tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38168602011-12-30T08:59:21.561-06:00&#39;wA-w&amp;rd - adjective<br> 1 : following one&#39;s own capricious, wanton, or depraved inclinations : Ungovernable<br> 2 : following no clear principle or law : Unpredictable<br> 3 : opposite to what is desired or expected : UntowardJ. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.comBlogger7041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-66650530396933615382011-12-29T14:11:00.003-06:002011-12-29T14:11:27.730-06:00

It's been quite a while, but recent events have led me to the conclusion that a new round of Bucky Bombing may commence soon.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-37272776407869903312011-05-22T14:11:00.002-05:002011-05-22T14:20:31.042-05:00

Wow, my first post of 2011. I tend to do small posts on Facebook more now, so feel free to look me up there.I was working in Chattanooga last week and staying at the Marriott. I've been doing a lot of walking for the last two months, and I've gotten my daily average up to about 6 miles, and have hit 7.5 miles on several days during recent weeks.Since it doesn't get dark in Chattanooga until

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-4840616526540529762010-10-18T15:04:00.003-05:002010-10-18T15:13:16.578-05:00

Seen this past weekend in a fortune cookie at Swin on The Strip in Tuscaloosa:"Greed rips the bag."Your guess is as good as mine.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-72577828405308682532010-07-27T10:19:00.016-05:002010-08-02T00:28:08.313-05:00

In early September, 1863, William S. Rosecrans was doing well in life. He had risen rapidly through the ranks of the US Army and was in command of the Army of the Cumberland. He had recently defeated Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg at the Battle of Stones River and during the Tullahoma Campaign, and was now closing in on the city of Chattanooga. On Sept. 5, 1863, the day before his 44th

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-32575388403552884702010-05-29T14:14:00.004-05:002010-05-29T14:17:14.653-05:00

Marissa saw two snakes in our yard today, including this rat snake on our fence. He went to the back of the house a few minutes later and I was trying to lift him up with a rake he decided to crawl up into the siding by the back deck.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-58184262856005282992010-05-05T14:00:00.002-05:002010-05-05T14:03:45.900-05:00

I heard this several months ago while waiting in line at a Subway in a truckstop in north Alabama, but it stuck with me so I thought I'd share.A young woman enters, stage left."Momma! Daddy said for you to get away from the quarter machines! Back up off of 'em!"

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-60697647719585195442010-05-05T13:42:00.003-05:002010-05-05T13:46:46.059-05:00

Here's a picture I took behind my friend Paul's house out in western Davidson county near the Harpeth river. Everything you see was under water this past weekend. The picture quality isn't great, but you can see the large piles of gravel that used to make up the rail bed. Above that you can see the track hanging in mid-air. Just to the left of this scene is the bridge where the railway

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-58713473352811440922010-04-14T15:58:00.001-05:002010-04-14T16:00:00.290-05:00

This email was waiting for me in my inbox this morning from and old college friend Nate:So, I recently started some new medication that has me sleeping much deeper than normal, dreaming much more, and having much more vivid recollection of my dreams. Last night, Hatch made an appearance. Through some unlikely combination of factors, Hatch and I ended up at the same Middle/Jr. High school, waiting

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-48489788573068957962010-02-24T12:14:00.002-06:002010-02-24T12:34:57.242-06:00

Heff recently took a break from blogging after complaining he wasn't able to get enough done due to all the work maintaining a blog involved. Let's look at the Top 10 things Heff was NOT able to get done during his 4 month break, shall we?10. Uncle Chris and Bamatrav protein samples still under the couch in the basement.9. Three month supply of Rogaine is still stacked up in the closet.8.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-57472055111451929432010-01-19T19:13:00.003-06:002010-01-19T19:17:31.213-06:00

After work today I drove to the downtown YMCA. Parking was a bit of a pain, but I finally sneaked into a spot on the lower side of 10th Avenue. I was working "Pushes" tonight and since I'm just starting out again I'm doing light sets.12x75 Bench, 12x80 Bench10x50 Shoulder Press, 10x40 Shoulder PressI'm going to do triceps presses tonight at home with dummies since the gym was crowded and I was

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-1160310347854706162009-07-10T16:09:00.003-05:002009-07-10T16:25:36.356-05:00

At lunch I stopped at the local Racetrack to get some gas. I was using cash so I went inside. There were three people in front of me, and the first was an old lady buying scratch-off lottery cards. I have a bad attitude about lotteries in the first place, so it was especially frustrating to watch her buy 2 cards, pay with cash, wait for change, then pause for 10 seconds and decide to buy 2

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-58880722580082922232009-07-03T23:43:00.002-05:002009-07-03T23:48:14.090-05:00

So I played Texas Hold'em tonight for the first time since I stopped working in Atlanta about four years ago. It was hosted by songwriter extraordinaire Ashley Gorley and involved about 15 hairy apes sitting in his basement eating wings and slurping down Diet Pepsi's. This was tame poker since it was mostly people from church and Sunday school class.I didn't get many cards going my way, and

