The Holtonian

Cardinals Tanking... oh well

So I'm kind of hoping the cards blow it and the astros win the division. I was talking to concerned last night and we really feel that the team is not playing to win this year. They seem to have this mind set, "Well we can't win the WS why bother in the post season, lets just wait till next year when we'll have a completely different team."

Free Agents:
Jim Edmonds--probably not resigning him due to his concussion syndrome and decline in production. I was disappointed when the cards were moving in this direction initially b/c I'm a believer you give a guy a chance to retire with the team, but after the concussion stuff surfaced I think in my own Calvinist sort of way that it was God trying to tell Jimmy to hang it up.

Marquis--fish and cut bait. The two best (arguably) pitching coaches in the ML (definately in the NL) Duncan and Mazzone(i realize he's al now) couldn't handle this guy. He's got all sorts of issues and no one knows how to motivate him. He's like the genius kid in school who would rather throw spit balls at the teacher and breeze by getting B's then applying himself and getting A's. Good stuff but he's definately Jeckyl and Hyde out on the Mound.

Suppan--I'm actually a fan of Suppan (and that rymes). I say the cards throw him a low ball offer and say "Hey we like you, we know what we get from you "(at least 15 wins usually a season... this year he was a bit off). "Come pitch and be a good 3rd or 4th man in the rotation." He's a good guy and is only 30ish.

Mulder--I'm a firm believer that the Oakland A's Pitchers are way over rated. They play in a division of four weak, WEAK!!! teams. The Angels, A's, Mariners, and Rangers, those are three weak teams. The Angels won the WS by playing a weak Giants team a few years back, and that was the worst WS since Yanks Mets 2000.... those series stink if you don't live in the state that is represented, thats why I fear this year. Mulder and Thompson (In ATL) have been sooooo mediocre. AND THEY"RE PLAYING IN THE NL! They should dominate. So the AL west is weak (they only have 4 teams for crying out loud). Now this all being said, give the guy a contract that is low and try to retain him just in case he can come back from the DL and turn his career on. They did the same thing for Morris and it worked for a few years before he went to the Giants. This all being said I would not sign Zito. He's the best of the three from Oakland but his stuff has dropped some the past few years. The A's are built on young pitching and there seems to be a reason why they let the pitchers walk when they come of age. Well, not walk, trade them for younger pitchers...

Belliard--Dumbest trade this year let him walk, the indians are still laughing at us for this one.

The cards also need to think about a few aging players. Izzy, Rolen, Eckstein (b/c of is injuries this year). They have no farm system thanks to trades the past few years. So they may be hurting for a while now. They can either go free agent crazy, which they won't, or just shut it down for a few years, which would be a shame because you have pujols in his prime and carpenter still roaring. I think free agency could build the team back up into contention but they'd be looking at a adding a lot of pay roll and relying on two young starters: Reyes and Wainwright.

I also think they need a new coach because Larussa doesn't inspire anyone. They need a motivator who is more concerned about the team and his players. Concerned and I like Giaradi out of Florida but my guess is if he's out there watch the cubs fire baker to pick up that former cub... at least that's what I'd do. As far as Larrusa goes though he won't be gone till his contract is up. Though I would like him too, you don't really get rid of a coach if they get you to the WS.

AK: the future queen of Holtonia

So AK has had two eventful things happen in the past 24 hours. First off we're trying to implement "CRY IT OUT" Phase 1. Well, that is we've let her "cry it out" before but it only lasted 15 minutes tops. We've upped the ante now and last night was a bit of a cry fest, so much so that I got the wifey's permission, nay, blessing to go upstairs and sleep. And I've got that same blessing tonight.

Which, it was kind of funny because over dinner she asked me how I slept and I said for the four hours I was upstairs I slept fantastic. She being a loving wife full of the Holy Spirit was happy for me and glad I went up there for my sake. She said I could do it again tonight if I wished and she would not feel ill towards me. I said, "OK, I just might... besides it was nice kind of having a whole queen bed to myself..." Which some wive's might hit their husband at this point, my wife on the other hand, "Yeah I know it was nice having you out of the bed."

