Okiboy.net Is Alive!!!!

I feel like Doctor Frankenstein. After all this time my wonderful creation is alive. Browse on over to okiboy.net and take a look. This site will stay up until I'm able to migrate my old posts from here to the new site. Enjoy.

Pixkins

Leave it to my friend Jason to come up with the coolest pumpkin design I've seen in a while. He dubbed it a Pixkin because the character depicted is from a Pixar film.

 

Technorati tags: Pixar, pixkin, Jason Stansell, pumpkin

Vote

I heard a statistic on the news this morning that disturbed me. Only 1 out of 9 people in the US vote. 1 in 9. That's pathetic.  I have no stomach for politics or politicians but still make it a point to vote. Voting is our right as Americans. It's a shame more of us don't put it to use. If we did maybe we could enact some real, positive change instead of having to put up with the status quo that currently exists in Washington.

 

Technorati tags: voting, rights, status quo

I'm Getting Married!

It's official. Okiboy is getting hitched. I proposed to my girlfriend Saturday evening in the beautiful surroundings of the Memphis Botanical Gardens (specifically the Japanese Garden).

This has been in the works for a while but I finally mustered up the courage last week. I was nervous all day Saturday right up until the actual moment. Strangely enough though I was calm when I actually got down on one knee (my bad knee in fact) to pop the question. 

I chose the Japanese Garden for several reasons. 1) It's one of the most beautiful spots in the city. 2) It reminds me of being back home in Japan. 3) I figured that would be the closest I'd be able to get K. to Japan for the foreseeable future.

We had the garden all to ourselves (with the exception of the carp in the pond and the geese around it). The sun was setting behind us and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. I don't think God could have provided a more romantic setting if he had tried.

The best part of it all was... she said YES!!!

Technorati tags: engaged, wedding, Memphis Botanical Gardens

We Can All Be James Bond

007 Sony VAIO/Cybershot DSC-T50B - With the latest James Bond flick less than a month away the obligatory product tie ins are in full swing. This combo from Sony will only set you back 4300 bucks. It's a small price to pay to pretend to be Bond though. Combine that with the latest Aston Martin plus a new special edition Sony-Ericsson phone and you'll be fully Bonded out. Minus the beautiful women, breathtaking locales, and Q of course.

Technorati tags: James Bond, 007, 007 Sony VAIO, Aston Martin, Sony Ericsson

Damn Yankees

I'm not a huge baseball fan. Regular season games are extremely boring unless experienced in person and the season is too darn long. That being said I love playoff baseball... IF the Yankees are playing.

I've been a Yankees fan since I received my first baseball card back in the mid-80's. My friend Mike helped me start my collection with some extra cards he didn't want. I had no clue which teams played where so he figured why not start me out with the two teams in the biggest market of the all, New York. Mike gave me all his extra Topps 1986 Mets cards  so I'd have an NL team and the 86 Yankees so I'd have an AL one. Being an avid baseball fan, Mike felt that would give me a good start on my way into the world of baseball and baseball cards. I never really became an avid baseball fan but that even did spark my longtime interest in the mighty Yanks.

Fast forward to present times. My beloved Yanks seem to

be in disarray. This time last week I was looking forward to another post season. Another chances for the Yankees to redeem themselves and climb back to the top of the mountain. By Saturday evening I was depressed because yet again their trip to the big dance was a practice in futility.

I'm not sure what the answer is. Firing Joe Torre isn't the answer. He's a good manager. Trading A-Rod isn't the answer either. I don't think throwing more money at the problem is the fix either. Maybe some team building exercises in the off season are in order. Torre and the boys could go do a ropes course or something. All the corporate muckity mucks do it.

With the Yanks exit comes the end of my post season baseball viewing. I don't care how may Tommy Lassorda commercials they air. I'm not really a baseball fan so why watch when the only team I care about is no longer in it? I'll focus my attention on the NFL, College Football, and the upcoming NBA season.

Goodbye baseball. I'll see you next October when my Yanks give the playoffs another go.

