5/12/2021

Marcus and I had a T2 doubles match last night against a team of two brothers. We had to drive up to north Buford for the match, which was about 22 minutes for me, but 51 minutes for Marcus. Once we got there and the match started, the first set was going according to plan with us up 5-2, even though I hadn't held my serve both times in the set. Unfortunately, that is as good as that set was going to get as we dropped the next 5 games to the brothers and lost the set 5-7.

Marcus was getting a bit upset (as was I) at some of the line calls. He swears that a forehand I hit towards the corner was well in, but they called it out anyway. I told him to not worry about it, and let's just put the hammer down and win the next two sets. We did that for the most part and won the second 6-2 and were up 4-1 in the third. We did this buy being more aggressive. They were not putting much pace on their shots and thus we had to continually tell ourselves to move closer to the net to the hit the ball to finish the point.

However, at 4-1 in the third, they made a comeback and got it back even at 4-4 on serve. At this point in the match I was finally serving better, and it was my serve at 4-4. We had a long game with many deuces, and we were able to pull out the game in the end for the crucial 5-4 lead. We then had to swap sides for what we hoped would be the final game if we could seal it with a break. We had some quick points to go up 0-40 and only needed one more point to seal the victory. We finally got it when the other team attempted a lob and hit it long, so we were victorious!

We haven't been doing as well this season in T2 as we did in UT earlier in the spring when we went undefeated (but lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs after having a bye in the first round). We are 2-1 right now, but we'll take it. Only 2 more matches to complete the season.

On the other hand, in T2 singles I am doing way better this season, sitting at 4-0 and first in the division right now. I have my final match of the season on Thursday evening, so here's to hoping I can go undefeated for a change!

The shot is one of the many beautiful sunset shots we get in the sky behind our house.

4/4/21 - Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter this Sunday like most of the world out there. The kids were happy to pull out their bunny ears and were excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought them this year. For Holden, he got the newest Dog-Man book, and some games to play in the car. Sloane got a bathing suit for her Barbie's and some colored pencils that sharpen themselves! They were both very excited, and enjoyed the egg hunt in the yard as they always do.

This year we were able to hide 38 eggs in total for them to find. They had a bit of a hard time finding their golden eggs in the end, but with a little help they were successful. After they ate some jelly beans it was time for them to hide the eggs for Sarah and I. They only hid 12 for us, and we were able to find them all, although we did need some help from them for the last couple as even they could not remember where they hid them! All in all it was a great Easter!

4/3/21 - Spring has Sprung

I took this picture on a lazy Saturday afternoon as I laid on the blanket in the grass looking up at the blue sky and all of the freshly bloomed trees. We had a picnic lunch in the park while we were out and about on Saturday and the weather could not have been any better! Although there is a lot of pollen in the air (and on everything!) the beautiful high 60's low 70's temps have been perfect for this spring. We spent this lazy Saturday running some errands and then cutting the grass and letting the kids play with their friends in the neighborhood.

I'm glad I had a good relaxing day on Saturday, because I needed one after Friday. I was supposed to play my last singles match for the spring UT season on Friday evening at St. Marlo at 4:30 pm. When we agreed on the time the day before he said that would be perfect, but 4 PM would be better. So when I finished my calls early, I headed out to him earlier and texted him to let him know we could start sooner. I got there and alas he was not there and I had not heard from him. So he finally called me and told me that he thought we were playing at 4:45, and that he was running late and it would be closer to 5.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the style of tennis game this guy plays is so annoying to play. All he does is just stand around and slice the ball back. It's annoying because he gives you no pace (hits the ball softly) and he's very quick so he gets to everything on the court. it's great for him and is the reason why he wins so much, but it's annoying to play this type of player (which we tennis players call "pushers"). Needless to say I lost (which was the 2nd time he has beaten me) but it felt like I lost twice because I had to wait for him to get there to beat me. Oh well, time to finish out the doubles season now, where Marcus and I are 4-0 so far!

3/30/21 - COVID Vaccine - Dose 1

After finally looking around for an appointment to get the COVID Vaccine, I finally was able to secure an appointment for today. I had to drive up to Gainesville to get the shot, but it was worth the drive as there were not that many people there and I was in an out pretty quickly.

I'm not sure why they provided a QR code for them to scan when I made the appointment as they didn't ask to see it, but apparently they do at some of the places. I was able to find Sarah an appointment too, but hers was over at Northpoint in Alpharetta, where they utilized the QR codes to scan your information, but it was also a lot busier. Regardless of how we got here, at least we have our first dose of the vaccine completed. Now the 3 week wait for Dose 2!

1/23/18 - Aging

I stumbled across this picture on the left that was taken back in 2009 when I was just beginning my 30's. I turned 40 last year and you can see how the past decade has aged me quite a bit. Changing jobs, building a house and moving and having two kids will do that to you. My hair is a lot grayer now (as is my beard) and I feel that my hair line has receded just a bit. Either way though, I feel better now physically than I did 10 years ago. Sure there are the common pains that you have getting older (shoulder, knee, elbow are the main ones) but overall I feel I'm healthier now than I have been in a long time.

