well...not much...but...here it is in all its shining glory...blog number 23

i take time out of my busy schedule to honor all the great number 23's:

Michael Jordan (started the number's status as that of superstars)
LeBron James
Don Mattingly
Ryne Sandberg
David Beckham
Devin Hester
Marshawn Lynch
Ronnie Brown
Cadillac Williams
Erin Malone
Julio Lugo

i probably have missed many...but these are some notables....however, there is one more:

THIS BLOG!!!

so anyway, just got through espn's lastest tmq and found it an enjoyable read...lots of good stuff in it...also the new mayne street...not as good as some others but it's okay...it's got some pg-13 moments, but overall as long as you are mature enough to handle it...it's good.

go titans! i was thoroughly upset by the loss to the texans, and then by pittsburgh winning. my pick is still titans over panthers in the super bowl. we'll see...but i repeat GO TITANS!!!! AFC SOUTH DIVISION CHAMPS, BABY!!!!!!

how bout them celtics! i think that's all i have to say about that

baseball winter meetings...hope sox get away with texeira...that would be awesome.

my new favorite song: live your life by rhianna and t.i.

that's it for now

-cth

So…random nfl stuff

To start out, i discovered this video today of al davis discussing lane kiffin’s firing. Kinda redundant, kinda redundant (oh did i mention it was redundant?), kinda funny. It was interesting…al davis has def lost his brain

Also…how bout them titans! An amazingly hilarious yet pitiful 47-10 domination of Detroit was just the start of the routs to see that weekend, dallas 34-9 over seattle, philly 48-20 over Arizona, ole miss and Alabama shutting out msu 45-0 and auburn 36-0, respectfully in the egg and iron bowls. Texas ran over a&m and the gay-tors beat fsu 38-15 i believe…other nfl creaming were Baltimore 34-3 over Cincinnati giants 23-7 vs Washington, Pittsburgh beating the pats 33-10, and minnesota’s 34-14 defeat of Chicago.

So everything’s going great…just finished duty roster for room in the inn and final English paper…about the bcs and a possible playoff situation…cloning paper got a 100 so i was pretty pumped about that. Christmas tree’s up…not ornamented or anything…gonna wait til after Saturday (12/13) to do that. My schedule’s pretty much booked up til then.

Other than that i’m takin it easy not stressin to much…well, that’s a blatant lie. I’m totally worried about midstate Sunday…my sax teacher randomly decides he has something to do on the day of my lesson three days before auditions…so i’m freakin out about that…and practice didn’t go to well yesterday…so yeah…

Guess that’s it for now…

Until later

-cth

Turkey Day Blog

well...thanksgiving's going well...titans absolutely destroyed detroit, but i lost the family backyard football (in the front yard) game. what can i say, my brother's just more athletic than me...oh well

everything's going great


not much more to say

happy thanksgiving everyone!

my worst week (really not that bad, and i know exactly why

i take some time out of my routine sports blog to have a more serious entry.

these past two weeks have been the longest in my life.

since oh say monday, it's gone down from there

or at least it looked like it was going down

way down

but just when i thought it couldn't get much worse, my spirits were lifted.

the Holy Spirit is a very powerful force.

very powerful indeed

just when it looked grim, i realized that it really wasnt that bad.

the week started just like normal, and right now i can't really remember everything "bad" that happened.

i just know that it's all come out alright

today was blood drawing day, and i was freaking out pretty much as soon as i woke up. but i survived, and i guess i'm no worse for the wear.

just think my readers should be re told that God is there to answer prayers and to stick with you through the rough times. basically that's the purpose of this blog. i'm signing off for tonight, God bless.

-cth

how bout them (wyoming) cowboys!

so, i was at black eyed peas, when a newspaper article in The Tennessean caught my attention: Vols sink to new low, fall 13-7 to Wyoming

wyoming? seriously? no way.

i read on.

"In a season full of Big Orange surprises, UT unveiled an absolute stunner. Playing one of the worst teams in all of college football, the Volunteers stumbled, bumbled and fumbled their way to one of the program's worst losses ever."

wow...that's rough...

continuing my read, i saw:

"Wyoming entered Neyland Stadium as a 26-point underdog and a perceived homecoming doormat, but exited victorious with a 13-7 win front of an embarrassed crowd of 99,489.
It was the first game for UT since Monday's announcement that Coach Phillip Fulmer would not return next season. The Vols were attempting to ride a wave of emotion entering the game, but instead left riding a three-game losing streak.
"Obviously it's been a really hard week on everybody," Fulmer said. "(The players) don't owe me any kind of apology. If anything, I owe it to them and to the fans for this whole week coming about."

well, i needed read no further. it was all in front of me, wyoming. wyoming? beating ut? dang...i began to laugh.

