Another hurricane was headed our way...but then it moved west. They always move west for some reason. When hurricanes miss us, I tend to not take them as seriously. That was a mistake in this case. I've never been to Biloxi or New Orleans. It looks as though there won't be much of a chance to go for a while.

Back to follow-up...

The Story of Mr. Devine
The Braves had jumped out to a strong lead in their division. Lately, the lead has been a bit more tenuous. I went to my first game of the year with my dad a few weekends ago. One Friday night, he informed me that he probably had tickets for the Saturday afternoon game. As I'd been meaning to get to a game this year and I'd never been to one in the afternoon, I gladly accepted his invitation. The game was a pitching duel for the most part. The Padres jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

Finally, in the 7th, the Braves broke through to take a 2-1 lead. Then, they promptly allowed the Padres to tie it at 2-2. The game hung in the balance, and I cringed when they brought in a number of relievers from the bullpen. I don't much trust the bullpen. The game held though, as the extra innings piled on. My two favorite types of games are blowouts (where my team wins) and ones that go deep into extra innings. In fact, an inordinate amount of games that I attend seem to go into extra innings. Three of the past four have gone to the tenth inning or beyond.

After a while, a calm set in and there was little doubt in my mind that the Braves would emerge victorious. When they brought in a pitcher named Devine who was making his major league debut...no worries. He pitched a dominant twelfth. Even when he gave up a double in the thirteenth and then issued an intentional walk, it didn't shake me. When he walked a guy after that to load the bases, there were hints of cracks, but with two outs and two strikes, it seemed that the slight slip would be forgotten.

The crowd in the stadium stood up and applauded - certain in the forthcoming strike out from the fireballer. And then...a terrible thing happened in Mr. Devine's appointment with destiny. The batter got a lock on the pitch, and with a mighty swing launched it skyward. The stadium was silent. The ball shot through the air and over the center field wall. The Padres had a grand slam. A disheartening letdown...to say the least. I stuck out the finish of the game as I don't like leaving early. I'd like to say that the Braves staged an admirable comeback, but they went down 7-2 in the end.

I'd also like to tell you that Devine turned it all around in his next performance, but I can't do that either. Several games later in Chicago, he came in and gave up another grand slam. Apparently, he's the first major leaguer to ever pull that off. He seems like a decent pitcher, but his story is indicative of the bullpen failures that have been going on all season. The rest of the team has been great, but the bullpen really scares me.

Choctaw, Baby, Choctaw
A weekend prior, my dad and I had taken a roadtrip in the opposite direction. I visited Mississippi for the first time (that I recall). We set out on a Friday afternoon and arrived early that evening. Based on my previous Indian casino experience, I wasn't expecting too much from the complex in Choctaw, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Pearl River Resort. The casinos and hotels were much grander than I'd imagined. The poker room wasn't quite up to the scale of others that I've seen, but with eight tables running, it wasn't too shabby.

I'd never played live poker with strangers for money, so I was somewhat nervous initially. When I sat down and started playing, I'm sure my heart was racing. I've played 3/6 Limit Hold Em before though, so I wasn't too freaked out. The first few hours were mostly a wash. I won decent pots occasionally, and I lost a huge ($100) pot on the river to a one-outer (there was only one card in the deck that would win for my opponent). Certainly good experience.

Finally, I decided to gather up my chutzpah and meander over to the 2/5 No Limit Hold Em table. There was a young guy in a cowboy hat and sunglasses sitting next to me. Several hands after I sat down, I looked down to find two jacks. Under-the-gun (UTG) raised to $10. I re-raised to $40. Call. Call. Call. Call. I've never wished so hard to flop a jack. Fortunately, the flop came jack-high, and I took a $200 pot. I won one more decent pot after that and decided to not press my luck further.

My dad and I took a break, grabbed a comped dinner, and toured the other casino. I decided to play some more 3/6 Limit afterwards, and had a fairly miserable few hours. I think I went 2-3 hours without winning a single hand. Very frustrating to say the least. Luckily, I finally won a sizeable one (putting me almost back to even on the table), grabbed a free hotdog, and decided to call it a night.

Again, poker stories...not interesting, but I thought that I'd share my first casino poker experience. I'm looking forward to going again, but I'm not quite sure when that will happen.

Ramblin' Man
I've decided to jump around chronologically in this entry. A week and a half before the casino trip, my dad and I went on a business trip around the southeast. First, we dropped by Columbus, GA, then headed to Enterprise, AL, swung through Jacksonville, FL, and finally got back into Auburn late that night. The only frustrating part of the trip was that the air-conditioning in his car was broken. I'm not quite sure why we didn't take mine. I slept a large part of the time, so I'm not sure that I was a very good travel companion.

