Loss of a childhood friend

Pigeon Forge Police chief's son dies in jail

Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals has announced the death of a prisoner at the jail by apparent suicide.

Bradley Baldwin, 36, was being held at the jail on theft charges. He was the son of Pigeon Forge Police Chief Jack Baldwin.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating his death. No foul play is suspected.


That is so sad. Brad was one of my childhood friends growing up in Pigeon Forge. I can vividly remember playing at his house often. Making chili pies with a whole pack of crackers. Him singing Elvis. Destroying his room full of toys.

It is so odd about the choices he made. His dad has been police chief for more than 25 years. I remember his mom and dad to be very kind. My heart goes out to them today.

Augusta

The weekend saw our travel to Augusta, Ga. for Bob's (step-dad) 70th birthday surprise party. We stayed at cousins Pat & Sam's. We got to see their kids, who are our age, and their four grandkids, who are Rigby and Lucy's age.

Tobi, Corey and Nellie were there, as were my step-sister Susan and her husband, Walter.

We also got to spend time with Great Uncle Lonnie Wilder (87-years-young), the last of the Wilders that we named Rigby after. He still goes deer hunting. We talked about WWII and his experiences in Augusta, where he has lived since 1943.

We left on Saturday and returned on Sunday. Although it was a quick trip, it felt like several days because we really made it count. We stayed up late catching up.

We had good Augusta bar-be-que and hash. Beer was available as we watched the NFL wild-card playoff games.

Rigby and Lucy had a blast with their newfound cousins. They ran and played all over the back yard and inside the house.

We left on Sunday afternoon back across I-20 towards Atlanta. We stopped in the small town of Social Circle, located 45 minutes east of Atl. Stacy's maternal grandparents lived there. We saw the house her grandparents lived in as well as the nearby famous Blue Willow Inn, a tasty southern restaurant.

We had a great weekend to kick off 2008!

Sweet Dreams 2007, Happy New Year 2008

We leave a great 2007 year behind us and welcome the new 2008 parcel of our lives.

All the best to friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances.

May you be healthy and prosperous in the year ahead.

Lights out!

We experienced at least a dozen, quick power outages on Sunday. While it did interrupt our lazy day of watching football and putting up Christmas decorations, it got a little funny at night.

We had candles lit through the house waiting for the power to go off as the sun had set.

Around 8 p.m. the lights cut off and Stacy and I were on the other side of the house from the kids. Surprisingly, the kids just kind of went on playing and called for us. They did not freak out like I used to when I was a kid.

One time later in the evening, Rigby, Stacy and I were in the kitchen and the power went off. I had a flashlight in my pocket and went to look for Lucy, because she was thinking it was hide and go seek time apparently.

As I turned on the flashlight and headed to the living room, my light caught a small girl face just as she let out a yelp and started to laugh. It scared me a little, sort of like those creatures on the movie "Descent." Lucy thought it was hilarious and just laughed.

The power soon came back on and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. Such random day events that I had to record.

Bill Curry

I spent the majority of my day in a Unum Service Operations leadership meeting at The Chattanoogan today. We covered many great topics, but our session after lunch was special. Our guest speaker was Bill Curry.

Now I always remember Bill Curry as the three-year coach of Alabama and an ESPN football analyst/commentator for ESPN for the past 10 years.

But, wow, I did not realize that he played pro football from 1965 to 1974 with the Green Bay Packers (under the legendary Vince Lombardi), Houston Oilers, Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams, and was an all-pro center with the Colts in 1971 and 1972. Curry was the starting offensive line center for the Packers in Super Bowl I and the Colts in Super Bowl V. He was also the ACC coach of the year in 1985 and the SEC coach of the year in 1989.

After his hour-long, moving speech about leadership development and supporting football metaphors, I had the opportunity to briefly meet him. My time was spent holding his Super Bowl I championship ring, similar to the one in the picture.

Some stats from the game:

Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, California
January 15, 1967
Attendance: 61,946
MVP: Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay (Curry was the center!)

Volvo Milestone

Our 1998 Volvo S70 reached 100,000 miles on Thursday! She's been a great car and is still going strong.

Mocs Homecoming

The power of a great day. UTC brought us together all those years ago, and UTC keeps us together even today.

The day started with a cool morning, beautiful blue skies and participation in the 2007 American Heart Association Heart Walk. We walked through the city with friends from work.

After a big burrito lunch at Mojo, we took it to the house for some siestas.

We arrived at First Tennessee Pavilion at Finely Stadium during the mid-afternoon and what a great turnout of students and alumni for UTC Homecoming.

There seemed to be a couple hundred Sigma Chis in full force. It was great to see so many brothers and pledges. If there is one day each year that we really get to celebrate, it is this day. There were many alumni in attendance, but there were also many we missed and wish had been there.

Rigby and Madison Cope took it to the big inflatable playgound and never seemed to wear out. They kept the energy going all the way through the football game. It was great.

In addition to a packed pavilion, there were several alumni I had not seen in many many years. Two in particular were Levert Threats and Larry Stewart, two of my best Mocs basketball friends from back in the day (15 years ago). Other Mocs ballers there were Tim Brooks, Gary Robb, Damon Woods and Ed "Lover" Snead. (Shane Neal was there, but he is my local boy!).

I spent a good bit of time with Larry and Levert and we enjoyed talking about days of old. It was such a good feeling to see them and pick up where we left off last time. After big hugs and promises of sincere friendship, we went on our way to see the Mocs play.

The Cope clan and GrayStation spent the game time in the Coca-Cola skybox. The Coke folks are great hosts, as always. Thanks to them and drink Coke!!

We all enjoyed a Mocs 39-21 win over Western Carolina. We made it home around 9:30, and settled in for some DVR'ed television shows from the past week. Wow, we are getting old - normally, I would be liver-deep in beer at this time.

GO MOCS

Road Trip Day 7

Washington, PA. We awoke naturally with no alarm around 8:30. Erik packed the car, Stacy bathed the kids and then we dined on free breakfast at the hotel.

Our last day on the road began at 10 a.m. Our trip home was going to be I-70 to Columbus, I-71 to Cincinnati and then I-75 to Chattanooga. This was different than on Day 1 as we took I-81 through Virginia and into West Virginia.

We hit our first rain of the road trip in Columbus, which was around kickoff of the Ohio State football game. We stopped to get gas just outside Wheeling, WV and Erik grabbed a 12-pack of Iron City beer for home usage.

We landed in Cincinnati around 2 p.m. and made our way to Busken Bakery for four 12-packs of Halloween and Bengals print cookies. The Buskens are the best ever.

After cookie pickup, we drove by Xavier and past University of Cincinnati to Ludlow Avenue. Our stop took us to Skyline Chili. As we walked in, the first words from Rigby's mouth were, "ahhhh, it smells good in here." After wiping the tears of joy from his face, Erik ordered. Chili-cheese coneys and 3-ways were the orders of choice for the family.

After a hearty dining experience, we drove through our second home city reliving the past.

Our final destination was The Party Source in Newport, Ky, just across the river from Cincy. This place has the largest beer cooler ever. They have rows and rows of wines and spirits and almost every type of beer you can imagine, except for Yuengling and Hudy Delight in a can.

We dropped a Benjamin and more, boxed up the goods and loaded the car with tasty treats for future references.

Our journey was nearing an end. We traveled through the 190-mile stretch of Kentucky and welcomed the dark. Erik listened to the Vols-Southern Miss game, since that was about the only thing the radio would pick up. The other choices were deep-woods country and the Kentucky football game.

We took a pit stop outside of Knoxville and then breezed down I-75 to Chattaboogie. We opted to turn off the radio and tell sppoky stories. Rigby told a 30 minute story about every monster he could think of. Seriously, 30 minutes.

We arrived at our home at 11 p.m.

Saturday consisted of:
-650 miles
-four pit stops
-three hours in Cincinnati
-13 hours total door (Pittsburgh) to door (Chattanooga)

Our seven-day journey was awesome. We traveled more than 1,800 miles during our adventure. What a great time.

The car is unpacked and the second load of laundry is already in the washer.

Road Trip Day 6

The cell phone alarm woke us at 7 a.m. in Erie so we could get on the road early back to Pittsburgh. A quick breakfast at Old McDonalds and we were off.

