Ash tray

Here is the latest thing in taking care of cigarette butts now. There are a couple of tiny holes where you are supposed to deposit your smoke when you have finished. (BTW, I don't smoke, but I really wonder what the advantage of this device is. The old buckets with sand in them just didn't look attractive I suppose.

GUYS AND DOLLS

My wife and I enjoyed the Kernersville Little Theatre's production, "Guys and Dolls" Saturday night. Joe Boles, one of Ben's friends from middle school/high school starred as Sky Masterson. This is Joe's first show at KLT. The female lead was played by Meagan Newell, a junior at Liberty University studying Video Production and Theatre. She played the part of Sarah Brown who works with the Salvation Army in a real effort in saving sinners in NYC. This musical had excellent acting and singing. Meagan can really hit the high notes! Other notable performance: Christina Rodriquez who played Miss Adelaide. She is a grad student at NYU where she is getting her MA in Educational Theatre. Also, Gary Stirewalt played Nathan Detroit, (Miss Adelaide's fiance for 14 years.) I could have shown more shots of the play but the quality is poor due to the fact that they didn't allow any flash photos.

The Top 5 Questions

I made a couple of CDs from the Ravi Zacharias website here.
If you click on the radio section and then on the Let My People Think segment you can choose the mp3 for the Top 5 Questions which were asked and answered and then further questions were asked at the end, and then more answers were given by Ravi and Dr. William Craig. The top 5 questions presented at the University of Iowa (and this was several years ago,) were:
1. What is the meaning of life?

2. How can we know that the Christian God exists?

3. If God is all-powerful and all-loving and good, how can he allow suffering and evil?

4. How can we know that Christ was physically resurrected from the grave?

5. How can God be fair in not allowing believers of other religions to enter heaven?

Give an ear to these and you may find that you need to listen to them more than once. It is good to know that God doesn't expect us to check our minds at the door when we enter into church.

Birdfeeders

Back in December, we came up with a plan to foil the squirrels' attempts at getting to our birdfeeders. Its not that we don't want these little critters to eat, but they tear up the feeders so badly. Well, you can see the damage done to the hard plastic, and one squirrel seemed to have found a way to navigate up the plastic cover of the 4 x 4 holding the feeders. So this weekend we are trying something different, galvanized aluminum. Let's just see if there is a squirrel out there with this kind of climbing power.

Leafy Sea Dragon

We saw this creature, but I was somehow unable to get a clear shot. So I pirated this baby from here.

(I know I have a few others which lack clarity, but these efforts were really lame.)

More Aquarium

OK, I don't know what the two pics at the top are, but the next two are flowers right outside the aquarium. Those are followed by a sawfish, a guitarfish, a zebra shark, and some jelly.

Pleasant Surprise

I had a pleasant surprise today at lunch as I walked into the Whole Foods on Miller Street in Winston-Salem; I was meandering around the produce section when an old friend, (the old paratrooper) spoke up and called my name. This former soldier (now high-level executive) has surprised me on several occasions, and I suppose I shouldn't be so taken back when it happens now. I would post one of my latest pics, but this gentleman prefers to avoid the publicity. Since I had just returned from Atlanta, it was a good day for the two of us to catch up. Surprise me any old time you like, old paratrooper.

Georgia Aquarium

Well, they have all of this and much more at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. I wanna know if any of you die-hard fishermen know about the Arawana. Ten feet long and 330 pounds! That is some fish!! You all have heard of the Beluga whales I know. They are also known as sea canaries because of their songs and chatter. They have no dorsal fin because they live under ice most of the time and that would get in the way. And then we have the African Penguins, that's right, I said African Penguins. Some of us thought the only place in the world you could find penguins was in Antarctica. We were able to see all 3 whale sharks they had. That's right, I said had. One died today. Don't accuse of me of poisoning the creature, 'cause we didn't take the behind the scenes tour where we would have had access to them. Next we have the piranhas, the bonnethead shark (relative of the hammerhead,) and longnose gar, and an real hodgepodge of fish that I can't begin to discuss with you. If anyone requests more pics, I can oblige.

One Dedicated Mama

This is one dedicated mama--Mary Lou is seen here heading to West Virginia (yesterday) to babysit two of her grandsons for the summer, at least for 2 months. Brett and Sheri are studying jungle medicine during the day before heading to Mali, West Africa as medical missionaries. Mary Lou picked up on Wii Golf pretty easily I might say with an eagle on one hole and finishing the three hole course at -2. (She tied my score on her first effort.)

Zachary

Here is a very cute little boy--not that I am at all prejudiced or anything. He just happens to be the son of my niece and her husband (who lives in Raleigh at least for now.) But whenever I would squat down to take his pic he would squat too, so this is what I got. I would have loved to have captured him batting a ball, but I was pitching to him (and being the pitcher and getting the picture would be a bit complicated.) Maybe next time...

NC State Campus

My wife and I made a trip to Raleigh on Saturday, (and you know how it is in Raleigh--just go, go, go.) I took the opportunity to check out the NC State University campus that borders Hillsoborough St. Just check out that sundial at Primrose! I had not seen the remodeled Winston Hall, in fact I had not been by since I took an English class there just a few years ago. Nelson has a new name as it is the College of Management now. I really need to get to Raleigh more often.

Wii Fitness

Tonight I really brought down my Wii Fitness age to a ridiculous number. All I will say is that the sports involved were golf (chipping,) bowling (a crazy number of pins,) and tennis (returning balls.) Looking forward to having my sister-in-law as a guest tomorrow PM.

Salem Lake Ride

Friday afternoon I had a decent ride around Salem Lake. Conditions were certainly dry enough, with the lack of rain in this area. (I will say that it was a bit dusty though.) This time of 33:43.6 is off a bit from my 2002 ride with Ben at 33:12, and a bit more off from my personal best from last summer at 32:51. I am pleased with the time since I intend to improve over the summer, possibly setting a new personal record. And I also intend to play some more tennis so that I don't become a one-sport wonder. And no, I am not talking about Wii.