Today I got some good news. It appears that my job is secure for a little while longer. After presenting requirements that the College of Education must meet by next Spring, the State Department of Education has decided to change the standards. This means all the work I've done over the past 4 months will likely need to be trashed and redone. And the Department of Education still wants everything in order by Spring. We won't have any data by then, but we should at least have the groundwork done.

I've become quite the accomplished Access developer. I've done more with Access since I've been here than ever before. The people using the database come to me constantly with ideas and needs. I've done some stuff I never thought possible. It's not as robust as a web-based database solution, but it works and works well.

My new web site design is almost finished. I've got the template done and the database has been populated. I need to apply the template to all the pages and upload everything. Hopefully that will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

My math class is horrible. The first day of class was the last time I had a clue about what was going on. It's all theory which means we try to prove ridiculous statements that somebody pulled out of their butt. If I see a number during class, I consider myself lucky. From what I hear, he will pass everyone. If I show up to class every day and vomit nonsense on a page, I should get a B. Tonight we have a study group meeting to discuss the first homework. I don't think any of us know what's going on, so it should be pointless. However, I'm going on the off-chance that it will be helpful. Any help I can get is welcome.

I wrote a blog a little over a year ago criticizing the coach of the Alabama men's basketball team (Mark Gottfried) after there dismal start of SEC play. Ironically, after writing that, the team started playing better and winning even without one of the star players. Well, here we have another season with a terrible start to SEC play. In fact, they are doing even worse this season. The following is a letter I wrote to the editor of The Crimson White. Maybe it will work to get our team on track again.

“Mark’s Madness” – what an appropriate term for the current state of our basketball team. “Mark’s Disappointment” or “Mark’s Frustration” come to mind as well. All of these phrases certainly sum up my feelings toward our team this season. What happened to the pre-season Final Four favorite and top 10 team of a month ago?

Watching the Alabama/Auburn game Tuesday night was an extremely frustrating experience. Halfway through the second half, I was forced to turn the channel for fear of throwing my remote into the TV or having a heart attack. Who knows how high my blood pressure was. I actually feel sorry for the TV in taking the wrath of my verbal abuse.

Those who follow SEC sports know it’s hard for an SEC team (regardless of sport) to win on the road. This has plagued Alabama basketball for several seasons and doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon. Losing to Arkansas in Fayetteville was tough to swallow, but it wasn’t completely unexpected. I had high hopes when the Tide traveled to Vandy, but another road loss followed the team back to Tuscaloosa. And then there was the debacle at Auburn.

The fact that they have lost four games or lost three of the last five game isn’t really the issue here. The issue is the giant point deficits the team has consistently found themselves in. I don’t really care that they lost four games. I understand that they can’t win every game and anyone expecting them to be undefeated is incredibly quixotic. I expect our team to be competitive. The margin of defeat of their four losses is 21.5 points. They don’t just lose; they get smacked around like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.

Based on the gameplay over the last five games, I can clearly see why the margin of defeat is astronomical. Where’s the defense? Is it required in every SEC game they play to have a double-digit deficit? Let’s be honest; if Georgia hadn’t fallen apart in the last 10 minutes of the game on Saturday, Alabama would have lost another game. The game against Auburn was full of sloppy passes and lethargic ball movement. It was as if the team came into the game thinking “Ho-hum, it’s Auburn. Yawn!” instead of thinking “THIS IS AUBURN! NO MERCY!”

The team operated like a well-oiled machine before and during the Christmas break with the exception of the Notre Dame game. That machine suddenly hit a steel wall when SEC play started. I don’t know what it will take to wake the team up, but I hope they come to life before Alabama becomes the joke of the SEC this year.

It has taken me forever to try and blog about a two-week vacation. I didn't want to overwhelm readers, but I'm tired of writing about it. I need to finish this up so I can move on to other things.

The day after Christmas was a solo day for both Erika and me. She went off to a spa and I wandered through Islands of Adventure for a few hours. Thankfully it was pretty deserted, and I managed to ride everything I wanted at least 3 times. I ended up riding Dueling Dragons six consecutive times that day. Had I not wanted to make sure I could get through the rest of the park, I would have ridden it another dozen times. It's much easier to ride when you can hop off, jump through a shortcut and ride again. Many times, as soon as I got to the coaster I was on the next train. At one point, I think I got off a train and jumped back on the same one.

Over the rest of the week, we wandered around Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure several times. The crowds became bigger and bigger forcing us to buy Fastpass tickets one day to enjoy Islands of Adventure.