We stopped in Wale Mark (Wal Mart Rigby-style) to get an umbrella stroller. We planned for a trip to a "see" museum and not a "play" museum so Rigby would be sitting in the new stroller.

We arrived back in Pittsburgh before lunch time and went to the Allegheny Cemetery to see Daniel William Cooper's grave, one of the seven founders of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. The cemetery was very old and very expansive, but the grave site found Erik just like the other three he has seen before this one.



We traveled to and parked on the North Shore area to visit our final museum of the trip, the Andy Warhol Museum, seven-stories of Warhol in an old remodeled building. The museum was very contemporary, very Warhol. What a master he was. It was not your usual Marilyn Monroe pop what you would think of Warhol. It was so many different mediums he used throughout the years. The fifth floor held an archive of 600 boxes of memorabilia he had collected throughout the years.

After our museum experience, we ate at Atrias, which was built into the PNC Ball Park. The cheddar burger and reuben were awesome, as were the cold, Iron City beers we enjoyed (Lucy and Rigby had Sprite).

We breathed in the last daytime air of Pittsburgh and headed out to our hotel on the outskirts of the city.



But our day was not over! We freshened up and drove back to the city for our last big event - Pittsburgh Pirates baseball versus the Chicago Cubs. We parked in the city and walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge, with thousands of other fans. Our seats were 20 rows behind home plate. The view of the Steel City in the outfield and the warm late summer breeze made for an awesome night.



The Pirates won 6-1. We left the ball park as the pirate raised the skull and cross bones in the outfield, signaling a win! Rigby and Lucy got foam pirate swords and swashbuckled their way out of the stadium.

We walked back across the Clemente Bridge looking over our shoulder at a great evening.

As we left the city, we wanted to see one more area of town on the South Side that we had not seen yet. Although it was 10:30 p.m., we drove through the Carson Street area and counted at least 30 bars and restaurants, alive and kicking. What a place for the adults and college students. We scoped that one out for future visits. During our 20 minute driving tour through the area, Rigby talked to Tobi-o-wan (Erik's sister) describing his week.

The night ended in Washington, PA, 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh. Stacy and Erik lugged two tired kids in the hotel (and a couple fountain drinks and apple pies from Old McDonalds).

What a great week. It's time to head back home. The road trip back home begins tomorrow.

Road Trip Day 5

Day 5. Erie, Pennsylvania. Went out to the car early morning and discovered the sun casting a shadow on a piece of tire on the passenger side. The tire was not flat, but it was injured. Luckily, the Avis store was about 3 miles away at the Erie International Airport.

Upon our arrival to the Avis counter, I informed the Avis representative that we had an injured tire. He questioned me why I had not noticed it early. Sorry, I thought, I am not vehicle inspection man. At first I thought he was not going to assist me, but he told me he could trade the car out if we felt it was unsafe. Of course I said yes.

So a 30-minute delay switching cars and kids and we were on our way to breakfast at a local establishment called Taki's. It was a good ole local establishment with omelets, hot cakes, bacon, sausage and coffee.

After breakfast we began our tour of Erie. We are not too sure what to make of the place. There is a nice area through town with tourist markers showing where the art museum, the maritime museum, the beaches, bayfront, etc. were, but it looked like this once bustling town of the 1900's was forgotten along the way. There are some awesome old churches and buildings and signs of prosperity from years past.

We went back to the hotel and changed into our beach gear for a trip to Presque Isle on Lake Erie. Upon our arrival to this serene state park, we drove to the end of the isle and beach 10.


The lake was nice and quiet - there were only about 10 other people in the area we were at. We dipped our feet and bums into the chilly water and collected cardboard-thin, smooth rocks, some of the best we have ever seen for skipping across the water. We soaked in the sun, walked along the shore and Rigby sat atop a lifeguard stand.




Sleepiness set in and we headed back for naps in the hotel. And then it was hungry time!

Stacy had read about this local restaurant downtown called the Pufferbelly Restaurant, housed in one of the oldest fire stations in Erie. The Pufferbelly recalls the nickname given to the steam pumpers and engines of the late 1800s.

The Erie Fire Department became an organization in 1816. Construction on the firehouse that is now the Pufferbelly Restaurant, was begun in 1907. It was built at a cost of $14,889.00 and was completed in 1908. Fire House No. 1 enjoyed a long history of fire protection and the department stopped using the station in 1979.

We enjoyed appetizers, dinner, dessert, drinks and really full bellies.

We ended our day at a city playground as the sun set and then in the hotel pool. The GrayStation soaked in the hot tub, Lucy floated around in an inflatable car and Rigby laid on his back in the pool dressed in a life jacket. Rigby even asked to go to the bathroom while he was in the ool. He has learned there is no "p" in it.

On to Day 6 - back to Pittsburgh for Pirates vs. Cubs at PNC Ball Park.

Road Trip Day 4

Hello from Western Pennsylvania. They do not sell beer in convenience or grocery stores. You have to buy from a package store, and if those are not open (most close at 10 p.m.) you have to buy from a bar. So Erik bought a six back of Yuengling from Rocco's Tavern in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Now on with the first of the day and what a fun-filled day it was.

We woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning to walk down to the market district. We had breakfast around 8 a.m. and then started on our trek. The market area is where all the fresh produce and meats are brought into the city. The area opens before dawn and closes by lunchtime. We went in and out of local shops enjoying and wishing we had the cheap prices at home.

After a couple hours in the market area, we went back to the hotel to take a mid-morning swim. Erik and Rigby dipped into the hot tub and Lucy latched onto Stacy in the pool.

After the swim we packed up and went across the street to the Heinz Pittsburgh History Center, a massive seven-story museum. We could have stayed there all day, but Lucy and Rigby were ready to go after two hours. Inside was a chronological history of the city, complete with a lifesize cabin, city street, and house. It was awesome.

Also housed in the center was the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. Housed on two floors, the area featured the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins pro teams as well as high school sports and Olympic sports.

Rigby even through a football to Steelers football players!

The interaction throughout the museum was great for young and old. We were as impressed with this museum as we have been with any other we have ever been in. Definitely worth the trip and for a revisit. Rigby, Lucy and Erik had their picture taken around the Three Rivers Stadium goal posts which stood from 1970-2000 and saw many championship Steelers teams.

After picking up some goods from the history store, we traveled across town to experience the Carnegie Science Center, a five level feast for the senses on the banks of the Ohio River and next to Heinz Field, home of the Steelers.

In the Science Center, Rigby and Lucy experienced their first planetarium show in a digital theater dome. We watched a 30-minute presentation on the Pittsburgh night sky. Lucy did great and Rigby really enjoyed peering at the 360 degree view of all the stars and constellations.

After a quick bite to eat in the cafe, Rigby and Erik went to the waterfront to hop aboard the USS Requiem, a cold-war era submarine. What a tight fit!

We finished up our visit seeing the other three floors of the museum, entering a wind tunnel, experiencing an earthquake, playing in water games and seeing the largest model train set display we have ever seen.

The center closed quicker than we wanted so we left and jumped into the car to go get some University of Pittsburgh Panthers gear on campus. Erik got a sweatshirt and Rigby got a Panthers cap. We then walked among the thousands of college students and had sushi at a small streetside shop.

Finally, to end the day, we loaded up the car and drove 126 miles to Erie, Pennsylvania, where we arrived around 9:30 p.m. We checked in at the Clarion Hotel, located just a half mile from Lake Erie. We plan to stay a day or so here and then go to where the road takes us.

See you tomorrow! Time for sleep - note below, this was right after midnight as Lucy FINALLY fell asleep. She was an evil hornet and having a good time staying up late.

Road Trip Day 3

Tuesday morning sleep in! We woke at 9:30 a.m. and Rigby and Erik headed down for some complimentary breakfast and to pick some up to bring back to mommy and Lucy.

After baths and showers, we headed to the North Shore to visit the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. The museum is inside old post office and planetarium buildings, connected by a new modern glass structure. The entire building runs off of hydroelectric, solar and wind energy.

The museum was quite large, spanning four floors. We started in Mister Rogers' neighborhood. Mister Rogers is a Pittsburgh native. There were props and sets from the TV show.



We continued into the a room with ghosts, shadow makers and a gravity room with tilted floors. Rigby climbed into a two-story "limb bender," a maze that fit inside a wall. It was awesome and Erik wished he could have climbed in.

