In Eckleburg's Eyes - 2/25/2008

The weekend was busy and as pleasant as can be expected under the circumstances. Many of our friends rallied behind PAT and tried to pick up the pieces in the wake of his breakup with WRK. A split does not only affect the people involved, but their community as well. Please keep all involved in this situation in your prayers.

I was able to function fairly well over the weekend despite having been ill. Fortunately, medication eliminated most of my symptoms. Unfortunately, it also drained my strength considerably.

On Friday, I had the honor of spending the day with PAT. He called in the afternoon to see if I would like to accompany him to McKay’s (bookstore). Was he new here? When we got to the store, he was incredibly impressed by my buying restraint. I did not tell him I had also been there the day before.

PAT received a tour of most of Knoxville as we talked. We visited JBT and JHT at MoFoS and brought KLTW dinner to Best Buy. Knowing that we would be with her husband later and knowing that PAT was going through a difficult time, KLTW offered we take him to a classy strip club. I am not sure if she was serious or not. (I rarely do on such matters.) PAT and I naturally abstained on principle while RAW declined based upon the fact that Knoxville does not have classy strip clubs. While I prefer mine and PAT’s rationale, I could not argue with RAW’s either.

In our travels, we discovered Knoxville now has a roundabout. As of Thursday morning (2/21), the intersection of Northshore Drive and Concord Road is governed by a roundabout. Evidently, there was not enough space for a traffic light at the intersection and a three-way stop did not move traffic efficiently at peak junctures. Unlike most roundabouts that I have encountered, this one has only one lane. While the jury is still out on its merits, there are some immediate advantages. The site may end up being a landmark like THE stoplight in Karns used to be. Further, it can be something else Farragut residents can be pretentious about - having the city’s only roundabout.

That night, PAT, RAW, and I were joined by AMTT and JCT to watch American Gangster and eat pizza at my home. PAT did not want to view a movie with excessive sentimentality. Mission accomplished. In fact, it had no sentimentality at all. My review is posted under “A Veiled Tell - Nil Soli.”

The only bad thing was that KJW was with her “Nana” so she was unavailable. PAT went out to Applebees while I called it a night. He did spend the night and we ate breakfast with my dad at Shoney’s in the morning. It was the first sleepover I have had in ages and I missed it!

On Saturday night, MPW, RAW, and I watched Tennessee beat #1 Memphis on RAW’s big screen. I can honestly say I have never seen MPW so happy. We watched the highlights and replays numerous times. It was funny as when KLTW returned and rehashed her day, we stopped her account any time the game footage was on despite having seen it repeatedly. We do love you, KLTW!

Again, the only negative was that KJW was still with “Nana” until nearly midnight! She had been to her cousin’s birthday party and having eaten sugar and played all day with only a twenty-minute nap as respite, she had passed out by the time she returned home. You know she is dead when the prospect of people being in the home does not excite her. She was still cute though.

On Sunday morning, WAM, PAT, MPW and I met at my house for Sunday School. We covered Matthew 5:13. Notes from Bible Studies will now eventually be on the main site.

Far more important than my notes, is WAM’s wackiest insight of the day: Barrack Obama’s campaign speeches are directly taken from American History X. I will let you be the judge.

Afterwards, JTH, WAM, KJW, MPW, RAW, and I ate at Soccer Taco. It has become our favorite Mexican restaurant since Monterrey closed down for failing health code requirements. Naturally, Soccer Taco is not quite as good as, well it meets health code requirements. Should we really impose American standards of cleanliness on Mexican restaurants?

More importantly, after two near misses, I finally got to see KJW. She was dressed like little pink riding hood. I brought her a book to teach her colors. Colors are difficult material as they are concepts rather than concrete items. I felt better about my own futility after her father tried to teach her that black and white were actually “values”, not colors. She clearly understood.

KJW was not a huge fan of her Quesadilla, but did enjoy her side of fries. With KJW, food not only provides sustenance, but an accessory to any ensemble.

After PAT returned to his home in Kennesaw, GA, JTH and I went to Wal-Mart that evening. There were two notable additions to Wal-Mart. First, and not surprisingly, t-shirts were already being sold with the game score from the previous night on it. I mainly mention this just as another way of referencing the fact that Tennessee won the big game.

Second, Wal-Mart now has a DVD section with their employee’s selections. There is a picture of the name of the employee accompanied by five choices. I actually like this idea as it gives personality to a huge corporation. I was especially impressed, by the picture of “Jean.” The picture sat atop all of the others, presumably due to her seniority, and a menacing scowl covered her face. I would hate to see her expression when thinking of the movies she did not like. And yes, Sling Blade was her top pick!

An exhausted JTH returned home while I spent the evening at RAW’s with KLTW, KJW, MPW, and RAW. After allowing KJW to watch some SpongeBob SquarePants, we ultimately watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Though this is typically not my brand of humor, it is undoubtedly a classic.

Thus, I did not watch the Oscars, but I will note my disappointment that Ellen Page did not win the Best Actress award for Juno. I admittedly had not seen any of the other four candidates, but I know for a fact that they are NOT Ellen Page!

As noted, it was a good weekend all things considered. Please keep PAT and company in yours prayers.