The Loss of a Good Friend

On Wednesday, I unfortunately had to say goodbye to an unconditional friend of 11 years, our first dog, Toby. We got her when she was 6 weeks old, along with her sister Trini, from a friend of ours shortly after Rhian and I had bought our first house in 1997. We had initially wanted to get one puppy. Rhian even said that we weren't getting any if the puppies weren't cute. When we went to see them, there were only 2 left, and of course, Rhian thought they were "cutie"! She then said that we should take them both, since one would be lonely without the other. Toby was smaller than Trini, and always tried to make herself seem bigger, but always got along. We thought Toby was part cat, because even though she was only a foot high, she could leap through a four foot window, and even tight-rope walked a four foot chain-linked fence! She was extremely friendly to everybody, and wasn't shy about jumping onto your lap and licking your face, no matter who you were. She would lick my face every time I told her to give me a kiss. (I wonder why Rhian wouldn't kiss me after this!) :o) She loved rides in the car. When she was younger she would even hop through the open window of my car, waiting for a ride! After we got our house here in Stockbridge, she loved to go for walks in the woods behind us and swim in the creek. She would become Christian's friend after he was able to walk and talk. Even though Christian playfully would sit on her and pull her tail, (earning the nickname Calvin , after the mischievous comic strip character), she loved Christian unconditionally. She wagged her tail every time she saw him! While the other dogs would run away, she would stay for his company. They were great with each other. Christian returned the favor the day before she passed. While she was lying down, he sat beside her and told her "It's okay Toby" and stayed with her for about 15 minutes. Despite being ill, she still managed to wag her tail. She even got one last ride in the car on the way to the vet the day she passed. Despite not having enough energy to stand, she managed to sit up and enjoy the ride. It was a real privilege to have a dog like Toby. She epitomized the phrase "man's best friend". She will be tremendously missed.

Easter at Mom and Dad's House

All of the Sharps, some of the Patricks, and friends celebrated all or part of their Easter at Mom and Dad's House. Of course, there was the annual Sharp Easter Egg Hunt, Christian got to take a ride on Kyle's swing in the back yard, and we shared in a wonderful and delicious dinner. Legend has it that each year, Mom stays up late the night before, preparing the mashed potatoes. :o) Christian got his candy, Karen got her M&M's, and I got my jelly beans. I haven't counted them yet, but I believe I still have the Sharp record for number of jelly beans received at Easter.


CLICK HERE to see all the pictures

Rhian Beat's Mom at Women's 5K by a Nose :o)

What was an impressive day at the Atlanta Track Club's Women's 5K race by Mom and Rhian nearly turned tragic. A clue is in the title. More in a minute. Christian, Reagan, and Myself took Rhian and Mom to the race out in Candler Park near Little 5 Points close to downtown this morning. It was a beautiful day for a race, sunny, 50 degrees with little humidity. Over 700 women showed up. It's a very well run race, with each woman getting a carnation and a nice, fitted t-shirt at the finish. Mom ended out running a minute faster than last year, and managed a 5th place finish in her now highly competitive age group. Rhian ran her 2nd fasted 5K ever and fastest since Reagan's birth, unfortunately, hear age group is even more competitive, so she didn't place, but was very pleased with her result. After spending an hour socializing and listening to the race results, we proceeded to leave. Now were back to the part where things nearly turned tragic. Christian, being the independent big brother, loves to push Reagan in her stroller, and refuses to let anyone else push. As soon as he started to push Reagan down the sidewalk, right next to Mom, she turns around quickly to walk, and proceeds to trip over the stroller, tilting Reagan on her side, and eventually with the stroller upside down, with Reagan face down, out of view. My first concern was Reagan, since she started balling and Mom seemed to be okay from my view, since she seemed to have brace her fall. Rhian, who was ahead talking, saw Reagan, didn't hear her and began to panic. After I"rescued" Reagan, she seemed to be okay, and I scolded Christian for not being more careful. Mom wasn't so fortunate. What broke her fall was her nose. She got up, face bloodied, and stated that she thinks she broke her nose. Christian became very worried and near tears. A friend of ours, Amy, and several others ran and got paramedics who were close by. As they were tending to her, mom's concern was that she didn't have her insurance card. I told her not to worry, that I will take care of it. Mom seemed to be okay to travel by car to the hospital, as the bleeding had stopped. Being somewhat chilled and shook up by what had happened, she started to have a hard time standing at it was decided it would be best if she was transported by ambulance to Emory Hospital. Before leaving, In typical Mom fashion, she wanted to be sure we had her shirt. I knew then that she was going to be all right. :o). I called Dad at the lake house to tell him what had happened. I assured him that Mom was okay and the we would tend to her, and call him with updates. He said to keep him posted, and he would come home if needed. Rhian rode with her in the ambulance, and our friends Tina and Dale Klein gave the kids and myself a ride to our car, since it was far away. Once I had the kids in the car, Christian was still worried and I told him that it's okay, that accidents happen, and that I wasn't mad at him. This seemed to make him feel better. Rhian called me to tell my Mom's blood pressure was okay and that she was waiting for a doctor in an exam room off the ER. The doctor determined that her nose was probably fractured, at minimum a contusion, and that either way, it's treated the same. She was given a tetanus shot as a precaution, along with instructions and what to expect, and discharged. Upon leaving, Christian instinctively went to push the stroller in front of Mom, but I was able to avert an encore with my lightning fast, goalie reflexes. :o). On the way back to the house, Mom and I talked, and she sounded like her normal self. She was ready to get home to a quiet house and in her bed. Mom was going to be okay and Reagan was fine. It could have been a lot worse.