The next room was a garage, complete with a Mini-Cooper car. This room was inside the old planetarium dome.

We visited the second floor with train sets and Lucy-aged items. The third floor was a waterworks area where we could build boats and sail them across pools of waters. Rigby and Lucy had full rain gear on so they would not get soaked. When they were done, there was a wall of dryers to dry off the kids.

The basement housed Clifford, the Big Red Dog. After some Clifford action, we stopped into the old planetarium lobby, which had been transformed into a cafe and rest area.

It was a great children's museum - completely different from Chattanooga's.

Lunch was taken at Lula's near the University of Pittsburgh campus. This Asian cuisine establishment was voted "Best of" for several years and it did not disappoint. Rigby stabbed cucumbers with chop sticks and Lucy ate curry noodles!

We chose the zoo to visit next, but discovered that it closed at FOUR when we arrived at 4:03. We were all pissed, so we took some quiet time at nearby Highland Park. There was a large fountain, super playground and lots of green space for all to enjoy. Rigby ran like a wild horse and Lucy picked flowers.

A stop back at the hotel to freshen up was needed, and we watched a little TV.

We got back out on the road near sundown to drive up to Mt. Washington to see the city and rivers immediately below. The view was breathtaking, and we walked up and down some hilly roads to the Duquesne Incline, in operation since 1877. For $7 for the family, we rode down the incline and back up watching the city skyline and spotting deer on the hillside.

Night fell and we enjoyed the night sky on a mountain overlook. We reluctantly got back in the car, not wanting to leave the beautiful views, but we were ready to get something to eat. As soon as we got in the car, Rigby grabbed a "sippy cup" of Sprite and proceeded to spill the drink all over him - a faulty lid was to blame.

After driving around looking for something to eat, we settled on a local favorite establishment, Primanti Brothers in the Strip District near our hotel.

At 9:30 p.m. the proclaimed area that does not sleep was snoring. Nothing appeared open but Primanti's and it is open 24 hours. ROCK ON. Erik went in to get to go orders since the kids were asleep. After ordering steak and cheese, corned beef and cheese and bacon and cheese sandwiches, Erik enjoyed an ice-cold Iron City Beer.

We took the food and sleepy kids back to the hotel and got on the food. To note, these sandwiches were topped with slaw and fries and must have weighed a pound each. Rigby's bacon and cheese must have had 12 pieces of bacon on it. He did wake up and is eating the bacon right now, actually.

So time for bed and on to Day 4.

Spinning!

Road Trip - Day 2

Day 2 began with baths, showers and a full breakfast at the Beckley, WV Fairfield Marriott. After packing the car back up, we headed back out to where the road will take us, as Rigby keeps saying.

We detoured 30 minutes into our drive to look for the New River Gorge National River. We ended up going through some old towns and looped back around to Highway 19. We crossed the New River Gorge Bridge (longest steel arch span in the western hemisphere) and found the national river visitors center. We had never been to a national river, but it is park of the national parks system.



We discovered the striking size of the gorge with one of the world's oldest rivers at the bottom. A short hiking trail took us into the gorge on a wooden boardwalk. The boardwalk has two observation decks which offered great views of the bridge and the mile-wide gorge it spans.

We soon made our way back on the road, stopped at an Old McDonalds (of course) and headed north to Morgantown, WV, home of the West Virginia University Mountaineers. We just drove through the campus area and went on our way.

After driving 260 miles, we traveled through the Pennsylvania hills and as we neared Pittsburgh, we passed through the Fort Pitt tunnel. As soon as the tunnel ended, the Steel City appeared. It was a great way to enter the city.

We drove around and got the lay of the land, driving around and through the city. We stopped into a coffee shop on the University of Pittsburg's campus for milk, coffee drinks, muffins and wi-fi access. We then settled in at the Hampton Inn & Suites downtown next to the Convention Center and across the street from the Heinz History Center.

After unpacking and throwing the kids from bed to bed, we got dressed and headed out on foot to explore the city at sundown. We walked a dimly-lit path to Point Park, the area where the three rivers meet at the point of the city. To our dismay, the large signature fountain was off and the park was closed for a $35 million renovation.



We walked away from the way we came and traveled the other side of the city looking for access back across the highway and into the city. At this point we had walked about two miles and were a little frustrated, and in the dark.

We found our way back in to the city and walked to the PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) campus. This place was awesome, with its tall black glass buildings. It looked like a medieval fortress. The center of the quad had a large fountain and Rigby and Erik made sure to get a little wet.

Back on track, we took Penn Avenue back through the city and to our hotel.

Note that Rigby walked almost all three miles (at least), Lucy stayed awake in her stroller and we had nothing to eat. Being Labor Day and we were in a blue-collar city, nothing was open at 9 p.m. It was a little strange.

So we hopped in the car to look for some grub. We ended up on the University of Pittsburgh campus and found the Original Hot Dog Shop, which we discovered was ranked the fourth-best hot dog in America by Gourmet Magazine.

What great college food and atmosphere. We walked in at 10 p.m. with a hungry Rigby and completely asleep Lucy.

This place opened up in 1960. Walk inside, and we're assaulted by the sights, sounds and smells of urban Americana. Signs everywhere offering various dogs and a man behind the counter with half a head of hair, half a beard and one eyebrow - and he was very congenial.

Stacy got an Original Hot Dog with ketchup, mustard, onion and relish. Erik got the Super Dog - a hot dog with two pieces of crunchy bacon and melted cheese, plus mayo, ketchup, onion and relish. Rigby had pizza from a counter on the other side of the shop.

The fries were awesome and served in mass quantities - they're bright yellow-gold -- some twisty, some tiny, some crunchy -- and cooked tasty.

There were coolers all over the place with 12-packs of beer and 40 oz. bottles of malt liquor which you could purchase to go with the meal. We had sodas.

Bellies full, we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night. On to Day 3.

Road Trip - Day 1

Labor Day Week Road Trip 2007 has begun!

We left Chattanooga around 1 p.m. and pulled into Beckley, West Virginia at 11 p.m., 450 miles away. But we had some good pitstops along the way.

Exit 407 on I-40 - Aside from all the tourists and straight-up rednecks (I know, it is my stomping grounds), we enjoyed a quick bite to eat at Old McDonalds.

As we toured up I-81, we decided to take our first detour and travel about 100 miles out of the way to Blacksburg and Virginia Tech.

The Arby's on Exit 69 in Virginia has clean bathrooms.

As we arrived on the campus, the sun was setting. We walked across the field to a new memorial dedicated to all those that lost their lives in April on the VT campus. There were 32 Hokie stones in a semi-circle with memorablia and flowers adorning each one. It was quite a moving and sobering experience.

Nearby, students were playing soccer, football and enjoying their lives. How could something so horrible have happened on that campus - or anywhere?

We finished the Blacksburg evening at Backstreets, a great little pizza place. Lucy ate parmesan cheese off the table, Rigby scarfed down pizzinis and pizza slices and Erik and Stacy finished off a NY style pie.

Since we had gone out of our way, we took old highway 460 through the mountains in total darkness to Bluefield, WV, then the I-77 toll road and into Beckley, WV, where we are staying in a Courtyard Marriott with speedy wi-fi access. We did stop on the side of the toll road so Rigby could pee-pee on the rocks.

On to sleep and Day 2!

FOUR YEARS

Four years of joy.
Four years of happy times.
Four years of tearful moments.
Four years of time flying by.
Four years of learning.
Four years of seeing life grow.
Four years of listening.
Four years of laughing.
Four years of teaching.
Four years of hugging.
Four years of waking up.
Four years of playing games.
Four years of friendship.
Four years of following.
Four years of fun.
Four years of running.
Four years of cleaning.
Four years of protecting.
Four years of smiles.
Four years of buying toys.
Four years of watching.
Four years of sharing.
Four years of love.
Four years of our son.
Four years old.

We love you, Rigby Wilder Gray. Happy Birthday.

Retreat Man

August has been a busy one. Aside from work, I traveled to the University of Missouri for five days to participate on the faculty for Sigma Chi's Balfour Leadership Training Workshop. It was an awesome experience yet again with 1,500 Sigma Chis from all over North America.

