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Birthday trip

They don’t know it, but my company is sending me to CA for a couple days for my birthday. I mean, they think they’re sending me out there to train and work with some people on some stuff. But really, they’re flyin’ me to L.A., payin’ for my meals, puttin’ me up in a fancy-pants hotel, rentin’ me a car and giving me two evenings to gallivant around Hollywood and hob-nob with the celebrities. I mean, seriously, I can’t think of a better birthday present. Oh, and after I get back on Thursday, I don’t have to go in to work on Friday because I’ll already have my 40 hours in for the week.

Train schmain! Suckers!

Or maybe I can think of a better birthday present

Some awesome friends of mine have informed me that they are with child and are expecting in about six months. I’m not sure how this all works, but they said, “You’re gonna’ be an uncle!” I mean, I obviously won’t be a biological uncle, but I’ll be that guy that comes around a few times a year–mostly for the holidays–and they say, “There’s Uncle Josh!” and then the baby gets all happy to see me ’cause Uncle Josh always shows up with presents and stuff and, whenever he comes, that means some kinda’ holiday is comin’ up and that means gettin’ stuff.

They will be my first friends to have a child (I mean, I have other friends with children, but these kids are my age and we’ve been close for years) and I couldn’t be happier for them. The world is an awesome place because of these two and it’ll be even greater with a little one of them runnin’ around.

Possible break from the bloggin’

Seein’ as how I’ll be outta’ town for the next couple days, I may not be able to update my blog. Hopefully, I’ll find me a cyber cafe or something, but if I don’t, consider myself on hiatus until further notice.

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Another Florida Basketball loss

Well, I said earlier that I thought the game would be close, but that I couldn’t say who would win. Of course, that was before I saw that Anthony Roberson got 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes of the game. I guess today’s game demonstrated how much Christian Drejer’s departure hurt our team’s depth. Once Roberson went out, that was pretty much it for the first half. Our backup point guards–Ryan Appleby and maybe Lee Humphrey–are both freshman and neither is “battle tested.”

Today’s game was one of the sloppiest I’ve seen on both ends of the floor and for both teams. The up-side is that I think we can beat Kentucky if we keep out of foul trouble (ASIDE: I thought the officials had a huge impact on today’s game… they called Roberson for two early fouls while they seemed relatively quiet on the whistle regarding fouls on Kentucky. I was pleased to see that, later in the game, they began calling fouls on Kentucky for hand-checking, reaching and bumping, but I think it was too little, too late. I mean, it was good to see those fouls being called, but those same fouls were being committed throughout the game, only they weren’t called early. I think that ambiguity had a serious effect on the outcome of the game. END ASIDE) and take better care of the ball. I only hope we get a rematch in the SEC Tourney.

Weird work week

Tomorrow will be the only day this week that I report to work as I usually do. Tuesday through Thursday will be spent either on a plane or in El Segundo, CA and I’ll have the day off on Friday (because I will have my 40 hours in by then). So, I get a short week and I get to fly out to California on the company’s dime. I’m hoping it’ll be as fun as it sounds and hopefully I’ll get some chances to use my camera while I’m out west.

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Designing away

I think I’m about ready to start designing JoshDoody.com. I was going to wait on a friend of mine to help me out, but it sounds like he’s too busy and he may not be getting around to my site for a while. I’m very comfortable with design in general, but I’ve never been too good with aesthetics and such. So, lately, I’ve been reading a lot about different design techniques and I feel I’ve learned enough to design a decent site. I guess I’ll know in a bit.

