Catch-up

Almost a month since the last post; my bad. A lot has happened, actually, so this is just going to be a little catch up post... a blogging buffet, a hodgepodge of happenings, echoes of events, a cornucopia of...stuff.

Concert time: Paula and I rolled with Natalie and Will to The Fray concert. (Check out the blog Paula keeps for pic’s.) It was sweet. They're really good live, almost better than on the CD, which was cool. I did feel a little old, though, with a large contingent of the populous proud graduates of the class of ’07-’10. There were a ton of cameras going off the whole time; a guy next to us about our age said “How does it feel to know you’ll be in the background of 1000 MySpace pictures tomorrow?” Hilarious because it's true.
A week or two after The Fray, Paula decided I could use some culture; we went to an opera at the Atlanta Civic Center. It was The Barber of Seville. All I knew about it was 1) it starred some guy named Figaro 2) he was a barber 3) in Seville 4) Bugs Bunny did a spoof in some Looney Tunes episode 5) it was going to be in Italian 6) I don’t speak Italian.
Two types of people are in this world: those who enjoy the opera and those who hate it like a root canal without Novocain. My wife is the former, I am the latter. I can do a lot of stuff that is in that realm: the theatre (Broadway stuff), art exhibits, classic novels, fine dining…but opera? No. Unfortunately, I will be unable to accommodate my wife in this area. As she goes shopping while I watch football, I'll find something else to do the next time an opera is in town. Like sleep.

Not as think as you drunk I am: My name is Logan, I was a recovering alcoholic, dry for 26 years, 10 months and 16 days. Then I fell off the wagon.
Paula and I attended the birthday celebration of our dear friend Melissa at Carrabba's Italian Restaurant. Evidently it was the only restaurant in all Gwinnett County because it was packed. But we finally got a table and ordered drinks. I ordered my standard issue Ginger Ale with lime; the server asked if I wanted that on the rocks. I said yes, lots of rocks. Melissa’s fiancé Greg also ordered a ginger ale. (As a side note, I’m a big Greg advocate – he’s cool, a doctor and looks like Jack on Lost. )
Anyway, The our drinks are brought out (we had 12 or 13 in our party) and Greg and I both get our ginger ale served in tumblers. It was different, but the place was packed, our server sounded like English was not his native language, so I didn’t worry about it. Until I took a drink. It went down really warm. I didn’t think it was ginger ale; I asked Dr. Greg if he concurred. He did. It was gin. Straight gin. This might not sound like a big deal, but as card-carrying Mormons, we don’t drink alcohol. I was the life of the party. (JK! We sent ‘em back and got our sodas.)
I was talking to my mom a couple days later and mentioned the occurrence; evidently, this wasn’t my first drink. When I was maybe 10 days old, my great-Grandma Bessie was watching me as my parents went Christmas shopping with my aunt and uncle. My mom asked how I was when they got back; Grandma Bessie said I cried and seemed a bit colicy, so she gave me some whiskey and sugar and I fell right asleep. Mom was horrified.

Blood is thick: We (Paula, her brother Ty, and I) rolled to AZ from Atlanta over Thanksgiving for Ben and Ryanne’s wedding in Mesa. (Again, see Paula’s post for pictures and such.) It was 1900 miles each way. Tickets are ridiculous expensive over Thanksgiving ($1000+ for us to fly) so I rented a car off of Priceline.com for $20/day. It was a 2007 Chevy Equinox with 4300 miles on it when I picked it up…it had 8400 when I dropped it off six days later. They probably should change the oil.
It was a really good time. I really enjoyed seeing my family and meeting Ryanne’s family. They are really nice people, very genuine and accommodating. My dad put me on the spot at the luncheon, telling me I needed to say something about Ben in about five-ten minutes. Some guy stood up right before me and said some stuff; let’s just say his rambling made my job really easy. That is all.
Anyway, it was quite the trek; we made the drive out straight through, much to the dismay of everyone but me. On long drives it’s like I become part of the vehicle and can just go and go and go. I drove 20 of the 26 hours on the way out and 18 of the 26 on the way back. One word, two syllables: Road Warrior.

BYU4LIFE: BYU beat Utah on the final play of the game, an amazing feat of strength shown by senior quarterback John Beck as he threw a touch down from the 12-yard line 34 yards across the field, across his body while in the grasp of a defender to the far side of the end zone to Johnny Harline for the TD.
Beck is 2nd in the nation in completion percentage and pass efficiency, 6th in passing yards (He missed the Utah State game with ankle injuries; his back up passed for over 300 yards, which would have put John at 3rd in passing yards.) and tied with Heisman favorite Troy Smith with 30 TD’s (again, in one less game).
I’m not a blind fan; BYU would get rocked if they played one of the top five teams in the nation; I think they’d be within a touchdown of any team ranked 6-10; I think they’d have a good a shot as not with any opponent 11-20. I predicted at the beginning of the season on this blog BYU would finish the regular season at 10-2 and MWC champs. Who’s the man? Me…and Beck…and Harline…and a lot of other people.

*&$%!: This is an expletive. Last week, Wednesday, I was driving home from work and was hit by another car – a 1996 Jeep Cherokee – and it bashed in my back door on the drivers side. The kid just wasn’t paying attention and nailed me; even now I am getting upset as I write. Anyway, the claims adjuster for this kids insurance company – Progressive – came out and said the damage is a total loss. I think that’s stupid because I still drive it to work, but because the damage is estimated at $2800 (overbid if you ask me) and my car doesn’t book for that much, they want to cut me a check for what it books for ($2000) and then I’m supposed to sign the title over to them!
Whatever. I’m going to tell them to gut me a check for a hundred or so less than the book value and I’ll go to a salvage yard, find a door and replace it myself. What am I supposed to do? Try to find a decent car with $2000? Seriously. The anger sharks are swimming…

That’s about it. Side notes: Nancy Pelosi is crazy…The BCS lives down to its billing…Reggie Bush may live up to his…Kramer’s career is over…Michael Irvin’s should be…Britney Spears is white-trash and a joke…The UN is the international version of Britney…The new Bond movie rocks…The USC-UCLA game also...I’ll be 27 soon…I’m hungry now…