Blog moving?

I've decided to jump on the WordPress bandwagon and am in the process of transferring everything from here over there. You can check out the site here...we'll call it the beta version. So in the future, direct your readers over that way. You can also subscribe to that feed here.

Things to do with Athens-area free time

My tennis PE class got canceled today. I have had nothing to do all day. So I took a run this morning from my place (it's actually lime sherbet, not blue) to downtown (it's scary running down MLK without any sidewalks), watched (am watching) multiple episodes of Entourage with our sweet On Demand in the living room and basically puttered around the cottage.

And, as usual, it got me thinking. What is there around here to do with my free time? As my last post pointed out, I finished my pleasure reading book recently, so I figured the first thing that I wanna do around Athens is find a hole-in-the-wall bookshop. Anyone know of any?

Feel free to comment below with any suggestions for other things to expand my knowledge of Athens in bits and pieces...I'm pretty much up for anything I guess, the more adventurous the better.

Sitting on my futon pretending I wasn't

I just spent three hours finishing up John Grisham's Playing for Pizza, a book that was surprisingly engaging and non-lawyerly. It was delightful really. Basic synopsis: a washed-up NFL quarterback lands himself reluctantly in Parma, Italy and plays a season for the hometown Panthers who literally play the game of football americano for pizza and pride. Great book. Even a great shoutout for all the lovely UGA girls -- and AXO specifically.

And the book reaffirmed the fire that I feel for traveling. I don't think I've ever been pulled as much to do something with my life as I am being pulled to travel in the near future. I want to see Italy. I want to "spread my wings" as the saying goes. I want to feel out of place. I want to step off a train in Europe with a map, a couple Euros and no plans whatsoever. I think I'd need clothes as well, but those can always be acquired on the way.

In short, I'm inspired. It's weird. I should be excited for senior year football season here (face it, who isn't in Athens?). But I'm honestly more excited for what the world holds for me afterward. Where will it take me for Christmas break even? Then May after commencement? Will I actually intern in Australia? So many questions...we'll just have to wait and see.

For now, below is a copy of the email I sent my family. Since they're usually the only ones reading my blog anyway, this will be a rehash. Oh well. It's a lot of rambling, I know.

+++++
First off I want to apologize for stalking both of you so doggedly today on my roommates' phones, but it was a stressful day not being attached to my own phone. I think the AT&T support lady summed it up beautifully this way when I spoke with her: "I can see how your buttons not working would be a problem." I thought that qualified as a massive understatement.

I just finished off Playing for Pizza, that John Grisham book that y'all had at home -- I took the liberty of stealing (borrowing) it because I didn't have anything else to read. And with my phone playing dead for the day, I decided that today was as good as any to spend time reading. For lack of a better word, the book was delightful. All about Italy, football, finding yourself somewhere else and generally meandering through and enjoying life. Oddly enough the girl who enters the book 2/3 of the way through it as the sort of heroine rescuing our wandering, washed-up quarterback with her "miles of tanned legs," her insatiable curiosity, her enthusiasm and her youth is a UGA girl on an extended study abroad trip with some of her Alpha Chi Omega sorority sisters. I laughed and decided that it's definitely good PR for UGA and it's gorgeous "scenery." Just made the book that much more enjoyable. And also made any personal excursion over that way seem that much more plausible.

Are we still planning on/trying to go to Italy in May? Because if anything, the book has made me want to spread my wings over the country even more. It all just seems so romantic (in several senses I guess). I know it probably isn't nearly as I'm picturing it, but if any place would be, I have a feeling it'd be Italy. So regardless of whether we decide to make a family trip of it, I want to finagle my way over there somehow sometime soon. Maybe Christmas? That's probably much too soon though. Just thinking (typing) aloud (without restraint). I'm sitting barefoot out on our porch right now with my new favorite (linen) shirt, my iPod speakers playing some Counting Crows -- they were playing a little calmer Amos Lee while I was reading -- with my propped-up legs supporting my oh-so-hip(pie) Apple laptop. I'm trying to imagine that my futon is instead some cafe on the corner of some Italian intersection, my cup of water instead a glass of local wine and my iPod tunes instead the soft arias of some opera in the background. Or maybe the music would still be coming from my iPod. Either way. I think I could pull off the traveling-American-attempting-

to-blend-into-the-local-scenery part fairly well.