"ha! that's great. i need to remind all my ut crazy fans whenever i see them!"

i guess it was my way of dealing with a tennessee tragedy. i really am supporting of the vols, though, as i mentioned here, i'm not as big a fan as i used to be. other people will treat the game differently, but i think ridicule will be the way i handle it.

oh well, there's another vandy win...so we'll at least be bowl eligible...

florida rant (blog one of who knows how many tonight)

so i'm sitting @ work w/ nothing to do..so i'm blogging...

my first topic is the florida gators...

can't say much becase they are three times better (yes i did the math, 42/14=3) than my vanderbilt commodores...but i've gotta say what i've gotta say...

first, my favorite thing about the gators fans is that it seems the only thing they know how to do in a football stadium is the gator chomp. sure, the've got varying speeds (even during the same pep band song), but that's about the only variation on the thing. i was so tempted to do a tomahawk chop, but refrained...at least tennessee fans can sing in the same tempo...but anyway, it started getting annoying and i didn't see much of the game...five minutes at most...

now that i've gotten that out, i really don't have much more to say...pretty much, tim tebow is a beast...Tebow:college football::Michael Phelps:olympic swimming...he's got a hard task ahead of him in the nfl though...traditionally former heisman winners (Jason Campbell, Chris Wienke, and ERic Crouch for example) and former Florida qb's (chris leak and rex grossman, for example) have had troubles in the bigs...

i had a load of fun mouthing off with a florida fan i had never met before...i said "tim tebow's overrated!" just to get a rise out of someone...he said "Yeah, does vandy even have a football team? or is it just vanderbilt high school!" i couldn't think of a comeback fast enough...so that was that...i guess it was all for the better...

anyway, i'll continue to root for my vanderbilt commodores, pulling for an 8-4 season and a trip to the peach or liberty bowl...maybe even cotton or outback...but definitely a bowl game...

next blog: how bout them (wyoming) cowboys!!!

POST-ELECTION SPECIAL!!!!!

first off, congratulations are due to president elect barack obama. my prediction came true, and the only surprises were the pennsylvania-ohio complex (thought mccain would've won at least one), virginia and maybe florida. i did predict nc going blue, and colorado i projected on election night before anyone else did. (this was the only one i projected before anyone else, all the others i wouldn't project unless 15 percent of precincts were reporting and fox or cnn had projected it)

other news to come later, gotta film for a show.

-cth

stuff

titans are 8-0!!!!!! i'm super pumped and ready to see the bears get destroyed. it's gonna be no contest...grossman won the game for chicago last week, so naturally he's gonna suck this week. he's consistently inconsistent! so anyway, it's great...election's coming up today and i don't have a favorite i'm gonna go along with what everyone here says...mccain wins tennessee, obama wins the nation. i'll be playin around w/ the magic map on cnn.com...here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/calculator/. we'll see what happens...blog to come probably thursday on the result...all i know is that whoever wins, he's my president, and i will support him. so that's the long and the short of it.

iverson traded to the pistons, billups goes to denver...really i don't care about the nba until the playoffs...and then only with mild interest...so it's really no big deal to me.

otherwise, guess everything else is going just fine, visited tech on thursday and wasn't all that impressed...but i got out of school, so it was worth it! saw several mhms grads and that was nice. halloween was fun and so was this weekend....but now that i'm thinking saturday, i'm thinking college football, which reminds me...

FULMER'S LEAVING UT!!!!!! that was very shocking. that man has been the face of tennessee football for two decades now, and his leaving means that that will no longer be the case. i'm more of a vandy fan now, but it still hurts. firing a coach with several conference championships and two national championship appearances after one bad season...even though they tentatively have one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for next year...doesn't make sense...next thing you know they'll fire bruce pearl for not making it to the final four. oh, well, stuff happens...

vandy plays florida next week...make it four losses in a row...after a 5-0 start...classic vandy football in the second half of the season. until next time, i'll be rejoicing, comiserating, and remembering some more stuff to write about...

-cth

and another blog...

starting off...i'm pumped that the phillies will be winning the world series tonight. it serves the devils right for beating boston. also, code blue tonight for the titans game! i'm already wearing my light blue polo/long sleeve tshirt combo at school. calico jersey's going on as soon as i get home. GO TITANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! biggest game in titans history since super bowl xxxiv. only this time we're gonna DOMINATE!!!!!

so my weekend consisted of this
schs lost on a last second failed two-point conversion
vandy got smoked by duke (sure, it was only 10-7, but that's getting smoked when you play duke as badly as vandy did)
ut got destroyed (which i didn't really mind, they're not ranked, and bama's better anyway)
and some random nfl stuff

so really, all either disappointing or merely trivial games. didn't even care that i was watching the london game...didn't realize that that was this week anyway...guess it's always raining there...cause it was a pretty sloppy game last year too if i remember correctly. commish goodell wants a nfl team in europe i disagree...eight teams would have to travel oversees one week and one team would have to travel overseas eight weeks. so i dont think thats a great idea...sorry comish.

fall fest at church yesterday...nothing too extravagant, but i liked it nonetheless. think i forgot to mention in my last blog that i'm not too excited about the choir tour show this year, and we STILL don't know where we are going on tour! we performed a really cheesy song from vbs yesterday during the service...everyone in the congregation loved it...i can't stand it. but anyway, this week's gonna be normal outside of the game tonight...i'll get another blog out thursday maybe....

