Kelly Smith Weblog Aficionado: Just a guy vs. Life

33... Today is my birthday, and I think that this ought to be my year. I am not into numerology or any of that crap, but I think 33 is a lucky number. My biggest hero did a heck of a lot during his 33rd year on earth. Now I KNOW I can't make as much of an impact as he did, but I am going to try and make the biggest impact that I can. I promise to make a reflection post on November 29th, 2005 to reflect on everything I accomplished during that year. I feel it in my bones....this is going to be my year. Happy Birthday to ME!

The end of a great weekend.... Well, like all good things, this weekend had to come to an end. Despite the hectic schedules and the cooking and cleaning, this weekend was thorougly enjoyable. Sam and Erica took off this morning and headed home. Erica and Renee have known each other for the last5 15 or 16 years. For them, each reunion is a point where they can pick up where they left off. Happily enough, I get along with Sam very well so we can entertain ourselves while they catch up on old times. Wednesday night when they came into town, we stayed up until aobut 3:30 a.m. talking. That made for a very difficult Thanksgiving Day. After all of the cooking, cleaning, serving, eating, and laughing I was completely wiped out. On Friday, Renee had planned a big shopping trip for all of us. Naturally, Sam and I balked at shopping and ended up in the house with the kids......all....day....long. That evening when they got back from shopping we finally got to leave the ...

Thanksgiving..... Thanksgiving dinner was a success. Renee and I hosted this year, and I must say that it went off well. We had fried turkey, baked chicken, greens, baked yams, pretzel salad, and corn pudding. I alternated between eating and sleeping most of the afternoon. Here is a picture of the table before we ate. I really enjoyed having everyone at my house. Before we stuffed ourselves we got together for a quick photo. After all was said and done we sat around and talked and had a few drinks. I love this time of the year. Oh yeah...can you guess who had too much turkey?

Look who is coming to dinner... Here is some holiday news for everyone. I am assuming my rite of passage as an adult, parent, and independent person has come to fruition. My wife and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. Some guests that are coming besides family are some friends of ours. Sam and Erica, and their newborn daughter Olivia. Sam missed Erica's entire pregnancy and birth, but he is making up for lost time as you can see in this picture. My wife, Renee, and Erica met in college and have been friends ever since. I only met Sam through my marriage to Renee. Sam is a Captain in the Marine Corps and has recently come off deployment to Iraq. Sam did not go to our Alma Mater, he went to the University of Minnesota where he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha , I went to the same school that Erica and Renee went to, and I pledged Kappa Alpha Psi ....if you know anything about black college Fraternities you would realize that Kappas and Alphas are li...

This picture could be worth a bunch.... Here is a picture of my son, Devon. He is working as a ball boy for Lexington Catholic High School. He started on the middle school team as a 6th grader. He wants to be a superstar. Of course, he already is in my book. Good grades, good attitude, and an excellent athlete. He says he will play in the NFL. Of course, what little boy hasn't said that? But I encourage his dreams nevertheless. Of course that picture is already worth a million dollars to me.

Days that will go by quickly.... There has been a lot more that has gone bad than good lately. But, nevertheless, there are always moments like this that make me forget that there is such a thing as worry or trouble. I took my daughter to the park, and it was just amazing to think about how much she has grown in the past two years. I kind of had a knot in my throat to think that the day will soon come when she is too big to pick up and carry around. Time flies .....

Brawl between the Pistons and Pacers.... I have long grown weary of the antics of some of our professional athletes. To me, quite a few that come to mind are, over-paid, uncouth, arrogant, delinquents that think that the whole world revolves around them. I suppose that it is the adoration that fans of professional sport shower upon them that reinforces this idea that they are somehow "heroes" for what they do on the court, or on the field of play. In my opinion, the only "heroic" professional athletes are the ones that distinguish themselves both on, and off the court. More often than not, all the news that we hear about a professional athletes prowess off the court entails, violated women, brushes with the law, and drugs and alcohol. To be fair, this doesn't necessarily portray a large percentage of athletes, but this is what we hear about the most. Following the brawl between the Pistons and Pacers, there were many people that were calling for ...

