so surreal

the apps did it again, and again, and again! it's been a little over a week since the big 3-peat in chattytown and, well, people are still chattin' about the historic accomplishments of the mountaineers! we had another great time in chattanooga and have come to feel like it's another home game with so many of the black and gold nation in the stands and on the streets. this year i guess you could say it wasn't simply the stands and streets, heck it was sidelines too - four corners full of proud mountaineers ready to rush the field to celebrate the victory. regardless of the crap espn take on things, our crowd rocked the river city and did so with lots of enthusiasm...give 'em hell apps!

i'm home for the holidays and it feels nice to be here for a few days. i can already tell that i'll be putting on a pound or two with all the food before me. too bad i can't run off the calories quite yet but hopefully soon after the new year. it's been too long and i really hope i can resume the running routine since it provides a nice stress relief. but for now i will have to rely on walking my brother's two jack russells who have come all the way from nashville for the holidays! they are a handful but fun to play with and they keep us all entertained.

speaking of entertainment...we braced ourselves and ventured out to the mall late this afternoon to take in the annual last minute shopping endeavor. mom & i were amazed at the number of people who really do wait until the final hours to prepare. further, i didn't realize the number of international folks in catawba county...i had heard there was an influx of hispanic and hmong cultures in hickory and i truly saw this tonight. it was interesting to see the interactions of all the people - and yes, regardless of the cultures, everyone seemed to be sucked into the pop cultures of hollister, a&f, aeropostale, and such crap. trust me, i'll take mast general store any and every day.

tomorrow we'll begin the christmas festivities in earnest with christmas eve services and an open house at my oldest brother's new home across town...to be christened and celebrated with our traditional holiday spirits ~ a.k.a. white russians and "christmas tree" beverages! oh the setzer traditions...

may you and yours have a wonderful holiday and remember those traditions!

p.s. in honor of the apps oh-so-sweet-3-peat...the photo up top is of the crew in chatty celebrating with pride!

those helmets

it seems strange that we began the football frenzy with those blue and yellow helmets that have odd stripes and, now, we will end with another version of those blue and yellow helmets with odd stripes. regardless, we're headed back to chattanooga for a third straight year and a chance to make more history! how exciting is that!?!!

this fall has been such a memorable one. we've had ups and downs, but the ups have been way more and so much fun to experience. i keep wondering, when does it end? i won't worry much about that right now and will stay focused on the memory making with friends...yet again! thursday morning cannot come soon enough, as it will be a huge challenge to focus on work and other non-essential things before we head out to the rock city. i don't know much about those fightin' blue hens, but i do know they better be ready for the surge of black and gold nation. it's sure to be a grand time and, no matter what happens on friday night, it sure is GREAT TO BE A MOUNTAINEER!


p.s. i'll miss a certain "ex-patriot" who will not be in 'nooga on friday night...but i know he'll be cheering loud and proud across the pond while enjoying a quality bottle on vino.

hail to the victors - chapter one

it's been five days since we stormed the big house up in ann arbor and seriously it's been difficult to refocus on work, play, etc. i had hoped to make a blog post before today, but in all honesty, i've been immersed in reading everyone else's blogs, web sites, photo albums, etc. it will be a goal of mine at some point this weekend to put my thoughts together and share them with you. but for now, perhaps the best summary i've read to date, is written by friend David Jackson of the Appalachian ISP Sports Network. i read it a few minutes ago on GOASU.COM and knew i had to put a link in my blog. it literally brought me to tears...i think you'll appreciate it too. hail to the victors!

Win Over Michigan Has Changed ASU Forever

spirit

the past two days have been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me i must admit. it's not necessarily a rough coaster ride, just a mix of ups and downs. these ups and downs are actually tied together with some commonality. with spirit.

yesterday at about 5:00 p.m. i realized change. my normal tuesday at 5:00 for about the past 13 or so years meant AMB time. but yesterday was different. my first tuesday in a long time wasn't centered around the rush of wrapping up work around 4:40, heading over to the MAC to fight for a parking space and then entering the Great Room filled with energy and enthusiasm, no matter what was going on beyond those four walls. but yesterday was different for me since my four walls didn't match those of the Great Room and the 5:00 circle. yet, the spirit within was still there. i guess that is why it was a tough couple of hours on Tuesday evening as I had time to reflect on what all those previous evenings in that special circle meant to me. those "things" are too many to list here and would take too long to explain, but let's just say it was an experience of a lifetime. enough said.

today at about 11:00 a.m. i realized change. my first teaching experience was upon me. i had prepared a course syllabus, built a lesson plan, printed a class roster, and collected the textbooks for the course. i conducted my first 50 minute class as a Freshman Seminar instructor. of course i was fortunately sharing the experience with a great peer leader! how lucky i am to have a dedicated, compassionate, intelligent and creative student leader like miss erma to help shape the minds of 19 new freshmen. there is no real way to predict how successful we will be, but we are determined to help these students "get it" and love App as much as we do.