-cth

quick blog

titans are 6-0!!!! after dominating kc 34-10 with over 300 yards rushing, there is no doubt that the titans are once again the best team in the nfl. chris johnson and lendale both had career long td runs in the fourth, and i don't think the defense even tried like the last half of the fourth quarter cause we had such a demanding lead. so that's that point

next: vandy's dropped their last two, one expected, one not. this saturday's homecoming vs. duke, which i'm pretty sure we're gonna win. then we'll be bowl eligible for the first time in, well...quite a while.

got three a's and a b (chemistry) on my report card today, so i know what i need to work on.

backpacking was amazing. hiked in six miles and out six, so i was EXTREEMELY exhausted come sunday afternoon when i got home. other than that, not much more to comment on, so until next time...

-c

a blocked punt! to beat the cowboys in overtime! and other football stuff

to start off, I CAN'T BELIEVE that VANDERBILT lost to MISSISSIPPI STATE!!!!!!!!!!!! that and the red sox going up 1-0 over tampa in the alcs were the only news i had this weekend, thanks to being in the middle of nowhere at an amazing retreat (more to come on that). so anyway, po'd in one way, elated in the other. after the vandy game, the next football i got was at 1:30 pm sunday...cause i fell asleep while i was unpacking...so i watched a bit of indy destroying the ravens...and then the new york titans (still cant get over brett favre in navy and gold) defeating the woebegone (retreat memory!!!) cincinnati bengals 26-14. here's what marv lewis was telling his boys in the fourth quarter:

ok, we're only down six points. the other team's driving...lets' hold 'em to nothing defense, but don't use any timeouts cause we'll need them later..."

after the titan's td:

"well, we're down twelve now, but we can still come back...just don't use more than one timeout...cause we'll need them later..."

for what? the week 10 bye???? neway, enough for that game.

next game: falcons-bears.

just another reason the bears aren't playoff-worthy again...yet. they should've been defending all the receivers double-teamed but jenkins was able to get the catch made and out of bounds with one second left. and then more elam heroics...but really that's commonplace now...bottom line: good game, fantastic ending, and can't wait to see the falcons make the playoffs (whenever they do). matt ryan is the new face of the falcons franchise. he's a better player and person than mike vick.

texans-dolphins.

matt shaub is the best qb to ever play for the houston texans. not only did he set a passing record for the texans, but he got the game winning score rushing. pretty sweet. good game again.

cowboys-cardinals.

awesome ending! and that play in the first quarter where romo lost the ball after being called down...totally a fumble. whatever the refs were thinking was wrong. so that was sweet

rams-redskins.

congrats rams on your first win. firing linehan was probably the best move they've made for a while.

red sox

game 3 of the alcs tonight. series tied 1-1 time to come home to boston. can't wait to see my boys win it all. go red sox!!!!!

retreat

it was awesome. started out friday evening celebrating joes' big 6-oh. connecting with friends was great. then we had a good night's sleep.

saturday was great. "boom chicka boom" started the day, then a lot of activities. tossed footballs, frisbees, and flying rings. lots of discussion, both religious and non religious. then went to the nursing home in dickson. guy with demientia told us a story...twenty times...it went kinda like this.

"God said i don't know what you stole, but whatever it is both of you, you and the thing you stole, wherever i am, both of you will be also. it's written in red, and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page...and two women walked down buck nekked. and two minutes later, three more women walked down buck nekked. i had to put three cloths on 'em and take their shoes off. and i turned the page and one of 'em said well i don't want you to take my shoes off. and i said i don't care what you don't want, i've been demanded to take your shoes off and i'm gonna do just that. not later, but right now. and it was written in red and i believe every word of it. and then i turned the page and whatever you stole, both of you wherever i am you will both there be also..." and on and on it went.

so after that we went back to garner creek and hung out and ate some more, then bonfire, and matt christopher and i played an awesome game of apples to apples. the favorite word/phrase was "my body." the first green card we drew while christopher was in the shower was "sensual", and the first red card was "my body". it just continued from there. the best play though was on the green card "temperamental" and i put down the red card "women" great cause it was all guys playing and we shared the same sentiment. so that was fun.

sunday morning was worhip. then we left and got home, football, and today. got a shot and blood drawn. not fun, but it was necesary. had an awesome time playing with the birch babies allie and aubrey, and the eaton twins josh and andrew, and judy jones' granddaughter sarah. all little kids. but also enjoyed some quality time with the youth at the retreat: christopher, matt, lyndsay, jonathan, and tristan. and the youth leader from rehoboth philip. so it was all good. until next time.....