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-44722164960187704592009-07-01T10:05:00.002-05:002009-07-01T10:28:17.516-05:00

Jack's been asking me to go fishing again since the last time we went. We were going to go on Monday, but he ended up going to visit some church friends with Marissa. I promised him we would go fishing yesterday morning when we woke up, so I got home about 5:30 yesterday and after a quick taco dinner we jumped in the car and drove to the dam.Since I wasn't so rushed this time, I planned ahead a

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-47768705758832873402009-06-24T19:56:00.004-05:002009-06-24T20:11:46.371-05:00

We spent another afternoon at the Percy Priest dam fishing today after we went and bought a $12.00 rig at Walmart. I also bought a container of nightcrawlers after doing some research on the web about what to fish with on the Stones River.They were definitely striking it a lot more today. I found a nice little spot where every time I let the bait drift through they'd start hitting it. They

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-44941146649474003242009-06-24T13:30:00.003-05:002009-06-24T14:29:44.546-05:00

I got a wild hair to take Jack fishing yesterday. The only problem was that I had absolutely no fishing gear anymore. I got home from work at about 5:15 and got Jack loaded up and out the door about 5:30. First we headed over to Poppy's house since he had told us over the weekend he might have a fishing rod and reel down in his basement. He was home and after digging around in a corner, he

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-58478207144933487562009-06-19T15:50:00.003-05:002009-06-19T16:06:34.315-05:00

I'm at the gym at lunch earlier this week, and it's pretty quiet in the workout area. I also forgot to bring my iPod so I'm stuck with the overhead music. As I climb into the first machine it's playing "Let My Love Open The Door" by Pete Townshend. I've always enjoyed the song, so this isn't too bad.As I switch machines, the next song is "Let's Get Physical" by Olivia Newton John. I never

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-29648412897241639522009-06-15T15:29:00.003-05:002009-06-15T15:44:36.911-05:00

On the way back from Mexico Beach to Columbiana late this past Saturday afternoon, we stopped at a small service station somewhere between Troy and Montgomery to let everyone relieve themselves and grab a drink. As I was at the counter paying for our stuff, I noticed off to one side a box full of small bags that appeared to have white sand in them. Each bag had a cardboard label on the top

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-50159131219701637762009-06-15T15:12:00.005-05:002009-06-15T15:18:36.878-05:00

I'm playing around with the formatting of the blog. I like this one so far. I was getting tired of everything being squeezed into 640 pixels across. I've also relaxed the restrictions on the comments, so anything posted by Heff may be offensive, but what are you gonna do with your best friends? I visited one in the graveyard yesterday, so now I guess I'm feeling all sentimental, at least

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-81055126831981054142009-06-14T21:27:00.003-05:002009-06-14T21:43:15.857-05:00

This past Wednesday night I was sitting on the pier in Mexico Beach, drinking a Steel 221 and helping the local fish by allowing them to gently eat shrimp off my hook at no danger to themselves.Two young kids start talking to me while I'm sitting there fishing. They're about 8 or 9 years old and one is a real talker. Here's a sample of our conversation.Kid: What bait are you using?Hatch:

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-28631318783282620092009-06-04T13:31:00.004-05:002009-06-04T14:06:12.851-05:00

Purchased this afternoon from Book Man/Book Woman in Hillsboro Village.The Goblin Tower by L. Sprague de CampContinues a semi-tradition of reading Conan-esque books at the beach.The Road to Damascus by John Ringo and Linda EvansI'm pretty sure I read some Bolo books a long, long time ago. I think I even played a game based on it on my old Apple //e. Stardrift by John MorisseyI just took a

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-48023030773426743562009-06-03T15:31:00.002-05:002009-06-03T15:59:25.800-05:00

This past Monday I went to the barbershop in Donelson at lunch where I've been going to get my hair cut for several years now. I've noticed over the years that some of the most interesting conversations often happen in barber shops. This isn't usually the case for me at this particular shop since my barber, Abe, is the only one there on Mondays and it's usually pretty slow. Still, Abe and I

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-76246331400609693082009-04-06T15:14:00.003-05:002009-04-06T15:26:02.967-05:00

Back in 2000, my friend Dave Satterfield and I walked into City Cafe in Northport at about 4am for breakfast. It had been five years or so since I had eaten there, and several years for Dave. Both of us had eaten breakfast there several times a week when we were in college; me in the late 80's and Dave in the mid 90's.As we walked in the door of the restaurant, Ms. Mamie looked at us, put her

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-65753785620562829682009-03-05T16:48:00.002-06:002009-03-05T16:52:17.313-06:00

How sad is it that the most sane and honest commentary on the financial situation is coming from a comedy show on a comedy network. Here's the latest example..cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-45528634358828124232009-01-31T00:46:00.002-06:002009-01-31T00:54:19.059-06:00

So earlier this week, I wake up and groggily make my way towards the basement to weigh myself on the Wii Fit. I've been watching what I eat and exercising a lot this month, and part of my daily habit has been to weigh myself every morning on the Wii instead of doing a D.B.A.N.So I hit the basement steps, which have recently been re-carpeted. We have a bad habit of leaving items laying on the

