The Moment All Boys Dream of...

I beat my dad in golf the other day.

On a short par three at the local golf course, I hit a beautiful nine iron pin high that landed about six feet past the hole. My dad, an above average scratch golfer countered with a bit more errant tee shot that landed to the left of the green in the rough. Chipping out of the rough, my father missed the green again and had to settle for a three putt that put him at five strokes for the hole, or plus two strokes overall.

This was my chance, the chance all boys dream of; the day they finally beat their dad in something meaningful. With nerves of Jell-O, I moved over my putt with shaking arms and sweat dripping down my face. I lined up the putt, brought my putter back and let forth the smoothest stroke I could muster.

Before I continue with my story, I think a little backstory is needed to explain why this was such a big event to me.

My dad and I have been playing golf together for years. I've never once beat him on a hole. He's always been more athletic than me, playing point guard in college, QB in high school, throwing multiple no hitters in little league; while I on the other hand rode the bench in basketball and football in high school and had a decent, yet unspectacular career in high school baseball.

We've both loved golf from an early age, and as all fathers do, my dad passed on his love of the game to me. So finally after 10 years of playing rounds of golf together, this one putt would potentially change everything in our father/son relationship.

Slowly the dimpled ball rolled towards the cup. What seemed like a lifetime to me, I’m sure happened in an instant; the ball calmly dropped down in the center of the cup and I had done the impossible; I had beaten my father.

I had crossed the final frontier. I mean, that is the holy grail of a young man’s life right? The day you final defeat you father in a sport you both enjoy? If that’s the case, why did the feeling of joy, like the moment of the putt dropping in the hole, only last a second? Shouldn’t I have felt a wave of joy and accomplishment like no other before it?

I have my theories of course as to why I wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment… Maybe it was because I am 23 years old, and beating my father, now 52, does not hold as much weight as it would have when I was in my early teens. Or maybe it’s because as time has passed, I, like all others have unfortunately begun to see my father as not a god like I once thought, but just another man trying to do the best he can with what he has been given.

Whatever the case, I have finally beaten my dad in something we both enjoy. The moment may have lasted an instant; but the look of pride on his face will be a memory I hold on to for a life time.

Weekend trip to NYC!

Not having posted in months, I thought I'd kick off my first blog post back with 15 or so photos I took with my camera phone while visiting New York City this past weekend. (August 1 through August 3).

Here's a photo of Times Square Meag Board all lit up!

To see the rest just click on the link below and check out my Facebook photo album! If you're not my friend on Facebook, a.) why aren't you? and b.) leave me a friends request and I'll Facebook friend you!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024359&id=31300282
(The link to the Photo album!)

Enjoy!

The evolution of me... through the magic of photos!

I'm back!!!

After a long spring/summer layoff I'm ready to dust off the keyboard to give you guys another glimpse into what makes me... me!

Before we start, I have a confession to make.

I write in journals.

And I write a lot.

But only in sporadic spurts.

It's weird...

I have to have about 10 or 11 of them lying around, each with pages half full of rambles, scribbles and horrible penmenship... the other half of each journal is almost always categorized as "white space".

I have a really bad habit of starting up a journal, getting bored, and then moving on to the new one. In all actuality, I've probably got about five "full" journals worth of material with the rest being blank loose leaf paper.

So I confess, I'm causing Global Warming by not fully using my notebooks.

Wow! That feels so good to get off my chest.

As for what I really want to talk about today...

Originially I had wanted to make my return blog a look into the past with a journal entry from one of my many journals lying around the house. I had planned to post an entry that I had wrote while sitting in class during the fourth grade. This particular entry is special to me because its the first time I ever remember touching on multiple subjects all in one entry. On that page held the following topics:

• Complaints about having to go shoe shopping on a Friday.


• The virtues of red power ranger vs. green ranger.


• Why this girl named Casey was taking such an interest in me... and how much at the time that scared me (girls...cooties...yuck!).


• Did the soundtrack to the Lion King really win over all girls hearts?


• And last but not least, I wrote a brief, albeit, very descriptive summary of a recess football game we had just played. I remember writing that I caught the winning touchdown and was mobbed by all my friends. You could tell I was excited by how my writing style changed... all of the previous topics are a jumbled mess until you reach the football recap which is written with extreme caution and attention to detail. I must of wanted to make sure that memory would be one that I could look back on 14 years later and still remember it as clearly as the day it actually occured.

Unfortunately, as cool as all of that sounds, I can't seem to find that journal at the moment... but as luck would have it, I found something else that I thought would make a cool little blog post.

I found photos...

Lots of them.

And the neat this is, there were tons of them, all spread out across the timeline of my life. Baby photos, elementary school photos, awkward teenage year photos, high school/college photos, and yes, even more recent modern photos.

With all that being said, I decided to pull four photo from the stack I found and want to put them online as a sort of visual representation of how "I" became "me".

Enjoy!

The Birthday

This first photo is a good 17 to 18 years old. It was taken at a birthday party for (at the time) my best friend Johnathan Hall. He's the one in the middle with the toy gun. I love this photo, and I actually think it makes a pretty good artsy photo as well.

You've got me looking all model-ish by not looking directly at the camera (and sporting some nice threads as well! Sea green polo... badass!)

You've got the sun positioned just right to catch that golden hue in my hair and you've got awesome props! The theme of Johnathan's birthday that year was Ghostbusters! As you can see there are two seperate guns in the shot... and one awesome fire fighter plastic hat! If you look real close, you can see a very young Michael trying to make his way into the photo... but really... no one tops my uber-sexiness in this photo. Admit it. Baby Gap would kill for a model with my playful looks at the time.

*Sigh* What could have been.