We spent our evenings at Downtown Disney and Fantasia Gardens (Disney miniature golf). The Friday after Christmas we finally went to Disney-MGM Studios. It was disappointing and has changed the most of all the Disney parks in the last 5 years. The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire attraction was gone which pissed me off. The Magic of Animation attraction was butchered from actually watching what Disney is working on to a short film about how a character goes from idea to film. The Backlot Tour had also been cut. The arena for the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show wiped out a lot of the houses from the Backlot Tour (which also wiped out a good portion of the Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights). Half of what was left of the Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights was not working because of the rain. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster and Fantasmic were awesome as usual.

The last Saturday we were there was Sea World Day. There isn't much more of anything that you don't see at any other Sea World. There's the dolphin show, the sea lion show and the Shamu show. The Shamu show should have been the Shamu trainers show. There was too much of their blabbing and very little Shamu. We managed to get through Sea World before it even got dark.

New year's Eve was our last full day there, and what a day it was. We started the day in Islands of Adventure. We rode some rides (Spiderman, Incredible Hulk) before going to breakfast with Spiderman and Cat in the Hat (and Thing 1 and 2). Spiderman was hilarious. The guy in the suit probably spooed himself when he got that job. He has to be a bigger comic geek than I am. After breakfast, we went back to Universal Studios to ride some rides and for me to get a few more photos with people dressed in costumes. What a dork!!

That evening we went to House of Blues and ate dinner before standing in line for a New Year's Eve party with Sister Hazel. The concert was great and it was a very fitting end to a great vacation. Hope you weren't too bored as I tried to let you into a little piece of my world. It was probably boring, but I'll try to do better in my next blog.

On Christmas Eve, we had another full day planned starting with breakfast at the Polynesian Resort. This was no normal breakfast; we had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. Mickey and Pluto were there too, but the main reason for going was Stitch. I'm a big kid, what can I say. Breakfast was great and Stitch was as mischievous as ever. After eating breakfast and taking lots of pictures, we hopped on the monorail over to EPCOT.

Much like the other parks, EPCOT hasn't changed much over the past five years. There was a new attraction called Mission:Space which was a glorified motion simulator. Although there were two versions of the ride (one version more intense than the other), it didn't appear as if either were different. The biggest change at EPCOT was the redesign of The Living Seas attraction. What was just a huge aquarium has now been converted to allow for a Finding Nemo ride and an interactive show featuring Crush from Finding Nemo. I expected the interactive show to be cheesy, but it was worth standing in line. It was pretty funny having Crush actually talking to the kids and answering their questions.

EPCOT has never been my kind of park because there is little to do except walk around looking at stuff. We wandered for hours, stopping for lunch and then wandered more before standing in line for the Candlelight Processional. The Candlelight Processional is an annual show that features a huge choir and an orchestra. The choir sings Christmas hymns and in between songs, a guest narrator tells the Christmas story. Our guest narrator was Gary Sinese. About halfway through the program, it began to rain and as luck would have it, we were a few rows back from the covered seats. We sat it out, but it rained the rest of the evening. Eventually we gave up trying to look around and headed back to the hotel disappointed and wet. I think we may skip EPCOT next time or spend a half day as opposed to a whole day.

On Christmas Day, we had planned to visit Disney-MGM Studios, but the weather was supposed to be nasty. We decided to spend the day indoors at Disney Quest which is basically a five story arcade. Before going to Disney Quest, we enjoyed a Christmas breakfast at IHOP and wandered around Downtown Disney to window shop. There are a lot of virtual reality games there as well as new and classic arcade games.

One of the best things about Disney Quest is playing games based on Disney properties. One of my favorite games was Pirates of the Caribbean which allowed teams of people to shoot cannons trying to sink other ships and take their gold. There was also a Jungle Cruise game that takes riders on a virtual river rapids ride. It is probably the most tiring game I've ever played as you have to actually paddle your boat. Other Disney games included Buzz Lightyear's Astroblaster (bumper cars that shoot foam balls at the other cars), Mighty Ducks Pinball (where players control their ball on-screen by moving their body) and Virtual Space Mountain (make your own roller coaster).

I could have stayed there even longer than the 10 or 11 hours we were there, but since I wasn't alone I had to be considerate of others. Considering the price to get in though, we had to stay long enough to get our money's worth. Admission into Disney Quest was about 75% of the cost of a park ticket. I missed my family, but it was a fun and unique Christmas Day. It sure beat sitting in the hotel room all day or having strep throat like I did last year.

