South of the Border

I was watching an old video of a trip I went on with my friends Jon and Chad. We videotaped the whole thing. There are many funny moments throughout the whole trip, but the best one is when they left my in South Carolina. We had made a joke about playing a game called, "leave someone in another state" of which I made up and in the end I lost. We were at south of the border and Jon and Chad snuck out when I was not paying attention and before I knew it, they were in North Carolina and I was in South Carolina, as the story continues they came back to get me. I was being a "poor sport" as quoting Jon, when I took his new straw hat that he just purchased from South of the Border and tossed out the window. Well as we were turning around to get the hat some 10 seconds later and 100 feet from where we were a car of "gentlemen" stopped got out of there car and picked it up. (this is as we were driving up) The yelling and frantic noises from our car meant nothing to them. I had to buy Jon another 2$ hat, but I joined the groovy hat club in the process.

I have to be honest

I am going to be honest. I feel like I have let the blogging quality get a little crappy in the past few weeks. It has been a busy time of year and I have not had the energy when it gets late to write a good blog. I am going to work on that. A maple story is what you are going to get today. I was at the computer this afternoon doing this and that and I heard something thumping on the couch side. It was Maple. She was dreaming and while doing so, she was wagging her tail. I wish I could know what she was dreaming about that made her wag her tail. I bet it was her cow, duck, or food.

...

Welp, I am back in Jasper, Ga. Sorry about the few missed days, but while I was in Ansonville where I can only get reception to post at the end of the driveway and it was raining multiple days, I decided to stay dry. Also, take a day off for Christmas. But I do have a good story to share, I will put it in a short summary. My downstairs neighbor thinks that I jump around my apartment at night to bug her and keep her up. That is pretty much the jist of it, you know put on boots and run around in circles while getting Maple to jump up and down because she is a big dog in all and Maple likes to keep her up too. Yea.... That was a fun one and is still fun.....

Guess what I learned how to do

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Lights in trees

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Driving

Due to the fact that it is 4:30 am and we are just arriving in ansonville, nc this is my blogpost

Christmas Card preview

Spiders are Satans pets

So tonight was our anniversary. We were going to cook dinner and spend a nice evening alone. Until the spiders decided to come out of the light fixtures and crawl all over the ceiling. It sucked, I am to tired to elaborate.

I fell off my bike and got my nose bit off by my Dog

I fell off my bike yesterday. Sarah and I were talking yesterday evening. She was sitting at the table and I was on my bicycle next to the counter. I was just sitting on my bike with my feet kind of in the "butterfly" stretch position on the middle bar. We were just chatting about our days and catching up. It was around 1030 or so. Did I mention that my neighbor downstairs hates when we make any type of noise on the floor. She even hates when we use the vacuum. Yes I am telling the truth. So anyways we were talking and making eye contact so I was not paying attention to the front tire of my bike. I was just holding onto the counter with my right hand to keep my balance. All of the sudden my front tire decided to turn just a little bit, just enough to cause the whole bike to shift to the right and how do I put it... move out from under me. Since my feet were in an awkward position I had no way to even try to protect myself. (Sarah is laughing while I type this) So I ended up landing on my back/butt square on the floor, which made a sound like we had just dropped a piano off of our counter at 1030pm. Luckily my head missed the table to the left and the metal stocking holders that were hanging on that table missed my head when they made the two following smaller thumps on the floor. As I lay contorted half on my laid over bike and half on the carpet. Sarah got up to see if I was okay and once she was confirmed that no major damage happened she burst into laughter. No story would be complete without Maple, so I must include her reaction to all this which honestly could be a blog in itself. About two seconds after I hit the floor, Maple decided this was some kind of game and she wanted in. She came flying across the apartment (she sounds like a mini horse on the floor) and proceeded to try to bite my nose off, multiple times. I would push her back and she would pursue a different angle to set up her attack. It was funny that me falling set off a reaction to her that would make biting my nose the appropriate course of action. (I ended up kicking her butt, I am bigger and have opposable thumbs) Well thanks for reading the long story. Good Night

This is Pete. He can dunk and is 5'10

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Can you guess who this is?

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Blast from the Past

I was sitting today in our office looking out the window at the mountains and thinking about the past few years. I wrote all little bit about it, I used the story form to let my thoughts hit the paper. I began to write and thought I would share what I began reflecting on today.

