Another Gator in Knoxville

In yesterday's post, I forget to mention that UF's Senior Vice President for Agricultural and Natural Resources Jimmy Cheek is one of five candidates for UT's chancellor position. He was on campus this past week being interviewed and meeting with faculty, staff and students. Cheek is the last of the five candidates to visit UT, and the next chancellor should hopefully be in place by spring 2009 or fall 2009 at the latest.

A Gator Near Knoxville

While there were many Gator fans in the Knoxville area this past weekend for the UF-UT football game, it's rare to find a member of the actual alligator family in these parts of East Tennessee. Well, one decided to come up for the game apparently.

Over the weekend an alligator-type animal was spotted in neighboring Sevier County near the Little Pigeon River. Tennessee wildlife officials finally captured the caiman Tuesday after a fisherman tried but failed. It has a new home with another caiman at Rainforest Adventures. Officials say the animal probably didn't venture all the way from Gainesville but was someone's pet that either escaped or was let go.

This caiman was only a few feet long but caused quite a stir. Being from Florida and growing up on a farm with three ponds (which are all dry at the moment), alligators were a very familiar site. They even walked into our backyard on occasion looking for water, and our dogs would bark at them, and they would usually leave.

I had to share with ironic story, especially since the Gators whipped the Volunteers 30-6 Saturday. It's great to be a Florida Gator!

Fall Weather and Football

It's been really warm in Knoxville during the past few weeks, but today is truly starting to feel like fall weather. It's been cloudy and windy, and I don't think the temperature has climbed much past 72 degrees. I'm looking forward to the seasonal changes. It's one of the main reasons I enjoy living in East Tennessee.

With fall, comes college football, and this Saturday will be an anticipated match up between my alma mater and my soon-to-be alma mater, UF and UT. My Gator friends can't seem to understand how I can live up here with all this orange and white, but when in Rome...so when in Knoxville, I'm a UT fan. We're not going to the game since it will be a crazed event, but we'll definitely be watching it at 3:30 Saturday afternoon. May the best team win! Go Gators! Go Vols!

By the way, for the first time in history, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has five teams in the top 10. (For those of you in other conferences 5 is half of 10 or 50 percent, which is a really good statistic). No other conference has ever been able to boast about this accomplishment. Florida is #4, Georgia is #3, LSU is #6, Alabama is #9 and Auburn is #10. I hope Florida destroys Georgia this season and inches closer to the top spot!

Studious Sammie

As you've probably read, Sammie likes to lounge around, and when I'm working, she makes a great paper holder. She also likes to sit on my papers or just about anything.

However, last Christmas, this presented somewhat of a problem. My parents had sent us several gift cards as presents, and I was sorting through them with Sammie next to me. I was also doing other things around the house, and at some point, I realized some of the gift cards were missing. I thought I'd thrown them away since I'd been cleaning out files that morning. I went into a slight panic mode since we had just taken the trash out. David and I searched the house from top to bottom, went through the garbage and the couch cushions. We even lifted up the pillow Sammie was sleeping on in case they were there.

After more than an hour, we were both frustrated to say the least and quit looking. A few minutes later, Sammie, who had been sleeping the whole time and hadn't moved, decided to stand up and stretch, and there under her were the gift cards we'd been searching for! She sat right back down on them as if she was protecting her stash. That's our Sammie!

A new trip down memory lane with 90210 and New Kids on the Block

Even though the Republican National Convention is on television tonight, and I should be watching it since I teach media courses, I'm sitting here in anticipation of the new "90210" set to premier with a two-hour episode tonight on CW. I'm excited, but I have a feeling I won't like it as much as the original. I grew up watching "Beverly Hills 90210" and Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, Donna, Dylan, Steve, Andrea and David mature through West Beverly High School, California University and somewhat real lives. I still watch reruns that I've seen a million times on the SOAP network. (In fact, SOAP had a Labor Day marathon of the best episodes, and I admit to watching a few.)

I was happy to hear that Jeanne Garth and Shannen Doherty have reprised their roles as Kelly and Brenda, but I had hoped more old faces would return. I am glad that Joe E. Tata has also returned. He plays "Nat," the owner of the Peach Pit. I realize the new show will be different, but I'm willing to watch the first few episodes, however, I am prepared that I might still enjoy watching the reruns more than the new version. I'll keep you posted.



Speaking of nostalgia moments, I was and still am a huge New Kids on the Block fan, and they've reunited this summer and are starting a fall tour. The closest location to Knoxville is Atlanta, so I don't know if I'll get to the concert or not. I actually had tickets to their show when I was in high school and lived in Florida. I won them from a local radio station, but they performed more than two hours away in Tallahassee on a Saturday night, and my parents wouldn't let me go since I was being baptized on Sunday morning. I love my parents, but I've never completely forgiven them for not letting me go. My favorite "new kid" was Jon Knight (second from the left in the photo above; he's the sensitive shy type). Their new album came out today, and I plan to purchase it.

There's nothing like hanging onto my youth even though it was hard living through it and making sense of the world and my place in it. At least I'll always have 90210 and the New Kids.