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-88824234431564584252008-11-08T13:31:00.001-06:002008-11-08T13:34:49.741-06:00

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-80901141302226938242008-11-08T13:03:00.002-06:002008-11-08T13:13:29.957-06:00

Marissa took Jack to work with her this morning at the YMCA, so I slept late. I've been waking up earlier during the week now, so it was nice to sleep in, even though it was noisy enough outside that I didn't get too much real sleep.Marissa called to wake me up about 10:15 and I drove down to the Y to pick up Jack. He hadn't eaten too much that morning, so we stopped at McDonald's and got him a

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-88380221895355734022008-10-27T15:07:00.003-05:002008-10-27T15:18:37.947-05:00

My Mom's dachshund Prissie Sue died this morning. She was 15 or 16 years old and had been in poor health lately. She was a chocolate miniature dachshund that my step-father Ray bought a year or two after he married my Mom.I remember when they brought her home for the first time. I was living at home again after a few years in college, and the first few nights she slept in the bed with me. She

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-2260237481850857542008-10-27T14:54:00.002-05:002008-10-27T14:55:19.208-05:00

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-36574348308165402482008-10-24T10:23:00.003-05:002008-10-24T10:50:56.961-05:00

I woke up really tired this morning. My sinuses were all stuffed up, despite taking Claratin for a week now. It was dark, rainy, and was a great day to just roll back under the covers and sleep. After I got back from taking Victoria to school, I made Jack his milk and went upstairs to open his door. Usually, I open it a crack then hide in the guest bedroom or the bathroom to wait for him to

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-64649419749188687602008-10-15T11:47:00.004-05:002008-10-15T11:57:18.224-05:00

My father-in-law David has been working full time for the Obama campaign in Nashville for the last few months. We kept asking if he had ever met him and he had not until the debate came to town. Here they are shaking hands.Personally, I'm pretty discouraged about the elections this year. Everyone seems to think Obama is going to change things, but I think he's just a career politician like

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-37162690429794133882008-10-15T11:40:00.002-05:002008-10-15T11:44:10.452-05:00

I smoked for the last time 8 years ago today. It was in the parking deck of Cat Financial in Nashville. Having watched my wife's uncle die of lung cancer and her grandfather die of complications from emphysema this year, I'm hoping I quit in time to avoid too much damage. I smoked for 14 years, having quit for a year twice in that time period.I know Paul Clemmons and his Big Tobacco cronies

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-43006056594668941052008-10-01T09:39:00.002-05:002008-10-01T09:41:17.436-05:00

My own aunt and uncle tried to brainwash me when I was a kid as well, but I was able to overcome it in high school. Sadly, there are still pictures of me somewhere wearing orange and blue.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-7201277106208576392008-09-26T16:11:00.002-05:002008-09-26T16:15:50.140-05:00

"When the government's boot is on your throat, whether it is a left boot or a right boot is of no consequence." - Gary Lloyd

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-87144246733832132452008-08-30T23:49:00.002-05:002008-08-31T00:03:14.170-05:00

It's been a long two weeks, but I'm finally doing 10k days again. Back on about the 17th or 18th, I started getting really stuffed up and I could tell my sinuses were filling up. I still walked 15k steps on the 18th, but the next day at work I was feeling bad. I had a meeting with my manager about 2:30 that afternoon and I told her I was probably going home early cause I was completely out of

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-71296784848870747412008-08-09T23:53:00.002-05:002008-08-10T00:06:03.214-05:00

So I was out doing one more lap around the neighborhood tonight, since it's only 67 degrees out right now and just perfect to get out and exercise. I was on the back street of the neighborhood, heading back to the house, when I saw something small running down the middle of the street directly towards me. At first I thought it was a dead leaf blowing along, but as it got closer I could tell it

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-79027645724087699242008-08-04T13:30:00.002-05:002008-08-04T14:02:47.879-05:00

Yesterday was our sixth wedding anniversary. Tempus Fugit was never a truer statement. We celebrated by going out to lunch after church at Sakura, which is Marissa and Jack's favorite restaurant. I have a kid that loves broccoli! How cool is that? When we walked in, Victoria was already there with her Dad and new step-mother, along with several other members of the Dowdy family. It's her

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-77625554559852790632008-08-03T00:22:00.003-05:002008-08-03T00:25:50.772-05:00

So earlier in the afternoon, Marissa wanted a couple of holes drilled into a board for a craft project. I showed her how to do it, but the battery on the drill was really low so we let it charge for a while. A few hours later she comes into the room where I'm reading and shows me the drill bit, shown here with no modifications having been made to it after that point.I'm not sure I know how this

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-43846801003201435792008-07-22T15:36:00.006-05:002008-07-22T23:28:15.665-05:00

After I got back to the campground from Overlooked Cave, I put my helmet outside of the tent, leaving it there overnight. Unfortunately, it rained pretty heavily that night while I was asleep, so the Apex got completely soaked again and was back to having the same problems it was having the day before. Everyone was planning on going to Custard Hollow Cave that morning, so I didn't have time to

