The Pups' New Home

It's been almost a month since moving from an apartment to a house. We all love the extra space, but I sort of tossed myself back into the routine of yard work. There are lots of undergrowth that needs to be cleaned up, and the weekly debris pickup by the city is clearly getting its money's worth(On the first week they had to make a second trip due to me filling up their truck). Plus, as the first pictures shows, the fence needs a little fixing. But...Polly & Penny now have a yard to call their own and bark it up even more for no reason.

Fun-Fried Friday

I'm pretty excited about this Friday, the 23rd. It'll be a couple of firsts for me...the NC state fair & seeing Jeremy Camp in concert. The family & Shan will show me around to all the redneck festivities, ultra-American fatty food items, and strange animal/people showcases. Then, it's off to see Tenth Avenue North & Jeremy Camp lead everyone in a worship concert. It's going to be exciting!

Flickr-fied

There's been plenty going on lately, so I've added plenty to the flickr photostream. Feel free to see'em all...especially ones such as this that make you smile and wonder what is going on.

Kentucky Travels

This past week was a much needed vacation. Despite the small hill town of Cave City, the family & me had fun. We explored caves on foot & by boat, saw a racy but awesome performance put on by two talented actors in Red, White, and Tuna, and best for last...was out of work. There are many more pictures to be posted, but check out the flickr album of the vacation week. More will be added when the free time comes around.

Finally...Biltmore 2.0

I have finally got around to finish editting pictures from the Mother's Day weekend daytrip to the Biltmore Estate with Abby & Mom. It was fun. We received a nice gloomy gift of rain while we were walking around the inside for the tour, which added to the effect given off by the huge house. When we were finished with the inside, the rain cleared up for the usual humid afternoon. As usual, Abby was up to no good! Check out the pictures on flickr.

Room to Move

This past week was the first to be in my new house. So far, things have went fairly smoothly. Some new furniture will be here this week hopefully, and maybe some time will be there to make it look more like a place. I do want to thank everyone who helped me out with the short move, the heavy lifting, cleaning, house-sitting, etc. It is all greatly appreciated. And yes, I will get some pictures up after the furniture arrives. Then, the visiting starts!

August Over...Bring on Cooler Weather

Tomorrow morning I am heading back to China Grove for a couple hours, passing through, then on to the mountains...and will be there the rest of the week working at the tiny hospital in Sylva. September is just a couple hours away, and in less than three weeks I'll be in my first house(here in Fayettenam).
Oh, I posted a ton of photos from Cat & Saul's wedding shoot three weeks ago, a fun night downtown with the family, and the walk around the Botanical Gardens of Fayetteville. Check them out if you want to. The slideshows are the best.

Busy All Day, Everyday!

Lately I have been quite busy all day from sun-up to sundown. With work, on-call, house-hunting, church, and other stuff, it's been flying by quickly. On the plus side, the weeks have been moving so fast that a needed vacation is coming up next week. So most of next week I will be out near Carolina Beach with my three favorite ladies, Mom, Abby, and Sarah. See ya!

Mom's First Broken Bone

Not long into a friendly game with some relatives this past Mother's Day weekend...mom breaks her first bone. Following, we were in the ER for a few hours, seeing fierce mullets & laughing at the fact that it has taken this long to break a bone...seeing that it's a pinky finger just makes it funny. Here is mom boxing with her one glove finger padding.

Well It's Not The Bird Flu!

From the recent weekend until now has been sort of a blur for a few reasons. After heading out to Raleigh to celebrate Abby's millionth birthday with her, mom, and Tucker, we enjoyed watching the Heels put the final blow to Virgina Tech on many different TVs around the Raleigh area(that's a different story altogether). From discovering the newborn bunnies in Ab's backyard in their little burrow to Ab's big surprise & finding out Duke got the pants beat off of them in their LAST ACC game this year...it was a good day.
Then the blur started.
I got back Saturday night in the torrential rain to relax a little before bed, THEN, the next morning I discover Ab generously gave me her "illness" or whatever has been passed around her school. This friggin bug is violent...from coughing up a little blood to loss of motor skills while walking & coughing. It was not pretty. I'm finally getting over the bad parts of it, I think. The whole forced workday at Rowan Regional didn't help at all either.
Despite all the "bulsh" that goes on there is always a silver lining...for sure.

Plans Explosion

This weekend...

• ...I'll be heading to the Winter Jam with a few friends. Skillet & Mercy Me are the groups I'm excited to see...and a couple that others have mentioned.
• ...is Abby's Birthday weekend. There are some exciting things planned out for the Trail Master.
• ...and next weekend I'll be heading back near China Grove to stay on Sunday nights, followed by a Monday workday at Rowan Regional Medical Center.

New Picasa Additions

Here are some of the pictures from this past weekend. Abby, Mom, Dad, Charlie & his family, and me harassed butterflies, saw giant millipedes more than a foot long, cockroaches, rhinoceros beetles, and most things you would be forced to eat on Fear Factor. The 10 foot tall interactive tornado was nifty to watch. However, the mirror & nanoscale exhibits were nowhere to be found. You can find other photos from the weekend under other albums. Now Mom, sporting Carolina Blue, went the wildest during the huge Tarheel comeback in the middle of the public place we all went to watch the game. Not all pictures have been acquired yet, so more will come.

