Another award!

Oh boy, another award! Deana over at the Friday Night Fish Fry recently nominated me for the Excellent Blog Award.

My acceptance speech: I would like to thank Deana for her generosity. I am truly humbled and need to thank a few folks that have prodded me along the way. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for my mother and father who had no idea that their night of fun would have caused them 18 years of responsibility and the heartaches of dealing with a hard-headed kid. And of course I have to thank Ms. Freeman, my fourth grade teacher who kept me from a life of crime and debauchery. And then there were the guys in my Boy Scout Troop that showed me that a life of crime really doesn’t pay. I wonder if David and those two brothers whose name I forgot are still in the slammer. I want to thank my God for having withheld lightning bolts when they were well deserved. And finally, not to leave out the New Age and astrology folks, I should thank my lucky stars for they must have been in alignment to bring all this together and result in me receiving such a distinguished honor.

Enough bull… To accept this award, I have to nominate ten other bloggers for the award. Ya’ll deserve this award more so than me (can’t you see my sincere humility break through?), even those not picked… It was hard to limit this to just ten, but I’ve done my best…

Murf: Her name derives from the Smurfs, who were popular in the 80s, a decade with music she also enjoys. Murf’s world is both entertaining and over whelming. Reading her blog, one feels empathy for her husband Big A, for the Wendy’s Fry-guy that she stalks, and for ME! What else can I say about someone who aspires one day to grow up and become a Target sales associate?

Ed: Taking his name after the late western author, Edward Abbey, Ed is an engineer and his posts are as meticulous as only an engineer can do it. He post every week day when he is at work. He’ll be gone this week, but he’ll be back. Once a month he gives us a report on Little Abbey, his daughter whom we’ve watched grow from an embryo to a bubbling toddler. I’m afraid one day real soon I’ll open up Ed’s blog and learn she’s filling out college applications…

Gautami: A math teacher in New Delhi, Gautami writes beautiful poetry in her regular blog (see my sidebar). She also has a blog where she writes book reviews, which I’m highlighting here. She reads an incredible amount. By the way, what is it about Indian math professors who write well? There's Gautami and her poems as well as Manil Suri, a professor of professor of mathematic at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, who is the author of the wonderful novel, The Death of Vishnu.

Diane: An attorney that aspires to grow up and become a librarian, this is a gal who knows how to vacation. Off to New England in the fall, then Yellowstone in the winter, she was in Hawaii last spring or summer! She reads and, like me, listens to lots of books on an ipod (when she’s not singing along with The Who). She has two faithful companions that enjoying posing for the camera and, speaking for them, hates the kennel and gets nervous when the suitcases come out.

My Southern Coalition
Kenju: A florist who lives in the capital of North Carolina, Kenju has had the honor of helping decorate the Governor’s mansion for the past couple of years. Her blog is a hodge-podge, showing off her collections, her stories, as well as humorous tid-bits. (side note, in going to get Kenju's url, I notice that someone else has already given her this award... oh well, she'll soon have enough she can wall paper a wall.)

Kevin: A Southern Baptist working for a seminary in Texas. He’s interested in politics and, judging by the number of books he reads and movies he watches, never gets out of his chair and never sleeps. He has a large family in which there seems to be much love.

Kontan: When I started to read her blog, Kontan was a teacher in Mississippi. She’s now teaching history in Alabama (I assume that was a promotion) as well teaching a class at a local college. She’s committed to blog once a day throughout 2008! She has a lovely family. (I assure you, it’s only consequence that the names for my first three Southerners all begin with the letter K?)

Bone: Another one from ‘Bama, Bone has written some of the funniest post I’ve seen on the web. He’s also the creator of the 3-Word-Wednesday writing exercise.

Maggie: Maggie is a librarian in Mississippi (sounds like that would be an easy job, but let’s remember that despite the state’s illiteracy rate, they’ve produced a large number of literary giants). As a professional agitator (isn’t that what literary promoters are in Mississippi), she currently trying to start a war over cornbread. She is married to a firefighter who gets to ski at Whistler (I'm in the wrong line of work).

Jadedprimadonna: Angie, as her name appears in my sidebar, is a doctoral student at Clemson, which is a shame for I’m sure she’d look a lot better in Carolina Blue than School Bus Orange. Read her blog to learn about her family, about university politics and the trails and tribulations of being a grad student…

The Appalachianist: Formerly known as AI or Appalachian Intellect, I’ve read his blog for over three years and, in my readings, have gone along with him on many a bear hunt. And a deployment to Iraq (He’s a member of the National Guard). He’s back safe now in his home in the Southern Mountains where he faces daily danger from Florida drivers that are unfamiliar with mountain roads. In a recent post in which he highlighted some musical videos, I about died laughing at the Tim Wilson song, "I Could Be Wrong." Warning, such lyrics would never be posted in my blog, but I still laughed, I'm not sure what that says about me.

I wish I could nominate everyone, but I’m allowed only ten folks. But wait; looking over my list, it seems I nominated eleven. What the heck…

I've missed out on sending you to other interesting blogs such as the always funny Jay; Pia, the Yankee moving to Mrytle Beach; Scarlet, the redheaded Cuban; Econ Dave, the serious economic professor; Tim who needs to finish his honeymoons and get back to blogging, Carmi and his wonderful photos; Karen and her sharp political wit; Pat and his Frost-like poetry, Ms. Night Music and her fishing expediations; Michael and his interviews and movie suggestions.... and the list goes on and on.

In other news… This snow has been great for cross country skiing and I’ve gotten out several times this weekend, but unfortunately it’s suppose to warm up and rain tomorrow—I hate this global warming stuff.