2012…Deep thoughts

It’s a new year. Ok, so I’m about 11 days late on announcing that one. I’m not one to make new year’s resolutions, but this year I’ve actually stumbled on some things that I want to work on. Not sure if they’re really resolutions, or just a coincidence in the timing of me wanting to make the changes.

First off, I want to start regularly attending church again. My wife and I somehow made it to church about 3 times a month while we were dating, and one of us made the 4 hour trip to see the other every weekend. I feel terrible about this, because it feels as though we’ve slowly gone to church less and less since we’ve been married. I don’t feel like I’m any further away from my faith, but I also don’t feel like I’m getting closer, which is becoming more and more of an issue for me the older that I get.

Second, I have started back getting to the gym. I skipped this morning, basically because I’m still so sore from Tuesday’s workout (I just ran yesterday), that I felt like I could barely get out of bed this morning. Such a terrible, but rewarding feeling. The wife and I have been talking about how we were so good about going to the gym when we first started dating, but since have dropped off majorly.

Third, I just want to be an overall better guy all around. Not getting into any details, but some things have happened in the last month that has me driven to grow up quickly (no, my wife is not pregnant). I have no issues with the guy that I was before, but I know that I could always be better.

Fourth, I want to keep up with everyone much better than I have been. I know that’s vague, but that’s pretty much all that needs to be said. There’s great people in my life and I need to keep up with them better.

Now I just want to update on what has happened since the last time I posted…

• My Clemson Tigers had an AMAZING start of the season!Then they lost 3 out of 4 games, including to the dastardly Gamecocks (smh).Then they SMOKED Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game!Then they got absolutely embarrased in the Orange Bowl by West Virginia! I think that covers it.
• We got a new dog, her name is Ries (pronounced reese), and she’s very cute. She’s coming around… I think that covers it.
• Christmas came and went again this year. We survived. I think that covers it.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back.

Cherry Coke…the real thing

The wifey and I spent last week in Philadelphia for a business trip of mine. I’ve heard the rumors, and how it’s sometimes called, “Filthydelphia” and all, but it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
Anyways, we found this little store in the city called “The Franklin Fountain” (visit the website here). For the record, I’m a cherry coke fanatic. Even though I can pass on a regular coke, mountain dew, or anything else, I cannot turn down a cherry coke. I’m not on any illegal drugs and I very rarely drink alcohol anymore, so what’s the problem with a cherry coke every now & again? The Franklin Fountain makes sundaes and sodas the “old-fashioned” way. To make my cherry coke, they put a good bit of Coca-Cola syrup in the glass, then cherry syrup, then carbonated water, and mix. It was quite possibly the best drink I’ve ever had in my life, to the point where I’d love to have that syrup in my house and a carbonated water machine. I even studied their hand motions to learn how to mix it. The wife got a Dr. Pepper float, and Dr. Pepper is to her as Cherry Coke is to me, and she couldn’t stop talking about how good it was. The next night, we went back. I got two Cherry Cokes, one for there, and one to go. The wife got a sundae, that was excellent, it was called the “Mt. Vesuvius” and here’s the description:

• A mountain of CHOCOLATE or VANILLA ice cream ERUPTING with chocolate brownie pieces, CASCADING with hot fudge and BLANKETED in malt powder. A dollop of whipped cream indicates her smoking signal.

Yes. It was excellent, and so big that the two of us combined couldn’t come close to finishing it.

Either way, if you go to Philly, make sure you make it to “The Franklin Fountain.” It’s not far from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, so make sure you add it to your list of things to do.

It’s highly approved by the wife & I.

Gone for a minute, now I’m back again…

“Gone for a minute, now I’m back again…Back to back, back to break backs again…”

-Ludacris (from one of my favorite Luda songs: “Girls Gone Wild”…iTunes it)

It’s been a while since I’ve been on the blogosphere, at least as an author. For starters, I’ll just start with one of my favorite blog topics, “Random Thoughts from the mind of this Guy.” So, here goes:

Random Thoughts from the Mind of this Guy.

• Lady Gaga. = One hell of a singer, one hell of a wierdo. I was totally okay with all of her antics until the VMAs last week. The crazy outfits & wild performances are manageable, but then she dressed like a dude. For someone who’s had rumors of her being a he-she/hermie/Chaz Bono wannabe, I’m not sure that’s the best route to go. If Beyonce’s baby comes out white, Jay-Z ought to know who to go to first…Gaga-man.
• Bye-bye Blackberry. Recently the wifey and I upgraded to the iPhone 4 from the Blackberry Storm. No contest. Yes, the iPhone 4 is 2 years newer than the Storm, but I’m hooked and will never go back. Since about 2006 or 2007, I’ve used nothing but Apple products, laptops, work computers, school computers, etc, so I had really wanted the iPhone and I finally did it. From the built in GPS, iPod, Pandora at ALL times, hulu+ & netflix capabilities, and Angry Birds. About 2 or 3 weeks ago, I was in the top 350,000 out of over 14,000,000 Angry Birds players worldwide. Embarrassment or accomplishment???
• Lil Wayne vs. Jay-Z. I do enjoy rap, especially Lil Wayne. My wife and I bonded over it during our first date. Yes, you read that correctly. So apparently they have some beef between them now. How dumb is the general public? They BOTH have new CDs out. This is purely a publicity stunt…it’s pretty obvious to me. They both put songs on their CDs about each other, and everybody goes out and buys them BOTH to see what all the fuss is about.
• Roscoe. The wife and I have a cocker spaniel named Roscoe. He’s basically our child and we treat him that way. If we leave him at the house, we promise to bring him something back. How pathetic are we? Since he has to be groomed (we get him buzzed, not that “proper” cocker cut that leaves him long underneath), and we’ve been a little bad about doing it this summer, I pulled out the scissors to see if I could do it last night. Epic fail. Honestly, he looks more comfortable (because of the heat), but let’s just say he’s not aesthetically pleasing. Luckily, my Pops (yes, we call him that) has a pair of clippers and tomorrow, I’ll try to fix my mistake. For now, he’ll have to look like a pound puppy.
• Columbia media. W.T.F. If you don’t know, I’m a Clemson grad. A damn proud one at that. The wifey’s from Durham, NC, and has lived in the Columbia area with me since last July. She’s not used to the backwards media that we have around here. We don’t get the local paper, “The State,” at our house, but my parents do (they’re about 20-25 minutes down the road). Wow, every single day, the top 25% of the front page is something about the Gamecock football team. Seriously, is there not other news going on in the world? (Failing economy, war in Libya, just to name a few) So to you, Columbia Media. You’re pathetic. This is part of the reason that the wifey and I would love to move to the upstate to get away from this crap.

For tonight, that’s it. I’ll hopefully be getting around to doing this a few times a week, keeping it regular this time.