I have always felt that age is just a number. I don't feel like I am 40 years old, In my mind I still feel like a kid in his 20's that just happens to have a wonderful wife and two loving kids. Sloane said something great to me the other night when I was laying with her as she was about to go to sleep. She said "Daddy, you're the best". I told her thank you and that she was the best as well. Then she followed that up with "Mommy and Holden are the best too, we have the best family". She's right, we do have the best family, because we have each other which is a wonderful thing to have. When I'm stressed or tired or frustrated (even at them), all it takes it to look into the brown eyes of Holden or the Blue eyes of Sloane to make it all feel better. I truly am a lucky guy....

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1/19/18 - Apple AirPods Review

For the longest time after the AirPods were announced from Apple I was skeptical of them. I'm not sure why I was so skeptical, maybe it was the $159 price tag on them that made me wonder how good they actually would be. After buying a cheap bluetooth headset off Amazon to use for my business iPhone at home when I was working from home and realizing how crappy it actually was, I figured I needed something better. I purchased the BeatsX Bluetooth headset from Apple for $149 because I was still afraid I would end up losing the AirPods since they were so small and that I might actually have one fall out of my ear. I have used the BeatsX for about half a year now and for use on my work phone they work great. One of the biggest problems I had though when I was working was that if I wanted to use them on my personal phone, I had to keep switching them back and forth between the two phones. What I really needed was a second set of Bluetooth headphones for my personal phone, but I couldn't wear another pair around my neck all day, so the AirPods seemed like the best choice at this time.

Of course, when I chose to purchase the AirPods was right in the middle of the Christmas rush and there weren't any in stock anywhere, or even online. Therefore I was slated to get them after the new year. I was surprised when they arrived just before New Years Eve, so I was able to try them out and play with them some before going back to work. Right off the bat the storage/charging case seems smaller than I figured it would be. It is also very slick without any type of grip on it at all. I know Apple is all about streamlining their products so that they are smooth and look good, but damn if it doesn't make them hard to hold. The wireless earbuds themselves are the same size as the regular earbuds, just without the long cord attached to them. They fit in my ears very well, and actually stay in better than the BeatsX headphones, especially when I am working out or moving around. I am very cognizant though if I am doing something (putting on a sweatshirt or jacket) where one might fall out of my ear though as I don't want to lose one. I guess it would probably be more optimal if I were to just remove them whenever I am trying to put something on my head. I have almost knocked one of them out when I was exercising though and wiping my face with a towel. The towel will hit it and it will move in my ear, so I'm quick to reach up to make sure it doesn't fall out.

So once I got them unwrapped and played around with them I took them out and put them in my ear and boom, they immediately connected to my personal phone without me having to do anything. I had read that pairing them to your phone was easy, but that was a little too easy. I remember the BeatsX were pretty easy like that too, but I think I actually had to go into the Settings to choose them from the list of Bluetooth devices, but that may have just been after the fact. Anyway, once they were connected, you put the earbud in your ear and you hear an audible noise. This means that the sound from your phone is now going to be coming through the earbud in your ear. The earbud actually senses when it's in your ear and when it's been taken out. This means that if you are watching a video or listening to music your phone will actually pause the sound when you take them out of your ear, and then re-start it again when you put it back in. Pretty neat, and something that I would expect now that we're in the year 2018.

The sound quality of the AirPods is really what stands out. The BeatsX have good sound, but the AirPods just provide a little more oomph when you are listening to things. You can hear the bass better in the music as well as the movies, and the voice calls are crystal clear as well. The other thing I was skeptical about is how well the microphone on the earbud would pick up my voice when I am talking to someone on the phone or via facetime. I must say that so far people have said that my voice is very clear when I am talking to them. I am a strange person in that I normally only have one earbud in when I am talking on the phone compared to most people that put two in at the same time. I like to listen like I am actually talking on the phone and leave my other ear open to hear sounds that are around me. This means that I can get twice as long battery life out of the earbuds too as I only use one at a time. Now if I am listening to music while working out or cutting the grass or watching a movie, I will put them both in. Thankfully the AirPods don't care if I am using one or both, they work great either way. The only gripe I have is that if you have them both in and then take one out, whatever you're watching or listening to will pause. This is great, but also kinda crappy if you want to just take one out and keep listening but maybe have to listen to something else quickly. It's a minor nitpick really.

After using the headphones for a couple of weeks now, I haven't found any problems with them thus far except one. I tried to use just the left one today, but was unable to do so as it would not connect up to my phone. The right one was working fine, but the left one was not even showing up at all. I had to remove the airpods as a bluetooth device and then re-discover them to make them show up. Once that happened, I realized that one of the reasons why the Left was not showing up was that the the battery was low on it. This was strange considering the fact that it had been in the charging case for the past day or so and the charging case was fully charged, and the right one was fully charged as well. I ended up playing with it a bit and found that it had to really snap into place hard to get it to start charging. Once I messed with it, I was able to get it to start charging and it's worked fine ever since, but strange that it didn't want to charge all of a sudden.

In conclusion, I would recommend the Airpods for anyone that is looking for a good sounding bluetooth headset for your iPhone. The only downside I really see is that they might be easy to lose one of the earbuds, or even the whole charging case (as it has slipped out of my pocket and got lost in the couch once). However, if you're good at taking care and keeping up with stuff, then that should not be a problem for you.