-cth

yep...

this has been the slowest day ever...and i really have done nothing productive...just sat around watching tv and doing the facebook thing...so...yeah...it sucks to be sick...i want to do some stuff (such as predictions email and english essay that's due monday...) but i'm not...and i'll be gone most of the day tomorrow...so basically i don't know how i'm gonna get stuff done...but hopefully i'll manage.

basically what's wrong with me is your typical viral crud...so i really can't do much about it...

later all...

go red sox, bison, and commandos tonight.

-cth

i now take some time out of my research....

i'm in the middle of researching for a 1,250 word paper due on monday...about the similarities and differences between...what else...college and pro football...and i'm taking a little break from my research to display some crazy trivia:

in 1935, the first heisman trophy winner's name was jay berwanger. did you know:
that in 1935, the trophy was called the Downtown Athletic Club's Trophy to the Outstanding College Football Player East of the Mississippi River? Can you imagine it: "And the 2008 Downtown Athletic Club's Trophy to the Outstanding College Football Player East of the Mississippi River goes to..." followed by the name of someone who went to school not east of the mississippi, instead in such a school as usc?
that Berwanger was drafted by the eagles, traded to the bears, asked for 25,000 for 2 years and never signed an nfl contract...his professional career was in salesmanship; foam-rubber was what he sold...now just imagine t.o. asking for 25,000 for 2 years today...and then selling foam-rubber!

how many of the top ten finishers for the 2006 heisman can you name?

i can't name all of them off the spot...but if i see a list, i can recognize alll the names and their schools.

i can probably do the same for '07...

and '08 and on will be easy...

because i'll be paying closer attention...

so this is my mid-research blog...

and by the way...the red sox are up 1-0 over anaheim...and i'll be rubbing it all over jonathan coca's face...

the end

nfl mixups

so...the titans are one of three undefeated teams...and one of two that are 4-0.

they've also moved up to number two on espn's power rankings which is sweet http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking?season=2008&week=5

also vandy's number 19 in both new polls...and bama's 2...oklahoma's 1...no brainer...what i don't get is why lsu is above texas...ut creamed arkansas while lsu only won by 10 against miss st.

back to the nfl, i'm looking forward to next week...the ravens game...should be a good one. i predict 5-0 titans and bills, 4-0 giants....ravens are going to falter like last year.

big news stories. rams fire coach scott linehan, who went 11-25 in just over 2 seasons. also, raiders finally fire head coach lane kiffin after a 1-3 start, and a 5-15 career for kiffin. i don't think al davis had any class in his firing...it's kinda the opposite of last year, when a coach just walked out on a team w/ four weeks left, whereas coaches are getting fired four weeks into this season. this'll be a fun season...i can tell it already...more later...

-c

UPSET SPECIAL!!!

well, starting with #1 usc losing to oregon state, #4 florida, #9 Wisconsin, #16 Wake Forest (are you seeing the same pattern i'm seeing?), #20 Clemson, and #23 ECU lost to unranked teams, and #3 Georgia fell to #8 Alabama by a score of 41-30 last night. Other ranked teams losing were #24 TCU to #2 Oklahoma and #22 Illinois against #12 Penn State. Winning teams were #2 Oklahoma, #5 LSU, #7 Texas, #12 PSU, #13 South Florida, #14 Ohio State, #15 Auburn, #17 Utah, and #25 Fresno. Idle in the top 25 were #6 Missouri, #10 Texas Tech, #11 Brigham Young, #18 Kansas, #19 Boise St, and #21 Vanderbilt. with all the facts before you, I now present my top 25, from 25 to 1

25. Clemson (3-2, lost to Maryland 20-17)
24. UConn (5-0, Defeated Louisville 26-21)
23. Wake Forest (3-1, lost to Navy 24-17)
22.Virginia Tech (4-1, defeated Nebraska 35-30)
21. Oklahoma State (4-0, defeated Troy 55-24)

20. Oregon (4-1, defeated Washington State 63-14)
19. Fresno State (3-1, defeated UCLA 36-31)
18. Vanderbilt (4-0, Idle)
17. Boise State (3-0, Idle)
16. Kansas (3-1, Idle)

15. Utah (5-0, defeated Weber State 37-21)
14. Georgia (4-1, lost to #8 Alabama 41-30)
13. Auburn (4-1, Defeated Tennessee 14-12)
12. Ohio State (4-1, defeated Minnesota 34-21)
11. South Florida (5-0, defeated NC State 41-10)

10. Penn State (5-0, defeated #22 Illinois 38-24)
9. Florida (3-1, lost to Mississippi 31-30)
8. BYU (4-0, Idle)
7. USC (2-1, lost to Oregon State 27-21)
6. Texas Tech (4-0, Idle)

