Happy Birthday Case--A Day Late

Case turned 1 yesterday. My how time flies when you have little ones. He also walked in front of me and Whit for the first time, which was very exciting. His first couple of days started out rough, staying in the NICU and all, but he's a tough little guy and now enjoys trying to climb the stairs and jumping off the fireplace at the new house.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Caser. Daddy loves you very much.

Things I Hate

--That I don't have as much time as I used to to write stuff on here

--When cars drive the speed limit or slower in the fast lane

--Open cabinets

--That every day that passes is one day closer to the time that my kids become grown

--The drive from Paris to Nashville and then back to Paris...sometimes

--What I see when I look in the mirror...sometimes

--News reports about another murder, rape, child abduction, and so on

--The fact that I push Cade so hard to be the athlete that I always wanted to be when he has no interest at all

--Civil Procedure

--When a car is coming up on you on the interstate, but not fast enough to go by you before you have to hit your brake

--Driving in a downpour

--That I'm not the Christian example I should be as a father, husband, brother, friend, etc., etc. etc.

--How depressing this is starting to sound

--That I convinced my wife to quit a job she loved to move back to Paris and work somewhere she absolutely hates

--Laffy Taffy

--Conversations that make absolutely no sense it all

--The fact that my wife has shed numerous tears because of something I have said or done

--The fact that Lane Kiffin has run his mouth to the point that the Gators are going to do their best to put up 77 on the Vols this Saturday

--Captain D's fish

--Kanye West's attitude

--When people say that if you don't agree with the President, you are racist

--Cats

--When people broadcast their problems to their friends via their status on Facebook or Myspace or Twitter

New Blog

I have started a new blog here. Check it out of you feel like it.

The Passing of a Legend

Les Paul died today. He was 94, I think.

Many people probably have no idea who Les Paul was, but the man changed my life, in a roundabout way. Seeing Slash play guitar made me want to learn how to play guitar, because I, to this very day, can't think of anything that looks cooler than Slash in his top hat with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a Les Paul hanging off of his shoulders. But that image, in countless videos, was part of my inspiration to learn how to play guitar.

While my first guitar wasn't a Les Paul, it didn't take me long to get one. It was a sunburst Epiphone Les Paul, and after getting over how awesome it looked hanging on the wall of Leach's Music, my next thought was I couldn't believe how heavy it was. I remember that they let me take it to the back and play it and from that moment, I was hooked. I sold my Peavy to Carl just so I could get it. I was king for a while, simply because I now owned a Les Paul.

Then one day, for some dumb reason, I traded it to Daniel Ross for a Squire (which is basically a generic Fender). Seriously. I'm sure at the time I had my reasons, but looking back at it, that was one of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life. If Daniel was a true friend, he should have been like, "Jeremy, this is dumb. It's a Les Paul. I'm trading you a Squire. Come on man. Wake up!" So thanks Daniel. Just kidding.

I had my Stratocaster for a while, but when Soapbox started playing on a semi-regular basis, I got the itch for another Les Paul, but not just any one would do. I wanted a white one, with gold hardware and a black pickguard. I looked and looked and finally found one. So I think I maxed out my Discover card to get it. I even named it Excalibur because I thought it was that awesome. I got more compliments on that guitar the first night I played it then any other I've ever had. Where is it now? Daniel Ross has it. But it's still mine. No stupid trades this time. He was just wanting a Les Paul himself so I let him borrow it, for about 2 years now.

So while this entire blog sounds like it is about a boys desire to look cool and have a cool guitar, it is also about the man who created it. Thank you Les Paul for changing my life. Even though we never met, you helped make me part of who I am today.

That Looks Like Fun

This has got to be one of the best things I've seen in a while. It would be fun to do, just to change things up a bit, but I can't picture Jeff and Lori dancing down the aisle, and I'm pretty sure it would have done Pa in. But it worked great for these guys. Enjoy.

