The Final Four

My heart jumped like Michael Carter-Williams going for a block when I heard that the NCAA Final Four was coming to Atlanta. And not only was the Final Four back (last in ATL in 2007), Syracuse, my hometown team was playing. I geared up for a great week, and was not disappointed (well actually, only minorally disappointed when "Cuse lost). But apart from the games, one of my highlights had little to do with how well my bracket was doing (it did terrible), but hanging with Mason, Andrew, and Eric at Bracket Town.

We had a great time; I felt like I was 12. We played just about every game including, arcade basketball,  knock-out, football, and even made our own basketball cards. And yes Mason's faux-basketball name was hilarious and ended in something like Dr. ---izzle. By the late afternoon I had seen people from the neighborhood at the stadium, the free concerts, and I was a bit tired and hungry from wings.

I just feel really lucky to know Mason, Andrew, and their family. Here are a few photos and videos that capture the fun and glory of being apart of a great community.

At the Auto Show

Last Thursday I got to go to the Atlanta Auto Show with my father-in-law (Harry), mentee (Mason), and two of Mason's brothers. I haven't been to many auto shows to compare this with, but for me, it was a pretty good time. In addition to hearing Harry reminiscence about the cars he's owned, and hear Mason explain his admiration for Pontiac GTOs, it was somewhat rare opportunity to see my family and neighbors connecting over a shared interest. 

At one point, we came across some model motors that attracted their attention. Harry (having assembled some motors before) examined it and identified some of the key pieces, while Mason enthusiatically shared his knowledge of where the spark plugs could be found. (Note: his awareness of the spark plugs  can be found because of little lesson that Josh Shoemaker gave us a while back - Mason remains it very clearly).

I'm not sure if this will lead to more tinkering with Mason on motors, or if my family will find themselves talking more with my neighbors about shared interests but for now I'm just enjoying that nice moment of over-lap and connection.
- Eric

Basketball Season Update!

First of all, my apologies for not updating the blog regularly enough!  As life gets busy in Vine City, the blog is always what seems to fall through the cracks.

Well, the basketball season has gone well so far.  The boys are 2-3 and are really beginning to play together as a team over the last 2 weeks.  The playoffs start tonight so we'll see how far they can go!

Here are a couple of pics from the season...

Raymond Thomas showing off the new jerseys!

Our attempt to get a group picture with all of the Vipers players and fans...at least we tried!

Thanks for all of your support and we'll try to do a better job of keeping the blog updated!

~Drew