So what's new?

actually, not a whole lot. things are trucking along for us. brooke is still doing well in school. her study load is really high right now, but she's doing great. i'm so proud of her.

my work is good. i had a conference at the Wynfrey Hotel in B'ham this past weekend. it was good to see some old friends from optometry school.

i'm somewhat sick right now. i've got that crud that alot of folks have right now: sore, scratchy throat....dry cough....congested nose....yada yada yada. i was off today, so i've tried to get well before i have to go back to work tomorrow.

we had our Gospel Meeting this week at church. James Watkins spoke, and he did an amazing job. like i told him, of all the Gospel Meetings we've had in the 7+ years i've been at Shades Mountain, he's been my favorite. if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, take the opportunity. you'll be enriched by it.

hope i get a chance to blog soon about Bama heading into the SEC Championship game undefeated.

My favorite author......

...passed away today. Michael Crichton died at age 66 from a private battle with cancer. apparently, he kept the news of his cancer away from the public. this was the first i had heard of him being ill.

there's no other author that i read from. not stephen king or john grisham or anyone. maybe i should branch out more and find other authors to read, but Crichton always had a way of blending the scientific/medical side with the suspenseful/entertaining side that really appealed to me. he graduated from medical school before devoting his life to books, and he always incorporated difficult concepts into the stories in a way that i could really grasp.

the first book of his that i read was Jurassic Park. that was the summer blockbuster in the theaters when i was a teenager. we didn't have the cash-money to go to the movies, so my parents bought me the book. about a year later, i watched the movie on VHS. compared to the book, the movie was awful. i understand that the movie was a special effects breakthrough production, but it left out critical parts from the book, and the book painted a much more vivid picture than could be reproduced on the big screen.



i went on to read most of these selections in this cover collage. "Sphere" is one of my favorites that i read periodically. "The Great Train Robbery" was a piecing-together of an actual train robbery in the 1750's (?). i liken it to an "Ocean's Eleven" type adventure. i just finished "Timeline" for the first time. "State of Fear" is probably my favorite. in this book, he challenges the well-believed concept of global warming. basically, he exposes it for what it is: a theory that is one of 100's of theories for why our climate changes over time. he drew harsh criticism from environmentalists for his objective and documented views on the illusion of man-made global warming.

i know this isn't a blog about the house or our family or our work, but the sudden loss of such a great author seemed necessary to blog about. so if you're looking for a good read, give one of his books a try.

Happy Halloween!!!

we had some friends over for a halloween party Saturday night. i think we counted 33 total. so getting ready for this party forced us to get the new house somewhat in order more quickly. we had taco salad and LOTS of halloween candy. we watched some football and played our annual game of Celebrity. we had a great time, plus, we got an extra hour of sleep that night from the time change. woohoo! check out my facebook profile for more pics.

we've had some issues come up (quite literally) with the house. our first night, we slept without heat b/c i couldn't figure out how to get the pilot light to come on at the furnace. our master shower isn't working right, so we have to climb the stairs to the guest bathroom for our morning showers. and to top it all off, our sewage line was clogged, and "poo-water" spilled everywhere in our laundry room (and dripped into the unfinished basement). we've almost got that resolved. the clog is gone, but the stench remains. but, we're loving how close we are to work/school/church. it's been wonderful.

now that our halloween party is done, we can start our projects. be watching for more pictures soon.

ps.....how bout my Crimson Tide?!?!?!?! if you could jump in a time machine, travel back to 1/3/2007 (the day Saban was hired), and tell the masses that Bama would be ranked #1 in 2008 the week Saban returns to Baton Rouge to play LSU, you would be locked away in the crazy house. but here we are. we may lose to LSU, Miss State, Auburn, and Florida, but i'm enjoying this ride. i do think we're playing a little over our heads, but i believe we can make it undefeated to the SEC championship game. then, i'll be scared to death of Florida. they are good.

New House Pics

finished basement that will one day become the "man cave" or some other catchy name.




one of our out-of-date bathrooms that needs new flooring, wallpaper removed, painted, new toilet, etc.




yes, that is lime green shag carpet!




here's the prettiest view of the house. we can touch up the inside, but the brick was a big plus for us!


more pics will come later as the remodel progresses....

In the infamous words of Lloyd Christmas.....

"We're there!"

we have officially closed on both houses. we have moved 95% of our belongings to our new house. and we are wore slap out!

a big thanks to everyone who helped us this last weekend in the move (some both days): big red, ethan, jason, nolan, and rick's parents. things went great because of ya'll pitching in and helping. it's great to have good Xn friends.

email me if you need our new address, or check our facebook profiles.

we hope to post some pics soon. our internet hasn't gotten hooked up at the house yet (i'm posting from work between patients). so be watching for more updates as we undergo "the great remodel"!!!