I thought the free time on every day but Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester (and probably next) would be a great time to catch up, work out, run, whatever. But it seems that it gives my mind a lot more idle time to think about the near-term future. Near-term as in I'm applying to be a Terry Ambassador this week, but also near-term in the fact that I can't get over the traveling bug that seems to have bitten me (and hung on for dear life). The stress and constant going of life in college/America gets tiresome...and I know that rings fairly hollow when you're working an 8 - 6 full-time job. But I'm beginning to feel the press of the end of school even these several months away, and I want to do something radically different to broaden my mind. Instead of being engaged in a textbook in Athens, Georgia in the US of A, I want to see if I can't apply whatever I've learned in a different setting. Something to keep me on my toes. Maybe literally. I don't know. The idle ramblings of someone deprived of sleep and overwhelmed with the reality that life decisions happen in my own life and not just others'.

I'll sign off now to let y'all return to whatever you were doing before I ambushed you electronically. Just a few thoughts I guess. I had no real point in writing this.

Love,
ET

PS: What are your thoughts about Barack-Biden '08?

Senior Project

I've decided that my newfound interest in photography and my lack of time on UGA's campus create a perfect storm for a sort of senior project. I've decided that I'll be taking a single picture each Tuesday and each Thursday -- the only days of my classes on campus -- at the exact same spot on North Campus at the (relatively) exact same time until the end of next semester. Then I'll compile all the pictures, shrink them down and put them all in a frame as a sort of chronological mosaic of my senior year.

The catch: I haven't yet decided the place or the time. It'll have to be between 9:30am and 3:15pm because that's my class time, but I'm flexible (as long as it's during class change). And I have no idea about the location...the Arch has been overdone, the bell wouldn't bring in any nature, etc.

Any suggestions?

Pictures should begin next week, as I have to get my camera replaced at Best Buy today.

Matt Stafford...all growed up

Chris Low over at ESPN has an SEC blog going on that's worth a look or dozen. He recently sat down with our quarterback for a two-part interview (Part 1...Part 2). And I've gotta say, it's quotes like this...

"I talked to the guys last night and told them, 'From here on out, it's just football 24-7.' We're locked up in the dorm and the hotel now, and it's 100 percent X's and O's all the time, and we're out there working hard. Everybody was on the same page when we talked about it. We had a walk-through this morning, and it was the same thing."

...that give me confidence for the upcoming season.

It'll be a good one, Dawg fans.

A few thoughts from Philadelphia International

We're sitting in Philadelphia International with a flight delayed an hour (so far), and I figured I'd share a few thoughts on what's going through my head nowadays:

• I really want to go to Tuscany, Italy. Or Napa Valley. It needs to happen.
• Philly Int'l is the most unorganized airport I think I've ever been in, and I've even flown into and out of African airports. At least people there smile at you. "City of Brotherly Love"? I don't think so.
• Funny how you can feel out of place at a family reunion. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. But it's difficult to socialize when the only cousins close to your age don't seem to give you the time of day. I'm ready to get back to Atlanta now.
• I have a Florida Gator fan in my family! And he didn't even go there. And he probably will never go there. He's going to a community college near Panama City. Oh well.
• My sunburn is successfully peeling its way off my body.
• I finally got a linen shirt yesterday -- we were all looking for them in Africa, but nobody seemed to be selling them. It's incredibly comfortable, and I feel so relaxed and laid-back.
• There was a really hot girl in line at security right behind my mom, but we all got split up for a minute and she was gone. Unfortunate. She was the prettiest girl I've seen in this city...man, I miss Athens.
  

And that's all for now. I'm gonna go enjoy the free wireless here.

This is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time

(image: DawgSports)

It seems Matt Stafford is terrorizing other teams even before the season begins. And being a gentleman as well. Incredible.

Tanzania: In pictures and in thoughts

So I finally put some of my Tanzania pictures up for all the world to see -- and not just for you Facebookers now. I put some of my favorites into slides using Keynote and put in some of my own text and some borrowed, but you'll see that for yourself. Enjoy!

Tanzania: In pictures and in thoughts

view presentation

Frontloading this week's fun

This is a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (watch the original video...it's weird) that Dave and the boys performed this past Monday. AND I WAS THERE!!!!!111!!1!1 The concert was mindblowing. I got emotional and was on the verge of tears during the encore (I blame it on the heat and the dancing). It was an intense cardio workout.

LeRoi, the sax player, was injured earlier this summer in an ATV accident and is still in a Virginia hospital, so Jeff Coffin from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (and a lot of guest DMB spots) was filling in. Dave got the whole crowd to chant "We love Roi" for the cameras, so maybe this show will make it to DVD sometime. It was great.

There's a bunch of YouTube clips from the Lakewood Amphitheatre show here, and a bunch more from the tour itself here.

