Moneyball

In a previous post, I said that I bought four new books...Well one down and three to go. I've been reading more spiritual/self help type books lately so I wanted to change it up a bit. Moneyball was definitely that.

I wouldn't say that I'm a baseball freak but I'm pretty close. It's just one of those things that I've always been close to so this book hit the spot. Essentially it was the story of the Oakland A's strategy of building a baseball team with limited financial resources. The story focused around the General Manager of the team Billy Beane. All in all it was an outstanding read that went real quick. It was fun to turn the pages and recognize the names of several players, coaches, media folk, etc.

Even if you don't like baseball but like an overall business type book you'll dig this. If you like baseball, you will like it even more.

So there you go, my first book review. I just started reading my second of the four books and I'll let you know when that one is finished....The next one may be a tad more controversial to some...We shall see.

Wedding Number 1

Yesterday was the first of my weddings that I was invited to this Spring. Let me just say this,,,Chris and Karen are some of the coolest people that I have ever met. The two of them are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together. It was a beautiful wedding in the booming metroplex of Greensboro, GA near Lake Oconee. Chris and Karen...A big cheers to both of you...


Not only was the wedding itself great, the reception was a blast. We tore it up a tad on the dance floor for several hours and a bunch of us ended up at the JI Lounge (Jameson Inn). It was kind of like high school prom hotel party, except without high schoolers. To end the night we had a late night Waffle House run that was conveniently right next to the hotel. All in all, it was a beautiful thing......

I think she said "yes" right here

The boys.......................... Little Dance Floor Action....
The bed and breakfast run by a weird dude named Joe Our late night savior they call "The House"

Humbled Heart

The last couple weeks (or months) have been this weird roller coaster ride of emotions for me. I get fired up when I'm busy but whenever I have any down time whatsoever, my mind wonders to some places that it shouldn't and I get pretty bummed out. During this period, I've had lots of time for self-reflection and I've realized a lot of things about myself that I'm not too stoked about and am in the process of change. To sum it up, I've been pretty bummed out lately. It has brought me so much closer to God which is a good thing but has eaten me up inside.

Well on Friday night, a couple buddies and me headed down to Downtown Atlanta to feed the homeless. Basically, it's a van of about 4 or 5 people that bring food and clothes down on Friday nights. It happens every Friday night so the people are there waiting to get their grub on. Before the actual food thing begins, this young dude gets up and preaches for about 10 minutes or so. It was freakin' awesome to hear these homeless people get all fired up on God regardless of their situation. I talked to a few people that were out of the street and it was amazing to me how incredibly positive they were. It was really a humbling experience that really made me think that my little issues (although they suck) aren't really that bad in the grand scheme of things.

I'll definitely be heading down there again as it was really a good time and got to chat with some interesting people that have been dealt a tough deck of cards but are dealing with it.

A Somewhat Bitter Sweet Sunday

Today marked the last day at the current Buckhead Church. That's right, the old grocery store held its last services today. We are headed into our new building beginning on May 6th. The grocery store had this real intimate feeling that I will miss but what a great opportunity we have to have a bunch of empty seats in this new building to invite our friends that haven't heard the Good News or have been turned off by Church before.

It was a little over two years ago that I was wanting to get back to Church and happened to find Buckhead in lo and behold...The Yellowpages of all places...And I am sure glad that I did. I've met a bunch of new friends, get to hang out with 15 little kids on Sunday mornings, got Baptized and have learned how much God wants to have a personal relationship with us. It's just so awesome. Although the grocery store will be missed, the new building is going to be absolutely incredible with amazing opportunity to make a difference in the community.

You'll be missed but not forgotten

Week "End" Review

This week was a total grinder at work as well as having something for every night (hence no blog posts). Nonetheless it was a good week. Here are some thoughts from the week:

• God continues to pour out His love on me
• I freakin' love my family
• I have awesome friends
• I miss my best friend
• The people on my coed softball team are some of the best I've ever met
• I'm glad that they found Larry Birkhead was the father
• I hate when my shoulder dislocates
• Bought 4 new books that I'm looking forward to reading
• Weather is totally weird right now
• Blue Moon Pizza in Smyrna is a new favorite for me
• I need to go fishing soon

That's all I got for now. Weekend should be pretty chill for the most part. Last Buckhead Church service at the grocery store this Sunday. I think I'm going to buy a new suit. 10-4, I'm out........

A Good Friday Indeed

Had yesterday off for Good Friday and had a great day.

A buddy and I played 18 at a local course. Besides for rather cold and windy conditions it was decent. Both of us didn't play great the front nine but found our mojo on the back. Good times.

