Well, I’ve almost made it through another week without hacking off any necessary limbs, being struck by lightning or succumbing to heat stroke. In truth, the week has gone by awfully fast, which is nice. I guess.

Maybe it’s not. After all, it’s a whole week of my life and it’s over. Gone. Can’t get it back. Why its passing quickly should be a good thing is not quite clear to me.

I’ll save the philosophical questions about the benefits of flying time for later, thanks.

I played trivia at a place called Poor Richard’s Pub on Monday night. It’s one of the only places I’ve ever heard of that actually has REAL cash prizes (instead of HOUSE cash), and I figured I could use the extra $75. As should be expected with an attitude like that, I ended up in dead last place and won nothing but a ticket for a consolation pitcher of beer.

Poor Richard’s then announed that they will no longer have trivia. No joke.

On Tuesday of this week, I took the day off and traveled to Spartanburg, SC, for the 2005 Southern Conference Media football rouser and breakfast. This is a gathering held each year before the start of the football season at which members of the media (that’s me, I guess) watch a highlight film from the previous season, hear a speech from someone high up in the Southern Conference, eat breakfast, and then have the opportunity to interview all the coaches in the league as well as two players from each team.

The breakfast started at 8:00, so I left my house at around 5:30 and drove like a maniac. Managed to make it to downtown Spartanburg at 5 minutes before 8. Then became hopelessly lost and ended up driving around in circles for close to an hour before finally finding the hotel where the gala was taking place. So I missed everything except the interviews (and my free shirt, of course). Did get there in time to cast my preseason ballot for conference standings, which was cool. Interviewed three or four coaches, and a like number of players, with my friend Paul Barkley. Paul founded the fan site for Georgia Southern University about a year after I started The Unofficial Furman Football Page, and we’ve been buddies and rivals since that time. He’s a good guy and we enjoy getting to see each other once a year at the rouser and once or twice during the season (when Furman and GSU play each other).

In the 10 years or so since we started our websites, we’ve somehow achieved a sort of respectability with the Southern Conference offices and the coaches of the various teams, so we’ve been kind of accepted as official unofficial media people, which is sorta cool.

The preseason media poll, by the way, picked Furman at #1 and GSU at #2 – which is also sorta cool.

After I got back to Atlanta Tuesday afternoon, I hit Harry’s Market for some groceries and flowers and went over to a friend’s place to make dinner for us (she picked the recipe, I acted the part of chef). I made a mushroom casserole and some peach cobbler, both of which turned out to be quite good. Will definitely be trying the casserole again.

On Wednesday, I left work a bit early and headed over to Alpharetta to strap on the roller blades. Skated about 6 miles without falling (did have one amazing pirouette while attempting a “T-stop”, but managed to keep my balance long enough to sit down on a nearby bench – which is what I was trying to stop for). I brought water with me this time around – a very good thing – and also wore my heart monitor. Interesting thing about that: during the skating itself, my heartrate hung right around 170-175. However, when I first get out of my car at this place, there’s a long gentle downhill slope….so I get to start out my skate by zooming down this thing at ungodly speed. It takes absolutely no effort, but my heartrate immediately after completing the zoom was 179.

Who says terror isn’t great exercise?

Went swimming after my skate and swam some laps and watched television until about 10:00.

Last night, I went to Willie McGee’s to try to reassert my trivia dominance. Wound up in third ($10 in house cash), despite starting out very slowly. A furious 4th-quarter comeback put me in the money – and if the team in first going into the last question had had any cahones at all (it’s a wagering question), I would have leapfrogged them and ended up in second. They bet 1 point on their answer. I bet 20. They got it wrong, I got it right. Final scores: 1st – 110, 2nd – 93, Me – 92. Final question: Who won the ESPY award as the NFL’s best player (Peyton Manning, Indianapolis). I took a wild guess to get it right.

And so we come to today. I need to start a final push to migrate one of my servers tonight (and tomorrow night and probably Sunday night), so I’m taking it easy this morning. Am really hoping to get this server out of the way this weekend, as it’s been a thorn in my side for several months.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, has been Tom’s week in review.

It has been a lazy weekend so far, and I assume it will continue to be one.