So I invision us in 20 years when we're old and gray... well maybe 30 years, being that old couple with two seperate beds.

(Me in 30 years sounding more crotchety than I already do) "Come on honey lets have some fun and push them beds together."
(Wifey older and crotchetitier as well), "Just don't throw your back out again..."

Aaaaah, old age, gotta love it. No we'll just have to get a king one of these days. Wife wants one before baby number two.

Another big event for AK was her first feeding... that didn't come via Wifey.

She hasn't slept well the past few weeks, and our doc said it might be time to try the food, so we got some whole grain organic wheat cereal (that's for you Petey!) from Greenlife and she ate the stuff up like nobody's business.

If there was any doubt of her being ready for the stuff i think it might have been cleared up tonight. She went to town on it like her old man. What can I say she comes from a long line of eaters. There was the Great Hungarian king, Hungry Holton the Super Sized; his son, Hungrier Holton the Obtuse; his son Hungry Hungry Holton of Hippo; his son, Fatty Fatty Boomba Laddy Holton the Overweight; and his daughter, Queen Fatty Holton.... she wasn't very popular in Hungary.

And now my daughter shall sit on her thrown and rule over my dominion with a pink stuffed animal scepter. I have parcelled her this piece of my kingdom, Counterland, and she will rule it with an Iron Fist until my passing when she shall ascend to the thrown in front of the TV and rule over Holtonia!

I'm weird.

Notre Dame Proves its not over till the Fat Coach Sings

Wow, what a Notre Dame game. I watched the majority of it, and actually turned it off for a while when I felt like I was watching a rerun of last week. For the first half, well probably the first three quarters, it was exactly like last week. Mich St's D wasn't as good as Michigan's but it didn't matter because Notre Dame's Special team's was awful and Quin made some really dumb passes.

The Notre Dame Defense appears to be their achiles heal. Michigan St made their defense look like a bunch of women. The trick play with the guy wide open? What was that about. The qb running for about 30 yards??? And he's not a QB named Vick or Young so he shouldn't be doing that. I was just shaking my head at the tv and couldn't watch but turned it on at the key point, the last interception/run back for a TD. What can I say Quin came on and Michigan St just blew it.

I really think that game was decided by Michigan St not just going to a strait run offense. With a lead like that they should have buckled down and just run run run and keep the pressure on quin because Notre Dame's offensive line was a joke for the second strait week.

Anyway, it was one good game out of not many. The michigan/wisconsin game was good as always. Josiah, please note I was rooting for Michigan. I want Michigan vs Auburn (or some other SEC team) in the national championship. I'm tired of USC coasting their way in, and after Ohio St Penn St yesterday I'm not sure if Ohio St will cruise their way. Frankly It will all depend on the last game of the year for both Ohio St and Michigan, unless Michigan chokes again.

But how about Mizzou? 4 and 0? That's crazy. Now granted they haven't played a soul but still, this is huge for Missouri. Their schedule kicks into overdrive though, the rest of the year is against good teams and rivals. Colorado, TX tech, Texas A&M, K state, OK, Nebraska, Iowa St, and Kansas, that's a tough scedule for most teams let alone mizzou. But at least for this week they can say they're 4 and 0. Now the way Colorado almost upset GA I think they might be coming to life here and in time to take down Mizzou.

Be Fearful of the Woods

Running lately has really replaced my old primary means of exercise, biking. I've just concluded that with a kid that biking really just takes a lot of time, something that I don't have tons of. Running on the other hand I get in the car go to covenant, run on the trails and am back in an hour. Biking on the other hand I have to load up, which loading any kind of bike into a sentra can be tough stuff, then get there, then to get a good workout I have to go for longer than an hour, which has me going way back into the woods.

