Chris's Musings

Once all of the parties, the gift buying, the wrapping, and the manic rushing around is finished; we all have a chance to sit back, relax, and finally enjoy spending time with friends and family for Christmas.  In Texas with "the fam," life slows down and I do have some time to relax and reflect on things; which is a good thing considering January 1st will be here soon and I always set a few goals for each year. My current read right now is a book called "Born to Run," which was recommended by a few of my runner friends, and I have not been able to keep it down.  I'm in the middle of the book and I've just got through the part where the Tarahumara have just won the Leadville 100 (an extreme ultramarathon in Colorado), beating ultrarunning legend (do these exist?) Ann Trason in what was described in the book as one of the harshest, most unforgiving ultras (as if running the distance of four marathons in a single stint isn't harsh) in the year she set th...

I'm flying home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday afternoon, and I am really looking forward to spending some time down in Houston (or "H-Town" as we native Houstonians call it).  I know from the outside looking in, this city is a huge flat sprawl of concrete and is hotter than Hades in August (it's true!  I don't complain about the summers in Atlanta), but I love this city. Now, I am looking forward to the challenge of trying to convince someone that this place, and the State it calls home, is actually a great place.  It really doesn't help that our beloved baseball team lost 106 games this year and is selling out to the AL, or that the Texans' season is once again at risk with Matt Leinart under center after Schaub got hurt and is out for the year.  But, here are some things I love about it... We have the best Mexican food on the planet! And yes, that includes Mexico :-).  And I know we have the infamous designation of being the "fattest city in Amer...

If you're in any way interested in sports, or follow the news, or know someone who does, you have probably heard Joe Paterno's name mentioned this week.  During our dinner club conversation last night, talk about "Joe Pa" got a lot of airtime...  But why? Is it because he's 84 and was still coaching a successful Division 1 football program? Is it because of his D-1 record 409 victories as a head coach? Is it because Penn State has a real opportunity to play in the first ever BIG (Big Ten) Championship this season? Um... not exactly. It is because, for several years, one of Joe Paterno's assistant coaches... ahem - his heir apparent at the time.... Did something SO horrible that I can't really mention it on this blog.  The thought of it disgusts me and makes me want to vomit. And yet several people around the Penn State football program knew this was going on, and apparently.... Nothing... really...  was done. Joe notified the Athletic Dir...

Anyone who knows me, or pays attention to my goings on, knows that this weekend was my second half marathon weekend.  Yes, I did the half insanity again, beat my first half marathon time by 16 minutes (easy to do if you had the foot issues I had last year :) ), and had an absolutely fantastic weekend touring Savannah, St. Simons Island, and lots of traffic jams.  I really felt truly blessed this weekend (maybe not for the traffic jams, but for everything else :) ). Thinking through the weekend, a couple of deja vu conversations got me thinking.  The first one was at the McDonald's in Dublin, GA.  I was ordering a snack wrap and a coffee drink, and this woman behind me in line strikes up a conversation like this...  "Are you running the full or the half?" This person happened to be traveling to her home in Savannah and knew about the race (it was a pretty big deal for Savannah), and her husband had just completed the Marine Corps Marathon the week before and ...

In my time with God this morning, I ran into a familiar story that we've all heard.  In fact, I thought about "familiarity" a lot when I was noodling it, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2021:1-14&version=NIV Which produced a, somewhat unfamiliar, epiphany.   Jesus had just been crucified, and had risen from the dead but the disciples by and large did not accept this fact at the time.  Peter and John had been to the tomb and saw it empty, but Peter didn't believe yet that Jesus rose from the dead.  Peter, probably in trying to figure things out, likely out of the shame of having disowned Jesus, and possibly out of disillusionment - decided to go back to the thing he knew... He went fishing.  He had a  fishing business before meeting Jesus.  It was familiar.   And then, Peter hears this guy on the shore. Guy on shore:  "Caught anything yet?" (my translation into "Southern") Guys on boat:  "No"  ...

I just got back from spending time at Taco Mac with a buddy of mine; watching the demise of the Phillies in Game 5 (in which I'm sure all of Atlanta rejoiced!).  Wrapping up some home chores I took a look at my blog and realized that I haven't posted since August! Shame on me!  I guess even a great writer (in my own mind) needs to take a break every now and then.   But, given that I've been away from my blog, can you imagine the pressure of the "first next" post... is it going to be awesome?  That's a lot of pressure for someone who likes to write.   So... to take the pressure (sort of) off... and because I've had blog thoughts in my mind... I'll break the ice by providing a short synopsis of some thoughts I've had over the last 6 weeks... so my next post, whether snarky or serious... will be a little more pressure-free.   (Thanks to my groups director Mark Shull - the man - for giving me this)  Yes, Peter sunk in the water when he took h...

This weekend, I was able to get home and enjoy my fill of great Texas food, and yes I'm watching my calories and making sure to work out a little extra this week.  Needless to say, I've had some Mexican, some Greek (there's a famous place in Montrose called Niko Niko's that's crazy good - and was on Diners Drive-ins, and Dives), and of course some Goode Company BBQ :-) I do miss Texas BBQ.  I really do.  Not that my new home doesn't have good BBQ - it's just not the same and that's okay.  I'm sure that you know some folks that when you say the word "barbecue" automatically think about something that may or may not be foreign to your experience, so having been around I'll give you a little lexicon. "Southern" Barbecue (Tennessee/Georgia variety) This would be slow smoked pulled pork with a sweet sauce, most often served with macaroni and cheese, french fries, collard greens, or a plethora of other sides.  Those just happen...