I'm sitting here at the Blackfriars listeining to Karla Bonoff play on our stage. Tomorrow, it's back to normal as we present the opening night of Richard III. Hey, it's a living. Celebrity Alert! Aside from Karla, we were graced by the presence of Robin and Linda Williams, who you may have heard on A Prairie Home Companion, and who will be playing here themselves in November

Kathy's friend Loretta is visiting us from NC. She's on her way to New Jersey to visit a sick parent. Our fist official houseguest since we moved here. Isn't that delightful? Hmmm?

Sorry, had to throw a little Marvin the Martian in there.

Oh, and we got our new couch in, finally! Haven't had a chance to test it and see how it sleeps, yet, but time will tell. We have a blanket on it until we can get a slipcover shipped in for it. Gotta keep the cat hair off it, y'know. LOL

Anyway, that's all from this end. Hope the day's going well for whoever you are over there.;)

Here it is, one year, 365 days, 52 weeks... and I feel many of the feelings that I had when I lived through this last year.

As I mentioned, I started feeling the weight of the anniversary yesterday as I drove to work. It dissipated thanks to the ticket I got for speeding (see below), but it came back with a vengeance as I watched NBC last night.

There were interviews with survivors and relatives of victims of the attacks, and one of the interviews was with a widow who had been on the phone with her husband as the north tower collapsed. As she told of how they spent the last moments saying "I love you" over and over, I kept squeezing Kathy's hand and thinking of what would have happened if I had been in that building, assured of dying, and talking with my beloved but unable to touch her in my last moments. I cried for a good while afterwards.

This morning, I came to work and rolled into Staunton about 8:35am. While I was on the interstate, I tried listening to John Boy and Billy, as I did when I woke up one year earlier, but I couldn't take it. Instead I switched over to the more sober goings-on on NPR. When I parked in the municipal garage, I went out walking.

It was quiet in town, and I walked a couple of blocks towards the Presbyterian church. At 8:46 the church bells began to ring, a tolling that I always associated with funerals. They went on for more than a minute, then went silent. After a few more seconds of near silence, the stillness was broken by a bugler playing "taps". I hurriedly walked in the direction of the bugle and found it, on the campus of Mary Baldwin College. What looked like the entire campus was gathered around the half-staff flagpole, obvously observing the events of a year ago.

I know there were some people who were saying that they would not be pausing, mourning and observing this day, remarking that the best thing to do is to "live life normally". However, I think the best thing we could do today as Americans was just exactly what we did. Some of us remebering the dead, some of us doing the work of the living. This is one thing I love about this nation; the fact that we could mark this anniversary however we chose, or choose not to.

God bless America,

Clint

Here it is the eve of the first anniversary of September 11th, and I can feel the weight of it upon my shoulders. I feel as if I need to write something thoughtful and reflective on it, but I may wait until later to do it.

On my way to work this morning, I got stopped for speeding (48 in a 25). The officer said that I was speeding through a school zone, but I don't remember any lights flashing as I was going through. Grrrrr! I'm contesting this, so help me!

Okay, without further ado, the Friday Five...

1. What is your biggest pet peeve? Why?


My biggest pet peeve is people who don't use turn signals. Plain and simple.

2. What irritating habits do you have?


Ask my fiancee! LOL

3. Have you tried to change the irritating habits or just let them be?


I've tried, but so far, it hasn't been succesful.

4. What grosses you out more than anything else? Why?


The sight of excrement. I don't know why, but it just triggers a gag reflex in me, and I get really queasy.

5. What one thing can you never see yourself doing that other people do?


I don't know.

And again...

Okay, I'm gonna give this another try. Let's see if I can post without worry...

Posting on the range...

Take the Purrsonality Quiz!

I never would have figured this. More in a bit.

*sigh* It never ends...

This morning, as I was headed to work, a guy passed me and honked his horn. I gave a sideways glance just in time to see him stick his hand out his pickup truck window and shoot me a middle finger.

I wondered if it was for driving too slow, or if I had changed lanes badly. Then it dawned on me.

He was flipping me off for my bumper sticker.

A few months ago, I had picked up a bumper sticker at ASU that read "Peace is patriotic". I had bought it because I thought it summed up my feelings on war and patriotism in general. In recent weeks I had thought about taking it off or even supplanting it with an American flag or something. Those urges came even stronger after being flipped off this morning.

However, after thinking about it, I am leaving the bumper sticker as it is. I am an American citizen. I love my country, and I support those troops who are stationed around the world, keeping the peace and defending my liberties as well as those of people not only of this country, but around the world.

Even so, I am also a man of peace. I'm not going to go into a rant about George W.'s War on Terrorism policies, or anything like that. I think that the war has managed to accomplish something, in the removal of the Taliban, which was perhaps the most oppressive government in the past 20-30 years.

As I saidm though, I am a man of peace, and I will not be called a "fifth columnist" or have my patriotism questioned simply because I feel that peace is preferable to war. Yes, war may be unavoidable sometimes, but it won't keep me from wolding a candle for brotherhood, equality and a better future.

That's all I have to say about that.

Quick update:

We're having moving trauma right now. Finding a mover is a bear (and I ain't talking about a bunny bear).

The Fourth (for us at least) sucked, even with the availability of a hot tub. Kathy says we're never going out for the Fourth again. I think it'll change.

Kathy got this in her prescription the other day. Just puzzle over that for a while.

