This weekend, the whole Travis clan is going camping at the mountain land. The task for the trip will be to finish clearing all the trees and brush from inside the footprint of the cabin-to-be. However, we plan to divide the trip into one work day and one play day. So Saturday, we're planning another hike somewhere in the Mt. Rogers-to-Sparta regional area. Even though our camera is broken (again), we will try to get some pictures to post. I may even try out a moblog hack so I can post from my cell phone over the weekend. We'll see....

In honor of the weekend camping trip, here is a video from deep in the Travis family archives. It is a couple short clips from the first camping trip Brooklynne and I took together at Hylite Canyon, which is 30 minutes south of Bozeman. I think this was September 2001?

Last night we got crazy amounts of rain in Durham. Here's the streamflow data I saved from last night for the Eno River, where Brooklynne and I like to hike, fish, and swim. It looks like our max flow of 4,100 cubic feet per second shattered the previous record for this date (228cfs). The parcipitation meter for this location measured 7.5 inches of rain last night! Brad can correct me, but that seems extraordinary for a glancing hit from a dying hurricane.

Marshall tagged me on his blog, so here are a few pieces of Milorad trivia for your enjoyment. Because I'm terribly uncreative at times, I'm going to model my answers on those that Marshall gave.

1) I am occasionally tagged on these things, but I almost never tag other people. I'm the blackhole of tags.

2) I generally dislike (in order from least appealing up): graduations, award shows, openning and closing ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. Of course, there are some notable exceptions to each of these categories.

3) When I played basketball by myself in the yard, I always pretended to be Rodney Monroe.

4) I don't like having to mow the grass, but I honestly enjoy doing it. Every time. I like the physical exersion of pushing the mower, and I like the sense of accomplishment as I see rows of grass become neatly trimmed.

5) I used to think music taste was important, but sometime in college I realized it was too draining to keep up with "good" music and I think I've bought exactly 1 new CD for myself in the the past 10 years since then. The CD I bought: Mink Car by They Might Be Giants. Confession: lately, I've been thinking of buying another.

6) I am addicted to being liked by Marshall Benbow. I like being liked, but my liking of being liked by him is more than my average liking of being liked. (That sounds funny, but I'm serious.)

7) The first time I shaved my head was at a Model UN conference my senior year in high school (now you will know how nerdy I was). The conference was at George Mason University (go Patriots!) and Ryan Wade and I were representing the Russian Federation. We had been assigned the USA, but due to last minute cancellations, the organizers asked for volunteers to switch countries for a more balanced and realistic conference. Ryan and I switched to the Russian Fed., and that night in the hotel, shaved our heads into mohawks to intimidate the other delegates. We won an honorable mention "best delegation" award after we requested a point of personal privledge (I used to be very good at bending parlimentary procedure to my will) and gave a 2 minute impromptu speech defending the homeland and chiding another delegate for a negative comment about how "this isn't Siberia after all."

Aside: another funny event from that conference was when a guy in a gas station asked us why we were dressed up. We told him we were there for a Model UN conference and he said, "aren't you too short to be a model?"

My mom cried when I came home without hair.

The second time I shaved my head was with Marshall and Cory when UNC IVCF met our challenge to send 20 (I think?) students to Urbana 1996. Now I like having my head shaved too.

I'm not tagging people. I have to maintain my blackhole rep.

First, before we get started, let me point out this interesting story from the spring. If UNC can capture some of Palbo's fighting spirirt, maybe this year will be a good one.

Football season is upon us and I'm getting pretty excited, though this year may ultimately bring another 4 months of frustration. I've read up on the team and what the "experts" are saying, and it's mostly positive. Rivals has us ranked in the top 50 (47th) and said we could come in a close second to VaTech in our division. The ESPN guys both picked UNC to make a bowl, which would also likely mean a winning season.

However, I know our team better than those folks and I can see ominous signs. The problems at quarterback (18 interceptions) are not problems that often go away. Our defense lost a good coordinator and replaced him with the coordinator of last year's worst-ranked defense in the nation (Minnesota). On the positive side, our running game should be vastly improved which, along with the defense, is the key to our team this year. Greg Little could be our first 1,000-yard rusher since Jonathan Linton in 1997.

But really, you never know how the team's going to play until you see them on the field. So last year, I made my prediction based on the result of the openning game. This year, I think the second game of the season will be more telling. I'll post my Rutgers ruberic here, and then a game-by-game breakdown after the "continue reading" cut.