And I've found I'm kind of a scaredy cat because I get far back into the woods by myself and my mind starts racing, "What if I fall off and break some bone and can't get back? What if monsters like the ones in the Village come out and jump me? What if I go through a worm hole and end up back in 1600s when Indians ruled Lookout Mountain and they don't like my pale skin? What if I go through a different worm hole and end up in an alternate reality where we lost world war 2 and america is over-run with nazis? Or what if I go through even another worm hole where I end up in an America overtaken by Soviets? Or what if my shoe comes untied? What if the trees come alive and use me as a volley ball? What if I've been gone so long that time has actually flown by outside of the woods and I'll come back to my house and everyone will be old and thought I'd been dead for forty years? Or what if my car constantly dies when I try driving home... oh wait that always happens.

SO anyway, I haven't ridden in a long time. I want to go today we'll see if the wife can part with me for that long. I better take a gun though, just in case I end up in a Nazi or Soviet controlled Chattanooga. Though if the trees come alive and want to use me as a volley ball or hackey sack... well I'm pretty much screwed because trees are strong, and made of wood and bullets are useless against them.

not much

TGIF. Man what a long and dull week at work. Glad its over. Saturday football will also be a bit of a drag as there aren't too many good games on, I mean compared to last week every week here on out might be a bit of a let down.

Oh, and if you missed the Office last night, you need to pony up and go to itunes and download it as it was hilarious. If you don't find it funny you may be missing part of your medula oblongata because it was so painfully funny. At one point I was literally hitting myself in the head it was soooo painful. Basically Michael found out Oscar was gay and it just went down hill from there.

that's all i got, maybe something interesting will happen soon.

Settling in for the long haul

I feel compelled to blog but really I have nothing to say/type... so what else is new. My life this past few weeks has been consisted of work and just typical boring home life. Now I say boring because to the outside world going home and just being with your family and not going out is boring ot most people, I tend to like it.

I'm a homebody, always have been for the most part. And somehow I've infected my wife with my homebodiness. She still gets the urge to go outside which usually results in a Lupis run, which we're due for one of those soon, but generally we just sort of come home, eat dinner and enjoy watching AK grow up.

It amazes me to watch her day by day, and usually you can't tell when someone is changing before your eyes. Usually you don't notice till you've been away and come back, but to me its so evident that this little child is growing up before my eyes. I'm trying to savor every minute of it, especially the quiet ones when she's not screaming.

We enjoying being parents, its definately a blessing we're trying are darndest not to take for granted. Parenthood definately suits my dull personality. I mean parents are supposed to be dull, so it fits that I like being a dad. I don't have any good, "back in my day...." stories yet. I'm sure I'll have some in time to use them though. It'll probably be something like, "Back in my day we didn't have phone's implanted into our minds... we had to use a phone that wasn't mobile at all and was hooked up to the wall."

Or, "back in my day when you played video games you didn't have to move around so much... you got fat from playing video games..."

One that I actually have used, "Back in my day we didn't have this my space crap, we had internet chat rooms and it was just as stupid as my space..."

Anyway, that's enough rambling for this old codger for one night

Weekend of Bachelorhood

Wifey and AK went down to the WIC conference in ATL this weekend. Get all that? So I was left home alone with the Copper top. All in all I just sort of chilled. Friday I went for a good long run and when I got done was so tired that I didn't feel like doing anything but watch two star trek next gen episodes back to back. It was an awesome show where Picard has to track down Spock. But Spock is on Romulous trying to get the Romulons and the Vulcans to reach a peace accord. They're like the Hatfields and McCoys only related. So that was I figure a good use of my time.

Then saturday I mowed, then ran out of gas, filled up, then mower wouldnt' start. I've talked to obscene and my dad and we all seem to agree that its some sort of spark plug problem as everything else is in working order I'm just not getting any oomph. But I didnt' want to tinker with the mower all day so I just put it away and ran some errands then met up with Roe for the big Michigan Notre Dame game.

There's not really much to talk about there... not much of a game unfortunately.

Though no offense to the company I had at Hoppy's, but man I sat in that smokey bar from 1 till 6 watching football and when I left I smelled like an ash tray, which was expected, but my throat and voice were so coarse and soar that it felt like I had been chearing or yelling all day long... and we know that I wasn't since Notre Dame got spanked. I'm just not used to sitting in smokey bars for extended periods of time anymore.