Lazy Saturday

I played basketball this morning, but I only got two games in. That was frustrating, but what was more frustrating was that I didn’t score any points in either game and I was 0-2. I usually expect to play poorly my first game–I’ve always needed a “warm up” game to get going–but I didn’t expect to play as badly as I did. Granted, I only took one shot in the second game, but that’s because I got so gun shy after my 0-for-5 performance in my first game. I think we could’ve won either game (I think we lost both games by a score of 12-10), but my team just didn’t seem to gel. In the second game, I was guarding my guy out on the perimeter when all of a sudden, I ran smack into a pick. I guess that would’ve been ok if I’d been warned and just didn’t pay attention, but since my teammates never called the pick for me, I was pretty peeved. What was worse was that the guy guarding the pick-setter wasn’t around to switch when I lost my guy. That was one of many easy buckets courtesy of our poor communication.

Later in the day, I took a nap.

This evening, I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up a little blanket to keep by my couch. The couch is right under a vent, so when the A/C comes on, I get chilled. While I was there, I realized how much easier it would’ve been to decorate my apartment if I’d gone there to begin with. I mean, Target and Wal-Mart have a decent selection and decent prices, but they’ve got nothin’ on the Triple-B. I saw a few things there I’ll probably end up going back to get: a couple bar-stools at 30 bucks each and a little “telephone table” that I would put by the front door and use as a place to drop all the stuff outta’ my pockets when I come home from work.

I’m going to sleep now.

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Proud Owner

Or at least owner. I decided to go ahead and pay-off my car today (there wasn’t too much principle left) since I had the money and my financial decisions lately consist of figuring out which particular debt to knock out. For now, it was the car. I guess it’s nice to not have to worry about the monthly payments anymore, but it’d be a lot nicer if I didn’t dislike my car so much. I’ll try and count my blessings, I guess.

Time for the sleeping.

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CA or bust

I’m officially going to El Segundo, California for three days next week. It doesn’t sound like all that much, but since Dallas is the farthest west I’ve been since I was about 10, I figure it’s kind of a big deal. Best part of it is that it’s not even on my dime and I only have to work one full day while I’m there.

Florida wins again–four in a row

Well, after losing a tough one to Georgia on their court a few weeks ago, it was nice to hear that the Gators stepped it up at home and split the series. It seems like our guys have really started playin’ big since Christian Drejer shipped out and they couldn’t have picked a better time. We have to play at Kentucky on Saturday, then we get a little time off before the SEC Tourney. A couple weeks ago, I’d have said we wouldn’t have a chance against Kentucky on their floor, but now I’d say it’s anybody’s game. With the offensive fire-power we’ve been able to rustle up, along with our new ability to refrain from choking away close games and small, late leads, I’d say we’re one of the better teams in the SEC.

Billy Donovan said [paraphrase], “Christian Drejer is a great player, but our guys are playing better without him for some reason.” After all the hype that Christian brought with him to America a couple years ago, it’s hard to believe Billy would say that. But he’s right and I’m almost glad Christian left. He was our leading assist man, but he wasn’t contributing too much on defense and he wasn’t being aggressive enough on offense. In the SEC, the more aggressive team often gets the win because of the up-tempo, quick-defense style of basketball that we play. I think Christian just didn’t really fit into that style of basketball. I think that, after a little time as a pro in Europe, he might be able to find a home on an NBA team with a slower, half-court based game. I think he has a lot of work to do before that’s a possibility, but I think it is a possibility.

I’m not going to make any predictions about the game on Sunday, but I will say that I think it’s going to be close. I think the game will be decided by 7 points or less and there will be at least two lead changes under the 10-minute mark.

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The Passion of The Christ

I’ve been excited about this movie since I first heard about last year. I finally got to see it tonight and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed in the least. Granted, I would like to see it again, so I can focus more on the artistic elements of the movie, rather than being overwhelmed by the initial spectacle, but I think it’ll be a while before I’m ready to see it again.

I think it’s a great film because it’s a somewhat tangible example of the fundamental tenet of the Christian faith: a man, born supernaturally, was tortured and murdered in spite of his own innocence so that the rest of mankind could be reconciled to its creator. I think that idea is articulated very well in this film. It’s also great to see a good piece of “high budget” art produced by a Christian and for an explicitly Christian purpose.