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-56494248107330661502008-07-20T23:03:00.002-05:002008-07-20T23:23:32.626-05:00

For the first time since I started using a pedometer about 3 years ago, I've managed to walk more than 10k steps a day for seven straight days. Over the last 7 days, I've put 79,254 steps on it, which is over 36 miles and averages 11.3k per day. I've actually walked enough to lose weight without doing the low carb diet, and pretty much eating like I normally would other than not going to

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-49560804769667942142008-07-20T22:57:00.004-05:002008-07-20T23:26:10.522-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, Marissa, Jack, and I were upstairs together for a while, watching Barney or working on the computer or playing with Jack. Marissa had removed his diaper and we were letting him air out some before we put a new one on.At one point, Jack was over near the banister and we were not really paying much attention to him. I heard him say something like "pee pee Mommy's chair", but

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-53697918557225856462008-07-08T12:53:00.002-05:002008-07-08T12:59:07.181-05:00

You have to love the Internet when it lets you dig up things like this.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-57945822442269266832008-07-07T20:53:00.002-05:002008-07-07T21:53:40.770-05:00

Way back in 2001, during the 4th of July weekend, I went caving for the first time at Sinking Cove Cave in Franklin County, TN during the Birmingham Grotto's annual camp-out. I had a great time, and it eventually led to it being one of my major hobbies. I've been wanting to go back for a while now, so this year my Nashville caving buddy James Wood and I decided to crash the weekend and get some

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-49374532220307379952008-06-30T15:17:00.002-05:002008-06-30T20:33:40.013-05:00

Ever since I started caving a few years back, everyone has mentioned Indian Grave Point (IGP) cave to me. I was starting to feel like I was the only person in Tennessee who caves who had not been there yet. As a matter of fact, I was sitting at Paul's house Saturday night watching fights, and we started talking about caving. One of Paul's friends immediately asked me, "so have you been to IGP

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-71640527120863472872008-06-27T10:27:00.002-05:002008-06-27T10:49:56.521-05:00

In what's sure to bring a tear to the eyes of Jefferson and Wilfred, I "brokeback" under 300 pounds today. Today's D.B.A.N. was 298.7, for a total of 16 pounds lost in the last 10 days. With the exception of a family reunion incident last Saturday, I've been very good about keeping my portion size down, along with keeping the carb count low.I've also been doing a lot of walking. So far in June

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-91906434460994033882008-06-18T20:41:00.002-05:002008-06-18T20:57:52.182-05:00

We got back late Monday afternoon from our trip to Florida. I'm not going to try to write it all up in a coherent story, since I'm on Day 2 of Low Carbs and my brain is not working so well right now. I'm just going to throw it all out there in a series of musings in what is hopefully approximate chronological order.1. Atlanta is hot.2. Atlanta traffic still sucks. I-85 at 2pm on a Sunday

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-13242517308441744012008-06-05T13:13:00.003-05:002008-06-05T13:21:39.977-05:00

I did another 10,000 steps yesterday to make it two days in a row. I actually did a little over 10.7k steps. It nearly wiped me out though. I went out last night about 9:30 still needing to do about 3500 more steps. I wobbled back into the house about 45 minutes later, walking past Marissa who was sitting on the couch. "I think I may have overdone it," I told her as I headed to the kitchen to

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-67624703466504969662008-06-04T16:40:00.003-05:002008-06-04T16:50:04.775-05:00

For the first time in a while, I finally put 10k+ steps on the pedometer yesterday. It took me about two weeks to work up to it again. I'm not currently dieting, since there's no point in starting one just before I go on vacation for a week, but I'm planning on keeping the walking up while I'm down on the beach. The diet will wait until after I get back.Of course I waited until it got hot

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-38905358601150460222008-06-03T21:21:00.003-05:002008-06-03T21:38:57.590-05:00

Vacation Comes SoonI Strive to Exit EarlyEmployment PestersSandy Beach Awaits:Siren Calls of the Gas PumpQuicken My Cash LossThe Son Waits to GoThe Sand and Water AwaitImprints of His ToesFuture Castles RiseIn the Surf of Youthful DreamsWhere We Will Build Them

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-16889817401439329902008-05-25T21:53:00.003-05:002008-05-25T21:57:54.017-05:00

I didn't really care for it that much. I thought the actors playing Heff and Wilfred were not very realistic. They couldn't really pull off the squirrel's butt on the back of Heff's head. I guess modern SFX technology is not really up to that level yet.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-87398383733389657412008-05-25T21:22:00.002-05:002008-05-25T21:30:35.909-05:00

Ah, Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally the start of summer, although we have almost a month until the solstice. The smell of BBQ and Blog Wars are in the air. I'll be anxiously awaiting the prosaic responses as they start rolling in from places further north and south of here.In other news, Marissa, Jack and I have spent a wonderful weekend together. Yesterday we went to the zoo, and despite

