Regrettably I’ve been away from blogging for quite some time. I had grand designs of chronicling my daily adventures in the woods but alas it hasn’t happened. I suppose it’s time for an update of all the reading I’ve done, places I’ve seen, and general minutiae in my life. This entry has been in the works for a couple of months, hence the skipping around during subjects.
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My interest in baseball has been rejuvenated this year. So much so that I’ve taken to reading books about particular teams, venues, players, etc. I don’t know why baseball is more interesting to me this year than in years past. Now that I’m somewhat separated from the constant barrage of Georgia football news and discussion, I’ve returned to my favorite childhood sport. I’ve always loved the Braves. I’d say they’re my favorite professional team. I remember sitting on the living room floor of my house watching them win the 1995 World Series. I remember Dad getting mad at me for jumping on him when they recorded the final out. He’s never been one to get overly excited about anything.
Now that I live in the Myrtle Beach area I can follow the Pelicans, one of the minor league teams for the Braves. I get a chance to see the future of the major league club. I hope to attend many of their games and hopefully catch some AAA Gwinnett games when I’m visiting GA (unless I go to Atlanta instead). I think the Braves have a decent team this year. I like the pitching moves they made in the offseason. It would’ve been great to get Peavy, but I’m glad they didn’t give away all of our talent for him. Having a great farm season is what made the Braves so good in the 90s. I hope they’re returning to that form of management. McCann and Chipper will have good years as usual. I think the infield is stellar defensively with the exception of Kelly Johnson, but I think he will continue to improve. Casey Kotchman has a career fielding percentage of .997. I think I read that he’s only made eight errors his entire major league career. He may not be a traditional power first baseman, but at least he can flash the leather. If anything, I expect the Braves to finish over .500 this year and get back to their winning ways. I don’t think they can win the division this year but the tools are now in place for that to happen in the near future.
As of 5/22, the Braves are 20-20. They can’t seem to break through with a string of victories. The starting pitching, with the exception of Kawakami and most of the bullpen, has been stellar. The offense has been anemic at times. It looks like another average year for the Braves.
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I ran three road races in the past months. I never liked running unless it was used in a sport, like basketball or tennis. Now I enjoy going for runs through Florence and around Casey’s apartment in Myrtle Beach. I ran an 8K in Columbia which was the farthest I’d ever run before that race. In March Casey and I ran the Reedy River Run 10K in Greenville. It took me just over an hour to finish. Greenville is a very nice city with a quaint downtown area similar to Athens. In April we ran the Cooper Bridge Run 10K in Charleston. There were around 40,000 people also running alongside us. It was awesome running into Charleston over the Cooper River on a large suspension bridge. I achieved my goal of running the race in under an hour. My final time was 56:39.
In July I’ll run the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. It is the largest 10K in the country. I’m excited but I’ve got to get back into the running mindset. I set a goal of trying to run a half marathon by the end of the year and the Myrtle Beach Marathon next February.
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In March I took Casey to see the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra play Also sprach Zarathustra, the prelude from Tristan und Isolde, and Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5. We got all dressed up, ate at this upscale pizza parlor called Pie Town, and had a good time. Charlotte is a nice city with a nice performing hall. The orchestra was decent but not at the level of the upper level orchestras across the country.
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April was concert month for me. Jason, Laura, and I drove to Orange Beach, AL for some Widespread Panic. Every time I see Panic I have a great time. I met up with the Oggs in Athens and we drove down Friday night. Jason insisted on barbecue for dinner so we stopped at a place in Opelika, AL with pretty decent ‘cue. We never thought we find one off the interstate but it seemed like as soon as Jason suggested it the next food sign had a barbecue place on it. Good things happen during Panic weekends as Jason would say. We didn’t make it to Orange Beach in time for the Friday show but we stayed up late with Jason’s friends Cory and Adam and Cory’s friends Scott and Tikki. The condo was pretty sweet.
The next day Jason and I drove to Pensacola so I could visit my grandparent’s gravesites as well as drop in on my Uncle Mike. At the navy base we got shouted at by some angry MPs because we thought they were waving us through the main gate. After they let us by we went to the cemetery where surprisingly I found my grandfather’s headstone in no time. We stayed long enough for me to tell some small anecdote about him to Jason and then we headed to Holy Cross Cemetery to see my grandmother. I also had no trouble finding the family plot. I guess after eleven years I still remember some things about Pensacola. We left after a short while and drove to my uncle’s house.
I won’t get into the specifics about my uncle other then it had been at least 15 years since I’d last seen him. There’s been some bad blood between him, my dad, and my other aunt and uncle over inheritance, funerals, houses, etc. Lawyers were involved. Anyway, I’d gotten in touch with Uncle Mike over the phone in late 2007. I tried calling him about coming to Pensacola to see him but his phone number was no longer in service. I decided to just show up at his house, provided he still lived there. Jason was kind enough to drive me there and wait in the car while I tried to make some friendly contact. My cousin Katie answered the door and got her mom. When she came to the door she didn’t recognize me until I told her who I was. We hugged and I entered.
My uncle had gone to the store so I was left to talk with Aunt Gina and my cousins Katie and Marisa. I’d never met the cousins before and I really hadn’t prepared anything to say to them. They’re about my brother and sister’s ages. My other cousin Joey walked through the living room and I introduced myself. I’d never met him as well and he didn’t seem too interested to talk. Oh well. The oldest cousin, Jeffrey, was asleep. He’s 18 and the only one I’d met before. Anyway, Uncle Mike showed up about ten minutes later and was shocked to see me. I’d forgotten that he pretty much looked just like my dad. He was all gray but otherwise looked good. We talked for about 30 minutes. I showed him a picture of my family. He enjoyed seeing how my dad has aged. I passed on a message from my dad and he seemed to take it well. After I left I called my dad and broke the news. He was glad that I’d gotten in touch with him and hoped that my presence may have started some kind of reconciliation process. During the conversation my dad told me we should stop by the Flora-Bama, a dinky beach bar on the Florida/Alabama border. Apparently it was opened by a cousin of my grandmother and my grandfather worked there for a while after he retired from the Navy.