I spent two days in mid-August at Fall Creek Falls State Park participating in my first Leadership Chattanooga retreat. I made some friends for life with 39 other LC classmates. That was two days of learning, sharing, building, strengthening, swimming, eating, drinking, talking, listening and becoming a better person. I am really looking forward to the next ten months of LC.

My last retreat of the month was the UTC Alumni Retreat. We spent a day together discussing UTC, what it means and how we can make our story better.

I am fortunate to be a part of great organizations.

An iPod Day

What a great day for the GrayStation. Thanks to our new Apple MacBook Pro and Apple's massive ease to fix things, our 3-year-old 40GB iPod has come back to life. We were on the cutting edge buying an iPod years ago, until it died some time ago and our Windows-based PC had compatibility and fix issues.

So today, I dusted off the old iPod and hooked it up to the MacBook. The laptop immediately discovered problems and identified fixes for its counterpart. Ten minutes later, we were jamming to an initial catalog of 1,700 tunes.

ROCK ON

Leadership Chattanooga

I have been accepted as a member of the 2007-08 class of Leadership Chattanooga!

Entering into its 23rd year, the program is a 10-month leadership development program that identifies people in early- or mid-career, familiarizes them with community issues and services and develops their leadership skills to prepare them for prominent business, cultural and political roles.

Some 750 people have graduated from Leadership Chattanooga since it was established by the Chattanooga Chamber Foundation in 1984.

Needless to say, I am very excited about this opportunity.

John Legend

Stacy and I went to Nashville on Monday to see John Legend at The Ryman Auditorium. We had great seats directly beside the stage. This being the third time we have seen him (Birmingham and Atlanta were the other two), he put on a great show that included several remixed versions of his hits, as well as a Beatles' tune, "I want you," from Abbey Road.

Charlotte

The family drove to the Queen City to enjoy some time away and visit with Erik's dad, grandmother and other relatives. Upon our arrival on Friday, we visited the the Hendrick Race Shop and the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Race Shop. It was awesome to see where they build and work on the cars, as well as seeing Jeff Gordon's four Winston Cup Trophies and Dale's seven trophies. The Dale memorabilia was special to see.

Later that evening, we went uptown and viewed the local flavor. We finished the evening at South Park Mall - Apple Store, Crate and Barrel, Sephora, Nordstrom and many other upscale and out of our price range stores. We filled our bellies at Cheesecake Factory - salmon herb salad, pulled pork sandwich, chicken tenders, some sodas and a tasty 22 oz. Yuengling.

Hello, I'm a Mac

April 2007 - A month that saw GrayStation convert to a Mac. The past couple Dells and the Sony Vaio had served us well, but Microsoft was seriously bogging us down with security updates and the like. So here we are, a MacBook Pro with a 15.4 inch widescreen, 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo, 120GB hard drive, gigabit ethernet, built in wireless and bluetooth, magnetic power adapter and a cool illuminated keyboard.

The power of advertising does work. What you see in the Apple commercials is what we feel like between the PC and Mac comparisons.

Gene

Everyday for the past several years I have seen my friend, Gene, walking the halls and floors of the Unum building. For the past who knows how long, Gene's the man who walked through two massive buildings emptying all the recycling bins, and lighting up the face of most everyone he connected with.

Everyone knows Gene - Eugene for proper, Geno for fun. He just bought a new Cadillac. He already had a nice Caddy with a license plate on the front "Single and Loving It," but this new one had it all.

Gene's a big man, a bear of a man. He's definitely a man you wanted on your side in a fight.

Gene and I officially met several years ago talking about our love for Southern cooking - bar-b-que ribs to be exact. We always had a food story for one another. He would tell me that if he were younger he would get him a bottle of "The Bull" and have at it - or maybe some "Voka."

I saw Gene almost every morning. If I walked into the Atrium cafeteria early enough, he was sitting down eating oatmeal and raisins, biscuits and gravy, eggs or some other breakfast treat.

If I saw him later in the day, he always made it a point to take off his work glove and shake my hand. I would catch up behind him sometimes and throw my arm around his back, barely reaching the other side. He would say "what's up, youngblood."

When I saw him, I was usually on my way to a meeting, but time stopped around him and the next meeting did not seem as important. If it was football season, we were talking about "dem Gawja Bulldawgs." If it were the summer, we were talking about "dem Hotlanta Braves."

I never spent more than five minutes at a time with him, as he would not let me and made sure we went on back to work.

When Gene saw me near a vending machine he would buy me a drink or offer me one. I soon made it a point to beat him to the punch and buy him a drink before he could get to me. He got the best of me one day and brought a can of Dr Pepper to my desk. I actually saved that can for a month or so because it brought a smile to my face. I bought a drink for him a couple weeks ago, when I saw him looking through his pocket for money - "Hey, man, I owe you one."

Last Thursday, I was getting ready for our weekly staff meeting. On my way to the meeting, he came around the corner and we gave our customary "pound" handshake.

As I entered the meeting room, he popped his head in and told everyone, pointing at me, "that's my main man." He proceeded to tell my fellow managers and me about his twin, Eugene - that he was NewGene and his twin brother was in the other building.

We all laughed, and he proceeded on, pushing his large cart on down the hall.

I took Friday off so Thursday was the last time I would see Gene alive.

Eugene Johnson was 71-years-old when he passed away Saturday.
Rest in peace, my man. God has the NewGene now.

Opening Day in Cincinnati

The 28-hour Opening Day Road Trip to Cincinnati

April 1 - 9:20 p.m. leave Chattanooga for Cincinnati

April 2 - 2:30 a.m. arrive in Cincinnati, sleep at a Motel 6 ($35)

8:00 a.m. wake up, it's game day!

9:00 a.m. drive through Mt. Adams and remember some good ole days

9:30 a.m. arrive on University of Cincinnati campus to tour new varsity village athletic complex -with assistance of one of Erik's Xavier classmates

10:30 a.m. standing on UC's basketball court

10:45 a.m. eat in UC's UC

11:10 a.m. visit Mark Jorgensen, Stacy's former boss at the UC Foundation

11:40 a.m. arrive on Xavier's campus and tour Cintas Center basketball arena. Met an admissions director who lives in Chattanooga, but works for X.

12:30 p.m. stop in to Busken Bakery to pick up some Reds cookies!

1:00 p.m. park in Newport, Ky and walk Purple People Bridge across the Ohio River to Great American Ball Park

1:30 p.m. enter GABP

2:05 p.m. see worst ceremonial first pitch ever - Cincinnati Mayor

2:10 p.m. Play Ball! Reds vs. Cubs

2:20 p.m. Adam Dunn 2-run HR

2:55 p.m. Adam Dunn 421 ft HR shot!

4:40 p.m. Reds 5, Cubs 1

5:30 p.m. jaunt back over Purple People Bridge

6:15 p.m. arrive at Party Source in Newport, Ky - the most alcohol in one place

7:00 p.m. arrive at Skyline Chili - regular 3-way, cheese fries, chili-cheese coneys

7:30 p.m. leave Cincinnati

April 3 - 12:40 a.m. arrive back in Chattanooga

St. Patty's Day!

Bring on the green beer!

It has been and fun and challenging four weeks at work for me. I was temporarily removed from my day-to-day managerial duties and was involved in a project that affected my entire department (100+ employees) and our customers (5,000 accounts and 1.4 million policy owners. It was challenging and a great learning experience. It gives me further confidence that I work on a great team for a great company.

That has been my life.

Rigby continues to evolve into a little man. He pee-peed in the potty three times yesterday, asking to do so each time. He was so excited to tell me about it when I picked him up at school on Friday. What genuine joy it would be to get that excited each time you did something I see as being so simple.

Lucy has been under the weather this week with a double ear infection, but she still sneaks a beautiful smile in every once in a while. She is not walking yet at 13 months, but she can motor around on all fours.

Stacy has been hard at work as well. She spent the day in Portland, ME using the corporate jet to get there and back - ah, luxury. She continues to thrive at work and make significant improvments for our company.

Well, back to the green beer!

The first of the hated Celtics has passed

My favorite memories of the NBA lost a basketball legend today.

The 80s were the greatest years of the NBA. Celtics vs. Lakers. Magic vs. Bird. All the hype.

But there were not many men that could contain Magic - and one of those men, Dennis Johnson, 52, passed away today.

During his 14-year playing career with the Seattle SuperSonics, the Phoenix Suns, and the Boston Celtics, DJ established himself as one of the best defensive guards in the league.

