Ft. Pulaski

Yesterday I went to Ft. Pulaski. (I also went to Ft. Jackson, but as it was a flooded, malaria ridden piece of trash, I can't recommend it to anyone). So Ft. Pulaski was a huge brick fort commissioned by Jefferson, then had a big nasty artillery battle in the Civil War. The South held it for awhile, until Union troops blasted at it for 30 straight hours using 13 inch exploding mortars from over a mile away. The South surrendered, the Union took over, patched her up, and used her to help enforce the Northern blockade of the South during the war.

Oddly enough, despite having 1000 or so Union troops just 10 miles from Savannah, Savannah itself wasn't ever conquered/evacuated until General Sherman's March to the Sea (when he burned Atlanta and wrecked havoc to Georgia). So this fort was a Union fort completely surrounded by the Confederacy for most of the war.

On a related note, I'm of the opinion that traveling alone sucks. Maybe some people like it, but count me out. I think traveling should be done with a friend. Nevertheless, while in the Mellow Mushroom, this hippie pizza place here in Savannah, I read the following quote from St. Augustine:

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering."

Wormsloe

So after work today I went and checked out an old estate called Wormsloe from the original colony. There wasn't much left of the original buildings other than a few old walls. But, I did learn a few things about Georgia. I'll take them point by point.

1) These woods make for easy walking about, but they're freaky because all the birds make a ton of noise above you, and are constantly knocking stuff about, so I kept thinking someone was walking nearby, only there was nobody there.



2) So when people moved here 200 years ago, if they were lucky enough to get a land grant, and could afford the labor, they could really make some sweet landscapes. This was way cool, closer to the vision of Georgia I had in my mind before coming here.

3) Problem is, 200 years ago, much like today, there was incredible disparity of wealth in Georgia. Most people didn't get big land grants, and even if they did they couldn't clear the land. So they stayed poor. While touring a museum I came across this little treasure.

4) Then Georgia actually was such a failure that it had to surrender it's charter back to the King. This means that it couldn't sustain itself, so went back under the King's control and became royal colony.

So what did we learn? That unless you have money, Georgia sucks. It's always sucked for poor people, and still does.

Chills

So today after work I went to the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum. It was kinda neat, they had some old planes, some videos, and a lot of generic WWII stuff. But the display which showed the rise to power of Nazi Germany had one item which literally sent chills up my spine. A giant, evil, authentic banner from Nazi Germany. Similar to what was on display here.

Yuletide Tales

So I left Georgia last Friday, the 21st and flew home to Dallas for a few days with the family over Christmas. It was nice to spend some time with my family, and my parents are settling nicely into the new house. It's really a nice house...

Then, after the gifts were opened and dinner was eaten, I hopped back on a plane for Georgia so I could come into work this morning and type this while wondering how long the guys here in the office will wait before playing video games.

Tiger Woods

So basically Tiger Woods is amazing. My favorite part is at the end of the article...

"I view my life in a way … I'll explain it to you, OK?" he told his small audience in Florida. "The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today. And that's how I look at my life. I will be better as a golfer, I will be better as a person, I will be better as a father, I will be a better husband, I will be better as a friend. That's the beauty of tomorrow. There is no such thing as a setback. The lessons I learn today I will apply tomorrow, and I will be better."

Weekend Update

So what does a single LDS dude do in Savannah Georgia for a weekend? Well, not a whole lot, but I tried to stay busy...

On Friday I went and saw I am Legend. I've learned over the past few years to just go to the movies by myself when I want to see something and can't find others to go. Such is the case in Savannah... But the movie rocked.

On Saturday I went down to the Savannah River and walked around downtown in a misty rain. It was kinda cool, but all the shops were super touristy and full of junk. But it was kinda cool just relaxing by the river and watching the ships.


Then today I went to church - I gotta say, this was by far the UN-friendliest place I've ever been to church at. I pretty much had to force some people to talk to me so I could find Sunday School and Elder's Quorum. Just more people talking the talk but not walkin' the walk when it comes to being a Christian/good Latter-day Saint.

After church I went to Hilton Head, which is a resort island in South Carolina about an hour away. Walked on the beach for awhile, relaxed, and came back to the hotel. Pretty exciting life!

The Devil went down to Georgia...

So, after my finals, I figured I should just sit around for 4 weeks between semesters, being a mooch at my parent's place and the like. Oh wait, that's not me... No, I set it up so I took off the day after finals to go work in Georgia for L-3. I arrived yesterday, meaning that today, my birthday, was the first day back on the job.

Work, well, work still sucks. 4 months off, no change - there's still nothing to do. The hardest thing about today was installing Half-life 2 on my laptop so I can play the other guys in the office. Other than that, the other hard thing was deciding where to go for lunch. As for real work, well, there was none. So basically, the next 3 1/2 weeks are basically an all expenses paid vacation to Savannah Georgia for me. I've been to Savannah, and hopefully working through Christmas won't be a horrible experience and I can find things to do... Not that Savannah Georgia has that much to do, but I'm going to find everything outside of work to do that I can.
(a shot of the moss hanging from the trees all around town. watch out, it's full of Chiggars).

Today, to celebrate living for 29 years, I went to the Atlantic Ocean. Oceans in general are pretty sweet, but they also kinda intimidate me. Something about endless, really deep, water. But despite the intimidation, there's also a nice rhythm and peacefulness to the ocean that I really enjoy.

Oh, as something of a report card - I do my yearly goals based on my birthday. Unfortunately, I only achieved 1/5 goals last year - the one goal I achieved was being able to play 5 songs on the guitar from memory. Hopefully I'll do better in my 30th year of life.

Done with Finals

So I'm finished with my first semester of law school. I'm tired, exhausted, and ready for a nap. It's kinda fun being back in school, though I think I'm pretty jaded from having worked a couple years before going back. Everytime someone says you "have to do it this way," I just think to myself, "never associate with that person." But law school, and law school finals, were almost exactly what I expected... though I'm not quite sure how to articulate what that expectation was. I just haven't found too many surprises - other than some of the things my professors put on the exam, that is... those surprised me good.

I wish...

I wish I could be part of something like this... Thanks to my friend Laura for the tip!

Exams

So I think I'm finally stressed - since my first final is in 9 hours I guess its not unexpected. It's the first time I've felt stress like this in years. I don't like it. I tried going to bed - that didn't happen... so now I'm up, writing this and checking facebook. Maybe trying to call some of you to chew the fat until I'm so exhausted I crash...

It's been nice not feeling this way the past couple years - not having to put months of work and effort into a 4 hour block of time and see what comes out. And considering I'm still not totally convinced I want to be a lawyer, is this really worth my time? My money? My life?

I just tried to recall the last time I could remember being stressed... I was a little worried about running the 8 miles in the Turkey Trot last week... but I think the last time I was stressed was when I nearly ran out of gas in my rental car while off-roading in the Mojave last year. I know I didn't like leaving Provo - but I don't think that was stress as must as 'leaving pains.'

I'm gonna try and fall asleep now.