I stink at getting a paper done. I can sit down and write a paragraph now and then. But sitting down and getting it all done in big chunks is sometimes hard. I gotta get it done. The book was okay, but a little far reaching. But I have to get the paper done by tomorrow and still be reading a lot of pages in another book or two.

My papers end up being decent once their done, but the process needs some streamlining. This fall I’m going to be taking two classes where I’ll have papers done. That on top of work, new kid on the way, keeping up with MSU football, and MSU football….wow.

Jeremy said I made him do this…so I better follow up as well.

Appetizer
Name 3 things that you think are beautiful.
My wife, my daughter, Coach Croom (ask me again about him in December)

Soup
What was the last concert you attended?
Not been to one in soooo long….

Salad
What is one thing that frightens you about getting older?
Thinking that I might have wasted some time after time has gone by.

Main Course
Tell us about one of your funny quirks or habits.
I like to try to make people feel better about themselves by using putdowns and sarcasm.

Dessert
If you could extend one month to 50 days (instead of the normal 28, 29, 30, or 31), which month would you want to lengthen?
I’d extend February so college basketball season would last longer.

Don’t you just love going to bed on Saturday night…and then realizing that it’s really Friday night?

Today has been a bit more work that lazy, but a little of both. Woke up ate breakfast, removed the blinds from The Kid’s room, got a haircut, and then ran by the church to get my cordless drill I thought I left there. It wasn’t there so as I was leaving one of the girls from church was looking for me. She’d seen my car. She told me about a friend of her’s who’d left home last night. Got in a fight w/ his parents and split. This is a guy who’s had a load of mess in his life lately. I don’t really have much of a history w/ him at all, other than a few words here and there. We actually ate lunch yesterday. He tells me he’s wanting to straighten up, lead a clean life.

Being a small town, I get lots of advice and comments. Some are encouraging me to try to make a difference. Others are warning me that he’ll con me if given half the chance. So I pray for God’s wisdom in dealing w/ the guy. But he ended up telling me he needed some “cool off time” and then things will be okay between him and his parents. We’ll see.

Then I come home and read. I finished Liquid Church but now have no desire to write the 5 page book review of it. That will commence later tonight/tomorrow.

Hopefully get to watch Cold Mountain tonight.

After seeming to have to jump through hoops because of a mixup in the upgrade script, all is alive and well with my message board. I’m really amazed by both InsiderHosting.com and Invision Power Board.

In both cases, it was the owner who personally helped me. Now maybe I happened to catch them at a slow time or something when I needed some help. But I went ahead and aimed high when I asked for some help, and both did. These are people/companies with thousands of clients. Wow.

Anyway, Mississippi Sports Talk is now running on IPB 2.0 PF2. That means that it’s the prefinal release (2nd version). I think the actual final version will be out in a couple of weeks. Then the final skin can be implimented. Give it a polished look, with custom logo/buttons. And add some advertising as well, hopefully.

If I can make a little extra cash off of this, then it will relieve the need for The Wife to return to work after The Kid #2 gets here. So we’ll see how all that goes.

Monday I noticed that Invision Power Board had released another version of their newest piece of software. I use IPB for my forums at MissSportsTalk.com. I’d been using 1.3 for a while now after using 1.1 and 1.2. I’d come to IPB over from phpBB. Never really regretted the switch. But I usually get the newest and latest version as soon as it’s out. But I’d already let version 2.0’s PF1 release (pre-final…that means it’s supportable but not fully got every bug worked out of it) go by w/o an install. So I decide the time is now to get the newest possible.

So I downloaded the new version. Backup my old database. And then start the process. I upload all the new stuff. But it seems my FTP program didn’t get everything uploaded at the same time, so I had to redo a few things. Then I ran the upgrade script. Everything was going smoothly. I was watching the steps click by, one after the other. Then it hit a glitch. Not sure what it was, but it just stopped. It couldn’t find something or another. I tried to figure it out.

So I ran the upgrade script again. It looked like it was messing stuff up. Duplicating things and all. Then it just hit a big wall and error messages were being shown to me. So I’d realized I’d broken the thing. I set it to upload all the new files again, just to make sure, and went to lunch.

I came back and tried the upgrade script again, hoping that something was missed before and would now magically work. But alas, nothing worked. I was at a loss.

So I finally decided to upgrade from the “Trial” versions of IPB I’d been using to the real deal. That means paying some $$. So I did so, waited for the process to be registered played out. It played out over night and on into Tuesday morning. So finally Tuesday morning I open a support ticket. Then have to go out of town for a few hours. Come back and my email back tells me to get my host to restore my old database.

That was half a chore in itself. But after talking to my great and wonderful host about it for a while (Everyone should use InsiderHosting.com for any and all their webhosting needs!!!”) I am able to look at the database. And horror of all horrors..I see that it only has about 101 of my previous 1603 members. I had lost over 1500 members! It was kaput. Over. Fine’. Screwed. All those words. My heart fell. I thought all was lost.

Then I decided to try one more database I found on my desktop. I thought it was older, but better than my nearly nothing I’d just uploaded. Steven at InsiderHosting said to upload it, but it might be later in the night before they could process it. I go pick up my daughter, come home, and he tells me to check it out. He’s restored it. Hallelujah! I think all is well now.

It’s back in the hands of IPB now. Last communication I got from them is an email asking for the version of MySQL that my host runs. But they don’t do much support over the dark of night, so hopefully it will all be resolved in the next few hours. Hopefully….