Hey Hey Hey and Other Interesting Stuff

--So it seems that after I wrote my previous post, trashing the State of Tennessee and the way that some of its organizations seem to go out of their way to keep people from moving up in this world, I got my transfer after all. I'm not sure what changed the minds of those involved, but I really don't care. The only thing I care about is that I will be 2 minutes from home and won't have to make that long trip every day. I will miss everyone that I see in Dickson and Charlotte on a regular basis, but this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up. It's what is best for me and my family and that's why I am doing it.

--Cade is going to Holiday World and to a St. Louis Cardinals game later this month. Nothing like being jealous of your 7-year old.

--I heard on the news today that China is executing a man who was convicted of DUI. Now anyone that knows me knows that I am a supporter of capitol punishment when used correctly, but even I had to shake my head on this one. The man did kill 4 people when he crashed into them; and is there a whole lot of difference between willfully drinking yourself stupid and then driving which leads to the death of 4 innocent people and taking a gun and shooting someone? Not much, but still. I guess China never has been the best example of how to recognize the rights of humans though.

--Fox News is reporting that Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose is missing. Just when you thought you had heard all the weirdness you thought you could about the freak, something else like this pops up.

--Whitney got her check for summer therapy yesterday and only had 1 question: "Why in the world have I not been doing this the whole time???"

--The homerun saving, PERFECT GAME saving catch that Dewayne Wise made in centerfield during Buehrle's no-no was the most awesome thing I have seen in a while when it comes to the sport's world. Absolutely unbelievable!

--Peace out homeys!

Thanks for all your hard work...Now go eff youself!

I got some really discouraging news earlier today and where better to vent about it than on the world wide web??

First, some background: We moved back to Paris. At first, my plans were to just suck it up and drive back and forth to Dickson each day to work, but I quickly realized just how much of a toll that was going to take on me. So I found out that there is an open position in the Paris BOPP office and asked to be transferred. Me, being the stand-up guy that I am, was completely honest with the manager of this district and told him about my school schedule and that I would have to work an weird schedule in order to get my 37.5 hours each week. When I informed him of this, he talked about how outstanding it was that I was in law school and how great it is that I am trying to better myself. Unfortunately, me trying to better myself ended up screwing me over.

I got an email today from the manager telling me that I would not be able to transfer to any office in his district because my school schedule conflicts with their office's late reporting day. He thanked me for showing interest in coming to work less than a mile from where I live now and wished me luck.

When you work for a state government, you are pretty much at home with the fact that you are not going to get paid very much and you are going to have little to no chance of advancing unless you know the right people. Not everyone is like this. My friend Jamie worked hard and made it to the top that way, but he is really one of the exceptions.

When you are an employee and looking the big-wigs in the face, they will tell you all of this bull about how they want you to better yourself and make a better life for yourself and your family, but then they do the exact opposite to help you achieve that goal. Here I am, trying to educate myself in order to provide a better life for my family that the State of Tennessee will never give me; and instead of seeing that that happens, they refuse to work with me. The State has never been opposed to its employees working flexible schedules. All they care about is seeing to it that work gets done and the community remains safe. They care nothing about their employees though.

I don't mean to make this sound as harsh as it probably does because Lord knows that the office I work in is nothing like what I have described above. I love our office. We all get along, and I can honestly say that I enjoy going to work every day there. The management is some of the best people that I have ever worked for. David, the manager, has gone above and beyond to try to help this transfer go through. I just wish the receiving end of the transfer request had been as open and concerned for people as he is.

I don't want to transfer because I don't like the office. I want to transfer because I have a commute of an hour and 40 minutes one way. I get up at 5:30 in the morning and get home around 6:00 each evening. There have already been several mornings when I almost fell asleep about half way into the drive to work. I know that there are people in Dickson that I could stay with during the week, but that would only last as long as the first phone call I got from Kenna, crying that she misses me and wants me to come home. I've gotten one of those before and hope I never have to hear one again.

You can probably tell that I'm a little angry that this didn't all work out like I had hoped. I know I'm not the one in control of things, but it doens't help much right now to tell myself that there must be a reason that this didn't happen. Right now all I can think about is that I work for an organization that expects alot out of their employees and then shits on them the first chance they get.