Happy

Here's wishing Cathy (and myself) a happy 18th anniversary!

And what an absolutely wonderful 18 years it has been -- God is good, indeed.

It seems like yesterday that Cathy and I were dating... I was a young engineer at Michelin, she was working at Staubli in Spartanburg. I would drive up to Spartanburg after work, pick up some Maurice's BBQ, and stop by for a visit at the duplex off Anderson Mill Road where Cathy and the boys lived. She loved me from the moment she met me (ha!).

Of course, there is no such thing as chance -- God was orchestrating things from the beginning, as always.

You see, my late teens and early twenties were years of rebellion for me, against my parents and against God. I was expected to attend church growing up, and as a form of rebellion against my parents, I vowed I would never go again once I left for college. At Virginia Tech, and after graduation, I had nothing to do with church, and nothing to do with God.

That is, until 1989. I had come to realize that the "wild" life just wasn't for me. I wasn't particularly good at it, and it really wasn't a match for me anyhow. What I really wanted was someone to love me as I was, someone to share life with, to start a family with. I realize that's maybe not "normal" for a 23-yr old guy, but I was finally being honest with myself.

For the first I could remember time since high school, I prayed to God. I don't actually remember exactly what I prayed, but I basically asked Him to take away the loneliness, to give me a soul mate. I vowed that if He would hold up His end of the bargain, I would be faithful, til death do us part.

Shortly after this prayer is when I met Cathy, shortly after that we were married, and shortly after that I accepted Christ (thanks to her example). Here we are 18 years later, and I'm happier with my soul mate than I ever thought I could be.

God gave me so much more than I even asked for...doesn't He always?

Happy

Greetings from the world's laziest blogger!

Here's a few reasons why I'm feeling good today:

1. Going out of town this weekend to celebrate my 18th anniversary of marriage to the world's best woman. Where to? The mountains, of course... Cool breeze, pretty leaves, Direct TV (Cathy's happy about that), and a good book (Thunder Run by David Zucchino). Of course, we're taking the Rubinator...

2. We joined First Baptist Simpsonville this past Sunday, and I am excited to see what opportunities God is going to open up there. It is great to be back on "solid ground" in terms of hearing sound doctrine! Also, I was fortunate to be able to play bass with the praise band a couple weeks ago... Fun.

3. Speaking of bass guitar...we have a new family member! It's a 1980 Peavey T-40 bass. In a nutshell, it is an incredible bass for a really low price (thanks, Craiglist!). Check out the raving reviews here. I am self-taught on bass, and picked up some bad fretting habits, so I plan on re-learning some technique. (Cathy, is there room for a bass and amp in the car for this weekend???) And yes, I will be selling my old electric bass, a cheapo Fender Squire I've had for about 10 years. Not gonna mourn that one!

4. The weather is just absolutely beautiful the last couple weeks. Love it, love it, love it. Are there actually people whose favorite season is something other than fall?

Have a great day, thank God for all that He has given you, and smile...life is good.

Brian

Trip

Well, I promised to post some pix of my trip to France, but they are all on my work PC, and here I am on my home PC, so pix will be on the next post...

Here's a quick review of some of the great things from my big trip a couple weeks ago:

• Wedding - The first stop on my trip was Harrisburg PA, where I had the pleasure of attending my sister Teresa's wedding. In a wonderful ceremony, Teresa was wed to Mike McElroy, who has been just wonderful for her. Great rehearsal dinner, great ceremony, great reception. It was great getting to see the whole family: Mom, David, Cindy, baby Russell, Angela, Mike, Julianne & Audrey, Aunt Ermine, cousins Matthew & Eddie McGee, and of course Teresa & Mike!
  
  
• Cycling Clermont - On my first day in Clermont-Ferrand, I rented a city bike from this place and rode all over the city. The weather was nice, high 60s, and I covered a lot of cobblestone streets over the course of 3 or 4 hours. And it only cost 2 euro (about $3 US)!!!
  
  
• Puy de Dome - Clermont-Ferrand sits in a valley beneath a chain of dormant volcanos, the largest of which is called "Puy de Dome". On the weekend, I drove out to the base of the mountain, and took a shuttle bus to the top. In addition to the INCREDIBLE view, I got to check out the ruins of a 1st century A.D. Roman temple to Mercury, built at the top of the mountain. Now THAT is history!
  
  
• Shopping - Saturday in France was overcast and a bit rainy, so I just had a chilled out day walking around the city checking out various stores and shops. My favorite finds? French fountain pens and paper, of course. Bought a couple fun fountain pens, a few Clairefontaine notebooks, and some cool inks (J. Herbin). Cathy likes her pink/purple pen and matching ink!
  
