Well, one of the big days this week. More on that later.

But today is the day that Lord Of The Rings -The Two Towers comes out on video. I must admit that I’ve not seen it yet. Watched the first one a time or two. The first time I watched it with the wife, it all of a sudden ended, and she said, “It’s over? That stinks!” because it just ended all of a sudden.. We re-watched it last night (the extended, mama-jama version that I got for Christmas) and when it ended that time, I said, “Well, I guess we’ll just continue it tomorrow night!”

But now I have to make sure I get to the video store in time to grab one. I’m going on my way home for lunch.

Last night my wife went to a Women’s Conference. She said it was good. But since she was going to be out for most of the evening, it was just me and the kid. So we decided to run some errands and buy a gift for a birthday party she is going to later today.

She was really excited about going because we were going to be able to eat pizza! She loves that stuff. So we went to CiCi’s Pizza for the best pizza buffet in the world (not necessarily the best pizza in the world, but best buffet..there’s a difference). After a quick meal we went to LifeWay to get the new Passion cd. Of course we had to listen to all the other cd’s in there too.

So we’re at a listening station with two sets of head phones. I’ve got the new Relient K disc called up. She’s holding the big fat head phones on while dancing a lively little jig. Every now and then she’ll say to me “Daddy’s got some on too!” referring to my wearing of the head phones too. I’ll just nod to her, smile, and go to the next tract. “I like this music, Daddy!” she’ll yell to me too (remember she has the head phones on). Then it hits her. And she decides to tell me in what she thinks is a normal voice (for a two year old), but remember she’s wearing head phones with Relient K coming out of them.

“I NEED TO POOH-POOH, DADDY!!!” I knew not to say, “What?” I just quickly put both pairs of headphones up, pick her up, and try not to make eye contact with too many people as I make my way back to the bathroom. I’m whispering, “hold it, hold it” because 95% of the time she holds it til we get to the potty. But now and then there’s a little squirt that will get out. And being out of town, with wet clothes, with still things to do before returning home isn’t something I was wanting to happen.

But, of course, there’s someone in the bathroom already. “Who is it, Daddy? Who’s in there?”
“I don’t know, sweetie.”
“Are they coming out?”
“Yes, in just a minute, then we’ll go in and you can use the potty.”
“But who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can I see them?”
“I’m sure you’ll get a look at them when they leave.”
“Are they about to leave?”

That went on for about five minutes while we waited on some guy to leave the bathroom all stinky. Well, we get in there, I lock the door, and we go into the stall. She knows the drill already. “Don’t touch the potty, right?” She’s a smart girl. So I cover the seat with paper, put her up there, and try to keep her stable where she doesn’t have to touch anything. After she’s finally through, she gets down and after trying to hold her up in the air so she can flush the toilet with her foot, I finally have to flush it with my foot.

I realize that I still have two more stores to go to, and a 30 minute drive home, so I decide I’ll go really quickly myself. I get her to stand behind me, and then, with all the excitement that a two year old can have, she starts yelling, “Daddy needs to pee-pee too? Good daddy!” trying to be encouraging to me as I was for her. I’m sure people could hear her if they were in the hall.

Oh the joys of fatherhood…

Edit… Be sure to go back and read this earlier entry about a previous Men’s Room experience. She’s gotten much better.

1. When was the last time you laughed?
With my daughter when we were playing with her kitchen set. She’d hide something, ask where it was, then pull it out suddenly and cackle! It was funny.

2. Who was the last person you had an argument with?
Me? Argue?

3. Who was the last person you emailed?
I emailed Relevant Magazine about some subscription issues I’m having.

4. When was the last time you bathed?
Yesterday afternoon.

5. What was the last thing you ate?
A bowl of Captain Crunch.

Were you ever a wall flower? Are you one now? The first time I ever heard that term I had no clue what it meant. But I was one for a while. In my world, a wall flower was one of the people who’d go to a school dance and stand around the walls of the dance floor watching the other people dance. Sure, they can mingle with the other wall flowers and chat up a storm about the football game, the music, about how so-and-so is dancing over there, about what what’s-her-name is wearing, or whatever else. They can be semi-secure in their state of “non-dancing”, but I now firmly believe that within all wall flowers there’s a desire to be out on the dance floor, experiencing the freedom of the music/dance instead of watching the crowd and seeing the pretty girls out on the floor and wishing to be dancing with them.

