Sunday, September 28, 2008

Its Amazing ....

Whooo Hooo, the new season of Amazing Race started tonight. We watch a lot of television in this house, and the Amazing Race is one of our favorite reality shows. This marks the thirteenth season and if the rest of the season is as fun as the first episode, it will be a good one.

If your not familiar with the show or missed tonights episode, you can catch up here. We will be selecting our favorite teams during the second episode. If you would like to play along with us, chose a team and post it in the comments. I will post our teams in the next blog.

Speaking of television, tonight is also the season kickoff for several other shows which means the beginning of the "who is going to the bedroom to watch television" season. Sunday is our biggest conflict night between Desperate Housewives, Brother and Sisters, True Blood, Skins, BBC Specials, Cold Case, football, etc. So, I am sitting on the bed watching True Blood while Elizabeth watches Desperate Housewives.

I've got a little trip lined up for tomorrow evening. A few freinds and I are going to Birmingham to see a concert. The headlining band is Clutch. Clutch has a really unique sound that reflects influences of punk, hard rock, and stoner rock with a subtle shot of southern rock. Check them out at their website.

Green Tip: As I mentioned a few posts ago, I was going to postpone the green posts for a few weeks while we did a better job of getting the previous tips in place. Instead of providing a new tip this time, I thought I would provide an update for everyone. Since Elizabeth starting getting hardcore about the recycling in the house, we have cut our weekly trash output to the dump in half. Its amazing at how little is actually going into the trash now.

On the water front, I am starting to monitor our water usage a little more closely. We had a huge spike in water usage during the month of the bathroom remodel. I know its only been a couple of months since the remodel was complete but it looks the volume output is going to trend down approximately 1000 gallons a month.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Ladies Playing Golf ...

It's no secret that Big E and I enjoy a day on the links. Today, we tried something a little different, we went to see the LPGA play in Prattville, AL. This was our first professional golf tournament to attend. The ladies are playing the "Senator" course at the Robert Trent Jones Trail in Prattville. The RTJ as we affectionately call it in Alabama is rated as one of the best public places to play golf in America. The tournament is the Navistar tournament.

We arrived around 9:00 AM this morning and promptly found a great location at the par three sixteenth hole. From our vantage point, we had a clear view of the sixteenth, a view of the green at twelfth and with a little leg work, we had views of three other holes.

Regretfully, one of my favorite female golfers did not participate in the tournament. However, many of the best females did participate. We really enjoyed the day at the course. After returning home, we watched ourselves on the Golf Channel. Its true that television adds twenty pounds (at least) to a person.

If you want to see a beautiful Scottish highlands style course, check out the coverage on the Golf Channel.

Alabama is about to start now, so I will go. Rollllll Tiiiidddddeee.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

From Theives to Fugitives

So I was thinking that the follow up to the last blog would be a brighter day and a better subject ... HOWEVER, at the Lee house the drama keeps getting better and better.

I started this blog because of a string of dramatic moments at our house and I thought it would be fun to document and share those moments. Actually, I was drinking and figured that one day I would look back on these moments and ..... 1. remember them and 2. find them funny. Again, sorry mom, I am only trying to tell the truth.

With three teenage girls, I feel that I am overly qualified to discuss boy troubles, best friends gone bad, he said/she said situations, and every other form of drama involved in growing up today (except the drama of being a cheerleader, thank God for the little things).

Since starting the blog, I've had a few really funny moments to document including a few that I didn't share to save myself the memories. Funnier, some didn't even involve the girls, which should be a lesson learned for you parents of little people!!!! It's true, mom (rarely but sometimes dad) are sometimes the drama.

Yesterday, we received one of those ultimate drama moments. One of those, rock you to your socks moments, when I fear for the life of my kids and the freedom of my wife. Let me preach on this one for a moment ....