March 1st Weekend

This weekend was pretty awesome...over at the Museum and all. I will post the pictures tomorrow if time allows. Sarah, thanks for coming along to enjoy it with the psycho family. Along with that, the NC comeback against BC was phenomenal also. Duke not making that last shot of the game would've made for a perfect weekend, but I can't complain. It was pretty close to being that.

Museum of Life and Science

After a nice treat yesterday being near home & working at RRMC, this weekend is looking better. On this Saturday(Caturday as I like to call it) I'll be heading up to visit the Museum of Life and Science up in Durham after meeting the family. I'm looking forward to the Nanoscale Science exhibit & of course the Indoor Activities most of all. Afterwards...hopefully we'll find a TV nearby for the Tarheel game against Boston College. Hansbrough has been ridiculous lately so a sweep on BC is definitely possible.

...ready to see the crazy animals, and harass them.

Part of the herd

Today I met mom & Ab over at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. It has been probably 15 years since going there & definitely changed from the last time. The bad part...all the bears(polar, black, grizzly) were on vacation, the puffin exhibit was closed before we could get around to it, and no shark rides were being offered for this weekend(just kidding). The good...being retarded around the animals. Here are a couple from the album on Picasa. The monkeys were very cooperative with the camera, but maybe a little over ranked for an audience for children. Take a look at the album to understand why. There are more of Abby & Mom & Me in the separate albums...some good ones too.

Laugh Fest

Despite the slow start for the Tarheels today against NC State, the rhythm came in a flash after a tie game of 9 apiece. It was tied at one point in the first half & then something happened to the Wolf Pack of NC State...they forgot how to make a shot, any shot, even layups. The Tarheels held State to only 13 points in the first half(43-13 at the end). Going almost 12 minutes in college basketball without scoring is pretty sad, especially with simple shots under the basket. For the majority of the first half, I was laughing about how horrible State was playing & how well the Heels were capitalizing off of it.
It was at the end of the first half when State finally made a shot before heading into the locker room to get reamed at by their coach. After they made a rare shot, it was the Heel fans that started to cheer them on. I am sure Coach Williams was questioning who his team was playing when they walked back to talk about what just happened. Being up by 30 points isn't insane. It's just funny when the lead is at halftime and from a team that actually beat UNC last year. The Tarheels go to 17-0 for the season & 2-0 for conference play...not too shabby.

Well Abby is coming down to visit in the morning to join me at my church & whatever after. I'm sure some food will be involved before, after, or both.

End of 2007 Pics

So yea, here are a few of pictures from the end of December last year. I haven't "acquired" all of the pictures yet, so more to come later sometime.

Final weekend 2007

Today after work I will be heading home for the weekend...mostly to celebrate mom's birthday, but also to hang with Dave(because he wants to retire early down in Florida for some reason...oh & by the way, I am going to steal your iPod Touch too) & friends. I'll have some pictures up later sometime this weekend of the past few shots. Hopefully your Christmas was just as fun & fulfilling as ours in China Grove & Pilot Mt.

Christmas Concert/Shopfest

So last night me & dad attended Ab's Christmas concert put on at her church(The Summit). It was awesome, especially seeing a 300 person choir. The 1200 people there had to of been impressed also. Since mom was stuck in Charleston she had to wait until tonight to see it. So, she was able to finally make it out to my new place here in Fayettenam and visit my church before heading to Raleigh for the Christmas event.

I made some headway on the Christmas shopping frenzy today and will hopefully finish most of it tonight after church. Despite the lame influence Americans have had on making Christmas a full out shopping holiday and forgetting why there is a Christmas, I have to head out in the madness and buy stuff. On the plus side, this will make it two years that the Cress side of things are giving money to a needy family. Anyway, Dave, I'll be in town on the 14th...and since you are leaving NC for a nice imaging job in Florida we'll have to make the best of it. Still though, I'm sure it's a huge Christmas gift to you that you have a definite position before you have even graduated...something huge to look forward to at the beginning of the year. You're the man Dave!

Oh and Tucker is pretty excited about Christmas. I'm sure.

Back/Fat

No, not back-fat. It means I'm back from the ThxGiving holiday and fat from all the overeating. I believe there were at least 12 pies made on Friday over mom's house. Ridiculous? Yes indeed. Since I had never braved the entire black Friday before, I decided to join in. Dad & me went to observe, not become one of the yelling moms(we called those people "retards" for short) that "had" to get their kids what they wanted for Christmas. Despite the madness I seemed to laugh most of the time over the moms/dads that are for some reason enslaved into getting their children exactly what they want, NOT need. Just the thought of a grown woman yelling at some poor Walmart employee over how long she had been standing in line for is ridiculous, but seeing it first hand is entertainment. If I do decide to go again next year, I'll bring a bag of popcorn and a chair for the entire show.
After getting out of there we headed to Best Buy. I ran across two friends that were in fact heading up the sales for the store...so the hookups were made for my dad's buying frenzy for that shiny LCD he actually did need for his computer. Thanks to Paul & Jeff.
Not to self(and anyone that is still sane)...in the future, don't sell yourself to the commercialized holiday madness for the sake of a lame "must-have" gift that someone doesn't really need...and for the sake of their spoiledness. The $1.8 billion spent on Friday could've been put to better use. Shame on us Americans!

Correction: $10.295 billion is the actual sales for the retail stores.