I fell asleep on the couch watching the news.

The Wife gets me up. I take the dogs out, brush my teeth, crawl in bed.

I read a little, then think I need to check a few things on the internet. I’m tired, but not sleepy. It’s 11:30.

I tell myself I’ll be up only as late as Midnight. At that time, I’m shutting the thing down and crawling back in bed to hopefully get 7-8 hours sleep.

It’s now 1:22 a.m. and I’m not even in my bedroom. I’m leaving now. But before long my daughter will be calling for me to get up, get her up, and listening to her alert me to the fact that she’s “ready for breakfast now!”

Sheesh!

I took an online class last spring semester at Asbury. My job description changed last year to require my position to either have a “theologial degree” or be in pursuit of one. Pursuit means getting 12 hours per year of seminary credit. I’ve heard great things about Asbury, know a handful of people who went to Asbury, and I don’t have to move myself and family to another state to take classes there.

To get a degree from there you do have to take 1/3 of your coursework on campus. Plus, I don’t want to take THREE classes this fall, so I’m going up to Wilmore, KY in a couple of weeks for a class. It’s called Postmodern Youth Ministry. Sounds like something I really want to dig a little deeper into. Seriously. So mid week, last week, I decide to figure out a few things for my trip up. The Wife has got clearance to get off of work for the week. I made reservations at a B&B up there w/in walking distance from campus. Now…to look at the syllabus.

Well, hindsight is always 20/20, right? The big thing I learned about going to take a grad school level course in one weeks time is that you probably need to do a little prep ahead of time. Books might need to be read before class. Turns out I need to read a book and write a 5 page review of it and turn it in the first day. It’s only a 95 page book, so it shouldn’t be that bad as long as the book is halfway interesting.

There are three other books as well. One can be read after class (but used in the paper that’s due after class too), the other two will be discussed in class. They are both about 250 pages. I emailed the prof about it. He basically said that I’d benefit greatly from reading the books before class.

So amid family, work, personal enrichment (refocusing on my own spiritual health) and recreation (refocusing on my own physical health …. plus a little XBox action) I will be dropping a few books into the mix. I must go to Wal Mart and buy a new set of highlighters (that will get spread out all through drawers and pockets and bedside tables in a matter of days.)

Thing is, I have no books as of yet. But my dear friends at Amazon.com are sending my favorite USP man with a package tomorrow.

Remember me telling you about the trip to the repoed house the other day? The only reason for the trip was to get a desk. I had had a small pine looking desk that was really crammed to fit my monitor, keyboard, printer and mouse pad. But it was all we had. But this new one looked to have lots more room…or so I was told. But it was an L shaped desk that would fit in the corner of my den.

I was told that it would probably come apart in 2 or maybe 3 sections and easily come apart and easily go back together…. One word…Whatever!!

It came apart in about 20 pieces. Could have been in about 3 times as many. And it was a wonderment if I would be able to remember what piece went where. But we got it all back together on Friday in the den. The Wife cleaned most of the room out and took everything out of my old desk drawers/cabinets. I am a pack rat of sorts so I have tons of little stuff that can not be thrown away. I’ll still have to go through all that soon. She’s probably thrown out some of it already. We’ll deal w/ that later.

But the new desk is bigger, much more shelf space. But not as much drawer space. And my others were packed. I mean packed. My dad came by yesterday and we moved the old couch that came with the house out into the carport. It’s a decen couch. Solid frame and all. But ugly. Anyone want a couch?

I’m a day late, but here’s this weeks Friday’s Feast

Appetizer
Name something you’ve done that made you feel guilty.
When I realize after the fact that I’ve hurt someone’s feelings really bad.

Soup
If you could get rid of one piece of furniture in your house, what would it be, and what would you put in its place?
This old couch in my den/office. It’s ugly. But it came with the house. I’d replace it with a leather love seat.

Salad
Imagine you’ve won a contest to be a featured guest on any television sitcom or drama show. On which one would you want to be a guest star?
Probably ER. Not sure why, but it seems that it’d be a show where I feel would be a little more prestige, plus I like it. And even Dr. Carter’s role was supposed to be for one or two shows, but he stayed on and now he’s top dog in the ER.

Main Course
Create a cereal. Tell us what you’d name it and what ingredients would be included.
I’m not good at that sort of stuff. Maybe SEC Charms. I’d rip off Lucky Charms and make little marshmellow mascots from all the SEC schools in there.

Dessert
Describe the most memorable night of your life so far.
Ha ha….you wish.

Sometimes you wonder where kids get these things. But the other day I was in the bathroom for something. Brushing my teeth or whatever. My daughter comes in and wants to use the bathroom. But the toilet seat isn’t down. She says, “Oh, stupid Daddy…you left the seat up!”

I asked her, “What did you say?” She told me again. I had a talk w/ her about it and told her to appologize. But for some odd, stubborn reason she refused to. She does this sometimes. It got to the point where she got a spanking even, for refusing to appoligize.

But where does a three year old hear that? The Wife doesn’t like it when the seat is up, but she never calls me names over it. Is it on TV or some video or just being out and about in town? I dunno. But it does open my eyes a little more to see how impressionalbe little kids are. Now I can hear my own youth from church saying that sort of thing in jest, “Don’t be stupid” or whatever. But that’s never really been that big of a deal to hear it from a 16 year old. But a three year old?