I went to the Atlanta Seafood Company on Friday night. Great food and an excellent atsmosphere, which was enhanced by a superb keyboard and bass combo. Had planned on getting a short bite to eat and then maybe going to a movie, but ended up staying there for about three hours.

Made tentative plans to go bowling on Saturday, but when I got home I found one of those “Savvy Shopper” magazines in my mailbox; flipping through it, I noticed an ad for “Classic Movies Under the Stars” at a coffee shop in Historic Norcross (I guess that’s the proper capitalization of the area).

Being the romantic guy that I am, I immediately made plans to take a girlfriend there as a surprise. Also being the klutz that I am, I almost immediately told her about the surprise. She came over to the house, I grilled a couple of burgers, and we headed to Norcross for the show. Got a bottle of wine and drank it on a lovely back patio while watching The Postman Always Rings Twice. Great movie. Great wine. Great company. Great night. After that, we went to an old haunt and played darts and video bowling for a few more hours, and I ended up getting home at around 3 this morning.

Got up at around 10:30 and made plans to go to church and then do some roller blading in Alpharetta. I’d planned to hit the 12:30 service, but forgot that traffic generally gets really bad by that late, so as I got closer to the church, I realized that I was going to be very late. I just went skating instead. Managed to go about 6 miles. Face-planted twice (once while practicing my “T-Stop” and once while trying to walk (instead of skate) down a long hill). Didn’t do any major damage to myself, but I did manage to mildly sprain my wrist and probably should have died of heat stroke. I didn’t realize how dehydrated I’d gotten until I got some Gatorade on the way home and nearly vomitted when it hit my stomach.

Note to self: bring water along the next time you go skating.

After I got home, I listened to an archived sermon from the online version of the church, so I don’t feel too overly guilty about missing the live service.

The plan for tonight is to have dinner at a friend’s and then maybe take a walk and/or swim some laps after it cools down. I’d considered doing some work in the lawn this afternoon, but sitting on my couch is much cooler…and much less work. And, since I managed to vacuum and shampoo the carpets yesterday, I figure I can put the lawn stuff off until tomorrow.

My cats both endorse my position.

What a glorious couple of weeks.

I hit the road for Philadelphia (actually North Wales, PA) on the evening of Wednesday, July 6th, and drove all night, arriving at around 9:30 Thursday morning. After a short morning nap, I spent the next couple of days helping a friend prepare for her neice’s high-school graduation party, meeting and mingling with other members of her family, playing miniature golf and going go-karting with her nephew and one of his friends, and attending the aforementioned party.

I’m sure a feature film will be made to accompany the myriad novels which are sure to be penned about this riveting adventure.

On Sunday morning, I returned to the car and continued my trek to Lake Ahmic.

Screwed up early and ended up in Delaware.

After getting myself pointed north, I drove for the rest of the day and arrived at the Rouse Camp (Ulvik) at around 10:00 on the night of the 10th.

For some reason, the folks already at the camp (Cy, “T”, Taylor, Francis, and Gardner) were still eating, so I joined them for a snack (fondue – quite tasty) before hitting the sack. The first of several typically great Ulvik eats.

Between Sunday night and last Saturday morning, the weather in Magnetawan was nearly perfect (although EXTREMELY hot), and the lot of us (we were later joined by Doug and Shelly and Shelly’s dog Rosie) kept ourselves occupied with tennis, water sports, reading, cards, dominoes, camp projects (pronounced “PROH -jex”) and – of course – eating. Some of the meals that I remember:

Angelhair pasta with basil, garlic, and tomatoes – Francis and Tom
Lasagna – Shelly
Grilled chicken – Gardner and “T”
Roast pork loin – Tom and Doug

Cy and “T” will be heading back to the camp the last week of August (when Karl and Diane can make it), and – at least at this point – I’m cleared to take another vacation week and join them.

I got home LATE last Saturday night (despite the fact that I’d left EARLY Saturday morning), and I still haven’t made up for the lost sleep. Working while exhausted is sort of difficult, but I’ve got plenty to do, which is nice.

Have been roller-blading twice more since returning to Atlanta, and I’m actually getting rather decent at it.