5. Alabama (5-0, defeated #3 Georgia 41-30)
4. Missouri (4-0, Idle)
3. LSU (4-0, defeated Mississippi State 34-24)
2. Texas (5-0, defeated Arkansas 52-10)
1. Oklahoma (5-0, defeated #24 TCU 35-10)

Teams in top 25 by conference

SEC- 6
Big XII-6
ACC- 3
PAC-10- 2
Big Ten- 2
WAC- 2
Mountain West- 2
Big East- 2

that's it for now...nfl blog to come later in the week

it's been a long time...

well...i was at fall fellowship this weekend (any wa-hi-nasa arrowmen that missed it missed a great weekend)...and had a blast...almost got sick chugging root beer, but had a great time nonetheless...it's been a while since the last post, and i've got to comment on the titans 3-0 start, after dominating houston 31-12 about vy, well...let's just say i like kerry. but i wish vince the best and hope he can get back into the game and start winning for us. vandy's 4-0 after defeating ole miss i heard, and ut lost to the gators something bad. and the brady story!!!!! wow...i think that cassel's the new brady....he'll go down in the first game of the season six or seven years from now after winning an mvp or two and maybe a super bowl...and some new draft steal will get his shot...and so the circle will continue...as for brady, he'll be traded to a mediocre team for draft picks, and retire after journeying around the leauge for the next six years...with only the 50 td mark to his name...which will eventually be broken by brett favre when he gets an amazing receiving corps up in new york...i predict around 2028. maybe even in the 22nd century...but brett will break the record...and then win the super bowl after he has broken every other passing record he has yet to break. then finally he will retire and his jersey number will be the first retired by the entire nfl. which is what he's wanted all along...







but anyway, on a more serious note, and switching to baseball, it's really fitting to see that the yankees won the last game at yankees stadium. even as a red sox fan, i think i was pulling for a new york victory sunday night...i think everyone wanted them to win, even the orioles they were playing against. meanwhile, other teams are gaining ground on the sox in the wild card race, but i think that we'll get the spot after it's all said and done.





school's been going pretty alright. we made a commercial in multimedia advertising a fire extinguisher, and seth hearld played the part of billy mays. he was pretty embarrassed when the class watched it, but billy was his idea. anyway, we're working on a music video (probably) now, and we don't know what song we're going to create a video on



my newest frustration: limewire. there's a song i really want to download (all summer long by kid rock) but they don't have the right version on itunes, and whenever i try to get on limewire on my computer it opens up itunes...and when i go to limewire.com to download it again, the website is blocked. so basically, i'm having some problems and don't like it.



in other news, i just learned that matt millen got fired, and the sox made the playoffs!!!!!!!!! so it's all good.



drive group's going well, and i've got something printed out to be bashed at eikon tonight....but it's all good still! can't wait to share it. don't know what's for dinner tonight, but i won't be eating it for a while...the marathon known as PECAN SALES is about to start with a bang for me. i'm going forty pounds tonight...as long as david mccoy stays out of the race...i have christopher's stuff too but he doesn't realize.



so, we have this awesome new sub at mhms. we're not sure what her real name is, but she's been introducing herself mostly as annabell lee. apparently she's got seven masters' degrees and is three classes away from earning the rest of them...but that's just the start...we're not sure what's up with her, but there are plenty of speculations...we had an awesome time screwing around in band yesterday...because she didn't even know everyone was playing sharp, flat, or in a completely different key, and it took jake jones for her to realize we (the sax section) were going too fast. it was really hilariously fun! she says she practices guitar 20 hours a day, yet she can't play mr. clark's....because it has classical nylon strings...she is supposedly a great classical guitar player....messed up, man, messed up!



i'm a life scout now, so i'm thinking of ideas for my eagle project. any outside-the-box ideas, let me know!



and maybe matt cassel isn't the next brady..................

short football blog

well...nfl season got of to a big start thursday with the giants, as i predicted, defeating washington handily, which reminds me i need to send out my picks sometime soon...like really soon...anyway, the rest of the league opens up tomorrow...and i'm really excited. in college, the've already played the majority of two weeks. vandy's 2-0, and ut got crushed by ucla in an overtime thriller. so anyway, there's my two minute's worth of football talk. until next time!

-cth

12 random journal entries

i had to type these for english class...just another way of gettin my views out i suppose...so here it is:

1. I am a big fan of football. Professional, college, or high school, I always thoroughly enjoy a good game of football. Some of my best art are offensive football plays I have devised. I send out weekly e-mails with my predictions for National Football League games to some of my friends, because that is another thing I enjoy to do concerning football. My favorite professional team is the Tennessee Titans, while I root for the University of Tennessee on the college gridiron and Hendersonville and Station Camp High Schools in their respective divisions.