It was still dark outside, the crisp air stung while I took a deep breath surveying the packed car and the city I was getting ready to leave. There were no cars on the highway yet, just me and some tractor trailers. I could smell the fresh cup of coffee from the cup holder as it resembled a chimney exhausting the smoke from warmth below. I tend to travel with the radio off except for the occasional talk radio, I enjoy time with my thoughts. To consider and reflect, plan and critique, each situation different than the one preceding it. I have always be aware that I was wired different than most. “Why change jobs? Why take a pay cut and move a thousand miles away?”. My decision made no sense in line of thought with our culture and went against everything understood to be rational. Some moments secretly, I wondered if I agreed. But I knew my passions and my heart. I knew it was right and would allow me many opportunities that could not be replaced with a dollar sign or ability to live a certain lifestyle.

Right there I trailed off into just sitting back and looking out the window, but I figured I would give you what I had.

Mario Party

Tonight I was playing Mario Party with two friends of mine Anthony and David. At the end of each round you play these things called mini games that are little games that you play for coins to buy stuff with. The best part of the evening was during one mini game we were playing. The three of us are trying out hardest to win and beat each other. At the end of the game we all go to compare points and Dave, has a funny look on his face and said, how did I get zero points. As I am typing this, i have found that it is not as funny as it was when it happened. But I am going to stay true to the story and power through. Another funny story today, I woke up this morning around 610. I took a shower and then was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and walked out into the bedroom to see Sarah's head pop up in the most cheery voice and say "Good Morning" and then her head fell one foot back onto the pillow back to sleep. Sarah is not a morning person, so it was pretty funny because she usually has the crazy tired voice in the morning. It made me laugh, I do not know if she even knows that she did that. She talks in her sleep.

I thought I would share this photo today. I was at the table on the computer and I look over and see this. I mean come on, that is enough to make you laugh out loud.

Sometimes it only takes a few words

ALL HAIL BRADLEY LANCE SPRINGER!! RULER OF CATAN!!!

Another Nyquil Story and Doc. Story

It seems each time that I get to take Nyquil, I end up having a good story to share the following day. As Sarah stated yesterday I have been sick the past few days and spent some large amounts of time on the couch. Although, I do not think that the description she gave is completely spot on, I am not that bad, she has been taking great care of me. So yesterday around 845 I woke up to take some nyquil to get me through the night. I was up for about five minutes of an office episode and then I was out. Well around 2 in the morning I woke up pretty wide awake and starving. Sarah was on the other couch across from me asleep and woke up to see me eating cookies and drinking chocolate milk. She look at me confused and said, "what are you doing", I responded with, "eating cookies, I am really hungry". She looked at me for a second and then went back to sleep. It was pretty funny, I had two glasses of milk and about 14 cookies and then went back to sleep. It was great.

My second story related to the sickness is one at the doctors office today. After getting my prescription Dr. Davis told me he wanted to give me a shot to help out with the sickness. After he left, a nurse came in to give the shot. I had that place cut off my arm two weeks ago and she said that she was going to have give me the shot on my hip instead. I thought to myself, I have never had a shot on my hip... I am not sure if I have to go down to my undies or what not. She looked at me like, okay lets get along with this. I was at a loss for words and after a few awkward seconds I said, "So how do we do this, what is the procedure for a shot in the butt?" She laughed and I figured it out that I did not have to get in my skimpies, I just had to give her a "suntan lotion girl" size target.

Poor Little Bunny

Sarah here. Brad is on the couch, feverish, wrapped up in a sleeping bag, in and out of consciousness and watching The Office. If you have ever seen the video on You-Tube titled, "The Man Cold," he is the epitome of that currently. I even rubbed his head and said, "poor little bunny." So what does that mean for me? It means I have been getting water, medicine, making dinner, rubbing his head, rubbing his back, getting his pillow, propping it up, baking cookies, getting more water, and finally, writing his blog- all the while saying, "poor little bunny." I think he is going to give me what we call in the Springer family the "crown for December," which basically means he thinks I'm awesome. But I must admit, I love the guy. It has actually been kind of a fun night. And, Brad is really funny when he is sick. So, unfortunately, you won't be hearing from him tonight- chalk it up to the man cold. But, to end the blog, if you have not seen it yet, I recommend you take a quick look at this video (which I believe Brad may have posted before), which will give you a glimpse into my life this evening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXLHWmjA5IE

Christmas with the Springers

Today I am going to post a bunch of pictures. I did something today that I have never done before. I went and cut down a tree for our Christmas tree. It was pretty fun, we put up our decorations today and here are the pictures of our day. Also you can see the NCSU and UNC rivalry is in the Holidays as well. Maple got into the tree water right before we put it down.