On the second day of vacation, we went to Animal Kingdom, probably my favorite of the Disney parks. It hasn't changed much since the last time we were there five years ago. There was one new ride called Expedition Everest and a new Finding Nemo Broadway style show. We wandered around the park, grabbing a Fastpass for Expedition Everest because at 9:30 the line was already over an hour long. Rather than waiting in line for an hour, a Fastpass allowed us to do other things while waiting until a certain time to ride. While waiting we were able to ride Dinosaur, get pictures made with Eeyore, Tigger and Pooh, look at the Asian animals section of the park and watch the Finding Nemo show. That was a much more productive couple of hours than just standing in line.

The Finding Nemo show was in the same vein as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King on Broadway. I didn't enjoy it as much as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, but I believe that much of that can be contributed to the music. Finding Nemo is really not a musical, but they tried to make it into one. There were really no catchy tunes in the show except Just Keep Swimming which we continue to sing to each other.

Expedition Everest is a new roller coaster ride that takes riders on a trip through the home of the mystical Yeti. Almost half of the ride is ridden backwards in complete darkness. At the Disney parks, I think Expedition Everest was my favorite ride.

After riding Expedition Everest, we sat through It's Tough to be a Bug, a 4-D show starring Flik from A Bug's Life before lunch. After lunch, we wrapped up the park by watching a very kid-oriented Pocahontas show (starring an incredibly white Pocahontas), walking through the African animal section, riding the Kali River Rapids, watching the Jammin' Jungle Christmas Parade, taking a Kilimanjaro Safari, riding Expedition Everest again, riding Primeval Whirl, and finally watching the Festival of the Lion King show before leaving the park. The trek back to our car was quite possibly the worst event of the trip as we had to briskly walk through the rain to the tram stop and then stand in a downpour waiting for a tram to the parking lot. But the fun didn't end there. Erika was sitting under the tram speaker which acted like a shower head by dumping a nice stream of water over her head. Of course all of this happened on our way to dinner at a nicer restaurant that took reservations. The Disney people were gracious enough to extend our reservation allowing us some time to change into dry clothes.

The third day was a fifteen hour marathon at the Magic Kingdom. Because we had seen all of the Christmas shows the first night we were in Orlando, we were able to take in all of the rest of what the Magic Kingdom had to offer. We managed to ride everything we wanted in the park and all of our favorite rides twice Including Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Splash Mountainbefore calling it a day. The one thing we hadn't seen the previous night was the Spectromagic Parade (formerly known as the Electric Light Parade). We managed to catch the last run of the parade before riding The Haunted Mansion one more time. Overall it was a lot of fun but quite tiring as well.

Today is the first day of school for me. I'm a little anxious and excited because I haven't taken classes in a really long time and this is something I want to do. I like learning new things, but I have no desire to get a PhD. Doing research and writing papers is just not for me. Let me learn and teach, that's what I do best.

I'm taking Introduction to Topology. Don't ask me what it's about because I don't even understand the discription. All I know is it's a graduate level math class. It was my second choice behind Numerical Linear Algebra. Unfortunately that class only allowed 8 people and it filled up. Thankfully, the reviews on Amazon say the book being used in the class is the best introduction book for this particular topic. I hope the reviews are correct.

I need to get 18 hours of graduate credit in mathematics in order to be able to teach it in public universities. Once I leave Alabama, I should be able to teach computer science and math, although I will probably only be able to teach in one discipline. If I had to choose, I think I'd choose math. It makes me feel smart because I can teach algebra and calculus to people.

Last night, I got my first campus life experience of the semester. The Alabama/LSU game was on ESPN2 last night, so Coleman Coliseum was packed. So packed in fact that I was unable to get in. I was bummed not to be able to watch it in person, but it didn't ruin my evening. In fact, my evening was probably better since I got to chat with Em's husband Charlie (or Mr. Beagle). He seems to be a really nice, wise-cracking, computer guy like myself.

Anyway, as I'm walking back to my car to drive home, a scalper confronts me asking if I want tickets. I asked how much and he wanted $40. I told him that was pricey for me, so he offered a ticket for $30. To me $20 was pushing it. I didn't really want to spend the money for a ticket when I should have been able to get in free. He couldn't sell it for $20, so I walked on. I walked about 20 yards away before he started hollering at me to get my attention. I ignored him and picked up my pace. He followed me for another 30-40 yards before he caught up to me and offered me a ticket for $20. He said he had just gotten the ticket from someone since I mentioned I'd pay $20. I don't know how he could have bought a ticket in the time it took me to walk the 20 yards before he started hollering for me.

