WIldcat-palooza - The Finale

We of course were early to the game. I parked in the lot where I had reserved a spot on ParkWhiz and we walked to the stadium and then went to the riverfront of the St John’s River. We finally went in about thirty minutes before the game. We had club seats so we had very nice area to wait in if we wanted plus some nice places to buy food from. The temperature had warmed nicely to around sixty and we were in the sun, so it was nice. The stadium crowd was at least two thirds if not more UK fans.

Kentucky got the ball first and drove to midfield and then disaster struck. QB Steven Johnson was sacked and fumbled and Georgia Tech ran it back for a TD. Kentucky got the ball back and punted and Georgia Tech got a field goal. Kentucky got a field goal and then drove down to the Georgia Tech five yard line and had a fourth and one. They went for it and didn’t get it. A few minutes later Georgia Tech had a fourth and one on their own fifteen. Their coach decided to go for it in a huge risk. They got it and drove for a touchdown. UK did nothing after that and had a punt blocked before the half. The referees made a horrible call saying a Georgia Tech receiver went out of bounds with three seconds to go when the replay plainly showed he did not. This allowed Georgia Tech to kick a field goal to go up 20-3 at the half. I later found out Coach Mark Stoops was so upset that the tried to get into the referee’s locker room at half time.

Georgia Tech got another field goal in the 2nd half to go up 23-3. Kentucky finally got a touchdown but Georgia Tech got another field goal to make it 26-10. Kentucky finally got a touchdown and two point conversion to cut the lead to 23-15. An attempted onside kick failed and Georgia Tech scored another touchdown to ice the game. Josh and I used this opportunity to work our way to the lower part of the field. I had purchased a couple of passes to allow us to go out on the field after the game. We got our armbands and when the game ended, we headed out. It was really neat to be on the field, this was the first time I’d ever been on an NFL field. It was odd to be out there with all the Georgia Tech team and their fans celebrating. We had no problems though and it was really fun. We walked around the stadium afterwards and then drove back to our hotel. We went to Longhorn Steakhouse and then watched college football for the rest of the evening.

We got up the next morning and went to worship services at the Lake Forest church of Christ. We througly enjoyed that. We had lunch and then headed to the Jacksonville Beach. The weather was beautiful – 81 degrees and sunny. It’s a very nice beach, very wide with lots of room to walk around. We tested the water, but it was pretty cold. We went to evening services at Lake Forest and then got dinner at Zaxbys.

The next morning, our flight was at 7:30. Josh didn’t want to leave as early as I did (with TSApre, he doesn’t have to). I took the shuttle to the airport. The line for security was huge stretching all the way back down the entrance hallway to the airport. It took me about 45 minutes to get through security. I still had plenty of time. Josh came almost an hour later than I did and waltzed right through security. Our flight went fine. Our luggage was coming onto the belt just as we got there and the Economy Parking Lot shuttle pulled up just as we came outside. We got breakfast on the road and got back home with little trouble.

Even though Kentucky lost, we still had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to hopefully go to more bowl games in the future.

WIldcat-palooza - Part 3

Since we were flying out of Nashville (it was much cheaper than flying out of Memphis), I talked to my sister Melissa about coming up to see her family before our flight left. We headed out Friday morning and got to her house in the afternoon. We had a lot of fun as always hanging out with our nephew and nieces playing games and reading stories. We hated to leave when the time came to go. Amelia even asked if we could come back tomorrow, but we had to tell her we’d be in Florida and couldn’t. We got to the airport no problem.

Josh is fortunate to be signed up for TSA-Pre. This allows him to skip the longer lines and he doesn’t have to remove his shoes, jacket or take his laptop out of his case. Since he knew he could get through security faster, he dropped me at the airport and took the car to the Economy lot to park. When TSA checked my license and boarding pass, I for some reason was allowed to get in the TSA-Pre line. The people in front of me had to have been randomly chosen for this. They took their shoes and jackets off which actually caused the line to go SLOWER. I did finally get through in plenty of time and Josh was not far behind me. We grabbed something to eat at Wendy’s and just walked around til it was time to board.

I had gotten tickets on Southwest because it was the cheapest and it’s my preferred airline. Josh had never flown them before. I like the seating method where you line up and grab the first available seat you want. Josh said he preferred the method he’s used to where you already have chosen your seat. He also said the WiFi was not very good. I just read on the flight so it didn’t bother me much. It was only an hour and half flight so it went really quickly. We got to the airport and got our luggage. I called the hotel for the shuttle. We decided not to pick up a rental car until the next morning. This would have a day on the car rental since we would not need the car until the next morning to get to the TaxSlayer Bowl.