Then another bachelor party....My bro Jim and me met up with some other dudes for our friend Chris's bachelor party. We headed down to the Brave's game for a showdown with the Mets. Once again, besides for it being extremely cold, we had a blast. We didn't watch much of the game as we spent most of our time at the Chop House and the 755 Club. All in all, it was a good time.

In about a month or so, these bachelors that I've been hangin' around with the last couple weekends will finally tie the knot. I'm stoked for both of them.....

Foooouuuuurrr......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless....

Suckin' down chili dogs at the Chop House....

The Groom to be looking "Loc Style"
Have a great Easter everyone....

Texas Adventure Part II

After the disaster with Delta, it was on. My boy Austin (The Groom) picked me up along with a couple dudes I hadn't met before, Mike and Carson. About a 4 hour trip later we ended up in Broken Bow, OK.

All the other boys were already there. I knew most of these guys already from the East Texas days. From then on it was all about eating, drinking, washers and water balloons. The cabin was absolutely awesome. Basically a Bass Pro Shops minus the spinnerbaits. Lee was all up on the grill during the weekend making sure stomachs were always full. We got into a little Texas Hold'em both nights and I was on team donate. We tried making it down to the lake on Sat. but there wasn't a good place to hang so we just chilled at the cabin all day playing washers. For those of you that don't know washers (I didn't either), it's basically a poor man's version of horse shoes. Mike W. and Trey were the champs although Travers and me had to bust the move in one of the last games of the evening.

Early on Sunday morning (1am or so) I decided a bonfire was needed so got all boyscout and built a good one. Carson and me ended up staying up to about 7am solving most of the problems of life. Great times.

All in all, a great trip with a bunch of good dudes that I wish I got to see more.

Here's a few of the pics but for all the action click here

The Homeboys

Deep thoughts looking into the fire

Our Ponderosa for the weekend

Texas Adventure Part I

So this past weekend was my trip to Texas for my buddy Austin's Bachelor Party. Before I get to the actual "vacation" part of the trip I have to describe my travel experience just to get to Texas. That's why this is just part I because they will be more......

Here's a timeline of events of the beginning of my trip....All times actual

3pm (EST) - Check in and grab some grub and a couple coolskis at The Sports Scene (Terminal C)

4:15pm - Announce there is some weather and our flight is going to be delayed. Was supposed to leave at 4:25pm

4:30 to 6pm - Hang out in the Delta Crown Room with some random dude that didn't want to drink by himself. Interesting fella.

6:30pm - Board plane and take off (Fall asleep immediately)

7:30pm (CST) - Am awakened to the announcement that we are diverting to Austin because of crazy weather in Dallas

7:45 - 8:30pm - Hang around Austin Airport and eat some bottom of the barrel Chinese food

8:45 - 10:30pm - Sit on the runway in the plane because weather still sucks in Dallas

10:45pm - Get off plane again in Austin

11pm - Get back plane ready to take off after another 45 minutes or so but captain comes again with the announcement that the plane is having mechanical issues and we can't go...BOO

1:30am - Get off one plane and get on another that is right next to ours.

2:30am - Get on new plane and taxi out to runway,,,,waiting,,,,,waiting,,,,,waiting,,,,,captain comes over loud speaker again to tell us that FAA has just pulled him from flying because he had already worked 16 hours....And here's where people flip.....

3:30am - Taxi back to gate and wait for groundcrew to unload luggage

3:30 to 4am - Wait around at gate to tell us where we need to stay for the night

4 to 4:15am - Take a taxi to a Hyatt with some random people....More interesting people

4:30am - Get checked in and go to room....Check out some news and shut it down at close to 5

WOW!!! I travel a fair amount and something like this has never happened to me. Fortunately I am a patient dude and I don't sweat stuff like this so it really was kind of funny to me. Now for some others, this was the end of the earth. It was amazing to watch people totally crack in a tough situation, especially those that didn't have anymore juice on their Blackberry. Just hilarious.....

Needless to say, we were able to get on a flight the next morning at 10:30am. And to show you how Karma works, I got bumped to first class on the flight due to my Silver Elite status. Well as I was about to board there was a lady that was totally wiggin' out because she wasn't sitting in first class anymore so I'm like "here's my ticket, first class doesn't really matter to me." So we traded tickets and when I was about to board, her ticket got upgraded too. Freakin' beautiful.....Nothin' like flying first class on a 30 minute flight....

Anyways, what a night and a way to start a trip....I'll post some more about the actual trip along with some photos.....