Things to accomplish in my life

My previous post got me thinking on I topic I've actually given a lot of thought to lately (follow that?). It's one that I'm shamelessly taking from the phenomenal Morgangster, but it's also one that would be useful for everyone I think.

So here we go. My I-don't-know-how-many-items-long-and-ever-expanding list of things I want to accomplish in my life, great or (more likely) small. Call it my bucket list if you will.

1. Compose elevator music
2. Ride an elevator more than 100 stories tall
3. Attend the TED Talks
4. Give a TED Talk
5. Taste the local wines in Tuscany
6. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
7. See a James Taylor concert
8. Play guitar with JT
9. Run the bases at the current Yankee Stadium
10. Run the bases at the new Yankee Stadium if I don't make it in time
11. Walk to work
12. Get a dog
13. Learn Swahili
14. Bench 300 pounds
15. Run a 6-minute mile
16. Lose ten pounds
17. Own a vineyard
18. Raise a family (wife and kids...just a dog doesn't count)
19. Meet Dave Matthews
20. Not faint or cry when I meet Dave Matthews
21. Balance my checkbook
22. Get a credit card
23. By a Ferrari...with cash
24. Go on a mission trip for longer than a week
25. See a UGA football national championship
26. Meet the Gym Dawgs
27. Catch a pass from Matt Stafford and/or tackle Knowshon
28. Be on ESPN's top 10 plays
29. See the world (whatever that means)
30. Read the whole Bible
31. Sing
32. Laugh
33. Do stand-up comedy (and get booed off stage)
34. Have someone actually read my blog
35. Be humble
36. Not settle
37. Graduate
38. Appreciate sushi more
39. Be good at photography
40. Complete a triathlon on my own
41. Be like my dad
42. Be like my grampa
43. Be someone's Best Man
44. Meet "the one" and know it
45. Drive a motorcycle
46. Get LASIK
47. Spend a summer hiking the Appalachian Trail
48. Learn to play golf
49. Figure out what to do with the rest of my life
50. Go back to Tanzania for an extended period of time with the locals

"The conductor doesn't make a sound!"

I watched another TED Talk that was linked up on the ol' Presentation Zen that I seem to talk so much about, and -- as usual -- it was awesome. It's the one sitting right above this paragraph if you didn't already notice. You can also watch it on the TED website here. But this one was a little different because the presenter, famed classical music conductor Benjamin Zander of the Boston Philharmonic, spoke all about classical music. And his love for it. And everyone else's love for it ("They just don't know it yet!"). There's a lot of great stuff to take away from the talk -- he hits on everything from Nelson Mandela to 7-year-olds struggling at piano -- but I wanted to highlight just one idea: "awakening possibilities."

Zander speaks in the latter portion of his talk about his realization that the conductor never makes a sound (all grunting and everything aside, I guess) during an actual performance. He relies on his players to realize his dream and vision. And the only way he says to do that is to "awaken possibilities" in them, to make them believe in themselves and to enable them along the way. It seems pretty basic, and it probably is, but it's a different way of looking at the idea of executing a strategy or vision, especially in the business world today. To make your followers' eyes shine.

For more on Zander from PZ, check Garr's book review here.
For more on the TED Talks from my boss EJ, click here.

(h/t as usual - Presentation Zen)

Support the 'Stache!!!

Let's go, Yankees!

Happy fireworks and freedom!!!

(image: www.selmanc.info)

I love the 4th. There's no better reason to sit around, grill some burgers, watch some fireworks and bask in everything that is America. God bless America, and God bless all of us in it. Today, tomorrow and every day forward.

You can begrudge them their money...

(image: The Last Word)

But you can't say anything about their patriotism.

Yes, I know, that might be a little exaggerated, but say what you will about NBA players -- and professional athletes in general -- but they're doing exactly what we've set them up to do. We've glorified their existence to no end, we've snatched up any and all of their memorabilia, we've even watched them in the tabloids. But now we're sending them overseas to represent us. To represent everything that America stands for. And this round of Olympic Games is the perfect stage.

We're coming off stunning defeats in both the 2004 Summer Games and the FIBA World Championships. The world believes that they have caught up to us in the sport that we invented (yeah, he was Canadian, but he invented it in Springfield, Mass.) and have dominated since. They have the chance to come together as a team instead of simply a group of individual stars. And they can show the world how basketball was meant to be played.

I was inspired by tonight's installment of "Road to Redemption," a series about Team USA's preparations for Beijing, and I've gotta tell you...there's a great vibe going around that team. They seem to really have bought into Coach K's philosophy. They even listened to wounded American soldiers (from Iraq) speak about "selfless service." And there were tears coming to their eyes.