The shuttle got there pretty quickly. Our hotel (Fairfield Inn) was pretty close to the Jacksonville airport so we got there pretty quickly. Once there, we decided we needed a snack. It was after nine, so we ended up just walking to a convenience store down the street and grabbed a few things and took them back to the hotel. We ate and watched a little TV and went to bed. We got up the next morning and had the hotel breakfast. Josh took the airport shuttle and picked up the rental car. The temperature was only 38! Here we thought we’d left the cold behind. That low of a temperature was odd for Florida, but the weather report said it would warm up rapidly into the sixties. The game started at 11:00AM so we left a little before nine since it was about a 30 minute drive and we didn’t know how traffic would be.

I imagine you are wondering when I’ll actually talk about the bowl game. I’ll get to that in my next post.








































http://stuartyancy.blogspot.com/2008/11/southwest-is-best.html

Idols

When Donna and I went to our vacation in Nashville, we wanted to visit some places there we'd always heard about, but had never gone to. My first thought was the Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson). However, I found out tickets were 17.00 APIECE. That seemed a bit steep to me. My apologies Mr. Jackson...

We also decided to go to the Parthenon. The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. It is located in Centennial Park (close to Vanderbilt).

It's a very impressive structure. We walked all around it and checked out the massive columns and the huge bronze doors. It was only 5.00 apiece to go inside (and I had a dollar off coupon), so we went in. The facility hosts displays on the history of the building, a presentation on the original Parthenon in Athens, and an art museum.

It also houses a full scale replica of Athena. Athena was the Greek goddess the temple was built for. This is supposed to be the largest indoor statue in the US. The picture at the top of this blog entry will show you what it looks like. The statue is covered in gold leaf. She holds an image of Nike (Greek goddess of victory and the namesake of the tennis shoe corporation) in her hand.

As I looked at all this, I couldn't help but think of Paul in Athens and his sermon on the Areopagus. He would have been able to see the original Parthenon from where he spoke.

16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. 18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. 19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? 20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. 21 (For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.) 22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.


My understanding of this is that even with all the idols in the city of Athens, their reared up an altar "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" in case they had missed one. Paul was able to use this to preach to them about God and Jesus. What would Paul see if he came to our city to look around I wonder? He wouldn't see the images reared up like then. But that certainly doesn't mean we don't have idols today. Anything that we make the primary focus of our lives instead of God, is our idol. For example...

Money - We have to have money to function in our society. Money is necessary to do the Lord's work. The problem comes in when we make money the driving force in our lives. Someone takes a job that God wouldn't be pleased with them working. Or, they are dishonest in business dealings with others to make extra money. Some work long hours to make every dollar they can to spend on their wants not their needs causing them to miss worship services and serving God.

Fame/Popularity - How many times do you see a celebrity do something sinful that gets them attention? This doesn't apply to celebrities only though. What if we go to places we shouldn't (dances, bars, drunken parties), hang out with people we shouldn't, or do sinful things just to be "popular" or approved of by the "popular" people. Sadly, adults can be just as guilty of this as kids.

Sports - There is nothing wrong with participating or watching sports. We are to keep ourselves healthy and fit to be able to worship God and do work in his service. However, some skip worship to attend/participate in sporting events or practices. Some get way too obsessed with the teams they root for by acting like a crazy person while cheering for them or getting way too upset when they lose (Ugh, that hits me pretty hard).

TV - Again, there are worthwhile shows on TV that help spread God's
word or provide entertainment. The problem comes in with watching shows that are vulgar and obscene or ridicule God,Jesus, and Christianity and its values. Some people can spend hours and hours watching TV to the detriment of doing other more positive things. I am fortunate that we don't have cable TV or I am afraid that might be me. When we were in Nashville, I spent three straight hours watching "Cash Cab".

The saddest thing of all is THE UNKNOWN GOD appears to be to a lot of people today what our Heavenly Father was then - UNKNOWN

Opryland

Donna and I went to Nashville last week for our yearly week-long vacation. It was the first one in almost 20 years that we went on by ourselves. We couldn't bring ourselves to go to Myrtle Beach, so we just went somewhere close (Nasvhille). We didn't do a whole lot. We went to see Dave Ramsey's studio (see previous post). We also went to see the Parthenon (upcoming post). We also made a couple of trips to the Opry Mills Mall.

