2008 - A year in review

Well, 2008 is almost over, and being as cliche as I can be, I will reflect over the year that was.

January: I made my first trip to South Korea; spending a week or so with some coworkers and hobnobbing with some green-suiters. This was just a tast of what was to come.

February: Pretty normal February celebrating a 4 yr-wedding anniversary and a 29th birthday (yikes, 45 days until I'm 30!).

March/April/May: Made my second 14 hour flight to South Korea in 3 months. I was in-country for 30 days before I was able to come home. Needless to say, this was a stressful time being away from Ashleigh for so long.

June-September: Pretty laid back Summer, with two trips to Destin and some much desevered R&R.

October-December: Much of this time was spent naseous from all the political ads and vomitous from the resulting election. On top of that, Auburn was horrible this year which put me over the edge. A remarkably busy Christmas time has been tempered with a lot of time off from work. The Walker family Christmas tree of 2008 has set a new standard for the perfect Christmas tree.

Notables:
1) Found an amazing small group who have been so loving and supportive. Ashleigh and I are blessed to be a part of our Lifegroup. The friends we have made at Mayfair are truly special to us and we love you all dearly.
2) The conversion from Myspace to Facebook: I used to update myspace with great regularity, now it's facebook 5 times a day.
3) New blog: Taking my geekdom to a new level with this little blog you're reading.

Thank you to all my friends and family who have made this past year great. I love you all!

My Acceptance Speech

Below is not really a blog, but I have neglected this baby for a while so I guess I'll toss out some fodder. Anyway, below is my acceptance speech given for winning the 2008 Air Defense Team Fantasy Football Championship.

First of all, I'd like to thank the commissioner of the Fantasy Football League, Mark Bell, for his leadership over this season. Secondly, I'd like to thank my fellow competitors for a great season and the sportsmanship that was shown out there on the field. Lastly, I just have to take a minute and talk about my team. The season started off pretty shaky. At the lottery, my ball was drawn last. At the draft, I was the target of several laughs for picking Jay Cutler, Ronnie Brown and others (who's laughing now?). On several occasions, I had to call on back-ups to pick up the slack and I'm happy to say they did. You know, after that first loss to Bell's Ballers, Tony Romo called a team meeting and told the team to get on his back. Unfortunately, the next week, he went down with a broken pinkie. Chad Pennington took Romo's spot and played beautifully. And when Roy Williams went to the Cowboys, never to start again, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith called a "Offensive Player Only" meeting. Every day, they were in the weight room; the running backs performing agility drills and the receivers and tight ends ran more routes than I can count.

I'm saddened that this season had to come to an end, but I will never forget this team or this championship.

Thank you all.

Kam Walker
2008 Fantasy Football Champion (Winner of the Regular Season, Point Total, and Playoff)

Tales from the Men's locker room

Ok, played basketball today for the first time in a while (it showed). Had a great time and got some exercise in the mean time. After 5 games of full court 4 on 4, I'd had enough and went to the locker room to get my bag. That's when I saw it; an image that is burned into my brain much like Michael kissing Oscar on The Office. One gentleman who was getting dressed was carrying on a conversation with a man who had just stepped out of the shower to dry off. Read that again, he stepped out of the shower to dry off. Instead of drying off in the quite spacious and clean shower area, he had strategically positioned himself in the middle of the locker room. To top it all off, the portly and quite hairy gentleman was making sure he was completely dry. Picture Michael Scott (The Office) when he props one foot on the desk he's standing next to. Yep. Now you have an idea of what I am dealing with here.

Lifegroup Christmas Party

Last night was our inaugural Lifegroup Christmas Party, and it was a blast. We had a great turnout of about 20 people with food for 50. I really hope everyone had as good of a time as I did. The Kuepkers were the big winners on the night taking home the prizes for winning our games of Santa's Sack and Christmas Trivia. Kyle also stole the mug I really wanted in Dirty Santa, but that's another story for another blog. I guess I can get my revenge by putting his picture on here....