So here's to you Team USA. Bring it home for us this year. We're behind you.

A little tour around my summer sub-lease

I had a little free time after hitting happy hour at On the Border today, so I decided to walk around my apartment and apartment complex -- 330 McGill Place -- to snap a few pictures. And here are my favorites. The rest are in a Picasa slideshow that you can view here or at the bottom of the post. There were people in the swimming pool, so don't expect any creeper pictures of them. A little too awkward.

Starting out on the little balcony outside my room. There isn't any furniture, but it's how I first saw that band at Butler Street Baptist, and it gives a good view of the Atlanta skyline at sunset, too.

Still out on that balcony, this is the porch light right outside the door.

I liked the porch light so much I decided to do a black & white also.

This is an illustration of what I do for most of the time when I'm not at work. Sad, I know, but I just can't get enough of SportsCenter sometimes.

I discovered that we have a mini fan on the floor by our TV as I was wandering around. I couldn't get a good action shot of the blade, so this will have to suffice I guess.

Yes, we have a beer pong table. But it does provide a good view out to the first-floor porch, which does have some furniture on it.

Here's a view up our staircase. Only one of these switches actually works, and that's the far one. It controls the stairwell lights, which also cannot be controlled from the top floor. More than a minor annoyance when the stairwell becomes pitch black at night.

I'm trying to teach myself how to cook, which means that I've basically lived off of frozen pizzas, Ramen, macaroni & cheese and sandwiches. But I'm surviving so far.

This warning reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day, and specifically the scene(s) when Bill Murray tries to kill himself repeatedly. If you haven't seen the movie, it's not nearly as morbid as it sounds.

It was raining outside yesterday.

My address. Fairly self-explanatory.
Who's ever heard of a speed limit of 9 anyway?

The first left inside the complex leads to my apartment. And that arrow is almost pointing directly at my door from this angle.

A pretty flower near the pool area.

I had to stretch pretty high to get this shot, but I think it was worth it. The view is looking out the front of the complex to Ralph McGill Blvd next to downtown Atlanta.

The latch to the BFI dumpster was left open. Looks a little more artsy than it actually was I think.

You have to hit this button to get out the front gate. Then you have to scan your card to re-enter. I, unfortunately, forgot my card, so I had to stay within the confines.

Perched on the bricks of the gate looking out onto Ralph McGill.

I still got a spectacular view of the sunset from inside the confines.

And again, this time with the sun playing a star-ring role. Get it?

I absolutely love the clouds in this picture.

This picture makes me want to have a dog that much more.

I hung on to the fenceposts by the gate for about 15 minutes getting various shots. Right as I was about to jump down I realized that I hadn't gotten a picture of the actual posts. So here you have it.

And I almost forgot this one on the other side also. That's an apartment building across the street in the background.

And finally, the entrance to the complex. Good ol' 330 McGill.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as I had taking them. I got a few weird looks by cars passing by and pedestrians. I never would have imagined that so many good pictures could come simply from walking in a line about 150 feet from my doorstep. It all depends on whether you focus on the little things or not.

And here's that slideshow:

Things the world can get together over (or Heaven on Earth part 2.5)

(image: Mail & Guardian Online)

I'm sitting on the couch watching vh1's "Top Songs of the '90s" and we're on number 6, which happens to be Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." Maybe that's important, maybe not...but I digress. Number 2 is U2's "One"; much more fitting and beautiful.

The next show on vh1, though, is 46664, the concert for Nelson Mandela. And I'll admit, I never really had an appreciation for Nelson until I read "The Pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner. Yes, the same Chris Gardner as I got a picture with and posted right here and here. If there's one book that could successfully guide you or me or anyone through life (besides the obvious one), this would definitively be it. It's one of those stories that will give you chills as you read it. Hang on every word, and cherish his story, because it's more than likely a far cry from any story that you will have to live out personally.

And now Chris is one of Wall Street's most successful investment bankers, and a banker with a mission (I just can't find a link to it). He's a guy who'll tell you exactly what he believes, and as such he's one whom you will trust from the outset. And when he credits Nelson Mandela as an outstanding influence in his own life, it's worth another look.

Even if you have no real idea of everything Nelson's been through (unfortunately, mostly speaking to myself), the words "Nelson Mandela" still hold an intrigue and an inspiration hardly rivaled by any others in any language. He lives the idea of Heaven on Earth everyday, constantly trying to improve not only his own life but the lives of everyone around him. The world is in each of our hands each and every day. And if you set out every day to "spread love," you just might be able to change the world (h/t EJ). I'd like to say the world could use thousands more Nelson Mandelas, but that might be dangerous. I don't know if this world could hold that much love at one time.

