Absence

So I have been absent of lately. I really haven't felt good all week, and I have had a lot of other things on my mind. Anyways, I thought that I would jump back into the ranks of blogging. As some of you might know, I am a HUGE Smallville fan. I now own all 5 seasons on DVD, thanks to a B-Day present from the parents when it came out two weeks ago. I received the gift on Saturday and decided I needed to catch up on the show by watching all of season 5 before yesterday when season 6 of Smallville premiered. So this week at work, I watched all 22 hour-long episodes to get myself caught up for last night's premiere. I had 3 episodes to watch yesterday, and when I finished those, I was really excited about the premiere. The season 5 finale left a lot of unanswered questions with all of the cast members and, more importantly, left Clark in a dire situation. Well, let's just say that season 6 has not disappointed thus far. The season premiere answered a lot of questions and is leading toward Clark becoming Superman. When the series began, the producers promised all the action of Superman and how he became who he is but without the tights. In beginning their sixth season, it's looking as if the tights might be soon making an appearance. Clark once again was able to save the day, but he is beginning to contemplate what his true destiny on Earth is. So to end this post, here's a small quote from the end of the episode that really can be true today. To set up the quote, this happens after Clark has once again saved the day and realized that his Kryptonian father's (Jor-El) presence has left Earth.

Clark - "Everything's changing, I don't know where to go from here."

Martha Kent (Clark's mom) - "Every world needs it's heroes. They inspire us to be who we are."

Random

So I have been absent for the last couple of days from the blog world. Just haven't had the will to post anything. But I am still alive in case anyone was wondering. The same can't be said about Bryan McDermott, aka ADHD Land, who wasn't updated his blog in like a month. I'm sure everything is great with BMcD, and it's probably just the fact that he is unwilling to spend any kind of money on anything technological and just wishes to bum technology off of others. Anyways, back to my reason for posting. Today is a great example of how crazy the weather in Knoxville is. I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. Once I arrived at work, yes unfortunately I had to work this morning, I looked outside about 15 minutes later and it was pitch black and pouring cats and dogs. It has been pretty steady all day with random bouts of really hard rain. It stopped raining about 45 minutes ago and looked great outside, once again the sun out and shining brightly. Then 15 minutes later, torrential downpour again. It's been raining since. I'm really glad I'm not going to the game today although I could probably buy tickets really cheap today with the weather as it is. It had just stopped raining about 10 minutes ago, and now is pouring again. Welcome to the crazy world of Weather in Knoxville. And to top it all off, here was the forecast from the Weather Channel this morning. Isolated T-storms in the afternoon with a CHANCE of some severe thunder storms. HAHAHAHA!!!!! How about Torrential downpour likely all day. If you own any large wooden boats, please prepare those for the future flood. And just to top everything off, it's about 80 degrees today, and will probably be like 50 tomorrow knowing Knoxville's weather! And, oh yeah, Go Vols!

Rumblings from this weekend.....

So this weekend was quite eventful. Friday night, I went with some friends to King Tut's Grill out off of Chapman. This was my first experience at the restaurant. And it is definitely a different atmosphere. The owner of King Tut's, aka Moe, is quite an interesting guy. He likes to keep his restaurant very lively and interact with his customers. The place is fairly small, probably only fitting a total of 50 people. It is very difficult to find, basically a little house sitting off the side of the road. I walk in, and 6 of those I am meeting are already there sitting at a table. I have already noticed something strange. Heather, Jon's girlfriend, is sitting there wearing an egyptian pharoah style hat. I'm like ok. Jon proceeds to try the hat on, at which point Moe comes over and tells Jon that is not his hat, it belongs to the lady. Moe then retrieves an afro wig for Jon to wear for the rest of dinner. Moe informs us that karoake will start later and then informs us that we can make a deal with him. We now have 8 people there and he will give us 8 free desserts if someone beats him in a game of chess. Unfortunately, I am voted to play against him. Needless to say, I got creamed. He informed me later that he plays online every night til like 6 in the morning. So now were thinking we have to buy 8 desserts. Well, Moe brings me a Billy Bob hat, aka a trucker hat with a mullet hanging out the back for me to wear. After bringing us our food, Moe informs the group we can get out of our desserts if I sing karoake. At this point I'm thinking, "What in the world did I do to get involved in all this? Can you not just leave me alone and let me enjoy my food?" Long story short, 2 karoake songs, a giant gnome mask, and no desserts later, we finally left. It was definitely a crazy experience.

