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interested in buying a blackberry pearl 8130 smartphone for use on the sprint network?

don't want to pay $499.99 because you haven't fulfilled your 2-year contract?

then head on over to ebay and bid on this item.

the orkin man

my family is visiting this weekend.

we went to cedar point yesterday. my mom, sister & aunt had never been before (dad and bro-in-law had).

best. roller-coasters. ever.

we rode millennium force first. nice little 80 degree drop. two-and-a-half minutes of pure speed. and all you have holding you down is a lap bar.

next we rode the maverick. as david (bro-in-law) and i were preparing for our front-row ride, we marveled at the description of the first drop: "steeper than straight down." that's right, 95 degrees. great ride.

then came the granddaddy of 'em all: top thrill dragster. david and i waited an extra 15-20 minutes for the front row. 0 to 120 mph in less than 4 seconds. straight up. straight down. no more than 20 seconds in all.

have you ever stuck your face under one of those heavy-duty air dryers in restrooms? the x-celerator? top thrill dragster puts you in the same ballpark.

by the end of the ride, i noticed that a swarm of gnats had (unfortunately) gotten in my way. my thrill became their kill (pictures to come at a later date). i paper-toweled them away and moved on my way to other rides (the raptor, the magnum).

but after those three rides, everything else pales in comparison. we finished the day with one more ride on the top thrill dragster (no bugs this time).

figured we'd save the best (again) for last.

clockers

i love the wire. i feel that no American television program comes as close to the wire at capturing the reality of our institutions - the way they function, the people they benefit and ignore - and our way of life.

and, yes, i know it's not real.

but it attempts to depict something real. and tragic. and something that should make us all mad enough to get up and do something about it.

alas, the wire is gone and all that remains are dvd marathons.

but i have found some respite in the program's absence. the wire was as much a visual novel as it was a television show. each hour unfolded as a new chapter in a page-turner. and several brilliant authors - not screenwriters - were responsible for the program's pace and plotting.

one was richard price. david simon, the wire's creator and head writer, loved the novel clockers, written by price. it depicted urban life and the police procedural in much the same way the wire went on to do. so simon went out and convinced price to write for the show. simon's love for clockers even spread to price's scripts for the wire, a couple of "borrowed" scenes shown below.





i recently finished reading clockers, and the wire really shared the same spirit as this excellent story. on the surface (just like the wire), clockers appears to be a mystery surrounding drugs and violence. but deep at its core, the story is much more.

clockers is told from two sides of the law - law enforcement and dealers, or clockers.

at the heart of the law is aging homicide detective rocco klein. irish. alcoholic. married, but distant. father, but even more distant. and a detective committed to doing his job the right way to protect and serve the people worth protecting and serving.

at the heart of the clockers is strike. 19 years old. drug lieutenant who never lays a hand on the product. estranged from his family, and from everyone else for that matter. suffering from an ulcer. and desperately wants to get out of a game where it's every man for himself.

the story unfolds at a slow, yet steady, pace, allowing us to get to know our characters inside and out. we may never condone their actions, but we can understand their feelings and motivations. each chapter is penned with shades of grey.

as the story ended, i felt as if i'd just "read" an episode or season of the wire. but, looking at the date of publication for clockers (1992), it's amazing how much the wire - its dialogue, its characters, its pacing & its plotting - owes to richard price and clockers.

for lovers of the wire, i recommend clockers. i plan to read other novels by price. and the wire also owes its extraordinary storytelling to other brilliant authors - dennis lehane, george pelecanos & david simon.

too much television can corrupt your mind and kill brain cells, the exception being the wire of course. in the meantime, get a library card and start reading!

once upon a time...

am i there yet?

i would ask that question to myself quite a few more times before i arrived at my final destination.

the 400 mile roadtrip from greensboro, north carolina to hebron, ohio was never exciting, but this particular one was torturous.

you see, this trip was going to be special. besides the normal bag of clothes and other traveling necessities, i was carrying an investment - both monetary and symbolic of a deeper emotional connection.

an engagement ring.

i was going to ask Ashley to marry me.

normally, guys rack their inferior brains to concoct the perfect scenario for this moment.

me, i had a plan.

a picnic.

at dawes arboretum.

by the japanese gardens.

her favorite.

(later i would learn that she knew i was going to propose because i actually volunteered to take her on a picnic - something i evidently didn't do very often.)

but mother nature - rain in the forecast - and my patience would get in the way.

i finally got to hebron, right as her parents and niece were going to bed. i excused myself from Ashley (an entirely believable, "I need to use the bathroom"), only to sneak into her parents' bedroom and ask their permission to marry Ashley.

"are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"once you take her, you can't give her back."

after a few silent laughs and a unanimous "yes," i went back out to Ashley, ring in pocket.

i got down next to her and gave a schpeel about how "it's not about doing it the perfect way, it's about finding the perfect person" as a grin snuck onto her face.

two years to the day later, i'm as happy with her answer as i was that night.

snoop dee oh double gizzle?

Ashley found this while checking on Jamie Lynn Spears' new baby girl.

Snoop does country.

A-S-H-L-E-Y

A is for ambition - pressing towards her dreams every day.
S is for silliness - enjoying life and making those around her laugh.
H is for health - treating her body as a temple (and trying to help me do the same).
L is for love - spreading it those she cares for.
E is for excellence - striving to be the best at everything she does.
Y is for "Yummy" - the sound she makes when she thinks of ice cream.

they're baaaa-aaaaaaaaack!

contrary to my previous post, the 2008-2009 tar heel basketball team's future looks bright.

very bright.

all 3 underclassmen who declared for the nba draft chose to return on monday. green will return for his senior season and graduate with a degree from unc regardless of his nba plans. ellington and lawson return for their junior seasons.

the tar heels should be the overwhelming favorites to win the 2008-2009 national championship, but games aren't played on vegas odds. they're won by the coaches and players.

on a side note, i'm interested in seeing how ol' roy treats ty lawson after his dwi arrest. he made a mistake and there should be consequences. sometimes, big time college programs sweep these issues under the rug. i hope roy addresses it an appropriate manner for his team.