DJ was on five all-star teams and nine straight all-defensive teams. He was a member of three NBA championship squads, including being named the Finals MVP in 1979 with the Sonics.

In 1984, his first year in Boston, the Celtics won their 15th NBA title, and in his third year they won their 16th.

Johnson's postseason heroics -- shutting down Magic in the 1984 Finals; his buzzer-beating jumper to win the 1985 Finals Game 4 against the Lakers; and his game-winning basket off Larry Bird's steal in Game 5 of the 1987 conference finals against Detroit -- placed him among the most-loved Celtics (and most hated by Lakers fans).

It's just too bad this great guard did not make it to the Hall of Fame before he passed away.

Rest in Peace, DJ.

Barack Obama 2008!

It is time for Barack Obama - the next President of the United States.

Let's set high standards for education.
Let's strengthen our economy for everyone.
Let's always remember our veterans.
Let's end our dependency on the Middle East's oil supply.
Let's give everyone the chance to see a doctor when they need one.
Let's end the war, but still fight terrorism with a smarter, firm hand.

Obama said today:

"Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it."

Read the full text: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/02/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_11.php

Lucy's 21?

Rigby exclaimed as he ran around the UTC Children's Center, "My baby sister is 21! Lucy is 21!"

Naturally, the teachers and I thought this was quite funny, knowing that Lucy will be one year old on February 8. I just went with it, and said we were indeed putting the Kahlua in Lucy's formula bottle tonight since she was 21.

I later discovered that the other day Stacy had been telling Rigby that Lucy was "turning one." Well, it sounded like "twenty-one" to me.

It is hard to believe our daughter is a year old already. It seems like just the other day, we were taking our first picture with you. Here's to you, little Lucy.

Missing Hair

So I was recently changing Lucy's diaper, while Rigby, age 3, jumped on the bed peering over my every move.

Rigby is always questioning and commenting - it's cool. He proceeds, "Daddy, you are missing hair."

"Where?" I ask.

"There and there," pointing on both sides of my forehead. "Where is it?"

2006 Down the Drain

As we put a bow on 2006 and send it off in style, I am so thankful for such a great year.

• The birth of our second child came in February, and Lucy has brought us so much joy.

• Our three-year-old Rigby really became a mature little boy - surprising us with his increased vocabulary skills and always charming us with his consistent good nature.

• We welcomed back my sister, Tobi, to Chattanooga, as she, Corey and Nellie finished a three-year stint in Asheville.

• We had a great week's vacation on St. Simon's Island. What a joy to be together as a family, away from all the busy hassles of everyday life. Oh, to win the lottery.

• Stacy and I lost significant weight after the birth of Lucy. I lost 30 pounds and saw 199 for the first time in a long time!

• This was a year that I saw my Mocs beat Georgia Southern on a last second field goal - boy that was awesome.

• We celebrated my 35th birthday in Atlanta at the Tom Petty concert - there will never be another like that man. We also celebrated my birthday with friends and family and my sister and brother-in-law's new house.
  

• I had a flat-out great time during UTC homecoming, staying up until the break of dawn with fellow friends and alumni.

• Stacy and I got to meet John Legend after attending his concert in Atlanta. What a great talent he is.

• Rich, my fellow Class of 89'er finally got engaged to his long-time sweetheart, Danielle. I really thank my mom and Tobi for meeting and befriending them in Asheville. They are a great addition to our family. Even though Rigby is heartbroken that his first older woman crush is leaving him, he is cool with it. Too bad Rich and Danielle cannot turn on a computer to read this - yuppie Asheville mountain-people types (whatever that means)!

• We again spent two wonderful Christmas weekends with my mom and Bob and then with Stacy's parents and the rest of the family. What a wonderful month December is for us, even though we packed on some extra pounds from all the tasty eatings.

• Stacy and I are very thankful for our careers and proud to work for a truly caring company, even though some think we wear devil horns around the office (whatever). We work with some pretty great folks!

Best wishes to all for a superfantastic 2007!

What a Christmas

East Ridge Christmas.

Ford Explorer - rear, filled. passenger seat, filled.

room for Erik, Stacy and the kids? maybe.

Football Championship

Chattanooga hosted its 10th-straight NCAA Football Championship Friday night, December 15.

Appalachian State beat UMass 28-17 in front of the largest Finley Stadium crowd ever - 22, 808.

I was fortunate to have an all-access pass at the stadium and got to visit many great friends.

I watched kickoff on the skybox roof with David Cope and David Smotherman (pictured).

I stood on the field at the 30-yard line with Warren "Moose" Koegel, current Athletic Director at Coastal Carolina. I also got to show pics of my kids to his wife, "Big E" (Elaine).

I visited the Chancellor's box and shared stories with Dr. Brown and UTC alumnus Steve Harvey - and we had some great stories.

I sat in the Coca-Cola skybox with friends - we are so fortunate to have Coca-Cola as a major supporter of UTC.

I hung out in the press box and visited some dear old friends - the most loyal volunteers UTC athletics has.

I saw a great football game with an overflow crowd!

What a night!

John Legend in the ATL

Stacy and I went to Atlanta last night to see the John Legend concert at The Tabernacle, a former downtown church and historical landmark turned into a music hall. The Tabernacle holds about 3,000 people and is mostly standing room only with a couple balconies for those wanting to sit.

The Tabernacle has been acknowledged as the best concert venue by Rolling Stone magazine.

It did not disappoint. We were three rows from the stage and John Legend put on a heckuva show. It was the second time we had seen him - the first was last year in Birmingham.

And because we got in right when the doors opened, Stacy was one of the first of 100 people to buy a t-shirt, which awarded us backstage passes to meet Legend after the show.

After two hours of G.O.O.D. music, we made our way to meet John. He was very nice and patient considering he had just put on a show and was now meeting 100 people and signing autographs.

What a great night!!

Our nine month old daughter

Well, at first she scooted, now she is crawling. Lucy's first real crawl was Saturday night in a Finley Stadium skybox during the Mocs final home football game.

Lucy also all of a sudden has two front bottom teeth. She has such a great character. The teachers at school call her an actress. She likes to put on a show with that big smile of hers.

60

Happy birthday to my Mom, one of my best friends! I am who I am because of her.

Halloween Party

My sister had her 4th annual Halloween Party and the first one in Chattanooga this past weekend. Her house was decorated with perfection. Black lights and red lights were the lighting of choice. Strobe lights flashed across the front. Bloody shower walls with a chainsaw greeted guests to one bathroom. And in the kitchen and dining room, evil spirits of the liquid kind flowed. Enough that one 35-year-old rested on the couch until 5 p.m. the next day, doing nothing but watching NFL and the back of his eyelids.

Homecoming

Ah, what a great time of year. I enjoyed the UTC homecoming weekend with family, friends and fraternity brothers.

Even though the football game was horrible (UTC 21 - App St 56), tailgating was all-good. I sailed down Knob Creek for a good while, enjoyed a burger at Northshore Grill, rocked to the 80s at the Sigma Chi house, late night/early morning dining at City Cafe and then arrived home at 5 a.m.

Sunday was not very productive except for a nice family hike on Lookout Mountain. Rigby hiked a mile on foot!

Mocs Win

What a great Saturday! The Georgia Southern Eagles football team came to town to take on our Chattanooga Mocs. GSU owns the Mocs, with an all-time 18-1 record.

Well, not this year! The Mocs won 27-26 on a last second field goal. I held Rigby in my arms behind the goalposts where the winning ball came through. It was awesome! All the fans just stood around in kind of a stupor - "did we really win?"

Later in the evening, Stacy and Tobi hosted a birthday party for my 35th year. We had beverages and food in to the wee hours. It was a great time to see several of my friends together that I usually do not see in one setting.

GO MOCS!

St. Simons Island

The GrayStation spent the first week of September on St. Simons Island, a spectacular location about an hour south of Savannah.

We had a great, lazy time. Every day on the beach, good food, cold beer, a daring 3 year old, a patient seven month old and dreams of never leaving to go back to work!

Rigby, the Informer

Erik was recently getting dressed and had his shirt in his mouth. Rigby came running in and said, "Daddy, don't eat your shirt. There is plenty of food in the kitchen."