We went to see The Scorpion King last night at the $1.50 theater. It was okay, but there were some people there (probably touristas) who would laugh at entirely inappropriate places. I almost went over to shake some sense into them, and by "shake", I mean "savagely beat".

Today I went to Hickory to buy a couple of birthday gifts for Kathy and a Kacheek plushie for myself. A little while ago, she bought me an early birthday present, a new recliner. :)

And now, the Friday Five, on Sunday night *shrug*.

1. Where are you right now? In front of my computer in a 3 bed, 2 bath trailer in Boone, NC.

2. What have you lost recently? I may have lost some CDs recently, but I think my little brother may have absconded with them.

3. What was the first CD you ever purchased? Does that embarrass you now? My first CD purchased was Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". I'm not embarrassed at all by that. Now my first album-or-CD length recording I ever bought was a cassette of The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack. I think it's kinda geeky, but I'm not embarrassed, per se.

4. What is your favorite kind of writing pen? My favorite is probably just a basic ball-point pen.

5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia.

The news continues on CNN (the Clintster News Network):

We now have a house to call our own (or at least a rental). Late last week Kathy went to Lexington to look at some rental properties. She found a 3 BR 2 bath farmhouse about 5 miles out of town, and talked to the owner about it.

This morning he called us to say that he would rent it to us for the next year (at least). We'll be moving sometime between the 20th and the 31st, depending on when we can arrange to get a moving van.

Yippee!!!! We're a-movin' soon!!!!!

The offer came in Tuesday, and Kathy took it. Which means...

WE'RE MOVING TO VIRGINIA!!! WOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!!

*does backflips through the internet*

Right now Kathy is in Virginia scouting potential places to move into. I've been looking online for a job I can take on. The next few weeks will be a bit hectic for us, but I think it'll all be worth it in the end.

Well, here we are somewhere in limbo. Kathy got a monetary offer from W&L almost 2 weeks ago, and she asked for a better salary. They've been considering it ever since. It's playing hell with our nerves, and if we don't hear something soon, I think I just might have to go there and start kickin' some administrative buttocks!

The McGuire family reunion was this weekend and judging from the reaction, I'd have to say that Kathy was a big hit with the McGuires there. I asked my youngest niece Maegan if she would be our flower girl and she nodded "yes". Of course, she's only 4 (almost), so she'll probably have to be reminded of this responsibility more than once in the next few months.

Oh, and I hate, hate, hate Enya. More on this soon!

WE INTERRUPT CLINT'S REGULAR POST TO BRING YOU THIS STORY OF FAST FOOD HELL!

Okay, here's how it started. I was working a double yesterday at my two jobs. I had finished my shift at Storie Street at 4 and I had to be at Mike's Seafood at 4:45. Since it's a 10 mile drive between the two places, I had to get changed into different clothes and I had to go through a drive-thru to get something to eat before work. I decided I'd stop along the main drag in Boone and pick something up.

No dice. Unfortunately, there was some construction going on along the main road in Boone, which meant going through a drive-thru for a "quick" bite just wouldn't cut it. I decided with some hesitation to go to Hardee's, which is right around the corner from my house (and across the street from Mike's).

I say "with some hesitation" because a couple of months ago, I had a bad experience with them involving some biscuits (but that's another time). Needless to say, I didn't want to do it but I figured I'd give them one more shot.

I went in and ordered a Bacon Bacon (no, that's not a typo) Cheeseburger combo. The guy at the counter, after waiting a couple of minutes to actually take my order. kept asking me if it was to go. After I frantically said "YES" for the 126th time, he said he was just being sure, saying (and I quote) "It's better to ask a bunch of times than to have to say 'I'm sorry'". Can you feel the foreshadowing in the air?

Anyway, I got my combo and came home so I could eat, get changed, and get on to work. I took a bite and noticed something was wrong with my burger. I looked at my sandwich and visually confirmed what my taste buds had warned me about:

THE FRIGGIN' BURGER WAS MISSING FROM MY BURGER!!!!!!!

In more than a little bit of a rage, I raced back to Hardee's and went back to the counter. It took them 3 minutes to find a manager, who offered me a replacement burger. I didn't want one because a) I had to be at work in 3 minutes, and b) I had mine made without mayonnaise (I hate mayo), and it would have taken too long for them to get their shit together to make it my way. I got my money back and went to work.

So basically, what I'm sayin' is I'm never, NEVER, NEVERNEVERNEVERNEVERNEVER going back to Hardee's again, at least that incompetent f'n location!

Got a war story from fast-food hell? Put in my comments. :)

A rather eventful past week. Last Thursday, two days after she got back from interviewing with them, Washington and Lee told Kathy that they were interested in hiring her for their ADIR* position. She said she'd think about it, but only if I approved of the area.

So we took a trip up to Lexington, VA on Saturday. I thought it was a nice area, which combines the horse country of Aiken, SC with the down-home atmosphere of Boone, NC (my current digs). It's a place I could get settled into. On the way back Sunday, after discussing it, Kathy announced to me that she was going to accept the position, provided that the contract meets her salary requirements.

Folks, looks like we're a-movin'! *does happy dance*

I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate my good friend Diona on her impending nuptuals. Man, with so many of my friends (and ME) getting married, it almost makes me feel sorry for those who aren't at that stage yet. Almost! :)

Next post: I steal an idea from Crink!

*Assistant Director of Institutional Research