Ironic Note:

I had rented Kill Bill vol 1 a few years back (whenever it came out) and watched a good deal of it but eventually turned it off when for some reason I reached my breaking point of viewing violence... well it was on TNT the other night so I thought, "well, I might be able to stomach the edited version more..." So i watched it and as it turns out I had pretty much made it to the end when I rented it, probably had 20 to 15 minutes left. So I watched it all on TNT and then I was curious (because it ends so abrubtly) and I wanted to see Vol 2. So after Hoppy's I went to Blockbuster... of course its rented out. I tried finding something else but as always that place never has anything good. Though i was half tempted to rent the Gingerbread Man starring everyone's favorite nut job, Gary Busey!... i think it could mark the comeback of mr Busey.

So I go home, dejected that they didn't have my movie and resign myself to watching football or whatever else is on... when all of a sudden.. VOL 2 is on TNT. So I watched it with glee especially since I didn't spend money on it. Though I must say the two movies (because they don't really go seperately) were a little disappointing. Taratino has his moments, his dialogue is typically his catchey cool, but overall I wanted even more of a homage to the 70s kung fu movies. I mean it had a lot of it in there, but it needed more, and not to an absurb point like the first one. Frankly we just need more really badly acted Kung Fu movies with some guy who is like Bruce Lee only better... say this man... or maybe this man
or dare I say it... this man!

This afternoon after church, I just sat on the sofa and enjoyed my last moments of bachelorhood by watching football and playing gameboy. I'm playing Metroid Hunters which is pretty amazing for a gameboy game. Though the stylus and controls are hard and take time to get used to, and then when you get used to it, it still takes a lot of effort and isn't something you could play in a car or on the go. But nevertheless its cool.

Whats been going on

So my blog entries have been a little preachy possibly as of late. So I'm trying not to waste time, that's obvious, but Crabby put it, "Well what are you doing with all that extra time now?"

Woa, one thing at a time. But it was kind of funny, what do I do now? Well for me the big thing is really enjoying my baby and wife while I can. I just invision the future: my career getting more hectic, children growing up, and time being even harder to come by. So I'm really trying to maintain a strong investment into the family. I told crabb, should I be on the street corners preachin? Probably. But right now I think God is really trying to make me become a good father and a good husband, part of which is realizing I'm awful at both and turning to him for help.

Also running has filled a lot of time. Coming home and sitting on the couch and turning on the tv really hasn't happened for me for quite sometime. Do I watch an occasional Startrek Next Generation episode? You bet, they're great. But other than that and an occasional sporting event the TV is just sort of there.

The running thing has been going on for about 2 months. I've had a few hicups the past few weeks. I've had some hip problems that have given my joints and what not a lot of pain. This week I had to work late monday, tuesday we had a banquet to go to, and tonight was soccer (which sort of counts). Sunday I had a big 4 to 5 miles run which I did in about an hour, yes I realize that's incredibly slow. I blame my incredibly small legs and my incredibly large belly for the long run. I've really enjoyed the running though it allows me to unwind after work, pray, think, listen to music, and in general run around.

I've lost some weight, depending on what time I weigh myself and where the moon is in relation to the sun its about 8 to 10 pounds. Though my weight is not really my concern. I'd like to look better as far as appearence but that's not really my main concern. Really my main concern is getting my clothes to fit. I'm a size xx pants, have been for 10 years or so. And I was pushing the boundaries of that size and was looking at having to go up to the next size. But what stinks for guys is when you go up a size you're going up two. Because pants don't come in odd sizes its 30,32,34,36,38,40... So you're going up two sizes which is just so demoralizing.

But after two months of running I think I can comfortably fit into all my pants. The next trick is to pull the pants that I put in stasis lock hoping that the future would someday make a cure for my waistline.

Wifey too has been doing yoga videos and pilates and they've really helped her slim down. The pictures of of her right after AK was born and now are just night and day.

AK does a lot of jumping in the jumperoo, and well, she's a baby so she still has baby fat, but hey she's got her whole life to work on that.