Saturday, Brad(young professional from West End) and I attended the game. We were able to sit in X3 row 9, which, if you didn't know, are unfreakingbelieveable seats. I was going to post a picture to make everyone jealous, but apparently Blogger is going crazy an won't let me post a picture so maybe tomorrow.

So even though we ended up losing the game, they were really good seats and it was a great game to watch. Hopefully next time the results will be a little better. So that pretty much puts an end to the weekend. My fantasy football team is now 2-0 and will be in 2nd place after tonight, so I'm pretty excited about that. But anyways, hopefully mine and Cody's IM girl's team, aka the CSC Pirates, can pull off a victory tonight. Look for a Prison Break review tomorrow. Peace out.

A great Volunteer!

As some of you might have heard, both Justin Harrell and Inky Johnson were injured last Saturday night in the Air Force game. Inky's injury is very serious as he had surgery on Saturday night to help repair some blood vessels that had been damaged in the injury. He still has to have more surgery to repair nerve damage. Justin Harrell ruptured his bicep tendon and was declared out for the season. Well yesterday the team received some very uplifting news from these two Volunteers. First, Inky Johnson was released from the hospital yesterday and made an appearance at practice. The team made a huge uproar when they saw him appear from the football complex and it really uplifted the team. Second, about 45 minutes into practice, Justin Harrell made an appearance in full gear for practice. Apparently, Harrell's injury can't be damaged any furthur and thus he asked the coaches if he could play one last game. Harrell has to go ahead and have surgery because if he were to wait, then the muscle could atrophy and would not be repairable. So, as a senior, Justin Harrell will be making his last appearance in a UT uniform on Saturday night as he is expected to play. Harrell will be wearing a brace on his arm to help keep the arm stabilized, but he should be able to fully play. How much he plays is unknown at this point, but he will play. Another fitting tribute, is that Saturday night will be the last night that #92 will be worn at UT. Justin Harrell currently wears #92 and as many may know, that number was retired last year in honor of Reggie White. Harrell was allowed to continue wearing the number until he graduated, thus Saturday night will be the final appearance for the number. What a way for the number to be retired. I know that if Reggie were here today, he would be very proud of the way that Justin is representing that jersey. So be sure to give Justin and Inky a huge Tennessee welcome on Saturday night. I'm sure it will be a very emotional time.

A sad day :(

So yesterday was a sad day for me. As many of you know, I spent four years of my life working with the UT Men's basketball team. And during those four years I was able to meet a lot of interesting basketball players, some that I like more than others. Well, yesterday, one of those I like was dismissed from the team. Major Wingate was one of my favorite players while I worked with the team. He was always nice to anyone he saw and would always speak to you. He has a very eccentric personality and a guy that sometimes seemed to be out there. A good story about Major comes from back in 2005 on a trip to South Carolina. Major is from Florence, South Carolina and rarely gets a chance to see his mom. So, needless to day, he was excited about traveling to Columbia so that his mom would be able to some and see him play. We arrived in Columbia on Friday night and proceeded to go to eat at a fairly nice restaurant. One thing you should know about the team, was that when we traveled, the team would always sit together and the managers/support staff would sit together. Well, there wasn't a place for Major to sit, so he came over and sat with me and Blake for dinner. He kept us entertained all night. Major is such a funny guy that it's hard not to get along with him. I don't know if any of the other players would have done what he did, excpet for maybe Dane, Jordan, or Fred. And if they had to sit with us, they probably would have complained about it. But not Major. He has always been a really cool guy to know, and so yesterday was a really sad day for me knowing that his college career had more than likely come to an end. Major, you will be truly missed.

Prison Break

So I totally forgot about Prison Break on Monday night, which I don't know what I was thinking. That is one of my favorite shows ever and I totally forgot about it. I guess it had to do with the fact that I didn't have to work that day since it was Labor Day and my day was jammed pack full of stuff to do. So yesterday I was pretty bummed out by the fact that I had missed Prison Break and it's one of those shows that you can't really miss an episode because you won't know what is going on in the next episode. But to my delight, I googled Prison Break and was directed to Fox's Prison Break website where I discovered you can watch past episodes of the show. Well, needless to say, this brightened my day tremendously. So, without further ado, my review of Monday night's Prison Break.

