Da Beach Yo 09...

I have a fondness of the beach. My first experience was at Garden City in Myrtle beach, just north of Litchfield our current beach destination. Childhood memories include my first ultra stinging, scream inducing, sunburn, riding waves, always knowing that the most awesome arcade on earth was just around the corner( They had these old 1957 William Deluxe baseball pinball machines. I loved to play. I've provided pictures below) and the list goes on.

I think you can still win a T-shirt if you achieve a high enough score.

Notice the ramps you hit for the home run and the display up top of the runners on bases. Notice also that someone needs to buy this kid a more non humiliating Yankees cap.


In more recent years the beach was the setting of Sarah and I drawing closer to each other, which eventually led to our status of Hubby and Wifey. Needless to say the beach has been good to me. Here is one of my favorite pics of our first trip together.

There was this stone at Brookgreen gardens that amplified your voice if you stood on it. Sarah didn't believe me until I made her stand on it which brought on this reaction.

I have a surprise for the ever faithful readers today. Sarah is going to guest blog in the next section of this post. Enjoy my wife's brilliance!

Well, hello there. Summer vaca '09 was amazing once again. Just the mere comfort of where we stay is reason enough to make the trip worthwhile but throw in some family, beach time, games and yummy food and you have something grand.

This year, my brother and his wife joined us once again. They brought with them lemon squares, an excitement for the week and a wonderful surprise. Will and I are going to be aunt and uncle. That's right. Kristi is pregnant. It is so hard to imagine my brother being a daddy. He's never really been drawn to kids, per se, but I think all this will change when he has his own. Congratulations, you two!

Okay, so, yes...we spent our days on the beach, swimming, lounging, throwing the football. One of my favorite memories was Will, Jason and I trying to throw 10 in a row without dropping it (we were in the ocean, guys...we're not that lame). Oh, the laughs that ensued.

Afternoons and evenings were spent playing games (Buzz Word, Cranium, Hearts, Catch Phrase), putt putt and eating tasty food (Myabi's Japanese Steakhouse, Sara J's seafood, etc.).

Will and I were a pretty unstoppable force in Buzz Word, but they held their own in Cranium and hearts. Liz (Will's sister) joined us on Friday morning. She played some games with us as the all time guesser. That made things interesting. She's amazing!

Liz and I took a bike ride on Friday and that was probably one of my favorite moments at the beach. I hadn't ridden a bike in years and it was such fun. We talked about everything and laughed. I love my sister. After that, we walked on the beach a bit. Fun times.

After we bid Jason and Kristi a farewell on Saturday morning, Liz, Will and I hung out that day and ate at a delicious restaurant that night, Salt Creek. Super yummy. We got there at like 5:15 and caught the early bird. The prices were outstanding, as well as the food. Will and I got drinks, appetizer, entrees and dessert for like 30 or so bucks. Amazing!

We capped the evening off with one final game of putt putt, where Will shot multiple holes in one. As Liz and I melted in the heat, we watched with wonder as Will sailed through. Good job, hubs!

We left Sunday morning to head home. What an amazing time with amazing memories. Thank you again, Jim and Judy for your generosity. We love you!

Will and Sarah

Jason and I at Miyabi's. Jason now loves the word Sunscreen.

Us playing putt putt and Jason finding his happy face.

So very pretty

Sister Funtime!

A new level of Awesomeness come forth...

Sarah and I have a friend who's name is Jennifer Guest. We recently met in her apartment to prepare for our trip for Slovakia. As we entered her apartment we looked to our right and this was on the wall...

At first she told us that it was a random family picture, which she enjoyed, took and put on her wall. Later she read the gold plate inscription on the bottom that told her that it was Johann Sebastian Bach. Needless to say I have a new respect for Baroque style 17th century composers. Amazing.

What a week...

I figured I'd reveal the answers to the trivia questions to start off this entry...

1. How many years did Leno host the tonight show? Answer: 17

2. Who played Goose's wife on Tom Cruises Top Gun? Answer: Meg Ryan

3. The initials R.M.S. proceeded the names of several ships during this time period, including the "Titanic" "Queen Mary" and "Elizabeth". What did these initials stand for? Answer: Royal. Mail. Ship

4. In 1958 this actor was a Cha Cha king and a boxing champion in Hong Kong. He also had two children who eventually also went into acting whose names were Brandon and Shannon. Who was this man? Answer: Bruce Lee

5. What is the maximum amount of players you can have in each of these board games? Answers:

Sorry-4
Mastermind-2
Trivial Pursuit-6
Chinese Checkers-6

6. Who was the creator of Garfield? Answer: Jim Davis

I've really enjoyed this week of Blog Domination. I look forward to continuing to try to be consistent with writing them. Oh and Jarrot Garza, YOU'RE WELCOME!

I leave you with this uncomfortably close up picture of my Barney like face...

Look into my eyes...

I know this is late, but I did promise to blog everyday, and even at 10:44, it's still Saturday. I've been looking for a black framed new pair of glasses to compliment the brown pair I already own. The search ended today, and because of the glory that is this pair of glasses, I think Sarah might consider these an early birthday present. BEHOLD!