Erik was laying on the floor in Rigby's room and Rigby said, " Daddy, don't go to sleep in the floor. The bed is for sleeping. You need to come get in bed."

Erik announced that he was going to the bathroom and Rigby said, "Daddy, there are diapers in that drawer if you need to take one with you."

The Gray's mailbox was knocked off its pole (vandalism? car came around the corner street and smacked it? Who knows?) Rigby announced, "The mailman hit our mailbox with a hammer. How are we going to fix the mailbox so the mailman can put mail in there?"

Atlanta Trip

We went to Atlanta last weekend to enjoy a some time with the family. It was Lucy's first big trip. We spent Saturday afternoon at the Zoo and Rigby had an absolute blast. He saw all the animals he sees in the books he "reads."

Lucy slept.

Rigby loved the elephants, 'nocerous, zebras, gorillas, King Kongs, snakes, monkeys and especially the panda bears. One panda was pacing back and forth across the front window while dozens of people looked on. The panda stoped right in front of Rigby and proceeded to tease him. It was awesome.

Lucy slept.

That evening we went to Decatur and ate at Crescent Moon, a tasty little place. We all had huge meals and a blackberry cobbler with ice cream.

We stayed at the Sheraton Suites on I-285. We had a two-room suite, so we all had beds. Lucy slept with mommy, Erik was in a bed and rigby slept in the living room portion on the couch bed watching his ownTV.

That Sunday we went to the Little Gardens restaurant in Lawrenceville, Ga to see my dad and our extended family. We had a great time and it was great for them to see Rigby and Lucy. Food was aplenty and there was even a chocolate fountain where Rigby dipped strawberries and rice krispie treats in it.

We ended the weekend at IKEA and The Varsity. So it was a great weekend had by all!

Growing

Lucy is five weeks old today. And Rigby is two-and-a-half going on teenager.

Rigby is so loving to Lucy. Every morning when he wakes up, he jumps for his bed and runs to find Baby Lucy and mommy. He greets Lucy with a pat on the head and an "mmm, mah" - kiss.

The last several days Rigby has been picking clover flowers from school and holding on to one all the way home. He runs in the house each day and gives the flower to Mommy. Today he picked a purple flower from one of our phlox plants and told me it was for Baby Lucy. When he got in the house, he ran by Mommy and said, "this not for you, Mommy. It's for Baby Lucy."

Our son

Not that I ever forgot one moment with Rigby, but these last couple days I have rediscovered how wonderful our son is.

He was away with grandparents, cousins and friends from Wednesday, February 8 - Saturday, February 11. Stacy and I only got to see him for just a couple hours each day while we were welcoming Lucy to the world.

Now, holding Lucy was equal to the experience of holding Rigby when he was first born. It is a feeling hard to describe watching the miracle of life come from Stacy’s belly. It is equally hard to describe the feeling having your family watch on when you walk out of the operating room with wife and newborn.

I went to pick Rigby up on Saturday afternoon at the Cope's house. My, had he grown in the past couple days. Just watching the new things he had absorbed and sentences that came from his mouth was amazing.

We left the Cope's and went to Target. Rigby and I had a conversation that is the best it can get between a 35-year-old and a 2-and-a-half year old. As we approached the Target parking lot, Rigby exclaims, "Daddy, we going to Target, I get pink icee, no, I get bloooo icee."

After buying an Icee, we strolled through the aisles and just talked about whatever came up or whatever was on the aisle. Rigby described things he saw, colors he knew and once stopped to tell me, "Daddy, I love you."

Rigby neared the end of his Icee, and handed me the cup, "You want some, there's more in it." The generosity of this child is awesome.

As we walked out of Target, a beautiful snow was falling. Rigby was so excited. "It is snowing at Target." Finally, Rigby told me that it was too cold and "we need get in car - that's you seat, that's my seat, you drive," he said.

In the car, Rigby asked me to play "peoples." I thought he was talking about The Beatles, but I did not realize Rigby was asking for a certain song - his own, Eleanor Rigby, which includes the line, "Ah, look at all the lonely people." After that it was Yellow Submarine, which Rigby sang the chorus.

Before going in the house, Rigby and I discussed the importance of taking care of Baby Lucy and Mommy and being gentle.

When we got inside, Rigby went to the bed where Mommy and Lucy were laying. Rigby climbed up the bed, laid his hand on Lucy's head, and said, "It's okay, Lucy home."

And so the next chapter in our life begins. Our son and daughter begin their lives taking care of each other.

The miracle that is our existence.

Lucy Clare Gray

Our little girl is here!

Lucy Clare Gray
February 8, 2006
8:43 a.m.
7 lbs. 7 ounces
18 1/2 inches long

We are all home now and doing great. Lucy and Rigby are such great blessings in our lives.

Blackbird

Erik was in the kitchen this afternoon singing the beginning of the Beatle's song, Blackbird.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly

And Rigby, sitting in another room, finished,

All your life

It was awesome!

Lucy is almost here!

It is almost time to meet Lucy. We are very excited. We have most of her room ready to go. We bought her stroller and car seat today.

Rigby seems to be ready. He knows Lucy is hiding in Mommy's belly.

Banddaddy

Stacy’s grandfather, Victor Alton Oglesby, affectionately always known as “Banddaddy,” passed away shortly after midnight, Friday, March 4, 2005. He had a short battle with cancer and its complications.

He was born February 19, 1923 in Jones Mill Community, Meriwether Co., Georgia.
He served our country in the Armed Services from 1942 – 1945 in the 873rd Army Engineer Battalion, South Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II.
He was a loving husband, father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather and great friend to all.

Our son, Rigby, was lucky to know him for the 18 months he has been on this earth. And we are happy that our Banddaddy had the opportunity to know and love our son.

Rest in peace, Banddaddy.

Grandparental visit

This past weekend was a time of entertainment with family. Erik's parents came down from upper East Tennessee. We took Rigby to the Creative Discovery Museum where he proceeded to take the place by storm. We could have let him play there for six hours. We alter walked around the waterfront area, admiring the new river pier and the aquarium expansion. We also go to watch cranes place the steel beams in place for the new walking bridge to the Hunter Museum.

The next day, Rigby made his first trip to the Tennessee Aquarium. Oh, how Rigby enjoyed the fishes. He paced back and forth across the expansive tanks, yelling at his swimming friends. He had a grand ole time.

And we had a great time with grammy and g-daddy. It was good to have them in our home.

Cincinnati Trip

This past weekend found us in Cincinnati. Stacy's sister, Meghan, auditioned for her doctorate admissions in clarinet at the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Stacy's parents also made the trip.

We had a great stay at the Marriott Kingsgate. We ate a huge dinner with good friends at Buca di Peppo on Friday evening.

We made the standard trips to Busken Bakery for the cookies, Xavier bookstore for Musketeers items and Skyline Chili for the deliciousness.

The trip home was really bad as it rained the entire way back. The fog was very bad at the Kentucky-Tennessee line.

However, another great trip to the 'Nati. We sure do love her.

Super Bowl

Well, it had to come sometime, and it happened at the fraternity house. Quite fitting.

Rigby and I went to the Sigma Chi house to hang out with the guys and watch the Super Bowl. We had our Terrell Owens Philadelphia Eagles jerseys on.

Rigby started the evening with a tasty apple oatmeal bar and a cup of apple juice.
He was having a blast throwing a ball all over the living room while we watched the Super Bowl. By the end of the second quarter, he got real tired and came to rest on my shoulder.

Just as the New England Patriots scored their second touchdown, Rigby threw up. I whisked him to the bathroom and he let loose twice more. He was scared more than anything.

So we got in the car and came home, but not before he threw up on himself in the car two more times. Our jerseys were ripe to say the least.

Once I got him in our house and cleaned him up, he went to sleep. He is fine, I guess he just got too excited.

Many of the brothers said when he is 17 years old, they would back me up when I tell him his first puking incident was in the fraternity house when he was 17 months old.

Happy New Year!

A great year

What a great year. Our first full year with our son - a year that may not be topped!
We had a great holiday season. We celebrated Christmas in White Pine at Erik's parents the weekend before Christmas.

Meghan and Sam came in from Albuquerque for a couple weeks. Christmas at the Oglesby Ranch was fun. Food in the afternoon, gift-opening at night, most of the night!

