Just for the Health of It.

I weighed in at a titanic 240 American pounds not too long back. I trained for and finished a Marathon in December, and have kept at about 215 pounds since then. I've been exercising some; eating healthier. Diane's been helping. Been tricking me, too. That "burger" to the left is made of black beans. Honest. Actually, it was pretty good. 'Course, left without adult supervision in Columbia last week, I snuck into a sports bar and got ahold of the monster you see below. Got about a day's worth of calories and a week's worth on fat in one setting (Shhhh. Don't tell Diane).

Roadtrip Columbia

Diane and I spent the weekend in South Carolina's capitol, Columbia. Like a lot of the Palmetto State, Columbia is a mishmash of the old and the new. The old, cantankerous South abounds near the Statehouse:

A monument to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, adorns the grounds of the Statehouse.

...as does a monument to the Confederacy.




Here's a monument on the Statehouse grounds to Pitchfork_Ben_Tillman. Tillman was a governor of South Carolina, and a U.S. Senator. He gained his nickname for threatening to run his political opponents through with a pitchfork.


Across the street is the old South Carolina Supreme Court Building. I argued a few appellate cases there over the years, with varying degrees of success. The Chief Justice of the SC Supreme Court when I moved to the Palmetto State was Julius B. "Bubba" Ness. Ness was legendary for his common sense solutions to problems, and for his proclamation, "I may be wrong, but I'm never in doubt".

Not every old thing in Columbia comes with negative baggage. The Adluh_Flour_Mill is the cornerstone of the trendy Vista District of Columbia, and has graced downtown Columbia since 1900.

The Trustus Theater, where you could catch a current play, was right across the street from our hotel.

There's a lot of new stuff going on in Columbia, too. As I wandered toward the University of South Carolina campus, I caught this banner advertising the Columbia Symphony.

The State Museum was only a couple of blocks away.

I checked out the WWI exhibit there. The Civil War Museum was doing decent business, but the dinosaurs got most of the action.










Decisions, decisions. No left turn here, thank you very much.

Somebody Stop the Madness.

South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor (and Gubernatorial hopeful), Andre Bauer, has The Palmetto State back in the National News again, and not in a good way. In a gathering in the upstate he likened public assistance programs for the needy to "feeding stray animals", which, apparently, is a bad thing "because they breed". Ouch. In a January 23, 2010 article in The State newspaper, Bauer justified plans to cut free or reduced lunch plans for students whose parents didn't attend PTA meetings saying, "People in society have certain responsibilities, just like if you don't pay your taxes, there are certain repercussions". Wait. Isn't this the same dude that, during his tenure as Lt. Gov, got pulled twice in four months for speeding (including one jaunt at more than 100 miles per hour) but_didn't_get_a_ticket? Personal responsibility, apparently, only applies to the poor. Well, Andre, this song's for you:

Go, USC (which is to say, South Carolina. Not the other one)

According to an article in the Charleston (South Carolina, not West Virginia) Post_and_Courier, a Federal appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that the "USC" letter logo means "University of Southern California" and not "University of South Carolina". What difference does it make? Well, a lot. College sports are big business, both on and off the field. The University of South Carolina Gamecocks may not have had a great season on the field, but they were
Number12 in the country in the net money which their athletic programs brought to the school. Sports merchandise, at least as much as gate receipts from games, means big bucks. The USC or SC logos are a bigger deal to Carolina (South, not North) in baseball than football. Football games, with their omnipresent cheerleaders and spectacle, can highlight their mascots on sports paraphernalia, but a big chicken just looks gaudy on a baseball cap. Guess we got to get Cocky in baseball, too.

Target Fan Club.