But if any of us could even approach Nelson-levels of love, the world would certainly be a much better place. A little closer to its perfection, Heaven.

Heaven on Earth, Part 2

There's just nothing like holding a guitar in your hands and just letting the music come to your fingertips. In those moments all of your emotions can come out however they want. It's almost uncontrollable, but it's a catharsis, a release. Hours can pass without you knowing it. And in honor of those moments -- the moments when you get a glimpse of Heaven on Earth -- I give you my guitar.

If you notice, there's actually one broken string on my guitar, which is absolutely demoralizing whenever it happens. But it's very fitting in this setting, so bear with me.

Several months ago when I was just beginning my journey with my Athens Church community group, our leader gave us all blank sheets of paper and pens. He told us to draw a picture of our current relationship with God. Seemed like a pretty elementary exercise, but it worked. My picture was of a beat-up acoustic guitar with three broken strings. And since that night I've steadily (read: two steps forward, one step back) worked to restring those broken strings and return the "guitar" to its former working order.

It's an apt analogy the more that I think about it because the guitar had once been shiny and new, invigorating and energizing. And that typifies my continued relationship with God. I've been there before, in the "shiny and new" phase, the phase where you're simply on fire. Exuberant. Overjoyed. When all the strings were tight and the music was playing every day. For no other reason except that you feel so close to the Savior.

But that was many years ago in high school, and the years have loosened and broken a few strings since then. Life has come with its distractions, and I've gotten wrapped up in them far too many times. But in these past few months, months when I have decided to pursue a deeper relationship, it's very reassuring to know that I've been there before. That there's still a foundation under there somewhere. That I can do it, no matter how difficult it seems in each single moment.

So that's where I'm at now: restringing the guitar and trying to play the beautiful music of my life. The key is realizing that I am not the conductor, but He is instead. And he can compose some very, very beautiful music for sure.

Could this week get any worse?

We already had to deal with this earlier in the week and this yesterday, now this. Uga VI, you were certainly a damn good Dawg. This next season's for you, buddy.

Final tallies:
88-27 record (76.5% winning percentage)
52-23 SEC (69.3%)
7-2 bowl games (77.8%)
(h/t Westerdawg)

A dark day...

It's a wretched day for UGA baseball fans. My gameday-pants-at-work ploy didn't work. Gordon Beckham's solo shot in the 8th didn't work. Nothing worked. This one hurts.

At least it gives our football team a chance to fill the void.

Photo courtesy of the AP and RedandBlack.com

Heaven on Earth, Part 1

This past Sunday at Athens Church, we listened to a message about how close heaven really is. Jeff Henderson, the Campus Director over at sister Buckhead Church, spoke about how heaven is not a reflection of this life as much as it is the perfection of this life. And whenever we experience a closeness to God through his creation -- or anything else for that matter -- it's just a tiny glimpse of what awaits us.

So without getting into the actual theology behind what's going on in this verse, I'd like to dedicate a few posts to pictures that typify the phrase "Heaven on Earth" to me. Here's my first submission:

This is Mt. Kilimanjaro as seen from a rice paddy about a mile or so from our hotel in Moshi, Tanzania (Kilimanjaro region...obviously). Funny thing, none of us really wanted to go on our rice paddy nature walk, and look how it turns out. Surprise, surprise.

These kids were at the Kili Centre orphanage that we visited. And if I had half as much life in my heart as each of them does, I'd count myself lucky. Heck, I count myself lucky just to have interacted with them. Just look at those smiles.

This candle was the only light in the holding cell of a former slave market in Zanzibar. Sobering to say the least, and awfully symbolic with any Jesus/light in the darkness parallels you might find.

I can't quite put this picture into words. Or explain why I think it fits. But at the moment I snapped it I felt so connected with it all, the sunset, these two girls and the whole of Africa. All of which are beautiful facets of God's creation. And I will always wonder what they are running toward...or from.

There are so many pictures I could pick from the Zanzibar sunset, but I like the effect of this one with the unmanned boats saluting the sunset, awaiting the night and the following sunrise. Even looking at this picture makes my heart skip a beat. Marvelous.

What a beautiful creature. Such a mirror of God himself (see: many places in the Bible), beautiful, powerful, fearsome.

If I had to give this an official title, it would be something along the lines of "The Fingers of God." It reminds me of the circle of life from the Lion King.

So that's what I've got for now. If UGA wins tonight or tomorrow in the College World Series, I'll put money on a picture from that appearing soon. Hope you enjoyed, and let me know what you think!