Yeah, that’s right. My mom can kick some serious butt! This weekend, my 57 year old mother checked off another item on her bucket list when she entered in a powerlifting meet at Flex Gym in Virginia Beach. And…….she placed both 1st place in the Bench Press division, and the deadlift division for her class. The fact that she was the only one in her divisions doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that all the other moms out there were too scared! Check out those muscles!

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My Mom Can Kick Your Mom’s Ass!

So, we went up to the farm in Charlottesville this weekend to build a handrailing on the porch steps for my grandparents and we happened across this! A fresh batch of kittens. There apears to be 4 or 5, but I cannot be certain. There are definitely 3 though. Any takers? I think that they should be ready to go to new homes in about 2 weeks.

Luckily I am at capacity with one kitten. I can’t imagine the trouble two of them together would get in.

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A Fresh Batch!

While going through my grandparents’ barn this past weekend I came across a box of old slides. This was one of the pictures I found. It was the summer of 1985. My grandfather and I were on one of our legendary camping trips to Dalton Pond in Northern Virginia. That summer we built everything that we needed for shelter….including this teepee.

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From the Vault #1

Last night I took my sister to see Andrew Bird in concert up in Richmond. I have been wanting to see this guy live for so many years. We got there a little early and were fortunate enough to find a spot right in the front….Callie had her elbows resting on the stage.

The show was awesome….a HUGE sound that made you actually feel the music. Not loud, just big….if that makes sense. Andrew’s use of loops, whistling, glockenspiel, violin, and guitar all in one song….BY HIMSELF…is something to behold.

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Andrew Bird – The National – Richmond, VA

When I was up in Charlottesville a few weeks ago, we found a huge trunk filled with old family photos. While rummaging around I found this picture of my grandfather. On the back it says “9AM 6-25-40″. There were tons of these in there from different days and with different people. I asked him about them and he said that for a few years in the summers to help him pay for college, he worked at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky as a guide. This was a perfect match for him since he was a Geology major. He even had the opportunity to do a little exploring in the cave. How cool is that!?

Every time he took a tour with a group of people, they had a photographer that would snap a shot for all the tourists as a souvenir. One of the perks (if you can call it that) was to get a copy of each of the pictures. There must be a hundred of them in that trunk.

My grandfather is the one on the far right with the uniform on.

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Mammoth Cave, Kentucky 1940

This Wii sure does take it up a notch though. The physical interaction with the game is insane!

Last night my mom came over and we were playing Tennis and Boxing. Talk about funny….I need to get a video of her playing these games. I was rolling on the floor. While she is jumping around the room and waving her arms about, I am sitting calmly on the couch playing the same game and with more accuracy….but not flailing about like she was. I was certain that she was going to go crashing through my glass coffee table. Good stuff.

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Wii-diculous

Holy crap…my sister, Shelby, is on the cover of a book! She’s crazy about Anime, Jrock, and Cosplaying….and this just proves it!

Here’s the link!

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Cosplayers 2008: A Book

Over the years my grandfather has collected a ton of stuff. And when I say a ton of stuff, I mean a metric ass ton. For those of you that don’t know, that is way bigger than a normal ton. Most of the stuff that he has collected in his 90 years of life so far have been piled away into this barn. Years and years of Life Magazines, tons of old photos, miscellaneous lab equipment, the list goes on and on.

Up until recently my grandfather wouldn’t let us go through the barn for the purpose of cleaning it out. He was afraid that we would throw out “good-stuff”. The problem is that much of that “good=stuff” is being turned to crap because of the weather, the wasps, the groundhogs and the mice. Luckily we have gained his trust by explaining to him that we are trying to preserve all the good stuff and get rid of the trash.

So last weekend my father, myself, my Uncle Bill and my cousin Orion started in on the barn. We got a 40 foot long by 7 foot high dumpster delivered to the barn and filled that sucker to the brim by the end of the weekend.

We got a lot done and actually made the inside of the barn maneuverable, but man do we have a long way to go!

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Barnyard Mayhem

Yesterday we went up to my grandparents’ for New Years and the family’s huge Christmas get together (there were 17 of us there). My cousin Orion was there from California…I hadn’t seen him in several years. I got to talking to him and I found out he had a few bands going on. When I got home last night I hopped on the computer to check out their web site. They are called The Switch Ups and they rock! I was blown away when I heard it! Check them out! http://www.myspace.com/theswitchups Orion is the bassist (the blond guy in the middle). They sort of remind me of the Stiff Little Fingers.

Awesome stuff, Orion! I hope I can get out there to see you guys live!

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The Switch Ups from Long Beach, CA

This weekend while Christy and I made our quick visit to Charlottesville, we stopped in to visit with my grandparents on their farm. The next morning we got up and I showed Christy where I found MJ (my new kitten) and off in the distance was the mama cat (my grandmother has named her Pearly). The scene was similar to spotting a Yeti because it seemed that as soon as we saw her she dashed off into the woods. Luckily we went back out after breakfast with the camera and spotted her again.

She’s rather plump for this time of year…we kinda think that she might be pregnant again. I guess we really need to trap her and take her in to get fixed and then bring her back to the farm.

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Meet Pearly