Our Name

I was driving in my car tonight and a Jason Mraz song was on the radio. It was pretty catchy and a soothing song to listen to. It has a line that caught my attention. It said, "Your name is your virtue." This struck me and got me thinking. I know that I have blogged before about how I think that is your name is something that you own and no one can take from you. But tonight the song made me think about the idea of what is linked to our name again. Our virtue is linked to our name, which is our identity. I would like to dive deeper into this thought, but I am tired and it's bedtime, so I will go on another time. Night Night

Answer

So I guess either I have no readers or no creative guessers out there. The expression comes from when people used to put a cat in a bag at a market and sell it as a pig. When the cat got out of the bag, the person who bought the "pig" would find out they just got screwed. So there you have it folks, you all learned something new today.

Trivia Question?

Without looking it up on the internet, Where did the expression "who let the cat out of the bag" come from?

Thailand

I read an article today about Thailand and how the people pretty much just ousted there current prime minister and got the courts to elect a new one. I know that the old one was corrupt. I think that it is pretty cool that all the people pretty much went to all the airports and sat down and said, "hey we are going to live here and stop the flow of airplanes till you do something about this guy." They were successful and now they have a new one. One of the citizens was quoted walking out of the airport, "see you next time the government needs us." How cool is that guy. What power he knows the people have. I wonder what it would be like if that happened in America. One, if we all went to an airport and sat down, we would all go to jail. I know that for sure. But what if we all knew that the power to honestly uproot a government and get a new one was a power that we truly have. We do, but are I think unable to honestly unify to show that power exists. I think as long as the American people have the idea that they have to be on one side of things, then the suits in D.C. will always call the shots. Lets be honest, that is a pretty good way to keep control. Keep the people thinking the other side is the problem and the whole time most elected officials have a 95% re-election rate and nothing changes. I think the government has created a pretty good system to keep "change" where they want it and let us continue to think we are involved in the process. (and that "change" comment is not a shot at the new president elect by the way, just happened to be worded that way) Well that is my banter for the day. Hope all is well for everyone.

Grace

I was listening to a podcast today when it mentioned a comment that stuck out with me and I have not been able to get it out of my head for a while. I will try to remember it best I can, but this is a paraphrase. It said that we will grow faster and farther with grace than fear will ever take us. I had to sit there for a moment when I heard that for the first time. It then hit me that we are generally a world/society that is run on fear. Fear has been a great motivator for people since... well as long as I can remember. More specifically when I began to think of all the times in my life when fear was a factor behind and decision that I made. Then I started to think of the grace side of things. When I have reacted or been reacted to with grace, the world looks a little bit different. I usually walk away with a greater understanding of what just happened or a renewed since of faith in whatever situation or person I am dealing with. Think about the last time someone reacted to you with grace... think about the last time that you were motivated by fear. Contrast them , think about how they differ mentally. It will really give you something to chew on, it has pushed me to think about the motivators that I choose to rely on.

Winter Wonderland in Georgia

I walked out my front door today and what do you know, it is snowing. I figured that it would only last a short while since it is Georgia. But it outsmarted me and lasted all day long. It was really beautiful. I love it when it's snowing and you go outside and try to look up. It's nearly impossible to keep your eyes open that long but when you get a few seconds in a row and you can see up the thousands of layers of snowflakes above you, it's amazing. At one point while I was in my office, the snow turned to really thick sleet/snow for a bit and I went outside for a second to catch some in my hand. It piled up quickly and reminded me of being a kid. I enjoyed my snow day. It was somewhat surreal when you think about it. Snow seems to slow the world down for a little bit. Slow things down so you can have a moment to catch up and collect your thoughts and what not. It was a good day. On a side note, Sarah and I played Mario Kart tonight for a short bit and she beat me on two of the eight races. That is improvement folks, my wife can beat your wife in Mario Kart... easy.