Time is winding down....

it seems very strange to think about our last few days in our Alabaster house. we're planning to be officially out by the end of this month, but we'll probably be mostly moved up to Hoover before then. and the little things that we've grown accustomed to at our current house will be missed. there are a few things at our house that we wish we could transplant into our new house.

like our built-in bookcase in the basement. or our crapemyrtle by the mailbox. i'll even miss our old clunky oven and stained carpets. mainly because we put alot of our lives into that house.

for the first time in my life, i laid tile in our kitchen (at an angle no less!). i fixed the squeaky steps going to the top floor. i replaced our garage door. that house is where i came home after i graduated optometry school. that house is where we found out that brooke got into pharmacy school. that house will always be the house where me and mark and david and big red played scattergories till 4:00 am the night of the Skynard concert. that house will be the house we spent night after night playing cashflow and nertz with ryan and kelly. we've had halloween parties, Christmases, hurricane parties, and Bible studies there. and in 15 days, it will all be just a memory.

our kids will never toddle up and down the steps we climbed a million times. they'll never play in the backyard i dreaded having to cut. they'll never know what our monster in the fridge sounded like. we'll just have to try to describe it.

but we get to make some new memories soon. we're unimaginably excited about this new house and all it offers. but it's bittersweet to realize the piece of ourselves we have to give up to get it.

We have a closing date!

we're set to close on our current house on October 20th! woohoo! this is the same family that made the offer we accepted back in late September. they did get approved on Monday of this week. so, the wheels are turning. we are so thankful that God has blessed us in this move.

as it stands, we're going to try to close on our new house the same day. hopefully the attorney can get everything done at once to save everyone some time. we will have some time to get everything packed up and moved, but it will be a whirlwind 2 weeks!

please continue to keep us in your prayers as we tie up all the loose ends with this. things look great so far, but it's hard to predict if everything will go as planned.

ps...if you're in the B'ham area, let me know if you're available on a Sunday afternoon or a Monday to help get some big stuff moved up into Hoover. :)

Freaky Eye Friday

no pics this time! just some information about vision and sports.

there has been a wave of eye injuries in sports. Phoenix Suns star Amare Stoudemire got poked in his right eye during practice yesterday. now, his iris is torn. sounds like angle recession to me.

next, former Florida Gator star Joakim Noah also got poked in his left eye. his was forceful enough to cause a blood leakage in the eye. sounds like a hyphema to me.

finally, Tampa Bay Rays slugger Carlos Pena left yesterday ALDS Game 1 with "blurred vision". i was instantly intrigued. from some research, i found out he had scratched his eye the day before, and it hadn't healed completely yet. the classic corneal abrasion.

3 finely-tuned, highly-trained athletes. all 3 in great, physical shape. but one false slip to the eye, and they are incapacitated. i think we all take our sight for granted until something goes wrong. Stoudemire and Noah may develop glaucoma or a traumatic cataract. Pena could develop recurrent corneal erosion or have resultant scarring that prevents him from competing at the highest level.

take care of your eyes. wear appropriate eye protection, even if you think you look stupid. if you injure your eye, seek help immediately. so much can be treated if it's addressed in time.

Okay, I just had to post this:

WHAT A GAME!!! i haven't posted about Alabama all season long (other than that video before the season even started), mainly b/c i didn't want people to think i was one of those crazy, outlandish, typical Bama fans that only saw things through Crimson-colored glasses....even after the Clemson game. but, man, what a game! i never envisioned us dominating UGA like that. as the game was getting started, i realized, "this is the same way we beat Clemson: keep the ball on offense, and stop the run on defense." i'm so proud of our team for playing so consistently so far this season. we have faced every challenge with tenacity and confidence. and so far, it's paid off.

so, now Bama is #2 in the AP poll, but #4 in the coaches poll (which is the one that counts in the BCS rankings). like i told brooke today, all that matters is we need to keep winning ballgames. i don't like that LSU is ahead of us in the coaches poll, but if we keep winning, we'll get a chance to change that.

i sure do hope Saban can keep the players hungry and focused for the Kentucky game. i'd hate to blow a great wave of momentum on a let-down conference game.

RTR.

Good news on the house

we had an offer on the house over the weekend, and we have accepted it! the only remaining hurdle is for the prospective buyer to obtain financing. but, things look to be going great! continue to keep us in your prayers as we tie up the loose ends on our current house and transition to our soon-to-be new house. we'll let you know of any other updates when we get them.

also, jennifer and jarred crow came to visit this weekend. brooke and jennifer are BFF from way way back. it was great to see them. here's a pic of the girls before they had to go back home to Arkansas.