After a day back in Auburn, I got back on the road and headed to Chattanooga. From there, I went with my mom, sister, and Jonathan to Jonathan's family reunion in Hickory, NC. As I noted before, I was prepared for something somewhat awkward, but I knew that if I relaxed, it'd probably be fine. I considered it one of those "Go in with low expectation" events. We ended up staying in a hotel that was a few minutes away from the lake house. Most everyone that we met was pretty nice and outgoing. The first night, we went out on the pontoon boat to look at the lavish houses. Afterwards, we pulled out Boggle. I didn't win, but I think I held my own.

The second night, we played some Mafia. After narrating the first two games, I decided to play. The Mafia decided to kill me the first night. Some people thought it was mean, but I thought it was funny. I'm hoping to get the game going again in Auburn. I know I've been saying that for a while, but seriously...Saturday nights...it's coming back.

The next day, I had my first jet-ski experience. I rode with my mom for around 30 seconds before realizing that it's not nearly as difficult as I'd imagined. Within minutes, I was quickly zipping across the lake at full speed, looking for boat wake in order to make jumps. I think I did pretty well overall. I did take a bit of a spill on the last day when I decided to get fancy and try to jump a wave sideways. We also had a fun time tubing on the last day. After snowboarding in the spring and jet-skiing this summer, I'm wondering if skydiving should be next on the list.

All extremed-out, we headed home, taking a meandering route through the mountains and stopping to eat at a small restaurant along the Nantahala River.

Hello in Japanese
I wasn't back in Chattanooga long before Scotty swung through and picked me up on the way to Ohio. We went to King's Island near Cincinnati the first night. We only had an hour or so that evening, but we packed in quite a rollercoasters, including the only "wooden loop" in the world. When we visited the next day, we rode everything else along with a few repeats. The Tomb Raider ride was really unusual. I'm not sure that I've ever ridden anything like it before. It was fun...apart from making your face feel like it's going to explode. The lines really weren't bad at all, so we ended up being finished with the park early that afternoon, and got back on the road for Sandusky.

We stayed on-site at Cedar Point. The last time (two years ago), we hadn't stayed anywhere at all, so it was a welcome change to have a nice, close hotel room. The hotel was quite nice - several restaurants, pools, and a beach. We also got the benefit of going into the park an hour early the next morning. The lines were certainly a bit longer than at King's Island, but compared to my last visit to Cedar Point, they really weren't bad. We got to ride all the coasters - including Top Thrill Dragster (which wasn't working the last time). All in all, I think the trip was a success. Scotty had been wanting to take it for a while.

Amish-mash
Several hours after I arrived back in Chattanooga, I headed to the airport, bound for Philadelphia. The details of who was picking me up and where I was going to stay were a little sketchy, but I considered that part of the fun. Fortunately, Evan's cousin picked me up and took me to meet Evan and the rest of the guys. We spent most of that afternoon driving around Amish country, getting ready for the rehearsal and evening. At the rehearsal dinner, I became reacquainted with some old acquaintances and met a few new people, including the wedding's violinist...who I have to admit that I crushed on a bit, despite the fact that she had a boyfriend. That's always the case though, right? The good ones are always already in a relationship.

The next afternoon, I cut my hair myself, while most of the wedding party was busy getting photographed. The wedding took place in a small country church, just one house down from where Becca grew up. A number of Amish people attended the wedding, while others watched from the yard across the street. I suppose it's what passes for entertainment. Oh, and we saw an Amish kid rollerblading. That's a fun sight. The reception was just as big as the rehearsal dinner, and it involved a pretty insane limbo contest. I was happy to get through over half the field, but my back didn't like me too much afterwards.

I got dropped off at the airport early the next morning and had to sit around for quite a few hours before my flight. I also got delayed in Atlanta. It gave me a chance to catch up on my reading though. During my trips, I reviewed some basic Japanese phrases, read a bit of another Bryson book, and finally read "Reflections on the Psalms" and "Surprised by Joy" by C.S. Lewis. I'd started them on other occasions, but I'd inevitably misplaced them and stopped. The Psalms book had some interesting insight on the purpose of the more "harsh" chapters. His partial autobiography gave me more insight into the author that I'd most like to meet.

Speaking of books, I've also continued to devour ones that deal with poker. I think our library is nearing ten.

Ease Back
I stayed in Chattanooga for a couple of days before coming back to Auburn. This place is dead when school isn't in session, but it gave me a nice last bit of lazy vacation before the semester. I'm trying to get back to a more involved level. I might be starting back at WEGL.

