Auburn


27
Feb 11

Catching Up

Bike

My new bike. Now if the pedals would show up …

Allie

So I walk in and there she is, hoping onto the counter and sliding into the sink like she’s always there when we aren’t around.

You want video?

Tins

Found these at Piggly Wiggly in Tuscaloosa while spending four days there taking my comprehensive exams. This made me happy.

Shadows

Shadows on nets. Sounds like a poorly titled romance novel, no? That was from earlier in the weekend, but Auburn won 2-0, on the strength of Derek Varnadore’s dominating 13-strikeout game.

Scale

This is at the farmers market in Opelika, using my iPhone’s Lomo app. Have you seen the LOMO blog yet?


26
Feb 11

“Is he OK?”

I’m a laid back guy. At least I like to think I’m calm and easy going. My friend Brian made me this graphic six or so years ago. I’ve always taken it as a compliment. It could be that there’s a grave insult here and people think of me as a hot-head, these things could go either way, but I choose to believe people think I’m reasonably pleasant to be around. But we all like to think like that. It is better than the alternative of your friends thinking you’re Charles Bronson paired up with Dirty Harry on a Really Bad Day.

“And that’s when he’s on time.”

So I like to think that I’m normally very consistent and living in that green level. This morning, at about 3 a.m., I was on the dark yellow.

Because, you see, this has been a long week. And when I settled in on Thursday night I got a little rest. And then on Friday I discovered I was rather tired. So it only seemed logical to get a good night’s sleep because I hit the wall at the baseball game and found myself not even hungry for dinner thereafter.

So we came home with our extra pizza and I pretty much made my way directly to bed last night. And then the cat meowed awhile. Meow isn’t the right word. Howl doesn’t really describe it either, though it comes closer. There is no word that describes the urgency “Lassie fell in the well after Timmy and it looks bad and this time I didn’t even push, I promise. Come quick, really!” But this is what we deal with every night, and this tired-before-9 p.m. night was no different.

She’d quiet down and I’d doze of. Repeat. She’d quiet down and I’d dose off, but in some uncomfortable position.

I dozed off and woke up deciding to visit the restroom. So I got up, got the dizzies, took a knee and thought about it for a minute.

I came back to bed wide awake, which just makes me think Lassie should take Timmy out beyond the county line, really.

There’s nothing worse than staring at the ceiling, because when the mind wakes up the rest of you must too. The alternative is at least doing something. Because of this I only go to bed when I’m good and truly exhausted. I’ve been sleepless before, so I stay up. I’ve been so tired I couldn’t go to sleep before, and that’s annoying, sure, but this takes the cake. I was so tired I couldn’t stay asleep.

So I got up and cleaned out an Email account I never use anymore. I created some space on my server by cleaning out some old files. I caught up on a little reading. I changed the front page of my site. I found that graphic above from 2005. I built an entirely new blog.

Meet LOMO, the page I’ll update only from my phone, featuring only pictures I’ve taken with the lomographic filter. Trust me here: You need another diversion, particularly at 4 a.m.

And around 4:40 this morning I finally tried going back to sleep.

So here we are, another beautiful weekend day. Another glorious day at the park:

PlainsmanPark

The Auburn Tigers won 3-2 today, bringing their series to a tie with the rubber match tomorrow. Wonderful day to be outdoors.

We also visited the farmers market — which appears a few times in the new LOMO blog, do check it out. We bought fruits and vegetables, because they are cheaper there, but not the gummy bears, which were far more expensive. We hit the grocery store, stocking up on items for the next few days and then the cupcake shop because you must sometimes be indulgent.

So that was today, which started in the early parts of yesterday and will carry over until the cat stops telling horrific tales sometime in the early a.m. hours. Tomorrow I’ll have to be productive again, but only after the baseball game.


16
Feb 11

Trees at Toomer’s Corner poisoned

Out came the news today, some pathological deviant decided to do dastardly deeds. As of this writing the police are reportedly near an arrest and the fate of the trees is uncertain, but the situation is very grim. The best forestry specialists and horticulturists around work just down the street. If the stately old trees can pull through, they’ll be the people who make it happen.

