I will readily admit that my hero today is Tony Romo, and my elation over the Cowboys start to this NFL season cannot be eclipsed by anything, even an amazing NFL record. But I’ll have to say that Brett Favre’s record-setting today is cool.

Favre is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is downright funny in a way: his reputation as a gritty, frozen tundra sort of quarterback doesn’t mesh well with the fact that he grew up on the beach. Nonetheless, you see a lot of Packers stuff down here, along with a lot of Turan-Foley car commercials, for which he is the spokesman. Favre is the local boy done good, and he has now done good-er than any other quarterback in NFL history.

The former Hancock High and Southern Miss star passed legend Dan Marino today and became the quarterback with the most touchdown passes in the history of professional football. Pretty good for a Mississippi boy.

In fact, for all the Mississippi-haters out there, when you think about the three high-profile skill positions in football, an argument can be made that a Mississippi boy is the best at each: Favre at quarterback, Jerry Rice at wide receiver, and Walter Payton at running back.

I’m just saying, we’ll take on the team from your state.

Quite a sports weekend…

So far, four of the top ten college football teams have been beaten this weekend, with two more (USC and Florida) in a fight as I write. The biggest to fall so far has been #3, Oklahoma.

The baseball pennant race in the National League is going down to the final day, too, with two of the four positions up for grabs. So far, the Cubs and Diamondbacks are in, but the Phillies, Mets, Padres, and Rockies are still trying to see who will move on.

And Week 4 of professional football tomorrow!

What a weekend for a sports fan!

It’s been a weird day, which is about the best I can say about it. I think it has been an important day, in some strange ways.

Anyway, tonight I just thought I’d share the picture of myself and Latan Griffin in front of the Ocean Springs Church of Christ that was published in Habitat World and sent to millions of places all over the world. HERE is the article, too, if you’re interested in reading.

It has been a very enjoyable day:

* It began with breakfast at the Bayview Gourmet with my friend, Bruno, and two Episcopalian priests, Wayne Ray and Harold Roberts.

* It continued with my weekly meeting with my youth minister, Trent.

* It continued with chaperoning my daughter’s field trip to the library. While there, I met with Nicole Grundel, a fellow board member with Habitat for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and we had a wonderful visit. We did more catching up than work, but that was worth it anyway.

* It continued afterwards with taking Hillary to the Ocean Springs Homecoming Parade. All of us hear in Mardi Gras country know how to have a parade, as the picture above demonstrates. Hillary came home with LOTS of beads, candy, and toys!

* It continued after that with a lengthy telephone conversation with my friend, Michael Lasley, who teaches at Pepperdine. It was really good to talk to him again.

* It concluded with dinner and football at Tracy & Shanna Havard’s house tonight. They also invited two other sets of family friends, the Bosarges and the Ruffins. Southern Miss was getting kicked, but the food and friendship was fun.

Lots of neat people in my life today… Really good stuff…

I received my very first CASA case this week. Confidentiality laws (and a lick of common sense) means that I cannot give any details, but suffice it to say that it is sad what many children face in this world of ours. Children who live in our backyards. I hope to make a difference.

I’m not a big TV promoter either, but for those of you who like watching CSI, word is that the season premier tomorrow evening will have CASA ads and PSA’s sprinkled in throughout the show. I may not get to see it since my family has been invited over to a friend’s house to watch Southern Miss play football, so you’ll have to report in here if you see any of the ads!

Two of my most well-read friends swear by the book, Love in the Time of Cholera, so I checked it out of the Ocean Springs Library recently, and I finished it tonight.

On the one hand, my prudish self blushed a LOT at all the sex stuff in this love story, but on the other, it was a masterfully written novel that weaves an unforgettable story of the unbelievable potential for forever love. Once captured by Marquez’s masterpiece, I am assuming that one will never forget Florentino Ariza’s love for Fermina Daza.

I noticed online that there is a movie in production based on this novel, but it looked like it might be a foreign movie that would doubtfully make it to South Mississippi. But if it does, I’ll have to check it out.

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By the way, for those scoring at home, my attempts at drastically cuttting down my time on the computer is off to a good start these first two days. I mean, there was some sweating and the munchies, but I’m thinking I’ll just take up smoking and I’ll be okay.

Okay, I may not be as successful as Paris and Nicole in achieving The Simple Life, but today’s a big day for me because I’m going to go for it anyway.