  
• Flood - On the last day, I stopped by a supermarket on the way to the airport. While in the store, it started pouring outside. Not just pouring, but big hailstones as well! It rained so hard for so long, I was worried I would miss my flight. Finally, it let up, and I ran to the car. After leaving the parking lot, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a road which was flooded with water. At first it was just a few inches deep, but before I knew it I was driving through water about a foot deep! I could see water gushing up from the manhole cover holes... Long story short, I made it through the flood, but was really worried I would stall the car and have to wade through the deep water. Yikes, that was a close one! The Lord was with me, though, and I got to the airport on time...
  
  
• Visits with Brandon and Megan - Fortunately, I flew Delta, and one of Delta's hubs is Cincinatti! So, I was able to have breakfast with Brandon and Megan at the airport on the way to France. And thanks to a 4+ hour layover on the way back, I was able to check out their house in Lebanon and visit for about an hour. Megan and Brandon, it was great to see your new home! It looks great, and I am so glad you guys are doing well in so many ways. I love you guys, and am very proud of you both.
  

Oh well, those are some of the highlights of my trip. Other than that, it was long work days, and really tasty dinners at fancy French restaurants!

Its a rough job, but someone's got to do it, ha!

Back

Well, it's good to be back!

Back from two weeks in France, that is, and a few days in Pennsylvania before that.

Why is it that when things are going normally, and we're following our daily routines, that we crave something different -- a vacation, a weekend road trip, or maybe just a quick trip to the store? Then, after going away for a while, all we can think about is getting back home? Human nature, I suppose, never satisfied with what we have...

Not sure why that is, but it really is good to be home. Regarding business trips to France, I came up with the "rule of two". For some reason, a week in France seems like two, and two weeks there seem like four. Not sure why, but it is true. So, it feels really great to be back home, with my lovely wife, my cute but annoying dog, and my normal routines.

Having said that, I had a great time at Teresa's wedding, and also in France. Over the next few days, I'm gonna share a bit of those trips with you on this blog.

So, stay tuned, more to come...

Ten

Yes, I'm a copycat.

Megan and Cathy and Sarah, I stole this idea from y'all. But it was a good idea, so it's worth stealing!

OK, here goes: 10 Things You May Not Know About Me

1. When NBA pro basketball player Grant Hill was a kid, he was in "my" class. I was in 9th grade, and got a summer job working as a teacher's assistant for a summer computer class (around 1980). Grant Hill was in 3rd grade, and a student in the class. All I remember is that he refused to do his work, and would frequently say "My dad is Calvin Hill, he's on the Redskins!"
2. I've only been taken to hospital once. Second grade, broke my arm falling from a tree. The only other times I've been to the hospital were when Cathy went, and I almost passed out from that!
   
3. My favorite color is blue. My favorite color combo is blue and yellow.
   
4. When I was a kid, I wanted to name my future kid "Murphy". (Maybe this is why God organized it to where I never got to name anyone!!!) You see, one of my favorite books as a kid was Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day" (see picture), and in that book there was a dog policeman named Murphy, which is where I got the idea. When Cathy and I got married, and lived in a rental house in Spartanburg, we bought a yellow lab puppy and I named him Murphy. (No, he didn't become a policeman).
5. When I was a kid, I wanted to be either a helicopter pilot or an NFL TV cameraman.
6. My first summer jobs were: soccer referree (FIFA-certified!), McDonald's (10th grade...1982, the year Chicken McNuggets came out), drugstore clerk (Dart Drug), highway paving crew inspector (I was the the guy with no asphalt on his boots).
7. I once saved a man's life. Sort of. As a kid, we vacationed in Wisconsin every other summer. The family and relatives went to a man-made lake (no ocean nearby!), and I went in the water with Uncle Albert. We got into about 3-ft deep water, and ole Uncle Albert started splashing around alot. I figured he was just a bad swimmer, but after a bit he looked at me and said "Grab my arm and pull me out!". I shrugged, took his hand, and hauled him back out onto shore. Turns out he had vertigo due to an inner ear problem, and the whole family raved about how "Brian saved Uncle Albert! He could have drowned!" Have mercy... I didn't know what all the fuss was about, I just thought Uncle Al was about the worst swimmer I'd ever seen.
8. OK, this one's embarrassing. My brother David and I used to play Dungeons and Dragons. We were in junior high school, and rather geeky I might add. No, I will NOT post pictures from that era.
9. Most ball caps don't fit me because I have a ridiculously huge dome. When I was a kid, I would try and take turtlenecks off and they would get stuck on my head. Cathy, stop laughing!
10. Right after I accepted Christ, I went to a Billy Mayo crusade. He convinced my that all my rock albums (I had two wooden crates full) were of Satan. So, I went home and threw them all out. Do I regret it? Yes, and no. I gotta admit I'd love to have some of them back, but I think God was putting me through a cleansing process, and I don't regret having obeyed what I felt was His leading...
    

OK, there you have it! Hope you learned something, or at least had a good laugh!

Update

Greetings, earthlings. Sorry I haven't posted for so long. Busy busy, I suppose.