The Griswald Family Christmas Tree

Ok, so I am blogging twice in one night...so sue me. I promised Christmas tree pics and I am delivering.

Back from Bridge City

Well, it took 20+ hours in the back of a truck, but I have been to and am back from Bridge City, Texas. This little town of 9,000 people or so are still piecing back their lives after Hurricane Ike. I worked along with 30+ brothers and sisters in Christ to help at three homes. The Disaster Response Team is an amazing organization of dedicated servants who are spearheading the Bridge City recovery effort. The first day I spent roofing a house and the second day "mucking" two other homes. I have to admit, I didn't really muck much. Most of the soiled, wet, moldy household goods had been removed from both houses before I got there. It's amazing how you don't hear about what the people down there are still going through. I could write all night about my trip, but I have to pack again for Dallas. Summing up, I had a good time and worked my tail off.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Well, it's my favorite time of year. The cool weather, the lights, the trees, friends, family, loved ones, and in-laws. Ashleigh and I have several traditions and tonight, we are fulfilling one of those. You see, although I am a staunch believer in artificial, pre-lit trees, Ashleigh loves the real deal; so one of my gifts to her every year is a real Christmas tree. So that is the first of our traditions, real trees. The second of this tradition is either by happenstance or pure spite. You see, we generally choose the coldest night of the season to go get the tree. Although it wasn't as cold as the night we ventured out last year (16 degrees F), it was still a blustery 39F tonight. The third of our traditions is homemade snickerdoodles. Ashleigh whips up a batch on this very night and we munch as we decorate the tree. If you know Ashleigh's cooking, you know that they were unbelievable. Fourthly, we listen to Christmas music while we trim the tree. What's a festive night without Bing Crosby's White Christmas, Burl Ives' Holly Jolly Christmas, or my favorite Blue Christmas by The King himself.
Last year we waited until around the 16th before we picked out our tree. Not this year, we ventured out in the old front-wheel drive wagon and picked out the perfect Grizwald family tree. Ok, so we don't have a wagon, but we did get one dandy of a tree. As soon as we get it decorated, I'll post pics. Good night!

Thanksgiving Eve

So it's Thanksgiving Eve and all is good in the Walker household. Yesterday, I gave myself an early Christmas present and bought the CharBroil Big Easy infrared turkey fryer. Tomorrow, I will give this puppy a shot. I'm frying a turkey with cajun/creole seasoning, so it should be interesting if nothing else.

As we all know, Troup is Ashleigh's favorite "child". He gets special treatment (gets to come in, take naps, and spend time with his Momma). Turns out, that when he is away from Brinkley, he is a very calm little pup. Even more interesting is that he likes to wear T-shirts. I guess I know what Santa will be bringing him...

I'm giving up coffee

That's right, I'm kicking the habit. I'm off the wagon (or on it). I absolutely love coffee. It is one of the few things that get me thru each day. That was until Friday. Friday started perfectly, the first day of my 10 day holiday. I got up early for an off day (6:00 or so) and went upstairs to play Xbox while Ashleigh got her sleep. Around 9:00 I smelled coffee brewing downstairs and figured that enough digital fictional henchmen had died that morning, so I headed down. Ash isn't really a coffee drinker, but she makes it sometimes and I am entirely appreciative. As I was going through the motions of pouring my cup of endulgence, something caught, and I froze. What happenned next is really a blur. I was in so much pain, I didn't know what to think.
I spent the next 2 hours trying to get comfortable and absolutely could not do it. Even after a hot shower and a muscle relaxer, nothing helped. Finally, I broke down and allowed Ashleigh to call a friend who is a "carpracter". He was nice enough to see me at his earliest time. After some Xrays and treatment, it turns out my C2-5 vertabrae are curved enough to callapse the nerves in one area. That caused a massive spasm in my neck, to which I can still feel the pain. Apparently, the angle I was standing and pouring the coffee was just right for a spasm. He assured me that with a few visits, we could fix the curve, but the pain will be here for another 2 weeks. Yay, I guess I don't really have to worry about what I'll do for the next 10 days!
Anyway, today is day 3, and I am much better, but still dealing with moderate soreness/stiffness. And I couldn't stay mad at Coffee, so I'm back off the wagon (or on it, I don't know which is right).