From studying Jesus in an attempt to follow after him, I’m well aware that I need to change a LOT of things. One of those things stems from my discovery that Jesus wasn’t busy. You’d think Jesus would have had a rather full agenda, but instead he always seemed to have time for people. I don’t always have time for people because I have “too many things to do.”

Which means I have too many things to do.

And I’ve got to change that…

One of the things I am going to do is spend less time on a computer.

As for now, I still plan to post something every day on this blog, but my plan is to do it after my daughter’s bedtime when I check my email and write in my new “people” journal. That’s right, I’m planning to check my email ONCE a day!!! (John Dobbs just fainted.)

We’ll see how this goes. My life is a work in progress, so this change is definitely a work in progress, too.

But I’m serious.

So, first of all, expect my blog entries to come at night starting tomorrow, and secondly, don’t expect me to answer emails and blog comments nearly as frequently as before.

This is my new reality show: The Simple(r) Life.

Wish me luck.

Thankfully, I missed the Arkansas/Kentucky game for a party at church last night. Patrice put together a party for our Forty-Something Class. There were twelve of us there, and we had pizza, chips & homemade dip, and chocolate cake & chocolate chip cookies to eat, and lots of choices of board games to play.

We began with the 20th anniversary of Pictionary, and even after twenty years I still stink at that game. We played men vs. women, and the women won easily.

We then played Family Feud, and the male species found their revenge. At a crucial point in the game, we chose to pass instead of play on the “8 things that you think of when you think of Zorro” question, and that clinched the victory!

Finally, we played the Newlywed Game, and after a really poor performance for the biggest part of the game, my wife and made an impressive comeback and won on the very last bonus question! We’ve still got it, baby!!!!

But what a great night. Lots and lots and lots of laughing and fun with friends. Contrary to the beer commercial, I say it just doesn’t get any better than that…

Yesterday was a good day all around. Sure, I hate mowing, but I do love it when its done. I went with my wife and daughter to watch some Jaguar Volleyball last night, and even though they lost, they played great and we had a blast. Then, to top it off, the little tropical system in the Gulf fizzled out and I don’t even think it has rained here yet.

This morning, I’d like to do a little advertising.

My friend, Holly, sent me a Facebook message asking me to spread the word on my blog about a concert in Paragould, Arkansas, on October 27. Many of you will remember my writing about Willie Sandlin (pictured above) when he won the battle of life in early July. Well, there is a “Horizon Alumni Concert” scheduled at Crowley’s Ridge Academy on October 27, with the proceeds from the concert going to the Sandlin family.

I graduated from and later taught at Crowley’s Ridge Academy, and Horizon is a group formed years ago now by Mrs. Debbie Stokes that is dedicated to musical performance. A lot of talented folks have passed through her program, and when word came that she had cancer last year, they put together an alumni concert just for her. This year, she is doing so much better (yea!!!), so this year’s concert has two goals: (1) to make Mrs. Stokes smile again, and (2) to provide much-needed financial assistance to the Sandlin family.

I won’t be able to attend, but if anyone is in the Northeast Arkansas area, I would highly encourage you to attend.

Holly was very excited that my good friend, Jon Conley (a Horizon alumni himself), will be performing at the concert! Jon is our local celebrity, having played lead guitar for the likes of Wynonna Judd, Lee Greenwood, and Leann Rimes in his years in Nashville.

Sounds like a lot of fun…

I plan to mow my yard this morning. I hate mowing my yard on any morning.

I had planned to mow it tomorrow morning, but I made the mistake of checking out the weather. The little storm creeping across the Gulf looks as if it will translate into some stormy weather tonight and tomorrow for our area, so if the yard will get mowed this weekend, it will have to be this morning. And it sure needs mowing.

The tropical weather / yard-mowing combination brings to mind a humorous anectdote from Katrina. My good friend, Herman, and I have had lots of entertaining conversations over the years, many of them in the days after Katrina. We lived in the same neighborhood, and both of us had six feet of water in our houses. For extra fun, I had a huge tree on my house, and Herman lost all of his automobiles.

Anyway…

I remember sitting at the church building one day when a thought came to mind and I told Herman, “I just thought of something really depressing.”

“What?” he replied.

“I mowed my yard just before Katrina.”

Herman laughed, then said, “I’ve got you beat. I filled my truck up with gas.”