I’ve been thinking about my friend Big Rick lately. I always think about him when I go to Dothan. He’s buried there, and I’ve never been to his grave.

Rick was a classic “Chris Farley” case. He was overweight, and used humor to get some degree of social acceptance. He was a genuinely funny guy. He had artistic talent, but no drive. While Eric, Aaron, and me were trying to get out of Dothan, Rick just sort of sank into it.

He reached out to me for help a few times. One time, Rick, me and Laney Lassiter somehow ended up at Rip Hewes stadium. Rick had basically drank a bottle of Bacardi Rum by himself. I didn’t drink at the time so I was stone sober. Rick began telling me that I was his best friend, and that he kept seeing and dreaming about his friend Brandon, who was killed in a car crash. I figured he was drunk and was just talking crazy but looking back, he was serious. Another time we were going to the mall or some shit and he told me he needed to swing by his house to do something. I forget what he said. We went by there, he went in and came back out, and we were on our way. About 5 minutes later he tells me that he lied. He really needed to go in there to get some pain pills. He told me he was addicted to them.

I forget what I said, but I was uncomfortable and I played it off like it wasn’t a big deal. But I knew. I didn’t know what I could do to help, but I knew that if I didn’t do anything, he wouldn’t be able to help himself. I remember telling Eric and others that of all of us, Rick would be the first to die. He was just too self destructive.

anyway, I was right. Shortly after I moved to Erie, mom called and said that he’d died. He was strung out on who knows what, and he had a heart attack. I didn’t go to the funeral. Steve did. I wish I’d gone, even though I have nothing to say to his family. I place a lot of the blame on them.

But I reserve a little of the blame for myself. Was there something I could have done to help him? Yeah I think so. I feel guilty about it. He was alone. Everyone who could get out of Dothan did so. Who did he have to turn to? No one who could help.

I’ve been thinking about this lately. I think this explains something about my personality that I’ve often questioned. I have an overwhelming desire to NOT get involved when someone I care about is exhibiting self destructive tendencies. I think it started with Rick. I’m going to have to think some more about this.

And next time I go to Dothan, I should visit Rick. It might do me some good.

Today was everything you’d expect from a Monday after a vacation.  My week is already full.  Tomorrow I’m in Liberty South Carolina, Wednesday I’m in Canton GA, Thursday I’m downtown Atlanta, and Friday…well, that’s still open but I’m sure something will have come up by the time it rolls around.

My company Christmas party is on Saturday.  I think I’ve moved beyond the “pissing in front of minors” stage of my development, so hopefully I can have some fun and not embarrass myself.  Or my wife

I’ve decided that I want to get a 4 wheeler.  Or a Mule.  Oh it’s no big deal now, but that’s how these things start.  Like a snowball rolling down a hill.

2 weeks now before my next CCIE lab attempt.  I still have 36 hours of lab time for practice as well.  I feel like I have enough time to work on all my weak spots.  That’s what I’m about to do right now.  I’m at my usual place in the back corner of Espresso Royale sitting at my usual table.  I have in front of me my usual drink, a nonfat 2 shot latte.   It’s pretty crowded in here, which I guess is a result of all the students coming back from the holiday.

The next three weeks are going to be a blur.  I plan to break up the monotony by posting to my website a lot.  In fact, that’s pretty much all I’m going to do, study and surf the internet.

Here’s a few pictures.  I’m going to post a few more, but I need to do some editing first.

Here’s my cousin Misty and Aunt Christy.  I see the resemblence.

This is the lake that Misty and I drove around for who knows how long.

And here’s the beast.  I’m getting one of these!

OK, so Thanksgiving was a success.  I got to hang out with my mom, go 4 wheeling with Misty, and drink a few beers with my friend Aaron.  All in all, a good trip.  I’ve got a few pictures that I’ll post when I get around to it. 

I’m going to chill for a couple days before I have to go back to work.  It’s gonna be a rough week next week. 

Our friend Jonathon came to visit over the weekend.  He had a million people to see, but we got to hang out with him Saturday night.  Here’s a few pics of the festivities.

Note the stylish Driggers official tshirt that Jonathon is sporting.  It was the hit of the evening.  It was great seeing Jonathon again.  Also, this was my first time going to the Nowhere Bar.  It kinda sucked.  I think I’ll stick with the Engine Room.