Technorati tags: Yankees, Joe Torre, Baseball, Playoffs, baseball cards, MLB

No I'm Not Dead

Here's a quick post to prove I am still alive. The crickets and dust you've observed around here lately is due to my upgrading to Blogger Beta before finding an editor that used the new API. That was foolish. Finally I found a build of Microsoft Live Writer that supports Blogger Beta. I've never used Writer so I thought I'd give it a spin. Seems okay so far. Now that I've got a working editor again we'll see how I do with posting. Later.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Live Writer, Blogger Beta

Friday Random Mix

I finally got around to replacing my FM transmitter. I should say I finally scraped up the money to purchase a new one. Recovering financially from being on disability for two months has been a slow frustrating process. I've been ipodless in the car since my other transmitter died back in April. Over 3 months of listening to the radio has been excruciating. Thought I'd get back into the swing of things with a Random Mix.

Playlist: @ Big D Radio - Go To List

• Imogen Heap - Clear The Area - Speak For Yourself
  
  
• Jay Z - Bonnie and Clyde ft. Beyonce - Blueprint 2: Gift And A Curse
  
  
• Pearl Jam - Even Flow
  
  
• C + C Music Factory - Just A Touch Of Love (Everyday) - Gonna Make You Sweat
  
  
• Linkin Park - KYR4 TH ICH (Chairman Han) - Reanimation
  
  
• Fort Minor - Right Now - The Rising Tied
  
  
• Cyndi Lauper - The Goonies 'R' Good Enough - The Essential: Cyndi Lauper
  
  
• Smart E's - Love Is Blind - Sesame's Treet
  
  
• Madonna - Isaac - Confessions On A Dancefloor
  
  
• T.I. - What You Know - King
  I love this song. It's very infectious. Can't say I like the rest of the album but whenever this song comes on the radio or the ipod my stereo gets turned waaaay up.

412 Posts And Counting

Don’t Cry Over Spilt Water aka The Okiblog officially came online June 8, 2002. 4 years later it’s still going even though it limps along at times due to lack of posts. It’s time for another overhaul of the site and hopefully and upgrade in content but I haven’t found time to do that. Now that I’ve got a girlfriend my time at home is limited. Couple that with not having Internet access at the new crib for almost a month and you’ve got a recipe for maintenance of the status quo. I had planned on working on Project Okiblog 3.0 while I was out of work after surgery. Recovery from the surgery and it’s complications prevented that from happening. One of these days I’ve got to set aside time to migrate the site over to Okiboy.net if for no other reason than I’m shelling out money each month for a domain that isn’t being used. That’s starting to add up. Money don’t grow on trees you know.

Microsoft’s Latest Acquisition

Back At Work

The doctor says my knee is good enough to work (to be honest it was probably good enough 3 weeks ago) so I’m back at work. On the one hand that’s good because I’m off disability which means I get to start making real money again. On the other hand I have to give up the freedom I’ve come gotten used to over the last 8 weeks. All good things come to an end though. I’ll take financial security over being free to do whatever I want during the day. Daily freedom was getting boring anyway. Other than hanging out with my girlfriend (which was not boring in the least) there wasn’t really anything to do outside of rehab 3 days a week. When she wasn’t busy with school work I had fun because we got to kick it but outside of that I started to grow tired of endless days with nothing to do. I’ll be wishing for the time off again in about a week but for right now it’s nice to be back at work.

Back In Black

Finally, Okiboy has come back to the Okiblog. It's good to be back. Rehab is going great. My knee is doing really well. The last month and a half has been real hectic. I'll lay that out for you loyal readers in a bit. Gotta jet right now. And yes AC/DC is playing in the background. Well not really but it is playing in my head and that's just as good. Peace.

Team At Work Lifts Spirits

I love my team. I was very down when I came into work yesterday. They did everything they could to cheer me up. Jokes were flying in our team chat room but nothing helped until my friend Scott sent this link. That basically opened the flood gates. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was one of those moments where you’re like I don’t feel that great right now but when I imagine how that dude must feel I realize it’s not that bad. I felt guilty for laughing at another person’s pain. Then I watched it again and cracked up all over again.