The silent ovation for Condoleeza Rice... George Bush has nominated the first black woman to the position of Secretary of State. She is succeeding a black male named Colin Powell; generally an appointment like this would bring a great deal of air time in the media, but as we see there is little fanfare about this appointment. To me, this is an indication of many things, but here is what comes to my mind. 1. People aren't comfortable with the GOP being innovative and progressive when it comes to race. 2. Despite what many people think, black people are not a monolithic body that considers the success of one to be, "one for the team." 3. People aren't ready to praise a President for installing a cabinet that "looks" like America, unless he's a Democrat. I noticed this long ago, but some of the most outspoken right-wing media voices have complained about it. As a matter of fact, Andrew is discouraged that no credit has been given to o...

The Marine in Falluja... The Marine in Falluja will undoubtedly become the face of what is wrong with this conflict we are engaged in. I wonder how the investigation will proceed? Eugene Volokh from The Volokh Conspiracy has these ideas about the events. Read here in another window. Don't get me wrong, I have my suspicions about the justification for this shooting, but I also know that I don't know what was going on previous to the shooting. More to come later.

A Picture I came across... Here is a picture of me at a Morale Call when I was TDY at Ft. Gordon. Maker's and Coke.....mmmmm....

I can't believe it.... Apparently there are are a lot of Americans who are considering immigration to Canada. While I am sure because this was a very close Presidential race that many people are still a bit emotional, we have to ask ourselves whether or not we should really be sad about the people who want to immigrate. A person who would jump ship when things don't go exactly as expected is not American to me. Just my opinion, though.

The battle in Fallujah... I am not sure how many US troops have lost their lives in the battle for Fallujah, but I have had a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach since it began. I hope that they can secure the city and that the insurgency will subside. I know that we will be in Iraq for a long time, but I wish the effort wasn't so costly. I don't think that we are meeting the level of resistance that we had anticipated, but one life is valuable to lose. On either side actually. Don't get me wrong, I would rather hear about insurgents dying than our troops, but I do have to say that the effects on the civilian population and infrastructure worry me as well. Pray for our troops....

Ready to sing.... She is ready to sing, but what we don't know is for whom she is going to belt out a tune. Are we going to have to wait 11 days for this. Here we are in the most technologically advanced nation in the world, yet we have a mess for two Presidential elections in a row? Stay tuned... 12:45 PM It would seem that John Kerry will be giving and getting a serenade in about 15 minutes.

Marriage Amendment...as if we needed one... An Amendment to the Kentucky Constitution has passed that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. While this doesn't specifically mention sexual orientation, it not only has a tacit, but an implicit impact on the same-sex union question. The amendment passed by an overwhelming amount, the last I saw it was approximately 79% for the amendment to 21% against it. The vote that I cast was a "No" for the amendment. As a Catholic Christian, my religious views do impact some of my political views, and homosexuality is one thing that is frowned upon by most any recognized church. However, I think that this is one thing that the church should stay out of. Accordingly, I think that we should leave a lot of our religious views out of discussions like this as well. While I do have to admit that I understand the thought process of those who voted for an amendment to define marriage, I also have to say that I am grea...

To Vote, or not to Vote... Despite the high number of newly registered voters that we have, I am pessimistic about a significantly higher number of youth and blacks that vote today. I hope that they, and anyone else who is eligible to vote...but chooses not to...will remember this picture. The current exit polls posted by Slate show Kerry squeaking so far. Here is what they have listed. Florida Kerry 50 Bush 49 Ohio Kerry 50 Bush 49 Pennsylvania Kerry 54 Bush 45 Wisconsin Kerry 51 Bush 46 Michigan Kerry 51 Bush 47 Minnesota Kerry 58 Bush 40 Nevada Kerry 48 Bush 50 New Mexico Kerry 50 Bush 48 North Carolina Kerry 49 Bush 51 Colorado Kerry 46 Bush 53 We shall see what the evening unravels for us. I will try and post again soon.