We stumbled upon these frames at a place called The Eye Gallery at an outdoor mall in Atlanta. As we walked in we noticed that all the glasses were in cases and you couldn't really try any on without the assistance of an associate. I don't know about you, but Sarah and I usually like to handle things like this on our own, without the assistance of a potentially overzealous salesman. Fortunately, before annoyance had a chance to push us out the door, a lovely gentlemen by the name of Lee Cook came to our aide and proceeded to pull some frames for us. Not only was he generally knowledgeable about glasses, but he listened to what I wanted and didn't try to push his style or agenda on us. After quite a few great possibilities we landed on the first pair he pulled for us. So I raise my glass....es to you Lee Cook for such a pleasant experience!

Trivia Night!

Most Thursday nights Sarah and I travel to the Land of a thousand hills coffee house for trivia with friends. It's a great place, particularly because of the heart behind why this coffee house even exists. You can check out their ministry to Rwandan farmers here...

Land Of A Thousand Hills

Trivia is something that Sarah and I love and most competitions at LOATH involve our large group of friends breaking up into teams. Our team name is Molten Awesome who's team members include- Sarah "Trovtmanova" Troutman, Will "Nevalose" Troutman and our rock, Robert "The Bobo" Curry. I thought I'd share some questions from last night to see if you could hang with our 57 total point domination. You're welcome to comment and respond with some of the answers if you want too, but if so, no cheating on the google machine.

1. How many years did Jay Leno host The Tonight Show before Conan took over?

2. Who played Goose's wife in Tom Cruises "Top Gun"?

3. The initials R.M.S. proceeded the names of several ships during this time period, including the "Titanic" "Queen Mary" and "Elizabeth". What did these initials stand for?

4. In 1958 this actor was a Cha Cha king and a boxing champion in Hong Kong. He also had two children who eventually also went into acting whose names were Brandon and Shannon. Who was this man?

5. What is the maximum amount of players you can have in each of these board games:

Sorry
Mastermind
Trivial Pursuit
Chinese Checkers

6. Who was the creator of Garfield?

Would you have dominated like a Molten Awesome would have? Just let this image of victorious celebration inspire you...

Playing with yarn,

Will

Critter sighting...

I never saw a chipmunk until I moved to Georgia.


I guess they prefer the red clay over the S.C. soil.

Ferocious beast of an animal!

That chipmunk is crazy!

Ok, I've officially gotten carried away and become "that guy".

If you have any knowledge why chipmunks have been banished from South Carolina, let me know.

Blog #4 complete.

With great affection,

Will

Part 2

My list of favorites continues...

I come from a family of worriers. My granddad used to make a living on "worrying" about all of his kids and grandkids. I'm sure that these comments were tempered with love and prayer, but interestingly enough it's something I've always struggled with. More times than I'd like to admit, I'd stew about something, over think it, consider all the possibilities, to when the moment comes, I completely psych myself out.

Where is all this going you ask? It just happens to be a perfect lead in to my favorite verse from scripture...

"Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all He's done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything you can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

This verse helps me trust that God is sovereign and that no matter what choice I make, or what potential outcome might come to fruition, He has my best interests in mind.

Snacks and treats are tasty. They bring fun-times and brief energy. They rot my teeth and expand my belly, but who can resist? Here are a few of my favs...

The perfect compliment to a sandwich. Chicken salad or turkey and ham on honey wheat, whatever your sandwich of choice might be, you can't go wrong with the BBQ frito.

Some like chocolate, but I like sour. Sourpatch kids are the Godfather of the sour candy world. If I go to a motion picture establishment, you will most likely find me with these.


Honorable mention- The chewy gobstopper. My most recent find and while it's not nearly as sour as the patchkid, it bursts with flavor in every bite.

I said burst.

I'm a gamer. Video gamer to be exact. I think there is a gene passed on to most males. They either have it or they don't. In my case, I got it bad. Here are some of my top games...


It all began here. Halo "Combat Evolved". This game spawned two sequels a real time strategy game called "Halo Wars" and a soon to be released off shoot of Halo 3 called ODST(I know, I know, TMI). There are many factors that go into the quality of a game these days. Story-line, replayability, and the ever popular online multiplayer factor. While the story is good, the top honor goes to this game for the multiplayer aspect, which has given my friend Rhett and I hours of extreme fun.

With all that said, my top honor for storyline and for being utterly compelling goes to "Bioshock". It's hard to sum up all the reasons I love this game, so I'll go to the experts. Here are some reviews...

"To call this game simply a first-person shooter, a game that successfully fuses gameplay and narrative, is really doing it a disservice. This game is a beacon. It's one of those monumental experiences you'll never forget, and the benchmark against which games for years to come will, and indeed must, be measured."

"BioShock isn't simply another first-person shooter; no, it's much much more. It's a game that begs to be played, will keep you glued to your seat like an epic page-turning science fiction novel, and will leave you utterly speechless until the final moments of your lengthy stay in the enigmatic underwater city of Rapture."

Simply, This game is SICK as my musician friends would say.

Well, there you have it, you now know some things about me that give me joy and make me tap dance. Have a tremendous day and I'll see ya tomorrow!

Will