Mall Santa



This photo was taken a few years after the birthday photo, and I happen to think this one is also by far the funniest photo out of the bunch... Take a glimpse and I think you'll agree... Here's why:

First, look at Mall Santa, could the guy be any less excited to be there? I'm sure he was hungover, or something, but man, do some method acting! You're Mall Santa! Wear that badge proudly!

Second, look at me! I am pumped to be sitting with Santa! Notice the goofy facial expression and the tiny index finger pointing at Mall Santa. Obviously I was in awe of Mall Santa and his coolness. Ironically, I still am in awe of Mall Santa's... but for a totally different reason. Heh.

Friends for life?



This third photo comes about 10 to 11 years ago as I was just starting to enter my awkward tween years. To the left of me in this photo was my good friend Ben Moore. I'm kind of creeped out by how skinny I am in this photo, but I'm also extrememly envious of my former self. I was so naive, so happy, so skinny! I hadn't yet met the heartless she-devil known as metabolism... What a sad day that must of been when we first came in contact.

I'm not really sure what Ben is doing anymore... even with Facebook and Myspace its pretty much impossible to track him down as his name is so common, I could search for days and never find the right Ben.

The Party



The last photo that I'm going to share today comes all the way back from sophomore year in college. This photo was taken on Halloween night at a JMU frat party. Looking my best in my nerd costume (which I pulled off amazingly btw!) my friend David O'Brien and I were set to conquer the party and find us some girls! Sadly, David ended up making out with three girls at the party, I kissed none...

BUT, BUT, I did come up with "The Nerd Dance". I don't claim to be a genius very often, but "The Nerd Dance" is just that. Genius!

Pointing my fingers to the sky, I would slowly rock my torso back and forth with my arms pumping like a madman. The desired effect of course was to look like a total geek on the dance floor, and from all accounts I totally succeeded.

But once again... aren't I just the coolest/sexiest/hipest nerd you've ever seen?!?

Well that's it for this blog... I'll be sure to post one of my journal pages in the coming days... especially if I can find the one from that fourth grade class.

Have a good one.

My LITTLE brother is 21!

Amazing... Mike's 21 and I feel old. Here's some photos from this morning.

Mike blowing out candles as my mom and his girlfriend Olga look on.


Mike and Olga. Cute.


Me and Mike.


The family!

So sore!

Spring has come and once again I am sore! After months of hibernation inside my comfy home I have resurfaced to the outside world as pale, out of shape and overweight!

Generally every year around this time I try to hit the gym looking for some miracle exercise routine that will blast away the fat and give me those six pack abs I so dearly want. Of course, three weeks later I've usually given up and am back on the couch eating Ben and Jerry's at 2 a.m.

Another pastime I partake in when spring hits is outdoor sports with my friends. Today was no different... Zach, one of my close friends turned 24 today (happy birthday BTW) and we all headed out to Windy Hill to play some golf, hit balls in the batting cage and do whatever else we guys like to do at sport parks. While I loved hanging out, and crushing baseball in the cage after taking four years off *Dominated the 85 mph machine! :-) * I'm paying for it now as I am as sore as I can be!

Every muscle aches! My shoulders, pecs, triceps, biceps...etc. etc.

I'm walking wounded and there's no cure.

Then again, it wouldn't be spring if I wasn't sore and loving the outdoors.

Spring has come... where's my ice bath?

What I'm listening to...

Lately I've been heavy into exploring music, some from my favorite bands like 3 Doors Down, The Frames, Chevelle, etc. and some from new bands I've never heard of like Flobots and Rilo Kiley (actually saw them in concert opening for Colday now that I really think about it).

Since Wednesday is my really slow day at work, I've been surfing Youtube for music videos and I've come up with a few videos I think everyone should check out. Each song is from a different band, one is from 3 Doors Down (love!), one is from Flobots (cool, but are they a one hit wonder?), Death Cab for Cutie (always heard of them, this is the first song I've ever HEARD from them..) and the final one is from Panic at the Disco (still need to pick up the second album).

So check it out, this is what I'm listening to...


Death Cab for Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart"



Flobots - "No Handlebars" - I think they have a shot at being huge!



3 Doors Down - "It's Not My Time" - This group is my favorite band of all time, I cannot wait for their new album to drop later this month!



Panic at the Disco - "Nine in the Afternoon" - Love the song, question the video... seems like I'm doing that with all of their songs...

Thoughts for the week

Monday has come and gone, and with it, a new week has once again begun.

Had dinner with the parents and family friend Mr. Slagle. Had two pieces of cake... And got some financial advice... All in all it was a pretty good night.

As for what's on tap for rest of the week? A variety of things actually...

Gotta go to the bank sometime this week to drop off the check so I can pay student loans (joy!)

Need to call the SAT people to get them to 'unarchive' my SAT scores from just 5 years ago and pay them 20 bucks to ship the scores all of a few hundred miles.

Put some gas in the Civic... Gas man, that'll be $50 bucks on my tab please!

Somehow make time to go back to ACAC. Supposedly I have this crazy notion that if I start exercising it might actually do me some good. I'll investigate that claim further a bit later this week.

Read some pages out of a few books... I've got so many sitting around my room, I'd love to start knocking out some of the pages.

Respond to work email!!! I had 54 emails waiting for me when I signed in from the Times Dispatch building this morning. Mainly this is my fault as I've pretty much ignored email for the last couple of weeks... but come on people, 54! Do you really need to reach me that badly?!?

Take a breath, and be thankful for all God has given me... I know this should always be first on the list, but I thought I'd mention it anyways. God has been so good to me throughout my entire life; from protecting me through accident(s) to showing me kindness and love unlike any other, God has blessed me and I cannot thank him enough!

So that's my week, what are your plans for the week?