Daryl’s Injury Update

* Thought I’d post an email I put together yesterday to family and friends about my injury and current condition. Kind of tired of answering people’s questions one by one. How many times can you explain a ligament exploding in your knee? I’ve gotten a lot of “I bet that hurt a lot.” Um... yeah. Don’t take this as lack of appreciation for people’s concern. I know it’s heartfelt. Two weeks of it (will be 3 by the time I have my surgery) is just wearing on me.*

Lots of folks have been asking about my injury and when the surgery is happening so I thought I'd just make a big email and send it out to everyone instead of answering individually. Family folks who receive this please forward it to other family members not on this list. I don't have anywhere near everybody's address.

I tore the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) in my right knee Tuesday before last (4/11/06) playing soccer. It was kind of a freak thing. I did a move I've done thousands of times since I started playing soccer (basically just planting my foot and making a cut). It just so happened my knee chose that time to give out. There was a lot of pain initially (a lot of pain) and for the next couple of days but since then it hasn't really hurt that much. The doctor gave me pain meds (an anti-inflammatory and a heavy duty pain killer). I take the anti-inflammatory daily as prescribed but haven't had to use the other medicine very much the last two weeks.

My sports medicine doctor initially diagnosed the injury as an LCL tear. That's pretty rare (compared to MCL and ACL injuries) and based upon the type of motion I was making when the tear occurred I came to the conclusion that that wasn't likely based upon the research I did online. She ordered an MRI to make sure. The results came back early last week and showed that I had a completely torn ACL. The sports medicine doctor referred to an orthopedic surgeon.

I had my consult with my surgeon yesterday (4/25/06). She went over the MRI pictures and laid out my options. Those were basically surgery or no surgery. No surgery would mean not having to get cut on and basically using medicine and rehab to try to strengthen my knee/leg as best as possible. That option wouldn't ever repair the damage though. Since none of the tissue of the ligament is attached at all there's nothing to grow back. That would be okay if I planned on living a fairly sedentary lifestyle for the rest of my life but I'm 29. I have a sedentary job but outside of work I'm very active. I need two working knees. Considering what the doctor had to say about that option I came to the conclusion that surgery would be my best option. I won't get into details but I chose the surgery option which traditionally has a faster recovery time. Faster in this case is a fairly relative term. I'll be back up and on my feet more quickly but as far as full recovery and a clean bill of health that will still be a long way off. My surgeon said she doesn't even want me thinking about playing soccer for at least 6 months. That would put my return at the end of the Fall soccer season. I've been thinking about it and figure if I have to wait that long what's a few more months so I'm setting my sights on getting back out on the field in Spring 2007. I'll use the extra time to get in really good shape. I've lost a little over 50 pounds since the end of the Fall 05 soccer season. More will likely come off during rehab.

The doctor said surgery is the easy part. Rehab is where the real work comes in. They want me up and moving around a couple of days after surgery. Physical Therapy will start shortly there after. Dr. Palmeiri projects I'll be out of commission 6 weeks. Maybe a little bit less depending on how well I respond to the therapy.

I'll be attacking this like I've approached losing weight and getting back to playing soccer at the level I used to play this year. I'm going to go all out. Going all out at first won't mean much because my leg and body won't have much to give but if I keep working at it the strength will come back. The doctor said rehab goes much better if you have goals and work towards achieving them. If your only aim is to be off work with no real ambition to get better then rehab will go poorly and progress will be slow. Well my Mom and Dad didn't raise me to be a knot on a log. I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can to get healthy again so I can a) get back to work b)get back on the soccer field and c) return to the more active lifestyle I've established for myself this year.

Please keep me in your prayers. God has given me peace about the surgery and whatnot so my fears and anxiety have started to subside in that area. Just pray that God gives me the strength to endure this process and come out on the other side a stronger person both physically and spiritually. I just spoke to my Mom who reminded me of Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I appreciate the prayers and concerns that have already been expressed for me and my family throughout this exciting yet trying year so far.