Here are some of the things that have happened since I last posted...

• Family vacation to a cabin in the mountains near Saluda...
  
  
• On the first day of the vacation, did the Bakery Ride with Zach and Heath. Hit a muddy patch and crashed my "new" road bike. Bruised a rib and got a pancake-sized bruise on my hip. No pain, no gain.
  
  
• Every time I have laughed for the past few weeks, I have had to hold my rib to reduce the pain. But that looks ridiculous, and makes me laugh all the harder.
  
  
• Helped get Brandon and Megan packed up and sent off to their new home in Ohio. It is cool to see them following God's leading (but we'll miss them!!!).
  
  
• Got Zach packed up and sent off to NGU for his senior year. Cathy, you're my only bike buddy now...get that Townie dusted off!
  
  
• Went to Cherokee Bluegrass Festival this past Saturday with a friend. We've been going every year in August since 1994. Good stuff.
  
  
• Been watching a lot of Olympics lately. Likes: cycling, soccer, swimming, track events, sychronized diving. Dislikes: synchronized swimming (sorry, this has got to be the cheesiest sport ever).
  
  
• Cathy and I are digging Craigslist...sorta like eBay but MUCH more convenient. It's fun converting junk into cashola. Attic, here I come.
  
  
• We've been visiting First Baptist Simpsonville a lot lately. This church is doing a lot of things well, but in particular they have a thriving Sunday School. There are those who might turn their nose up at Sunday School as being old-fashioned, but to me it is an effective discipleship mechanism that guarantees that the majority of attendees are getting solid, deep, structured Bible teaching on a weekly basis. I realize now that I've really missed that.

Well, that's all for now. Hope to have more posts soon. Ciao.

Bikes

Ever since I was a punk kid, I have loved bicycles.

When I was a wee lad, in the early 1970s, the cool bike for young boys was a Schwinn Stingray, complete with banana seat, chopper-style handlebars, and knob gear shifter. But, Mom and Dad unfortunately were big Consumer Reports readers, and they deemed this design to be hazardous. So, the first bikes for David and I were matching Schwinn Typhoon coaster-brake single-speed bikes. They were red, and looked a lot like the one shown to the right. Kinda retro looking now, but definitely not what a kid wanted when Stingrays were all the rage...

When we got older, Mom and Dad upgraded us to matching copper-colored Schwinn Calientes (just like the green one shown). These were the classic, "10-speed" bikes, with front and rear derailleurs, drop handlebars, the whole nine yards. Despite the fact that the steel frame weighed probably 35 pounds (that's a lot), I put many a mile on my old Caliente before getting my driver's license. Back then, a bicycle represented freedom, my only means of getting more than a couple miles from home.

David and I used to enjoy riding on this rails to trails path, which went from Washington DC all the way to the Blue Ridge mountains, and passed through our hometown of Vienna Va.

Fast forward to adulthood. In 1988, when I moved to Greenville, I bought a blue/white Nishiki Prestige sport-touring 14-speed from Sunshine Cycle Shop on Pleasantburg Dr. This was my first truly decent bike. Although at the time I didn't know what "Tange 2 double-butted seamless Chro-Moly lugged frame" meant, the guy at the store told me it was a good frame. So I bought it, and put probably less than 50 miles on it in the first ten years I had it.

Around the year 2000, some guys at work introduced my to real "road riding". I bought a helmet, clipless pedals, "fruity bike clothes", and a bike computer. Since then, I have put over 1,000 miles on the ole Nishiki.

I also got into mountain biking somewhat, and bought a Trek 3700... I'll do another post sometime about my various mountain biking adventures...!

This year, my son Zach got into road riding, and bought a sweet steel-frame Lemond bike. This bike made me realize that my 20-yr old Nishiki, though a great bike, was getting a bit dated. So, after hunting around a bit on Craigslist, this week I bought a "new to me" road bike!

The new ride is a 2007 Felt F75. Check out the glowing review here. For you tech geeks: 58 cm aluminum frame with Wolf TT carbon aero fork, carbon seat stays, Ultegra rear derailleur, 105 front derailleur and brifters, Shimano 600 compact crank 175mm, Shimano R500 wheelset, 12-27 Ultegra cassette, Felt racing saddle.

[Reality check - I'm 200 pounds, so the lightweight nature of this bike would mean more if I were to drop a few pounds!]

Anyhow, rode it for the first time this morning with Zach, on a brief 10 mile loop. Survey says: awesome! The frame felt light and responsive, but not "stiff" as I feared it would compared to the forgiving steel frame of the ole Nishiki. And the biggest difference: fingertip shifting!!! Oh my, it will be hard to go back to downtube shifters...

So in summary, this has been a great cycling week for the family... Last week of the Tour de France, new bikes for Brian and Cathy (check out her new Townie!), and a great group ride with Sarah and Zach this morning.

Life is good!