1/10/2018

Wow, has it really been 5 and a half years since I put an updated post on here. My how much has changed in that time. We now have two kids (Holden is about to be 7 in February and Sloane will be 4 in March), I've changed jobs for the first time in 16 years, and we built and moved into a new house. I guess a lot has changed, but then again there is still many things that have not changed. I'm still married to my lovely wife and we still live in Suwanee. This shot was taken just before the end of the year at my parents house. My sister and wife setup the scene with the Christmas decorations and the old swing. I think we were all afraid to really sit on the swing as it had a LOT of give to it seeing as it's been sitting out in the elements for many years without being treated or anything. Thankfully it held up for the photo shoot.

I'll try to post some more stuff here from time to time, and might even do some product reviews here as we go since I always find myself wanting to talk about some things that I've tried out and people are asking me what I think about them.

Happy New Year!

7/10/12

I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since I have made a blog entry on here. I'm sure nobody noticed that as nobody ever reads this, but it's good for me to get my thoughts down in one place.

So let's see, what has happened in the past 6 months. Well the picture attached to this post was taken on 7/4/12 of our family. Things have been going well lately for us. Sarah and I are really working hard to get into better shape. I have lost 36.5 pounds since the beginning of April and Sarah has lost 27 pounds in the same time frame. On the other end of the spectrum, Holden is up to over 27 pounds now as he's 16 months old and nearing 3 feet tall. He's growing like a weed and starting to say more and more words now!

1/28/12

2012 Atlanta Braves Fantasy Camp – Day 5

Well it was the last day of the camp. It has been a fun time down here in Florida but I guess all good things eventually have to come to an end. We started off the morning right with our final game against campers. Our team ended the camp with a bang by blowing out our opponent 10-0. My bat finally came back alive as I doubled in this game with an RBI, but I also recorded my first strike out of Camp.

So I ended up doing the following in all of our camp games:

Game 1 – 0-2 with a sac fly, a fielder’s choice, 1 RBI and 1 run scored
Game 2 – 2-3 with a single a double and 2 RBI’s
Game 3 – 3-4 with 3 singles and 2 runs scored
Game 4 – 1-2 with a single, a sac fly, a ground out and 1 RBI
Game 5 – 1-3 with a double, ground out, strike out, and 1 RBI

After all of the camp games were over we had lunch and then Otis Nixon had lined up some suckers to race against him in the 40 yard dash. Each participant had to put up $50 to run the race (with the money going to the clubhouse guys).

After the race we lined up to participate in the Campers vs the Alumni game. The format was that each team would play one inning. When it was the camper’s turn to hit, we would hit through our lineup no matter how many outs or runs were scored. The whole point was to score as many as possible, because if you ended up leaving people on base when your last batter hit you were out of luck. We were slated to play in the 2nd inning. The first camp team didn’t fare well against the alumni as they didn’t score any runs when they were up to bat. They were facing Brad Clontz. When the alumni came up in the bottom of the first, Otis Nixon lead off with a gapper to left center that turned into an inside of the park home run, thus the inning was over.

We got our shot in the 2nd inning against Brad Clontz, who was pitching for the alumni. I batted 3rd and didn’t do anything but bounce out to Sid Bream at first. I tried to tackle him when I reached the bag to “knock the ball loose” but it didn’t work unfortunately. At least I didn’t strike out though! Our team did end up plating a run in our inning before we ran out of hitters in our lineup. So we went into the bottom of the 2nd with the lead 1-0. First up for the alumni was Marquis Grissom. He promptly ripped a ball right to me at third. I handled the ball, transferred it to my throwing hand and let loose my throw to get the speedy Grissom. Unfortunately I threw it low, but my big man on first Wes dug it out (I gave him a nice bounce on the throw) and we got him out by a few steps. Next up was Javy Lopez. We walked him on 4 pitches unintentionally. After that was Sid Bream who promptly grounded to second which Davenport (who broke his finger on the first day of camp, and also broke his fingernail in half) promptly handled, missed the tag on Javy but threw out Sid at first. Well Javy thought he had been tagged so he stopped running, so we were able to tag him and score a mini victory by beating the alumni in our one inning affair. We were the only team to beat the alumni, although there were two teams that tied the alumni 1-1. We were very proud to be the only team to actually beat the alumni in our one inning, and apparently we are the only campers to ever accomplish that!

After the alumni game we all headed back to the clubhouse to shower and then headed back to the hotel. We all had to change clothes and get our +1’s and head to the award banquet later that night that was being held at Maggiano’s. Once we arrived at Maggiano’s, both Sarah (my wife) and I grabbed a drink and mingled around the room. I introduced her to all of the alumni and we caught up with some of the campers that I hadn’t seen all day for whatever reason. We sat down and ate some great Italian food as is expected when you go to Maggiano’s. Greg McMichael turned over the microphone to Sandra Golden who enlisted Javy Lopez to help her hand out the team MVP awards as well as the most outstanding camper. I didn’t win any awards, but the camp more than exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyd my time down in Florida with all of the campers and all of the Braves alumni and their staff, it really was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope that I am lucky enough to get to do this again one day as I think I would really enjoy it. I know I will definitely be in better shape next time if I can do it though.

