For Whom The Bell Tolls

or, it's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). That's right, this blog deserves not one, but two lyrics! I've always known I would write this blog as this page in all of its incarnations has been a great outlet for me to voice thoughts that I may not have been able to verbalize.

In about 5 hours, I'll be taking that last walk down the aisle as a single man. That's right, I'm blogging on my wedding day. Dawn and I have always communicated to each other through our blogs, either intentionally or not. What can I say on a day like today, though? What can I say in this medium to the person who means so much to me?

Really, there's not much I can say, only that she's my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, and the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

So, time marches on and my life as a bachelor nears its end; and no, Lenny Bruce is not afraid.....

Believe It!

I Can't Live Without My Radio

I was driving home from work tonight after a looooong day at the office. Here are a few lyrics that stuck with me for various reasons. It's always interesting to see what sticks in my head in times like that when I'm more on autopilot than anything else...

"See me ride out of that sunset on your color TV screen" - AC/DC, "T.N.T."

"I fiddle when I can, I work when I should" - John Denver, "Thank God I'm A Country Boy"

"I've been waiting for this moment for all my life" - Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight"

"Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas also came on, but all I could think about was the South Park Guitar Hero episode, lol.

For the record, the John Denver came on the Sirius 70s channel after the Kansas song, so it's not like I was frequenting the folk stations... ;)

I'll post again this year sometime.....

Believe It!

Ed's Thought for the Day - 9/2/08

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."
- Robert Collier

Ed's Thought for the Day - 7/15/08

"Talent does what it can; genius does what it must." - Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Fire on the Mountain, Run, Boys, Run....

Note to readers, this blog was written over a 2-week period due to lack of free time...

My birthday weekend was a heck of a weekend and boy, did I need it! After a long week, and I mean a LONG WEEK of work, I flew down to GA to spend my birthday weekend with Dawn. This was a bit of a different weekend as we had no plans to do any housework, just to relax and do a bit of wedding planning.

Friday afternoon, I arrived in the ATL and met Dawn at the MARTA stop . While I waited for her to finish work, I killed some time at Barnes & Noble and talked to Mom and Lonnie. I also got to talk with Aunt Shell, Aylin, Heather and kids on the phone over the weekend. It does sound trite, but it's true, it's always the best gift I can receive to talk to and spend time with those close to me.

After Dawn got off work we headed up to Stone Mountain Park for the laser show there. We stopped by Subway for some dinner to pack with us for the show. We also took some crackers and hummus and some, uh, beverages.... ;) The laser show was quite cool. They have lasers displayed on the face of the mountain synced up with music and fireworks/pyrotechnics. They began with salutes to the local sports teams and colleges. I at least got to laugh at all of the Thrashies and Falcons fans there and curse the Georgia Bulldog fans in attendance (for UGa eliminating State in the College Baseball playoffs). Then they went for the Southern Pride angle with some Skynyrd and some good ol' CDB. At that point, things went a bit more sentimental with Elvis' American Trilogy set to Civil War scenes and patriotic with the Star Spangled Banner. There was a long Chick-Fil-A commercial as well as they were the main sponsor of the show. The weather cooled off enough to where the evening was near perfect. We were able to relax and kick our shoes off and enjoy the show. We had a spot that was almost dead center, so there were no issues with viewing angles. All in all, an excellent evening! To top it off, Dawn baked some brownies with a special additive.... Andes mints! Simply awesome!!!! She also gave me some awesome birthday presents including a neat book and a Hawaiian shirt. As usual, she picked the perfect gifts!

Saturday was a nice, relaxing day. We slept in a little bit before going out to run our errands. We began by taking a drive to the, gulp, jewelry store. No, I did not go to Jared! It was time for the 6-month cleaning for Dawn's engagement ring. Seriously, time flies. We got to the store and got her ring cleaned and had the diamond tightened up. Then it was time for the test drive of the wedding bands. Keep in mind, I've hardly ever worn a ring (or any sort of jewelry). We looked at a few and I figured out what I like as far as feel and comfort go. Then we looked at one for Dawn. I think she has an idea what she wants now as well. All in all, it was a productive trip.

That night, we went bowling with Dawn's family. We all met at the bowling alley and, once a lane was ready, began to bowl. We all had a lot of fun, especially watching Evan and Haley bowl with the bumpers. For the record, I did NOT use bumpers! I actually topped 100 both games and didn't finish last! We just had a blast and Dawn's family surprised me with some birthday cookie and some presents. It was really, really nice of them.

Sunday was fairly low key. We went to church and then to celebrate Father's Day with Dawn's family. I had so much fun playing with the kids. After that, we went back home and just relaxed. We flipped back and forth between the Braves game and a neat Discovery Channel special on the Apollo moon landings. All in all, just a great weekend.

Let me tell you, I'm supremely lucky. I've got a wonderful fiance, a great family, great friends, and a good, steady, if very demanding job. I certainly do realize how lucky I am....

Believe It!

Ed's Thought for the Day - 6/2/08

It's been too long since I've posted one of these. It's weird, sometimes what's going on in my head are best expressed through these quotes....