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-36083022474055794312008-05-23T20:59:00.003-05:002008-05-23T21:07:17.948-05:00

Well, let's see.... American Idol is done with - and I have no idea who won since I am also not henpecked and I also don't burn brain cells on useless reality shows or puttering around a rundown piece of crap hotel on the crap side of a major American city wishing one of the pimps outside would finally bust a cap in my ass and put an end to it all. No sir! Also, there's nothing like getting up

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-86817854904565023362008-05-20T15:17:00.002-05:002008-05-20T15:19:04.941-05:00

You know that part of the lawnmower that gets really hot? You know, the part that has a big symbol of a hand that is crossed out? Yeah, that one. It's not a good idea to put your palm up against it. Trust me on this one.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-9944371369971930362008-05-19T17:15:00.003-05:002008-05-19T17:23:32.124-05:00

Jack and I hit the greenway twice over the weekend. On Saturday we parked at Two Rivers Park and walked across the Cumberland River on the new greenway bridge to Shelby Bottoms Park that just opened a few weeks ago. It's a nice bridge. It's really high over the river, probably 200 or 300 feet maybe. It's hard for me to judge. It was high enough that I had a little bit of acrophobia when we

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-72355308241313582292008-05-09T23:49:00.002-05:002008-05-09T23:56:47.445-05:00

Unofficially, I have a goal of trying to read 52 books this year, so I'll be averaging one per week. I've also turned into a total cheapskate, so I've only actually purchased one book so far this year, and that was this past week when I ordered a new pedometer from Amazon and needed to add a few dollars to my order to get free shipping. Every other book has either been the free PDFs that Tor

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-68018242659988368622008-05-09T23:44:00.002-05:002008-05-09T23:48:18.627-05:00

My brother Brian turned 35 today. Hard to believe. I was five when he was born, and I still remember my Granddaddy and MawMaw Strother taking me up to Brookwood Hospital to try to sneak me up to see him. Back then they didn't let five year olds visit the maternity wards. Of course, I was mostly disappointed since I had made my Mother's OB/GYN promise me for months that I was going to have a

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-42422504782003018392008-05-04T20:13:00.002-05:002008-05-04T21:48:24.814-05:00

Ok, I'm a comic book geek. I don't buy comics anymore, but when I was a kid I read Marvel comics constantly. One of my favorites was Iron Man and the Avengers, though I tended to lean more towards Captain America and Thor in those days.I was pretty happy with the first Spiderman and X-Men movies, but then they got pretty far off kilter and the last two showings from those two franchises were

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-48073134386533892812008-05-04T20:04:00.002-05:002008-05-04T20:11:27.903-05:00

Well, the rebate check from the IRS came in Friday morning, just in time for us to drop about $500 to get brakes put on both cars. The Civic was down to metal on metal on the front left, and needed pads on all 4 brakes, so the new rotor and pads and labor were $260 at Budget Brakes. A few hours earlier, the Montero was in the same shop and needed a new rotor and pads on the back brakes, plus

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-58596714508839180592008-04-25T11:36:00.002-05:002008-04-25T11:59:21.949-05:00

We went back to Hardins Cave this past Wednesday night for our monthly grotto trip. We recruited people from the Earth Day Festival in Nashville last weekend, and we had 4 or 5 people show up because of that. We had 17 people on the trip, and several of them were first time cavers, including a 5 year old and 7 year old that did pretty well.I've lost about 10 lbs since last month when I went,

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-4934610563888251292008-04-10T11:14:00.004-05:002008-04-10T11:31:44.157-05:00

I let my diet and exercise get away from me since October, and I put on about 25 lbs since then. After three days of gastrointestinal debauchery in Tuscaloosa this past weekend, which included 3 trips to City Cafe on Friday, it was time to get back into gear. I did discover a new combination at City Cafe that was great though. I've always loved their chicken livers, and at the suggestion of my

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-23639183787797202692008-03-27T14:35:00.002-05:002008-03-27T14:50:23.925-05:00

So I had a pretty good birthday yesterday. My friends at work took me out to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. Then when I got home I loaded up the wife, the girl, and the boy and we headed for the local Thai restaurant. Marissa had mentioned this a few weeks ago and I was all for it. Of course, starting the day before, she started whining about it and offering up different

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-18012409077520306592008-03-26T10:17:00.003-05:002008-03-26T10:28:53.644-05:00

They got me. People were giggling when they saw me when I walked in the building this morning, so I knew something was up. There was also German chocolate cake waiting as well, so I guess I have to forgive them. When I woke up this morning, Marissa and Jack had a chicken biscuit with a candle in it for me.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-60751560430668039962008-03-25T15:35:00.003-05:002008-03-25T15:40:30.054-05:00

As I go into the last 8 hours of my life of being a pre-old fart, I'm going to celebrate what little rebelliousness remains with me. Let's take a trip to Mojo World. Turn it up.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-40295690097921911652008-03-17T11:22:00.004-05:002008-03-17T11:33:52.287-05:00

We had our first trip to the Emergency Room with Jackson late yesterday afternoon. He was playing down in his sister's room when he sat down on a glass vase and cut his legs up. He had two small cuts on his left thigh, and two cuts on his right calf muscle. Three of the cuts were pretty minor, but one on the calf had carved up a small chunk of muscle, and kept oozing blood even after we put

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-51235991782375341032008-03-17T11:18:00.003-05:002008-03-17T11:20:01.875-05:00

Ok, no one had a clue what the image was from last week, so here's the original picture in all it's glory. Maybe you can tell where I cropped the image from now. Are those skid marks?