1/27/12

2012 Atlanta Braves Fantasy Camp – Day 4

I got a picture with Tom Glavine today that is posted with this update. Today was going to be a short day as we only had the one game in the morning before we left the fields to hit up the golf links to play 18 holes with the alumni and clubhouse staff. After arriving to the stadium I took a few swings in the cage just to get loosened up, then we headed out to the Stadium field for our game. I once again played 3rd base for our team and batted 3rd. I didn’t hit as well in this game though as I think my contusion in my right hand was really bothering me with my swing as I was afraid every time I made contact I was going to hurt my hand further. I ended the day going 1-3 with a single, one RBI, a ground out and a flyout. The single was an infield single that the shortstop had the dive for with the bases loaded. If he didn’t get a glove on it then it would have scored two runs. We ended up losing the game in the long run though because we just couldn’t generate enough offense (as usual).

After the game we had lunch in the clubhouse, showered, and then hurried to the shuttles to make our tee time at the Hawks Landing golf course. As we were warming up at the course a quick shower made us all retreat back to the clubhouse, but it quickly passed and we were on our way to playing a round of golf. I got to ride in the same golf cart as Otis Nixon and spend some quality time with him. We all played a solid round although none of us really did that well. Otis was using rented clubs and I think that really was a problem for him as he just couldn’t get into a rhythm with them. At one point in time he used my clubs as he seemed to like them better. I did have one birdie and a couple of pars (we were playing best ball off the tee), but that the only highlights of the day for me on the links.

We were out on the course for a long time and didn’t make it back to the hotel untl around 8 PM. I had dinner at the hotel and hit the sack for the night as Saturday was the last day of camp and it was going to be a long day.

1/26/12

2012 Atlanta Braves Fantasy Camp – Day 3

Thursday started off with another early wake up time to catch the 6:30 AM shuttle to the stadium. After getting dressed the batting cages were available for campers to take some hacks before the morning meeting, so I decided to take my bat and head down to see if I could get some swings in to better hone the timing on my swing. Dale Murphy arrived the night before, so he was at the field all day today, so it was really cool to meet him and talk to him about the game of baseball that we love. At the end of the day Dale was gracious enough to take pictures with everyone and then sign anything that you wanted. I had him sign my bat (that I had every alumni sign) as well as my second glove. Here is the shot of Dale and I on the field.

Our first game of the day was out on Field #3 against Zane Smith and Greg Olson’s team. Even though we ended up losing the game 9-3, I had a fairy successful day in the field and at the plate. I ended up going 2-3 with a single, double, 2 RBI’s and a fielder’s choice. I also played a solid third base with a few good plays. Eddie Perez even told me that I would get his gold glove award if there was one. I’m not so sure about that, but it was nice to hear. One of my teammates, Bryan Johnson, hit the first home run of the camp off Greg Olson. It was a shot to left field that easily cleared the fence. Unfortunately we could not put together any more offense, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

After having lunch in the clubhouse we headed out to Champions Stadium where our afternoon game was being held. It was the first time we had played on the stadium field and I must say the rush of taking the field in the stadium was amazing. It was like we were really big league players when we took the field in the stadium. Eddie Perez asked me if I could pitch since we were getting low on pitchers and I said I could try. I always thought I could at least throw strikes, but then again I’ve never pitched since I was in little league about 7 years old, so I really don’t know. Let me just say that it wasn’t a very memorable experience, with a lot of walks and a lot of hits and too many runs (I think I gave up 4 in total). Eddie came in and relieved me (thankfully) and I returned to my original position of 3B. Our offense kicked it into high gear though and we ended up battling back to win the game 6-5 behind a strong pitching performance from Eddie. Who knew a catcher would be such a good pitcher! I ended up going 3-4 with 3 singles, a fly out and 2 runs scored. A lot of my hits were off the handle of the bat though and that caused me to get a contusion in my right hand that was bruised and very painful. I had to make my first trip to the trainer to get it treated.

After the games that day everyone showered and headed back to the hotel. From there we all caught shuttles back to the restaurant where we had our welcome dinner the first night for “Man Cave” night with the alumni, which included drinks and poker and just hanging out with the guys. Tom Glavine arrived to camp and made an appearance at the man cave event and spent time talking with all of the campers and alumni. I had a chance to talk to him and get a picture snapped with him. He really is a super nice guy.

1/25/12

2012 Atlanta Braves Fantasy Camp – Day 2

After not hardly getting any sleep Tuesday night, we had to get up bright and early to make the 6:30 AM shuttle over to the field to get ready. After arriving at the field we made our way to the Braves Clubhouse and located our lockers. Here’s a shot of one side of the clubhouse where my locker was.

After finding my locker I got to take in seeing my name and number on an official Atlanta Braves jersey (both the batting practice blue’s and the home whites).

We checked to make sure our uniforms fit and got dressed in the batting practice blues. We went out and stretched and did 2 hours of skills assessment on various fields for different stations. There was an outfield station with Mike Bielecki and Pete Smith where we took grounders and fly balls in the outfield and worked on hitting the cutoff man for the throw back in. There was an infield station with Zane Smith and Greg Olsen where we participated in PFP (Pitchers Fielding Practice), and infield practice where we took grounders at both shortstop and second base followed by the throws over to first. There was a hitting station where Marquis Grissom or Sid Bream tossed you pitches underhand (soft toss) from about 10 feet away and you got to hit them out onto the field while under the cage at home plate. There was a catching station where Javy Lopez and Eddie Perez taught us the fine art of catching. At the end we got to simulate throwing down to 2nd to gun down a runner while being timed. Lastly there was a pitching station with Charlie Leibrandt, Brad Clontz and Marvin Freemand where they taught us how to pitch and throw off the mound.