That’s the situation in a nutshell. I’ve been putting on a happy face for a while now trying to conceal the pain and discomfort but the energy it’s taking to do that and just walk around on 1 and a half legs has me really drained right now. I think I’m learning what the Bible means when it talks about depending totally and completely on God. I think I’ve prayed more in this last month or two than I probably had in the previous 6 months combined. It’s been an awesome year so far. I’ve experienced tremendous personal growth. This whole knee thing is just another step in that process. For those who read this and know me I hope it doesn’t discourage you from reaching out and contacting me. All I ask is that we not talk about this (meaning all this emotional blah you just read above). Let’s talk about fun stuff like World Cup 2006 or Nissan/Infiniti bringing the Skyline GTR to the States in 2007, or both my soccer teams kicking but in their respective divisions or fuzzy bunny slippers. Anything but my stupid knee and rehab and how much pain I’m in. The pains’ not that bad. I’ve got great legal drugs for that. I thank God daily for my brother, my parents, my girlfriend, my church family, my soccer team(s) and my coworkers. I don’t know what I’d do without them in my life.

Still Free

Stillfree.com - This is way old but I thought I’d post it anyway since I “rediscovered” it earlier today. Air Force One has always fascinated me. I’ve been in close proximity to the planes (they’ve got multiple ones you know) several times. The former president (Bush the 1st I think) visited Okinawa back in the day. I got to see the beautiful plane out on the tarmac. We also crossed paths with the beast in Hawaii of all places. That was unexpected. They had the armed helicoptors and full protection detail. Very cool. The current President (Bush the 2nd) flew through Memphis last fall on the way down to observe the Katrina devestation.

Friday Morning Random Mix

Whoo! Haven’t done one of these in a while. A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks. I’ve have a girlfriend (Thank You Jesus!), found out my Mom doesn’t have cancer (Thank You Lord!) and I completely tore my ACL playing soccer (Ouch!). My highly recommended (on iLounge) but very cheap FM transmitter also decided to die in my car a couple days ago so there’s been no ipod listening in the car (bummer since I’ve been spending a lot of time in Ichiban lately) . Well this morning the groove was going so good as I left the house that I had to keep listening. So I drove to work with my headphones on (which, as my roommate likes to point out, is illegal). The ipod and I have been on point for close to 3 weeks now. It can do almost no wrong as far as picking songs I feel like hearing. Let’s take a look.

Playlist: @ Big D Radio - Go To List (Notice the name change. This is the same list as the old Morning Mix. Just a different title. It’s composed of 5 star rated songs from all genres not played within the last 3 days.)

• King Without A Crown - Matisyahu - Youth
  
  
• Legacy - (Junkie XL Remix) - Infusion - Ultra Music Festival
  
  
• Sesame’s Treet - Smart E’s - Sesame’s Treet
  I searched for years and years to find this song and the album it came off of. My quest began when my friend (Beadle) brought the album with back with him after a trip to Hawaii over summer break. That was before the days of consumer available CD burners. My fruitless search continued until the advent of Ebay. I found the CD on there. It was brand new in the plastic. The disc came in the original very late 80’s, early 90’s card board album art/packaging all for less than I would have paid for it ($10.50) back in the day at the Base Exchange (BX). Classic. Now not only do I have it on CD, I’ve got it on vinyl as well. Picked that up online from some used vinyl shop based in Great Britain. It’s the only piece of vinyl I own. If my pipe dream of becoming a bedroom DJ ever comes to being Sesame’s Treet will be the first record to grace my as yet unpurchased Technics 1200’s.
  
  
• Troubles - Alicia Keys - Songs In A Minor
  This is another one of my theme songs from that last few years. One of these days I’m going to compile a complete list of those.
  
  
• The Move - Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
  
  
• Freetime - Kenna - New Sacred Cow
  I wish Kenna would hurry up and release a new album. Dude’s got skills. Considering how long it took to get this album out though it could be a while. I guess I can afford to wait for quality.
  
  
• Feels Just Like It Should - Jamiroquai - Dynamite
  You can’t listen to this song and not get juiced up. It’s just so funky. Track is nasty (the good nasty).
  
  
• The Scientist - Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
  Chris Martin’s falsetto is waaaaay better than mine but this song is always fun to sing along to.
  
