Friday, May 30, 2008

Lakers vs. Celtics - a 21-year wait!


NBA Finals.
Lakers. Celtics.
Magic. Bird.
I was a sophomore in high school the last time it happened.

The 1987 NBA Finals took place between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. The Lakers won 4-2. I remember Magic Johnson's junior sky hook in Game 4. It was the tenth time that the Celtics and Lakers met in the NBA Finals and now, 21 years later, the greatest matchup in NBA history happens again. Finally, a new generation will experience the tradition.

The Lakers will be appearing in the Finals for a record 29th time overall. The Celtics will be appearing in the Finals for second best 20th time overall. The Celtics have won the most championships all-time with 16, the Lakers are second with 14.

1987 had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, James Worthy, Bill Walton

2008 has Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol.

The names may not be as marquee to me or most people, but seeing the purple and gold vs. the green and white is good enough for me!

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

First and foremost on this Memorial Day Weekend, we remember and honor those who are serving, those who have served and those who have given their lives for our great country.

We had a great weekend.

On Saturday, Erik and Rigby went to see Speed Racer, Stacy, Lucy and Nana went shopping and then we all gathered back at the Oglesby Ranch. Erik and Stacy ended the evening with a viewing of the movie, The Mist - Stephen King is a master. That movie was good, but the ending just tore us up.

On Sunday, we started out with breakfast at MudPie and then spent a good part of the afternoon at Who-Fest [08] in Renaissance Park. There were more than 60 folk artists there. Sister Tobi had a spot at the Art Show and was selling her wares like crazy! We bought a great, new piece from Asheville artist Deona Fish.

Rigby and Erik did some major cardboard sledding down the park's big hill. The family took a walk through the park and got some good rock-throwing accomplished. The Tennessee River has several new rocks.

We finished the day at the Swaynes and with Tobi and Corey. We munched down on burgers, dawgs, chips, tasty beans and beers. We got some good Mario Kart Wii in as well.

On Monday, we had lunch at Subway in North Chatt and then made our way over to the City side to catch a ride on the water taxi.

Upon boarding, we traveled to Maclellan Island, in the middle of the Tennessee River. Our visit to the island would be a first for us and we were very excited. There is a 1.5 mile trail that follows the perimeter of the island. Besides having fun, one of our main tasks was avoiding poison ivy. The trails are well-kept, though.

One unique feature on the island is a "rain-shadow desert" that lies beneath the Veterans Bridge, which travels across the middle of the island. Hardly any rain or sun hits beneath the bridge, leaving a lot of dirt and areas for picnic tables and a nice campfire setup.

There were a couple camping areas on the island and even a nice concrete block shelter. We discovered an old piece of farm equipment, which had to of been more than 50 years old, as farming on the island ceased in 1954.

We stayed on the island for almost two hours before hopping aboard the "Fat Cat" boat to carry us back to the mainland. We did not want our day to end, so we went to visit our fish friends at the Aquarium.

Now it is back to work, albeit a four-day work week!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Smokies

The GrayStation family traveled up I-75 to see Erik's parental units at the Foothills Craft Guild show at Pellissippi State in West Knoxville over the weekend. Stacy's parents came along as well for the afternoon.

After spending the afternoon at Pellissippi, we traveled up Highway 321 into Townsend and the gateway to the Smokies. We took the kids to an old swimming hole favorite, the Townsend "Wye." It's the meeting point of the middle and west prongs of the Little Pigeon River, which is seven miles east of Cades Cove. We spent about an hour braving the cold water and throwing rocks.



We had dinner at Cowboy's on Douglas Lake and spent the night in White Pine, enjoying a nice quick stay.

On Sunday, we traveled back into Erik's old stomping grounds of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. It was rainy, but we did get into some tourist areas. We did some outlet mall shopping, had lunch at TGI Friday's, went on a Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride and played video games, Skee Ball and air hockey in an arcade.



We decided to go to Cades Cove around 6 p.m. on Sunday. It was a cool 50 degrees. We took a quick hike to one of the old cabins and saw many deer, wild turkeys and two black bears. We did not get home until after 11 p.m. We certainly packed it in this weekend.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

Proverbs 31:10-12 and 25-31

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.



Happy Mother's Day to Dolores Wells, Rhonda Oglesby, Stacy Gray, Mary Sue "Muggy" Oglesby and Aileen Gray, some of the best mothers in the world.

Monday, May 05, 2008

GrayStation Concert Tour

Well the Spring GrayStation Concert Tour is complete.

Friday, April 25
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Philips Arena in Atlanta. What more can be said about one of the best American rockers ever? He played two-and-a-half hours and never left the stage. Not bad for a 58-year-old. We realized there is a lot of Boss music we do not know. We have much to learn.

Wednesday, April 30
Bon Jovi at Philips Arena in Atlanta. Daughtry opened the first 45 minutes. Bon Jovi took over the next two hours and entertained like he was rockin' the 80s. A great moment was screaming "Oh, we're half way there. Oh, Oh! Livin' on a Prayer" at the top of your lungs with 20,000 other people, some with mullets from 1989.

To make me sound old, I first saw Bon Jovi in 1988 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Yes, 20 years ago. Stacy had to sit this one out as she was in Portland, Maine on business travel.

Sunday, May 4
Kanye West with Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D. (Pharell Williams) and Rihanna at the Gwinnett Center in Atlanta. Started at 7:30, ended at midnight. What a show!

Lupe Fiasco was surprisingly good. He had a good stage show.

NERD just rocked the stage. Pharell is not the best singer/rapper, but his style of rock/skater punk/rap music is unique. Special ATL appearances by Chris Brown and Bow Wow on the stage dancing up a storm to one of NERD's jams.

Rihanna was disappointing. Now she did have a nice one-piece leather outfit on, but she seemed bored, even during "Umbrella" ella....ella....ella....

Just before the Kanye show, we spotted Quincy Jones on the floor meeting with some of the sound crew. That was a cool surprise - one of the legends of music.

Kanye came out for almost two hours and put on a theatrical Vegas show. His stage was built to look like an alien planet with a spaceship on it. He was the only one on stage, and his band was in a pit in front of the stage. His show was scripted and his songs told the story. He played it all and the crowd never sat down, instead opting for bouncing and throwing hands in the sky the whole night. He is going to be awesome at Bonaroo.

Whew. Time for a rest until we find the next block of shows.