After the skills assessment we went back to the locker room for lunch. While we were eating the alumni held a draft in the coaches locker room to divide up the campers into 6 teams. After we finished lunch Greg McMichael announced the teams and where our first game that afternoon would be played (and also what uniforms we were to wear for that game). I ended up on the team coached by Marvin Freeman and Eddie Perez. They penciled me into the lineup playing 3B and batting 7th in the order.

We ended up losing our first game that afternoon, but it was a very exciting game and ended in spectacular fashion. The game was a see saw affair that saw us jump out to a big lead and score 9 runs. There were a lot of walks in the game from both teams and that ended up being our downfall as well as we let them come back and tie the game at 9 going into the last innings. Marvin Freeman decided that he needed to come in and close the game out so that we could end our first day. After getting the first 2 outs and going to a 2 strike count on one of the campers who returned from last year, he ordered all of us campers in the field to leave the field. He wanted to finish this game mano y mano, just him and the batter. So with all of us standing on the third base line, he threw pitch after pitch with each being fouled off one after the other. Finally Reiboldt timed a fastball just right and lined a shot into center field. John Ewart from our team ran out to retrieve the ball while Reiboldt rounded the bases. He got the ball back in to the catcher for a play at the plate, but the tag was just a bit too late and we ended up losing the game on a 10-9 walk-off inside the park home run. Even though the game ended bad for us, it was a great moment and ended up being one of the most talked about moments in camp and was the butt of many jokes.

After the game we headed back to the locker room, showered, changed into our street clothes and headed back to the hotel. We were slated to go out to dinner with our new coaches later that night. Our team met up with Marvin and Eddie at one of the restaurants at the hotel for our dinner. All of our spouses or family that were there attended the dinner too. We had a great time getting to know Marvin and Eddie off the field and it was a good bonding experience for all of us on the team. After dinner it was time to head back to our rooms and catch some shut eye as the 6:30 AM shuttle comes really early in the morning. I was a bit sore after the first night, but mainly from being on my feet and doing baseball activities all day (something that I haven’t done in a long time).

1/24/12

2012 Atlanta Braves Fantasy Camp – Day 1

So I wanted to create a writeup of every day of the fantasy camp so everyone would get an idea of what goes on at one of these things for the enormous price tag you have to pay. First I'd like to thank my beautiful and wonderful wife and my mother-in-law for purchasing the Fantasy Camp package for me for my Birthday and Christmas (for this year and many down the road!). it was a wonderful gift and I still can't believe they both did it!

Anyway, we arrived at Lake Buena Vista at the Resort on Tuesday afternoon. After checking in and getting my room key I unloaded all of my stuff into my room and met my roommate who I will be staying with in the suite. Thankfully it is a 2 bedroom suite and we each have a separate rooms. Later Tuesday night we went to a welcome dinner at a local Ale house here in the Orlando area and had dinner and drinks on the Braves and got a chance to meet all of the Alumni (former Braves players) and rub elbows with them, ask them questions and basically pick their brains about Baseball and anything else we wanted to ask them about. It was fun. Here's a shot of Greg Olsen being goofy with someone's camera while campers and Sid Bream look on.

After drinking too much and grabbing some food it was back to the Hotel to try and get some sleep before we had to load up on the shuttle the next morning at 6:30 AM.

9/7/2011

Well, we've had our first temperature drop of the year here in September as the highs here in the Atlanta area yesterday and today were in the 60's. That's the coolest it's been since the spring! Although it's supposed to be back up in the 80's by the weekend, it appears that we are nearing the end of summer and getting ready to head into Fall.

We went down to the house in Sarasota for the Labor Day weekend and were promptly greeted with a non-working A/C system in the house. We stayed there for 24 hours before it was finally fixed the following day. Needless to say, that was one hot night we had there. We're trying to figure out what kind of flooring to put into the house to replace the old worn out carpet/linoleum that is in there right now. Hopefully we can get it completed by the end of the year so we can go down and have a true vacation (without having to do some work) during the Christmas vacation.

While we were in Florida we took Holden to the beach for the first time. He's 6 months old now and I think he enjoyed it, although it was really bright out for him with the reflection off the white sand. The water was also a touch chilly which I don't think he cared for either as the wave splashed over him and caused him to cry a bit. I took him out in the water though and he seemed to enjoy it just like he did the pool. You can see him sitting on the beach over to the left there with a handful a sand that I'm sure he's thinking about putting in his mouth.

I think we're on the verge of his first tooth coming in as he's been a bit ornery lately and waking up a bit at night. Luckily for us when he wakes up the pacifier soothes him enough to send him right back to sleep. This wasn't always the case with him, so it's nice for a change to not have to work at getting him to go back to sleep. He's a happy and healthy boy though who is on the verge of crawling if he can ever figure out how to get onto his knees when he's got himself propped up with his arms. He'll figure it out soon though I'm sure, then Sarah and I are really in trouble!