• If we shut out Rutgers, and score more than 21 points, watch out, because we could win 9 games this season.
• If we win vs. Rutgers in a low-scoring game (21 points or less), we will go 8-4.
• If we win definitively in a high-scoring game (more than 21 points), we will go 7-5.
• If we lose in a close, low-scoring game (< 8 pt. margin), we will go 7-5.
• If we aren't that close in a defensive struggle (> 7 pt. margin), we'll go 6-6.
• If we lose a close one in a shootout, we'll go 5-7.
• If we aren't close in a blowout, we'll go 4-8.
• Finally, subtract one win for every two turnovers we have in the game.

You probably know that "alot" is not a real word, but did you know that it was under consideration by the folks at the American Heritage Dictionary to become a real word? I use it all the time. I call it vocabulary activism.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments. Maybe we can do something fun like a birth-date pool or a design-the-first-shirt contest or something. Stay tuned....

Secondly, tonight marks the return of the Last Mondays Film Festival. I was torn over what to do about tonight because I didn't get any of the desired documentaries on Netflix (forgot to reorder my queue), and I really wanted to see Michelle Obama speak tonight. So, I'm going to rent a documentary from whatever is available at Bockbusted, and we'll have a vote over whether to watch the film or the DNC. If the film wins, I'll tape Michelle.

By the way, did you see that my two-time Portland roadtrip host, Don Miller, is giving the benediction at the end of the DNC proceedings tonight? I think that's the same Don Miller, although I just saw his name on the schedule and haven't confirmed.

I've had some folks ask me what I thought of Biden. I'll give him a VP report card like I did the presidential hopefuls, but I'll go ahead and say that I understand the pick, but that it's late in the game and Obama could have swung to hit one out of the park, but instead he merely kept the ball in play. He can win with the strategy, but its not going to inspire anyone. I'd be willing to guess that 75 years from now, high school history students will only remember Biden if Obama loses.

Finally, it is less than a week until UNC kicks off another football season, so that means in the next couple days I will post my yearly prediction for the season. Last year, I gave my prediction based on the result of the first game (see the original guidelines here, and the revised guidelines here). Not to toot my own horn, but last year's revised ruberic predicted 4 wins, and 4 wins was what we got. So, start making your own picks because I'd like to hear your predictions in the comments. 

...but Brooklynne is.

Our cucmbers and mellons have stopped producing, so that means half our garden is currently idle. I think it is time to till up that half, and replant it with a fall garden. Here's what I have thought of so far:

• broccoli
• collards
• cabbage
• carrots
• spinach
• sweet potatoes
• snow peas

Are there any great gardeners out there that can suggest other good fall crops? Of course we don't like all veggies, so don't take it personally if we don't take your suggestion of beets, etc.

WE WIN GOLD!!!!

1-0 US with 4 mins to go in 2nd OT

NBC has effectly made it impossible to get real updates on the game, but if the twitter is right, the US just scored to go up 1-0 on Brazil in Extra Time.

Always inspect your bike before beginning a ride.

Apply here.

The Dodgers have once again made a winning move to bolster their chances for the final 40 days of the season.

Apparently, they have traded two players-to-be-named-later for Greg Maddux. If I had been Ned Colletti, I would have waited until after Thursday to make this trade, just in case Maddux had the chance to pitch against Arizona, who is starting a series against the Padres tonight. In that situation Maddox would do us just as much good pitching for his old team, but whatever.

I just hope he decides to bring back the 'stache. I think it would go really well with Manny's dreds, and it would give us the last little boost we need to get into October.

In other sports news, if you weren't convinced that Michael Phelps actually won against Milorad Cavic in his miracle race, then check out this frame-by-frame photo series that features a blown up view of Cavic's finger tips. Simply the greatest finish to a race ever, in any sport.

By the way, I think Milorad should be my new nickname.

If you are like me and you rarely watch TV except sports and a few specific shows, you probably missed the "faith forum" this weekend. And if you did, you might want to watch it online. Here are the links: Obama part 1; Obama part 2; McCain part 1; McCain part 2.

I thought both guys did pretty well, although this kind of reinforced my opinions of the candidates rather than revealing anything new. I was disappointed by how trite McCain's answer was for the question about what it means to him to be a Christian. On the other hand, his admission that the failure of his first marriage was his greatest moral flaw was profound. I wish he had talked about it a little more, but I understand and respect that he would not want to talk too much about it in front of a national audience and with his new wife watching. My other impression of McCain was how much his answers gravitated towards his identity as a military man: General Petraus is one of his best advisors, he met with soldiers fighting in the name of freedom in Iraq, many of his shaping experiences were as a POW, his toughest independent stand was voting against sending marines to Beirut, etc., etc., etc.

Obama seemed more thoughtful, but a bit more fuzzy on his positions. I liked his answer to what it means for him to be a Christian, and I like his answer to what is the most significant issue he's shifted positions on in the past 10 years (welfare reform). I also liked his answer to the "define rich" question (income of $150,000+/year; McCain: $5,000,000!!!!).

