Bless You Boys

New Orleans has officially gone Saints crazy. The boys in black and gold beat the Vikings last weekend to win the NFC Championship and earn their way into their first ever Super Bowl. Basically, at this point its impossible not to be a Saints fan if you live in this city. With the exception of UK Basketball, I've never seen a fan base that loved its team with a more burning passion than these Saints fans and their excitement is contagious. We are way past the point of respect or even love...we're at full blown hero worship status at this point. we said a prayer for the Saints in church on Sunday and everywhere you go around town there are signs people have put up proclaiming their support of the team. My favorites are the ones that say, "God Bless You Boys."

I'd imagine there are those of you who would say that this is "just a football team" and that its inappropriate, sac religious even, to show so much love and yes, worship this group of people. Whatever. The natives tell me that this Saints team has done more to reunite and rejuvenate the city since Katrina than anything else has or possibly could. At least for a time, this team has erased racial and socioeconomic bounderies and brought the people of New Orleans together, fighting for a common cause. People here are happy; they have something to celebrate...for some of them this is the first time in a long time that has been the case. New Orleans has found its way into a national spotlight for something positive for once, and the Saints have given these people something to take pride in. We wear our black and gold every Friday, we echo back the Saints chant of "Who Dat" to each other when we pass in the hallways and the local radio station has taken to playing nothing but songs written for the Saints. There is already a parade scheduled the the week after the Super Bowl and win or lose, the team will be escorted through the streets of New Orleans like heroes.

WHO DAT!

Wow

I am so unbelievably blessed by the people in my life...far more than I could ever hope for or deserve.

My Thoughts for Today

"You ain’t gonna believe this...but you use to fit right here. (Rocky holds up his right hand) I’d hold you up and say to your mother, this kid is gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid is gonna be better than anybody I ever knew...and you grew up good and wonderful it was great just watching you everyday it was like a privilege. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world and you did... But somewhere along the line you changed...you stopped being you...you let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good...and when things got hard you started looking for somethin' to blame...like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows, it's a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, nobody is gonna hit as hard as life! But it ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep movin' forward, how much you can take...and keep movin' forward. That's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth! But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointin' fingers sayin' you ain’t where you wanna be because of him or her or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!"
--Rocky Balboa


I've been around for you
I've been up and down for you
But I just can't get any relief
I've swallowed my pride for you
I've lived and lied for you
But you still make me feel like a thief.

You got me stealin' your love away'
Cause you never give it
Peeling the years away
And we can't relive it
I make you laugh,
And you make me cry
I believe it's time for me to fly.

You said we'd work it out
You said that you had no doubt
That deep down we were really in love
Oh, but I'm tired of holding on
To a feeling I know is gone
I do believe that I've had enough

I've had enough of the falseness
Of a worn out relation
Enough of the jealousy
And the intoleration
Oh, I make you laugh
And you make me cry
I believe it's time for me to fly

Time for me to fly
Oh, I've got to set myself free
Time for me to fly
And that's just how it's got to be
I know it hurts to say goodbye
But it's time for me to fly.
--REO Speedwagon

We're Baaaaaaa-aaaaack!

And oh, how sweet it is...

Crack Cake

Ugh. Someone brought a King Cake to work today and left it in the kitchen for everyone to share. I would now like to hunt this person down and kill. Don't they know you can't bring crack around an addict without them relapsing??? I'm either going to chew my hand off or devour the entire thing within the next hour. I honestly don't know which it will be.

People

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun it out, but when the drakness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
--Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

I am still amazed, every single day, by people. I'm amazed by how badly we treat each other sometimes, for no good reason. I've learned that people will hurt each other; they'll do horrible awful things to cut one another down in order to fill themselves with some hollow sense of comfort. They'll say whatever hurtful things they can think of in the moment; they'll criticize; they'll argue; they'll belittle and mock and yell. I've learned that a great many people are insecure and hard-hearted and when you get right down to it at the end of the day, care only about themselves.

But every once in awhile I meet someone who surprises me. It's a rare thing indeed but every so often you're lucky enough to come in contact with someone who, despite their circumstances in life, treats other people with a kindness that they do not even deserve. These people are able to turn the other cheek, to be the bigger person, and no matter how bleak the situation may be, maintain a sense of peace and joy about life. I've observed people like this and I've noticed that in most cases, these are not the wealthiest people or the most beautiful, or the people with the best jobs or houses or clothes. Rather they are the ones who have chosen not to let the drudgery of life bring them down. They have something inside them, lighting them from the inside out.

And isn't that amazing?

Pocket Calls

So, I got a new cell phone last week. Not because I wanted to you understand, but because it became a necessity. You know those supposedly indestructible SIM cards that cell phones have? Yeah. Well. Guess who managed to destruct hers? And I have no idea how! I was just sitting on the couch last week and I reached into my pocket to answer a text when my phone went ballistic and died right there in front of me. At least it wasn't a slow, painful drawn out affair; it was more a like one minute it was fine, the next it was deader than a doornail. Granted, I've had this phone for approximately forever and it was older than dirt, so I had known for awhile it was only a matter of time before it kicked the proverbial bucket. This was my old phone:

That's right; I was still rocking the old Samsung flip phone, baby. (You should have seen the looks on the faces of the girls at the AT&T store when I whipped that bad boy out). And I loved that phone too. I'll admit I've been kinda sorta wanting a cool new Smart phone for awhile but I also didn't know that I cared to spend the money when I had a perfectly good phone that still worked.

Anyway, once Old Phone died, I had to get something so I hightailed it down to the AT&T store and after spending an hour agonizing over the different styles and texting back and forth with my sister (who LOVES her Blackberry) I decided to go with this one. Meet Polly:

Pretty snazzy, huh? (I justified this because after the rebate and a $50 coupon I had for being "such a good customer," the phone itself was FREE to me). I should tell you here that I'm by no means a techo geek. Once I figure out how to use a new piece of technology I ride that until its dead. It's not that I'm opposed to learning how to use something new, I just...I dunno. It feels like a lot of work sometimes. I was so comfortable with my old phone that I could do just about anything on it without even looking. Not so much now. What I'm telling you is that I've got this awesome new phone and I have no earthly idea how to use it. I'm kinda figuring out texting and I think I can make phone calls but I feel like this phone still has a lot of untapped potential that I'm not using yet. Also, I feel like I'm probably doing unnecessary retarded things simply because I don't know where all the buttons are for different functions.

Case in point: As I was leaving bible study last night I got a call from my Grandad. Its always great to hear from him but I just found it random that he was calling me at 9:00 pm on a Tuesday night. Well apparently, he was returning my phone calls. Yes calls. Calls that I had no memory of making. Calls that I apparently made from my pocket because I don't yet know how to lock the keypad on this new phone and I'm so used to the old flip phone that I don't even think twice about sliding this new one into my pocket. "Yeah I saw where you had called a couple times," he told me, "And I had a voice mail that was just a bunch of static and then a hang up so I thought it might be you." Great. Not only am I making pocket calls,I'm leaving pocket voice mails too.

My point in all this is that if you get a bunch of missed calls from me in the next few days its not that I do or don't want to talk to you its just that I probably don't even realize I've called. Don't take it personally.

(And by the way, my Grandad's suggestion was just to get some pants with looser pockets). ;-)