I am finally getting over my latest injury (I know, I'm always hurting myself), tennis elbow. Ironic isn't it? And I actually got it while playing tennis. I took a month off and am playing for the 2nd time today to see how it fares. It felt good last week, then I took another week off and hopefully it'll feel fine after today as the fall ALTA season starts on Saturday. My KSWISS singles league begins on the 17th. I'll be playing at the 3.5 level now after being bumped from 3.5- from last season. I'm curious to see how I'll fare with the tougher competition. I think I'll enjoy it, and I am looking forward to it. Unfortunately I think I am going to have to get an MRI on my knee that I hurt earlier this year as it is still bothering me a bit. I can just tell that it's not 100% and that there's something wrong in there, and apparently only an MRI will tell us what that is. I have to call the Doctor to get a referral to continue on with it's diagnosis, let's hope for the best.

7/1/2011

It's officially the halfway point of the year now. I can't believe it's July already...where did the first half of the year go. We had a nice time last weekend with my sister and our two nephews in town as well as the Uptain clan coming over to visit. The picture is a shot of all the Cousins on the swing on our front porch. From L to R, Nolan, Cole, Holden, Miles, and Madeline. Nolan and Cole are our nephews, Holden is our son, and MIles and Madeline are our cousins.

We had a good time on Saturday at the aquarium, and playing in the fountain on Sunday. It's always good to spend some time with family that lives in another state, and especially good to get the kids together so that they are not strangers when they grow up. Although they probably won't remember this much when they do get older. This wasn't the best shot of all of the kids, but I liked it because Miles was really smiling and Nolan was making a face which is so him. I think it's cuter than the one where they are all smiling and posed.

On a more personal note, my knee is probably about 85% healed now and is feeling much better. There are some days when I don't even realize it was hurt, but then there are still some days when it aches a bit. I'm still trying to take it easy and not over exert myself, but that's hard for me to do.

Holden is 4 months old now and growing like a weed. He was 24 3/4" long and weighed 16 lbs 15 oz at his 4 month check up. He also had to get 3 more shots which he did not care for in the least. It messed up his sleep for 2 nights, but he's back to sleeping through the night now...thankfully. We will try him on some cereal this weekend to see how he does with it. I hope he eats from a spoon as well as he did with a breast/bottle.

Happy 4th of July everyone! Be Safe!

6/7/11

Ok, 2+ months without a Blog entry is a bit pathetic. What can I say though, my family has been taking up the majority of my time. So let's see, what has happened in the past 2 months...

First off, we went to Rome, GA for the USTA State Championships for the 3.0 level. It was a Friday-Sunday tournament. I ended up playing line 1 singles on Friday morning and won my match on a 3rd set super tie break. I was supposed to play Line 2 Singles that afternoon but took a forfeit from the other team. On Saturday morning I was going to play line 2 singles again but our opponent forfeited that line as well, so I played line 1 doubles with Przemek and we easily won in straight sets. I ended up playing Saturday afternoon too, Line 1 singles, and after dropping the first set 6-0, I came back and won the 2nd set and then won the super tie break to take the win. That is the first time ever playing tennis I have lost a set 6-0, and I was a bit embarrassed. I sat on the bench Sunday morning to let some of the other guys play and save myself for the finals that afternoon. Unfortunately it was the hottest day yet. I played line 1 singles in the finals and even though I took the first set, I dropped the second set and lost a heart breaker 14-16 in the super tie break to lose. We only took 1 out of 5 lines in the finals to come in as the runners-up for the state of GA. We'll get them this winter in 3.5!

I also hurt my right knee pretty badly about a month before going to the USTA finals, so I wasn't exactly 100%, but it was not the reason why I lost in the finals. The guy I played was just in phenomenal shape, and it seemed that he just made the shots that I missed. That's the way it goes in tennis sometimes. Anyway, i hurt my knee playing basketball, and since I only get injured when I play basketball I have decided to retire from that sport indefinitely. It's been two months now since I hurt it and it's still not 100/% back to normal. The scrape on the front of my knee healed fine after a couple of weeks, but the damage to the muscles (I think I sprained/strained my MCL and ACL) still hasn't fully healed. I have stopped playing singles in Tennis until it heals up and am finishing up a flex doubles league with Marcus (we're in the 2nd round of the playoffs right now) before I take a break from tennis for a while to get fully healed.

So since I won't be playing much tennis this summer, I need a better way to lose the rest of the weight that I started losing last year. I started off in January of 2010 weighing 324 lbs. I got down as far as 255 lbs last year before gaining a bit back since Sarah got pregnant and we had Holden. So we are starting the weight loss regime again. I weighed 276.5 on June 1st, and my goal is to be down into the 220's by our anniversary on 10/1/11. If I can lose 3 lbs a week I can do it! So I have been getting up early before work and running/swimming. If I run I am doing anywhere from 3 to 3.25 miles, and if I swim I try to swim for 20-30 minutes straight. it's tough, but I have noticed a huge change in my metabolism now that I have started exercising in the morning. The hardest part will be keeping it up for the next few months. I know I can do it though, and I am ready to take on the challenge!

More to come later when I have some more time. The picture to the left is a shot Sarah took of me giving Holden a kiss this past weekend. I think he enjoyed it!

3/30/11

Wow, how has a month gone by and I haven't put out a blog update...oh yeah, I have a 1 month old son at home that's been taking up all of my time! If you haven't heard we welcomed Holden into the world! Here he is last week after turning one month old. My how the time flies.

2/22/11

Although today would have been a really cool birthday for the soon to be newest member of our family, our little "tater tot" is still not quite ready to join us outside of the womb. The official "due date" is Friday 2/25, but I have a feeling it's not going to be ready to come then either.