2. My second favorite sport is basketball. I mainly like college and high school basketball, although I sometimes attend church league games and will occasionally watch a professional game. One of the reasons I am so fond of high school basketball is because I am a statistician for Merrol Hyde’s team. I also really enjoy the atmosphere surrounding the game of college basketball, especially surrounding the national tournament. My take on professional basketball players is that they are a bunch of jerks playing for the name on the back of their jersey instead of the one on the front, which is why I prefer high school and college ball better.

3. I am also a fanatic for baseball. However, unlike basketball or football, I concentrate solely on professional baseball. My favorite teams are the Boston Red Sox in the American League and the Chicago Cubs in the National League. If I had to pick between the two teams and leagues, though, I would go with the Red Sox and the American. My favorite time of year in baseball is October, especially when one of my teams is in Championship contention. October is the month in which the World Series is played. The thing I dislike the most about baseball is the steroids scandal. Despite the drugs, though, baseball still remains a pastime for me.

4. Two common breakfast foods are waffles and pancakes. While they have many similarities, the two menu staples have their differences. Thanks to these differences, one can determine which is better. Waffles can be square or round, while pancakes are normally just round. In contrast to the flatness of pancakes, waffles have grooves in them, which is better for syrup lovers. Waffles, with their grooves and ridges, are better capable of holding more syrup, but because of pancakes’ flatness, it’s not so easy for them to hold syrup. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that waffles are better than pancakes.

5. In this year’s highly publicized presidential election, the Democrats have nominated Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who is running with Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice-presidential candidate. I highly respect, and even somewhat envy, Senator Obama’s speech-giving capabilities, but I’m not sure if I agree with all of his views, nor am I sure if he will be able to deliver on his promises. On the Republican ticket, Arizona Senator John McCain is running alongside of his vice-presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. I am very intrigued by this election, and I am of now undecided. One thing is for sure, the road to Washington is a long and hard one for both parties, and whoever wins the election will be the President, and I will respect that person as such.

6. So far this has been a good school year for me. The classes I am in are English 1010, Chemistry, Interactive Multimedia, and Band. I am not failing any of my classes as of yet, and do not plan to be failing at any point in the year. Among the extracurricular activities I am involved in are Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Flight Club, the high school men’s basketball team, and, once the first meeting has begun, the Junior Classical League. I do not actually play basketball, but because I’m the statistician I am a part of the team nonetheless. I play alto saxophone in the high school symphonic band, and I am also in jazz band.

7. The smell of popcorn. The sound of a foghorn celebrating the readjustment of score. Thousands of fans wanting to get back quickly to the stands to cheer on their Vanderbilt Commodores as they manhandle the University of South Carolina. These are just a few of the many variables that go into working the concession stands at Vanderbilt. On Thursday, August 4, as I have been the last five years, I was privileged enough to be a part of a twelve-man team working concessions for the Commodores game. The experience is a very rewarding one, because it teaches many cooperation, communication, and time management skills. I have thoroughly enjoyed every game I have been a part of, especially when my team gets the win.

8. One of my newer hobbies is photography. I enjoy taking pictures of anything possible. Right now I have a decent point-and-shoot camera, but I want a more professional camera to take my photos with. My favorite things to photograph are sunsets, sunrises, and people. There is a group at my Church devoted to the arts, and our original division was photography. I think being involved in this group got me really interested and started on my new hobby.

9. I am an active member of my Scout Troop. I am just about to earn my Life rank, which is the rank before Eagle. I am also Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, which puts me as second in command of my entire troop. Last weekend we went on a canoe trip. I was acting Senior Patrol Leader during the trip, and I felt it was a very successful weekend for the troop, with only a few minor setbacks. I’ve learned a lot of things through Scouts, including cooking, camping, and communication skills, which I will use for the rest of my life.

10. I am also extremely actively involved in my Church community. I sing in the youth choir and I also am a part of just about every youth activity that one can be involved in. We go on about six trips a year, four or five of them in the summer alone. Among the highlights of each year are our Choir Tour; Warmth in Winter, a conference-wide event; two missions experiences; and a mystery trip, which we ideally do not know the destination of until the morning we leave. I would definitely not give up my experience with my Church for anything.

11. In Multimedia today, we did a group project. This project involved taking a picture of a silhouette in which every member of the group was a piece of. We had a very challenging time discerning what we were going to be and how we were going to make it. Our idea heading out of the planning stage Thursday was to create a whale, but after having a night to think it over, we decided that the difficulty level was too high for our lack of experience. Our next idea was a “human spider,” with each team member’s arms stretched out to create the effect of one person with a multitude of limbs. After a try or two of this idea, we realized that it was too cramped for seven of us to line up in a single file line, in addition to the different body sizes. In the way the picture was set up, there was a floodlight and a white cloth, and the object was supposed to be between the sheet and the light. We were set up in the downstairs hallway where the bathrooms and guidance office are. For our third idea, we tired to make the standard human pyramid. For some reason which I will never understand, someone suggested that I should be on top of the pyramid. So, consenting, and without warning, I leapt off a chair onto the top of the pile, and it immediately collapsed. We tried twice more with me on top, but the pyramid did not last with me on top, even with prior warning of my moving to the top, so we repositioned people, and on the second try of this new arrangement, we succeeded in taking a picture. The picture resembled a giant block with a human trying to catch her balance. We then determined that we were in too close a space to take any good pictures, so we went to the other side of the cloth and began taking pictures from the other side. Our lighting was much better. We then tried the human spider again and a flower, and kept failing miserably. By this time much of the group was starting to get frustrated. After some minor adjustments and much groaning, we tried one last time. This time we took the form of a tree. It was the best picture we had taken the entire day, so we cleaned up and put everything back in place. Granted, it wasn’t professional, but it should be good enough to earn a passing grade. Some of the characteristics we found that we needed to work on as a group were cooperation, planning, communication, and tolerance. As a whole, the project was most successful as a learning experience.

