We had a really good Thanksgiving this year. We ate entirely too much food, got to see a lot of family we don’t normally get to see, and just generally had a good time. Despite the fact our Linksys router was fried when we got home, and I have an assignment due and a test in my graphics class this week, I’m still in a good mood. We’ll see how long it lasts. :)
Cassie and I didn’t get to go on vacation this summer, so we decided we should go somewhere this fall. I started a new job this October, and their policy is that new employees can’t take any time off for the first ninety days, so we had to keep it to a weekend. We decided to go to Nashville, Tennessee. It’s just a four hour drive from Oxford and has a lot of neat things to do. This past weekend was good because Cassie is off all this week, so she didn’t have to worry about grading papers or writing lesson plans.
We left Friday about 4:30pm. After stopping in Jackson, Tennessee for supper (and a few wrong turns), we made it to our hotel about 10pm. (By the way, if there is anywhere decent to eat in Jackson, we certainly couldn’t find it.) We had reservations at Doubletree Suites on the east side of Nashville, between the airport and Opryland. For the price, I thought they were very nice. I would highly recommend them.
We spent most of the day Saturday shopping. First we hit Opry Mills. It was our first time to go there, and while it was nice, we weren’t that impressed. It was nearly identical to Katy Mills, which we went to this spring when we went to Houston. We were even less impressed when we remembered they destroyed Opryland (an amusement park) to build the place.
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Last night Cassie and I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the new theater in Oxford. It was the first time we had been to the new theater. It looks a lot like the new theater in Tupelo, though quite a bit smaller. It’s a huge improvement over what we had.
I’ve read all the Harry Potter books and seen all the movies. Cassie has read none of the books and had only seen the movie previous to this one, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I’ve tried to get her to read the books, but on the whole she thinks the whole thing is silly. I think she only went last night to see the new theater.
I thought the first half of the movie was just a little silly. I can’t point to anything in particular, but it definitely felt sillier than it should have been. I also thought a lot of important things got left out or changed. I realize it’s hard to pack a long book into a two hour movie, so I don’t hold that against them too much. I thought the second half of the movie was very good. I knew exactly what was going to happen, but I still found it very exciting. Overall the movie was very, very good. If you’ve read the books or seen the other movies, you’ve got to see this one. If you haven’t read the books or seen the movies, I suggest you start now. They are both very entertaining, even for adults.
This past Friday John McCain spoke at the Ford Center on campus. He was the first speaker in the Trent Lott Leadership Institute Lecture Series. I’ve always been a fan of McCain, primarily due to his sense of humor and his straight talking ways. I was worried that I wouldn’t get to make it since we were going out of town, but it worked out after all.
It was standing room only, and not much of that. I suspect the fire marshal would not have been a happy man. Chancellor Khayat introduced Trent Lott, who then introduced McCain.
I had expected a speech on leadership or something of the sort, but he actually gave a rather short speech about current issues facing the country. Social security, foreign oil, and the war in Iraq all came up. There was a lot of clapping until he got to the war in Iraq. There was still some applause, but it trailed off considerably. I agreed with most of what he said. Once he was done with his speech he took questions from the audience. He handled all the questions very well, even the pointed ones about the war.
At one point, someone brought up the possibility of him running for president in 2008. He made it clear that he wouldn’t decide for sure until after the mid-term elections in 2006. That’s smart, thought I really can’t imagine him not running. He’s getting on up in years, so this is really his last chance. I could definitely support him for president. I would prefer for him to run as an independent, but I’ll take what I can get. At least he is an independent thinker most of the time.
If you told me that you were buying an expensive item whose maker was currently being sued because the very item you were buying was defective, I’d say you were crazy. I’d probably be right too. In spite of the pending lawsuit, I’ve bought myself a Treo 650. It’s no secret that the Treos have issues, but as far as I’m concerned it’s the best smartphone out there right now.
My cell phone is about three years old, and I bought my Palm Vx (used) back in the summer of 2001. Obviously, I’m due for an upgrade. I’ve been waiting for the price on the Treo 650s to drop for several months now. (I can be patient when it comes to saving money.) The price on new ones is still at $399. I’ve been threatening to pay that much for one, and I probably would have in the next month or so if they (Cingular) hadn’t started selling refurbished Treo 650s for $139.
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This past weekend my parents, my grandmother, Cassie, and I drove down to Auburn, Alabama for the Ole Miss/Auburn football game. My brother (a manager for Ole Miss) was already there with the team, and several other members of my mother’s extended family met us there.
The Ole Miss/Auburn games are always interesting for us. My dad has been an Ole Miss fan his whole life as far as I know. I too have been an Ole Miss fan all my life and going to school and working there didn’t help the situation any. On the other hand, my grandfather and two of my uncles went to Auburn. One of the uncles played football there. Needless to say, that side of the family is all Auburn fans.
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