Things are still going good on the tennis front. Our USTA team has made it to the city finals which is on 2/26 & 2/27. The picture is a shot of me hitting a back-hand slice during my match that I won to help us get to city finals, taken by my lovely wife! As for city finals, it really depends on what baby Douglas decides to do on whether I play or don't play. It really will be a Saturday morning decision as we are down to the wire and Sarah could go into labor any day now. In the meantime I am keeping busy with my K-Swiss league winning my first match in straight sets. I was supposed to play my second match tonight but the guy had to cancel on me, so it looks like we've been pushed to Thursday now.

This is actually a good thing as my right knee has really been bothering me lately. I have this pain in my knee right below my kneecap where it is tender and really hurts when I run (pound my foot into the pavement). I played basketball last night and that really didn't help matters any. I've been trying to strengthen it the best I can by doing some squats and lifting some weights at home as much as I can, but it still is bothersome. Sarah made me an appointment with her doctor for my yearly physical and they are going to take an x-ray of my knee to see if there is anything structurally wrong with it. My guess though is that they will have to take an MRI to really find anything out. Oh won't that be fun, that would be my 3rd MRI in the past 10 years.

As soon as we have our new arrival, I'll be sure to put up a shot of the young one here.

davetennis

2/7/2011

Well the countdown is on for Baby Douglas to arrive. The due date is 2/25, but it could happen any day now. We have the bags for the hospital packed, all of the stuff from the shower opened, all of the clothes washed, and the car seat is in the car ready to go. All we need now is the little one to decide when it's ready to introduce itself to the world. It's going to be a wild ride from here on out and I can't wait!

In the meantime, there is still some tennis to be played. We ended up winning the division for USTA 3.0 and therefore proceeded to the playoffs as the 3 seed. We had our opening match this past Saturday vs. Creekstone (who we played earlier this season and defeated). We had a late start due to the rain so I didn't arrive at the park until 2 PM for my match. When I got there, our S1 line had already lost (good effort Daniel!), and our D1 line was on the verge of losing. By the time I started my match, we had lost S1, D1, and were down one set for D2. Thankfully my match was over quickly (6-0, 6-1) with me coming out victorious, so I was able to watch the rest of the matches and root our guys on. D2 (Marcus V. and Shad) and D3 (Marcus B. and Darrin) came up huge with victories to seal the win for our team. So we're moving on to play next week and who knows what can happen from there!

Here's a shot of all the guys after the matches celebrating the victory. Great job everyone! I'm proud to be a part of the team!

ustadivchamps

1/24/2011

Happy Belated New Year everyone. It's been a while since I have made an update here and a lot has happened in the past couple of months. Sarah and I are about a month away from the arrival of Baby Douglas who is due on 2/25. We are busily preparing the room for our new arrival and had the baby shower this weekend. It was hosted by my sister Amy and Sarah's 2 close friends Leigh and Johanna at our house. The shot attached is a group shot of the family that I took off the tripod that evening after the shower was over. Here is who is in the picture: From L to R on the couch; Sarah, David, Brenda, Cole, Jerry, Nolan and Charlotte
From L to R on the floor: Miles, Erin, Leah, Madeline, Amy, and Rob.

The USTA tennis season has ended and we finished as the division champions, only losing to one opponent during the season to go 6-1. Great job to the guys that played, I just wish I could have contributed more this season! We start the playoffs on 2/5, so I've got to get my A game going before then!

Things are still extremely busy, so until next time, everyone stay warm and happy shooting!

family

12/3/2010

The Fall Softball season for the city of Sugar Hill was concluded last night with our team (Lenox Park Rangers) coming out victorious in the championship game by a score of 20-8. I was able to grab this shot after the game (well I setup the camera and one of the organizers took the shot) of our team with the championship trophy. I think this is the first time I have ever won anything in softball as the old company teams I used to coach never amounted to much of anything.

We had to play 2 games last night, one at 8 PM, which we won, that allowed us to advance on to the championship game at 9 PM. We beat the team that had the best record on the year, and did it in sub 40 degree temperatures! It was a good season and I was glad that Stuart and the guys let me play on their team. Hopefully they'll want me to play again in the spring if they continue to have the team.

I'm off today (comp day for being on call last week over Thanksgiving) and am glad to have the time away from work. I found out that I have to make a trip to our DR site in Dallas this month, so that's not something I'm looking forward to, but something that has to be done unfortunately. Yemi (my co-worker) is going to go too though, so at least I will have someone to work with and hang out with during the down time.

softball001

11/23/2010

On the verge of Thanksgiving, I figured it was time for another blog entry since it's been a good 3 weeks since my last one. A lot has happened since the beginning of November, so let me see if I can catch everyone up.

First I covered the Idaho State/UGA football game which the Bulldogs ran away with. I got some pretty good shots from the game though, but still I have not sold a photo yet. Maybe one day I will...although I'm not sure if I'll be able to cover the Bulldogs next year, but I'm going to try. I'm trying to see if I can get a credential for the SEC Championship game on 12/4 between Auburn and South Carolina, as well as the Chick-Fil-A Bowl game on 12/31, but I haven't heard anything about either of those yet.