CLICK HERE for pictures before the near tragedy

Good Friday Get Together at Rhian and Chris's House

Lent came to an end at our house Friday with a nice West Indian meal prepared by Rhian and her mother. All the Sharps and most all the Patricks (sans Jason) enjoyed a nice meal of salt-fish (salted cod) and provisions (plantain, green banana, yucca, & sweet potatoes). Afterward, Christian and Khadija colored eggs, and then Christian and his friend across the street, Chase, who's 2 1/2, had a little Easter egg hunt in the front yard. After that, Dad hid what has become to be known as the "Big Egg" or "Big Money Egg" and had Adrian do a hunt for it. All 3 of them made out like bandits! It was a nice get together, and it was a nice preparation for the legendary Sharp Easter egg hunt at my Dad's house this Sunday.


CLICK HERE to view the pictures

Severe Storms Rock Atlanta

JUST ADDED PICTURE OF TORNADO THAT HIT ATLANTA. LIGHTNING ILLUMINATED THE SKY TO PROVIDE THIS INCREDIBLE PICTURE TAKEN BY PRO PHOTOGRAPHER SHANE DURRANCE.





For nearly 24 hours Friday night through Saturday, Atlanta got hit with what was described as a train of severe storms moving over the area. We weren't expected to get anything severe until Saturday, but to our surprise, we got hit with an EF-2 tornado Friday around 9:40 PM, the first time a tornado had ever hit downtown Atlanta. We weren't even supposed to get any precipitation until Saturday! I had noticed lightning out to our west around 8 PM Friday when I was on my way to work out at the South Dekalb YMCA. I watched The Weather Channel while running on the treadmill. All radar showed was a small but someone strong isolated storm moving through downtown. When I left the YMCA around 9:30, I could see lots of lightning to the west and I could hear the constant sound of distant thunder. A fellow who worked at the Y had commented that he had better get home before the storms hit, and I told him that the storms were in downtown and shouldn't be a problem. When I reach home around 9:50, I switched to The Weather Channel, to Rhian's delight (sarcasm noted :->). They said there was a tornado warning due to this storm for Fulton and Dekalb Counties. They somewhat nonchalantly mentioned that there was some storm damage in downtown, but really didn't say specifically what it was. I promptly changed it to Channel 5 (Rhian was even more delighted :->) and they were showing video from inside the Georgia Dome with the scoreboard and other signs swinging and a portion of what looked to be the roof flapping back and forth. They kept getting more and more reports of damage, but never said that it was a tornado, but suspected it was. I began flipping through the local channels, which prompted Rhian, somewhat angrily, to say "It's done, we know there's damage in downtown, it's no longer news". I, being the weather buff that I am, just laughed and said, "How often does a tornado hit downtown Atlanta?" (I knew already it was tornado from the little damage footage I had seen). I stayed up until 1:30 watching, until I got tired of watching the same footage over and over. I was awakened around 6 AM to what was to be the first of many storms to hit the metro Atlanta area. We caught a break until about 1 PM, when more storms began to develop, prompting all the local TV stations to preempt programming and provide constant coverage of the severe weather for about 4 hours. At first, it was only north Georgia near Lake Lanier getting the severe weather. I told Rhian we probably wouldn't get anything severe. Well after 2 PM, the first of several storms began "training" across Atlanta, one after the other. There were many tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings issued all over metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Things got scary around 4 PM, where a storm that had prompted tornado warnings in eastern Alabama moved into west metro Atlanta, prompting tornado warnings for Fulton County (downtown) and Dekalb. All indications showed a tornado on the ground, heading straight for the Georgia Dome and the heart of Downtown. Doppler radar indicated it, 3D radar indicated it, the Baron Tornado Index (which uses algorithms to determine the possibility of a tornado) indicated it, even video from Atlanta Airport looking towards downtown indicated it. While seeing this, Rhian asked if my mom had gone to my parents house on Lake Jackson, since my dad was already there. I told her I wasn't sure, and suddenly became nervous, as it looked that storm was heading in the direction of their house in South Dekalb. I called the house, but no one answered. Getting more nervous, I called their lake house, and to my relief, found out that my mom, Karen, and Kyle were there, and out of it's path. Channel 2 then showed the projected path of the storm going straight towards where my parents lived! It was later determined that what we had seen wasn't a tornado, but just a rotating thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail that gave the illusion of a tornado. I could see the storm passing through our bedroom window, since it faces north, and the storm was only about 5 miles from us. The sky quickly got real dark for about 5 minutes, then got bright as quickly as it got dark. About 15 minutes later, Channel 2 reported large hail in a storm about 5 miles to our west. I grabbed the camcorder and shot footage outside. It was eerily quiet, with a sort of quiet, constant rumbling sound. It sounded like what I though a tornado would sound like, but the wind wasn't blowing at all. Then it suddenly began to pour down rain, and within a minute, a few hailstones fell, then all of a sudden, it began hailing like hail, covering the ground! This lasted about 10 minutes, and then stopped as quickly as it had began. The only damage we sustained was to begonias I had set outside to get rained upon. After this, things quieted down, and by 5:30, the sun was out, with only a few clouds, like nothing had ever happened.