finally around 7:00 p.m. tonight i had a special delivery from a special friend. morgs made a surprise visit on the westside and brought an envelope with my name on it. after a short but great visit with morgs, i opened the envelope to find about 40 spririts. for those familiar with the 5:00 o'clock circle, you know something about "AMB Spirit": a simple, yet powerful, way to share your thoughts and feelings through a post-it note is tradition on tuesday's at 5:00. and much to my surprise and gratitude, i had an envelope full of that love and admiration. it is something i'll certainly remember and cherish for a long time. i thank each of you for your kindness and your friendships.

people have often asked me, "what is it that makes appalachian so special?" the answer is simple for me. it's the spirit.

what makes appalachian so special for you?

vacancy

it's almost as if i have been running an extended-stay hotel here the past month...or a combination of that and a storage unit. and now, well, it seems everyone has checked out and moved on to the next rest stop. kind of sad actually. well not so much on the storage unit part but more so on the special guests. at least they leave some things behind to remind me of their time here - big screen tv, extra queen bed, washers tailgate game, a favorite polo shirt, some Chinese tea, a rotting watermelon, a few fruit cups and applesauce, bowling ball, and even a random car bumper. funny the things people leave behind to make a mark on your life. of course the material things are just that and they come and go, but the friendships and memories of good times will be what stays with me. even so, the vacancy sign at 149 WGH is illuminated again.

just one more day until fall term starts. boone is alive and well with ton 'o people back within the borders. now all we need is a nice cool front to sweep through and bring some relief to the heat of the dog days of summer. i can't wait for the first feeling of fall season and to see some of those early leaves change over from green to gold. of course that will also signal the return of football season and gameday at The Rock! got your tickets yet?

speaking of tickets. i had one for the rascal flatts concert this past saturday and had every intention of using it. but after locking my keys in the car at verizon wireless meant i would spend the summer evening waiting for "pop-a-lock" to come rescue me. at least sdc and rubio got to enjoy the crowded lawn and sing the tunes with our new concert tailgate friends! i must say that you can actually hear the concerts pretty well from the parking lot. i must confess that i also returned the favor of my stolen cooler earlier this summer by finding a few extra cold silver cans in a lonely cooler in the back of a nearby pickup truck...to help pass the time sitting on my trunk in the parking lot ;)

well it is time to start the week...first week. no exec mtg, no tuesday circle, no tour schedule, no fall retreat...vacancy.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. -John F. Kennedy

planning for the fall

i am finalizing my freshman seminar class syllabus and i am hoping to include a blog assignment for the semester. my hope is that if i require my students to post to their blogs once a week, i will get into the habit of doing the same. keep your fingers crossed that the plan works and that the students might enjoy this more than the typical email journal or handwritten journals...

well today is hot as heck in boonetown. i think it's likely the hottest day so far this summer. thinking about fall more so than ever today because of the heat and looking forward to cooler temps and change of season.

the AMB's just departed from the MAC for the annual conference excursion. this is my first conference i will miss in like a gazillion years. actually, my first conference was in columbus, ohio and hosted by The Ohio State University. today's group is headed back to columbus...how ironic. it's kind of depressing actually. but i know that the group will have a great time and represent us well. i look forward to hearing all about the trip and those crazy conference stories!

i'm hitting the links with the dawg one last time after work today. neither of us are PGA material but we do enjoy the time outdoors, taking excessive mulligans, and getting a little bit better each time we play. needless to say, i will miss not being on willow creek with doofus again anytime soon...more about that goodbye later.

stay cool boonetown.

my wilson

this might be one of the more silly or odd posts that i've made since starting my blog. but i've lost something that was uniquely me: my cooler. actually i didn't "lose" it, since it was taken from me. upon returning to eric's truck last night after the brad paisley concert in CLT, i discovered the cooler was missing. it wasn't in the truck bed or on the ground around the truck. someone had taken it from the truck during the concert. i had been robbed. my friends know that this was a special cooler. it had traveled to many concerts, football tailgates, two app national championships, beach trips, lake days, 4th of july celebrations, nascar races, plus much, much more. it had collected stickers from many favorite restaurants, tourist attractions, retail stores, sports teams, and of course the recognizable "PKS" oval sticker. this cooler traveled many miles and gave refuge to many beverages of choice. it had become a staple at special events, only to succumb to a greedy and disrespectful person. who takes other people's coolers? especially a cooler with a bunch of tacky stickers on it with no real meaning to an individual except for the actual owner. i mean really, who does that? i guess i'll never know. but one thing is for sure, i'll be on the lookout for my cooler, my wilson (thank you tom hanks) when i'm at verizon wireless amphitheater next week for the kenny chesney concert. whoever has the cooler better take good care of it. Afterall, it has character, history, and a unhappy former owner.

time well wasted

time passes by quickly when you are having fun...i guess that is what has been happening in my world since i last posted. i have had friends get married, have babies, take new jobs, move out of boone, make grad school decisions, travel the world, run across the state of NC, tame The Bear, get their first drivers license...just to name a few things going on over the past month.

