My girlfriend Stacy traveled from Nashville to Atlanta (and back) yesterday to see Game 3 of the Hawks/Cavaliers series. It was easily the most I had driven in one day in years, but it was worth it. We both got to see LeBron James in a playoff game in person, which was a treat that exceeded the time and effort and cost of acquiring tickets and dealing with Atlanta traffic and everything else.

How good is LeBron? In a game where the Cavs didn't particularly perform well as a team, LBJ had 47 of his team's 97 points in Cleveland's 97-82 victory in Atlanta. Despite facing an often hostile Atlanta crowd (which booed him mercilessly in the first half whenever he touched the ball), LeBron carried the Cavs on his back, running the point at times while unselfishly dishing the ball to open teammates when the Hawks double-teamed him. Were it not for a few gimmie misses by teammates on chip shots, LeBron would have had a triple-double.

In short: LeBron is an incredibly exciting player to see in person. His speed (especially for his size) is unreal, and he can electrify a crowd even on the road. A loudmouth Hawks fan one row in front of me even had to stand up after an impressive James dunk and pay homage to the man. "That was so good, I have to give him respect" the guy said to no one in particular.

Before the game, Stacy and I had an early dinner with my buddy Bob (who is in my fantasy football league) at the OK Cafe at his recommendation. I'd never heard of the place before, but they had delicious food and I highly recommend it to anyone near the north Atlanta area. It had been 6+ years since I last saw Bob (in New Orleans) and it was great catching up with him.

Blogging

At this rate I'll be updating this site once a year. Maybe that can change.

I used to have a commentary section (in essence a blog) on my personal website, but it got to be too much to handle. Between that and stories that certain people wanted to have purged, I decided to blow up what I had and just keep my page as a stand-alone professional site.

This past weekend I went to Birmingham with my girlfriend Stacy. We visited my sister Mary Beth at Birmingham Southern, and it was great fun. One highlight was when I spotted Milo's splenda-sweetened tea (the best zero calorie drink out there) in 20 ounce bottles at "The Caf", the cafeteria area at BSC. I freaked out a bit I suppose, enough so where it gave Stacy and Mary Beth something to rib me about for the rest of the trip. Hey, I can dish it out and I can take it. But it was a fun trip and a good time, despite the shabby hotel and the near constant rain. Sometimes it's more about who you're with than where you are.

Actual quote from an International Herald Tribune article:

"£9 million, or $17.6 billion"

Wow, the value of the dollar has dropped!

(Here is the original article)

making the switch

Okay, so I've made the switch to the Google Blogger (vs. the old Blogger), and I'm not sure what the difference is besides that I have to log in with my Google ID.

I don't eat red meat all that often, but I took The Departed back to Blockbuster tonight and couldn't help but be drawn to the Burger King next door. I bought a Triple Stack burger, greasy and such, but dammmmn good. That was a meal in itself. I've put french fries on the Do Not Eat list, even though they're tasty. But that hamburger was excellent, one of the best I've had in a long long time.

Clippers vs. Suns going to game seven

As I type this, the Los Angeles Clippers are about to close out a win in Game 6 in their best-of-7 series with the Phoenix Suns. It's been a fun battle back-and-forth, and Monday night there will be a game seven in Arizona. Good times...

A picture for here

I decided to add a photo to this site. No, I didn't add one of myself (there are plenty of those on LouPickney.com), but instead of the "Scene Missing" shot from the all-time great video for Closer by Nine Inch Nails.

Learn by practicing

I'm trying to help a friend build her website via Blogger, so I'm playing around with my Blogger page to learn how to potentially modify the template in order to maximize the options we have for her site. Wish me luck.