I ended up finishing 3rd in my KSWISS tennis league and lost in the first round of the playoffs, although it was close 4-6, 6-3, 1-6. I had to drive down to south Atlanta for the match, which was not fun. I'll resume playing for our USTA team on 12/11 during the Winter season after missing the first 3 matches due to scheduling conflicts. It'll be fun to get together and play with the E-Trade guys again.

Sarah and I flew up to Swansboro, NC to visit my sister, brother-in-law and our nephews and also go to Cole's 6th birthday party. I can't believe he is 6 already...my how time flies. We had a good time even though it was a quick trip flying in on Friday afternoon and out again on Sunday morning. The party was a Chuck E Cheese (first time I have been there in a long time) and the kids had a blast. We also snuck away on Saturday morning on Amy and Rob's new boat to take a family picture of the Armstrong's for their Christmas cards this year. The best shot is attached to this blog.

Last weekend Sarah, Belinda and I packed up the rented U-Haul trailer and took a bunch of furniture down to the house in Sarasota, FL so that it cold be sold in the estate sale we are having down there in January. I'll be glad to get rid of the majority of the furniture in that house so we can work on getting the flooring replaced and start the renovations on that house (although I'm not sure how much we're actually going to do).

it's a short work week this week with Thanksgiving on Thursday and the annual Iron Bowl (Alabama vs Auburn) on Friday, so it's going to be an exciting week. Sarah and I are going to try and find the time this weekend to start and complete our baby registries. She hit the 6 month mark on 11/19 and the shower is just a couple of months away, slated for the middle of January. Not to mention that everyone has been asking us if we have registered yet, so we figured it was time, and we will actually have the time to do it! Good times!

armstrongfamily

11/3/2010

The first streak of colder weather for the fall has hit us here in the south and wow, it's cold! We had to turn off the AC upstairs and switched on the heat downstairs to keep us from getting too cold. I love the fall, but I would prefer if the fall weather was in the 60's or even 70's and not the 40's and 50's that we're going to be experiencing here in the next week. I guess that is why we have jackets and long sleeve shirts though.

I'll be heading back to Athens again on Saturday morning to be on the sidelines to photograph the UGA vs Idaho State football game. I'm only going to take my one camera body and keep it mostly on my 300mm lens this time (instead of working 2 bodies with 2 different lenses last time) and see how it works out. I think keeping the focal length at 300mm on one body will be fine and probably work out better for me. I'm also going to attempt to not use the monopod and just shoot everything hand held as it allows me to have a greater range of motion. This will be my last football game of the year (unless I can get into a bowl game) so I'll enjoy the smell of the grass and the sound of hard hits for as long as I can on Saturday. Unfortunately it also means I'm going to miss watching most of the LSU/Alabama game as it starts at 3:30. Damn you SEC schedulers! Don't you know that two top 10 teams playing should be a prime time start??? The shot accompanying this post is from my iPhone 4 from the last UGA game I attended to show the crowd and what it looks like from field level. We were in a TV timeout and waiting for the commercials to end so we could get back to the action!

I went over to The Gwinnett Arena to photograph the Gwinnett Gladiators hockey game on Monday. I will be going to a few games here and there this season as I have been granted a season credential there, so hopefully I can fine tune my hockey shots. Most of the Gladiator staff were very nice and courteous, but I didn't get a very warm reception from one person. I also didn't get a chance to talk to this person either, but next time I'm going to just kill them with kindness and go up and introduce myself. It certainly can't hurt.

Sarah is nearing 24 weeks with her pregnancy and everything is progressing nicely. We recently purchased the furniture for the baby's room and it should arrive in about 8 weeks time. Now we have to finish cleaning out the rest of the crap out of the room and then paint it so that it's ready when the furniture does arrive. There's never a lack of things to keep us busy, that's for sure.

sanfordstadium

10/20/2010

On Saturday I had a credential to photograph the UGA vs Vanderbilt football game for a company that I am freelancing for. This was my first time a) shooting football and b) being a credentialed member of the media. Let me just say that watching a game from the sideline is a lot different than watching a game from the stands. Thankfully I didn't get hurt or even have the action come anywhere near me, but I did have a good time at the game and got some great shots. Unfortunately i have been told that due to SEC restrictions I can't post the shots from the game on my site even to add to my portfolio. Oh well!

Here you can see me on TV! I was in the background shooting from the sideline. I DVR'd the game and watched it later that night and snapped off this quick shot with my phone of me on the TV. That's me right in the middle of the screen with my head behind the camera above the Vanderbilt player's head. It was fun to watch the game and show Sarah where I was during certain parts of the broadcast, and kind of surreal to see myself on TV. I'll be at the 11/6 UGA game too, so if you're watching keep an eye out for me on the sideline. I'll be wearing a navy blue shirt, khaki cargo pants and possibly a long sleeve white shirt underneath (same as I'm wearing in this shot).

dave

10/14/2010

So I had to take a passport style photo of myself today and I didn't feel like getting my camera and tripod out to take the shot (since I don't have anyone here to take it for me) so I just used my iPhone 4 to do it. It was quick and dirty, but it did the job. As I was looking at the picture I noticed that compared to a shot of me from May of 2009, I look a bit different. So I did a side by side comparison of the two shots and thought it was cool to see how different I look now compared to a year ago. So here is the side by side shot.

Oh, and the passport photo was going to be used on an ID that I have to get made before Saturday. You'll find out at a later date what the ID is for. Now, time to get back to work.

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