12. There have been three major tropical systems that have been in the news in the past two weeks. The first one, Hurricane Gustav, made landfall on Labor Day some seventy miles to the southwest of New Orleans as a Category Two storm. Hurricane Hanna had downsized to a Tropical Storm by the time it hit the Carolina Coast on the fifth of September. Hurricane Ike, a Category Three storm, is currently moving north of the island of Hispaniola, and is slated to pass over the Bahamas on its way to making landfall somewhere along the gulf coast by Sunday the fifteenth. Ike is most likely the worst of the three storms, and could wreak extreme havoc, bringing back memories of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, especially if it has time to grow before hitting the States. Residents are advised to take cover and prepare for the storm, especially when a landfall date and area are more specifically known, typically about two or three days before the storm hits. For large, potentially deadly storms, citizens are urged to leave everything behind but the essentials and their valued possessions, and evacuate. Refugees are scattered all over landlocked states when the hurricane hits, and, depending on how bad the damage is, go back home in anywhere from a day to three months after the storm makes landfall. Hurricanes are dangerous storms, and are not to be messed with.

oh boy, do i have stuff to talk about

with the so-called "redemption" of US basketball, michael phelps beastly domination in swimming, shawn johnson's gymnastics, and a stolen arrangement of the star-spangled banner, just to name a few things, the games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing come to a close. This is just the opening topic of this weekends blog.

starting off with the first us men's basketball team not to be called the "dream team" since i've been alive...the "redeem team," as they are called this year, dominated spain in the gold medal game last night (us time). now we get to go back to calling them the "dream team" again...and i expect "dream team V" to medal, probably, as the rest of the country thinks, win it all, again in 2012.

next up, 12,000 calorie phelps. not only are his eating habits ridiculous, it helped him win a ridiculous 8 gold medals this summer, going 8 for the 8 events he participated in, setting at least 6 world records on his amazing run. now, next year, someone, probably phelps himself, will break all those records in different competitions, but it was a very dominating summer that he enjoyed. my 2012 outlook for michael phelps: look for him to not only win 9 golds in swimming, but also to win the triathlon and several other events (maybe even ping-pong)...beast.

i don't normally watch gymnastics, but i still like to know what's going on. so when i heard about paul hamm, and then his brother, i wasn't expecting much from men's gymnastics. then i saw that they got bronze for the team gymnastics...that was pretty cool. can't remember if any of them medaled in all-around, but i seem to think at least one guy did. women's gymnasts, on the other hand, were out of this world for the US. the team just barely missed the gold, and then got gold and silver in all-around. then shawn johnson later in the week got another gold medal. in 2016, there will apparently be a member of the men's gymnast squad by the name of jacob hamilton...if he makes it, i'll be proud of my schoolmate, and i hope elf the best, even if we have to agree to disagree about notre dame.

so, apparently in the tennessean, there was an article describing how the rendition of the star-spangled banner used at most of the olympic medal ceremonies was a direct copy of an arrangement by a certain american composer/arranger. the exact name escapes me, but he argues that the chinese used it without his permission, or acknowledgement, or any of the normal stuff. so there's that story for you.

all in all, this year's olympics were very good. i'd give them, in david slate terms, four and a quarter out of five footballs.

i'll cover the nfl and mlb in my next blog, and maybe some of how my life's been recently...

spanning the globe in five minutes

the top news story of today is of course brett favre being traded from the packers to the new york jets for a conditional draft pick. i'm glad that after today the nfl will be back to normal as far as favre talk is concerned. as soon as he reports to jets camp in a couple of days and falls into normal practice time, it will all be in the past.

next we have a report, as found on http://www.nfl.com/news/story;jsessionid=51CBB4A5D656E8D1B95B8AA8E5AEA4B0?id=09000d5d809c28f9&template=without-video&confirm=true, that all 32 NFL teams have agreed on a fan conduct policy. in my opinion, this is a stupid move on the NFL's part. Fans will start saying, "hey, they say i can't drink excessively...well there's so many people here there's no chance i'll get caught anyway...so i'm gonna get absolutely wasted tonight!" or stuff along those lines. i've had enough experience of "don't do that" situations, where "that" is exactly what people proceed to do, just because they're not supposed to. so all in all i'm not sure about this conduct policy...maybe if it turns out to work for the nfl, i can be more accepting.

