nothing to see here…
Check out the pictures from the spring alumni weekend down in Blacksburg. We had a great time down there yet again, but it’s certainly getting harder and harder to relive the old college days.
It’s still alot of fun, walking around the House and hanging out with people you haven’t seen in months or years. As you look at the guys that are in school there now though, eventually you ask yourself, “Was I really this stupid?”.
The answer is undoubtedly, “Yes”.
Man, just as it seemed as if the first round of the NCAA Tournament was going to form in the first round (only three upsets, none of which were really shocking), the second round just destroyed my brackets. There’s always some upsets, and the trick is to pick which ones, but what’s up with the #1 and #2 seeds in the St. Louis bracket losing in the second round?
Just a wacky tournament it’s turning out to be. Lots of close games this year, though no real buzzer beaters of which to speak, but the upsets are aplenty.
Congratulations to Danny (one of Monica’s plethora of cousins) and Denise on their new baby boy, Jay!
As you can see, he’s very cute and very sleepy. I know how he feels.
My brackets are filled out, and the games are started. This is the best sports time of the year.
I’m in couple of pools this year, and it was a tough decision filling out the brackets as there are no real dominant teams that have been kicking butt all season long. The key is to have your final four stay intact, which I’ve never managed to do. The best I’ve ever done is to pick three correct final four teams, but I didn’t even win that year. In fact, I’ve never won. 
What I do hope for are some great buzzer beaters. There’s just nothing better in sports than watching a young college kid make that last-second, clutch shot that keeps their dream alive (such as when VT beat New Mexico St. in the NIT quarterfinals – yeah Travis Jackson!). 
Nothing.
A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you’ve ever seen
They’d run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you’re born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn
The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, “Stand back, I’m going to make it rain”
He says, “Hey Noah, I’ll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo,
and take some of those…
Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you’re born
Don’t you forget My unicorns
Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall
He marched the animals two by two
And he called out as they came through
Hey Lord,
I’ve got green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I’m so forlorn
I just can’t find no unicorns”
And Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling
Oh, them silly unicorns
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, “Close the door because the rain is falling
And we just can’t wait for no unicorns”
The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That’s why you never see unicorns to this very day
You’ll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you’re born
You’re never gonna see no unicorns
Author: Shel Silverstein
In 30 days Brian will be celebrating the big 30. How did this happen? When we first started dating, Brian was a young 23 year old and 30 seemed like forever away. I am not sure how he is feeling about it. Actually, I don’t think he has put much thought into it or if he has, he has not talked to me about it. I am a year and a half away from turning 30 and I am already mental about it. I heard it is much more difficult for women than it is for men and I am sure I will live up to that theory. I have mentioned this concern to my mother, who laughs at me and says “I am 2 years away from turning 60…..you get no sympathy from me”. Hard to argue with that.
I would just like to tell my husband that no matter how old he is, he will always be that cute 23 year old that gave me butterflies in my stomach and made me laugh!
Our thoughts and prayers go out to those people affected by the recent terrorist attack in Spain, undoubtedly the entire country.
Maybe now, more countries will wake up to the fact that the war on terrorism and islamofacism isn’t a purely American war, it is a global one – one in which we must prevail.
I haven’t talked about seeing The Passion of the Christ here yet, mainly because I’m lazy, but also because I was trying to sort out what I was feeling after seeing this film.
I’m still not sure what I’m feeling.
This movie troubled me, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Yes, it’s graphic. No, it’s not anti-semitic. So what could be so troubling for me?
Whether you are a Christian or not, it is to be incredibly difficult to watch a person willingly being brutalized and suffering such an agonizing death and in such excrutiating pain, and all because he knows it’s what he must do. You see very clearly in the film that the treatment isn’t forced upon him, but that he does everything voluntarily. And then during one of the most poignant moments of the film, when things are being done to him by the Romans that no ordinary human could bear, he calls out for their forgiveness.
Wow.
This film depicts Christ the way no other film has. You haven’t really seen Jesus “the man” depicted in films or television, and it can be difficult to get a sense of that when you read the Bible. Yes, Jesus was God, but he was also a human being, and he felt fear and pain just as we all do, and that is very apparent in this film. It’s easy to read about the sacrifice made, but to see it played out on the screen, it made His sacrifice more real, more clear in my mind.
The images will stay with me forever and will weigh heavily on my heart.
I would like to congratulate my little cousin Danny and his wife Denise on the birth of their son, Jay. Jay was born February 20th in Puerto Rico. Danny and I are the youngest grandchildren and we always thought of ourselves as special and the babies of the family. My grandmother Julia now has 9 children, 22 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren. We stopped being the little ones a VERY long time ago.
My mother, little Julia, is the only one of big Julia’s 9 children that doesn’t have any grandchildren and she mentions that from time to time. We assure her the day will come……..someday.
Brian finds it incredibly difficult to keep up with the size of my family and remember who everybody is. His comment of the latest addition was “wow, another one to keep track of”. I am going to have to create some type of family tree so that he can refer to it when I am mentioning someone in my family.
That’s going to be some tree!
I just read some great news concerning Narnia.
I enjoyed the series of books written by C.S. Lewis immensely as a child, and they are finally coming to the big screen. Here’s hoping they do at least half as good a job as Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings.
