Growing

Here are Graham and Brooks when they were about three months old.

We were over at the Emily and Clay's house this weekend watching the football game, and here are B and G in the same chair 18 months later.

They are growing too fast!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Superheros: A Never-Ending Battle. From the Dark Knight to the Avengers, superheros are everywhere these days. No longer reserved for Saturday morning cartoons, comic book characters are leading the way at the box office and beyond. PBS recently aired a three-part documentary that details the origins of the comic book industry and explained how the likes of Superman, Spiderman and their pals became so popular. You don't have to own every issue of Detective Comics to appreciate this series. I especially enjoyed learning about the ups and downs of the two men that created Superman.

This week, I love Arby's Curly Fries. Have you ever been excited to see a frozen food item from your favorite chain restaurant in your grocery store only to prepare that item at home and be completely disappointed? Despite the packaging and promises, these items never taste as good as they do in their respective restaurants, do they? Well have you noticed that Arby's now makes their curly fries available in grocery stores? I'm here to tell you that they really do taste just like the fries you can get at your neighborhood Arby's. And let's be honest - the curly fries are about the best thing going at Arby's. Now we can enjoy them at home!

(I wrote this as if I'm the person that buys the groceries for our family. I'm not - Julie is and and she is always finding great new foods to try.)

This week, I don't like the quirky ways of my phone. I've had my iPhone 4 for about two years now. It didn't cost me very much at my last upgrade and it was extremely handy in the hospital when Graham was born. Yes, this phone has served me well, until recently. You're probably familiar with the most recent operating system update that was cast out to all iPhones. Well, I still haven't performed that upgrade and I continue to put it off because I don't like what I've seen from iOS 7. I don't like the colors, I don't like the icons...thanks but no thanks. But my decision to stick with iOS 6 has caused my phone to adopt some new quirks. First, my settings icon features a permanent notification (which is informing me to upgrade to iOS 7). I also have phantom notifications on my App Store icon - I believe these are appearing because some of my apps want to update for the new OS but can't because I don't have the new OS installed on my phone. Lastly, my phone is running noticeably slower than usual. Opening and closing apps are really labored and I should just forget about opening the camera for a quick pic.

I'm due for a phone upgrade and I don't think I'll opt for a new iPhone. I really like the Motorola Moto X but they're still a bit pricey. I'll either endure the quirks of my current phone until that price drops or consider a Samsung Galaxy S4. 

By the way...did you know that the icons for Apple's iOS 7 are actually so uninspiring that they can be easily recreated in Microsoft Word?? Check this out:

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like (some aspects of) the government shutdown. Some good people - - including family members - - have been furloughed by the recent government shutdown. This is not an aspect of the shutdown that I enjoy. However, I have no problem with parks, zoos or old clocks not operating at full capacity. Yeah, old clocks. Check this out:

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In short, the person(s) that gets paid untold amounts to wind this clock can’t perform his/her job because of the shutdown. I’m am completely OK with this. Our country is in debt to the tune of $17 trillion dollars. Maybe this shutdown is actually good for highlighting ridiculous expenses and helping us see that we can indeed get by without them.

This week, I love the Mannings. Grab the tissues and listen to watch this tale of how a broken circle of fatherhood was reformed and now thrives. In The Book of Manning, a film by ESPN about Archie Manning, his sons and their football success, it is clarified that the love and devotion Archie showed to his three sons stemmed from the loss of his father.

Archie had the money and other resources to develop all three of his sons into recipients of college football scholarships and Super Bowl MVP awards. But the resources he used were completely free: his time and love. His boys reached these heights anyway and Archie’s relationship with his sons is better for it. This film reminds me of how great my father is and makes me want to be just as great for my son.

This week, I don’t like pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice makes this list for two reasons: it tastes bad and it is highly annoying. Coffee, pie, air freshener, donuts, M&Ms - it’s more difficult to list the products that don’t feature a pumpkin spice variation these days. We can assume that pumpkin pie was the first edible use of this member of the gourd family. Do you know the history of this culinary evolution? I’m pretty sure it came about because times were tough and there was nothing else to eat. When conditions improved, eating pumpkin pies served as a reminder of how bad things can be. But that message got twisted somewhere along the way and now we have a spice that can make all things taste like pumpkins. Tell me that pumpkin spice reminds you of fall but don’t you dare say that you enjoy the way it tastes. That’s offensive to your ancestors.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like The Bible: The Epic Miniseries. Since we're saving mucho money by doing the "no cable/no dish" thing, Julie and I missed seeing "The Bible: The Epic Miniseries" when it originally aired on the History Channel earlier this year. The entire series is now available on DVD through Netflix and I've enjoyed watching it. Now, the series skims over Creation and packs a lot of information into each episode so by no means should it serve as your main study guide. But it is really cool to see these stories being told in a popular format. Sidenote: I thought it was very odd that this series is not associated with the History Channel in its Netflix description or on the actual DVDs.

BONUS: The casting in this series is unbelievably good:

This week, I love Julie’s deep dish pizza. I don't know how to meet your "medium rare" request when grilling your steak. I don't smoke my own BBQ. I feel that chili should be cooked at certain, cooler parts of the year. On the rare occasion that I can enjoy a beer, I don't care about its hops or if it's home brewed. I don't drink coffee so I'm clueless about your cappufrappu. In summary: I am not a foodie........except when it comes to pizza. I like trying all makes and shapes of pizza but I will shamefully admit that my sampling experiences have been limited to large chain restaurants and small mom-and-pop eateries. I recently expressed my desire to try a Chicago style deep dish pizza and my sweet wife went above and beyond in her efforts to surprise me. Unfortunately, I could not resist eating the pizza long enough to take a photo. Julie has made it a couple of times now and it gets better each time. She tells me that it isn't very difficult to make so maybe she’ll share a step-by-step recipe on the blog soon. SO GOOD!

This week, I don’t like listening to Auburn games on the radio. College football season is here and as I've already mentioned in this post, we have elected to be sans cable for the 2013 campaign. We're still able to watch lots of games every Saturday but we've had to rely on the radio play-by-play for two of Auburn’s three games up to this point (we were very fortunate to see the Arkansas State game in person with Julie's wonderful parents). I’m sure Rod Bramblett and Stan White are nice enough fellas but they aren't quite up to speed with Gus Malzahn's hurry up no huddle offense. I've been spoiled with HD television coverage of Auburn's football games - we all have. The radio experience is a big step backwards. Announcers, like the players, defensive coaches and referees, are going to have to step up their games in order to keep up with today's fast-paced offenses.

This video highlight from Auburn's most recent game against Mississippi State has been paired with the audio from the radio broadcast. It was edited heavily in Rod's favor.