I also think it’s great that the movie is making so much money at the box office. Skeptics seem to think its success is reason for them to make claims that those involved–Mel Gibson, namely–will be making a lot of money. I suspect they’ll eventually be sorry for trying to use the film’s financial success as a means by which to criticize it (ie, claiming that Gibson was interested in the monetary benefits of making the film more than the moral implications), since I think it’s inevitable that Gibson will donate most or all of the profits to charity and the Church.

I could be wrong, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t. All in all, I’m glad he made the movie and stuck with it and I’m confident that it will serve a great purpose.

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Through The Horse and His Boy

I finished up the third book of the Chronicles of Narnia this past Sunday and I’m working on Prince Caspian. I’m starting to get into new territory, meaning I haven’t read these books before, so it’s all fresh and new and I’m really enjoying it. Normally, I’m not a big “fantasy” or children’s lit. fan, but C.S. Lewis just does such a great job painting word pictures and articulating concepts through metaphor that it’s impossible for me not to enjoy his writing.

California: attempt 2

Well, I’m going to try to go to CA again next week. This time, I think it’ll happen and the timing seems pretty good. I’m going to e-mail my co-worker out there tomorrow so he can give me a list of places to go and things to do while I’m out there. I figure I’ll use it as sort of a field-trip to learn about L.A. and that general area. It’s been about, oh, 20 years since I was out there, so we have a lot to catch up on.

The Passion

Well, I’ve been itching to see it since I first heard Mel Gibson was working on it and I’ll finally get to catch it tomorrow night. I’m going with a friend who’s already seen it, but he says he’s excited to see it again. I’ve already heard lots of opinions on different aspects of the movie, but the great thing is that I already know what happens, so I can watch it simply to appreciate the gravity, intensity that the movie is said to create.

Pay day approaching

I get paid again on Thursday afternoon. This way of life is so different from being a college student, I still can’t get used to it. In college, my bank account would spike once every four months or so, then it would slowly decline as I spent my scholarship and loan money. Then, as a new semester began, so the cycle would recycle. Now, I get a fresh influx of cash every two weeks and I have a lot of freedom regarding how I spend or invest it. Right now, I’m focusing on paying back my student loans and the other “debt” I incurred this past year at school. I say “debt” in quotes because although it is technically debt, I’m not paying any interest on any of it, so I don’t stress about it too much. If all goes as planned, I’ll be paying back all of this past year’s living expenses by October without having paid a penny of interest on that money. Then, I can start whittling away at the real debt.

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Vulnerability

Since my move, I’ve thought a lot about my future. Specifically, I’ve thought about who I will (or won’t) be spending it with. I mean, I guess for most people, marriage is an inevitable part of the plan. For some, it’s a five-year plan, for some a ten-year plan, for some an ASAP-plan. I’ve been realizing that I’m probably on the 10-year-plus plan because I’m just not comfortable with my future–where I’ll be, what I’ll be, who I’ll be–and I don’t see any sense in adding another person into the already confused mix.

That said, I was workin’ out today (I don’t have much to do but think while I’m workin’ out) and I realized that, somewhere out there, there’s a girl who, with one look, could completely obliterate my 10-year-plus (not) plan. I mean, I don’t really have any grandiose picture of who I’ll be (although I’m leaving my options open and I’m always up for suggestions), but right now I’m very comfortable with the idea that I could be romantically alone for the next several years–I’m actually kind of looking forward to it–but I am also realizing that I could be put in a situation where I meet a girl and have no alternative but to think, “Yeah… I’m supposed to marry her.”

I guess I was just struck by how fragile something as big as a “future” can be. I might think I’ve got me some plans, ideas, hopes and all that, but it wouldn’t take much to force me to scrap it and start in a whole new direction. For now, I’m really happy with the vague direction I’m headed in, and no, I didn’t have anyone in mind when I wrote this.