But let me tell you a more important thing about my alma mater: Auburn and her family are stronger than oak and more sturdy than history. We’re going to say “Meet me at Toomer’s” for generations yet. The power of dixieland is going to be just fine.

War Eagle and plant a tree.

“I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.”


4
Feb 11

Just another Friday

Woke up to the rain, and the rain may have it. The rain did have it, all day. All through hours of reading and countless Emails detailing the details of things which ought to be detailed and still more things lacking in detail. But, in the interregnum between Emails details will form.

My inbox is now sending me notices that I’m running out of space. This must not stand. Tomorrow I’m deleting the junk and the sent mail and the trash, first thing. I need the space so that I can receive further information about the details.

I’ve booked rooms for an upcoming conference. Finally just picked a place, now that I have a headcount. We’ll be staying two miles away, meaning we can put on the game faces on the drive over.

Even the hotel booking requires more details. I’m told I must procure a special form, call again and fax it to the hotel desk.

And since the hotel has accepted my AAA discount I had to call to inquire on the whereabouts of my new membership card. My AAA membership was given to me as a gift from my step-father last year and I’d thought of letting it lapse. But then the College Park Battery Debacle changed my mind. So I renewed the membership, but never received the card.

Turns out they have our old address in the system. Which is unfortunate, of course, because the post office, in cost cutting measures, has committed themselves to forwarding only some of our mail. It takes nine-to-12 business days to get the new card. That might be cutting it close. So they’re going to Email me a temporary card. That’s probably going to take eight business days.

We busted a camera in December. Apparently it was mounted on a tripod, but the tripod had no counter weight. A gust of wind knocked it over, and gravity did the rest. The LCD screen took the brunt of the blow.

LCD

These things will happen. These things, I’ve learned today, will be expensive.

It took two separate efforts and seven phone calls to find the right people to give me details, though. The guy in Illinois who does the work says he’s complained to Panasonic about the price. I’m sure he wasn’t the first. I know he won’t be the last. Finally we can get it fixed, though.

And the day went on like that, accomplishing the little things so they can be moved out of the way for bigger things. It seems backwards, somehow, but that’s the way of it some days.

I wrapped up my evening making more recruiting phone calls. That’s a fun thing, calling high school students looking to make their big college decision. Many of them are very excited that you’ve called. It is time-consuming, though. You think you’re making great progress and then you look over the spreadsheet to see just how far you have to go. But at least the young students are usually very interested in hearing from you.

After dinner we went to the gymnastics meet. Auburn didn’t have their best outing tonight, but it was enough to take a comeback victory over struggling Kentucky, 194.625-194.450. Here’s senior Rachel Inniss, striking a Heisman pose. I wonder if anyone has mentioned she’s doing it backward.

Inniss, according the university release, claimed her fifth individual title of the season and her third on floor, tying her career-best 9.900 for the fifth time. So maybe the backward Heisman is working out alright.


30
Jan 11

Catching up

Yankee

Yes, a few more Auburn football things. But, hey, we’re about to celebrate the three-week anniversary of the national championship game. You don’t get to do that every day. This poster is on the side of Toomer’s Drugs. It’s prettier because she’s standing there.

TigerRobes

They weren’t together — but I think they knew each other. And they shared the same bad taste in robes. What you can’t see well in this picture are the tails.

Washer

You know it is serious when they say it in three languages.

Cart

I said on Twitter that this car was from the future. One friend said if it didn’t fly I could keep it. Another friend said it looked like robbers from the future had stripped it down. I think we were each right.

Beard-Eaves-Memorial

This sticker is on the hardwood at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. Wally Tinker, the man that sunk the first official basket, also sank the last. He’s got a great story. The Yankee and I saw the last official athletic event in the place.

Some of the players and coaches miss the old venue, but fans aren’t especially nostalgic about the imminent demise of Beard-Eaves-Memorial. It will be odd when there’s nothing to call by that name any more, but the new Auburn Arena is nice, and it is time.

If they are smart and sell seats out of the old coliseum we’re buying a row of them. End of story.