"The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I've put on myself." - Mark Messier

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody" - Herbert B. Swope

Doin' A Little East Coast Swing

I had a really enjoyable weekend traveling with Dawn up and down the East Coast. Wanna hear about it, here it goes...

Dawn arrived late Thursday night. First, we celebrated with some birthday presents at the airport. Then, we took a quick excursion to Hibernian for a birthday beer for her. We had a good time relaxing and decompressing from what was an extremely stressful week for the both of us.

Friday began early with a trip to pick up a rental car for our trip north. We got a Pontiac G6 from National. The key fob didn't work, but otherwise the car was good. Most importantly, it kept mileage off of my truck. We made pretty good time driving towards Richmond. The directions Mapquest gave us had us drive 15 miles through Richmond when the place we were going to was right off of 295. Great job, Mapquest! We arrived only slightly late in Richmond (due to my heavy right foot) for lunch with one of Dawn's clients. It was a good time for us. Her clients were very nice and treated us very well. I must say, though, it was awesome to see the vehicle in the parking lot covered in NC State magnets with the license plate of "NCSU17"!

After lunch we headed back north. We took 301 North off of 95 and crossed the Potomac River Bridge to Southern Maryland. We went sightseeing in Charles County a bit, including a side trip to Dawn's childhood home. It was fun seeing a part of Maryland I had never been to.

We finally got to Pamela and Steven's house around 5:30. We relaxed a bit on the deck and had a beer or two with Steven waiting for Pamela to get home. After she got in, we headed to a local restaurant for dinner. Naturally, as we were in Maryland, I ordered crabcakes (well a crabcake with some other seafood). Holy crap, was it good! I couldn't even finish all of my food.

Then, things got interesting. The restaurant (it had a bar/pool table area as well) had karaoke later. After a few beers and some research, Dawn helped convince me to give it a go. We finally picked out a song that we could both make a good attempt at. We chose "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi. Yeah, '80s hair bands, represent! I was a little nervous going up at first, but once the song started, I relaxed a bit. The mixing of the music and the vocals was way off, so I'm sure the restaurant patrons couldn't tell how bad my singing voice really was! At least one of the guys playing pool really was into it singing along and high fiving and such, so that was pretty cool. A little bit later, Dawn did a wonderful rendition of a Restless Heart song. Let me say it, the girl can sing! Just one of her many talents! By the time we got back to Pamela and Steven's house, we were utterly tired. We had to get up early for our drive to PA the next morning.

After a quick breakfast in MD, it was time to make another drive. We drove up to York, PA for my cousin Aylin's First Communion service. We arrived at Aunt Shell's house in time to say hi to everyone before the service began. It was the first time Aunt Shell and her family got to meet Dawn. Of course, they loved her, I mean, how couldn't they? The service was great and the kids were really well behaved. Aylin did just great. I can honestly say that Catholic services just seem different to me, maybe because I've been to so few. I mean, the Protestant services I've been to and go to now are similarly regimented. Maybe it's the extra layer of symbolism, I don't know, to each his own, I guess. After the service, we went back to the house for a lunch gathering. I had forgotten how good lebanon bologna was. I got to spend a lot of time with the kids. I played with Morgan and Aylin on the swings and even jumped on the trampoline with them. We also got to spend some quality time with Beth's new-born son, Adam. Needless to say, Dawn was much better with him. At least he didn't cry too much when I held him, lol.

We finally drove east towards the Philly area. The drive took us through Amish country. We did get to see a few horse & buggy combinations on the road. The ride was quite scenic and a good bit of caffeine helped me stay awake as I was quite tired. We finally checked into our hotel near Valley Forge and got to relax a little. A little while later, we met Mom for dinner. A great time was had by all. It was a lot of fun to just hang out and chat (yes, and peek in on the NFL draft). After dinner, we found a local beer store and picked up a case of Flying Fish Summer Ale. Good stuff, yo!

Sunday began our drive home. I decided to give Dawn a quick driving tour of Philly. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the National Constitution Center, Christ Church, and all of the other historical sites. Then we went to see the real must-see places in Philly. First, we drove up to the Italian Market area and saw those Philly icons, Pat's and Geno's, the most famous cheesesteak places in town. We then drove by the Philly sports arenas. Dawn got to see the Wachovia Center/Spectrum (Flyers/Sixers) and Lincoln Financial Field (Eagles) and Citizens Bank Park (Phillies). As we were in danger of being late for lunch with Rich and Katrina, we sped towards the DC 'burbs. After a quick tour of their new digs, we went out for some lunch. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant. I can honestly say that it was a first for me. The food wasn't bad, either. They had chicken in some kind of spicy red sauce that was quite tasty. We walked around downtown Silver Spring for a while and got to spend some quality time with Rich and Katrina.

Finally, it was time to head back. Let me tell you this, having a travel partner as cool as Dawn can make the longest drive seem short. Heck, we didn't even have the radio on from DC on south as we were just talking and enjoying each other's company. Another wonderful weekend with friends, family, and fun!

Believe It!