Recent Activity

Nicole tells me that I should blog more. In no particular order, here are some things that have been going on recently.

* We got a new A/C unit, which is working just fine so far. An unexpected benefit is that it seems to be creating lass rattling noise in the air vents as well.

* I'm about 1/5 of the way through Harry Potter #7. Yes, I know, I'm months behind everybody else, but I hadn't yet read the 4th, 5th, and 6th books (the last time I touched Harry Potter being on a family car trip when only the first three had come out), and I've had to make time to read/ re-read the first 6 before I could start #7. I didn't enjoy the books very much when I originally read them, but I've really liked #'s 5, 6, and 7 (so far). I think this is for two reasons: 1) Because I was still an adolescent myself when I originally started reading them and thus was unable to appreciate the humor with which Rowling deals with adolescence in her books. 2) The second half of her series seem to be in general more complex and entertaining to read. Both when I originally read #1 and #2, and the second time I re-read them more recently, I got the distinct feeling that I was reading the same book twice with slight variations. As a side note, I've managed to keep myself free from any sort of book 7 spoilers thus far, and am hoping to keep it that way. Unfortunately, I had the ending of book 6 ruined for me some time ago (and it would have happened at least 2 or 3 times more I can think of between then and now anyway).

* I've begun participating in a mentoring program at Greenville Middle school. On Wednesdays I will have lunch with a handful of "high-risk" students. I'm looking forward to this and think it will be both enjoyable and a great time to try and develop some meaningful relationships with these students.

* Nicole and I had our first "small-town" High school football game experience when we went to the Fort Dale Academy season opener a couple Friday nights ago. I found it to be pretty enjoyable, but it was distinctly different from my own memories of High school football games. They have no band so they just played the fight song, "Hey song", and others through the PA system. There were lots and lots of little children and families there, which was also different. The game itself, however, was just about how I remember it: lots of options, outside pitches, and lobs to the sideline. High school football is pretty scrappy, but I enjoyed watching the game nonetheless. One of our youth is the kicker for the team (previous soccer player) and he had a couple of great looking fieldgoals. I'm hoping to get to go to a Greenville HS game here pretty soon (it will be different, I know).