driving to work - endorphines are GREAT!!