My first Monday of the new year..........

Sometimes it's hard to get going on Mondays. You can feel a bit slovenly after the weekend. But I'm looking forward to this week, and Monday starts it off!

I had a good day yesterday. I FINALLY got down to see my parents to do our Christmas. We didn't do it on Christmas, as they were down in Albany at my oldest step-brother's house. He was in the Army and finished out his career stationed at Fort Benning. I have another step-brother that's in the Air Force out in Texas. Anyhoo, I was supposed to go to my parents the day after, but that was the snow day. I'm sure most of the roads were fine, but I live in a bit of a valley. Big hills to go up (or down) no matter which way you go. And parts of them never see direct sunlight, so when it snows or ices up they're always treacherous. So, I felt it best to stay home last Sunday.

It was good to see them. I don't get down there much. They only live about an hour and 15 minutes away. I love my parents, of course. It's just that my mom is a super right-wing ultra-conservative Christian Republican. Kinda like Pat Robertson. I'm not that......I tend more towards the Libertarian point of view. She used to do work with Newt Gingrich when he was still on the local level. She can get preachy at times. And it seems that every time I'm down there, somehow the topic of "the gays" comes up and how they're an abomination. It happened again yesterday. My sister was over and we were talking about old teachers from North Clayton. She brought up Mr. Nutt and how he was obviously gay. Also how it was still kinda taboo to be open back then or whatever. My sister, who has had her share of rough times, is starting to become our mother. So, that set the thing going all over again. You would think my mother would be a little more understanding, as one of her brothers is a homosexual. But he's had some legal issues, as well as drug and alcohol problems, so that makes her case I guess.

My dad is cool. He can't hear from years of working the ramps at Delta. But I'd hang out with him any day. I remember one Christmas, I made them a cd of music. The opening track was "He Didn't Have To Be" by Brad Paisley. It's a song he wrote about his step-father. So we're listening to it and he's not hearing the lyrics so well. My mother says , rather loudly, "it's about his step-daddy". My dad asks......."who's a fat daddy?". And there ya go. Anyway, if you don't know the song....check it out.

They had gotten a new hdtv, blu-ray player and surround sound system for Christmas. Most of it was still packed up waiting for ME to come hook it up. It's fine. I know they're not the most technologically savvy people. And these are HUGE steps for my parents. They JUST got a satellite from one of my brothers last year. They've never even had cable in their house. We never had it growing up. My mom felt it was the devil's work, since they could cuss and show nudity and all.

So, I hooked it all up and we watched the Falcons game. I hated to tell them they need a new receiver to get the high-def signal. My sister had gotten them the Jim Carrey Grinch blu-ray. I put that in for them so that they could understand the quality difference. You'd have thought I just showed them what electricity was.

So, all in all, a good day! Time with family, good food, good weather, A FALCONS WIN and a great night of sleep. I'm off now to get a walk in before I go back to my regular schedule at work.

I work at a sports radio station here in Atlanta...........680 the Fan. I am an engineer/board op there. It's a job I've done for several stations over my career. You can listen to us on 680 AM or 93.7 FM if you're local, or at 680thefan.com if you're not. I work with some good people. There's been an adjustment period, since I just started with them in April., but things are much better. If you're a big UGA fan, I also get to work with THE Buck Belue.

Y'all have a great day and be safe.