Copper, well he's lazy. He sits, and eats, and sits. He's sort of run out of steam here the past year. I think he know's he's passe and so he doesn't strive to be the fun loving dog he used to be. I haven't seen him play soccer in a long time. He'll still play fetch in the house though, i think he knows the ball/rope can't go too far inside. But outside, he's like, "Eh... excuse me? You through that on the otherside of the yard... i'm not going there."

College Football

Some good football games were on yesterday. I got to watch the big one Ohio St. Texas. In my office pool I had picked Texas but at the last second switched to Ohio St. after I heard some texas guys got arrested. Root picks 10 random games that he thinks are good matchups or are hard to pick games and has about 20 guys or pick them. Its just a braggin rights pool but it gets me to pay attention to the scores. I wanted to watch Notre Dame vs Penn St but we had to make a trip to Sams, real life trumped watching football. But after AK went to bed I watched Ohio St. v Texas up till the last two minutes when it was evident it was over.

I'm not a big Ohio St guy but I like picking the games right. Notre Dame's biggest game will be next week vs Michigan. After that they can sort of put it on cruise control in theory if they win until the last game against USC. They're schedule this year is a little weaker. They lost the TN game, and Michigan St's having an off year. Purdue too, man they used to be a good teen ranked team there for a while.

Yes I realize I'm bloggin about college football. Hey I never said don't watch it, I just said there are plenty of other things that are better uses of our time.

Wifey had a shower for our friends Fran & Aaron (though it was girls only thus Aaron was not there). They're close to having their third child, second boy. It was nice because I got to eat all the leftover food like sausage balls! Whoever invented those should be cannonized. I think its a southern thing because I'd never had them before moving down here. After that we just relaxed, went to Sams to do our last Sams run for a while.

I don't get Sams, they're not very smart. You save a few bucks by buying stuff there, milk is a dollar cheaper, diapers are half the price they are at walmart/target, and a few other things are just nice to have bulk of (pasta for instance). So its like 30 bucks a year, you go once every other month and you've made it worth while (Diapers make it all worth it). But your year's membership comes up for expiration and they ask you to renew but give you no incentive to... its the same price. I might as well just wait a few months until i have to go again. Wifey made this discovery, she's smarter than I am. Somebody in Walmart should realize this and give people who renew a gift card or a reduced rate, 20 bucks instead of 30... but I guess they're too busy scamming the little man and oppressing the working class. Oh well, they make a mean Dr. Thunder.

Expounding on Football Fanaticism and Entertainment and there impact on my Christian walk... or lack there of

I've been re-thinking my arguement on the patheticness of football fanatics here in the south. I still stand by the arguement that in general the fanaticism of football fans here in the south is I think unhealthy.

However can good times and fellowship be had at football games collegiate or pro? Yes of course. Can significant bonding occur when a father and son watch a football game on TV? But of course. So I'm not trying to say that watching football, or being a fan is a bad thing but to use the overused Christian arguement, 'everything in moderation.'

And I think for different people there are different 'requirements' or levels of healthiness. For instance a single guy with little responsiblity might as well spend his saturday afternoon watching a football game, though maybe he owns a house and should work on it while the game's on--have it playing in the background. A married guy might better use his time like the single guy, multi-tasking (house work), or possibly forego the game and take his wife out for a picnic. A married guy with kids, maybe he should take his kids outside and play catch instead of watching the game. But if his kids are into the game then sure why not watch the game with them. There's no fast and set rule I'm trying to outline here.

I know most of the time I'm working around the house, cleaning, hammering, doing jumping jacks, while the game's on. I'll turn on college football because i have some general interest but I realize that sitting on my butt for two hours or more to watch a single game that will have no direct impact on my life seems a bit too much of a commitment. That's two hours I could be working on the house, playing with my child, playing with my dog (who i might add is pretty neglected since AK showed up), talking to friends that I've neglected to keep in touch with, or maybe just talking to my wife as we sit on the porch swing and watch the Covenant students drive too fast on my street.