After getting home, Elizabeth went to check the mail and retrieve the usual, bills. Instead of bills, Elizabeth held in her hand an official document from the Montgomery County Courthouse with Jessica's name on it. I am going to spare everyone a few of the words that were spoken at this point, but let's just say that Jessica went from child 1 to child 5.

After opening what she thought would be a running a red light ticket, Big E learned that Jessica was a wanted fugitive!!!!! NO JOKE, Jessica is a "Wanted Man" or woman in this case.

After much discussion and fretting, Elizabeth and I left for our weekly dinner at one of the local Mexican restaurants. Fat boy must eat.

So this morning, they headed out for the local traffic court. After a little discussion with the little lady behind the counter, Elizabeth finally figured out that someone had screwed up. There are a total of four Jessica Knights in the Montgomery area and one of them had managed to get a ticket for running a red light, BUT, she apparently didn't bother to pay the bill. As a result, the county was looking for her!!!

The problem was that the county was looking for the wrong Jessica and the wrong one was ours.

Now, looking at the warrants, Jessica was wanted for not paying the bill for "driving without a drivers license" and for "driving without insurance". Two out of three of these problems were directed at our daughter but one managed to make it to the appropriate person (running a red light). This only fueled the problem with Big E who requested a supervisor as soon as the lady behind the counter presented her "I could care less" attitude.

At this point, fear for our daughter disappears and fear for the courthouse employee kicks in ....

Luckily, the supervisor had a some sense OR his "pissed off mom" radar went off and he realized it was time to back peddle. The bottom line is that Big E was promptly presented with official documents from the city stating that Jessica is not a criminal. I don't know if this will pacify her or not, but I pray for the soul of the one that created the issue should she pursue it further (and our checkbook too).

Anyway, our Jessica is not a wanted person!!!! She still got a lesson learned by spending her morning hanging out at the traffic court watching the innocent and not so innocent people pleading their cases. I fear for the idiot that made whatever mistake he/she made and the supervisor, and the manager, and the city councilman, etc.

Until next time .... check these TAPAs .....

1. Jessica was accepted to Faulkner University.
2. Jessica received another letter today from Faulkner letting us know that she will receive 50% off her tuition.

Those are both awesome, but even better ...

1. The new AC/DC album comes out in a few weeks.
2. I got AWESOME tickets to see AC/DC in Atlanta this past Saturday!!!
3. Elizabeth is scarred and I don't blame her.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Thieves ... Robbing me of my life

Its been a really long time since I've felt the desire to be as violent as I feel right now!!!

By nature, I am not a violent person. I do enjoy watching what many would consider to be violent television, movies and video games. However, none of those mediums are driving me to my present state of desire.

Let me admit that a majority of the blame needs to be laid squarely in the laps of Big E and I. Apparently, I have ignored my wife and kids telling me about our antivirus subscription lapsing; and as a result, the "kids" computer has been left without adequate antivirus, spyware and malware protection. At the same time, one might think that my wife would take it upon herself to resolve the issue or that one of our intelligent young daughters could have taken a little more initiative. Regardless, I am at fault (see I recognize who doesn't wear the pants in this house).

As for the little people who take it upon themselves to devote hours of potentially productive time creating computer viruses, maybe they would be better served to rot in a cell with a new "friend".

To "rid" myself of this problem, I have spent the past two nights reading other peoples thoughts on he problem (some not as nice as mine), restoring the computer back to its original software configuration, loading and unloading and reloading software, and now I am in the process of loading nearly 100 Windows updates.

Lesson Learned: if your not protected don't go surfing the Internet and if you don't know the application, don't download it (that one is for my girls).

No green tip this post. The reason for the lack of a green post is that I need time to absorb and put into action the previous posts AND I am tired from dealing with this stupid virus. Maybe next time.

Oh yeah, ROOLLLLLLLLLLLL TIIIIIIIIIIDDDDEEE!!! and WARRRRRRR CHICKEN for all my Auburn friends and family.

Speaking of Auburn, check out the Auburn Elvis here.