As luck would have it the Flora-Bama is where the rest of the group had gone for lunch. We drank some beers and had some pretty decent seafood. I was happy to learn of the family ties to this very popular tourist destination.
The two shows were great! The weather turned out to be good and the band was really on top of their game. Not being the prolific Panic concert attendee like Jason and Cory hinders me from judging how the band structured their sets and jams, but I thought the shows were awesome. Here are the setlists from Saturday and Sunday nights.
Saturday 4/18/09
Fishwater
Gradle>Who Do You Belong To?
Dyin’ Man
Let’s Get Down to Business>This Part of Town>Jack>Big Wolly Mammoth>Papa’s Home
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Bowlegged Woman
Smoking Factory*
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
Walk on the Flood
Blight>Ride Me High>Jam>Drums**>Climb to Safety>Action Man
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Wondering
Can’t Find My Way Home
*with Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi All Stars
**with Cody Dickinson of North Mississippi All Stars
Sunday 4/19/09
Radio Child>Pigeons
Let It Rock
L.A.>Pickin’ Up the Pieces
Walk On
Better Off
It Ain’t No Use>Under the Radar Jam>Angels on High
Goin’ Out West
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(Another Brick in the Wall Intro Jam)
Driving Song>A of D>Driving Song>Tall Boy>Rock>Tall Boy>Sleepy Monkey>Three Candles>Drums>Diner>Driving Song
From the Cradle
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May Your Glass Be Filled
Chilly Water
Company in my Back
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Pot Kettle Black
Radio Cure
Shouldn’t Be Ashamed
A Shot in the Arm
At Least’s That What You Said
Via Chicago
Impossible Germany
Jesus, Etc.
Handshake Drugs
Box Full of Letters
ELT (Every Little Thing)
Heavy Metal Drummer
Hummingbird
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The Late Greats
Hate It Here
Walken
I’m the Man Who Loves You
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California Stars (with Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin)
Misunderstood
Monday
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Hoodoo Voodoo
In late April I was called to help with the Highway 31 Fire in Myrtle Beach. This fire consumed over 19,000 acres, destroyed 76 homes and damaged 90 others. It was the second largest fire by acreage in South Carolina’s history, but the damaged caused to timber and property made this fire the costliest fire ever in the state. I worked in the Incident Command Post as the Status Check-In manager and the Equipment Time Reporter. Basically I was in charge of keeping up with the resources allocated to the fire. I also helped write the division assignments for the Incident Action Plan, a report assigning divisions specific tasks for the day, weather conditions, resources, and radio frequencies. I was excited about having the opportunity to work on such a monumental event. It was a valuable experience and a much need respite from the monotony of my daily work routine.
The beginning of May brought me home to Georgia to celebrate my father’s 50th birthday. Casey also tagged along so she could meet my family. The birthday celebration wasn’t anything fancy. We went to some Italian restaurant in Buford and that was pretty much it. Casey and I went to Raven Cliffs Falls the next day and got soaked! In all my years of living in Georgia I never went there. The falls were spectacular even in the rain. I found an American chestnut sapling on the side of the trail. These trees were once the dominant hardwood species in the Appalachian Mountains. Around the 1930s a fungus called Chestnut Blight somehow made its way over the ocean and began devastating these trees. If you find any chestnut trees in the forest they won’t be much bigger than 2-3 inches in diameter and around 20-30 feet tall. Once they get this big the blight kills them. The saplings that keep cropping up are from the stumps of the old trees. There have been efforts to cross the American chestnut with the Chinese chestnut which carries a resistance to the fungus. After many hybridizations and back crossing of the genes to insure mostly American chestnut traits, these enhanced seedlings are being selectively reintroduced to monitor their success. If they are successful we could see a mass reintroduction of the American chestnut within 20 years or so. 
After the hike we stopped at a package store in Helen so I could be my dad something. For some time he wanted to get a bottle of Macallan, a top shelf scotch. He got the hankering after he read a book by Neal Peart, the best drummer of arguably the best band in the annals of rock and roll. I got him a bottled of 15 year old. We then stopped at the Habersham Winery and got some local wines. That night we had dinner with my family and my dad and I taught Casey how to play dominoes. My parents liked Casey very much and vice versa.
The next day we drove to Athens so Casey could meet my good friends Jason and Laura. We dropped our dogs off at their place and headed to Five Star Day for Sunday brunch. It went well and we exchanged pleasantries after lunch and then headed back to SC.
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This pretty much brings me up to speed with today. I’ve completed nine out fifteen counties in my region and am considerably ahead of the other two crews. I just finished Marlboro County by myself on May 29. Ryan left at the beginning of May for California and my new roommate Jon moved in at the same time. He’s from the area but had been living in Charleston for two years after he graduated from The Citadel. He’s pretty cool. I’m heading to Asheville on Monday for four days to attend a training session. The Saturday of the same week I’m heading to Knoxville to meet Casey’s dad, stepmom, and her sister Danielle. We’re also going to a Phish concert with Jason and Laura. Then we’re driving to Springfield, MO to visit her mom and oldest sister Heather. Finally we’ll cap off the trip with a weekend stay in St. Louis, MO to sight see and visit her best friend Leah. It should be a fun trip! After I visit Missouri I will have been to over half of the states in the United States.