I was a wall flower for the first part of my high school career. I was no dancer at all to begin with. Never had done it. Feared looking stupid, looking uncool, looking a spaz. I could name you the dances, tell you how to do some of the moves, explain what video or whatever those moves came from. But I couldn’t do them myself because my dancing ankles were shackled by insecurity. As I got a little older and maybe a little more secure in my self confidence, I began to dance a little here and there. I’d do it exaggerated and purposefully goofy at first, so it’d get a laugh then maybe I could transition into something the looked halfway right. What I really never realized was that 95% of the people out there on the dance floor don’t care how the other people are dancing, as long as everyone is having fun with it.

Again, as I got older, I came to the place where I could experience freedom to not feel the magnetic pull of the wall or the punch bowl. I could be me out there in the moving crowd.

But in many ways I still feel I’m a wall flower of sorts. I stand on the fringe of things looking in. Now I do my research on them, might even pay for books, magazines, etc. on the subjects. But I still hold back from the plunge. An old girlfriend (she’s now my wife) used to think I was cocky. But I think my perceived cocky manner was really my reluctance to try something I wasn’t sure I’d succeed at. Funny huh? Insecurity seen as arrogance.

But a few things I feel I’m being a wall flower about? Um, web design. I have a desire to learn it, but I don’t jump in there and do it. I’ll read some on it, spend some $$ on software, read the manuals, but don’t really get my hands dirty in the design aspects of it, learning HTML, PHP, CSS, all that good stuff.

Then there’s exercise. I have read many a Men’s Health but I’ve not given the time to really dedicate to it. I don’t know if this is an insecurity issue or just a motivation issue as well. But I just know that if I would jump in there, start “dancing” with that exercise I would see definite results.

Youth Ministry. I read mags, read books, read websites, but sometimes don’t try to implement things because I’m not sure how it’d go over or not. And instead I feel I sometimes get bogged down in mediocrity. I think it’s a combo of insecurity and time management. But that’s another one.

I could probably list a few more things, but I’ve rambled long enough now. But my new motto is (for a while at least), “Life is a big dance; don’t be a wall flower!” There are lots of pretty girls (figuratively, of course (my wife reads this). translate it as “favorable opportunities”) in life that you don’t want to die wishing you’d at least asked for a dance.

[how stupid can you be?]

AVILA BEACH, Calif. – A 50-year-old college instructor taking a morning
swim bled to death after she was attacked by a great white shark 15 to 18
feet long, preliminary autopsy results showed Wednesday.

Deborah Franzman of Nipomo was killed Tuesday as she swam 75 yards
offshore alongside a group of seals. Witnesses reported seeing a large fin
as Franzman screamed for help.

Lifeguards pulled Franzman to shore, where she died. Bite marks on her
legs were consistent with those seen in previous attacks by great white
sharks, San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s Lt. Martin Basti said.

Shark expert Robert Lea, present during the autopsy, estimated the fish
was between 15 and 18 feet long.

“That’s incredibly large,” Basti said…

An unknown species of shark was spotted in the area after the attack,
Basti said.

Franzman likely bled to death after her left femoral artery was severed in
the attack, Basti said.

Franzman’s death marked the 10th fatal shark attack in California since
1952 and the first death since 1994, according to state Fish and Game
records.

Franzman was a sociology instructor at Allan Hancock College in Santa
Maria. She swam in the area by the Avila Beach Pier several times a week,
friend Andrea Sanders said through tears.

“She loved it. She would talk about how fun it was to swim and play with
the seals,” Sanders said.

Franzman was wearing a full wetsuit and swim fins when she was attacked,
Lea said. The state marine biologist said the shark may have mistaken
Franzman, silhouetted against the surface, for a seal. The sharks are
ambush predators and attack their prey from below.

“The water was full of blood,” said Antonio Neotti, 15, an aspiring
lifeguard who was nearby at the time.

Avila Beach, located about 200 miles northwest of Los Angeles, was closed
to swimmers after the attack.

Great white sharks are a protected species in California.

Rick first showed me a link to this entry on someone else blog. It’s got some major spiritual issues discussed in a teenagers stream of conscious writing.