  
• Feeling You, Feeling Me [Interlude] - Alicia Keys - The Diary of Alicia Keys
  This will probably be making an appearance on a mix CD for the significant other soon.
  
  
• Chi-City - Common - Be
  Be has been bumpin’ in my iTunes and iPod since last summer. Chi-City is one of my favorite song off of there. Favorite Line: A black figure, in the middle of chaos and gun fire. So many raps about rims, I'm surprised niggas ain’t become tires. Preach on Common Sense. I’ve been thinking that for years.
  
  
• Girlfriend - Alicia Keys - Songs In A Minor
  
  
• Zenophile - Mylo - Destroy Rock & Roll
  Yes there are other songs on the Mylo album. The ipod hasn’t been playing Drop The Pressure much any more which is kind of good. It’s a great song but I was kind of burning out on it.
  
  
• Tell Me (Classic House Mix) - Groove Theory
  
  
• Sea People - Emiliana Torrini - Love In The Time Of Science
  This barely qualifies as a song. It’s really short. Beautiful but short.
  
  
• Signs - Snoop Dogg feat. Charlie Wilson & Justin Timberlake [Memphis Represent!]
  This came on just as I pulling into the parking lot. Normally when a great song comes on I stay in the car to finish listening to it but I got to work 8 minutes early and needed every bit of it to hobble from Ichiban into the building to my desk on 1 leg in the rain. Barely made.
  

Ni*** What?

Funny Gif,
originally uploaded by Okiboy14.

I found this funny GIF on a message board earlier today. I couldn't stop laughing. It's much funnier animated. Yoshi's eyes make him look like he's being raped prison style. Mario just looks stunned. Meanwhile Doc (from Mike Tyson's Punchout) is just chillin' in the cut. Hillarious.

This Is Very Sad

2 Iraqi Teachers Slain in Front of Pupils - It hurts my heart to think about the trauma the children who witnessed this horrific act are experiencing and will probably experience later on in life. This hits really close to home for me because my father is a long time teacher. My mother is a former teacher and comes from a long line of teachers on her side of the family. My girlfriend’s mother is a retired teacher. How depraved and cold hearted do you have to be to 1) kill a person who’s calling in life is to impart knowledge to children and 2) commit that grave act in the presence of innocent little kids? That’s sickening.

Skyline GTR In the Memphis Metro Area

skyline_on_gtown,
originally uploaded by Okiboy14.

A coworker sent me this link. It's an authentic right hand drive R32 Skyline GTR in the Memphis Metro area. That pic was taken on Germantown Parkway which is literally 4 or 5 miles from where I'm sitting right now. I've driven this car before (not this exact one but one like it). That one was gun metal gray not black. And it was mean. Twin Turbo. 278 hp? My ass! The twin turbo beast had to be pushing at least 400 hp. It should be illegal to have that much power at your fingertips/throttle pedal. The drive was a going away present from my friend Jason back in Okinawa. We were driving along on my last night on island. On the way home Jason says "Wanna Drive?" In my mind I was saying "Hell yes I wanna drive. Been waiting 2 years to drive this car." Out loud I said "Sure." It was all I could do not to run every red light from where we were all the way through the 20 minute drive home. I'll have to post a picture of Jason's car some time. Sweet ride. What a rush! If you haven't noticed I have a slight Skyline fetish.

Praise The Lord!!!!

Great news!!!! Our mother Joyce got her test results back and she officially has a clean bill of health in all areas. Hallelujah! I'm literally crying tears of joy as I type this. Thanks so much to everyone who's offered up prayers and conerns on my mother's behalf. Mom has recovered from her biopsy procedure and started back to work earlier this week. The doctors didn't expect the test results to be back for 3-4 weeks. God doesn't work on man's time table. Praise the Lord!!!

God may not always provide the answer we’re asking for but he always provides an answer (his answer) in his time. As if I needed any more confirmation that God is alive and working in our lives, in big ways and small ways every day, he goes and does this. I can’t stop crying. I’ve got work to do but I don’t care. I’m so happy and joyful right now.