9,863 days…

9,863 days…

1,409 weeks…

26 years…

OK, if you know me at all, you probably wondered what I was alluding to with days and weeks, but the years part no doubt gave it away.   If you don’t know me, all will be answered in due time.

I digress. This all started when I began wondering what you could accomplish in 9,863 days.

You could fight World War II seven times.  (That is, IF you consider World War II starting when we declared war on Japan.  If you start when Germany invaded Poland, we could have fought it nearly 4 1/2 times!  Either way, Churchill rocks!)

 

You could have built the great pyramid at Giza (20 years) taken a nice vacation to Maui, and had a pretty good start on a 2nd pyramid!.

 

 

 

America’s longest serving President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt served 4,422 days as President.  H

e could have served TWICE that amount, we could have thrown in Gerald Ford’s Presidency (895 days) and STILL have had time for William Henry Harrison (32 days).  The other three months Al Haig could have handled.  (By the way, I don’t like smoking but FDR did look rather dapper with that cigarette holder!)

 

If you conceived a child on day one, that child could be grown, out of college, and already be a doctor or a lawyer after 9,863 days.  (Or you could have taken a shortcut and had TWO Justin Biebers!!!)

Trip to the moon?  Piece of cake.  It took the Apollo astronauts a little over 3 days (pedal to the metal) to get to the moon.  Figuring the same for a return flight, you and I could have gone to the moon 1,578 times over the last 9,863 days.

9,863 days.

1,409 weeks.

26 years.

Through yesterday morning, it had been 9,863 days, or 1,409 weeks, or just simply 26 years since the University of Kentucky football team had beaten Tennessee.  9,863 days of orange tainted misery.  9,863 days of first and goal from the 2 for a win and Mark Higgs not making it in four consecutive tries.  9,863 days of Lonas Seiber missing the field goal in overtime.  9,863 days of the echos of the most annoying fight song in the history of mankind.

No mas.  

A University of Kentucky football team, which had performed pretty lousy all year, with no bowl on the horizon for the first time in five years, found itself with two injured quarterbacks going into the final game.  They grabbed a wide receiver (who frankly had had his trouble actually “receiving” this year), and made him their starter.  They put together roughly a dozen plays, on one sheet of paper, and that was their game plan.  (Half of those plays they didn’t really WANT to use.)

And then, they didn’t tell.  Not friends.  Not families.  Certainly not the media.  And most of all, not the dreaded orange horde from down under.

And when the game started, WR, er.. QB Matt Roark began his final game in a UK uniform. Behind the center.  A position he hadn’t seen since high school.  Three hours that would take him to legend status.  Status that should cease him from ever having to pay for a meal in this state again.  Ever.  9,863 days to the tenth power ever!

Matt Roark is the new ‘Rudy’.  But unlike the OLD ‘Rudy’, Matt Roark played an entire game, in a position that wasn’t his, and its all documented right there on video tape.  (One play, fictionalized as it is, does not a career make!  Well, unless you’re Rudy Ruettiger.  He seems to have worked it out pretty well.)

9,863 days and it ended.

Kentucky 10, Tennessee 7

This blog is about me.  About the things that interest me.  About the things that influence me.  About the things I care about.

I’ve covered UK sports for many years.  I’ve never apologized for the fact that I’m also a fan.  I’ve worked with the radio network, the TV network, and I’ve hosted a talk show dedicated to UK football and basketball.  I’ve called coaches, staff, and players friends.  I’ve called the bad when I see it (Bill Curry with Tim Couch in the option, anything Billy Gillispie), and I’ve called the good.  I’ve driven at LEAST a hundred thousand miles on my own dime.

I will admit my bias.  I have no problem with you knowing that this is MY TEAM.  I’ve always wished them the best, but I’ve rarely looked through rose colored glasses.  (Roses are red.   I’ll have blueberry colored glasses, TY!)

Thanks, KSR

9,863 days.

November 26, 2011.

Did I mention it was my birthday?

And I received the greatest birthday gift of my adult life.

Just 9,863 days after the SECOND greatest birthday gift of my adult life.

Thanks, Matt Roark.  Thanks, Joker Phillips.  Thanks, Jerry Claiborne.

Happy birthday to me!

(And please don’t wait 9,863 days for my next gift.  I’m really not sure I’ll make it.)

 

Chicken with it’s head cut off…

Isn’t that the proverbial saying?  Like.. when you have way too much going on and can’t seem to make any progress on anything?

I looked at REAL chicken pictures. Too graphic!