I reminded him that $20 was pushing it, and I would just go home and watch it on ESPN. He offered it to me for $15 at that point and I cut him to $10. He said he'd just sell it to someone else so I turned and began walking again. No sooner had I turned around that he agreed to $10. I walked back to where he was and took out a $20. I asked if he had change and he grumbled as he began rooting for a ten. As he was searching, he quipped that I should pay him $15 for having to chase me down. I calmly smacked it back to him by saying "I didn't ask you to chase me down." He handed over the ticket and it was a printout of a ticket he had bought online. I questioned its legitamacy and he said it was good, but I wasn't completely sold on it. He said if I was worried about it, he'd sell it to someone else. I said ok, handed it back and began to leave. He smarted off again as I was walking back to my car but I didn't catch what he said.

Had I been able to think a little quicker, I would have made a deal with him. If he had walked to the door with me and the ticket turned out to be legit, I would give him the $10. If the ticket was not legit, he should give me $10 for wasting my time. Unfortunately, that didn't pop into my head until I was on my way home.

At long last, I have been able to get back in the swing of things at work and at home, so I thought I'd share my adventures in Orlando.

Erika and I woke up way too freaking early to be at the airport for a 7 AM flight. Before most people had even had their first coffee break at work, we were in sunny Orlando. After giving over an arm to Enterprise to rent a car for 12 days (thankfully I was allowed to keep my legs), we found our hotel and headed over to Universal for the day.

I must say that I was definitely not in the Christmas spirit upon arriving in Orlando. I wasn't even in vacation spirit by that time. I was in one of those "I just don't care about anything" sort of moods. I could have been there or back home at work and still felt the same. The last half of the year was a continual downer, so you'd think I would be all over a vacation, but I suppose the happiness was being held back by all the negativity I had been experiencing.

We wandered around Universal most of the day. We said farewell to the Back to the Future ride which is really starting to show it's age. Rumor has it the ride is being removed in lieu of a Simpsons ride later this year. We went right over to the Men in Black ride next which is like a video game. Each car holds six people who have modified laser pointers to fire at targets while trying to get the highest score. We also rode Revenge of the Mummy which was pretty fun. It is an indoor rollercoaster similar to Aerosmith's Rock and Roller Coaster at MGM Studios, but it is only a one car train and there are no loops. The first time we tried to ride it, it broke down while we were in line. After 20 minutes or so of waiting in line and listening to an automated message telling us every minute that the ride was experiencing technical problems, we decided to come back later. Unfortunately, Revenge of the Mummy took over the King Kong ride. I never got to ride that the last time I was there. But that was ancient times. The last time I was at Universal they still had a Miami Vice stunt show in the lake.

That night we went over to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The park wasn't as crowded since it was only open for a limited number of people who had to purchase tickets. It was very disorganized as they were trying to usher everyone that had gone during the day out of the park while admitting just the night guests. We managed to get in, but we should have been given wristbands to prove we had paid to be there since it was limited. The ticket reader guy never gave us one so we had to go back and deal with that hassle after asking someone inside the gate what the wristbands were for.

The first thing we did was wander over to Tomorrowland to experience the new Stitch ride first and Buzz Lightyear's Astroblast. It certainly wasn't my planned course of action, but I didn't complain.

Just getting to the Magic Kingdom started to lift my spirits. By the time we finished the Stitch ride, my mood was much improved. I guess Stitch will do that to you.

We wandered around the park riding a few things, but we were mainly there to see the special Christmas parade and shows. We capped off the night with a quick jaunt through the Haunted Mansion around midnight right before the park closed. On our way out of the park, I had to stop by one of the gift shops to pick up my special Stitch Santa hat. When I saw someone wearing one that night, I almost tripped over a stroller while gawking. Instead of tripping I was attacked by this little kid's balloon. This got a good laugh out of Erika.

That was just the first day. There are plenty more to talk about.

Another year has flown past and we are already rocketing toward 2008. Christmas is over and the Valentine's candy has swiftly taken over the store shelves. As usual, everyone thinks a new year means a new start at something, so they all make promises that they fully intend to keep for at least a week before giving up.

Last year I did well on my resolution to shape up. I wasn't so concerned about losing weight but about getting in shape. I think I did a pretty good job. Over the course of the year I raised my weight lifting capabilities by 30 pounds or more (depending on the apparatus). I had lost almost 20 pounds in 18 months, but I'm sure some of that came back over my vacation. I'm disappointed I didn't lose more weight during the year, but I have transplanted some fat with muscle.

This year I made sure that my resolutions were obtainable again. This year I will...

1. Strengthen my relationship with my wife
   
2. Complete Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
   
3. Complete X-Men Legends
   
4. Redesign my web site
   
5. Catch up on my current comic subscriptions