Ultimately, I came away from watching this feeling like both candidates are good people who have a genuine desire to serve their country, but one of them sees the world much more like I do, and the other represents an outdated view of the world. Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments.

Cory and Brooklynne made this mosaic, here's mine. If you want to join in and make one of your own, see instructions on Brooklynne's blog.

1. Brooklynne's birthday was Monday. She thinks she's getting old, but I know better. I think she had a really good time at her party Saturday, and she loves her new bike, so thanks to all of you who helped on those fronts. Our families came together and got her a Trek Pure Sport Lowstep in gray with a baby seat, bell, odometer/computer, lock, and Halleigh helmet. We've already taken it to the park for a picnic dinner! What fun!

2. I usually don't like watching the olympics because it is always too sappy. However, this year I've gotten drawn in a little because the coverage is much less sentimental and I've gotten lucky in turning it on right when some of the best, most competitive events have been on. Still I have a few pointers for NBC: 1) show some great performances from people besides Americans--NBC is obscessed with only airing the events that have American headliners; 2) show more of the team sports--I would MUCH rather see a basketball, soccer, volleyball (indoor), or hockey match than another swimming heat; 3) put someone besides Bela Kiroli in the room with Bob Costas.

3) The age controversy in gymnastics is mostly sour grapes on the Americans' part. If we had brought our A game when the Chinese gave us an opportunity, we would have the gold anyway. It's just being a sore loser to cry foul after you failed to perform at gold-metal level anyway. Get over it.

4) The other day, out of the blue, Halleigh said "you're welcome" when I told her thank you.

5) As much as I hate to be on Bush's side in anything having to do with the military, I think the move to send troops into Georgia on a "humanitarian" mission is probably a good decision. Hopefully we can offer aid to the people there, while preventing the Russians from steamrolling Georgia without actively threatening our old rival. I just hope Condi will make sure Saakashvili knows that we're not going to back up all of his dumb moves in the future. I would love to hear what other people think, especially my overseas friends who may get less biased news service.

Here's an interesting article that illustrates some of the culture gaps that still persist in the face of the global technology revolution.

Last Friday was "Grandmother Day," the day once a year when Grandmother takes me out on the town to do whatever I want. Since being married, she has taken Brooklynne (and now Halleigh) with us too. This Year we went to the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Science.

There was no photography allowed in the exhibit, so here's a picture from lunch beforehand at the the Raleigh Times Bar. The food was pretty good, but the service was marginal and the atmosphere really was kind of bar-ish, which we should have expected from the name.

Anyway, the exhibit was great for making you ask questions about the scrolls, like where did they come from, were they related to the nearby settlement and how, why were they hidden, and how do we integrate them into our knowledge of our religion? But the exhibit was less good about answering those questions, or maybe explaining the options at least. I mean, I'm not looking for the museum folks to tell me how to interpret the meaning of the scrolls, but the exhibit mentioned several theories about the scrolls without giving a reasoned arguement for each.

I blogged a little last week about Manny Ramirez coming to the Dodgers, but this weekend was a time for further celebration as Brooklynne and I took time out of our busy schedules to toast to Manny with some Brooklyn Pennant Ale '55. Maybe we can help the boys in blue channel some of their inner '55.

Burly was in town from Chicago for a week and we grabbed breakfast together at Elmo's on my RDO Friday, and then we grabbed a drink with Matt Wallace Sunday night at Bull McCabes. Burly has been a good friend for a long time. He was one of the first guys to befriend me at UNC, and later we shared apartment for a year.

While I was in Montana, Burly went to Chicago to study at Trinity. Now, Burly and his wife, Naomi, are in the process of moving their family (3 boys and 1 on the way) to the Cleveland area, where they will help a quickly-growing church to plant a new congregation in a different part of the city.

Here are a couple of then and now pics for your enjoyment.

I admit that I was excited to hear about my boys trading for Manny. Usually, I would not endorse going after expensive rent-a-bats, especially those who have demonstrated a questionable sense of respect for the game, meanwhile trading away young potential. But for whatever reason, I like this trade. As John Donovan has pointed out, by agreeing to let go of his option years, Ramirez has put himself in a position to be rewarded with a fat free agent contract at the end of the season, which will only get fatter if he can produce and if he can get along with teammates and management. He has everything to play for.

Also, we didn't give up that much. I'm tired of promising prospects who are chronic underachievers and I don't think we'll lose much sleep over not having LaRoche in the future.

If Manny plays up to his career stats, and the rest of the team holds steady, there is no excuse for not winning the NL West.

In other sports news, UNC kicks off its summer workouts today. I love college football season. It is by far my favorite sports season of all. Let's hope UNC can continue to build on the positives of last season.