Like I said there's no rule I'm trying to establish, I'm not that arrogant and legalistic. But I know that God in my life the past summer has really shown me the value of time and how I spend it. I kind of looked back at the past few years and was disappointed when I saw how much TV I had watched. How does that fall into any sort of accomplishment in life? "Chris Holton watched 7 hours of TV a week... Congratulations Chris!" I mean how would God look at my life and the time he gave me? He's blessed me with 26 amazing years of life but I've probably wasted most of it on endless pursuits and meaningless entertainment. Entertainment definately has its place, if we couldn't relax and watch a tv show, sporting event, video game, read a book, etc we'd go crazy. We need time to relax and chill.

But entertainment to me is stopping to smell the roses and relax on the journey of life, a life where we run towards Christ our whole lives. But think about it, if we're always stopping to smell the roses and relax we're not going to actually get anywhere. I can just imagine my debrief of my life after I'm dead (this is actually heavily influenced by the amazingly funny movie by and Starring Albert Brooks, Defending Your Life)

An Angel of Sorts who talks like Lumberg: Now Chris I noticed here on this TPS report that it says your Christian walk started off strong, and you were making some good progress early on in your walk.
Chris: Yeah I was really intense there for a good bit wasn't I?
Angel: Yeaaaah, not too bad, we tend to expect tenacity the first few years of being a Christian. But usually there is a drop off of spiritual passion, but it usually comes back. But with you we noticed you sort of just faded into a lull. You kind of got really wrapped up in TV like Alias, Survivor, Lost, the Office, and frankly never seemed to come up for air. It was like you just got sucked into TV Land and really didn't do anything for a good 20 years of life.
Chris: Well you gotta understand... in Alias season 3, man it was so intense. Sidney was on the run from these terrorists but then they weren't really bad, they were good, but then they were bad.. or at least sort of. Then on lost I just had to figure out what was on the other side of the island and if they were ever going to get off and what was in that hatch...So I mean they got me wrapped up into the plot so I had to keep watching otherwise I'd never know what would happen.
Angel : Yeaaah, well that's just the thing. Tv's not real, and while you were watching TV your kids grew up without a father paying much attention, your wife didn't have help from you really at all, and also the church you attended really could have used some strong leaders and people to help spread the gospel.
Chris: Huh... well I guess I'll try better next time...
Angel: Yeaaaah... well see here's the thing... you're dead so you're kind of done.

I mean we're not measured on our works alone, don't worry I'm not going back to Catholicism. I'm just sort of saying how I think of things really. Take it or leave it.

The Office Comparisons.

So my brother, concerned, got me the Office dvds for my birthday, the british version. And while the wife was away I popped them and watched with glee.

The show is pretty dang hilarious and its interesting to watch the first episode because the american version was exactly the same. Both first episodes are the same with a few small exceptions. And I found myself getting annoyed in the first episode at the American one for making the pilot basically the same. But as I watched more episodes I realized the American version went in a completely different direction and really the cultures are so different that the jokes that can be made and are made are really different.

For one David Brent is a totally different boss from Michael Scott. Brent is more insecure than Carrell's version and seems to need the affirmation of his employees more. Both think they're hilarious in their own way but Michael 's character seems to be indifferent to the fact that he's not, where as Brent seems to get much more hurt when others don't find him funny.

Also the awkwardness is completely different. The British one capitalizes on the more realistic awkward pauses that we have throughout our day, especially in the workplace. We work with people we really don't know on a deeper level and we try to bridge the gaps of our connections with them with pointless conversation, chit chat and what not but when something is said that is over the line, boring, or just out of left field awkwardness ensues, and the British one capitalizes on it. Brent as well as Gareth (the british dwight) are perfect at saying something completely at the wrong time.

Well i gotta go, basically the british one is hilarious and i love it but I still find the american one funnier. The british one in some ways is more realistic (Gervais is a way more realistic boss than Carrell). Champ is way better than Finchy, Finchy is just obnoxious, whereas Champ is that sales rep everyone knows that they just can't stand won't get fired for some reason.

Both Dwight and Gareth are great and I so know two guys that are those guys in real life but due to that being embarrasing for them I won't say who.