WV Power Game

Here's my wife posing with the Power's mascot. We were running from the giant rain cloud in the background and stopped for a second to pose with minor league baseball's version of Humpty Dumpty.

Best Wedding Entrance Ever

I saw this on the Today Show this morning. Apparently it's pretty popular. So If you've already seen it, I apologize. If not, enjoy!

Wednesday's One Word

FAIL.

Our Very Own Wireless Network

I know... it's the middle of 2009 and we just now installed a wireless network? How could we be so behind the times? We're two 30-somethings in a house with 4 floors, a desktop computer and a laptop that never gets used. A laptop that never gets used because we didn't have a wireless network.

Quite honestly, I've never really used one before. I lived with a computer guru a few years ago and he installed a wireless network. However, we really didn't need it. The apartment only had 4 rooms (including the bathroom). So, needless to say, my computer never left my desk and it only took a few steps (literally) to check my email. My next two apartments, the same thing... I never had to move more than a few feet to look at a computer. The apartments just didn't need a wireless network.

Then we moved to Charleston. We got a steal of a deal on a big, OLD house. We've lived here for a year and only use our desktop computer that's located in the sun room in the back of the house. There was no checking our email from the living room, our bedroom or the basement. However, like I said earlier, that's all been fixed. I installed a wireless network this evening and I'm currently typing to you from the comfort of my very own living room couch. To many of you I'm sure this isn't a big deal, but to us I think it's going to be a very welcome change.

So, 2009, thanks for welcoming us to the wireless era. I know we're a little late, but we're going to do our best to enjoy it thoroughly.

Booya.

Nothing Says "Hillbilly" Like....

... one of these on the back window of your car.

One Number Wednesday

51 MORE DAYS!

A Natural Tunnel

I took this picture while biking through Kanawha City last weekend. The way these trees formed a "natural tunnel" over the road made for a pretty swell photo.

Wednesday's Lotsa Words

Why I love le Tour de France
a guest blog from Mrs. Little Cat

I consider myself an avid follower of most sports, but since I’ve never been able to get into watching baseball, the summer usually just feels like an abyss until football season begins. Until I discovered le Tour de France, that is.

Every summer I look forward to the three weeks in July where I’ll get to see the incredible athleticism of cyclists from around the world competing in the oldest and most prestigious bicycle race in the world. This year is the 96th annual Tour, and it covers more than 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) throughout France and a few bordering countries. It is an amazing feat just to survive this race. In the summer heat, these guys suffer their way through cobblestone streets in tiny French villages and up and down the Alps and the Pyrenees mountains at break-neck speeds, all for the chance to ride into Paris wearing the coveted Maillot Jaune (or simply, “the yellow jersey”).

I remember watching Lance Armstrong on the Today show back when he overcame cancer and won his first Tour. It was an amazing story, and I had to admit Lance was “easy on the eyes.” So I caught some highlights every now and again when he continued to win Tour after Tour. After a friend passed on Lance’s book, It’s Not About the Bike, everything changed. I grew a real appreciation for what I believe is the most difficult sporting event that exists and the man who had been able to win (at that time) five times in a row. A friend and I even made the trip all the way to Paris that summer just to see Lance ride on the Champs-Elysees in his record-breaking sixth win. Definitely one of the highlights of my life.

The Tour has faced some low-points in recent years with drug scandals, but I still follow every July with renewed hope and excitement. This year, however, has been a dream come true. Although he retired after he won the Tour for the unprecedented seventh time, Lance is back! And this year has the potential to be his best race yet!

Check it out... and discover for yourself the beauty of the Peloton.


More about the amazing Tour:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France
and
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cycling/tour-de-france

Wrightsville Beach

Here's the view from our balcony. The beach was on the other side of the grassy knoll.



Here's a picture my wife took. It's yet another picture from the balcony. However, this time, it illustrates what was happening behind the scenes.



And another from the balcony. These were the 4th of July fireworks being ignited only yards from the condo. It almost looks fake. Doesn't it? Props to the wife for another swell picture.



We finally got off the balcony and hit the beach. These kids were holding bread in their hands and hoping the seagulls would take it from them. They only thing they succeeded in doing was annoying the people around them who were afraid the birds were gonna drop a load on them.



We went old-school on this one. My wife and I drove over 2 hours to visit my favorite restaurant of all time... Drunken Jack's in Murrel's Inlet, SC. I had calamari, hush puppies, fried scallops, fried shrimp and a pretty gnarly baked potato. To wash it all down, I had some locally brewed draughts. What about the diet you ask? Well... it had to be put on a small hiatus. I'm still down 15 pounds overall... even after Nashville and Wrightsville Beach.



And, of course, we played trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings in Wilmington, NC (minutes from Wrightsville Beach). Did you really think we'd travel somewhere and skip trivia? Hell, we even drove through a thunderstorm the size of South Carolina to get there. Literally, there was feet of water on the road in places.


All-in-all, the trip was great... from beginning to end. I'd like to thank everyone from three to sixty-six for their hospitality. The breakfast burritos, pulled pork BBQ, steamed crab legs and steamed shrimp were awesome. The Braves games only made me throw up a little and the "phillips head screwdrivers" were the best I've ever had. We had a blast and we hope to see everyone again soon. Thanks for everything.

Happy 4th of July!

BBQs, pool parties, fireworks and family... that's what July 4th is all about. Right? Well, yeah, you're right. But no July 4th is complete without taking in the spectacle of Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Every Independence Day at noon ESPN broadcasts this event live from Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. Contestants like Joey "Jaws" Chestnut and Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi stuff as many hot dogs into their bellies as ten minutes will allow. When I say "stuff," I mean it literally. Contestants are regularly seen pushing the contents of their stomachs to the side so they can fit more hot dogs inside their bodies.

And just how many hot dogs do you have to eat to win a competition like this? Well, two years ago (2007), Joey Chestnut ate 66 hot dogs in the twelve minute contest... a new world record. Chestnut's championship marked the first time Kobayashi didn't win the event in six years. In 2008 Kobayashi and Chestnut downed exactly 59 hot dogs within a ten minute period. Chestnut was declared the winner after he gobbled down 5 extra wieners faster than Kobayashi in overtime. You probably never knew eating could be so dramatic, huh? Heheh...

It's gross. It's disgusting. People puke and and smear hot dogs all over their face, but it's competition... something I thoroughly enjoy. So don't call me at noon on Saturday. I'll be firmly planted in front of a television, watching a group of grown men and women stuff themselves with pig intestines and who knows what else.

It's my American tradition.