High School chum Connie Macy tagged me in this FaceBook pic from back in the day. I'm the dude wearing the "Target" shirt. Target didn't refer to the store, but to a band that put out a couple of albums in the mid-seventies. They were the warm-up band when Boston played in Tampa in, like, 1976. As far as I can tell, Target never hit the big-time (Shoot, they don't even have a wikipedia entry, though one of its members, Jimi Jamison, did play with Survivor for awhile (Eye of the Tiger? Remember?)). Me, AndyMan and Dave Okamoto decided that they deserved a fan club, and that we were just the cats to run it. We formed the Target Fan Club and signed up a few hundred students and even some teachers (yes, teachers). We even put out a newsletter. Dave Okamoto (one of the Three Fabulous Daves from Leto HS and Most Creative from the Class of '78), edited the newsletter, and rode that experience into the newspaper industry. The officers in the Target Fan Club included lots of pals from them days: Mitch Brown, Dave Parkes, Adam Rosenburg, Brians Russell and Rhodes. I got to be the President, because I bought their album. I don't think I bought their second one (They had a couple_of_albums, but not a ton of success. Didn't matter). Anyway, it was a blast. I couldn't find my favorite song, 99 1/2, on YouTube, but I did find this one:

Roadtrip: Harold's Country Club

About every other month, St. Jude's Episcopal Church has a social gathering. Since it's always on Fridays, they call it "Good Fridays" (you know, after the Easter Prequel thing). Mostly it's at one or another Parishioner's home in or about The Boro, but last night we loaded up our vehicles and traveled to nearby Yemassee to Harold's Country Club. Yemassee has some history, of note, including its role as the former train-stop for Marine recruits heading for Parris Island and for the tribe of Native Americans after whom the town was named (As I understand it, British settlers killed every last one of the Yemassee tribe, leaving only the name behind). Harold's is a restaurant that used to be a auto mechanic's shop and gas stop. Currently, Harold's is about the only thing going in Yemassee, but it's enough. Shoot, look at the stuff offered at Harold's:
Fishing lures.
Pickled pig's feet.
Pool.
Smokes.
Dancing.
and, yes, you can even get a steak (but only on steak night. Usually, that's Saturday, but they made an exception for us).

Chilly Outside; Chili Inside.

It's 22 degrees outside. We had a little respite on Friday. Got up to, like, 45 or so. Now, it's just cold. Time for something hardy to eat. Chilly weather is chili weather.

America: Love it, or Leavitt

According to a report I got from the Sports Illustrated e-mag University of South_Florida_Coach_Jim_Leavitt got fired for slapping a player, then lying about it. USF didn't have a football team when I was growing up in Tampa. If you wanted to watch college football, you went to Tampa Stadium and watched the IAA (now known as the "Football Championship Subdivision", as opposed to the "Football Bowl Subdivision") University of Tampa Spartans. What? You never knew that Tampa Stadium hosted a football team before the Bucs got there in the mid-1970's? Tell it to Freddie Solomon. I remember dad taking me and AndyMan to a Spartans game (I also remember he walked up to then-governor Reuben Askew, shook his hand and said, "Hey, Reuben! How's a boy?". He'd never met the man, as far as I know, but, well, dad did stuff like that). I met Jim Leavitt when AndyMan was working the gate at a Jesuit HS football game. Seemed like a decent enough sort. 'Course, football coaches aren't paid to be sweet and loving, they're paid to make dudes knock the crud out of other dudes. I played football for 12 years or so, including a couple of years at a small college, and, off-the-record, I've seen a little coach induced not-strickly-football-related physical contact during that time. Ah, well. For better and for worse, those were different times. But, not THAT different. Just ask Woody Hayes. Leavitt'll probably find work, because he managed to win some ball games. Shoot, his Bulls even beat Florida State this year. Yeah, he'll find work. No Bull. I understand Texas Tech is hiring...

SuperDave, sue-chef.

I love to eat. My fiancee, Diane, is a right fine chef. I help her lots of times by chopping things up. As Diane's assistent, I guess that make me a sous-chef. Well, I'm also a lawyer. Guess that makes me a "sue" chef.

These Aren't a Few of My Favorite Things.

Some good things did happen in 2009, most especially I got engaged to a wonderful gal. 'Course, like most anything worthwhile, that means more work. Got to get my house in order. Yesterday was "bring the pain" day. A trip to the dentist. Trying to get tax stuff together. And, in preparation for pre-marital counseling, I've had to find my old divorce decree. Taxes, divorce and the dentist all in one day. Yikes! Guess I know how Eminem feels:

(warning: Eminem is a rapper. Like most rappers, his language is... well, he's a rapper. Offending people is sorta what rappers do).