CLICK HERE to Watch video of the suspected tornado.

Reagan Is Standing!

Reagan, in an effort to keep up with her brother, learned how to stand on her own last Saturday, albeit with the aid of the rail in her crib. She's been trying for a while, and to our surprise, when we walked into her room, she was standing. Needless to say, she was very proud of herself! I'm sure she'll be walking and talking soon, just so she can hang with Christian. :o) Here's are the first pictures of her doing so.

Christian is 3 Years Old!!

Christian turned 3 yesterday. For his birthday, we traveled nearly 300 miles to Folkston, GA to visit the "Folkston Funnel". The Folkston Funnel, located 5 miles north of the Florida border and about 35 miles north of Jacksonville, is where all the trains travelling from the midwest through Atlanta and from the east coast through Savannah "funnel through" before before splitting to either the east or west coast of Florida. People come from all over to sit on the platform and watch. The hard core ones, known as "rail fans" come equipped with scanners, tripods, laptops with CSX software, the works! It's a big happening for train watching. We spent 2 hours there on Sunday and saw 7 trains, including an Amtrak train. We spent the night in Jacksonville, and on the way back Monday, spent 2 hours again, but only saw 3 trains due to work on the rail line. Christian really enjoyed himself. The highlight of the trip was meeting up with my parents on the way down at a shop called "The Plantation House" in a little town called Arabi off I-75, about 200 miles from home. My parents were on their way back from Jacksonville from the River Run. We had a nice little get-together. Christian got himself some candy and bongos for his birthday. It was great that we could coincide our travels to meet up. Thank goodness for cell phones! On a side note: Christian used his bongos to help summon the trains on Sunday. After a train had been sitting on the tracks before the crossing for about an hour due to rail work, Christian said he had to get his bongo out of the car so he could make the train go. As soon as he started banging, the train moved! After this train was gone, he said he was going to hit the bongo to make the next train come. Within a minute, another train came! Everyone was impressed, including Christian and the rail fans who were sitting on the platform with us. He tried it again for the 3rd time, but it took about 10 minutes for the next one. Needless to say, Christian thoroughly enjoyed himself. I'm sure it's what he'll want to do for his 4th birthday!

Soccer Season Is Back!

Spring must be around the corner, because soccer is starting all over. The U-19 Girls soccer team I coach in Tucker (TYSA) had their first game Saturday and the Over-35 team (Globals) for whom I play in West Gwinnett had our first game Sunday. Both games ended in ties. Our girls team had a 2-0 lead at half, but we played most of the game one player short due to an injury and lack of subs, and finished 3-3. In our men's game, we completely controlled the game and had many opportunities to score, but could only manage 1 goal in the tie. The other team only had one shot on goal, and needless to say it was a goal. Being the goalie, I was notified by one of my teammates that my save percentage was zero. I promptly thanked him with a one finger salute. ;o)

Both pictures are from the fall season.

See where our men's team stands: Over 35 Standings