This season is definitely different as it focuses on the routes each escapee is taking to their freedom. Those that were notably absent from this episode where T-Bag, Abruzzi, Tweeter, and Haywire. This episode mainly focused on Scofield and Lincoln, Sucre, and C-Note. Scofield and Lincoln fake their death by driving their car off of a bridge and having the car blow up. Sucre steals a car trying to reach his girlfriend who is about to get married to another guy. He is caught and manages to escape while he is pulled over on the side of the road. C-Note contacts his wife and also talks to his daughter while she is at her school. All four appear to be headed out west after the money. Bellick is now on the chase after the convicts. Right before he was going to shoot himself with a shotgun, he finds out there is a reward out for everyone's capture and he is now pursuing the reward. He actually sees Scofield and Lincoln escape from the blown up car. Should be interesting to see where that goes. And last, Agent Mahone is onto Scofield's chase but the explosion could throw him off. I think that Scofield is starting to realize that Mahone is a really smart guy, but I think Mahone is underestimating Scofield. And there is still something out there about Mahone that we don't know. Can't wait til next week!

I told you so

So here I am on Tuesday posting about the long weekend that just passed us by. I called it over the weekend that I thought that the stadium would be crazy on Saturday and that the Vols would probably pull out a victory. Well, the crowd was one of the loudest and craziest in recent memory and everyone knows how the Vols surprised the nation in pummeling over the Cal Bears. Some of the comments from the Cal players reinforced the crowd issue. Nate Longshore, Cal's QB, said he had played his playstation and turned up the sound at Neyland to try to simulate the sound. HAHA. Nice try. Jeff Tedford palyed Rocky Top at every lifting session over the summer and during practice. Note to Jeff: You're not the first coach to do this, and, in general, it usually doesn't work out very well. My guess is that the Bears liked the song so much they wanted to hear it a ton more. Turn outs for the Vol Walk and Salute to the Hill were outstanding. But I think one of the best moments from the weekend in regards to football happened on Thursday night. With coaches and stadium personnel unaware, Jayson Swain and Eric Ainge gathered together the football team and took them down to the stadium. It was here that they watched a video about many of their struggles from last year, along with some highlights from spring, summer, and fall workouts and practice. Included in the video was an inspirational clip from the "Any Given Sunday." Supposedly, they were even told by a cop to get off the field and so they retreated onto the sidelines! It was reported that after the video, the team prayed together and were talked to by Jayson Swain. Many on the team have said that this year's team has great chemistry and seem more than a family than ever before. Here's to hoping that this turns into more wins.

So Sunday was Boomsday and it was a blast. We had a group get together from Parkway and West End to watch the festivities. We had about 8 people all together. The fireworks were once again excellent. It seems like every year they come up with something new to show off. Aside from the fact that we were seated on a hill that made my butt hurt, it was great. Here's to looking forward to next year.

It's Football Time in Tennessee!!!!!!

It's Friday. One day before the opening kickoff of the 2006 Tennessee football season. It is unusually cool here in Knoxville. Now, by cool, I mean high 70's, low 80's. If you were driving through town yesterday, and never got out of your car, you would have thought that it was an October day. It just had that look to it. As I was driving to campus last night for our girl's intramural football practice, I glanced at the sky. After all the rain we had received yesterday, it just had that look of a mid October afternoon following a rain storm. It's really a unique view and something you would recognize if you have ever lived in the south. Plus, add to the fact that it is a football weekend. Not only that, it's the opening football weekend. And, it's against a top 10 team. So you can imagine what the town is like these days. If you have ever been in Knoxville, or any other SEC town the Friday before a game, then you know what I'm talking about. K-town thrives around football and is a whole different place when the season arrives. Tonight, the strip will be hopping with college students and many others going from bars to bars. Boats will begin to arrive on the Tennessee River out in front of Neyland Stadium. RV's will start showing up across from Thompson-Boling Arena. You can almost smell the football in the air. And tomorrow will be even crazier. Campus will be swarmed with tailgaters from as close as Knoxville and as far away as California. All will be welcomed as UT has some of the nicest fans around. The team will walk down to the stadium for the Vol Walk. The Pride of the Southland Marching Band will salute the hill. The stadium will begin to fill up with anxious fans. All will converge towards Neyland Stadium. New found friends from California will soon become bitter enemies. Fans will be urged, "To pay these prices and to PLEASE PAY NO MORE!" The starters will be introduced. The band will take the field. Cal's fight song will be played. The interlocking UT will be formed and Rocky Top will be played for the first of many times to come. Down the Field will be played, the T will open up, and the team will appear. Both teams will lineup, and kickoff will happen. And over the roar of the crowd, one will faintly be able to hear, "It's Football Time in Tennessee!"

And I can't wait.