Swap Blog

I am a lifelong and proud resident of metro Knoxville. I always look forward to this great area getting attention where even more can learn about this great area of the nation. Unfortunately all the national news about Knoxville has been bad the last 36 hours or so.

As the world knows there was a shooting (2 dead, numerous others injured physically and emotionally) Sunday morning at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC). Though my personal beliefs and faith have little in common with the beliefs and views of the Unitarian Universalist church I personally am horrified by the acts of David Adkisson - the lone gunman. As a church going Christian is offends me when ANY house of worship is attacked and desecrated, even if it is one that I personally have differences with.

The letter found in Adkisson’s truck told of how he choose TVUUC because he disagreed with the “liberal” views of the congregation. As I said before I personally have major differences in beliefs and views with the UU church, but such disagreements are NOT grounds for violence (or even threats of violence). What makes America great is that people can live / exist side by side peaceably and disagree on large issues of life / personal views. Everyone has the right to their own views and beliefs, even if I do not agree with them. The fact that conservative and liberal people live and work side by side all day and every day while never getting into fights or resorting to violence speaks to that fact. It is the few people on each end of the spectrum that make the news when they resort to extreme actions, while the remaining 99.9% of people go through life respecting and understanding the differences between themselves and others.

With all of the above said, I am personally praying for God to move mightily in this situation and for His love to heal the hearts, minds and lives of those directly impacted by this shooting. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. All of those at TVUUC know you and yours are in my prayers.

Well Team Columbia / High Road / T-Mobile… won their fifth stage in this years TDF yesterday. This one went to Marcus Burghardt, since Mark Cavendish has headed home. Considering their has only been 18 so far that is not bad..almost a 1/3. Considering that and adding in the yellow Kim Kirchen wore for a few days and his regular top 10 finishes (and top 10 overall until the last few days) and you have to say that Team Columbia has had a GREAT Tour De France. I thought they would do well, but I never thought they would do that well.

That TT on Saturday will be BRUTAL!!! Sastre is going to have to ride like a rocket to stay ahead of Evans.

Well Carlos Sastre did on Alpe De Huez what cycling fans have been waiting for him to do for a few years now…he went on a attack to win the race. Everyone knew it he had to go then or there was not reason for him to even try to go later. He went from the bottom, got yellow and put over 1:30 minutes into his biggest rival Cadel Evans (who is a far superior time trialest). I still think Cadel Evans wins this thing in the end.

Those Schlek boys can ride. Andy takes this thing in the next two years. Frank may win next year and then his brother the year after. They are really on fire. The strength of CSC only makes them even more powerful. OGrady, Viogt and Cancellara are beast. Lotto…well they really are not much help to Evans.

Kim Kirchen finally broke badly had fell a few space. He is a good TT guy so a top 10 is still possible for him.

Christian Vandvelde could still get a top 5 I think (with a top 3 a VERY VERY small likelihood with some bad TT’s by those ahead of him). My beat would be 4th with Evans, Sastre, and Schlek on the podium. Menchov may stay ahead of CDV as well. Kohl will tumble back I think.

Interesting side story, the Danish PM rode part of the stage yesterday. That is cool. Story here

The high / low point of the day was seeing Micheal Douglas award the yellow jersey to Sastre. Cool to see an American star involved in the tour. Unfortunately based on the interview I saw of him on Versus he really does not follow the sport as he said he thought David Miller might due well on Le Alpe. Yeah ok…if it was downhill TT and that then had a 35K flat to the finish.

His Garmin hat said it all, and understand I LIKE Garmin Chipolte, but he was there on a invite and was doing a presser more then being there as a fan. Sad for a epic stage like that to be linked to a guy that really does not care about cycling. At one point I thought he was about to say he thought Lance would ride well…. clueless.

Milton Stanley, writing today at Milton’s (Not So) Daily Dose, has a excellent short post up on how the work of God is done by sinners like you and me. Great stuff and stuff to ponder. Milton’s full post here.

Well Christian Vandevelde lost his chance to WIN the 2008 TDF yesterday, yet he still thinks he can get on the podium- story here - though Jonathan Vaughters (Garmin Chipotle’s team manager / owner) thinks a top five is more reasonable.

I think Vaughters is closer to right then Vandevelde, but I hope I am wrong. I would love to see CDV on the podium, but he is going to have to really put a hurting on the big men of the tour today as he can not make up 3 minutes (2 minutes maybe) on most of them in the TT to get a top 3. No way you are passing Evans by 3+ minutes in the next few stages short of a the worst three rides of Evans life and ALOT of mechanical issues.

Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia being top 7 this late in the race is a surprise to me. He has ridden well in the past and won some big races, but I never thought he could hang with the top riders over the big climbs. Take his mechanical problems out of the first Alpine climb and this guy would be top 5 (maybe top 3) at this point easy right now. I think he could wind up top 5 as well which would be a real boon for USA cycling - two US teams with top 5 riders in Paris. Even if it winds up two USA teams with top 10 riders in Paris it is a great result for them.

I heard Above The Golden State’s Sound Of Your Name for the first time about a week ago on XM32 The Message. It really blew me away being so beautiful and simple. Though it is not my normal style of music (it is far softer then what I typically listen too), I really like it. Above The Golden State’s first CD - which is self titled - dropped on the 22nd (yesterday). If you are into CCM I would recommend you give them / it a listen and see if it will fit into your library.

Not sure how I missed this, but I did. Back on July 12th the Knoxville News Sentential had a story about a Kentucky pastor (whose church handles snakes) who was arrested for having illegal snakes. In my view, the best line in the story is from Zoo Director Jim Harrison -

“You can purchase anything off the Internet except common sense,” Harrison said. “A venomous snake isn’t a pet. You don’t play with it. If you do, you’re an idiot.”

Story here

Sony responded today to Microsoft’s temporary drop in XBOX pricing by permanently cutting PS3 prices. Story at TG Daily here.

We made the move to Wordpress 2.6 last night. It went smoothly, no problems, and the database did fry itself all AM so we will call this a smooth and effective upgrade.