Turns out the girl is from north Mississippi too…small world.

I’ll think throughout the day about what to post on here, but I never make it to the entry page. Sheesh!

I started watching Lord of The Rings tonight with my wife and we got through the first disk before I was dozing off. (We were looking for a clip to use at church soon). It’s the expanded version (it was so short to begin with) so it’s on two DVD’s. But we decided to go ahead to bed. I brush my teeth (bad breath is killer) and lay down, but can’t get back to sleep. So I get back up and check some things online.

Tonight I had my first online draft of the Fantasy Football season. Woot! Drafting seems to be over half the fun. It was a 14 team league, so it was a deeeeeeeep draft. I did get to draft Fred Smoot, so that was special for me (gag!). I have another on Wednesday and one Sat. after next too. How much fun can a (half)grown man have with this stuff?

Good news today. After all the mess that’s coming from the craziness with the Baylor basketball team, their best player has decided to transfer to Miss State. Can you say “post depth solved”? After Mario leaving (too early) and Outlaw going to the NBA instead of Starkville, we had serious big man issues. Now with a 6-9 guy who averaged over 15 points and 10 rebounds in the Big Twelve….well, let’s just say he would start immediately. Now the NCAA needs to clear him to play next year.

A new Passion CD comes out tomrrow. Gotta get it. Might get it from here though. GrassRootsMusic.com has quality products at great prices. But the Passion stuff has been incredible. Truly incredible. Nuff said.

Anyway, that’s enough for tonight. More to come tomorrow (I promise!)

Here’s the Friday Five yet again!

1. How much time do you spend online each day?
Plenty of time. I have to be careful that I manage it well, and I don’t always do that.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?
http://my.yahoo.com

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
I use AIM and MSN usually. I like AIM the best. I used to think ICQ was the best, but not as many people use it these days. But I like that you can send a person an IM even if they’re not online.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
On the internet. It’s still there. Mississippi Sports Talk

5. How long have you had your current website?
The MissSportsTalk since last May I think. This blog since, um, March.

Well, I keep getting this bill in the mail.

Not really. Only the 2nd time. But you may remember back to when I was having problems accessing Rachel’s blog and Darren’s blog. I could read them at work or on a different computer, but not at home. Seemed that for some reason my ISP couldn’t resolve their sites. Turns out it was some weird issue with a server somewhere or another.

But during that time I was looking to change my ISP. My ISP really never has any troubles, but the customer support isn’t the nicest in the world. So I tried out another ISP, but it was so stinking slow for me. I cancelled it. Then I tried a 3rd one. It worked fine, but just before I went with them for good, the server stuff resolved. So I kept my first ISP, cancelled the other one, and asked for a refund they’d said I’d get if not satisfied.

Well, the first payment had been by CC, so I figured since I’d said cancel it and all, I’d be find. I got a bill in the mail a month later, asking to send payment for the next month. I didn’t because I’d cancelled and figured when they didn’t get a check from me, they’d cancel my account. Just this week I get a 2nd bill for 2 months of service. What the heck?!? I emailed them back this morning that I’d cancelled long ago…we’ll see what their resonse is.

I’m almost done with my 3rd Greg Iles book. It’s called Black Cross. When my wife first saw the book, she was making sure it wasn’t any devil/Satan/black magic type of stuff. I assured her it wasn’t. It actually has a WWII setting to it, with spies, secret missions, poison gas, prison camps, and lots and lots of Nazis. It’s a good plot, with lots of action. As I read, I think, “How can a guy from Natchez, MS know so much about WWII Europe.” But apparently he’s much smarter than me.

But what I’ve found a little gruesome are some of the stories the Jewish prison camp people would tell in the book. And as I read some of the recounts I had to realized that these were probably very accurate of what really happened when the Nazis and SS troops would do the door-2-door searches. And I wondered what would happen to a man or group of men to reduce their sense of human worth to the point they’d perform these atrocities. Was it a pure hatred of another race? Was it an honest belief that the Jewish people were a sort of cancer on society that they were expunging? Was it blindly following the leadership of Hitler? Or was it just getting caught up in the big moment (of the war and all) that allowed them to act without really thinking at all?

Even to watch Schindler’s List opens the eyes a great deal.