Debriefing 2010

Here's a nearly-random list of highlights, lowlights, & things learned in 2010. I know you're excited...

--Having parts of 2 ribs surgically removed is not as much fun as it sounds.

--The recovery from the above is much longer than the previous two lung surgeries.

--"Your P.E.T. scans are perfect" is one of the greatest sentences ever uttered in the English language.

--Studying, teaching in Sunday School, and hearing sermons on Galatians for 13 weeks is an *amazing* and transforming experience. I'll never be the same.

--Studying for the CFA II exam is much more challenging @ 51 than studying for the CFA I exam was @ 32...*sigh*

--I *love* to read. (Not a new revelation; just yet another confirmation)

--I like to learn new things. Well, mostly.

--One of the great things about the professor gig is that it allows/encourages/demands both of the above.

--I'll never get tired of seeing my alma mater winning the football national championship, even after watching them do so either 7 or 8 times in my years on earth. (can't remember; too lazy to look it up rt now)

--Defense wins championships. Still true, even in this age of flag-football-like offenses. Relatedly, as one of Coach Bryant's assistants once said, "Dancing is a contact sport; football's a hitting sport." Give me smashmouth football all day, on both sides of the ball.

--When my team loses 9 starters on defense, a tight end, & 2 O Linemen, and still goes 10-3 with 6 teams having had an off week before playing us, I'd say we're in a pretty good place.

--Despite the previous three points, I think I am *finally* getting to the point where wins don't make my week, and losses don't break my week. No doubt, I want to win them all, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ULTIMATE that's determined by the actions of 160 or so 18-22 year old guys on Saturday afternoon. (or older guys on Sunday afternoon & Monday night, for that matter)

--Relatedly, I was genuinely able to root for the UT Vols in their game, for example, and was disappointed when that wild game ended w/ a UT loss. Also, I was able congratulate my Auburn & LSU & USC-east friends when their team beat mine, and really mean it. Granted, this was a very strange sensation to this lifelong Bama fan (which is sad for me...but at least there's progress on the "proper perspective" front).

--I like it this way, where my friends & my witness for Christ are more important than the outcome of a game. And I deeply regret that it has taken this long to get to this perspective.

--Perhaps there will come a day when I can watch the PCS Bobcats play a football game without choking up with a deep longing to see big #75 strap 'em on one more time. But that day has not arrived yet. (#75 is a handsome fellow; a future pharmacist, who looks a lot like a bigger, stronger, more athletic, smarter, better looking version of me. My favorite football player of all time.)

--Perhaps there will come a day when I can watch the PCS Bobcats play a basketball game without choking up with a deep longing to chat & laugh & pray & cry & eat a Zips burger with my friend, former PCS Head Coach Mark Bryan again. But that day has not arrived yet either. R.I.P., Coach!

--I can still smell the after-shave, & feel the scruff of a 5 o'clock shadow of James E. Madaris, and I still miss him with an absolutely palpable "missing."

--26.5 years of marriage goes by in a very quick hurry...And I am so much more passionately & hopelessly & wonderfully in love with my Bama coed now than I was 26.5 years ago that the comparison is hardly worth making.

--I'm now sitting under some wonderfully consistent, in-depth, Spirit-empowered preaching. I'm so thankful...

--Relatedly, expository preaching through books of the Bible is, by FAR, my preferred type of preaching.

--Aslan is on the move. (Thank you, C.S. Lewis, for that wonderful analogy! Based on all I see/hear/read, it's very descriptive of what's going on right now.)

--The Web & all of its trinkets & apps is an incredible tool...or an incredible time waster. I've used it as both.

--This is a fascinating and very challenging time to be teaching Economics & Finance.

--Riding a bike on Longleaf Trace is BY FAR the most fun fitness/exercise thing I've EVER done. And if--as earlier today--I can do that with the most beautiful coed ever to come through the University of Alabama, so much the better.

--I love my job. And folks I work alongside. (Also not a new one; just a reconfirmation)

--I love where we live. And yet, every time I go down to Mom & Leo's I still wonder why I don't live back down there.

--The best thing about Facebook & Twitter is the chance to re-connect with friends from back in the day that I had let fall by the wayside.

--I have two *fascinating* children, whose company I *VERY* much enjoy.

--Those who refuse to participate in the political process are doomed to be governed by their inferiors. (Winston Churchill, paraphrased)

--So much more could be said. And likely will (you should see my "unpublished drafts" section of this blog...).


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