Six Things About Me You May / May Not Know

1. I drove an ice cream truck one summer. My parents had a friend who was always coming up with one scheme or another that was going to be his ticket to fame and fortune. One summer, he decided that an ice cream truck was what my small southern town needed. The truck was big enough that I could pick up friends and let them ride around with me. That was a great summer!
2. I am an avid Apple guy. My first computer (which I got none-of-your-darn-business years ago) was an Apple IIe, and it lasted me for years. At some point, I bought into the lies of the evil empire (Microsoft) and started using Windows machines. I have seen the error of my ways. For the past year, I have been using a MacBook that I purchased through the school, and I will be buying my dream iMac later this week. I can’t imagine life without my iPod, and I can’t wait for my contract to expire with Alltel so that I can buy my iPhone.
3. I am inked up. I have two tattoos, and I am already planning my next one. (Really, I have three, but two of them are combined into one.) My plan is to have a complete sleeve on one leg, that way I can cover it up and look all professional.
4. I suffer with OCD about crap that really doesn’t matter. I can’t handle it if I notice that my fingernails are in need of trimming. It doesn’t matter if I am running late for work, I will stop at a gas station and buy fingernail clippers even though I am pretty sure that I have two pair in my top desk drawer. Also, if I am putting ice in glasses for a larger gathering (my extended family, for instance), I have to make certain that each glass has the same number of ice cubes. Crushed ice is a great thing because I don’t have to worry about the number of cubes.
5. I am a voracious reader. I have hundreds upon hundreds of books in my classroom, and more at home. I read almost every night before going to sleep. I don’t care if I am already up too late… I must read to turn off my brain. If I am in a particularly busy season of life (for example, drowning in grad school), I still read, I just pick a book I have already read. This way, I have no problem putting it down to go to sleep. In other words, I not only read, I re-read.
6. I am messy. Way messy. I am glancing over at my side of the bed as I write this, and I see the following:
   On my nightstand -
   three books
   one CD
   one DVD
   a bottle of generic Benadryl
   a package of Nutter Butter cookies
   an empty Diet Pepsi can
   a large Cherry slush from Sonic
   my cell phone
   a Leatherman tool
   a PedEgg
   two small boxes of CDs with Mac software
   On the floor-
   two three pairs of shoes
   five pillows
   two pairs of dirty socks, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of pajama pants
   three books
   last week’s Entertainment Weekly
   my backpack  

   For the record, I will totally step around and over all of this stuff until Miranda gets pissed enough that she makes me clean it. (She really wishes I was OCD about cleaning up some of it!) My desk at work looks just the way you imagine it.

What about you? What are you craving today? Leave comment love and share it with us all!

Honestly, I have two reasons. First, I want to be able to help my brother get his site up and running before he heads to India at the end of the week. We are still having issues over on his site, but I think I have them figured out. For those of you who are interested, go ahead and add Matt to your feed. I am excited about what he is going to be producing over there.

I am also doing all of this because I think that a new design might get me excited about writing on here again. I need the outlet, but I have been so swamped with grad school, writing for pleasure has been a luxury that I simply could not afford. I now realize I can’t afford not to write, so maybe the fresh coat of paint I am applying will help motivate me!

So, here is what I have working on here so far:

• The video section to the right works. One is displayed, but if you click on the bar beneath, you will see others as they are loaded.
• The archives page is now functioning.
• The feeds through feedburner are active.
• I am going with the two featured posts at the top of the page for now with other stuff (like Twitter updates) down below.

So, what more is lacking?

• A cool logo at the top. (Anyone want to make me a cool DeeperWater.com gif file with a transparent background?)
• A couple of banners that I will add to point in different directions.
• A reason for the two flickr feeds. (If I know the reason, I can get rid of one!)

Keep checking in!

At any rate, Matt and I are both looking to be more faithful in our blogging. This includes writing as well as video blogging!

Stay tuned!

I am giving deeperwater.com and its offspring, school.deeperwater.com, a facelift as a symbol of my renewed commitment to blogging this school year. For those of you who still bother to check in… thanks for your consistency!

P.S. - Chris, I haven’t forgotten your sovereignty question. A response is brewing!

My grandmother passed away on Saturday afternoon, so we have had that to deal with. Things are slowly starting to get back to normal, so I am going to be giving you all the little details about the trip soon.

Thanks for being patient!

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Minimum wage worker, sausage smoking and meat packing company
2. Ice Cream Truck Driver
3. DJ at a southern gospel station that was in a trailer and at a top 40 station
4. Shoe salesman, JC Penney’s

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Dead Poet’s Society
2. Tombstone
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Mr. Holland’s Opus

Four places I’ve lived:
1. Tallahassee, FL
2. Troy, AL
3. Enterprise, AL
4. Panama City, FL

Four TV shows I love:
1. Lost
2. Mythbusters
3. My Name is Earl
4. American Idol

Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. Panama City, FL
2. Smoky Mountains
3. NYC
4. Mentone, AL

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Country Fried Steak
2. Tenda-Chick chicken fingers
3. a steak from the Front Porch Grill
4. Open-face roast beef sandwich at the Big Time Diner in Mobile

Four sites I visit daily:
1. google.com (gmail.com is not a separate site, right?)
2. news.yahoo.com
3. montgomeryadvertiser.com
4. netflix.com

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. London
2. bed
3. anywhere with my bride as long as the kids are with a sitter
4. eating breakfast with Spanky and Pooch

Four bloggers I am tagging (but who won’t do it because they’re too old school…how’s that for a taunt?):
1. Miranda
2. Kelly
3. Bybo
4. Cindy

For those of you who don’t have a blog… feel free to leave your lists in the comments!

One of the things you will notice is a more extensive list of categories that are somewhat more specific. Most of the old categories are either gone or changed, and I will be explaining part of the change later.

I really should apologize to those of you who have visited here using Internet Explorer. I didn’t mean to be a cyber-snob, but I had configured the site for Firefox. (Which you really should be using as a browser, anyway!) Rather than just re-configure the template, I had a buddy overhaul the guts.

David apparently loves me more than I realized, because he not only upgraded me to Wordpress 2.0, he allowed a new theme. Since he has so much spare time , he went ahead and set up Miranda a blog, too. When I have her permission, I will share a link.

Speaking of David, huge shout outs to my bro. He is going through a major shift in directions, and I couldn’t be happier for him. He has resigned his positions at the Alabama Bar and at the Church at Silver Springs to take on a position with National Community Church up in DC. Way to go, bro! (And by the way… I totally owe you dinner at Jim N’ Nicks!)

So what do you think of the new look?