gatorcast from paul smith

I’ve had this craftsman gas blower for a long time.  I think more than 14 years…  Last year I took it apart to fix the choke.  I basically broke the plastic lever off.  So I cut a hole in the case and now ‘manually’ set the choke.  At the time it was a big  job and I thought I disassembled most of it.  Not.

Well, the pull cord broke and I let it sit for a few months and last Sunday I decided to ‘fix’ it to save money.  And since it has been a reliable machine I thought it was the right thing to do.    You would not believe what I had to do to replace the $3.56 pull cord. Yep, take it completely apart.

Here it is at the point where I could actually insert the new cord.  Notice the number of parts!! ;->

Ok, here it is back together 3 hours later.  And it works better than ever.

Tonight I escorted Bishop Victor Galeone, the bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine  into the annual Catholic Charities dinner at the Touchdown Terrace at Florida Field.

We had about  eight 4th Degree Knights in the Color Guard.

Mark and I walked with the Bishop to his seat.   The dinner was catered and made on site by Carrabba’s Italian Grill and was awesome as usual.    Thanks John Barli, a soon to be  Knight of Columbus!

Here is Mark, Bishop Victor Galeone, me

The boys love when I bake. I know because they eat all of it every time I do, especially the chocolate ones.  In recent months I have become fond of trying my hand at baking.   I have been doing it for years, but somehow have a renewed interest.  Generally I have done brownies, cookies, blueberry muffins and my favorite chocolate muffins.  I like getting all of the ingredients, heating the oven, mixing it up and then getting it into the oven.   The best part is how the house smells as it bakes.

So today Evan and I went to Wal*Mart and got a hand mixer.  I have been mixing by hand for some time and have wanted one. 

Who knew Black & Decker made kitchen hand mixers…

The final result.

Tonight I went to the LSU game at the Odome and I think I had the best time I have ever had at a game.  Of course the Gators beat the Tigers, but my attention was elsewhere.   This was my first game at the odome since giving up my season tickets last year.  The seats were just too much money.  

Thank you Sid for the seats tonight!

My old seats are just to the right of the video screen in the back right of the picture.

Teaching is going wonderful.  I have done 1 full week and I think I really got a handle on it.   Doing this has really helped me organize my thoughts, tasks and many aspects of my daily routine.  I find that I am much more prepared for everything.      Today we talked about Information Architecture and the idea of chunking.  I have learned so much getting ready for class and my interaction with the students.

Here I am today teaching.  Crazy.

Today was a wonderful day.  I was blessed to be the God Father for my new niece Madeline Hoel.   It was a beautiful ceremony at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Miami.   The priest spoke about the heart, love and the importance of family.  He said that the heart was only 1 inch from the umbilical cord and that the heart was at the center and that everything revolves around it.   He asked us to consider the idea that the heart, with Love,  gives balance to life .

Today I felt so much love from my family and wondered how people survived without it.   I hope one day to share with my Goddaughter how wonderful it was to be there with her and all of our family.

The family baptism dress.  This was the 24th baby in the family baptized starting with my mom.