Sort of what I feel like with the various projects I’m working on.  Oh yeah, you have NO idea what I’m working on.  OK, well, here’s a short summary.  Two phases, including a web based phase which not only includes this blog, but another support website for a Disney based travel project.  Second, what I’m tentatively calling the IBN or ‘Internet Broadcast Network’.  It’s basically a television station for the internet, and with it I’ll have the capability of pulling you, yes YOU, wherever you are into an internet wide broadcast.

It’s not that complicated, but uses some pretty slick software that allows me to bring up multiple video Skype callers, and put their conversations AND video on the air.  Interactive.  Because of the television features in it, I’ll be able to insert video, play music, talk back and forth… anything you see done on most television stations, and a lot of things you DON’T see being done.

So, between trying to learn WordPress for the various projects…  coding what I can…   wiring things as they become available and test modes…  all I can say is “cluck, cluck”.  (Although a chicken that truly had his head cut off, probably wouldn’t be doing that…)

It even got to the point that I went to the site www.fiverr.com Sunday night.  It is a site where people are willing to do all sorts of things for five bucks.  I was desperate for a logo for one of these projects, so I figured it was worth a shot.  I sent some person in India five dollars through Paypal, and a couple of hours later I had a logo!  The principle was a good one, and the program worked great.  The logos I got back had valiant effort, but I’m not using them.  Later, when I’m ready to announce the project, I just might publish them here.  Might not.  You might like them better than the one I settle on, and THEN where would I be?

Looking at that site DID make me ponder doing a bit of voiceover work.  There are some incredible talents on there, primarily from Britain.

Mrs. Peel. Inspiration for my GPS, and a thousand boyhood fantasies.

I guess people over here like having stuff done in an English accent.  (Even my GPS, ‘Mrs. Peel’, talks in a British accent, but then again, it IS an English car)  Maybe somebody across the pond will like having an AMERICAN accent on their stuff!  (Yet another project.  ..sigh..)

I took the night off last night, and had dinner with an old friend.  I relaxed, and for once didn’t think twice about this stuff.  It was an EXCELLENT move on my part.  Every now and then I just need to be reminded that there are other things in the world, and yes, other PEOPLE.  I have a great number of casual friends, and they’re wonderful.  I only have a limited number of GREAT friends, and I treasure them.

Anyway, this site is doing exactly what I wanted it to do, which is to provide me a place to write, vent and track my progress.  Time to go watch the rest of ‘Outsourced’.  And despite how awful it sounds, I may have some fig newtons and orange juice.

Might have to even look around for those old ‘Avengers’ DVDs.

WordPress Progress

I continue to work on things on this new blog, and I must say that having done precious little on WordPress over the years, I’m becoming more and more impressed.

Latest addition is under the ‘Social Media’ tab.  It is about 90% complete, and from this tab you can now find my various Twitter accounts, Facebook link, websites, emails and much more.

There are also links to my ‘Twitter newsletters’ which you will find out more about in a subsequent post.

OK, I’m here….

Welcome to www.edwardlowen.com.

For the longest time I’ve thought I needed a blog.  A personal blog.  Where I could talk about things that interest me, that catch my attention, that let me vent.

True, I’ve blogged before, but that always had specific intent, usually travel.  I also have thought I needed one website that brought ALL my stuff together.  My blogging, my tweeting, my travel interests, my broadcast interests, UK Sports.  I might even touch base on politics now and then.  And after a lifetime of meeting fun and sometimes even famous people, I’ll occasionally mention one of them.  Oh yeah, there will be pet talk.

I’ll probably talk about the things that make me happy. And I’ll talk about things I abhor.  If you refuse to think for yourself and march lock-step to a cause, you won’t like it here.  If you look at some of your fellow men differently than others, get ready.  I have no use for either.

Eventually, you’ll find links to all my twitter accounts, FB info, websites and blogs.  You’ll also find my daily news summaries geared for the casual reader, sports enthusiast or even Disney fan!

Ultimately what am I trying to accomplish here?  Just that “one stop place” to find me.  Do I want people to read this?  Sure.  Will I be upset if they don’t?  Maybe a little, but when it comes down to it, its more for ME than for anyone else.  If you find your way here, I hope you enjoy my ramblings, and please provide feedback.

What you WON’T see is me railing against others in a personal way.  Life’s too short.  Enjoy the ride with me.

One final thing.  If you have to ask what the ‘Big Blue Man’ means, you and I need to have a LONG talk!

My true boss... 'Elvis'