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-7332398601129831522008-03-17T11:16:00.003-05:002008-03-17T11:20:43.012-05:00

I forgot to wear green today, but to make up for it, here's a classic to help celebrate.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-105627060065353352008-03-13T09:48:00.004-05:002008-03-13T10:27:54.507-05:00

We went to Hardins Cave last night. This was my seventh trip to this cave, but it was still a lot of fun. We had a good group, including several new grotto members. I would try to name all of them but with my poor ability to remember names I'm sure I'd mess things up horribly. Joe Stewart was there with his seven year old grandson, along with Kylie. Jody Bailey actually showed up, which was

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-12713299353992771732008-03-12T15:28:00.005-05:002008-03-12T15:50:14.597-05:00

So let's have a guessing game. Anyone care to ponder what the above image is? I cropped it out of a larger image and enlarged it a bit, but otherwise it has not been enhanced in any way. Actually, it represents a "de-hancement" of sorts. If I stare at it long enough, it starts looking like the face of a demonic bunny.The winner of the contest gets a virtual overnight stay at the Motel of Love

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-22440550760983125182008-02-25T19:38:00.003-06:002008-02-25T20:04:31.780-06:00

So several people in the grotto have been asking me to arrange a trip to Cedar Ridge, which I first visited several years ago. I finally relented and planned for a trip this past Saturday. One by one, everyone dropped out, so only John "I am the" Law showed up at Shoney's on Saturday morning. This cave is really awesome though, so we loaded up in the Honda and headed for Monteagle.There were

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-67205752604661749772008-01-17T00:32:00.000-06:002008-01-17T00:46:48.145-06:00

I was trying to find something earlier tonight and I stumbled across a metal box I got out of my grandparents house about 10 years ago. I'd never really looked through it, since it was mostly full of paperwork, which my grandparents tended to hang onto like grim death.Once I started looking through it though, I realized it belonged to my great-uncle George W. Strother, who died back in 1974. I

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-29332394447062017362008-01-15T11:29:00.001-06:002008-01-15T11:31:57.260-06:00

I've updated my reading list for 2007 and started the new list for 2008, which you can find over on the right side of the blog. I didn't read as many books in 2007 as I wanted to, but I think I still read a few more than I did in 2006. My father-in-law gave me several caving books for Christmas, and I finished the first one last night. I still have a pile of about six books that I'm in various

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-27174313871782226332008-01-04T00:02:00.000-06:002008-01-04T00:12:15.787-06:00

So almost every night, I give Jack his bath, get him dried off, and then into his pajamas. Then I read 2 or 3 books with him in my lap and tag up with Mommy who reads him another book or two and rocks him for a bit before she puts him in his crib with some soft music playing and his blanket, duck, and whatever else happens to be in there, usually including a book or two.Last night we went

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-83196538701731448702007-12-28T20:35:00.000-06:002007-12-28T20:41:35.753-06:00

My boy is two years old today. Wow! I can't believe it's been two years now. He's growing like a weed and talking a lot. He loves books, trains, cars, and grocery carts. His mommy and sissy are the most important people in his life, but I'm still pretty popular with him. I get a "Daddy!" and a leg hug every time he sees me. He's almost too big to carry around very much now, which makes me

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-80960976647486921152007-12-27T20:11:00.001-06:002007-12-27T20:52:11.150-06:00

My maternal grandfather, Fred Melton Strother, would have turned 100 years old today. He lived a good life, and he was and always will be one of my best friends. Even when I was really young, he couldn't wait to pick me up and take me with him all over. He took me places and showed me things that are too numerous to recount them all. We used to just go places just to go places. Whether it

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-57828376310924039822007-11-26T21:02:00.001-06:002007-11-26T21:05:47.493-06:00

Gotta love incoming links, even if they're from just another bass player...

