Sometimes it hits close to home...

"Soldier is killed in blast"


I don't personally know the soldier in this story, but it's still close to home as he was the husband of my step-father's sister. It's possible I may have met him once or twice (like at Mom & Ronnie's wedding). You just never think that it'll happen to someone you know, or someone who even knows someone you know. Keep our troops in your prayers and the civilian workers as well.

~ JC

This one's for Jimmy

This one is for my buddy, Jimmy Calhoun. He and his wife recently drove down from Cary to Fayetteville just to hang out for a bit and catch up on old times. We got to talking about how he once commented on how he knows everything is ok with me because I haven't blogged in months and that I only seem to blog when I need to rant about something that pissed me off. So, Jimmy, this blog is for you, my friend. No, it's not a pissed off rant, it's just an entry so I can say I updated my blog. Oh, and so Jimmy's name can be in print on the internet (he loves that).

Until I have something else to say,

~ JC

PS. I did link to Jimmy's blog above, but speaking of needing to update a blog... Jimmy, at least update you location dude!

Championships, Illness and Smoking

Well, first of all, my hometown low-level minor-league hockey team, The Fayetteville FireAntz won the SPHL President's Cup last week by defeating the Jacksonville (FL) Barracudas 3 games to 1 in a best-of-five series. It is the FireAntz first championship in franchise history, which spans five seasons and three different leagues. It is also the first professional sports championship for Fayetteville, NC in 51 years; the last team to win a championship here was the Fayetteville Hilanders, a single-A minor league baseball team, in 1956.


During the course of watching the FireAntz win the President's Cup, I took ill with a case of the flu (and possible sinus infection - but I'm to stubborn to go see a doctor and have the infection confirmed). It's been a rough week as I pulled a six day straight work schedule during my illness which made it very difficult to get enough rest to kick the thing.

But, there is an upside to having been so sick; it's forced me to finally quit smoking! For several days I was unable to actually smoke. I would just puff on the things but couldn't inhale, and they tasted horrible! So, Saturday, the half a pack I had left got shitcanned and I haven't bought any since. So, wish me luck that I'm able to maintain the willpower to not even so much as bum a smoke off of someone else.

Feeling Lucky

Perhaps I'll buy a lottery ticket this weekend. Why not? I'm feeling lucky. Yesterday I won a bid on eBay for the very first time, and today I won tickets to the FireAntz playoff game for Saturday night by being caller #9 on Rock 103's radio give away. Previously I had never won an eBay bid and so had pretty much quit trying, and I've never called a radio give away. But I took the risks on both in the past two days, and so I'm thinking "Hey, maybe it's time to give the lotter a chance." What have I got to lose? I mean, I don't have to buy a ticket to the hockey game now, so I could use the money I budgeted for that to buy lottery tickets... you can't win if you don't play!

~ JC