my "new" job continues to go well and challenges me daily. a lot of the challenge is simply in the difference between what i had been doing for so long and the more structure-free world i am in today. for many people who are like me (a bit of type-A personality), this change of pace might be too much to handle. but, trust me, at this point and time...i am handling it. it's as simple as this: i can pretty much take my lunch hour whenever i please. for those who know me well, know this is a big deal. ;)

speaking of big deals, last thursday was a day to remember. for the second year in a row, a few of us brave souls challenged ourselves and attempted The Bear Run - 5 miles up grandfather mountain. despite some leg ailments, i finished the best i have in three attempts! i ran the 5-miler in 47:29 and finished 175 out of 731 runners. i must say that when i crossed the finish line i was sure that i had run the slowest time, but much to my surprise, i had shaved nearly 8 minutes off last years run! even more rewarding was the fact that a bunch of friends ran the race this year and everyone did great! congrats to chris z, clayton, dawg, rachel w., peter jud, ruggieri, and lee! i think we're all planning to try and make this an annual event, which i think would be awesome.

mark your calendars for next year's Bear Run: JULY 10, 2008.
join us for the challenge!

Eric and Patrick tame
The Bear for the
second year in a row!
7.12.07

you can tell a lot about people...

i'm glad my parents taught me to be grateful for the little and big things in life. sometimes i feel like people today just don't get it. showing generosity, displaying random acts of kindness, providing encouragement, lending advice, offering a helping hand, honoring friendships...maybe we take these things for granted more than we think we do or even more than we realize. it is especially evident when things and situations change in your life that you notice it more. you begin to miss the people who share the same kind of values as you and then you value them more - their humor, smiles, oddities, sensibilities and even insensibilities, i suppose. i've begun to realize that you often give more than you receive. but i know that it isn't all about getting more or deserving more...it's about being grateful for the people who and the experiences that come in and out of your life...and leave the lasting impressions. what impressions are you leaving upon others?

back again

okay, okay, i know that it's been nearly three months since i've been here...and frankly i am a bit embarrased by this considering a blog is intended to be something people keep updated on a regular basis. no real excuse to offer on my behalf. i guess i simply haven't made this a priority, which i think is unfortunate, but the reality. yet, i'm back for now and hope to be a better and more consistent blogger. (okay don't hold me to it, i'm simply hoping to improve my blogging activity.)

so a lot has changed since my last post. i've started a new job, sent off 15 AMB seniors, ended my AMB advisor tenure, and almost completed my training to be a freshman seminar instructor this coming fall. i guess there is some truth in the old saying of "things can change in a blink of an eye." since there have been so many developments around me, i'll try in my next post to pull my thoughts together about some of these happenings.

*fist mega ticket concert of the summer is tomorrow night in charlotte: alan jackson with brooks & dunn! should be a good time!

and we're done...

after 77+ hours, i'm done. amb membership '07 mission accomplished. there isn't a doubt from me that we made the best decisions and are inviting in 22 super individuals. i am really excited about having a chance to get to know these young 'uns and helping make their new member world something they'll remember a long time.

i am really, really proud of the vets; they stayed totally focused all these weeks and knew they had a job to do. and, indeed, they did it. and the 11-hour vote was smooth, solid, and productive. we even had some surprise visitors which made the night even more memorable.

tomorrow at 5:00 begins yet another chapter in the amb world. the 5 o'clock circle expands, in more ways than one and i think we're ready for it. no one truly knows what the future holds for this group but i am sure that the sun will continue to shine brightly from the blowers!

i'm starting to shake this sinus infection and feeling better after a rough week. i made it back to the SRC this a.m. for a good 7 o' clock wake up call. it wasn't the easy thing to do after being "off" for a week, but it does make me more productive at work i think.

okay it's 24 time!

old man winter has returned

it was only a matter of time before the tundra turned frozen here in boonetown. although this past week we were suppose to have a nice collection of snow, it didn't really happen as predicted. we really need a good snow soon to make it really feel like we've had a winter. and, i want to ski soon before the season ends so bring it on mother nature.

well i logged about 70 hours at the office this week. amb app reading week wears me out but i need to recover because the "big week" starts tomorrow with first interaction. i hope we'll make good decisions this week and bring in some great nubs. i think the crew is pretty focused on the end-goal so i'm feeling confident about the future. it's a bit scary to think that the group will change as much as it will over the next month but i guess things happen to make us stronger.

i got in a good swim this morning. the src pool is awesome, plenty of room and warm water...enough to have totally worn me out. i think i will take a nap now.

i was lost, but now i'm found

after nearly 3.5 months of non-blog activity, i have returned. the only problem is, you see, i lost my previous blog. i am not sure what happened actually but i think it was similar to the UNC Admissions debacle of last week where they sent 2,700+ acceptance emails inadvertently by the click of "submit"...i clicked "submit" in order to update my blog site on Blogger and, well, you see i am for the most part a new user today. this kind of sucks because i had posted a good couple of months back late in the year last year. where would all that good literary reading be now? i haven't a clue. so today, my friends, is a new day. i was lost, but now i'm found. come back again soon and i'll have more to share. (and i promise, phillip, i'll try to do better at posting in the days to come.)