OK, I’ll shut up about cars now! I went to Athens BMW today with Meggy and we bought a 2002 525i. I love this car. I don’t even feel bad about missing out on the 530i. This thing hauls ass plenty fast enough for me, and it’s super nice. So I’m satisfied. Plus we got a great deal on it.

OK, so I’ve got approximately three weeks before my next attempt at the CCIE Voice, and have I started studying?  No.  I’m experiencing a serious lack of motivation.  I can’t quite think of something to compare it to, but it’s sort of like running a marathon and sitting down with the finish line in sight, and not getting up.  And then getting run over.

It’s not time to panic yet.  But if I don’t make the most out of the 11 hour practice lab that I have scheduled for Sunday, I’m fucked.  I’ve scheduled one of these for each weekend, and two for the weekend before the test.  That’s a lot of practice time.  It’s more than enough to pass the test.  As long as I use each minute wisely.

Why is it always the last mile that’s the hardest of the journey?

All I have to say is “FUUUCCCKKK”.  Eatzi’s has closed its doors.  I have many fond memories of going to eat there with John McKinney and ogling all the hot office chicks from Buckhead that came in there.  And the food was good too.  I didn’t even get to have a farewell meal there.  Shite.

I’ve decided to make a little trip to Dothan for Thanksgiving.  I’m only going to stay a couple of days, so I can come back and see my in-laws (who are coming to my house for Thanksgiving).  But I don’t get to go to Dothan very often, and it looks like I’m going to be slammed for a few months.  I figured I’d take this opportunity to go while I could.

Aside from eating turkey and drinking beer with mom, anything else fun going on there?

I’m sitting in an office on the top floor of 260 Peachtree downtown.  I’ve got a pretty nice view here, while I’m waiting to install some network junk for one of my customers.

It’s gonna be late by the time I get home tonight.  I am going to miss House, and all the CSI shows that they replay on Spike TV.  You all know I’m a super nerd, but Gil Grissom is my TV hero of the moment, followed closely by House.

OK time to do some work….

I bought something off of Craig’s List tonight.  A pair of size 11.5 Specialized bike shoes, missing the cleats.  They cost me 15 bucks.  I don’t know how much the cleats will cost, or the pedals I’ll need to attach to my bike in order to use them, but all I know is that I saved about 100 bucks.

My friend Sarah recently had a fantastic experience eating sushi in Manhattan.  This echos my experience eating brunch at Bluebird cafe this morning.  There was a huge group of parents and kids sitting at a huge table in the middle of the restaurant.  There was one kid in particular who was sitting in his high chair with a radius of destruction all around him.  He’d basically cast his food like a sumo with salt before a match.  His nasty ass pacifier was on the ground for the 10th time.  When his parents picked him up and left, there was a puddle of some sort in the high chair, which was promptly positioned up against the wall next to our table by the waitstaff.  It was awesome.

Meggie and I went downtown to East/West tonight.  I  drank 2 glasses of wine with dinner, and 3 cups of coffee.  It’s a nice combination of stimulants and depressants.  It’s quite a tightrope.

While we were eating dinner, we got to watch Willy Parker have the best rushing night of recent memory for the Steelers.  In fact, he busted off two 70 yard runs, which hadn’t been done since Barry Sanders in 1986.  Good stuff.  Actually it would have amounted to jack if we’d lost,  but we ended up winning by a touchdown.  Willy Parker running, and Ben Roethlisberger not throwing interceptions, made for a good Steelers night.

So my day didn’t go like I wanted it to.  Meghan and one of her teacher friends were going to the High Museum in Atlanta for the day to see the Louvre exhibit.  I was planning on getting up, eating brunch at the Grit, and doing a practice lab for my CCIE.  Instead, I had to go to work to help fix our voicemail server that crashed.

So instead of going out, I’m sitting at home drinking rum and coke watching CSI while meghan sleeps on the couch.

I’ll give it another try tomorrow.

What’s on tap for this weekend for me?  Some online labs to kickstart my preparations for CCIE Lab attempt number 2.  And I’ll be going on a date with my wife Saturday night.  Don’t know for sure what we’ll be doing but we might take in a Burlesque show/chili cookoff/cornhole tournament.  Could be fun!

Been a long week.  Time to unwind a little.

That’s right folks, I’m going to go downtown on Saturday.  I will probably go to a bar.  I will most likely get drunk!

So, if you want to get in on this rare occurence, let me know.  It will likely be the last time for a couple months.