Holiday....Celebrate

OK, so I can't tell you how pumped I am right now. I am off from work for the next 10 days! On the "In/Out" board at work, I put down that I will return on December 1 with the note: Blackberry Broken. Although I doubt it will deter anyone from disturbing my holiday, it was worth a shot. Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend and that you can enjoy being with the ones you love too.

Bad boys, bad boys. Whatchya gonna do?

We love them, but sometimes....mmmm...I just want to do things that have PETA on my doorstep in a hurry. Brinkley, our 3 year old golden retriever, is a great dog. He's loving, easy going, and protective of our property. Troup, our 1 year old English springer spaniel, is also loving and unbelievably adorable. Also, he lets us know that sirens are going off in the distance as he does his best howling imitation (I hope to get video of this). However, in his one year of living in our backyard, Troup has totally ridded us of the lattice underneath our screened in porch and created foxholes that General Patton would be proud of. Given the rainy weather lately, Troup has also found ways to dig those holes next to the fence, where he can get out and explore. The good thing is that he doesn't go far. The bad thing is that he always finds trash and brings it back in to our yard for his own personal experiments on just how many pieces can a newspaper be torn in to. On top of all this, he gets muddy (exhibits below). Thank goodness that our neighbors are unbelievably nice. Mr. Slifka chased Troup back into the yard today and put rocks up to block the holes. Stealing a line from Tommy Boy, Troup better pray to the god of adorable dogs that he is so cute.

Another first

So I was playing with the dogs in the back yard this afternoon when I thought, hmm, I think I'll post a video. While this doesn't show just how fast Troup is, it does kind of show you how fetch goes. I throw something, Troup runs after it, and Brinkley waits. It hasn't always been this way. When Troup was younger, Brinkley was faster and would get to the ball first. Now, he doesn't even bother. He just sits at my feet and lets me rub him while Troup does all the hard work. Who says dogs aren't smart?

Without the Internet...

I was doing some research yesterday on my Grandfather. I did the normal thing and Googled his name. I came up with exactly one matching hit. Sadly, that hit was a link to the Antioch Cemetery. Antioch is the community that I grew up in. Luckily, I happened to grow up within 100 yards of my Grandmother (my Grandfather died when I was 4). Back to him.... I know very little about him, and from what I know he was a great man. Not one for the history books, but a great man anyway. He served his country in World War II. He worked at the Ford plant in the Shoals, and he worked tirelessly on his farm. A God-fearing man, he raised two daughters (one of course is my mom) and was a spiritual leader in his home and community. He lost his battle with cancer at a relatively young age of 65. Nothing extraordinary, but at the same time there was nothing ordinary about him. The result of his labor is fruited in his family: strong work ethics, committed family love, and every one of his decendents are followers of Christ. How amazing is that? If people like my grandfather were "the norm", how great a place would this be? That being said, I want to make it right. Albert Leo Peck now has a respectable Google hit.

Ok, I'm on board

I figured it was about time to give in to this who blogging thing. All the cool kids are doing it, right? First it was Myspace, then Facebook, now Blogging. Maybe, I only managed a seat in the caboose, but I'm on.

Last night started out great. We had a great LifeGroup discussion and good fellowship afterwards. It all started around 11:30... Our two dogs, Brinkley and Troup are beloved by many people. Excluded from that list are our neighbors, at least they are now. Last night, Ashleigh and I got up no less than 7 times total to shut the dogs up. We can't actually confirm the number as I had to move to a different bed, but that's for another blog at another time. Anyway, if you're our neighbor, I am sorry, and it's not my fault...I am a cat person.