Thanksgiving 04

November 19 was an awesome night at the UTC McKenzie Arena where the Lady Mocs played the Tennessee Lady Vols in front of 10,051 fans. The Lady Mocs lost, but it was fun.

This Thanksgiving was a good one, even though Erik had bronchitis. The Gray family went to Asheville to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mom, Bob, Tobi and Corey on November 20-22. We had a good time. Corey made the entire meal. All Stacy and Erik did was buy wine.

We spent Thanksgiving day in East Ridge at the Oglesby Ranch with Stacy's side of the family. We ate much and had a good time.

The 15-month-old little terror, a.k.a. our son Rigby is progressing right along. It has been an awesome past year and a half with him.

Halloween

It's Rigby's second Halloween. Last year he was a little, red pepper. This year he was a RigBEE.

The family all went to "Boo in the Zoo" at the Chattanooga Zoo.

Rigby is almost 14 months old and he is now all over the place letting mommy and daddy chase him. We are having so much fun with our little man. Everything that moves is now a "buh-buh." It started with barking dogs, but he has expanded his description.

Rigby's Party

It's birthday party time! We had a great day of festivities. Our birthday boy was under the weather with a fever and did not have much to do with the party.
Erik "snuck" Stacy's sister, Meghan, from Albuquerque to Chattanooga for the party. Everyone was surprised.

We had a great time with friends and family. Rigby got great gifts.

We had a football tailgate themed party, complete with chicken wings, special dips and chips, snack foods, cokes and beer. Football balloons adorned the house and blue and gold spirit shakers were strategically placed around the food and gift tables.
Rigby’s big cake was a huge hit. The cake said, “Happy Birthday, Rigby, Our MVP” with a football in the middle. The border of the cake was blue icing, which dyed everyone’s teeth, lips and tongues blue. It was funny, and the cake was very tasty.

Rigby’s personal cake had an icing football helmet with “Rigby” on it. He played with it a little, but because he was not feeling good, he did not eat any of it. We are saving it for later when he can dig in.

The guys ended the day watching the LSU-Oregon State football game.

Rigby finished the day in better spirits. He found his new toys to be quite fun and danced around with many of them

Happy Birthday, Rigby

Happy Birthday to Rigby! The first birthday for our son. The day was pretty normal. Now that Rigby is walking he just wears himself out at school and when he gets home he falls straight to sleep. Since today is Wednesday, we are waiting until Saturday to have his big party.

New Smyrna Beach

Stacy, Rigby and I spent a week at New Smyrna Beach, Florida with our friends, Beth and Steve. We stayed in a beach house across the road from beach.

We had a great time enjoying the lazy days. We would wake up around 8 a.m., which is late for us. We would play with Rigby for a couple hours, and then when he got tired, we would all go to the beach. Rigby would be slathered up in 60 SPF sun block, asleep in his strolled and placed under a big umbrella. That gave us time to lounge on the beach and play in the ocean.

The house we stayed in was great. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room and a sun room on the back that extended almost the length of the house. There was also garage where we could store all of our beach stuff.

We frequented some local taverns on the beach. The beer of choice was Yuengling.
We did eat seafood, but there was a pizza place across the street from the house that had fantastic pizza and good beer and pizza specials. Their double cheese pie was the best!

We had to leave a day early from our vacation because of Hurricane Charley wreaking havoc on the state of Florida. We got out in time, and the hurricane eventually killed 27 people and caused billions of dollars of damage. It was weird to watch the news when we got home and saw some of the places we had been destroyed by the storm.

Memories

This weekend is one of memories.

We look back 60 years and remember some 150,000 who fought and 10,000 who died on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944 - D-Day. It is sad to think the last of our World War II heroes are at the sunset of their lives. Today is a time to remember what was acheived 60 years ago today - the beginning of the fall of Hitler, France's release from Nazi Germany and American courage. In 1941, America's military was not even known to be in the top 10 powers of the world.

Today is also a day we mourn the passing of our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan, a true American legend. Politics aside, this great man helped end the Cold War, encouraged citizens to be true Americans and honor the country we live in. Rest in peace, Gipper.

On a personal note, Stacy, Rigby and I enjoyed a great Saturday evening with Aunt Meghan (Stacy's sister) and Uncle Sam at Hiroshi's on the Soutside of Chattanooga. Meghan and Sam are visiting from Albuquerque, where they are both working on their Master's at the University of New Mexico. We are going to visit them in the Fall.

We ate enough Sushi for six people. Hiroshi also made us a treat that was not on the menu - ribeye steak wrapped around asparagus - it was awesome. He also presented us with fried cheescake smothered in chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherries.
Rigby slept in his stroller the entire time - we were there for almost two hours.

May was a great month!

Stacy, Rigby and I went to Savannah May 15-20 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Gray Wedding. We stayed at a hotel on Bay Street in the historic downtown area. We visited most of the beautiful old city squares, enjoyed some awesome food, and a walked a all over the place.

We also visited Erik's cousins in Savannah and had a short but good visit. We took a 30 minute drive East to Tybee Island to give Rigby his first view of the Atlantic Ocean. He absolutely loved the ocean water and the waves coming in to shore. He grabbed at the soft sand and squeezed it between his fingers. Nothing seems to scare him.

Savannah pictures are on Rigby's Site.

We went to my parents' house in White Pine for part of Memorial Day weekend. Tobi and Corey also came in from Asheville - a quick hour drive.

Rigby had a temperature of 102 on Friday and was pretty miserable. He woke up on Saturday another child from the day before. He was laughing and playing and acting like the day before never happened. Soon, we noticed a little something in his mouth - his first tooth peeking out! That is the only thing I can think of that got him so irritated the day before.

The cicada bugs were in full force. They only come out once every 17 years. It was so loud during the day time with all the bugs chirping. The trees and bushes were covered with cicadas and the ground was littered with dead ones. It was wild to see.
The second half of Memorial Day weekend was spent at the Oglesby Ranch in East Ridge. We had a southern shrimp boil on Monday and ate until we were about to pop.

Most of Stacy's immediate kin was there. It was a good day to remember.

Crawling

Batton down the hatches, bar the door and run for your lives! Rigby is starting to crawl. It started Friday evening when he was lured by David Cope holding a Sesame Street light just out of Rigby's reach. He took a couple shuffles and then went to his belly. since then he has performed three to four knee shuffles forward. He does not seem to surprised by it all when everyone in the room cheers him on.

On Saturday, May 1, we participated in the annual Chattanooga MS Walk. We had a good time and the Grays raised $440. Rigby enjoyed his time at Coolidge Park on the Chattaooga North shore.

These last couple weeks have really flown by at work. We are staying hard at it I suppose.

Rigby turned 8 months old on May 1. Hard to believe!

Rigby's first baseball game

Rigby saw his first baseball game on April 3 - the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game at Chattanooga's BellSouth Park. It was chilly to begin the day, but the sun came out and we had a great time.

Easter weekend was fun at Erik's parent's in White Pine. It was a lovely and relaxing weekend. Tobi and Corey came in from Asheville and we all ate a lot of food and watched Rigby talk jibberish and roll over a lot.

San Antonio

Erik traveled to San Antonio the first weekend of March to participate in the Sigma Chi Alumni Training Seminar. I had been to previous ones in Los Angeles and Nashville. This year I took on a role of a team leader for one of the three alumni dicussion groups and presented a communication seminar to the entire alumni group. San Antonio was wonderful. I took great pictures of the Alamo in the bright afternoon sun and then at Midnight under a full moon.

I spent a lot of good time with brothers I had never met. We had a great last evening on the Riverwalk. We had a big meal with many Pacificos and then wandered to Durty Nelly's, and Irish pub on the Riverwalk. We ended the night at Pat O'Brien's - yes like the one in New Orleans. Two Hurricanes finish the night just right! whew!
We moved Rigby to the UTC Children's Center this month. It is in downtown and much closer to work. We enjoyed our couple months at Primrose School in Hixson, but it was time to get him closer to us and the opening came up.

One of my alma maters, Xavier, made it to the Sweet 16 after knocking off Louisville and Mississippi State. Xavier's next stop was Atlanta and I hooked up with many Xavier fans and friends from school who made the weekend trip to the A-town. We beat Texas in another great upset and then almost beat Duke, losing by four. It was a great time and I am proud of the Musketeers.