next, another report, this one from the bengals: http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6928. The story talks about first-round draft pick keith rivers, a linebacker selected out of USC with the ninth overall pick, signing with the team. however, i don't care about rivers as much as the other name mentioned on the first line of the article. Jordan Palmer, a QB out of UTEP was selected in the sixth round of last year's draft by Washington (pick #205). if you look at his picture on http://www.nfl.com/players/jordanpalmer/profile?id=PAL445384, it's easy to tell that he's carson's little bro. i don't think that he'll make the cut for the bengals (he's their fourth-string qb currently), but if he does, it might be the first time two brothers played quarterback for the same team at the same time in nfl history. So, while cincinnati is hyped about keith rivers, i'll be keeping my eye on the palmers.

Last football note, i finished Quiet Strength by tony dungy today...it's really a good read. i recommend it for everyone, if you are a football fan or not a fan of sports at all. Because it's not just about football, it's about life. i'll wrap up my blog with a quote from his book that i found really pertinent to my summer, especially the choir tour experience.

but first, got to say something about the olympics!

olympic soccer's already begun with a 1-0 win for the US over japan. ceremonies begin tomorrow night, so i'm looking forward to that!

Also, here's hoping for a seattle win over tampa tonight!

And as we begin the nfl preseason tonight, i shall leave you with this from Quiet Strength:

"Jamie's death [Coach Dungy's oldest son, James, committed suicide in 2005 at the age of 18] will never make sense to me, and the pain of losing him will never go away. But in the midst of it all, I truly believe that hope is available to all of us--for joy in today and peace in the certainty that heaven's glory awaits us."

-cth

football picks!!!

again, anyone interested in my nfl predictions for the 2008 season needs to let me know by wednesday, as well as your favorite nfl team

thank you

-clayton

favre, friday, and fantastic fun

well...brett's been reinstated much to my chagrin...as i said before i'm not quite sure why this irks me, but it does...that's all i'll say at this point about him

friday looks like it's gonna be real fun...there's a big missions type event at the northeast church accross from glenbrook in hendersonville. i really want to attend...it sounds real fun...but i would love it if someone would be able to go with me (especially if that person has a driver's license...so i don't have to make my parents have to drive me...or just so they don't have to get in the car if i was to drive myself) so if you want to go...send me an email, call me, however you are able to get in touch. it's pretty much an all day thing (at least for the pm hours) but you don't have to go to all of it...i think this would be an eye opening experience for everyone...so if your able to...come!

also friday is "registration day" while most other public high schools have to go a half-day...i don't have to attend class at all!!! that's one of the perks of a k-12 school. but i'm going to school to see friends that i haven't seen in a while all the same...and to get my yearbook...

the big thing for the entire world on friday is called the OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONIES!!! now...if i go to the northeast thing for the entire thing...i'll have to watch a recording...but i will be watching at some point...go US!!!

other than that, never the same at blakemore umc sunday the 17th...not sure what time...but if you can come...it's an amazing show...so COME!!!

badeebadeebadeedat's all folks!

-cth

what else but sports?

ok...those that know me know how big i am into sports...so for my first blog...what better for me to discuss? those that are myspace friends have probably read my blogs over the past week on the sox and various other things, and most all of my friends know i don't want brett favre to come back
so, for those that don't know...here goes

RED SOX

so...manny's out, bay's in...not too bad a debut for jason...1-3, 3 walks, and two runs...that's all we scored, and all we needed to win. manny on the other hand has taken his antics to the capital of all characters, and i hope him the best. also, just got done reading papi's memoir...good book...and he talks about how it's never over till its over (thank yogi for that line) and how the red sox and yankees don't hate each other as fans do, but rather respect each other...i think that's a really important aspect of life...don't hate, appreciate! so best of luck to the sox...hope we start winning as much as we've been losing recently!!!

FAVRE

oh boy...don't ask me why, i can't rightly tell you...but brett favre needs to stay retired! i've never really had a problem with people coming out of retirement, but something about all the media attention he's gotten the last three offseasons has gotten to me...i think that since he's made the decision he should make it final...i'm tired of hearing only about favre during the offseason...btw...the preseason's crept up on me so fast that i'm worried i'm going to miss it. for those of you that know my email btw and want my "prognostications" as it were, for the upcoming season send me an email w/ your favorite team...or just tell me in person if you don't. anyway back to brett...i sincerely hope he never plays another professional football game...and just like my detestation of miley cyrus...nothing you say can change my opinion...and that's that

just checked the score...sox up 10-2 on oakland...now that's what i like to see!!!!

any other issues you want to discuss let me know!

until next time...