The great thing about vacation, I’ve decided, is that I can go to the office in shorts and a t-shirt, having not shaved in three days, and NOT HAVE TO DO ANYTHING while I’m there.

It’s so cool.

I spent much of yesterday morning trying to kill myself on my roller blades. Went to the Alpharetta Greenway, which is a 6-mile long stretch of pavement in (appropriately enough) Alpharetta. Managed to fall on my butt twice within seconds of getting out of the car, but then did okay for the next hour. Did have ONE face-plant on the pavement, but I had pads and a helmet on (glad I decided to wear that), and nobody saw it. I did get some cool scratches on the helmet, though. And on my elbow. Had a great time and sweated (swat?) like a pig. I’m most definitely middle-aged. After a few miles, my back and ankles were KILLING me. I ended up taking the skates off and walking (barefoot) the last 1/4 mile back to the car.

Had a great dinner at Bucca de Peppo’s last night and I decided to leave this evening instead of Friday night. I’ll spend a few days with a friend’s sister and other family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and then I’ll continue north to Ontario sometime Sunday. Looking forward to the trip and (hopefully) getting to see some of Philly.

With the change of plans, this morning has been rather hectic. I’d planned on using this week to leisurely clean the house and maybe make some improvements and spruce up the lawn. Instead, I’m working like a maniac to get the house somewhat clean, get my clothes washed, charge various camera batteries, get packed…and I still need to get an oil change.

So what the heck am I doing writing this? I need to get busy!

The plan was to fly to Philly Thursday morning, drive to New Jersey, stay overnight, have Grandma’s funeral Friday morning, and be back in Atlanta at about 9:30 last night.

It almost worked.

The four of us did indeed fly up on Thursday and the trip was uneventful. We rented a car at the airport (a Chevy Cobalt, whatever that is) and drove to Clinton, NJ, a very pretty little town which was incorporated in 1865 but had been bustling for nearly 150 years before that. Saw the high school that Andi attended, Herb’s old elementary school, an historic mill, etc., etc., etc. We had lunch at a diner and dinner at a bowling alley, then hit the sack at a Hampton Inn after a very long day.

Friday (yesterday) was overcast but pleasant. We went to the funeral home at around 9:30 and received the few guests that appeared until around 11:00. Most of Grandma’s friends have already died, but Herb had a few old classmates who dropped in and one of Grandma’s old neighbors and her son showed up. A Methodist pastor gave a brief eulogy with passages from Ecclesiastes, Thesalonians, Psalms, Timothy and Romans. After his comments, Jenny put a bag of lavender in the casket – she’d gotten in for Grandma in Croatia a couple of weeks ago – and I added my elephant picture. She and I faded into the background while Herb and Andi said their goodbyes. The three of them then left for the car and I stuck around to help load the flowers – and Grandma – into the hearse.

The cemetery, just down the road from Grandma’s old house in Hampton, is beautiful. There was a very short graveside service (I don’t remember any of it at all) before she was buried next to her husband, Harold, who died in 1988. The man who actually dug the grave and buried her was a very old friend of Herb’s – they met as children, I believe. Jenny and I spent 30 minutes or so walking around the old section of the cemetery, looking at stones from the 18th and 19th centuries, before we went back to the funeral home. The three of them changed there. I opted to remain dressed as I was.

We had a good lunch at another diner and headed back to Philadelphia. During the trip, we learned that our flight home (scheduled to leave at 6:40) had been cancelled due to storms and we’d been moved to a 7:40 flight. Which became an 8:40 flight. Then 9:00. Then 10:00. Then 11:00. Then 10:00. Then 11:20. Then 10:40.

We began boarding at around 10:15. Herb, thankfully, had gotten 1st class tickets for all of us, so I was able to stretch out, suck down a vodka and coke, and relax a bit….a very good thing because we stayed on the ground for close to two more hours. I got home at 3:15 this morning and have never been so happy to see my own bed.

I’ll be taking it easy until next Friday – cleaning, paying bills, doing yardwork. On Friday, I will drive to (you guessed it) Philadelphia to attend a friend’s niece’s graduation party, and I’ll head up to Ontario for another week before going back to work on the 18th.