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-6010326976423427302007-11-02T10:39:00.000-05:002007-11-02T10:41:04.510-05:00

Here's the boy dressed up as Nemo for Halloween.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-85499134502283059122007-11-01T11:01:00.000-05:002007-11-02T10:36:11.511-05:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife, Marissa! She's 29 years old today! Woo hoo! I'm so lucky to have such a young wife. Yowza! We managed to score a baby sitter tomorrow night so we're going to eat at her favorite restaurant, Sakura.Last night we took Jack and Victoria to "Trunk or Treat" at a local church. Jack figured out the whole "grab candy and stick in the bucket" concept very

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-9368846467883941332007-10-31T14:05:00.001-05:002007-10-31T16:06:43.387-05:00

There's a new Hatch loose on the world. Adler Silas Hatcher was born yesterday morning in Nashville, TN. He was 20 inches long and 6 lbs, 11 ounces. His father Shawn is my first cousin, and his mother's name is Autumn. I visited them yesterday when Silas was about 5 hours old and everyone was doing fine. Marissa stopped by today to visit and I'm afraid she may be Jonesing for a baby now.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-85868236735038182262007-10-31T09:40:00.000-05:002007-10-31T09:51:12.803-05:00

Jack looks really cute this year dressed up as Nemo. Every time he goes out in the costume, everyone loves to run up to him and say "Look! We 'found' Nemo!" Man, that never gets old. Heh. Of course every Halloween also brings to mind that my good friend Mok should be celebrating a birthday this morning. Heff and I should be sending goofy emails to him today that would mark a major milestone

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-54581604269551173552007-09-30T22:15:00.000-05:002007-09-30T22:26:51.053-05:00

I drove up to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky on Saturday morning to attend a Hatcher family reunion that was held by some distant cousins I've never met. I had read about them on the Hatcher Family Resources Center and since I had the time I decided to drive up and introduce myself.I pulled up to the picnic area and walked into the building that looked like it was having a reunion. I

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-38985886307291807892007-09-10T16:31:00.001-05:002007-09-10T16:34:39.369-05:00

I led another weeknight trip to Hardins Cave late last month. My friend John from work went along and snapped this cool picture of me about to climb up a mud bank. Say hello to my little friend. There were a lot of bats in the cave that night. More than I had seen on any other trips there. They were flying around a lot as well and we were ducking to avoid them a lot on the trip.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-16748075981881243652007-08-03T14:27:00.000-05:002007-08-03T14:31:34.763-05:00

We did it! Marissa and I have made it through five years of marriage as of today! In that time we've bought a house, two cars, a dachshund, a pacemaker, braces for the Girl, and we brought home the Boy to tear it all up! It's been a great time so far, and we're hoping for many more. We ate at Melting Pot last night, and as usual got completely stuffed. We splurged a little for the lobster

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-54236146235206072882007-07-18T15:03:00.000-05:002007-07-18T15:09:32.724-05:00

Well, God has a sense of humor I suppose. That's the only way to explain that my son is likely going to be an athlete. The boy spends all day throwing balls around the house. It's his favorite word, and he's getting to be a pretty good shot on the mini basketball goal we bought him. What's a non-sport playing, geeky father to do?Last night when I put him in his crib, I left a small rubber

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-52567361985465814302007-07-02T23:00:00.000-05:002007-07-02T23:02:50.101-05:00

We had a good time over the last weekend. Saturday morning we got up earlier than normal and headed out to the zoo to meet up with Uncle Paul and Aunt Ferlie and cute little Rani. Jack and Rani both love to ride in the Radio Flyer wagon we recently bought that has a built in awning, and lots of people at the zoo would ask us about it. I would post some pictures of the zoo visit, but the camera

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-22602839720348916362007-06-27T22:50:00.001-05:002007-06-28T10:52:04.350-05:00

I recently finished reading The Plot to Save Socrates, which was a book I picked up at the library in the recently added section. I needed to find a book quick, and I saw Socrates and Time Travel in the blurb on the back cover, so I grabbed it and checked out.I've been burned in the past by choosing books like this before, but I'm a sucker for Time Travel stories and this one didn't disappoint.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-39371604057305903582007-06-19T00:28:00.001-05:002007-06-19T00:31:41.076-05:00

Wayward Cave is located at the very back of Route 206. The entire cave ispitch black except for a small circle of light around you. It's recommended youget the TM "Flash" before attempting this area, as it will make it much easier.There are a few items in the cave, you can find the list below. At theback of the cave you will find a trainer named Mira. She will ask you toescort her to the entrance

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-33004257179994271662007-06-18T22:26:00.000-05:002007-06-18T22:37:34.041-05:00

The genealogy project I've been working on lately is to find as many of the descendants of my 2nd Great Grandfather Andrew Jackson Hatcher as possible. He had 11 kids with two women, so the number of individuals could get fairly high in the end. I've had pretty good luck finding descendants of his younger children, but I've hit complete dead ends so far trying to find anyone descended from

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-12728057642511796532007-06-18T21:37:00.000-05:002007-06-18T21:47:57.002-05:00

My uncle Eugene and my aunt Naomi invited us to stay in a condo that they had rented for the week last week in Mexico Beach, Florida. This happened to coincide with the 4 extra vacation days that work gave out the week before, so we took them up on the offer and left Nashville on Tuesday afternoon.We stopped in Columbiana for the night, then left the next morning for the beach. I thought it was

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-90095212936118443272007-06-18T20:36:00.000-05:002007-06-18T20:40:46.338-05:00