I know some people won't like this, but I am not very enamored with the Opry Mills mall. There are a few things I like. The Tony Roma's is good and there is a place where you can buy fried donuts. I also grab a Strawberry Julius whenever I am there. I don't like how narrow the aisles are. The layout is funky. It has two main pathways and you have to walk all the way to the end of end to get to the other (no cut throughs that I could find). There aren't any stores that just blow me away. I detest how I feel like I am in a carnival with hucksters. There are too many vendors trying to drag you over to sample their wares. Donna walked up laughing just as some girl grabbed my hand wanting to look at my nails.

I think a lot of my prejudice stems from my memories of what used to be. When you come into Nashville, all of the directional signs mention Opryland. This constitutes the Gaylord Entertainment Conglomerate (Orpy Mills, Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, General Jackson steamboat and I am sure other stuff). Opryland will always be something entirely different to me.

I remember going to the theme park there. We went in the early seventies to the theme park. They had characters dressed up musical instruments. I distinctly remember Yancy Banjo (for obvious reasons). It was only two hours away, so it was easy to pop down to for a day of fun. I remember going with Chris Leaver and his family one Saturday. We rode the Wabash Cannonball something like 16 times (it was one of those corkscrew type coasters). Donna and I went on a Saturday with Rick Alvey and his girlfriend when we were dating. We went again after we got married. I remember even going there on our honeymoon. The rides were closed for the season (it was March). But, Ralph Embry did his daily show there and we got to be in the audience for that. I remember it being a family oriented kind of place.

Alas, just before the boys got old enough to go (1996 I think), they abruptly decided to close the park. I've read various reasons why. One is the park had no room for growth. It was bordered by the Cumberland River, Briley Parkway and Opryland Hotel. They had to rip out old rides to put in new ones. I also remember hearing that Gaylord Entertainment just wanted to stick with hospitality type services (whatever that means). There was some rumor they were going to keep a few of the rides, but they didn't.

It wasn't widely publicized outside this area. I've even heard that tourists still show up at the site looking for the theme park (given the area is still called Opryland).

This is a good site with all sorts of info including old maps they gave you when you came in plus TV commercials. If you ever went to Opryland, you'll really enjoy exploring it.

Southwest is best...

I ended up having to switch a travel itinerary for the week of October 26th from Houston to LA (Culver City to be specific) because the Houston class was cancelled. Needless to say, getting a flight of Barkley that late was no good, so I went out of Nashville. The best itinerary to fit my needs was Southwest. I've only flown them one time ever and that was ten years ago so I didn't know what to expect.

I was very pleasantly surprised. First, I had to change to earlier flight on my return trip to get home in time for Josh's Senior Night at the football game (he was being recognized for cross country). I was delighted to find I only had to pay the difference in fare and not the additional 150.00 fee most airlines charge to change flights.

Second, you are able to check in and print boarding passes very easily. Most people probably realize this, but you are seated in the order you check in. You can do this 24 hours in advance. I waited a bit too long because I forgot (I was at a XC meet and was also distraught because of Kentucky's rout at the hand of Florida). I still got in the B group (A is the best, then B and C means you'll probably be sitting in a middle seat). On the day before coming home, I was able to checkin precisely 24 hours before departure and got in the coveted A group. I was able to do that from my Blackberry very easily.

I drove down early and went to the congregation where Adam Faughn preaches (Lebanon Road). He was gone but their youth minister did a very good job filling in. I went to the Young Adult Bible class by invitation (even though I don't really qualify any more). Once that was done, I was at the airport parking lot in 10 minutes.

Southwest's curbside luggage check was quick, easy and free! I just showed my boarding pass and ID and I was out in less than two minutes. No fooling with the ticket counter at all! Also, Southwest charges no baggage fee for the first or even the second bag.

I got through security in less than 10 minutes. I had plenty of time to eat a leisurely meal at the O'Charleys in the Nashville Airport.

When you prepare to board you actually line in a line next to columns with your number on them. I was B 43 so when they called for the B group, I got in line next to the 41-45 column. They take 1-30 first then 31-60. I still managed to snag an aisle seat. Some people don't like this type of first come first served seating. I do like it. I generally have to make my flight reservations weeks in advance or face the risk of getting a middle seat for a long flight. This way I don't have to do that.

On the plane, we got the usual sodas (several times). We also got snacks. Free snacks. Multiple times. On a 4 hour flight, this is really nice.

I came back on Halloween. Most of their gates was covered in Halloween decorations. Numerous employees were in costumes. It may seem corny, but it brought a smile to many of us while traveling.

I read where Southwest is always one of the most profitable airlines. I cannot understand why other airlines (who seem to constantly lose money) don't use them as a business model.