This fall, I'm taking a lot of language classes. I'm done with Spanish, but I'm taking a couple of French classes, another Italian class, and my first Latin class. French (particularly the pronunciation) is as frustrating as usual, but I have some friends in the classes, and the others don't look to be difficult. I'm also taking Computer Architecture & Design (an EE elective) and the fourth EE lab. I'm not quite sure what to think of the first yet. It's basically "How A Computer Works", but that can either be fairly basic or quite complex. The lab looks like it'll be a lot of fun. We're building a "robot" - basically, a vehicle that has to detect and travel around a track. Stuff like that's why I got into the field...though initially the task seemed/seems a little daunting.

The Picture Show & Vulgate
So, I haven't seen a lot of movies lately, but I have managed to catch a few. "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin" definitely had some funny moments. The first's plot was a little predictable, but Vaughn and Wilson always have a way of keeping the action funny. The second actually had more depth to it than I would've thought. I wasn't sure that the premise was big enough or that Carell could carry a movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. I do have to say that both movies might've gone a bit overboard with the crudity. I think that's been pretty common in film lately...which is somewhat disappointing.

Robert and I had a discussion about this the other day. I'm not easily offended, so I don't shy away from entertainment that might offend those with tighter sensibilities. That said, I try to be considerate of those that don't want to be subjected to it. For example, I rarely "cuss". It's not a matter of thinking that the words are "lesser" words that show a fault in one's vocabulary. They're legitimate words that express ideas. Certain phonetic combinations aren't immoral of themselves. The immorality of language comes from the motivation behind it. There are plenty of tame, socially acceptable words that can become vile when said in hate.

Anyway, back to vulgarity in the media...I guess I don't mind it as much when there's artistic purpose and/or intelligence behind it. There are examples of gratuitous vulgarity that offend me. Violence for the sake of violence is pointless. Violence for the sake of provoking thought has a point. South Park commonly comes up in these conversations. I think it's a smart, funny show. However, lots of people are offended by it because they don't look beyond the surface. Most of the episodes engage current events and personalities in social critique. The creators are modern-day Voltaires. If you've read Candide, you'll recall that it had some rather "racy" material.

So what else have I seen? Well, I finally caught "Once Upon A Time In Mexico", the third Mariachi movie with Antonio Banderas. It's got a stylized, over-the-top violence that reminds me of Tarantino. Banderas' character is prominent, but he's not quite as central as you might imagine. The movie is filled with a cast of characters with interweaving plots. It succeeds in creating interesting figures. Depp's character is flat out hilarious. Unfortunately, the movie is super-convoluted. The story tries to twist every five minutes, leaving the plot a muddled mess. It's worth a viewing, I suppose, but mostly for the sake of watching Depp. Just fast-forward through the other parts, and you'll get a 45 minute movie of clever acting and dialogue.

Futbol
Finally, I would amiss to not address football. After last year, expectations for Auburn were running high. We'd finally get another shot at Georgia Tech (after the debacle in 2003). We'd have our revenge. David W and his girlfriend Bekah came in town for the game. I chose to refrain from confident predictions, but I figured we'd win. Ray was out of town, so David used his student pass. Bekah had bought a student ticket of a friend of a friend. Well, we got to the stadium, and the pass didn't work. Fortunately, I ran into the VP of Student Affairs (who I'd talked with regularly during my SGA days), and he helped us get her into the game, but he couldn't get her into the student section. David went to sit with her, while I went to sit with Auburn friends for the first half. The first quarter looked bad. We were getting run over. Fortunately, we saw signs of life at the end of the quarter and the team began a comeback.

At the half, we were still down, but the comeback seemed inevitable. I went over to hang out with David and Bekah in the Georgia Tech visitor section. We were one row behind some ex GT football players...one of whom was not happy about my presence. Fortunately, he had a buddy that was an Auburn fan. As the game wore on, we remained on the cusp of a rally. Finally, in the fourth quarter, we flushed it. We flat out flushed it. Interceptions and fumbles galore. I sat dejectedly. It had been almost two years since I'd watched Auburn lose, and it wasn't pleasant to revisit it. The particular point of frustration is that we're not scheduled to play GT again, so the possibility for revenge is delayed indeterminately. We bounced back a little and had a good showing this week, but we're very likely going to lose at least a couple more games this season. Is it too early to be optimistic about next year?

I've got a few more topics in mind to discuss, but I think I may save them for the next entry. Luego.

Aww. I want a Bengal Cat.