In addition to a couple days in Atlanta, we feasted on some Varsity, the 75-year-old hamburger joint downtown. I brought home Rigby a Varsity hat that he wore with no fuss!

Rigby is sitting up, smiling and laughing and rolling over now! It is awesome.

Erik to Cincy

Rigby has his first ear infection and second cold. He is such a trooper. He barely complains (cries/yells) and he had a 102 degree temperature. He went to the doctor to get checked out and get prescription drugs. He weighed in at 19 lbs., 9 ozs. and 27.5 inches long. He is a big boy!

Rigby is starting to grab at everything, smile at mom and dad, and laugh heartily. He is so much fun.

We are doing great. Both working hard and loving every moment with our son.

I went to Cincinnati last week en route to see a University of Kentucky basketball game. I stopped in to see friends at University of Cincinnati and to gloat on the big Xavier win over the Bearcats (again!). I walked through Xavier's campus and visited the Cintas Center, where hoops reign.

Oh, first thing we did when we hit Cincinnati? Skyline Chili!

I spent the evening and into the early morn with some of my Xavier classmates. That was a great time to catch up and visit a new and old haunt of ours.

The UK - South Carolina game was awesome. UK won by one. We sat in the press row "crow's nest" which hangs off the second tier. The main press row is now occupied by wealthy season ticket holders.

We also got to sit in on the post-game press conference and listen to head coach Tubby Smith.

Not much fun winter weather in Chattanooga - just a lot of rain. I suppose I am now ready for Spring.

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe that 2003 has come and gone. Hard to believe that we have a four-month-old son!

We have had a great two weeks during the holiday season. Stacy took Christmas week off and I worked most of the time, but it was okay. Being at work was not too bad. Seemed like all of the external partners we work with were on vacation so we got a lot of older issues taken care of.

We spent New Year's Eve at White Pine at my parents' house. We actually all went to sleep before the stroke of Midnight. As long as we knew Dick Clark was counting it down we knew it happened. :-)

We also used this time to celebrate Christmas with them as we did not get to visit at Christmastime.

New Year's day brought a lot of football and me on the couch.

My sister, Tobi and her husband, Corey, came over from Asheville on New Year's Day and we all had a great time.

No time for diets as we all ate heartily!

We came home on January 2 stopping in at the Super Target in Knoxville. What an awesome place!

Rigby has his four-month checkup at the doctor's office tomorrow. He is doing great. He had his first cold last week. It was hard to watch our little boy coughing and congested. He is getting through it though. His temperament is so great!

He has great head control, is very alert of his surroundings and laughs at mom and dad when they make funny faces and sounds. It is great!

Rigby's First Christmas

Merry Christmas! What a great time of year and a special Christmas for our family. Today we experience Rigby's first Christmas. Rigby acquired a load of loot from Santa Claus.

Stacy's sister Meghan and her husband, Sam, came in town from Albuquerque, NM. they are at University of New Mexico working on their master's degrees. It was great to see them. It was also their first time to see Rigby.

Stacy's other sister, Amanda and her husband Eric also came in from Knoxville, bringing the little terror, Connor, with them. He is almost two!

We spent many hours at the Oglesby Ranch (Stacy's parents) in East Ridge and had a great time with family.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

The bellies are full. Stacy and I are on a diet so we did not fully enjoy all the foods., but we had our share. We had dinner at Aunt Donna's, Stacy's aunt. We had a good time with family.

The Christmad tree is up and decorated. Mom and Bob came to Chattanooga and brought us their artificial tree with 1,200 lights. It is awesome! Live trees do not work for us. Moe and Boo (our cats) love drinking the water dry and chewing on limbs.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Travelin'

We just got back from our 1,000-mile whirlwind tour to see friends and family. We left Friday, November 14 and spent five days on the road.

Our first stop was Augusta, Ga. where Rigby met some of his cousins and is great, great uncle, Lonnie Wilder, the last brother alive of the namesake Rigby was named for. Lonnie is 85 and still goes deer hunting he told us. That was a very special day for me.

Our next stop was Charlotte, NC where Rigby met his Carolina pediatrician and one of Stacy's best friends, Christina. We had a great time with her and met her new boyfriend, who looks like "the one" for her.

We made our 45-mile trek east of Charlotte to spend the night with my grandmother in Peachland NC. My grandmother is doing well and she was very happy to meet her great grandson. Another very special time for me - for Rigby to sleep and stay in the same house I spent some of my childhood days in.

While in Peachland I met a distant relative who took me to a remote cemetery with many of my ancestors. The cemetery was in the middle of a soybean crop under a huge oak tree. I think the power and spirit of the Grays that were buried there made that tree seem larger than life. Jeremiah Gray born in 1797 is buried there - he is Rigby's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. How cool is that!!?

We moved on to Asheville, NC where Rigby spent some time with his Aunt Tobi and Uncle Corey. Tobi's house is awesome and we went to dinner at the Bier Garden downtown. Asheville has made some great strides in the past 10 years.

We ended out tour in White Pine, TN to see Mom and Bob (grammy and grandaddy). We had a very good visit.

Rigby is a great traveler. Good thing because we do love to travel.

Getting Acquainted

Things are going well at the Gray household. Rigby is almost seven weeks old! Hard to believe it has already been that long since we were just welcoming him to he world.

He is doing great. He is eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing, cooing, smirking, squirming and crying. So pretty normal.

He has started somewhat of a sleep schedule. Stacy puts him to bed around 9:30 p.m. He wakes around 2 a.m. and then again around 7 a.m. It is nowhere near as bad as some of the baby stories I have heard from others.

Rigby slept with us in our bed for the first several weeks. He is now in the warm friendly confines of his own bed/crib. Fridays are sleepover night and he sleeps in our bed.

Stacy is doing well. She goes back to work on Dec. 1. She totes Rigby around town with ease now. He spends one day at his great grandparents where he hardly gets any attention.

I am doing well. I am still digging into my manager role at work and enjoying it more and more.

Halloween is almost here and Rigby will be going as a chili pepper. Pictures will posted on the website soon.

Well, that's about it! Take care . . .

Rigby is Born!

Stacy and I had our first son on this day . . . . Labor Day!

Stacy started having contractions early Sunday morning. We opted to stay at home for the first stage. It was rough for her, but she did a great job. Her parents came over and hung out with us for a while. We also got some good ole Formosa Chinese food.

We gave in and went to Erlanger East around 10 p.m. Stacy first was examined at one centimeter and we were told to wait in a room for an hour to see how she progressed. An hour later she was at two centimeters and we were admitted to the Larkspur Suite. Erlanger East has 16 birthing suites. Need I say that they are very roomy and first class?

Stacy went through the night contracting every 5-8 minutes. Stacy's parents and sister, Amanda, were with us the whole time.

Noon time came around and Stacy was at six centimeters time for the epidural. We were told it would be about 10 minutes, but that is an hour in doctor time.

The epidural is a great thing, but Stacy had to stay completely still through contractions while the anesthesiologist put the epidural in. How rough that must have been for her.

Stacy hit 10 centimeters around 3 p.m. and it was time to start pushing. Stacy pushed on every contraction and in various positions for three hours. We were getting no where and learned that Stacy's pelvic inlet was just not big enough for our newborn's head to fit through. A C-section was decided on.

The C-Section began around 7 p.m. and I sat near Stacy's head at the operating table. I was very nervous as this was major surgery. There must have been about 20 people with various tasks to perform in the room. Our midwife took pictures of me next to Stacy and then invited me to look at the surgery to see the baby come out.

What a sight! It was very awkward looking inside my wife's midsection. When the doctor pulled the baby out at 7:18 p.m., I yelled out, "It's a Boy!" and our lives began to change for the ultimate best!

I watched as nurses took our newborn to a table to perform various functions, cleaning, checking vital signs, etc. A couple minutes later, he was in my arms and I took him to Stacy's head for her to be a part of the moment.

I watched as the doctors sewed Stacy up on the inside and outside and then ran a film of flexible "super glue" to protect the incision.

Stacy on her bed and me with newborn in arms made our way to our new room, the Gardenia Room. This room was one of two for mothers who had C-sections. This room was bigger than the first and was tucked away from a lot of the noise and visitors.

I had taken about 80 pictures and around 10 p.m. drove home to post the news to our web site and email the masses.

The first night with our child, Rigby Wilder Gray, was a