Pool Party Time!

Happy Tuesday!

So, it was absolutely gorgeous outside today! With the warmer weather moving in (I am going to ignore the slight cold front moving through) I decided to do a search for current homes on the market with in-ground pools! I searched in North M'boro with a cap of $400,000....look at the beauties I found!

*** I have realized some of the links don't match up with the listings for some odd reason...I have reported the issue, but if it happens again- plug the address into realtracs.com and it will bring up the full listing***

2040 Woodside Ct
$198,500

Click for listing










1428 W Northfield Blvd
$334,900

Click for listing












1116 Ithaca St
$378,900

Click for listing

MTSU Football

Absurd. That is the best word for a truly objective observation of sports fanatics. It is absurd to get worked up over a group of guys smashing into each other for the sake of moving a little ball down a field. It is especially absurd when you throw in the fact that you have not met them, will probably not ever meet them and usually have no desire to meet them. It is even more especially absurd when you factor in huge salaries, monumental stadiums, large fortunes spent on merchandise and all the tremendous pomp and circumstance that truly does sometimes cross into worship and adoration. I know it is all absurd. I am aware of this absurdity. Yet I still love MTSU football. 

I am an alumnus of the university. I know that, right or wrong, football and other sports bring prestige to my alma mater. Prestige brings value to my degree. Perhaps it is "wrong" that this happens, but it does not change that fact that it does happen. In addition, I like football. I like the chess match that plays out. I like the drama. I like the violence. I like the skill. It is, to me, a modern gladiator match. The overall game is so very simple--move a ball across a line--but at the same time it is incredibly complex. 

Football brings out camaraderie. The emotions of many rise and fall with the performance of the team. If they do well, you have thousands of people celebrating. If they do poorly, you have thousands of people down. Either way, they do so together. I know this is strange to some but I love it. I like being part of a community that exists for a completely superficial reason. Maybe I'm living vicariously through the team, players and coaches. Probably so. Thats fine with me. I'm fine with a little absurdity in a world full of extreme reality. 

Go Blue Raiders!!

ONE Answer

People are funny creatures. I say that a lot but it is true. We do things all the time that we know are wrong. This particular blog is about that phenomenon. We are constantly looking for the "right" answer. I know this could go into deep religious discussion but please try to refrain from steering it that way. We don't even have to get that philosophical. Look at politics, marriages, game shows, our obsession with science, etc. Humans constantly bicker over whose answer is "the right one".

Take politics, we are, for all intents and purposes, right now, a two party system. I know there are groups outside those two parties that have tremendous influence and may eventually become major players, but for now, we have two main parties. Both parties point fingers at the other party saying how they are "wrong". The parties insist that they have the answer to fix everything. Neither party can admit that it is possible both could be right, both could be wrong or there is somewhere in between. And it doesn't even matter which particular stump they are standing on!

Looking at marriages, we tend to want to mold our spouse into carbon copies of ourselves on certain issues because we are right and they are wrong. We leave out the possibility that they are right too, just raised differently.

Why do we do this? I think it is because we want verification of our own insecurities. In other words, if I can make you see the light that I was correct and you were wrong, I must, in fact, ACTUALLY be right. I think I am right, but if I win the debate, I have PROVEN I am right and I feel good about myself.  It makes us uncomfortable to think we could be wrong, or worse yet, the other side could be right ALSO.

What do we do? I think the first thing we do is accept that FACT that we can be wrong. We also accept the fact that, just because we were taught something growing up, doesn't make it infallible. This is a hard lesson for folks. We also need to constantly seek the company of people older, wiser and more intelligent than ourselves so that we can stay humble and continue to grow. Don't surround yourself constantly with people just like you!!!

That's all I have today. Go Blue and be nice to each other.

It Just Grinds My Gears

Ok, so I know that the last blog was a bit of a rant. Here is another one. You know what bugs me? We have a county with well over 200,000 people and in this county we have the largest undergraduate university in the state. What bugs me is that other than a very small handful of businesses that might have a little bit of stuff on their signs outside, you would never know about the university!!!! If you drive through Knoxville, there is NO mistaking that the University of Tennessee resides in that town. For those of you who didn't know, MTSU football is poised to have a very successful season this year, for the second season in a row. Doing so would propel the program into a very nice position nationally. Before you get all up in arms and say that "we focus too much on academics, yadda, yadda, yadda," remember that football is (aside from tuition and state funding) the biggest money maker for a campus--period. If the football team stinks, the entire university is seen in a different light (I am not debating on the rightness or wrongness of this fact, I am simply stating it as fact). Last season was a good one. A lot more people started coming to games and wearing blue. It was a really nice shift that occurred among the fans. The crazy thing is, I did not see that shift occur among area businesses. This entire town should be painted blue. Every business from I-24 to Rutherford Blvd. should be flying blue flags and saying "Let's Go Blue" on their signs. It is time for Murfreesboro businesses to wake up and acknowledge the 25,000 plus students in their midst. Perhaps they wouldn't all go home on the weekend if they thought you wanted them around!! In the meantime, support the university and show some pride in the home team!! I don't care if you like UT, fly your orange and hate Lane Kiffin. Just show some pride in what we have RIGHT HERE also. NOW IS THE TIME--SHOW SOME MTSU HOMETOWN PRIDE!!! 
LET'S GO BLUE!!!!!