Warning, don't click on this link if you don't want to lose time playing a simple little flash game. Desktop Tower Defense is one of the best little games I've played in a long while. I may even try to pick up some Flash skills myself and put together a TOL simulator.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-62686833411848121502007-06-07T09:54:00.001-05:002007-06-07T09:55:31.081-05:00

After a hint from my aunt Naomi, we figured out that it's my aunt Barbara in the picture with my great grandfather. Based on her how small she is in the photo and her date of birth, I figure it was taken sometime around 1946.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-34871157127142202252007-06-06T15:44:00.000-05:002007-06-07T09:53:44.395-05:00

My cousin Thomas Blackwell sent me this picture today. It's my Great-Grandfather Ausman C. Hatcher. I'm not sure who the girl with him is. I've never seen this picture before either and had no idea what "Poppa Hatcher" even looked like. He reminds me a lot of my grandfather Luther Hatcher. I'm also not sure when the picture was taken. I'll update when I find more. I've been making contact

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-51793921174232156052007-06-04T14:12:00.000-05:002007-06-04T14:51:30.827-05:00

So I'd known about SERA being this past weekend for about a year, but once again I failed to properly prepare for it. I left the house later than I wanted to Friday night, and didn't get on the road headed towards Cookeville until about 9:45. I still figured I'd make it there by 11:30 or so, since it was only about 90 miles away from my house.I got about 30 miles away from the house and

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-83625259881106110282007-05-29T14:54:00.000-05:002007-05-29T14:57:47.112-05:00

I've been forgetting to put the link to my Aunt Naomi's new blog on here for quite a while. It's also been added to the Friends and Family links on the right. The Blog of Heff has once again failed to maintain any staying power, so it's been removed from the list. Some people just don't have what it takes to take on a long term project like this I guess. It's the same kind of people that let

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-73890814827439497032007-05-29T12:51:00.000-05:002007-05-29T14:48:29.816-05:00

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama doing some genealogy research and meeting long-lost family members. I drove down to Columbiana very late Friday night, stopping along the way in Cullman to have coffee and an omelet with my old friend David Chappell, who is moving to Arkansas sometime in the next few weeks. I didn't get to my brother's house until about 4am, so I

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-26719039710846056382007-05-15T15:01:00.000-05:002007-05-15T15:04:08.041-05:00

My wife recently updated Jackson's Blog with more pictures. I think this is my favorite. He's more fun to be around every day. He's starting to get a pretty good arm on him too. He throws a ball pretty hard, unlike his dad who never learned how to throw a ball.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-66939021562788572942007-05-14T14:40:00.000-05:002007-05-14T15:50:36.241-05:00

It's been a while since I've been to a new cave. In fact it was back in December when I visited Big Bone Cave, which is Heff's favorite cave name of all time I believe. Joey called me earlier in the week and asked me if I wanted to go to Camps Gulf. I said yes of course, since this is a cave I've been wanting to visit for several years now.Joey, Aimee, Joe, and Eve camped out at Rock Island

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-69795737740098676282007-05-11T13:17:00.000-05:002007-05-11T13:22:09.677-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. There's just really not been too much interesting stuff going on lately. Mostly I just work, go home, play with Jack, feed Jack, bathe Jack, and put Jack to sleep. Then I relax for a few hours and go to bed myself.I'm maintaining my weight around 275 right now. A bout with a stomach virus last week pushed me down to 271 for a day or two. That sure wasn't fun.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-25008027639502159252007-04-30T22:27:00.000-05:002007-04-30T22:31:02.927-05:00

This is a picture of my grandfather, Luther Vernon Hatcher, holding my father, James Aubry Hatcher sometime around the spring of 1939. I had never seen this picture before, but this past weekend I visited my uncle Eugene Hatcher and he let me scan a lot of old photos that he's kept up with for many years now.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-35641369337767064132007-04-20T11:26:00.000-05:002007-04-20T11:31:27.761-05:00

The boy took another step towards becoming human recently by moving into the bipedal stage. Of course he won't become fully human until he takes the Humanity Test and faces the Gom Jabbar.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-78256514850676769292007-04-19T09:34:00.000-05:002007-04-19T09:41:02.326-05:00

Today's D.B.A.N. came in at 276.2 lbs. I'm on my 11th straight day of low carbs with no cheating, even though Paul desperately tried to get me to cheat this past Saturday at his latest boxing PPV party. I've been hitting the gym 2 or 3 times a week as well, so the $89.00 I pay to the YMCA every month won't be a total waste. I also cut a new hole in my belt a few days ago. I need to buy a new

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816860.post-13746988203380740432007-04-05T10:18:00.000-05:002007-04-05T10:37:57.669-05:00

I went to the gym for the 3rd time this week last night. I really didn't want to, but I blabbed about it so much to Heff that I felt compelled to do so. I did 3 sets of arms and shoulders and back, then about a mile on the treadmill and a quick sit in the sauna.When I got home, I still needed about 2,000 more steps to hit 10K for the day, so I started out down the sidewalk in the neighborhood.

J. Alan Hatcherhttps://profiles.google.com/113128191837051673707noreply@blogger.com1